Mr. C noticed yesterday that our barley (the experimental winter cover crop) has started to sprout hairs! Growing grains seems to be such a foreign idea--something best left to farmers, so the progress is pretty exciting for the geek in me. Who knows what we'll do with it when it's harvested, but I'm sure we'll find some good uses. Like using the straw in the pond as a natural algaecide. (That's so permaculture of us. . .3 uses for one plant: cover crop/nutrient balance, food, and pond maintenance.)

I'm expecting a couple books from Chelsea Green this week: Perennial Vegetables, Edible Forest Gardens, and Build Your Own Earth Oven. These are all to aid me in my Permaculture Design Practicum. . .and while I know it will be a fun learning experience overall, so much educational material seems a little dull to me.

Instead I think I'd rather read Dooce's It Sucked and Then I Cried: How I Had a Baby, a Breakdown, and a Much Needed Margarita, which seems more up my alley as I experience the day-to-days of pregnancy. {Hello. Weird little thing growing in my uterus that looks more like a person every week, crazy hormones, fatigue and a generally different feeling altogether.} I think a breakdown and a margarita are both in order after pushing a little kid out into the world. Is that so bad?