The Finished Book Questionnaire

1 . Do you keep a list of the books you have read?

You bet. I use Storygraph, Primarily. I just personally love the granularity of control over the user experience. I am also still on Goodreads because that's how my reviews get on this blog. I also use Librarything, which is super amazing and  a great place to get reviewer copies. before these services existed at least once a year or so I would accidentally pick up a book I previously DNF'd and start reading it again only to realize I still didn't like it.

2. If you record statistics, what statistics do you record?

Librarything likes you to track physical dimensions and weight of your books, so I do that over there. Storygraph provides me with stats on genres, how many books by which author, pages read, total books read, all by the year or the month.

3. Do you give star ratings for books and if so, what do you score books out of and how do you come about this score?

Yes, I do:

My rating System:
* = I got through it, but it barely held my attention
** = It was just okay
*** = I Liked it quite a bit
**** = I really enjoyed it/it made me think
***** = Phenomenal, outstanding, author on my automatic library list.

I also have certain author's I will automatically by at thrift stores or Friends of the Library/charity book sales, or garage sales. I never buy something new without reading it first.

4. Do you review books?

Absotively, but you already knew that. *wink*. This is a book blog after all. I post my reviews here, Librarything, Storygraph, Goodreads, and tumblr.

5. Where do you put your finished books?

I usually return them to the library. If they are a review copy and I disliked it, I follow the instructions from the provider. Either recycling it or donating it as appropriate. for audiobooks that are Advanced Listening copies I delete them when finished/DNF'd.

6. Do you have any other rituals for when you have finished a book?

Aside from writing that review, not really. Though I am considering making a book bandana, or scarf maybe.

Credit to the Twirling Book Princess for the idea to do this post

Starting Seeds Inside

 

    This season I experimented with Jiffy brand seed tray greenhouses with peat pucks. This product claims to improve success rates for seed germinations. As far as success rate for germination the mini greenhouse certainly did its job.

    I chose to start from seed green zebra tomatoes, peppermint, dwarf snow peas, and rainbow chard. So far the peas liked the peat the best, and are growing strong as transplants into pots. While every seed pod I planted for chard did sprout they never formed roots and couldn't survive transplanting. I ended up re-sowing these directly in a pot. 

    The mint did not like the moisture in the mini greenhouse even after adding ventilation. These will also be getting direct sown into a pot. Three out of four of my Tomato seedlings survived the transplant process. Here's hoping they root well and prosper.

    All in all, I would use the greenhouse again sans peat. I would add a layer of potting mix and start the seeds in that with the lid for added warmth. Something else I've noticed is the tendency for seedlings to be really leggy. This is typically blamed on poor lighting strategy. though I think it is more likely to be the lack of nutrients in the peat coupled with the depth of possible seed placement. Hopefully this will be rectified by eliminating the peat in future uses.

Original Pollinators

What are original pollinators?

These are species of pollinator that occur naturally in an area as opposed to through importation. It may surprise you to learn that honeybees are not original pollinators in Canada. They were brought over from Europe to boost crop yields. 

There are over 970 different original pollinator bee species, including mason bees, digger bees, and sweat bees.  The most agriculturally important of which is bumblebees, and they don't eat dandelions. Dandelions are essentially the bee equivalent of eating nothing but donuts. Other original pollinators include hummingbirds and other small bird species. as well as butterflies, moths, flies, beetles, and the occasional chipmunk or squirrel (accidental pollinators).

Where do they live?

Original pollinator species of bee tend to live in burrows or cavities. Burrowing bees can live in mud, leaves, or wood. Bees that hive in cavities can be found in any previously used/open space like an abandoned bird nest, or holes in rock formations. An effective deterrent to them forming nests where you don't want is to spray the area down several times per season with 7%-10% acetic acid. 

What do they eat?

Original pollinators eat nectar from local species of flowers. These can include Goldenrod, Lupines, and Black-eyed Susan, among others. Check out the sources for more ideas. It is generally to plant a wide variety of shallow and deep plants with myriad colors.

Does Not Mowing My Lawn Help?

The short answer is no. Dandelions, as previously stated, are essentially junk food to most pollinators. They are also prolific weeds which will take over everything if given the chance. Not mowing is about as wise and useful as planting peppermint in the ground. It's more harm than good. If you really want to support honeybees put out pots of plants that they eat, nipping the buds off before they go to seed so they don't spread.

Sources

https://publications.gc.ca/collections/collection_2014/aac-aafc/A59-12-2014-eng.pdf

https://www.pollinationguelph.ca/downloads

https://notsohollowfarm.ca/native-plants-for-a-butterfly-garden/

https://notsohollowfarm.ca/blog-gallery/

https://globalnews.ca/news/10504895/no-mow-may-master-gardener-nova-scotia/

2018 in books

This year I read 8486 pages. My longest book was The Pillars of the Earth at 973 pages. My shortest book was Our Bloody Pearl at 200 pages. Apparently Pillars is also a very popular read (a little over 600,000 people have read it). 

The first book I reviewed this year was by Kathy Reichs. The last book was by Maggie Stievater, Tessa Gratton, and Briana Yovanoff.  My average star rating this year was a 2.8/5. I ran into some real duds this year. 

I also read 23 books out of a goal of 1 this year. I always set my goal to 1 to take the stress off. I never know how busy I will be, so why set unrealistic goals that are guaranteed to piss me off and stress me out.