i went to the cafe this morning to drop off some pulled pork. my father showed me the new constructions in the back of my great uncle's place, including a new cemented walkway and half a dozen raised beds. i noticed right away the green tint of pressure treated wood; afterwards i looked it up online and it appears that the micronized copper azole compounds used (weathershield™) is the latest and least toxic of the pressured wood treatments.

my mother was still at home so i took a quick detour to belmont, where i had some leftover pasta for lunch. my sister was off in new york on a day trip. in the backyard i noticed a few crocuses were already out; not much of a challenge this season, not even any snow on the ground to break though.

my roommate was home the entire day but i never saw her. you'd think maybe she'd have the courtesy to poke her head into the living room to say hi but she managed to avoid me completely. i just have to put up with this for less than a week; by this time next week she'll be gone...and i'll have another new roommate, this time for 3 months. i heard he doesn't cook and will at least be at work most of the time. 2 pluses already!

i went ahead and prepared my milkweed seeds. i tried growing some in my community garden last season but none of them sprouted. this year, i'm going to start them indoor first before transplanting outside to guarantee i'll have at least a few plants. milkweed seeds need to be stratificated - which is a fancy way of saying they need to be exposed to some cold and wet conditions (simulated winter environment) before they'll sprout. i had two seed pods collected from that time i went to the greenways with marco. a single pod contained more than enough seeds; i harvested what i could then threw the rest out into the backyard, where the white puffs flew into the air, hopefully to start new milkweed colonies. i then put the seeds on a wet paper napkin and put everything into a ziploc bag to be placed in the fridge for the next month or two.