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Where in the world has the year gone?

We DID get rain - I heard it about 3 a.m. Unfortunately, we have a puddle of water in the front foyer - roof leak. :-( There’s a dormer window directly over the foyer so no (slate) shingles directly over the leak so I’m betting it’s a flashing problem with water infiltrating into the ceiling over the foyer.

My app said .40, but I think it was more than that. The app shows ‘last 12 hours’ so if you’re within a half hour or so, it’s accurate, after that the ‘average’ starts kicking in. My guess, based on the puddles & river of water going down the driveway when I took out the trash, we got an inch at least. I need to get our rain gauge set up again - it got moved off the patio when mom was washing the slate.

The straw bale garden solves so many of my issues:
I don’t have to get dirt to fill more raised beds.
No weeds.
Composting bales put off warmth so you can start plants earlier.
Easy to trellis.
On the trellis system, you can use row cover, plastic or netting to protect against frost/cold (makes a little ‘greenhouse’), sun, bugs/deer, etc.
You have great compost for the following year.
The garden can easily be moved if you want to change locations.
Bulbs/tubers do well - dahlias & potatoes.
Carrots grow well in bales.
Depending on space, you can have one bale or 20+ & you can put them in places (like next to trees, on a driveway, tight space) where you couldn’t put a raised bed.
Relatively inexpensive - living in a rural/farming area, straw bales at a reasonable price should be fairly easy to come by .... would have to buy wire for trellis, have 2x4s already for supports or to go between T-posts (if I use them - probably will).
Bales are higher than the raised beds - easier on my back.

I cannot believe I forgot all about SBG, even after doing it fairly successfully one year!

For anyone not familiar with SBG, here is Joel Karston’s website:

https://strawbalegardens.com/