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 »
