Some Farmer Chris Stuff

Yesterday we went to a brewery which is attached to a farm stand. Doug got some lovely peaches and apples, and I picked up some new pots. Bigger pots. For my quickly growing plants. I wanted more but Doug pointed out they were kind of expensive, and we could probably get some really good pots at yard sales and things. Yes, yes, yes you are ever so right but look how cute these are?  Also, I would be moving some plants into bigger pots, and then the medium pots would be empty for me to put my wee plants into. And I'd end up with extra pots. He wasn't wrong. It's true. But he did pick out one pot that surprised me, so he was amenable to some pots, just not all the pots.

In 2020 I inherited some plants from a coworker who was moving out of town, an aloe and a ZZ plant. The aloe is now in three pots, and one of them is now in a much bigger, happy home. One of the aloes was on the front window sill, and got all droopy and brown, so I moved it to the kitchen, and now it is thriving, so it got a new pot. And the third is just wee littles that broke off last time I split the big original one into two, and I had the props in a small glass, so today they got put into the small pot that Aloe 2 was in. 

On the ZZ plant, it did nothing for the first year or so I had it. It just sat there. Then, over the winter I was afraid it was dying, but it roared back to life this spring, creating lots of new branches and glowing in green. I accidentally broke one piece off when I was pulling it out of the pot to move it into the new home, so I just placed it into a little glass, and I hope it starts to develop. We'll see what happens with that little one. C'mon lil'baby! 

Not sure who gave me snake plants, really can't remember. Maybe it was the same co-worker? But honestly I'm not sure how it came into my life. We started with one, but now I have 3 pots with snake plant action.

One big leaf had broken off of original when I split them apart into 2 pots at the beginning of the summer. Now it is in its own pot looking like a solitary rabbit's ear. I'm waiting for it to grow friends. I can't remember who I was talking to recently who said they had no idea how that plant works, you think it is putting down roots but the root then grows UP and OUT of the pot into a new leaf. They throw off tubers, and then the leaf grows out of the tuber. That's what made it weird when I split up a big one into two smaller pots. 

Maybe that's why it is like a snake? It doesn't have roots, so it's bizarre.

My mother in law hates snakes, and when I offered her one and she said no, "I hate those!" and I said "You hate them because of the name. If we call them Bunny Ear Plants then you'd love them." She found that very funny. So I call them bunny ear plants. 

I didn't tell her the other name they are known for is Mother In Laws' Tongue. So. Well. There ya go. 

Having one plant of just one big leaf ... waiting for it to do something, it is kind of like a bunny ear. I asked in our work plant channel (we have some seriously hard core plant parents!) and one of my coworker said as long as it is green, and healthy looking, eventually it will grow a "pup." So we wait!

I have a billion spider plant babies growing off of four different spider plants. I always wonder about that - is it a sign that the plant is healthy or that it is trying to escape because it isn't healthy? Makes me wonder. 

Anyway, at lunch today I took a couple of the new pots, and I repotted the aloes, the zz, and the snake plants, and got a bunch of friends into their new little houses. I should tend to the spider plants next, the one in the basement has 10000 babies. It could use a split up into 2 pots or another really big pot. 

A friend of mine recently learned how to do macrame, like our moms and grandmothers had in the 70s, and she made a whole bunch of plant hangers for her house. They are amazing. So beautiful. She used hemp and colored yarns, and nautical pieces woven in, and she has all these hanging plants like spider plants which are dripping down beautifully through her house. 

My outside Farmer Chris situation is a little bleak. The tomatoes and peppers kind of got fried due to lack of rain. I thought the sunflowers were done for too, but a couple of them just had giant flowers pop open, so large that the plants (7 or more feet tall) are bending over. I'm terrified we'll get a bad storm and they're done for. The Morning Glories did well in their spreading along the fence with little assistance from me.  When I was away Doug freed the mailbox from the leaves, and cut back some of the tendrils. The flowers open early and close by 8am, so I have to go out early now if I want to get pictures of them. We discovered last year that we have a 4 o'clock plant up front (yellow) and it was very small at the time. I think it had been cut down, but Doug decided to leave it grow to see what would happen. It is very large now, vibrant and beautiful. I think we have some pinkish one on the side of the house too, it's overgrown, wild, and out of control over there, we don't spend much time on that side of the house. 

All told, life is all around. Doing stuff. It is late August, and this is the time for things to be that way, innit? 

Pictures, and then digits below. 

all the snake plants, including the lone bunny ear. And 2 of my 3 new pots.

One lonely spider plant, a fish, some plates, and a snake on the left.
ZZ plant on the right.

digits

exercise: Dedicated 10+21 inside. fast. lots of steps. 

blood glucose:
8:30am 154
5:30pm 150
10:45pm 184

food:
coffee, water, iced tea
12:00 - metformin; turkey, cheddar, mayo, and avocado sandwich on 2 pc 647 multigrain bread
5pm - metformin+jardiance; trail mix
6:30pm - chicken breast, lettuce, pepper, celery salad
8pm: cheese