I did have a productive day yesterday but nothing worth commenting on. I ground the herbs I had in the dehydrator as well as the eggshells I had drying on old pie tins. A blogger I read frequently (sorry I don't remember which or I would give her a shout out) calls dried, crushed eggshells "slow release calcium" for the garden. I sprinkle a nice dusting into the holes I dig for my transplants in the spring. I hope the day stays dry long enough for me to collect more herbs for the drying and to check the eggplants.

I have six trays of peppermint drying and I am only almost finished cutting on the first container. I have another yet to go. I also picked a double handful and a bit of little eggplant fruits. The Japanese beetles have increased their presence and I drowned about a dozen in quick order as I watered the gardens. Our showers are hit and miss--mostly miss. Those that dump a good quantity of rain don't drop enough to keep the plants going for more than a day. I have looked at a monsoonal type of rain fall in the morning but found the plants wilting in the afternoon.

Interesting article on a youth culture in China that is disengaged from mainstream society. I remember reading about similar trends in Japan in the late 1990s and early 2000s and the article traces some of the connections between those trends then and the ones in China today. Many of the conditions identified as contributing to the "sang" culture are also familiar: lack of social mobility, lack of economic opportunities, the perception that striving to be successful by socially approved standards is futile so why try.