Weekend Gardening and Those Dreadlocks

After a little research and information gathering, I’m ready to start sweet potato slips this weekend. It’s a bit of an arduous process, and takes 12 weeks, but should all go well, by June 1 we’ll have Hawaiian Okinawa purple and Cavendish orange sweet potato slips for planting in the food garden.

Aphids are a problem with slip cultivation. Instead of waiting for them to appear, I’ll be spraying the slips with neem oil during their development. Aphids are devastating. And I’d rather prevent them than have to kill them after they’ve appeared. As nasty as they are, they’re alive and want to stay alive, just like me. Ahimsa.

I’ll also be planting the elephant ears bulbs in pots for germination. Better to get a head start on their growth. We’re transforming the front flower garden into a tropical perennial bed. The Basjoo banana trees will go there, along with the elephant ears. The beach roses and hydrangea already there will stay, as well as perennial sage, lemon balm, lavender, chives, and thyme. And the arbor of morning glories may also stay.

Received delivery of a big bottle of my organic Hawaiian spirulina yesterday. This is the first time I ran out. There was none for four days, and I really missed it. My husband was thrilled that I’d run out. “It’s algae”, he says, making a poopy face.

That it is, and great algae. It’s the greenest and most iron/phytonutrients/GLA/beta-carotene/B12-rich stuff on the planet. The word “superfood” gets tossed around a lot these days, but spirulina - most especially organic, Hawaiian-cultivated - is truly that.

Now that I’m stocked again, I’m going to try a DIY spirulina face mask. My moon time is almost here, and this is when breakouts start. I’ll let you know how the spirulina mask goes.

We have an ‘oluolu e hele ana’ weekend planned. I’ll be meeting up with my bestie Sunny early tomorrow while my husband works on our new deck. On Saturday afternoon and Sunday, my husband and I plan to hang and rest and be thankful. The weather is going to be frigid this weekend. We’ll just snuggle with the pups and each other and recharge our batteries. I lerve weekends.

Between you and me and this blog, I plan to approach my husband again this weekend about dreading my hair. He’s against it in a big way. But I’m totally down with it.

16 days until spring.

Live in peace.