back in the saddle

Wow where to begin...at the beginning I suppose. We went on vacation last week, spent several days at a place called Taughannock Falls near Ithaca NY. Its about an hour drive from our home in Syracuse. It was great to turn the volume down on life for a few days. But before leaving I scored another 6 oz cuke and 1lbs 5 oz of zucchini and summer squash, but I missed one that was ready and waiting on the vine (I think you know where this is going).

Anyway, off to Ithaca. I feel this needs a disclaimer, I have been there before and will say upfront that I love it there. There is a distinct crunchiness to the city. First of all they have the all vegetarian restaurant Moosewood (which was fantastic) and serves hot cocoa that is out of this world. Of course the food is great but check this out.


There is a fantastic place called "The Children's Garden" which is a community garden of sorts cared for (If I understand the posters correctly) kids. During our visit my wife claims I fell into some kind of altered mental state of ecstasy so my memory of it is sparse but here is what I remember from the pictures.

The main growing area. Personally I think there is too much walkway, but with the intended audience being kids I can understand the need.

This is made from bamboo, those are cucumbers climbing the pyramid. What a fantastic idea!


Of course they compost! are you kidding? They have 3 big bins of it.



Not 50 feet away is a created wetland swale. And just past that is the wildflower zone. Holy permaculture kiddies!



What monument to a sustainable future is complete without a strawbale house on the premises.


Who doesn't love sunflowers? Lemon Queens if I'm not mistaken.

Ithaca has great hiking, we walked trails to Taughannock and Buttermilk Falls, some really cool second hand clothing and book stores, and a really cool children's science museum. We joked that it must have been adoption day because most of the kids in that place didn't "match" mom and dad. It was actually pretty funny, at one point one of the workers was trying to find the parents of a child who had wandered off the beaten path, and they were befuddled without the usual clues. I say its funny because the search was short and not at all urgent, but the situation was hysterical in a very ironic sort of way. Or at least it was hysterical to be in a situation where our family arrangement was not in the minority and hijinks ensued. Other than that it was a nice quiet break from the world, a good recharge if you will. And even though I did not hit my reading mark (I brought/bought 2010:Oddessy Two, Shogun, Chapterhouse Dune, 2061: Oddessy Three, and Prelude to Foundation. I got through 2010 and most of Foundation), but it was great nonetheless.

After coming back we had a few days of staycation before returning to work. Unfortunately the cucumbers did not do well in my absence. I think they are done. On the bright side all of the beans are up , the peas are poking through, I've got itty bitty beet and carrot seedlings. A small green caterpillar type beastie appears to be ravaging the broccoli seedlings. I'm going to start some more tonight just in case they succumb to infestation. And finally at long last, the first of the brandywines is FINALLY turning pink!

And that zucchini that escaped scrutiny before I left...a 3.5 pound monster as long as my forearm. That makes my harvest total for the year at just a touch over 43 pounds.