The Magic of Science

Fresh compost & happy tomatoes!

Got the new raised bed in, and filled both the new and old beds with compost.

Can I confess something that is gonna sound a little weird? I 💜 compost. I heart the idea of compost. What's basically a useless nuisance - fallen leaves, grass clippings, food scraps - turned into valuable material, just by letting it sit around in a pile! The wee beasties invisibly do all the work.

New bed, pre-compost

Extra lumber? Tiny bed for pole beans!

She is a cat lady, too!

In my head, I am writing a book called The Magic of Science. (All my books, so far, are in my head. It's getting a bit cluttered in there!) Everything I love to do involves transfiguration. Professor McGonagall would be proud. The only difference is the transfigurations I specialize in involve some chemical or biological process. (I'm not as good with a wand & incantations, I'm afraid; sorry, professor.)

Lately you see people walking around in t-shirts reading "Fuck your feelings." These people, as a rule, do not seem to be big fans of science! But they should be: nothing is less sensitive to your feelings than those pesky laws of physics. You really, really liked that piece, you worked so hard on it, but it dried a bit too fast? Cracked anyway. You loooooooove copper red but didn't get the kiln in reduction soon enough? Tough titty, said the kitty. Science doesn't care if a particular outcome is convenient, or fair, or conforms to your world view. It is what it is.

Putting the greenhouse effect to work
with an upcycled window!

The laws of physics can be good and useful tools, though, if you don't expect them to be your friends.


Fats + lye + time = soap
Waste vegetation + time = compost
Clay + heat = ceramic

One of the things the proper application of those laws of physics can do is make delicious tomatoes!