At some point soon, I think I may be wanting to start a bit of a vegetable/herb garden. I suppose spring is the optimal time for that decision, normally, but -- ha ha! I live in California! I'm sure many plants are still affected by the amount and quality of light and temperatures, but at any given time during the year, I bet there's something I can be growing. Lettuce would love the cool winter raininess, I'd think.

Another challenge will be to keep other critters from eating things intended for human mouths. Snails are a perennial enemy in my parents' backyard. Mom's traditional method of attack is going out early in the morning, when the snails are still stumbling home from the bar (flowers, mainly, at the moment), pick them up, put them on a brick, and hit them with another brick. She doesn't like to set out snail bait much anymore, because of its strong chemicals. I fear I'm a tad squeamish for the brick method. Happily I have come across a couple of alternate methods, finding this discussion both helpful and amusing. The copper strips sound easiest, although the beer sounds like a nice little evening ritual I could get into, almost like pouring a libation to the nature gods, except I'm asking them to kill the snails for me.

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