The soil is alive.

Here at The Homestead we've been bringing in a slow and steady crop of beans and tomatoes and cucumbers.

We went out to the garden to do some work today in preparation for some late summer planting and I was excited to find some dry-growing little grey and orange mushrooms underneath the indian corn. Not much, and I couldn't find out what kind they were, but exciting that another of the Biotic Kingdoms elected to join in the fun.

We made a few decisions to cull what was out there: 1) Pull up the garden peas, as they were ready to go, 2) Pull up what was left of the spinach, which wasn't much, 3) Cut losses on the three mustard plants, which Kat had dreams of turning into, well, mustard, but which was getting really big and unmanageable, and 4) Be done with the "mangy" kale.

As I started pulling out the mustard, which was planted in between the kale and in front of the spinach in the southwest quadrant, Kat kneeled down and noted that the ground was teeming with tiny white creatures of some sort.

Perhaps we'll go get some ladybugs.