wounds and weeds

Well now, see what projects bring? Dante, having helped drill holes and screw the seed tray frames together decided he needed a workbench. So we visted our pile of lumber in the back yard, measured some stuff up, and came inside to draw up some plans while I made dinner. But as he was measuring some pegboard in the basement, the tape measure released and ran through his thumb and forefinger, leaving a nasty gash. Not bad enough for stitches, but I took him to the doctor the next day anyway because he was claiming it hurt worse and it was swelling.

While the newbie doc was irrigating the wound, he must have hit a nerve because the poor boy's eyes rolled up in his head and he passed out for a moment or two. He was not impressed with the bedside manner of the doctor (not our usual, more experienced doc) nor the treatment itself, so he came home and asked for any books on herbal medicine. Which I happened to have, so he looked up "cuts" and found some remedies for cuts and bruises that he wants to make to have on hand, like a first aid kit.

We have some of the necessary herbs growing here, but I'm not sure we'll have enough to dry and make the recipe, so perhaps we'll have to buy them until we boost production. In our reading, we discovered that the pot marigold (calendula) will heal cuts, but the french marigold is actually used as a pesticide. Not a good herb to use for healing.

Said gash the night before, a couple of hours after it happened.

To help cheer her brother, Lucia went out with me to the garden and picked some flowers for the salad -- nasturtiums and borage. Then she got carried away and grabbed some flowers from the butterfly garden, so we left those on and just didn't eat them. Not having actually eaten any before, I was pleasantly surprised -- the nasturtiums were particularly tasty. I also added some lettuce which has finally begun to grow in earnest now that it's cooler.

Look! Some of the babies can fly out of the cage! Actually, this pic is almost a week old -- the original gang of seven can get out if the top isn't covered. The 3 bator babies are still feathering out and don't have the wings to make the leap yet.

Make new friends, but keep the old, one is silver and the other's gold.

Who's your Daddy?