New Website, Weather, Food

Well, for those of you who know its domain name, I wanted to let you know that I've revamped my website.  I've pulled it off the local hosting service and moved it over to my "mobile.me" account w/ Apple.  That restricts the tools I can use to build and update the site, but it saves me $260 per year, so it's more than worth it.

If you follow the blog on my website, you'll need to re-subscribe to the RSS feed.  I plan to post there mostly, but there will be little stuff of a personal nature there.  I tend to focus that site more on my writing... especially the fiction.

The cold snap reached near Colorado-cold temps. Local roads closed.  Snow, etc., but we're through with that storm.  Now it's cold, but not terribly so.  Winter Solstice is in a couple of weeks.  Sheesh.

Made a pretty decent enchilada casserole a couple of nights ago.  Angel is off taking a yoga class, and I'm planning to heat up some of that casserole for dinner. Yes, it should be tasty.  Hatch enchilada sauce is available hear at The Edge.  That's nice.  It'd dark up here during the winter.  The chile reminds us of the sun.

Cold Weather

Well, it was inevitable, I suppose. Our daytime temps are now 38 degrees Obsolete. Nighttime gets near freezing and is forecasted to drop below several times this week.

The good part of this is the enjoyment of the fires in the wood stove. Our tiny Jotul stove burns cheerily, fueled by wood harvested from our property. In the course of a day, the stove makes the whole house comfortable; although we do run the modern heat pump to make the bedroom zone comfortable for about an hour in the morning.

I've taken to peeling the bark from our firewood, splitting the pieces to a good size for the Jotul, and stacking the wood on the front porch. That way the wood can dry (it's been raining here at the 48th parallel) before I try to burn it in the stove. In an hour or so, I can prep and stack enough wood for three days. There is enough firewood already cut and rough split for at least two years. There are stacked but un-split rounds for another three, I think.

That's all the good news.

The bad part of all this is, naturally, the dormant state of greenhouse and garden. I've shut off the water, drained the pipes down to the level of the hose bib, and removed the drip system "assembly" from the exterior wall of the greenhouse. Angel harvested the last of the fruit and vegetables from the greenhouse and cut the plants down to stubs.

If you don't think that is a sign of winter's proximity... well, I don't know what to tell you.

But the soil needs to rest, so perhaps this -- even the winter sleep -- is a good thing. Yes. It must be a good thing. But I'll tell you, I still miss the heat of the greenhouse on a July afternoon.

And There Are Still More

Today, I went out to tend the greenhouse and encountered a good pile of tomatoes ready to harvest. A red bell pepper and two ripe jalapenos chuckled in good-natured greeting. All-in-all, I think this is a pretty good haul for November 3.

We've had a couple of days of amazingly sunny weather. Yesterday our 4 KW PV array produced about 14 KWH of energy, and I think we may do something in that range again today (although there's now a gigantic splodge of bird poop on one of the panels, so until the next hard rain, the output will be sorely diminished).

Here at the 48th parallel, the sun does quite a seasonal zig-zag between north and south. At this point in the year, much of the arc of the sun's apparent path is obscured by large trees to the south (not our trees, else they'd be trimmed). This impacts our solar gain even on sunny days.

Soon the arc of the sun will matter less, because sunny days will be rare. From December through mid February, most days will be dark, and many days will be wet. A few may bring snow. But for now, the days are often mild and our greenhouse continues to yield food.  In the north garden, a new crop of lettuce nears harvest.

And winter rye, our cover crop for the main south garden is rushing from the rich, moist earth into the crisp air. Angel has just about finished winterizing the second south garden area. The blue sky calls.

The denizens of the rock answer according to their individual voices.

Disinformation Campaigns

A relative received an email about alleged claims to the effect that CFL's pose a fire risk when used under normal (i.e. intended) conditions.  I checked it out and found that it's listed under Snopes as a false rumor (you can click on the preceding text).

Here's a photo of the alleged offender:

It's amazing what people will do at the edge of the Rock.

A Second Crop?

Surprise of surprises, both the poblano plant and one of the bell pepper plants (these two share a pot... coincidence?) have put out a new set of blossoms.  The Old Amigo's been touching the flowers gently with the bristles of his greenhouse paintbrush.  There's pollen there!

There are a couple of new poblano chilies hanging from a high branch.  Similarly, there are two bells.  Of course the warm days will get rarer and rarer for the next four months.  It's not clear that the fruit can ripen under the conditions of October through December here at the Edge of the Wrong Rock.

Some of the greenhouse tomato plants are still producing and the fruit is still ripening, albeit slowly.  We also have five sweet "lipstick chilies" at or near picking ripeness.  The tiny super chilies continue to do fine.  Oh, and I've discovered that the jalapenos, if allowed to ripen to redness, actually develop a little heat of their own!

Angel's been clearing out the main garden.  Today she got it to the point where I could remove the drip system.  That's now safely coiled in the garage.  The intake and the supply outlet from the Assembly are both plugged to prevent dirt from getting inside the drip tubes.  If it's nice this weekend, I may turn a batch of our compost into the soil and plant winter rye.  Come February, we'll be ready to turn the soil again and plant 2011's garden!

The Latest in the Tea Party Sequence

Some of you will remember Mark's first Tea Party painting from 2005.  He's produced a new version, "Part D'uh."

I can't exactly say "enjoy" with regards to this piece, but it's definitely worth a look.

Don't drink the cool aid.

Equinox Harvest

Today, it's rainy at the Edge. This week and next, Angel & I are both teaching extra yoga classes -- filling in for teachers who are out of town. By the time we got back from our respective gigs, the cold wind was whipping up the bay and rain was sprinkling. Angel and a visiting friend of hers are cooking, baking, today. It appears a rhubarb pie might be in the offing.  I've built a fire in the wood stove.

Earlier, Angel and her friend went into the garden to dig potatoes, cut the last of the rhubarb, and gather some artichokes. As you can see, even at the fall equinox, even here at the Edge, the garden continues to produce. Dinner should be a satisfying affair tonight.

Artichokes, Potatoes, and Rhubarb, Oh My!

Krugman Article

Just read a NYT article by Paul Krugman. It's an opinion piece. Of course aren't they all these days?

Man, I bet he's on a few lists...

A Tasty Dinner

Dinner!

We bought two grass-fed buffalo steaks from a local "boutique" market. I grilled the steaks and some jalapenos over charcoal on the barbecue.

Angel cut fresh potatoes (we raised over 120 pounds of potatoes this year) into wedges, brushed them with olive oil, sprinkled them with spices, and put them in the oven. While the potatoes roasted, she pulled together a salad from (mostly) things we grew: tomatoes, broccoli shoots, lettuce. We got some radishes from the co-op.

As I've written elsewhere, the jalapenos weren't at all hot, but they had a great flavor.

Now that's a dinner.

Chilies From The Greenhouse... Two Hundred And Counting

The Top Section of a Double Boiler Containing 200 Chilies

Okay, so these are little guys -- the biggest of them about the size of your pinkie finger.

While they're not in the league of NM chilies, they're reasonably spicy and have a good flavor. Angel enjoys spicy food, but she has stomach problems that preclude chili-as-a-religious-experience levels of hotness. I usually put one of these (de-seeded) in a given dish. She tolerates that well and I get to think, to drift back in time...

Here's a Close-up!

Albert Fugere sent me the URL for a place in NM that sells several variety of chilies. Maybe next year I'll try some of those. I also grew poblanos and jalapenos but these came out about as mild as bell peppers. The jalapenos were at least flavorful -- especially after I roasted them over charcoal.

The Greenhouse seems to be a requirement for growing chilies at the 48th parallel. This year, I had an aphid infestation but it was manageable (each day I'd go out and pick 'em off my plants). Once the chilies began to ripen the aphids went away. Maybe they don't like chilies?  Serve 'em right.

Two hundred of these little guys add up to a lot of chilies. Not only that, I've got fifty or so more of them on the plants that aren't quite ripe yet. Someday I'd like to build a small (tabletop) solar food dryer that could manage a tray full of these chilies, but I'd need a table saw to do a good job with it. That's not going to happen; although I do have a neighbor who owns a table saw.  Maybe I could trade him some chilies if he'd do some cuts for me?

Anyway, these are small enough so that I can freeze them. We'll certainly have plenty to last through the winter.

relative investments

China is now the biggest investor in renewable energy & energy efficiency.

According to Grist, China invested $34.6B in 2009 while the US invested about 54% of that amount.  Anyone care to guess who's going to do better in the long run?

But don't fret, folks.  Shareholders in fossil fuel conglomerates will do just fine for quite a while yet.

Clean Sweep

With the Tea Party candidate knocking out the moderate Republican in the Delaware primary, we now have an interesting situation.  Now every Republican candidate in the 2010 US Senate race denies that our country needs to take action to combat global warming.  So despite the fact that the scientific community is all but unified in its findings, the Republicans find it expedient to ignore the published, refereed, results.

Here's a link to the Grist article.

Big Oil triumphs once more.

Happy Wednesday.

Chilies!

Harvested a couple of poblanos.  That's nice.  They're tasty but very mild.  OTOH, I also  harvested a bunch o' jalapenos.  Even they could use a bit o' oomph, but they're flavorful and have a hint of a kick to them.

Chilies on a Pie Plate

On a whim, I tried roasting the jalapenos (as well as the poblanos, of course).  I broke out the barbecue and charred the chilies over the coals.  The smoke took me back thirty-five years.  For a few minutes, I drove down Fisher Ave towards School of Mines Road.  For a few minutes, I imagined the lilt of women calling to each other in Spanish.  Their laughter mixed with the scent of roasting chilies.

Chilies Roasting in the Evening at the 48th Parallel

The jalapenos roasted surprisingly well.  I put all the chilies in a paper bag and rolled up the top.  After a while, I dumped the chilies onto the cutting board and, using a couple of salad forks, peeled the skin away.  Several of the chilies went into freezer bags.

More wait on the heavy branches of the jalapeno plants in my greenhouse.

Maybe it's the wrong rock.  Maybe not.

Wild Blackberry Pie

They're not natives, these invasive Himalayan blackberries. They're not native, but they grow very well here. In open areas, you have to manage them. I mow the meadow where they and some other hardy species try to take over. When we first moved here, the entire meadow was covered in obnoxious (some say noxious) thistles, wild blackberry canes, wild roses, large amounts of random detritus, and piles of dead weeds. It was a fire waiting to happen.

That first summer, I borrowed an industrial-strength weed whacker and took that stuff down. We had the gigantic "weedstack" hauled off. Now we manage the meadow.  At the height of the growing season, I mow it every other week. It's pretty. The neighbors enjoy it. The deer enjoy it. The crows mine for bugs in it. The folks who walk past on the hiking trail enjoy it. It's no longer a fire hazard.

So the meadow is clear, but along the boundaries, along the trail, many berry vines remain.

Yes, they're not natives, but there here. They've established a niche. They grow in our neighborhood. I probably don't know what I'm talking about, but now they seem to be roughly in balance with other wild plants. In other words, their vines seem neither to grow without bound nor to be on the verge of collapse.

Himalayan blackberries grow along the nature trails. They grow at the big, nearby state park. They grow in the common area of our neighborhood. And this time of year they produce sweet fruit.

Angel went out and gathered a couple of buckets' worth. That's right: she walked around the trails between here and the nearby state park. Then she brought them back and froze some. Others, she mixed with tapioca and simmered on the stove. Later, she made a wonderful pie.

Angel's Blackberry Pie

Here's a photo of the last slice:

Out Like A Lamb

I realize that summer isn't officially over until the Autumn Equinox (September 22nd). Even so, the end of August - in the Old Amigo's mind anyway - heralds the decline of the season. This year, August 31st is especially "fall-like" here at the 48th parallel: it's been raining since before dawn. Go figure.

Looking Through the Trees Toward Whidbey Island

Don't get me wrong. Weather such as we're enjoying today is perfect for many things: for cooking, for enjoying a cup of hot tea, for writing... I, for one, am taking a break as I work on the sequel to LQF. Doing "in-fill development" today.

Sequels are interesting: some sort of recap is necessary, as is some amount of character description. After all, I want reader who picks up the second novel first to be able to enjoy it as a quasi-independent story. At the same time, I want the second story to get going quickly enough to engage those folks who read the LQF.

More on this as I explore and write further.

Stay dry.  Stay warm.  Be well.

Compost!

Lately, Angel has taken to checking out the "free bin" at the local food co-op.  More often than not, there is something in the free bin that is perfectly fresh.  We're talking picture-perfect produce here.  Sometimes there's slimy stuff.  Slimy, but organic.  Angel often bags that and we either:

1. give it to a neighbor who keeps chickens, or 
2. compost it!

Of course we already compost our vegetable leftovers, kitchen scraps, and yard waste (we steer clear of noxious weeds).  We also have tubs (leftover  yoghurt tubs) that some of our neighbors take home and fill with their kitchen scraps.  In compost land, more is better.  Plus the neighbs seem very happy to do something other than toss their past-edible stuff in the trash.  


I've decided that people generally like you if you will take rotting food off their hands.  Anyway, according to the on-line magazine Grist, "the food we discard each year wastes more energy than we extract annually from the oil and gas reserves off the nation’s coastlines, according to New Scientist."  Hello?!


Here's a garage sale score for you: On a swing through the neighborhood on her way back from her Saturday AM yoga class, Angel spied a very cool, rotating composter in perfect condition at a local garage sale.  She walked in the door (I was, as usual, working on the next novel) and announced her find.  I leaped from the chair and said, "Let's go!"

The owners wanted roughly 20% of the retail price of this machine.  It now sits in the sun near our other compost bins.  For a long time, Angel & I have wanted to compare the performance of these rotating composters with our old stand-byes.  Now we can.  In fact, I'm going to dash out and give the barrel a few turns!

Bandits

We took our eggplant bushes out of the greenhouse to bask in what passes for summer sun here at the 48th parallel.  The eggplant fruit grew.  They were ready to harvest... at least that's what some local varmint(s) decided.  Night before last, all the fruit that was ready just disappeared.

The immature fruit was untouched.  The six tomato vines that are immediately adjacent to the eggplant bushes spot on the deck were untouched.  Those tomato vines are struggling in this climate, but they have fruit on them... several very nice, nearly ripe, red tomatoes.

Perhaps the varmints only like eggplant?

We're having trouble figuring out what sort of bandit would snag eggplants.

• Not rats.  The fruit wasn't gnawed, it was plucked and taken elsewhere for consumption.  
• Not deer.  The deer have (so far at least) not scaled the fence to come onto the deck.  Plus, very near the ill-fated eggplants, there are several sunflowers, and the deer just love those.  Plus, the deer don't pluck fruit; they eat the plant, the fruit, etc., from the top down.  
• Angel thought perhaps it was raccoons, but do those bandits eat eggplant?  My old friend, The Agriculturist, says that raccoons would have to be very hungry to eat eggplant.  Some of our neighbors keep chickens, and alas, the raccoons are seldom hungry.
• Crows?  (aka "flying rats" as the locals not-so-fondly call them).  Crows are crafty enough, I suppose, but it seems a stretch.

Anyway, the eggplant bushes are now safely ensconced in the greenhouse.  We learn, little-by-little, what works here at the edge of the continent.

Ah.  The sun has peeked out from behind the clouds.  The garden wakes, smiles.  The sun hides again... probably 'til afternoon.

CA Prop 23

You probably already know this, but the effort to kill CA's cap-and-trade law (AB 32) is funded almost exclusively by out-of-state oil interests.  The two biggest contributors to CA Prop 23 are Texas oil companies Tesoro and Valero.  The out-of-state forces are expected to raise $50M in their efforts to preserve business as usual.

What to expect:

• In this effort, Prop 23 backers will try to blame CA's economic troubles, including its unemployment rate, on liberals and radical environmentalists.  
• The backers of Prop 23 will neglect to mention the huge tax subsidies Big Oil and Big Coal already enjoy.  
• The backers of Prop 23 will neglect to mention the CA jobs that will evaporate if green energy startups are unable to compete with subsidized, established energy players.
• Prop 23 backers will try to establish a link in voters' minds between AB 32 and "out of touch politicians in Sacramento who want to raise your taxes."

In contrast, nearly all of the "No On Prop 23" funding is coming from CA "green-tech" businesses, venture capitalists, and environmental activists.

This is a battle between the old economy and the new economy.  Entrenched big (huge) business interests feel justifiably threatened at the possibility they could lose revenue if CA businesses become big players in the power biz. CA businesses at risk if Prop 23 passes include renewable energy startups, PV system installers, and R&D efforts.  And remember: oil dollars flow out of CA into TX and elsewhere.  In contrast, CA green tech companies bring money into the state, employ people in the state, pay taxes in the state.

If you'd like to read more, here's an article from Grist.  Disclaimer: Grist is a progressive on-line 'zine and this is reflected in its editorial positions.

Here Come the Zucchini!

Squashes & A Beautiful Red Cabbage

First the red cabbage: yesterday, Angel harvested a gorgeous red cabbage. We went to a potluck supper and she used the cabbage (and a couple of carrots picked at the same time) to make a delicious cole slaw. BTW, it was a vegetarian potluck and the variety and quantities of food were quite nice.

As you can see from the photo at the right, the squashes are ramping up. We've already eaten a few of the early  zucchini and yellow squashes and found them to be very tasty. Now more are coming on-line. In addition, we're starting to see some golden-yellow round squashes.

Interestingly, the deer rarely bother the squash plants.  They'll eat rose bushes, thorny stems and all, right down to the ground, but there's something about zucchini plants that causes the deer to look the other way. Works for me. Little-by-little, we learn to work with the local flora and fauna.

Angel and I both wish we could afford to terrace & fence the whole meadow and fill it with fruit trees. It would be a productive area as well as a wonderful place to hang out. That was part of the original plan, but of course plans change, don't they? Anyway, we're both very happy with the amount of produce we're already getting, and we do have four little fruit trees inside the fenced area behind the garage.

* * *

We're experiencing record temps up here at the edge.  The meadow area needs mowing, but I'm going to wait on it for a few days. The forecast is for milder temps by Wednesday or Thursday of this week. Yesterday, at about 10 AM, I mowed one of the flat parts of the property and it was already uncomfortably hot. Today's forecast calls  for even higher temperatures, so I'll go outside to water my tomato vines and will tend to my greenhouse chilies but am otherwise planning to stay in the shade as much as I can.

I will be teaching a yoga class tonight at the athletic club. It's especially fun to teach when it's warm in the studio (shucks, the Bikram folks pay money to do yoga in hot rooms); although I do have to be careful about standing up too quickly. It's generally considered poor form when the yoga teacher faints...

Potatoes Cranking... and the Zucchinis are Warming Up

Potatoes and One of This Year's 1st Zukes

The garden continues to thrive.  We're in the midst of a "hot spell."  That means sunny skies and temps in the high seventies to low eighties Fahrenheit.  Don't hurt yourself laughing, please.  This is the way people look at weather here at the 48th parallel.  Here, at the edge of the continent.

The usual partly-to-mostly cloudy skies have finally become a bright, clear blue.  I've taken all four tomato plants out of the greenhouse and put them on our south-facing deck.  They are thirsty all the time.  They bask in the sun and the heat reflected from the deck and south-facing wall of the house.

The chilies are still in the greenhouse.  They seem to love the heat; although I'm watching the watering carefully.  Plants in pots just don't leave that much margin for error.  My slow-to-start jalapenos have gotten very busy and are now big stars.  I think it's getting near the time for me to harvest my poblanos.  The super chilies (which I had better names for them) are ripening.

Does anyone know how best to dry chilies?  How to freeze them?

We've had maybe ten artichokes so far.  Earlier today, Angel counted twenty-one more artichokes on the plants.  Some are nearly ready to eat, but others are just starting.  That means we'll probably have them for another month or two.

All this is good, but the potatoes are wonderful.  They have contributed to many meals.  Angel often pulls five or more pounds of potatoes from the gardens in a single day.  We've been giving some away to neighbors and friends, and it's now to the point that we think we can start saving a few in some shelves down in the basement.

And now, the zucchinis and yellow squash are starting to come.  Some people say they get tired of zucchini.  I don't know about that.  Last year we had a lot of zucchini and I never grew tired of them.

There is more: carrots, some beets, some beautiful red cabbage... kohlrabi, bell peppers.  The list goes on.

When I spent those months of hard work building garden beds, hauling dirt, sifting dirt, mixing in compost, I sometimes became discouraged.  I kept telling myself I would only have to do all that heavy work one time.  I told myself the gardens would give us lots of pleasure and that they would not be too difficult to maintain.

Sometimes wishful thinking and stubborn optimism are an effective approach!

The Chilies Are Coming!

Super Chili Plant.  There are four such.

Jalapenos, Poblanos, and "Super Chilies" are all ripening.  Bell peppers aren't far behind.

The First Three "Super Chilies"

Last night, I harvested the first three "supers." They're very hot... Somewhat reminiscent of Thai Chilies; although they seem bigger.  They'd probably shrink up if I were to dry them.  To use them in our dinner, I de-seeded the chilies and cut them into strips (I handled the chilies with rubber gloves on!).

Then I added a mango that Angel bagged from the "free bin" at the local food co-op.

A splash of white wine, some fresh basil, and just a hint of garlic completed the concoction.

I put a boneless, skinless chicken breast into this delightful mix and baked the whole thing at 350 Degrees Obsolete.

Some organic brown rice and two, just-picked squash (a zuccini and a yellow) rounded out the dinner.  To prep the squash, I cut it into large-ish pieces.  Then I put it in a Corningware dish.  I used oregano, a dash of "all purpose seasoning" (no MSG), a splash of olive oil, and just enough water to spread the other things around before covering the dish and cooking the veggies in the microwave for two minutes.

Below, you can see our Poblano plant.  Haven't harvested any of these beauties yet, but I think that day is getting near!

Here's a close shot of our Poblano Plant

Rhubarb

Rhubarb from the North Side Garden

Angel harvested these and cooked them up for her mom.  From all reports, they were very tasty.  Later, we harvested more and experimented with a couple of new recipes.  The Old Amigo thought the results were fine, but Angel wasn't satisfied with her efforts.  There will be more rhubarb for other attempts!

Summer at the 48th Parallel

Today is a day of great beauty.

By seven AM, the sky was already clear, bright, blue.  Even so, a heavy fog bank hunkered down at the Admiralty Inlet.  Whidbey Island was completely obscured.  Ships blared their great fog horns.

"I am here!"
"As am I!"
"As am I!"

It is now past eleven.  The day gets brighter and brighter.  Time to water the chilies and tomatoes in the greenhouse.  Then, the workshop in the garage for attention.  I plan to answer.  I look forward to it.

Greenhouse Update

Chilies are mostly thriving.  The poblano chilies are especially big and plentiful.  The "Super Chilies" are prolific.  The jalapenos are so-so: good looking fruit but not so plentiful.  The bell peppers are coming along.

The heirloom tomatoes are progressing nicely; although I still don't know if we'll get enough sun for them to thrive (even with the greenhouse!).  The tomato plants (there are four) all look very good though, and all the plants are starting to get fruit.

The eggplants are struggling.  They are the hardest hit by aphids, and the infestation seems to have weakened the plants.  They are getting blossoms, but so far I haven't seen any fruit.

The whole "aphid thing" is interesting.  Sort of the way a root canal is interesting: it's annoying and uncomfortable, but it definitely focuses your attention.  I've heard several people complain about aphids, so the problem is widespread in the area. Outdoor plants as well as greenhouse plants are under siege.

It turns out that aphids don't like tomatoes.  I have yet to see a single aphid on any tomato leaf.  Recently, I read in an organic gardening magazine that tomato leaves contain a chemical that's toxic for aphids and that you can even make a spray of the ground-up leaves and it'll kill aphids.  Haven't verified this, but the little suckers (literally) do seem to leave the tomatoes alone.

The aphids get on the chili plants, but the chilies seem able to tolerate the infestation. The smooth texture of the leaves makes it pretty easy to spot the aphids and wipe 'em off, so that probably helps the plants too. I've been manually removing aphids on a daily basis for a few weeks now (not that much fun, but I want those chilies).

In contrast the aphids are ruining the eggplants. I've tried a few "organic" control strategies and while the plants are still alive, they are not doing well at all.  Also, the fuzzy, mottled texture of the eggplant leaves make it harder to remove the pests by hand. Go figure. I worry a little that the aphid infestation on the eggplants is serving as a "pest vector" for the chilies, but that might just be my imagination.

I tried to buy some ladybugs at the local garden center. Aphids are ladybugs' favorite food.  Well, actually I did buy some ladybugs. Trouble is, they keep ladybugs in a refrigerator at the garden center. The ladybugs get cold and hibernate or something like that. Then you don't have to feed them. Allegedly, you just warm them up, they start wiggling and then they're ready to chow down on the aphids.

Trouble is, these ladybugs spent too long in the 'fridge, so most of them weren't hibernating. About 90% of them (maybe more) were just plain dead. Dead ladybugs do nothing to address an aphid infestation. I got maybe eight or ten ladybugs out of the whole batch and only about four of them are really, actively cruising the plants and eating aphids. Admirable, but insufficient.

The good news is that we have a customer-centric, honest garden center here at the edge of the continent. Yesterday I collected as many dead ladybugs as I felt like messing with and returned them to their little container.  I took my container of dead ladybugs and my receipt back to the garden center.  The nice people at the garden center apologized (several times) and refunded my money: $10 plus tax... bugs are expensive!

The people at the garden center have ordered a fresh batch of ladybugs. It's late in the "ladybug season" so they're not sure they can get any, but they offered to call me if some come in.  I still may pick some tomato plant leaves, whip them into a froth with the blender and try spraying them on the other plants, but I haven't decided if that's a good idea or not.

Stay Tuned.

Summer?

Well, we had two glorious days.  One of them was even hot!  This AM, however, is foggy.  I can hear at least three foghorns out on Puget Sound.  Condensation is dripping down the roof of the greenhouse.

Yesterday was the annual, Jefferson County "solar tour."  This was the first year I participated (Angel was off visiting her mom, so I was on my own with the public).  Unlike today, yesterday was bright and sunny -- perfect for people to come and look at the PV array and hear about things like efficient windows; closed-loop, ground-source heat pumps; extra insulation in the attic; and so on.

At least I won't have to water the outdoor gardens today!

Locust Queen's Feast Now Live on Amazon

Well, it seemed like it took forever, but the novel is finally available on Amazon.  It was a fun project.  Tons of work, but definitely one of the most fun things I've ever tackled.  I hope everyone who decides to buy a copy loves it, but of course that's not a realistic wish.  But then neither was the wish that led to the novel.

Season's First Potatoes

Tonight, after my yoga class, our dinner will include some potatoes Angel harvested just a few minutes ago.  The spuds are doing very well -- we have multiple beds.  We may just end up with enough potatoes to last us well beyond our growing season!

Note that these beauties are piled on a platter that's significantly bigger than a typical dinner plate.

LQF Update

2nd iteration of proof ordered today.  Just rec'd email from company indicating that proof has shipped, so I'm hoping it'll arrive by next Thursday or Friday (July 1 or 2).  If it's okay -- and I really hope it's okay at this point.  It should take but a few minutes to "throw the switch" and make the book available on Amazon.com.

Fingers crossed.  Not holding my breath, of course.

Pollinating Chili and Tomato Plants

Although chilies and tomatoes have "complete" flowers (both male & female parts), in the outdoors, these plants are helped along by visiting insects.  To the right is a pot containing four jalapeno starts.  They've about tripled in size since I planted them.

The white plastic pipe things are some of my experiments at under-surface watering my potted plants.  The verdict's not in on that, but my idea is that by watering just beneath the surface, I can keep the soil more uniformly moist in a hot greenhouse.

To the left are some pots containing "super chilies" (whatever those are).  They're thriving and beginning to put out blossoms.


I spent quite a bit of time searching around for advice on pollinating these plants.  Do you need to help?  What's a good technique.  After reading several articles and watching some funny and slightly strange videos, I've reached the conclusion that if you're growing these plants in a greenhouse, you should definitely get into the pollination business.

On the right is my poblano plant.  It's easily the largest so far!


The best videos (IMO) were from a couple of guys who, from their accents, I assume to be in the UK. Here's a link to a vid they've posted on YouTube.  The vid talks about chilies, but I think that the technique will work just as well for tomatoes and eggplant.  These guys have a YouTube channel called The Chili Guys, which is worth a visit.

Garden Update

The plants in the greenhouse continue to thrive.  Today I put tomato frames around the three smallest plants (the largest plant already had one).  All four plants look very strong.

Several of the chili plants have blossoms.  I read that chilies growing in a greenhouse need to be hand-pollinated, so that little job is coming up.  All the articles I read claim that it's not a big deal: you use a small, clean paintbrush -- like you'd use on a watercolor painting -- and rub it around on the flowers of each plant.  That should be manageable.  Hopefully, two or three blossoms will open at any given time on each plant so it'll be easy to do the pollination thing.

The three eggplants appear to be recovering from the slug onslaught that got them transplanted from the outside garden to the greenhouse.  Even the most damaged has a new leaf, so I think it'll make it.  The other two, less-ravaged plants are much bigger and have more new growth.

The bell peppers (six or seven plants) seem to be developing more slowly than the chilies.  The plants look vibrant and healthy, so I think it's just a difference in the way these plants develop rather than an indication of a problem.

Outdoors, the potato plants are enormous.  I think we'll have a fantastic crop.  We're getting broccoli from the garden too.  Not a lot, but some, and it's good.  We've had bok choi, parsley, kale, and spinach.

 Oh, and did I mention the salad greens?

Brief Update on LQF

Rec'd notice today that the proof copy has been shipped.  It'll probably be a week and a half 'til it arrives, but I can hope for a faster turnaround.

Dang, this is exciting.

Broccoli and Poulsbo

Last night, as part of our dinner, we enjoyed some fresh broccoli from the garden. It was tasty as only garden-fresh can be and there is plenty more still growing. This little bit you see at the right is just one part of last night's harvest. We ate a lot of the plant's leaves as well.

I usually cook broccoli in the microwave. I cut it up in to bite-sized pieces and sprinkle it with garlic powder and a dash of garlic salt. Then I splash a little bit of olive oil on it and follow the olive oil with a little bit of water. I make sure to run the tap right on top of the splash of olive oil so the oil is scattered and (mostly) ends up in the water at the bottom of the casserole dish.

Then, I put the cover on the dish and microwave the broccoli. This way the water boils and diffuses the olive oil throughout the food. The flavor combination is spectacular!



Today, we drove down to Poulsbo. There's a Home Depot there and I wanted to get some clay pots for the greenhouse. I have a lot of plants going now, and I've used up nearly all of my clay pots and am making do with some reclaimed pots from shrubs we've purchased at the nursery. Hard to tell if these are "food grade" pots or not. The terra cotta pots are good quality and US made, so I'm hoping there's been some appropriate health regulations followed...

In addition to everything else I've got going, I now have three eggplant bushes in the greenhouse.  These were in the garden, but something had been eating them. Also it's also not quite warm enough here for eggplants to flourish. I think these guys will recover. We'll see.

Oh, and my prize poblano chili plant is now over a foot tall!

A Slight Detour

To be perfectly honest, I prefer to write about gardens and greenhouses, irrigation systems and energy conservation programs.  It's also fun to write about interesting books or films or even tasty recipes.  Politics is grim territory, but sometimes I feel compelled to write in that space too.  Politics comprises much of that which makes this Rock feel, well... Wrong.

A couple of teeny-tiny facts from the financial pages:

1. 30,000 Americans -- that's about 1/100 of one percent of the population -- now pull down 6% of all income.  The gap between the richest of the rich and everybody else wasn't that egregious even at the end of the "Roaring 20's."
2. At the Federal Level, there are three times as many lobbyists representing the financial sector alone, as there are elected representatives in Congress.
3. Only Singapore and Hong Kong have a greater gap between rich and poor than the United States.
4. Twenty-one percent of American children are now living in poverty.  That's now.  Today.  That's here, not in some third-world country.

The notion, widely propagated by the Tea Baggers, is that the US has become a socialist state. Strident voices have told my own family members that "our children are being indoctrinated in Stalinist political thought." The data do not support that assertion.  We are becoming, we have become a plutarchy.  We are ruled not by law, but by the desires of the rich and powerful.

Perhaps we are not even a plutarchy.  It may be that we are more of a "lootocracy" -- a state that is ruled by looters.  After all, even plutocrats want to preserve the system that supports them.  Lootocrats merely grab and move on.  The notion of a plague of locusts comes to mind.

But I digress.

I add to these disturbing revelations the recent shenanigans of the Texas school board: a deliberate and concerted attempt to rewrite American history in such a way that young people are exposed to extreme right-wing propaganda, a deliberate and concerted attempt to weaken the barrier between church and state and imply that Christianity is indeed the official religion of these United States.  They even tried to downplay the role of Thomas Jefferson in US history, but they backed off that (for now).

This followed Texas education requirements that demand the teaching of evolution as "theory."  Texas school children will be exposed to creationism as though it were a competing scientific point of view.

We might shrug.  "That's just Texas," we might like to think.  But it's not: Texas is the largest, single textbook market in the country.  Textbook publishers are unlikely to make one version of books for Texas and another for the rest of the US.  The Texas school board is well aware of that.

In my opinion, the deliberate attempt to undermine the education of generations is a crime beyond that of mere greed.  In an ever more complex and competitive world, a deliberate attempt to damage our children's understanding of science and the natural world, of economics, of religion; a deliberate attempt to undermine critical thinking... these are crimes that aid and abet our enemies.

Finally, I offer the opinion that much of the purpose of government is to level the playing field, to keep the rich and powerful from stomping on the needs, let alone the dreams, of everyone else.  I also note that there is an ever-present drone from the corporate media -- and that's entertainment media as well as "news" media: the government is the problem.  Reagan may have popularized the chant, but he hardly invented it.

So we, as a society are being taught to distrust and despise the only part of the system that stands between us and serfdom.

The upshot of all this is that we are thrown back upon ourselves for support.  We must rely on our neighbors, our colleagues, our friends for information.  Regional economies (the drum I so often beat) are the systems that stand a chance of changing the course of events.  Only there can we find accountability.  Only there can we expect the integrity born of local reputation.

That's one reason why you should grow the biggest garden you can.  Share the food you grow with your neighbors.  

Maybe gardening isn't your thing?  That's okay.  Learn to bake bread.  Learn to weave wool into yarn.  Learn to make basic useful furniture.  Share what you know.  Share what you produce.  Share what you learn.

You can do these things.  We can do these things.

Okay.  Back to our regular programming.

The Garden So Far

Angel has been keeping a "Garden Diary" of what we're harvesting.  So far, everything has come out of the main garden area.  Here's a table of the harvest so far.

Date	Harvest
5/22	arugula, spinach
5/24	bok choi
5/25	two, large heads of lettuce
5/25	cilantro, spinach, arugula
5/29	two heads of lettuce, spinach, arugula
5/31	Swiss chard, beet tops, spinach
6/2	arugula, parsley, two heads of lettuce
6/4	collard greens
6/6	parsley, arugula, cilantro, two heads of lettuce
6/9	parsley, arugula, cilantro, three heads of lettuce

This isn't too bad for a garden at the edge of the continent.  It's raining again today.  The greenhouse is comfortable, however.  Hopefully the chilies and tomatoes will hang in there until we get some significant sun.  

The latest forecast is for a sunny weekend.

More Birds... More Bugs... More Vegetables

A long time ago this area was a horse ranch, so there are old fence fragments here and there. We've noticed that the numbers of wild birds and bees and beneficial insects seemed lower than we expected in a semi-rural area. Angel has been on a mission to make the surrounding area more bird and bee-friendly. It's beginning to pay off. The actions she's taken are modest:

1. We had an old sink, very shallow. I mounted it on an old fence post in the open space behind the house.  Instant bird bath.  It's up high, so the birds feel safe from predators. They obviously enjoy it.
2. Planting more flowers on the property. Many species do extremely well here. They require weeding and a little irrigation in the summer months. Some of the flowers produce seeds that the birds find especially tasty.
3. Adding flowers to the vegetable garden. This brings in a wider variety of insects. Some of those insects are predators for others that we consider to be pests.
4. I cleared some of the overgrown areas  that border our property. The city doesn't have resources for this sort of thing, so that's the way we do things at the edge of the continent. Most, perhaps all, of what I cleared are invasive species. The cleared areas provide places for birds to hang out. Deer too (mixed feelings about those, but I can handle it).
5. Occasional scattering of wild bird seed.

Anyway, we're seeing more birds, more bees & wasps, more lady-bugs, etc. It's good. We've draped netting over the main vegetable garden. The small birds zoom through it without problem. They eat bugs and leave. The crows and ravens hate the netting and avoid going beneath it. This is good because they will tear out new shoots and shred larger plants. I've discussed it with the crows, but they just laugh. Hence the netting.

Lots of fun for all concerned.

Worm-zilla!

The last three days have found Angel and me outdoors for much of the time.  The individual tasks were numerous, strenuous and, ultimately, satisfying.  In the course of moving some plants that were doing very well (and thus crowding one another), Angel came across a superb specimen of Lumbricus Terrestris -- the Night Crawler.  The worm appeared to be healthy and active.  Since these critters are able to stretch and contract wriggle, it's hard to say exactly how big it was, but it's easily seven inches long.

After thinking about it and looking at this monster, we decided to take some photos.  That's a big worm!  We were very careful with the worm and don't think we damaged it. I guess that particular flower bed is a paradise for worms.  We've found several large, fat ones, but never before have we encountered any this big.

As evidenced by our garden's output and the number and fatness of the worm population, the soil is getting better.  We've added many, many cubic yards of Roger's Magic Dirt to the sifted, scimpy stuff that passes for topsoil in this region.  I've carted tons (literally, I think) of rocks out of flower beds and garden areas.

As I've mentioned in the past, we have two bins in the main garden area, and they're going continuously.  They've produced several cubic yards of nicely composted kitchen scraps and garden waste.  We have some containers in the greenhouse and some of our neighbors donate their kitchen waste too.  This stuff is slightly gross to work with at first, but eventually it cooks down to some very nice soil amendment... or worm food (depending on your point of view).

Oh, and I've taken to collecting the clippings from our meadow area.  I mow that every other week, roughly, and a single mowing produces more than a cubic yard of vegetation.  That is wet and green and composts very hot, but so far I haven't risked using it in any area where we are trying to grow food.  Still, it is fine to use in the bottoms of new flower beds or to fill in low spots in the meadow.

At the end of the photo-op, we put the worm back where we found him.

Tomatoes Calling

Time to get outside and start some heirlooms in pots.  We can do cherry tomatoes outside, but like chilies, full-sized tomatoes need the extra warmth of the greenhouse.  I've been doing quite a lot of greenhouse planting in the last week, and it is incredibly enjoyable.  Not sure why, but it just makes me happy.

Okay time to get to it.

More Rain!

Well, May sloshed its way into history.  We had a few hours of nice weather this afternoon.  Angel and I dashed out into it and did some yard work.  Then we went to (our opinion) the best place in town for pizza (I can count no fewer than five pizza places here in this tiny village at the Edge of the continent).  Our favorite place is actually a complete Italian restaurant that also offers pizza.  But I digress.

I played some guitar this evening while I listened to the weather worsen back into the latest wave of rain and wind.  Our garden is very wet at this point.  What began as a gift of lots of water for our vegetables is now getting worrisome. At least the warmer weather and gentle breeze dried things out slightly before this latest wave hit.

OTOH, my chile plant in the greenhouse seems to be thriving.  The pot is large, so today I added a "Lipstick Red" bell pepper and an unknown bell pepper from some of last year's seeds.  There are three little chile plants.  I wish I had more hot chilies, but I know that I should focus my attention on making those I already have succeed.

Angel ordered some small fruit trees.  They should show up RSN.  Their new homes are ready.  Tonight at dinner we realized that we are close to turning the corner from "yard looks like a messy disaster" to "that's a pretty nice yard."  Of course there's lots more to go.  Still, it's good to see real progress.

The forecast calls for rain tomorrow, partly cloudy on Thursday, and more rain on Friday.  I hope we get some sun soon!!!

Update on LQF

It took an iteration (and Photoshop help from Angel to get the cover resolution right) but I can now submit content and cover art to CreateSpace and have it meet their requirements. In fact I could order a proof copy right now. I don't plan to, however.

Pen in hand, Angel is reading through the prototype volume printed for me by AKS. Alas, she continues to find typos, but not too many. Still, I want LQF to be as good as it can be, so I'm going to wait for her to finish this pass and make the edits. Then I'll resubmit.

In other, related news, I spent much of this rainy day drawing a map of Soapstone Bay. Once it's scanned in, I plan to make it available on my "other website" (you know how to find it). I thought it would be nice to be able to print out a copy of the map and trace the roads where the action takes place in that little, northeastern seaport on another world.

Storms

I like winter storms... in winter. As I type this, the rain is falling steadily & heavily at about a 45 degree angle. Wind and rain at the end of May. Weird.
On and off, but mostly on, for over a week now, we've had rain, rain, rain.
At first I thought it was great because our lettuce is doing well and we haven't had to water, but now Angel and I are beginning to worry that everything will be waterlogged.
Forecast is for rain through Thursday.
I have a chile plant growing in the greenhouse. Of course the plant isn't getting much sun (!) but at least I can control the amount of water it's receiving.
This evening I am on the schedule to teach a "gentle yoga" class at the athletic club. I wonder how many people will come out in the unseasonably wet, windy weather. Given a choice, I'd certainly stay in by the fire!

Update

Not too many posts recently.  Been working on "the novel."  Actually submitted all the materials for review today, so theoretically I could have a prototype within a week.  Exciting.  I figure that if fifty or a hundred of my friends buy a copy and write good reviews on Amazon, well, maybe that'll be enough to generate sales.  We'll see, won't we?

Other news:

1. A few days ago I put a poblano chlie plant start in a pot in our greenhouse. The little guy seems to be doing okay so far. Cool, gray, and rainy today, though.  Made a possibly clever, undersurface watering system for that pot. It'll help me distribute the water evenly and in a controlled (repeatable) manner. So far so good.
2. The overall garden is looking better this year than last. The winter cover crop (nitrogen fixing winter rye) coupled with the compost we cooked up and turned into the soil seem to have improved things. Lots of salad greens up and usable already. Need to add some zucchini starts asap.
3. Lyn planted lots and lots of potato plants. They seem to be thriving. Allegedly, deer won't eat them (poisonous leaves & stems) but she planted them inside the fence anyway.
4. Sold some of my gear. Thanks to those who purchased it! Received my new studio monitors. They are much better than the combo of the crappy old power amp and speakers that I've used for the past decade. I'd like to sell more, but don't know if/when that will happen.
5. Gradually I hope to migrate people over to my website and the blog there.  The website is in a transition phase right now. Once the novel is in place, I'll change the site over to focus completely on my writing and music and will remove the references to my services as a tech writer & consultant (not that those generated any business).

Sunup in SLO Town

More crowded than on my last remembered visit. A bit more Disney-ated as well. Buzzy, even. And of course there's the gyno-lawyer-investor class, their mates, their offspring... their Rolls Royces, their Mercedes...  Still, it was a pleasant visit.

It is always good to visit old friends, always powerful to tread upon the footsteps of our vanished youth.

The Locust Queen's Feast

Thinking about going the self-publishing option. I've been trying to get an agent to look at my book for a couple of months now. It appears that it's not even interesting enough to consider, as most will not even respond to my queries. Pretty weird. It doesn't seem that bad to me.

Angel says I should go ahead with self-publishing. CreateSpace.com offers lots of services. You can spend a lot of money and get a lot of help or you can spend a tiny bit of money and do it all yourself. It's clear that per-volume charges are better with them than with Lulu.com

Some of the the stuff looks do-able. Fun, even. The whole business of doing the layout and providing print-ready PDF myself seems a little daunting, however. I think I can do it, but I'm not even sure what the standards are:

6"x9"? 5.5" x 8.5"? New Times Roman, 12 Pt? Wingbats 11? (I just made that up). And what about margins?

And should I pay someone to do a professional editing job on it? How do I find somebody to do that? Don't even get me started on cover art! My abilities there run somewhere between juvenile and pathetic.

Multilayered Mulching & Drip System

Here is a sketch that shows the way we've layered the mulching system. The drip tube, with its in-line emitters, lies directly on the topsoil. We amended the topsoil earlier in the year. We layered straw (untreated w/ fungicides or any other nasties) above the drip tubes. Then we laid several sheets of newspapers down on the straw and wet it to hold it down. Finally we added a layer of organic compost from the garden store. The compost is heavy and holds everything else in place.

So far I've got about half the garden mulched. Angel has started planting in that half. We had a late (and very strong) storm blast through starting Thursday night. While the layering was perturbed by the high winds, the overall mulching system mostly stayed in place.

To keep down costs, I've piled most of the top layer of mulch in rows above the drip tubes. All you have to do to plant is poke through the newspaper and push the straw aside. I've saved some big pieces of cardboard that we can use to cover the paths between the rows.

This should keep the weeds under control while it helps maintain soil moisture. We'll see how it works.

Data

Here's some energy use data from the 48th parallel.

Note that from Nov '08 until the middle of Feb '09, we had Angel's mom visiting. That meant the guest quarters had to be heated to a comfortable level for an octogenarian. It meant that the big TV out there was running all day and most of the night.

The energy use data for the winter we just finished was noticeably better, but I think this is interesting from the point of view of three adults living here.

Remember that, apart from some site-harvested wood that we burned in the (smallest we could find) wood stove, this represents our total energy use.

It's worth noting that during the July 1, 2008 - June 30, 2009 "Fiscal Year", we generated a total of 4719 KWH. This resulted in a production payment of $707.85 from PSE to us.

Home Energy Units Conversion Table

It seems to me that the most common units in which (US) home energy use is expressed are BTU's, Therms, Gallons of Propane, Kilowatt Hours, and Cords of Wood. When I try to analyze our own energy use, I found myself converting between these units. For the past few days I've been thinking that it might be good to have a simple table that focuses on the relationships between these units.

So, here it is:

If you have time and are so inclined, please take a look at the table and spot-check my entries. I'd appreciate hearing about any errors I made in setting it up.

Thanks!

Two, So Far

We've had two showings since we signed the papers last Thursday. The first was some locals who are (allegedly of course) seriously looking. The second was for a realtor. If I understand the data right, this particular realtor was the top seller in the area last year, so her visit is perhaps significant.

Angel & I have poured hours and hours of work into the place and it looks great. Today I mowed most of the "meadow area" down towards the nature trail. This is on a gentle hillside and is probably at least a quarter of an acre. Even with a self-propelled mower, it's hard on the knees. This was the first spring mow, so the change is quite noticeable.

No feedback as yet on either showing. We've officially entered limbo, I guess, but so far it's okay. I have a lot of thoughts about my age and the situation in which we find ourselves, but you can imagine that for yourself if you're interested.

I've got a couple of tasks to accomplish in the short term:

1. Since we've put closets in both of the former "offices" in the main house, these spaces are now considered bedrooms. That means they need smoke detectors. That's a small, manageable job; although smoke detectors aren't free of course.
2. All of our downspout pipes feed a groundwater recharge pit downhill from the main house. One of the downspout pipes is about 18" too short and the large diameter (4", 6"? I must measure) PVC pipe it feeds needs a cap with a hole in it. This is probably an easy job... as long as I don't drop the drainpipe segment down into the larger PVC pipe!
3. I need to mow the surrounding areas that I maintain. North of our house is a fairly steep hillside. Left alone, it gets 6' high underbrush that's a huge, potential fire hazard. Two years ago I cut it back and now I mow it several times each year. Also, the area near the nature trail at the east side of the property needs mowing. The City certainly can't afford to take care of it, so I also maintain that bit (as do most of the property owners along the trail).
4. Cardboard that we were going to use as mulch in the vegetable garden paths needs to be cut up and bundled for recycling pickup. It would work great, but it's just not that visually attractive.
5. Biggest job: continue the landscaping project out near the street. I don't want to put in another irrigation circuit down there, but it needs to look neater than it does right now. Curb appeal, and all that.

You can see from this that there isn't a lot left to do. Limbo is a strange place. We need to keep the house up. We need to do what we can to make it just as appealing as possible, but we must also distance ourselves emotionally from the home we put so much effort (and savings!) into building. As I said, it's strange.

The Train Is Rolling

We signed the papers to list our home on Thursday afternoon.

Friday evening we had our first showing. From early feedback, the showing went "extremely well." Of course we don't have an offer as a result of the showing, so that's a relative term. Still, had the people reacted strongly to the price point (about 80% of what we paid for the place), we'd have heard about it, so that's a positive.

This coming Thursday is a big real estate broker/agent tour. A very few items remain to be done, but it already shows very well, so there are grounds for guarded optimism. In the meantime, we're trying to live in our home and enjoy it. Obviously, we'll undertake no large projects, but we will proceed with a vegetable garden and a few visually pleasing plantings on the deck. The garden factors so visibly and readily in the yard, that anyone interested in our house would almost certainly be interested in the garden, the greenhouse, the new drip irrigation system, and so on.

This is naturally somewhat traumatic, but Angel & I are about as confident as possible that it is the right move. After two years of looking for work and getting nowhere, it is time to try sunnier climes. The Venerable Friendly One has some friends in other states... and – just perhaps – a semi-viable professional network.

In the meantime, I've learned a lot about building things and landscaping. Expensive tuition, yes, but it is likely to work out well. Little is lost by hoping for the best.

Two New Terraced Areas!

Several days' worth of heavy work came to fruition last evening. We now have two new retaining walls in the steep area north of our garage. I've back-filled the space behind the walls and done the heaviest part of the soil prep.

These photos were taken at about 10:45AM today, March 18, 2010. You can see that the newly-plantable / newly-usable areas are mostly in the sun. Since we're not yet at the Spring Equinox, I think we can expect a good six months of sunshine on these areas.

In addition to hauling the blocks over from where the hardware store guys dropped them off (south side, near a longer, taller retaining wall), I had to cut the bottom rows into the contours of the land so that the tops would come out level. I did that using a variety of implements. Much of that work was accomplished while kneeling on the ground (those little foam pads from the garden store are real knee-savers).

Once the blocks were stacked and leveled, I had to move soil into place. That was piled up from the garden path excavation in the foreground of the shot to the left. I wanted to make sure that I filled both new terraces to about the same depth, so I filled part of the bottom terrace, then the top one, and then finished the bottom area.

Finally, I dug the dirt back out (yes, I really did) so that I could sift the rocks to the bottom of the deepest spots at the back surface of the retaining walls. This helps with drainage while making the top layer of soil nicer for planting. Leaning against the dozen leftover landscape blocks, you can see my "sifter" in the photos. That thing sure has seen lots of use!

I'm really pleased at how this came out. We need to decide what to plant. Since this entire area is protected from the marauding deer, we might put fruit trees or blueberries against the fence.

Now that I've had a successful drip irrigation project in the main garden, I'm thinking that I will want to add another drip system for these terraced areas. First, though, I need to bring a few inches of Roger's Magic Dirt (aka the topsoil piled on the driveway) to bring the usable soil up to near the tops of the blocks.

Once we have the soil in place, we'll lay in the drip tubes and then plant. We'll lay landscape fabric all around and cover that with shredded bark mulch. The combination of the drip irrigation, landscape fabric and mulch should make this area attractive, productive, and low-maintenance.

Today, however, I need to rest. I pushed very hard to finish this project before Angel returned from her trip East. Knees, elbows, wrists, ankles, and lower back have all protested vociferously. Last night I had to teach my active yoga class at the local athletic club. The pain was ridiculously intense. But, hey, at six decades and counting, that's okay.

My joints and muscles will be happy in a day or two. I am already happy.

But then you knew that, didn't you?

Drip System In The Garden

Here's the "Assembly" mounted on the exterior wall of the greenhouse. The old "Y" Hose Fitting at the left side of the Assembly needs to be replaced. It leaks. That's okay; it's so old I don't even remember where it came from. I think maybe I just found it left behind somewhere I once lived. Now I know why it was left behind.

Also, it's hard to see in the photo, but I've put wooden standoffs between the Assembly and the greenhouse. This lets air get around the Assembly so things can dry out. I'm also hoping that it'll make it easier to remove the Assembly in advance of winter freezes should that become necessary.

In the photo to the right, you can see some of the drip tubes. This is near the "head end" of the drip system. These are half-inch (roughly) drip tubes w/ in-line emitters. I think they're ideal for vegetables planted in rows.

I didn't happen to take a photo of the head of the drips system. I've used a collection of T's in a solid header pipe to feed the laterals that you can see in the photo. The header pipe is fed by short garden hose that goes under the circum-garden path.

In the photo below, you can see the terminated ends of several of the drip tubes. These in-line emitter tubes have built in pressure regulation. If you supply them with water within their spec'd pressure range, all the built-in emitters drip at their spec'd flow rate. That's 0.5 GPH for my system.

You might notice that the spaces between the rows aren't constant. That's because I decided to put some paths in the garden area. I'll probably stake cardboard down in those areas to keep the soil from being compacted too much.

The drip lines, both the header and the laterals, are held in place with some little hold-downs I made from old wire coat hangers. I cut each hanger into four, roughly equal pieces and bent each piece around a scrap of 1/2" PVC tube. It made for a nice, smooth bend and I think the hold downs will work until the tubing gets warm and used to being laid out in straight rows.

All-in-all, the drip system went together pretty easily. I'm very happy with the parts I got at Dripworks.com. Unfortunately when I placed my order I forgot that I'd need elbows (instead of T's) at the first and last laterals. Also, I decided that I wanted to have twelve laterals instead of ten, so I needed two elbows and two terminators.

I thought it would be fine to use whatever I could find at the local hardware store for these last bits. It'd save ordering and waiting, etc.

Wrong!

The only fittings that leak in the whole drip array are the compression fittings I bought at the local store. I think that they were old and not particularly good quality. Or maybe I didn't use them right... but how can you not?! Once the tube is shoved, wiggled, twisted, cursed into the compression fitting, it's supposed to Just Work, Darnit!

But they leak, and I guess that's just the way it is. Anyway, I'll order the four fittings from Dripworks tomorrow and they'll be here soon, so it's not a huge deal. Lesson learned.

Now I need to figure out the best mulching for the vegetable garden. It's really exciting - even with a few leaks at the periphery - to turn the valve and see all the emitters start to do their thing. It's easy to imagine how this system coupled with heavy mulching will improve yields and reduce irrigation needs.

If the theory is borne out in practice, it's going to be a great garden this year!