Today I dug up samples of earth to be sent for soil testing from both my friend Sally’s garden and mine. We are planning to try our hands at growing vegetables, trying to go a bit green here in the city, a bit self-reliant and to cut our use of the car running to the shops etc. I called a man at the University of Massachusetts and he instructed me to take 12 samples from each garden and to dry the soil on newspaper in the sun then sift it and send one cup’s worth of each garden. Right now the soil is spread out on paper on the grass in my back garden and I hope it will be really sunny and warm tomorrow to dry it out. It’s important to test it for nasty things like lead, of course. No point planting seeds in poisonous earth.
The garden is part of my increasing interest in what’s happening to our planet. It’s a small thing but if we all did small things there would be a shift in the way we use energy. There are now 6 billion of us on the planet, that’s 4 billion more since I was a child and I can totally feel it. I think of the city of Toronto where I grew up. Next to our cluster of houses were farms on all sides. They were gone by the time I was a teenager and our house which was on the edge of the city limits is now considered a prime city location. I can only imagine how places like Calcutta have changed.
The man at the lab was rather funny and vague—the absent-minded scientist! He was in the midst of testing soil! He’ll tell us what we need to know. If we get the go-ahead we’ll be building raised beds next week and getting started.

Meanwhile, Allan found an injured cardinal beside the busy road today. The poor thing has a gash in its head and we think it may have been hit by a car. Allan came home, retrieved a cardboard box, gently lifted the bird into it and brought him home. He set the box on the table on the deck outside our kitchen door and gave it a little dish of water and a crust of bread. But it’s not moving much. I think he may soon leave this life but he’s comfortable and safe right now and we got to stand very near him without him flinching. Maybe he could see that we were friends. I have to hand it to my dear Allan for noticing this wee bird and going to his rescue. Now we wait to see how his life will unfold and wish him luck.