Visit with Sparks...

Welp, I finally got to go visit Sparks this past week. He only lives an hr away and we went in together on some onions plants so I had a good reason to descend on his property and family and deliver his share!

Sparks has been holding out on us, Folks! Not only is he an avid gardener but he also is very handy with wood-working skills, devising/creating/inventing tools that make life easier (and not just in the garden world), but is also blessed with the ability to make a person feel right at home and not give a second thought about!

I must also say that in addition to HIS qualities he is also blessed with a really wonderful wife! HER qualities are also exceptional! With a smile that never quits, combined with a down-home laid back attitude (augmented with a caring and sharing demeanor and the gift of years of Life’s knowledge) she’s one who still carries that sparkle in her eyes and easily laughs at things that might worry the hello out of others. (She also fixed me the best ham and cheese sammich I’ve had in years! And get this, she even knew I’d prefer wheat bread over white! Go figger!)

Course now, I also think the both of them fine folks must be intuitive. Along-side that sammich Sparks himself set down a frosty mug in front of me then set a cold blue soda right next to it! (Now, how’d he know that!? ♫) :>)

I could go on and on, however, not meaning to get too long-winded I’ll just say this:

The raised box beds in his back yard are rich! (And altho the boards are roughly 6 inches high, the depths of the beds are 20 inches or more!) (Yes, Sparks dug them out and filled them with his own soil concoction that we’d all die for!) The pic shown below is just his newest row of beds, he has about 3 other rows I neglected to take pics of.

The home-made “carrot planter” he came up with not only seeds the carrots but evenly spaces them about 2 inches apart (no need to come back and thin them out!). In a matter of a few minutes 162 carrots are sown and covered.

The home-made dual-sided worm bed is teeming with worms and BLACK GOLD. (I was blessed with a five gallon bucket of this gold, fully loaded with worms and worm casings to get my own worm factory going!) (I’m the protective Daddy sort of guy so they sit here next to me in the shoffice, carefully guarded, as I write these words.)

This is just the tip of the iceberg. Like I said, the dude has been holding out on us! All in all, this was the highlight of my week (or past month!).

Thanks for letting me come visit, Sparks and Mrs. Sparks!

Lucky you !! Sparks really is one of my heros and I just knew his sweet wife would be all you say :)

What a great guy he is !!

Good for all 3 of y'all. 'Shoe!

Is that hardware cloth on the sides of the beds... and why? Short Critters?

Well Shoe,I am sitting here as jealous as a flea on the outside of a dog pen!
I'd love to toss my arm around Genes shoulder and give it a squeeze,I'm sure he is as kind in person as he is on the phone!

I sure hope you are not going to just tease us with one pic??

Wow sounds like a great visit. I can just imagine the stories and great information being exchanged.

Hehehe...oh trust me, Mystic, we told a few stories! It was a good afternoon for me, and I also hope for Sparks and his DW. (By the way, she is much smaller than me and Sparks, a tad bit older than us, and we both knew to mind our P's and Q's. She even let me IN the house! I was honored!)

Dea, he's one of my heroes too. I even got him to autograph the book he is in. (And he writes very legible!)

darius, the hardware frames on the sides of the bed keep them pesky rabbits outta his garden, and even tends to fend off the neighbors cats. (I can see why the cat's want in there...that soil is so rich and soft it could easily pass for a "please don't squeeze the Charmin" commercial. Well, for a cat maybe!)

Root...here's a pic of his worm bin he made. It doesn't do it justice. I wish I coulda shown the gazillion earthworms in there!
The inside is lined with black plastic to protect the wood, and is devided in two with a hardware cloth screen. Fresh stuff goes in one side and gets worked on while a new batch is built on the other side. The worms can crawl thru the hardware cloth to get to the new side when the time is right.

A side view of the same bed. Note the trays on the floor for the "worm pee" to drip into. He says he seldom collects it tho cuz the beds keep the perfect moisture content and there is very little excess.

Just saw this thread after I posted a short one of my own. That doggone Shoe, wont never trust his stories again, he shore do like to exaggerate. Older than him, a few more years difference and I could be his grandfather, how about 30 years difference. We went in together on the onions? I thought we had but you can guess what he let me pay, as I said in the other thread, generous to a fault. Even gave us one of his CD-Rs entitlied Rubarbub. He makes me out to be more than I really am but I do have fun with my experiments in gardening. Those are 2x8s with 14 inch roofing aluminum flashing below them. My eyes keep me from really doing finished work any more but I do have fun coming up with things for the garden. I also depend on him for his knowledge of vegatable gardening.
Now Shoe, you just sit back and behave yourself, I know that is impossible but please try.

Very nice set up Sparks!!! I like it.....(wonderin' to self whether I can get DH to make me a worm bin like that?....)

Sparks, I gotta learn ya some 'rithmatic....30 years a Grandpa don't make!...You can be my Uncle tho...or my Aunt, or my big bro, or my In-law, or my, my, my (heaven forbid) dad!

Today I re-vamped an old chest freezer I had around here, put a dividing screen in it (like Sparks had in his), drilled some drain holes in the bottom and some air holes in the top edges, put in some good soil and the black gold chock fulla worms and worm casings that Sparks sent me home with (a five gallon bucket full). Then I ground up some kitchen compost for the wormies and added it for a nice treat. I'm now all set to go! (Course now, don't get me started on worming...I once had a worm ranch, nearly lost my life! But, that's another chapter.)


This message was edited Jun 24, 2004 5:11 PM

Langbr,

Smiling here, most wifes can find some way to get DH to do her bidding. I would be willing to bet that if you want one he will get it for you. Thank your for your remarks. A couple of things about how I use it wasn't mentioned by Shoe. To start with, once I put in the first bedding (I use compost for bedding, leaves and grass mainly) I add to it later as the worms devour their food. The bedding has been put in an oven at 200 degrees to kill of any varmimts in it, sort of pasteurize it. Our table wastes are the food for the worms including coffee grounds and filter, egg shells but no meat of course. I then put it through a blender I purchased just for that purpose. Next I pour it on top of the bedding and just cover it with a black plastic garbage bag. When I figure the bedding has reached a certain level I then put new bedding in the second side and give the worms some time to crawl through to their new home. Not sure I am explaining this too well but willing to answer any questions.

Gee...ya'll will be able to go fishing every day with all those worms!! LOL Jo