3/5/2020
(Above: A candidate for the sack-gardening program: one rather beat-up and half-rotten bell pepper.)
Active Summary: Today began with the morningly regimen and was ensued by writing and the completion of a school assignment. At around 10 AM, I ventured back outside in search of activity. This activity ended up being the completion of Madre Workshop’s grey-water drainage system* and harvesting vegetables for lunch. To finish off the morning, I visited with Padre at the Studio for a brief time before heading up to Oldhouse for lunch.
(6:52 PM Update:) This afternoon consisted of some farm related activities, including: cow catching / running through the treatment chute, helping Padre fix the roof of the haybarn where it was beginning to flap in the prevalent wind, and applying gate-hinge lags to a recently replaced post. After checking the beef pasture, I began my next activity: beginning garden #2 (more in commentary). Now I am in Jacobhouse writing today’s entry while a couple small sweet potatoes bake in the oven.
(9:25 PM Update:) I have just returned from dinner at Oldhouse. Here is what I ate along with a little something that I made for lunch tomorrow:
TIL: Today I was learning about varieties of greens that grow well throughout the summer’s heat while also resisting pests. The primary two that I have found thus far are: Green Glaze Collards and Red Malabar Summer Spinach. The first, the Green Glaze Collards, are of the same family (the cabbage family) as kale, so one can expect somewhat thick leaves. However, unlike kale and typical collard greens, the Green Glaze has very shiny leaves that are insect repellent.
As for the Red Malabar Summer Spinach, they are type of vine, also with shiny leaves. According to Southern Exposure Seed Exchange, a good method for growing these is to plan them at the bottom of pea trellises as the peas reach the end of their life cycle. The Red Malabar will then climb up the old pea plants / trellises and ‘take over’. I like this idea quite a lot, and the description of the plant is quite unique: “The fleshy leaves and stems are high in vitamins A and C. Excellent for salads, stir fries, and thickening summer soups.”
Commentary: I decided to follow through on the bag/bucket garden idea today. The mode of gardening is of great interest to me, because I have a potentially infinite supply of all the materials required: polypropylene bags, compost, and seeds by way of the waste grocery store produce that is shipped to us for cow-feeding purposes. I already have 10 bags planted with green bell pepper seeds (taken from the ones shown in the image above), and I plan on finding other plants to grow as well. I may purchase some of the seeds listed above, or I may continue on with the full recycling approach. Cantaloupes, cucumbers, banana peppers, tomatoes, squashes; they all come in with the cow feed, and all of them bear seeds that are highly fertile.
Filling some garden sacks. The process was no different than filling bags for the compost stand, excepting that I did not have to close the tops. 
The garden begins. I am starting by placing bags on the old calf lot’s milk preparation station. There is room for 6 more bags here. Next, I will move onto buckets. 
The grey-water drainage system for Madre’s workshop is now complete.
Final Note: Tomorrow I intend to continue filling bags and buckets with compost for the sack & bucket gardening experiment.
*I ended up utilizing clay drainage pipe designed for the purpose that had been sitting beside one of our barns for over thirty years.
Jacob just checking my email