Sleeping Outdoors, and a New Kokedama

The new sprouter came last week! The unrelated barley grass juice powder ended up in the photo.

Started a new book this weekend: ‘Second Nature’: The Inner Lives of Animals’.

Our new sprouter came yesterday! It’s already filled with soaked mung beans that are beginning to sprout. Although the sprouter is not made for growing microgreens, I’m going to try it. I’m thinking of sprouting some arugula in it.

Started a new book this weekend. ‘Second Nature’: The Inner Lives of Animals’ by ethologist and activist Jonathan Balcombe is not a new release, but it’s one I haven’t gotten to yet. So glad I found this one.

Over the weekend, I picked up a nice Staghorn fern for only $8. I had a big, beautiful staghorn fern once, but lost it to black spot fungus, a common disease of Staghorn ferns. When I saw this one, I thought I’d give it another try. Staghorns are incredibly dramatic and very hardy indoor plants that can go outdoors in the shade in summer. Make sure to keep a Staghorn consistently moist.

When I got it home I realized I could create a Kokedama with our new Staghorn. Just think ‘string garden’ when you hear the Japanese word ‘Kokedama’. What you do is create a ball of soil and moss that is firm enough to hold itself together with nothing more for support than a few wraps of string. 

The plant – usually a moisture-loving fern – is planted in the moss ball, and the finished work is hung by string from a ceiling or window. It can also be placed on a beautiful dish. It’s watered by dipping the ball in water. Japanese garden design is so gorgeously minimalistic.

Aside from camping, do you ever sleep outdoors? I used to, often. Imagine falling asleep under the stars, and waking up feeling completely calm and connected to the Earth. The sounds of life, which some try to block at night – dogs barking somewhere, crickets and cicadas, breezes, the hum of distant traffic (if the wind is right), birds fluttering in bushes – make me relaxed and drowsy, and because of the sounds’ stimulation, my dreams are more active and interesting when I sleep outdoors.

It’s January now, but I’m thinking of sleeping outdoors again, at least part-time, starting in spring. The odds are overwhelmingly against my husband wanting to do the same, unless we were to sleep in our tent. 

But to me, outdoors means nothing between you and the universe. We’ll see if I can convince him to join me for at least one night.

Sleeping outdoors: another reason to get excited about spring.

Live in peace.