Playing Catch up

Wow...were to start, things went well at work.

On the stead, 100% of the potatoes have pushed through, I found the bed much easier to work this year, though not as nice as the one thats 4 years old. I can reach into that with my bare hand and get to my wrist with little effort, and come up with a fistfull of worms and chunks of various bits of stuff alive and dead.

I made my first "50 foot" salad last weekend. Arugula, butterhead, and oakleaf lettuce. Very good, nice and tender. On memorial day I grabbed some more arugula, picked up a couple pears and a block of parmisan cheese and made this.


On Monday I transplanted some cukes, nasturtiums, and melons into empty spots in the lettuce patch. Looks like the arugula is done for the season. And something has chewed on 5 of the six broccoli almost to the point of defoliation, but thankfully I found good leaves growing back, so I think they'll be ok. But I found that some of these were ready which made my day. Have you ever seen such gorgeous radishes?


I started corn, black eyed peas and shelling beans.

I noticed something a little disconcerting with the female kiwi vine. Black on the edges of some of the new growth, as shown here.

A search has not turned up any plausible results. I had several shoots coming off last years's growth, so I trimmed this one, and have not seen any others succumb to its fate, but I would like to know what is happening, because it killed a male vine last year. (the replacement however is doing just fine.)

I just realized the other pictures are on other cameras, so I'll save for other posts, but I will leave you with this parting shot, the first and likely last real picture of yours truly that will show up here.



Oh did I mention we had 5 yards of stone delivered for the walkway, and 6 yards of much for the ...um mulching? I did a lot of shoveling. And no my hand is not missing, It was a chilly evening.

coming up for air

I've been lax in my posting, especially when you consider all that has happened. The situation may continue until the 27th when my work gets the equivalent of a new president. Lets just say I am going to be beyond busy for the next week and leave it at that.

I do feel the need to say a couple things though. This past sunday (17th) we had a baptism and party for our children. I am, to my core, normally averse to large social gatherings. This was incredible though. So many people came, including my best friend of25 years. (thats 1st grade for those doing the math)...all the way from North Carolina. I have to be honest, I worked my butt off getting everything outside tidy and presentable in the garden for the sole purpose of impressing people, not because of any vanity thing, but because I am so desperate to spread the word as it were. Nate and I wandered outside and walked around, I gave him a quick tour, he nodded a lot and said. "You know, I really want to start a garden back home."

I'm counting that as three!

I also found out his father in law has similar proclivities for diggin in the dirt. Its amazing who you'll connect to sometimes.

I also discovered that another longtime friend also recently adopted. I don't know if my example planted that seed or simply gave it a little fertilizer, but I'd like to think that in some way I was at least a snowflake in the avalanch of the decision.

Melinda at Simple, Green, Frugal Co-op penned this fantastic piece. Its amazing sometimes how things seem to be "in the air." I'd like to think that my own transformation has allowed me, in at least some regard to similarly manifest my true self. It did remind me how far I need to go. During one of our late night chats with friends who were visiting this weekend, I found that I was the sole person in the room who, if given the chance, would not return to school to persue a more advanced degree in my field. I do what I do because it pays the bills, is pleasant, allows me to work for an organization that I can "look at myself in the mirror each day" and barring major events like the one currently going on...lets me go home at 4:30 and leave work at work.

There are drawbacks to this though. There are times when I feel like I am cheating, I find the work easy most of the time. I spend 40 hours a week doing something which I have no passion for, I simply derive enjoyment from interactions with my coworkers, and the sense of "helping out" that I get from fixing their technical difficulties. I have wrestled with ennui for most of my life, which I'm sure is equal parts genetic, chemical, and cognative. My demons flog me with alterating blows of doubt, anxiety and angst and how far from my goals I am. But there are moments, like this weekend, when I my joy can barely contain itself. I don't think I could proclaim that I too am living absolutely true to my inner ethos, but I think each baby step I take brings me that much closer, and sometimes (like this weekend) its nice to stop and realize how far we have come.

that being said I have tons of other things that I will try to get posted, but bear with me. Oh, and I spotted potato plants poking through!

the good, the bad and the downright awful

Busy weekend at home! But I think thats safe to say about most weekends. I got all of the stone in place for the walkways...and I have no pics or background to go with that...so I shall endeavor to update you all on this monumental project (and sizable subtraction to the size of the mowed area). Regardless, I'm a bit sore right now.

The trees look like they are doing well. The last of the pears to bud has a few green spikes now and the nectarine (despite some definite dieback) appears to be leafing out now.

I put in the marigolds in the potato bed, most of the pea sprouts are up. If I had planted lettuce more densely I'd have a salad by now. Lesson learned. Plant leaf lettuce tighter and harvest sooner and more often. I did snatch a few leaves of thai oak leaf that were awesome, and the arugula is really good. In a week or two when I have more I am definitely grabbing a couple pears and maybe a little parmesan cheese for a salad.

Transplanted a lot of flowers (mostly petunias, but some cosmos and hollyhock) and put the chamomile in its spot. The lemon balm, bee balm, and stjohn's wort are making a strong showing only a year after transplant and the wormwood and valerian are almost two feet high already.

Now for the awful news. As regular readers might remember, I ordered 3 citrus trees on feb 15th. After a long spell of no news and no trees I contacted the seller and was told "two weeks" Several unreturned phone calls, several unreplied emails. Still no trees. Sorry chumps...no money for you. I didn't bother to call to ask for a refund since they apparently have failed to conduct themselves in any measurable way decent. The business may have changed hands but their failure to respond to such a backlog of customers means I'm not likely to see results for a while. I called my bank and had them dispute the charges, in my experience its faster than getting obstinant deadbeat vendors to take satisfactory action. So this time, a little wiser I combed review sites looking for a reputable dealer and found good reviews for Four winds nursery. They appear to have been around for a while and their customers hold them in fairly good regard. Lesson Learned. Hopefully my trees will be here this weekend.

The old vendor by the way is growquest, they now operate under the name olivetrees.net. And without some kind of acknowledgement from the new owners of changes to the business practices, I wouldn't trust them any farther than I could throw a deeply rooted, 1,000 year old olive tree (which I hear are quite heavy).