Winter Carrot

Haven't done a garden update in awhile.

We have been busy scurrying around, prepping for holidays, having birthdays, trying to make green peppers turn red.

Apparently my broccoli is budding but I haven't yet seen it.

Next year should bring some changes in the garden-- we plan to reorganize the beds into a more communal arrangement, grouping veggies according to plant/water/sun needs as opposed to who planted them. We have talked about getting the soil tested and getting seeds and plants that will jive well with the type of soil and nutrients we can provide. I'm getting interested in rain gardens and rain collection, so we're going to explore that and see if it's feasible to install something this year that will a)work b)discourage or at least not encourage mosquito breeding and c)not cost much.

We've also discussed adding more of a community component to the garden outreach, possibly helping others to create vegetable beds or construct rain collection devices.

Should be a fun spring.

Fall-ing Update

A new season approaches.

Our plot still contains massive, overbearing, completely obnoxious, but completely tasty cherry tomatoes. We have gotten a few chili peppers, and the mystery plants that Michael swears up and down are peppers are finally producing small, green, spherical fruits that may swell into something resembling an edible vegetable. But for the most part, the "harvest" is starting to taper off, and we pulled out everything in the front of the bed, moved a basil plant, and sowed seeds for fall plants.

The past two or three weekends have been hectic, and while we've been away, those seeds have sprouted, and we now have baby purple-hulled peas climbing the spider web, and rape, spinach, and broccoli shoots peeking through the soil.

The peas look great so far. The broccoli is being munched on by some very hungry caterpillars. Maybe some pepper spray is in order.

Party on Saturday, August 4

So, the "i'm single/housewarming" party will begin around 8ish. Feel free to bring a friend or two! There will be some tasty snacks and beverages, but my selection is limited, so please feel free to bring supplies for your preferred drinks.

My address is
2301 Madison Avenue #1
Memphis, TN 38104

You can park on the street or in the lot behind the apartment. Call/email if you need expanded directions.

If you get lost, call me at 274-3626.

Hope you can all make it!

New Look

A small effort to make our blog more personalized. I think the header graphic is a little large, so I'll probably scale it down a bit tomorrow.

Enjoy!

In the beginning

Adventures at the Cannery, plus some more.

Canning... and more

Enjoy!

Canning Photos!

Canning is fun.

We are such novices. We came through the whole adventure relatively unscathed, with the exception of Michael, who nearly dropped a vat of boiling brine on himself, Lily, Allison, and possibly me when his potholder fringe caught fire from the gas flame. Instead, he burned the holy hell out of his middle (birdie) finger and managed to prevent anyone having to endure the unspeakably painful ickiness of a vinegar scald. Despite the excitement, all our jars sealed properly, which is great, but I have absolutely no idea how the pickles will turn out. It puts me in mind of a song...

"Will the pickles be unsquishy, by and by Lord, by and by? Will the pickles be unsquishy, in the jar Lord, in the jar?"

So far today, everything looks fine, though the second batch of pickles has some strange crystallization of salt suspended in the brine.

Pictures of the process at the photo album site. Note my screamin' green kitchen and homemade ventilation (tabletop fan)...

Canning

After a great deal of dilly-dallying and daydreaming of better ways, we got around to putting up some pickles and cherry tomatoes. Hopefully the tomatoes are as good as Michael and Jannell's last batch. They make for a mean martini or the slip and slide to drunksville, as I like to call it.

Micheal is at work on a weed eater and so we may not have to pull the nasty clumps of grass out by hand. Apparently, not only do cucumbers love this Delta climate but the weeds are fond of it as well. Garden cleanliness is good for good plants because it is ridding the area of bad plants and bugs. Being young urban quasi-professionals is bad for garden cleanliness. That and the fact that it is fucking hot out there. Nothing like the smell of dog crap marinating in the sun.

crazy cucumbers

For the last few weeks, I thought 4-5 cucumbers every two days or so was a lot.

I picked 4-5 at lunch on Tuesday. Last night, I picked 12.

That's right. TWELVE cucumbers in 2.5 days. Whoa.

Yurt Painting Party

We have finished one wall of the yurt, and should be finished with the other one by next weekend. We would like to host a get-together potluck, jam session, and yurt painting party. That way we can have cool personalized "khana" (walls) with the stamps of friends on them! Location is TBD, might be in the garden, or might be at the apartment. We'll see. Party will probably be a Saturday night.

Fire Poi Lessons

So I'm considering experimenting with teaching poi. It'd be nice to know if anyone or how many people might be interested. Then I could start picking up supplies and start playing with it. Maybe I could start with a test group that would just pay for supplies and then start charging a little bit for lessons/exercise stuff. And then it would be awesome to start up my own little troupe. That would be really hot. haha.

Midwest Burns

Interfuse already happened in early May, but HullaballU is a one night event that occurs in October. I think HullaballU might be members only, though, and maybe it might be better to just plan for next year's Interfuse.

Doesn't look too far away though: Booneville, MS

I may look for other burns close by, but I think this one and maybe Transformus are the closest.

Flowers

flowers 6/18/07 10:00 PM

Garden Dinner

Also-- Yummy yummy stirfry: I got a really good sauce recipe from Real Simple magazine at work today. It consists of soy sauce (we used a mixture of Bragg's and regular soy), a couple tablespoons of lemon juice, lots of minced garlic, some sugar, and a handful of chopped herbs-- basil and cilantro (we also added half a jalopeno, some lemon thyme, and some lemon balm).

Along with some storebought bell peppers, chicken, and onions, we were able to use squash, zucchini, and our entire harvest of sugar snaps (2 pods) fresh from the garden in the meal. We also grew the herbs and the peppers! Yum!

Wind Damage

We had a bit of wind damage last night... lost several large branches off our oversized tomato plants. Michael went in this morning and wrapped the entire garden in twine to help support the heavy branches. It looks a little like what might happen if a careless spider got bored during its lunch preparations!

Things to Remember for Next Year

-Don't construct bed and sow seeds during manic phase

-Label plants

-Consider wagon-wheel shaped herb bed

-Zucchini and squash grow BIG

-Maybe we don't need to plant lots of cucumbers in every bed

-Huns' idea: Plant all tall veggies around fence line. Divide interior space into separate beds according to vegetable.

Garden of Eatin'

Our tomato plants now measure at least 6 feet tall, and they seem to be growing taller everyday. The harvest is slowly cranking up; we got about 8 or 10 squash from our squash plant, and as many greens as we could eat from our lettuce/mesclun/arugula/etc. bed. That stuff is starting to peter out as the tomatoes get round and red, and as more and more yellow blooms appear on the cucumbers.

Note to self: Don't plant potatoes and tomatoes in the same bed.