Signs of life..
Just as I was starting to wonder if my asparagus experiment was going to be a complete and utter failure, on my way to the garage this morning, I noticed some very encouraging signs of life!
(As usual, clickable thumbnails.)
The stalks are teeny tiny – really more slender than the grass in my lawn – but they’re definitely asparagus. Next spring I should be able to do a light harvest of some young stalks, and the following year I’ll be able to do a full harvest. Mmmm.. I *love* asparagus, so the idea of being able to walk out in the morning and harvest some fresh to pan sear with a little butter and some scrambled eggs for breakfast is simply divine.
The strawberries have been showing more regular signs that they’re getting well established as well:
I am not sure if I should expect to actually get fruit from the strawberries this year – they’re an everbearing variety, so it’s definitely possible – but even if not, the prospect of a nice full bed of beautiful red fruit next summer is rather exciting.
Late last week I finally managed to get all the seeds in the raised beds – cukes, radishes (yes, I know, terribly late), snap peas, summer and winter squash, and lettuce. I have one bed still empty for tomatoes and peppers (which should arrive later this week), and room still in the other beds to do another sowing of lettuce, radishes and peas, so here’s hoping I planned better this year and don’t end up with the jungle of tomato doom that overshadowed everything else I planted two years ago.
Unfortunately, I also have one quarter of one of the beds that’s been overrun by grass; I dug out as much as I could, and have covered the area up with big rhubarb leaves in hopes of starving it of light, but the roots are so embedded in the soil that I think I may just have to resign myself to Round Up at the end of the season to kill it all off.
I also, for the first time since I moved into the house, harvested some of the monstrous rhubarb that grows in the side patio bed. I brought 8 or 10 stalks to my sister’s yesterday since my brother-in-law is a rather avid cook and I figured he could find something fun and tasty to make with it. I picked that much again tonight, cut it up and stuck most of it in the freezer. I’m planning to make at least some rhubarb cordial*, but may also do a rhubarb cake or some such as well. I expect that I’ll be able to harvest quite a bit more over the next couple of weeks, but I’m pretty sure it freezes quite well and frozen fruits (though I’m pretty sure it’s not a fruit..?) are always good to have on hand.
I’m also thinking ahead a bit to later in the summer when the cukes start coming in and contemplating making dill pickles. I’ve never done it, but I *love* crunchy dill pickles and I will likely have more cukes than I’ll ever eat fresh, so I’m thinking this might just be the year to try it out. Hrm. Which pr’bly means I should plant some dill, too.
* Cut up rhubarb. Fill a quart jar with as much as will fit. Pour 1 c. or so of sugar over fruit. Fill jar with vodka or white rum. Shake daily until the sugar is fully dissolved. Let age until it tastes right or the fruit turns white. Strain out the liquid and bottle for a taste of early summer in the dead of winter. This general recipe – cut up fruit to fill a jar, 1 c. sugar, fill with vodka – will work with most fruits to make cordials and I’ve found it considerably easier than the recipes that require simple syrup.
Some seriously cool artists.
This morning seems to be one for getting the word out a bit more on a couple of links to some very seriously nifty artists, one that is new to me and one by whom I own several pieces already but who has just launched a new web home for her work.
The new to me one is Gerard Ferrari (fair warning – some of the pieces may not be entirely safe for work), who is a ceramacist and found-object artist with a bit of an absurdist bent. Several of his pieces also strike me as having a particularly steampunk feel, but that may just be because steampunk seems to be all the rage with the kids these days. *shrug* I have to wonder if he reads Girl Genius – some of his pieces seem as though they’d be right at home with Agatha’s clanks and at least one teapot might be able to double as a death ray in a pinch!
The other is Ursula Vernon, who announced today that Red Wombat Studio is now live! Ursula mentioned that the new website is much easier to update, which makes me very happy as her digressions are always amusing and fun. Also with a distinctly absurdist bent, I’m particularly happy with the ability to take a sneak peak into her Sketchbook as well as the links to all her books for easy ordering. As I mentioned, I own several of her pieces already and fully expect that more will find their way into my collection over time as well.
*love*
Done!
(All are clickable thumbnails.)
Isn’t it beautiful?
I feel like I have a brand new back yard now.
Pergola on the left, extended deck on the right, strawberry and asparagus bed in front of the pergola.
This has to be the perfect place to spend a warm spring evening.
Supporting a fondly remembered childhood author..
I have very fond memories of the animated Lord of the Rings and The Last Unicorn – both of which I now own on DVD – and am saddened to learn that Mr. Beagle has fallen on hard financial times. It’s hard to make a living as an author, harder still, I’d imagine, in these tough financial times; if you, too, have fond memories of Mr. Beagle’s work, please take a moment to help him out. (I just ordered the unabridged MP3 audiobook of The Last Unicorn and can’t wait to listen to it!)
A PERSONAL REQUEST TO ALL MY FANS
by Peter S. BeagleIf you’ve ever read and enjoyed one of my books or stories, or seen and enjoyed one of the films that I scripted, I’d like to ask a favor of you. It’s simple, really — if at all possible, within the next month please do one of the following things.
1) Go to www.conlanpress.com and buy a subscription to my year-long 52/50 Project (more about which, below).
2) Go to www.conlanpress.com and buy any single book or DVD of my work, either for you or as a gift for a friend.
3) If you can’t make a purchase yourself, try and get someone else interested enough to take the leap.
As for why I’m asking, that’s even simpler: you will change my life.
If you make just one purchase, or convince someone else to do so the same…and if enough of the other readers who get THE RAVEN do likewise…if that happens, then the financial crisis I’ve been in since my mother died in 2006 will finally be over. If that happens, I’ll be able to pay back all the money I’ve had to borrow to survive. If that happens, the Last Unicorn audiobook and the special hardcover Two Hearts will come zooming out at last from Conlan Press, along with Writing Sarek and the hardcover editions of my two new novels, Summerlong and I’m Afraid You’ve Got Dragons, and more. Better still, if that happens I’ll be able to buy the thinking and writing time I need to tell the rest of Sooz’s story — i.e., the full-novel Last Unicorn/Two Hearts sequel that I’m eager to bring to all of you (but which no publisher anywhere has so far been willing to pay me enough to live on while I’m doing the work).Okay, Beagle. Deep breath. That wasn’t so hard, was it? Except, of course, being fairly shy about these things, it was.
There are lots of authors who are good at self-promotion. I am definitely not one of them. All I can do is work up my courage and ask, which I have now done: the rest is up to you.
To that end, I want to publicly thank the 53 people who have so far purchased subscriptions (58, total) to my 52/50 Project, in which I’m writing 52 original poems or song lyrics, one per week, for a whole year. The money from these subscriptions paid most of my rent last month, for which I am amazingly grateful.
copied from his newsletter, The Raven. Peter Beagle is an awesome, fabulous talent and it would be a Good Thing to throw a little support his way.
(Yes, yes, the deck is almost finished; pictures pr’bly tomorrow.)
New “cure” for rain..
I’m afraid I may have found a new cure for bad weather. It’s not one I’m likely to attempt regularly, though.
This morning dad and I awoke to overcast skies that quickly opened up into rain. Given that we were planning to start the deck construction this morning, we were a little concerned, but decided to run into town for breakfast and to run a few errands and see what things looked like when we got home. Some $300 later, the sun was breaking through and we were back on our way home to begin the framing for the deck. I’m trying not to think about how monetary “sacrifices” to the weather deities might work, but I am hoping the storm we’re getting now moves through before morning!
Even with a somewhat truncated working day, we did get the deck framed and the decking down:
View standing at the back door (As usual, all are clickable thumbnails.)
View standing under the pergola on the patio, with a bonus shot of the little black pig
Yesterday dad pressure washed the existing decking, so while the color shift from the old to the new is noticeable it’s not nearly as glaring as it would have been had he not taken the time and effort (thanks, dad!). He also built the railing between the house and the stairs and on the stairs, all while I was at work.
At the moment, the deck is quite lovely and even though it’s only 8×16, is rather large enough for my tastes. Here’s a shot with the deck furniture (a decent chunk of the “sacrifice” from this morning) we assembled this evening for some scale:
The table is 42″ and there are four rocker chairs, all of which fit comfortably on the new part of the deck. It may feel a little more enclosed tomorrow once the rest of the fence and the railing is in place, but even so it’s a grand little spot to sit and watch the birds. I can’t wait to be able to step out on a sunny morning with a cup of coffee and watch the neighborhood wake up!
.. and then some!
It’s been an absolutely beautiful weekend here, after a dry but slightly chilly end of week; all of that was much appreciated, however, after the rain from last weekend prompted some jostling of plans. (We had been intending to pour the concrete footings for the deck extension last weekend, but the rain (which was much needed and therefore will be spared the full force of my wrath *smile*) delayed that.)
Note: I’m beat, so this post may be lacking in poetic phrasing and.. yeah, all that. While the tone may not convey it, I’m rather terribly excited and happy with everything we’ve accomplished! Since this one has lots of pictures, I’ll throw a jump in here for those using a feed reader. Read the rest of this entry »
Since I can’t be in my garden this weekend..
.. I might as well post about it. *smile*
I’m a few weeks behind, but I’ve spent several evenings the last couple of weeks out in the yard clearing out the deadfall from last year. The side and front garden got cleaned up first as they’re the easiest and are the only ones with perennials that are starting to come up. I bagged up I think 5 bags of yard waste from just those beds, though, since there are a few places in them that like to collect leaves. I’ve also cleaned out the deadfall from the raised beds and cleared out all the rose canes, but did that after the deadline for the County to still pick up yard waste from the curb, so I’ll have to run all that down to the green dump myself at some point.
My plans for the weekend changed at the more-or-less last minute. I had intended to sink the footings for the expansion to my (currently not really) deck with my dad, and he was going to bring the pieces of my pergola down and put it together on the back deck. Unfortunately, southeastern Minnesota is now sitting smack in the midst of a weather system that is promising thunderstorms and rain all weekend, and digging 42 inches into rain soaked ground, and then trying to fill the holes with concrete while dodging rain (and possible hail) storms didn’t seem like such a wise idea. As much as we really do need the rain – and the storms so far have been awe-inspiring – I’m a little bit bummed that we had to shuffle things around.
But, since I’m more or less homebound on a dark, grey, rainy weekend, I’ve been planning a bit for this year’s garden. I found an interesting blog post, via foodgawker a few days ago, about a victory garden; the interesting part is the “deer guard” and it has me wondering if you could use a similar technique to train vining plants up over the dome. It’d have to be small enough to fit inside the box, which might then be too small. If the plan I have for this year doesn’t work out, I may investigate further. For this year, though, dad’s built me a frame similar to (maybe made from.. can’t remember) an old window screen frame with larger-mesh screen. The intention is to prop it up at an angle so that the vines will grow up the topside, and still be able to plant shade-loving things underneath it. I have to plot out the garden boxes to figure out what’s going where still – I have most of an idea, but need to actually sit down and write it all out – but I think that this should let me grow the lettuce “underneath” the cukes or squash, at least until the vines get so large the block out all the light (which may not be an issue if I set the frame up in the right direction to still let in light through the open end).
In areas unrelated to the garden, I think I may need to give in and buy a small printer for home. I normally try not to print things as I can usually make notes on a smaller piece of paper and therefore prevent wasting several whole pieces for something like directions. But sometimes, like when I find recipes I want to try, there’s more information than I want to translate. Unfortunately, I really don’t want to add a printer to my desk space, but I may shop around and see if I can find one of the teeny tiny ones that are made for folks who travel with them so I can stash it away discretely when I’m not using it.
Charade on parade*
I finished mom’s Charade socks last night:
(Both clickabale thumbnails; color is more accurate in the first)
Such a simple and yet beautiful and elegant pattern! The bumpiness of the Fixation hides it some, but it’s still a lovely pattern. Were I to do this pattern with this yarn again, I’d change how the toe is done as it’s a little too boxy on yarn this thick.
Next up is 9-to-5 using some truly bright variegated yarn which I suspect will completely overshadow the pattern, but it’s another simple and elegant one and at this point, I’m going for something that will keep me entertained while knitting more than finished effect. *smile*
* Give me a break; it’s early!
Living up to its name..
This week is spring break here, which is normally a sort of optimistic title around these parts. This year, not so much. The weekend saw our first truly spring-like days, and the weekdays are following suit quite nicely. I even sat out on the back patio and grilled last night (color me surprised that I actually had charcoal)! Now, if only the administrators got spring break off, too.
It’s been difficult not to think about my plans for the yard and garden this year now that it’s finally getting warmer. Last week I talked about the plans part*, but it got long so I didn’t go into the plants I’ve ordered, which should be here in .. oh.. about two months. *grin*
Backyard:
15137 Strawberry – Ozark Beauty – 25 Plants
I’m pretty excited about these guys, but haven’t exactly decided where they’ll go yet. I need to cut the bed for them, so hopefully the ground will thaw here soon so I can get it all prepped before they arrive! I don’t usually have an issue with animals eating things from the gardens, but I’m a little more concerned about strawberries, so we’ll see if I actually get any of these to full ripe before the critters get them.
Side bed by patio:
41285A Moonflower Giant White – 1 Pkt. (20 seeds)
These will vine up the pergola. My eventual plan for the pergola is grape vines, but I’m expecting that it will take a few years before they grow enough so my hope is to use some vining annuals in the interim. I love Moonflowers – friends in DC had them in their back patio and they were enchanting and beautiful. This is the bed that needs to be overhauled, which I’m not particularly looking forward to, but such is life.
Deck* (in containers):
22018 Patio Princess Tomato – 1 order (3 plants)
I have two other tomato varietals (see farther down) this year, but will only get 1 or 2 plants of each, depending on what the other folks who ordered with me want. I’m expecting to get 1 of one kind and 2 of the other (but don’t know which), and since I may end up with just one of each I wanted to have another option to be sure I’d have plenty of fresh tomatoes this year. I’m excited to try these – they grow in pots, so they’ll be up on the (newly remodeled) back deck.
Front yard:
36483A Dolichos, Lablab – 1 Pkt. (35 seeds) – in the flower boxes
22105 Lobelia Cardinal Flower – 2 plants
42267A Convolvulus Enchantment Series – Mix – 1 Pkt. (150 seeds)
I originally envisioned foxglove in the front yard, but either the plants I ordered never survived or the squirrels dug them up. I’m hoping the lobelia will have better luck. The Convulvulus are sort of a filler – I planted Cosmos in a patch in the front two years ago, and though they’re supposed to be an annual, they rebloomed last year. I decided to hedge my bets that they’d make it another, but if they do, I have other places I can fill in with the Convolvulus. The Dolichos will go in the front flower boxes just as a variety on the morning glories I’ve done in the past.
Garden boxes:
69013 Asparagus Mary Washington – 1 Pack (25 Roots)
14985 Onion Walla Walla Sweet – 1 offer (2 bunches)
20615C Sweet Pepper Collection (6 plants, one of each, though I’m splitting this with a friend)
23015 Tomato Fresh Salsa – 1 order (1-2 plants; the others will go to a friend)
20651 Tomato Fourth of July Hybrid – 1 order (1-2 plants; the others will go to mom and dad)
59114 Lettuce EZ Serve – 15′ Seed Tape
54833A Summer Squash Sunray Hybrid – 1 Pkt. (25 seeds)
51722A Winter Squash Burpee’s Butterbush – 1 Pkt. (25 seeds)
52175A Burpless Beauty Cucumber – Packet (30 seeds)
53512A Snap Pea Super Sugar Snap V.P. – 1 Pkt. (200 seeds)
60962A Radish Burpee White – 1 Pkt. (300 seeds)
And that’s the vegetables.
- I’ve been wanting to grow asparagus for*ever* but the long lead-up time discouraged me. This year I’ve decided I’ll never get it if I don’t just start some, so here’s hoping it works.
- The onions, peppers and tomatoes will get used for salsa inevitably, though I hope to have enough to enjoy lots of them fresh too.
- One of the reasons I tend not to eat more salads is that I don’t like how wilty the lettuce gets if it’s not really fresh, and I don’t eat it consistently enough to buy it really fresh regularly; the lettuce above looks good and they say that when you harvest it, it just falls apart into a nearly ready-made salad, so here’s hoping!
- I like summer squash in stir fries and kabobs and this is the kind I planted two years ago which has a great taste. The winter squash I’m hoping to store and use throughout the fall and winter – I love squash, but don’t think to get it very often.
- Cukes are just good summer food. I was at a restaurant last weekend that had cucumber slices in the water that reminded me how much I like that, so even if I end up with lots this year, I expect I’ll find uses for them.
- Snap peas are great snacks, great in stir fries, and I suspect they freeze rather well, too. I’m rather fond of the idea of chopping up some of the squash, onions, peppers and peas and freezing my own little garden stir fry packets for use throughout the year.
- I eat radishes raw as a snack whenever I remember to get them, which isn’t often. I wanted to grow them two years ago, but never managed to get the seeds in the ground before it got too warm. Given that I’m already itching to get out in the garden this year, I don’t expect that to be as much of an issue!
So yeah.. it’s 52 degrees out now (at twenty to seven in the evening, so not bad) but the ground still appears to be frozen and the small strip of yard that doesn’t get direct sunlight still has snow. Spring now, please?
* Smart, smart dad suggested I contact the City to see if the deck would require a building permit and it pr’bly will, and may even need a variance because the existing deck might be too close to the property line, so I’ll be making my first foray into grown-up home-owner/city relations soon!
Dyed.
A while back I mentioned that I learned the weekend Liz was here that I shouldn’t dye in my washing machine. *How* I learned that was actually a lot more fun than it might sound.
As I am a knitter, my mother is a seamstress. But, as I actually don’t have an overwhelming stash of yarn, she does of fabric. So much so that dad has complained that she needs to use some of it up before she acquires more. Which found me some time ago sitting with her going through both patterns and fabric so she could make me some new work clothes. Among the fabric was some white linen that she’s purchased to make me a couple of underdresses, but as I’ve been on somewhat of an extended hiatus from the SCA, we decided to repurpose the linen for other things. After going through all the fabric, we decided that the linen would be used for some light jackets and that there was enough there to make two jackets, and that I would take the white linen and dye it something more appropriate for my wardrobe.
I’ve been wanting to play with vat dyeing for awhile, and with more modern dyes, so off I went to Dharma Trading to order some dyes appropriate for use with plant fibers. I got three colors (Oxblood Red, Royal Blue, and Moss Green) of fiber reactive procion dyes and the soda ash fixative and then .. waited for company. Fortunately, Liz was just the kind of company I needed to give me courage to make my first foray into modern dyes.
Let me start by saying that it’s dead simple. Dharma Trading has great directions on their website, and it really is pretty much 1-2-3. I started with the Oxblood Red and decided that for the first piece I would do it in my kitchen sink, which was pr’bly not quite big enough, but was easier to keep an eye on for my maiden attempt.
(Clickable thumbnails, as usual.)
As I said, the process is pretty simple, and for most of it, the fabric just sits in the dyebath, soaking up the dye. I rinsed it out in the sink until the water ran clear and then threw it in the washing machine to wash out any residual dye.
It was a little brighter than I’d hoped (I really wanted it to stay the rich, dark blood red of the dye bath), but still pretty exciting. A quite run through the dryer and it was finished.
Because the sink wasn’t quite big enough, the fabric and the dye didn’t move around as much as they probably should have, so there’s some non-uniformity in the finished piece – though it’s not as noticeable as the camera flash makes it seem! I don’t really mind that, though and am pretty sure that we can make the finished garments look just fine. Additionally, the process of moving the fabric around using a large metal spoon appears to have put some stress and strain in some places, causes weaknesses in the material.
Fueled by my success with the red, I got a little bold and decided to do the green in the washing machine. And despite all the warnings (of which there are many!), I managed to run the dye bath down the drain after not nearly long enough not only once, but twice. While the fabric just out of the washer was rather pretty, it was very inconsistent and no where near colorfast.
Which was fortunately not too much of a concern since I still had the blue and figured that I could overdye the green and maybe get a nice aqua, or at least a decent blue. Not being brave enough to try the washer again, though, and not wanting to repeat the stress on the fabric from using the sink, it waiting for a few weeks until I found myself with an unexpectedly free afternoon Sunday. I picked up some bins that I thought would be big enough without being too big (they weren’t; I’d go with slightly taller sides next time) and set things to go in the bathtub:
The jar of dye for this color said to use 4 times the recommended amount for other dyes, but when I rinsed it out there was a *lot* of dye still in the bath. I suspect, though, that even with more room to move, the fabric was still not quite free enough to soak up all it could properly as it was still streaked a bit after rinsing (and very definitely blue, not the aqua I thought it might end up having started out green):
As with the red, I ran it through the washer and dryer to finish it off, and even though it’s got some lighter and darker patches, they’re again not really as noticeable in person as the flash from the camera makes them seem:
All in all, I’d say it was a successful (and easy and fun!) first attempt at kettle dyeing. I’ll deliver the two pieces of linen back to mom at Easter, along with her socks – finished the first one and will be casting on for the second pr’bly tonight!
