Austin Root Ball

Raab and rapine in the garden

2009-01-31T10:03:00.000-08:00

I had some brassica drama within the last month in the garden. A few weeks ago I noticed some gray stuff on my broccoli raab. I washed it off, sauteed the tips and leaves in some garlic and chili flakes, and ate it. No problem. A week later that gray stuff was all over the broccoli raab. Looking closer I saw grayish green tiny bugs all over the poor traumatized plants. Bye bye broccoli raab. I ripped it all up, threw it out and proceeded to inspect the rest of the garden.

The imperialist bastards had colonies everywhere! All my brassicas had been affected. The collards, broccoli, and cauliflower were hit hard, but the largest malefaction was perpetrated on the mustard greens and kale. They were completely covered and unsaveable. I ripped out the greens, but on the advice of a fellow gardener I cut the kale down to stumps. I picked the damaged leaves off the rest of the plants, squished a lot of bugs, and took a leaf home to identify the offendants. My research identified the culprits as mealy cabbage aphids and what I read proved brassicas were their primary victims. I also read that lady bugs and wasps were both eaters of aphids. Another aphid fact: each aphid can lay 5 eggs a day. Terrifying.

This week I have seen lady bugs hanging out in my collards and broccoli. They must have found the buffet. With diligence and lady bug help I have managed to keep the aphids down to just a few here and there, showing no mercy as I find them. The kale is coming back strong since I top dressed it with some compost and here's a picture of some huge radishes I grew. Things are looking up.

Volcano!

2009-01-31T09:05:00.000-08:00

via videosift.com

Here is a video of a volcano erupting out of ice. There's even lightning!

Found at Neatorama

Vegetarian harassment

2009-01-30T07:38:00.000-08:00

I think everyone who is a vegetarian has experienced some harassment. Mostly I have just gotten snickers or rude comments. Often people are clueless about what vegetarianism is and ask a lot of questions placing me in the position of explaining vegetarianism. I end up being a de facto representative for all people who don't eat meat; that's exhausting when all I want to do is chow down. Even my own family has been intolerant at times and ridiculed me. The worst thing was having meat put into my food "as a joke." Yeah, I was laughing after that.

Here's an article about a man who was fired from his job because he was vegetarian. His boss thought he was gay. The discrimination just keeps coming.

Brain: "City bad, nature good"

2009-01-09T14:32:00.000-08:00

A nifty article in the Boston Globe called "How the city hurts your brain" says:

"'The mind is a limited machine,' says Marc Berman, a psychologist at the University of Michigan and lead author of a new study that measured the cognitive deficits caused by a short urban walk. 'And we're beginning to understand the different ways that a city can exceed those limitations.'

One of the main forces at work is a stark lack of nature, which is surprisingly beneficial for the brain. Studies have demonstrated, for instance, that hospital patients recover more quickly when they can see trees from their windows, and that women living in public housing are better able to focus when their apartment overlooks a grassy courtyard. Even these fleeting glimpses of nature improve brain performance, it seems, because they provide a mental break from the urban roil.'...

"This research is also leading some scientists to dabble in urban design, as they look for ways to make the metropolis less damaging to the brain. The good news is that even slight alterations, such as planting more trees in greater variety of plants, can significantly reduce the negative side effects of city life. The mind needs nature, and even a little bit can be a big help."

I'm a city girl and I can attest that hustle and bustle, and expanses of concrete can be tiring. Maybe that's why moving to a city pumped up my love of green growing things.

Article found on Neatorama Pictures found in the Austin Street Art Pool on Flickr

Cauliflower and Tomatoes

2009-01-07T08:51:00.001-08:00

Holy moly! Check out this sucker I got from my garden. I've been meaning to cook it but knew it would sit in the fridge for a little while and get old. So last night its time came and it had grown quite a bit. I also got some cilantro for a curry and some mint for a yogurt dish. When I washed it there were little water droplets shining like jewels and its almost a pretty upside down as right side up. I felt a little guilty cutting into it.
These green onions are wild onions that grow in a vacant lot. I know it's risky to eat wild foods but I was raised in the country and I know wild onions. If I saw mushrooms or anything I didn't 100% recognize I wouldn't eat it. When it doubt throw it out (or compost it.) Our horses used to eat wild onions and their already bad breath would turn truly horrible.

And here's it cooked and you can see the chives all over it. Spicy cauliflower, Yum.

These tomatoes were green two weeks ago and I put them all together in a bag and promptly forgot about them. I remembered just in time and they were all ripe and rosy. The bag trick works! They and the cilantro went into a curry and it was delicious. I should have gotten a picture of that too.

How do I look?

2009-01-05T11:14:00.000-08:00

A new year, a new look. I think it works.

Ping Mag link heaven

2009-01-04T11:02:00.000-08:00

NNoooooooo! I just found out that Ping Mag my favorite Japanese culture resource is on hiatus. This is horrible news. They'll still be online and their articles will be accessible but no more articles will be published. Here are a few links to my favorites.

Guerri lla gardening in Tokyo. If plants were put out in public spaces here they would disappear due to sticky fingers/overzealous landscaping. Or they would die, because it never rains. Damn you Texas weather!

Japanese Packaging design#6: Imitating nature. Incredibly cool packaging both the real thing and artificial. The only things packaged in natural materials here in the US are tamales in corn husks, and even then they're usually wrapped in plastic.

Funny Vegetables, shapes and characters.

Super cool recycled and reused art work.

And lots of art that has plants and plants that are art.

And then there is all the cool architecture features, many about sustainable living and natural influences. The archives go back a few years and the browsing is fun. Check it out.

Green Man

2009-01-04T10:51:00.001-08:00

I was doing a Google image search for an art project and I needed some pictures of the Green Man to tap my creative juices.

I found some great images. According to Wikipedia: "the Green Man is often related to natural vegetative deities springing up in different cultures throughout the ages."

It's a pre-Christian symbol that is used in many ancient cathedrals and churches in Europe. In Britain many pubs are called "The Green Man" or some variation. Way to hang in there pagan culture! If you do a Google image search of "Carved Green Man" you'll get some pictures of some beautiful carvings in stone and all kinds of cool materials.

Just some neato cultural inspiration for those interested in green and growing things.

Feed me, garden!

2009-01-04T10:22:00.000-08:00

Since I've gotten my fingers back in the dirt it amazes me how many plants weathered my neglect just fine! That's no excuse to neglect them more but it does prove the incredible resilience of plant life, I wish I could say the same about my house plants. The other day I was poking around in the garden and brought home quite a haul!

From right to left Broccoli Raab or Rapini or whatever you want to call it. Radishes (Daikon and French breakfast) Radichio on the right and out in front are peas which love this cool weather. I need to plant more.

Here are the salads I made. The red pepper and spinach wasn't grown in my garden but everything else was. Yum.I used the Rapini in a Broccoli and Rice casserole (I love this dish!) It wasn't bad and the leftovers are pretty good cold. The cheeses I used were Parmesan, Monterey jack and cheddar. Next time, I'll skip the jack and just go all cheddar with a little parm. The rappini is more bitter than broccoli and could use more of the savory sharp cheddar accompaniment.I made bread sticks, oooh la la.

And the piece de resistance! Black cherry jello served in wine glasses. Keepin' it classy.

Howdy

2008-12-15T12:49:00.001-08:00

I hadn't realized how long it's been since I posted. Hey, it's not like anything's been going on, there was that election thing and some economy stuff, but everyone knows the holidays are a breeze. Ha! Anyways, I've been neglecting my garden too. I've gotten out to throw some water at it now and again and of course to drop off compost but I haven't spent much quality time in it since October.

That was until yesterday when I went to take a good look at what is going on in my garden.
I got some peas, the last jalapeno of the season, a bell pepper and miraculously some green tomatoes! It's been hot and cold for weeks, one day 80 degrees the next night near freezing. Somehow my tomato plants which got big but didn't set much fruit to speak of have been pretty tough. I planted Celebrity, which is a hybrid and beefsteak (I think) and I usually don't have much to do with either of those but I have a bunch of green tomatoes (in December!) I learned a lot of lessons such as "thin your carrots, damn it, or you end up with carrot threads!" And "some plants are more drought resistant than others." "Mulch is king in the land of never ending droughts" and "weeds are just flags for opportunities." Sound like sassy cross stitch plaques, eh?

Last night was the first really hard frost of the season and it's pretty cold outside so I am content to dream up my winter and spring game plan with a cup of hot tea and a pile of garden books. I have some cool pics to post from the little gardening I have done in the last few months and I promise not to be a stranger any more.

Terrarium fever and yarn

2008-09-18T10:50:00.001-07:00

I love terrariums but this is silly. The world of knitting and crochet is a bizarre one. Just having lots of yarn and lots of time isn't a justification for making some of the stuff they have patterns for. Pick up any knitting magazine and you see at least 5 car wrecks of yarn-tastic horror. There are more pictures on Why Would You Knit That? a super cool site that lives up to its name.

First kill

2008-09-15T13:20:00.000-07:00

Here's a really awesome video of a Venus fly trap growing. It's facinating!

My terrarium is doing really well. I was nervous about transplanting it into a new environment but it never even drooped. I've kept it nice and moist and had it sealed most of the time to keep out gnats. We have a fungus gnat problem in the apartment right now. It sound's gross but it's no worse than fruit flies, though they're a lot smaller and slower. I guess one of them got into the snifter (there's that word again) and now one of the traps closed and there's a tiny gnat shaped shadow in there. Ha ha! If you enlarge the first picture you can see the shadow. I wasn't going to feed it for a week but it took the initiative which makes sense with the new growth I spotted. It's growing, that means it's happy and that makes me happy.

I've been looking at this awesome book about terrariums and miniature gardens. It was published by Sunset books in the seventies. It has a lot of ideas and groovy 70's pictures. I got it from the Austin Public Library. Thank goodness they don't cull the stacks at the downtown branch. There are all kinds of nifty things hidden away.

I am convinced that stalking and killing the gnats is causing them to evolve into a super breed capable of dodging and evasive maneuvers. I have some spray with Rosemary oil that you're supposed to apply and then wait a week then reapply a few times to kill the larvae and disrupt the cycle. I've removed some of the plants that were harboring the enemy and I'm changing out the soil in several pots to start fresh. I don't want to drown the poor plants in essential oils.

A friend remarked that he thought it was strange that a vegetarian would want a Venus fly trap. I don't think it's strange at all, I'm on the plant's side. Who isn't fascinated by a plant that can fight back? After all, maybe Venus fly traps will evolve into something like Ents in Lord of the Rings.

I think it is human nature to seek human like traits in plants. As humans we understand trapping and killing, we're good at it. When we see a carnivorous plant in action we want to understand it on our terms. Culturally we cast carnivorous plants into roles like insatiable Audry Jr. in Little Shop of Horrors or on the Addams Family tv show, their African strangler plant is named Cleopatra it's more like a pet than a plant and even eats furniture. The Venus fly trap is a cultural icon it is mysterious, strange, and above all hungry. Ultimately it represents desire. It's no wonder a ladyboy band in Thailand decided to name themselves Venus Fly Trap.

I don't like Ike

2008-09-14T06:23:00.000-07:00

Ike is an asshole. We knew he would be difficult, and we were prepared. We knew when he was due to arrive and so we got ready for it. He was predicted to be terrible, but every cloud had a silver lining right? No matter how much of a bully he is there has to be a flip side to him. I stayed up into the wee hours watching the red and yellow swirl (big as Missouri) pummel our gentle coast on TV. I watched the skies in Austin turn gray and the trees whip around. I checked the weather, no I LIVED the weather hoping for that silver lining. Hoping for rain. Watching the color coded storm levels in great stripes across the patchwork of Texas counties. Calculating when to bunker down and how bad it could be? It was bad.

Ike smashed up Galveston, Houston and Beaumont and screwed with our already delicate beaches to the tune of 8 billion smackeroos. Not a drop of rain here in Austin. Millions displaced and it could be weeks before their electricity is back on. Yet all I can think of is I have seedlings to care for. Thirsty little seedlings that reach up to the sky begging for a drink. Now I have to placate them with the hose; let's face it, it's not the same. Sigh. Now I can't tell if Ike is the jerk or if I am. Well, I'm going to say Ike is. I didn't do $8 billion in damage, I just want to see silver linings in storm clouds as big as Missouri.

Terrarium

2008-09-13T13:00:00.000-07:00

I’ve got terrarium fever! I found a flickr group a while back that made me really excited, then I found the perfect glass brandy snifter when thrifting, finally when I was at the store last week I saw some awesome carnivorous plants. I recalled seeing some in terrariums somewhere with carnivores but I wanted to make sure they weren’t fast growing or needed anything weird I already bought one plant that wasn’t suitable for the miniature snifter wonderland. I had all the ingredients except plants so I went back and $5 later the wheels of this project were set in motion.

Take one jumbo snifter*

Add a layer of pea gravel

Add some soil mixed with sand.

Plant the new plant and add some more pea gravel and a few decorative stones

Now just add water! Distilled water that is. I’ll give my new friend a week or two to get her bearings and then I’ll feed my precious pet.

S suggested I make some small skulls and bones to go around it. I love this idea, after all venus fly traps seem to have a significant role in pop culture. Cleopatra was the name of the Addams family’s carnivorous plant.

I do want some more moss in the terrarium. The sphagnum moss that came around my plant had a few green spots. Maybe it’ll grow and form a soft carpet around my little friend. Maybe I’ll add some. One terrarium site recommended if I take moss from the wild I should keep it in isolation for a while in case it has any thing that could infect/infest or contaminate my other planty friends.

* I know I keep saying snifter and there’s a reason for that. It’s an awesome word, just say it out loud: snifter, snifter, snifter, snifter. See what I mean?

digging up dirt

2008-09-12T06:38:00.000-07:00

I was at the Great Outdoors and I saw a sign on the seed rack. I took a picture of it with my phone but I'm having technical difficulties trying to send it to an e-mail account. It said:

"Attention Seed Thieves: All of our Morning Glory and Poppy seeds are treated making them ineffective for what you want. Please quit stealing them."

A Google search of Morning Glory when I got home yielded tons of sites about using them for non-horticultural purposes.

While online I came across more drug-related, garden-related and overall interesting stuff.

Little did I know that Castor beans are poisonous. I'd heard of them and seen them in the odd seed catalog here and there but had no idea what ricin was.

Salvia divinorum? is that some kind of sage? I love pineapple sage! No, this article in the NY Times is definitely not about the Salvia I'm thinking about.

Marijuana used as a hedge in Australia, the neighbors never suspected a thing. "It just looks like an ordinary hedge in a suburban yard." Found on Neatorama.

Peyote in Austin? I thought it only grew in the desert out west somewhere (see Sept 7, it's a hoot.)

I'm no Pollyanna but this is a lot of drug stories in a few days. I'm not interested in using plants for mind altering purposes (except coffee and chocolate), but I am very interested in how plants and people interact. I think plants are an important element for humanity to help define ourselves and our relationship to the world around us. I think I'll leave this topic on that point.

I could talk about America's war on drugs here and I've thought a lot about writing about politics on this blog. There is so much to say these days but I'll leave it elsewhere. I perceive gardens to be neutral spaces and should be not have an ideology forced on them. I don't consider environmental issues to be very political because it is the concern of all living creatures to live on a clean planet no matter what political party they join. I think gardening can be healing and should bring people together. Maybe I'll write about politics when it starts to directly affect my garden but right now I think there is plenty of discussion elsewhere.

Goats

2008-09-10T10:01:00.000-07:00

I was reading Ramshackle Solid and I found out that the city of LA is using goats to trim weeds downtown. Link. How awesome is this? My sister had horses when we were young. One of the places where we boarded them had a goat named Abraham who was a mean cuss and would butt you in a heartbeat if you turned your back on him. However just a few years ago I knew some kids (ha ha! Ok, children) who kept goats for milk. These were some of the sweetest little critters. The day after one gave birth I was over to see the baby. Soooooo cute! And sweet tempered. Since I've gotten into knitting I've found there are some goats that produce excellent fiber for spinning such as mohair from an angora goat and the luxurious cashmere goat. My whole attitude towards these critters has changed.

Abraham is long gone by now and the future is wide open. Maybe one day S and I will have a goat or two? After all they are house trainable. Then again who wants a pet who can eat your socks, literally.

Let's talk about the weather

2008-09-09T14:25:00.000-07:00

Sprouts! The cucumbers are coming up! The plants I transplanted are doing very well, my zucchini which was valiantly fighting squash bugs seems to be improving. I planted a parsley near it and the vine has shifted towards it. They seem to be getting along quite well, they're both putting out new leaves. Perhaps a good companion plant for the zucchini? I've been careful to inspect it for eggs and squish the few I find. Dilligence is the key.

The basil babies I transplanted straight into the garden are doing alright, a few gave up the ghost and a few are putting on more leaves and growing. Of the basil babies I transplanted to pots, only the multiple plantings seem to be doing well, the individuals have given up. Onto the compost heap with them, the cycle of life continues. I transplanted the beans yesterday and they seem a little overwhelmed by the heat but I shaded them through the worst part of the day. They'll shape up, if not the next round of beans are coming up in the kindergarden. My oregano hasn't sprouted yet and the peas are growing. I am soaking some nasturium seeds to plant tomorrow. They're supposed to repel squash bugs and I need all the help I can get. Check out the package isn't it pretty? Sorry the picture is blurry, I'm having problems taking close up pics with the camera.

There's a chance of rain today. Only 30% chance. Ok, here's something I don't understand, if there's less than 50% chance of rain why do the weather folk use a rainy cloud icon. 30% chance of rain means there's a 70% chance of no rain. Is it because Texas is in a perpetual state of drought? Is it supposed to be optimistic? Perchance could it be that local weather folk would have nothing to talk about otherwise? Is this about ratings? Am I too cynical? Probably.

This is from weather.com

Tue, September 9

Time

Condition

Feels
Like

Chance
Precip

Dew
Point

Humid.

Wind

Evening Commute

See Pollen Hot Spots

5pm

Isolated T-Storms
94°F

99°F

30%

62°F

41%

From ESE 3 mph

6pm

Mostly Cloudy
93°F

97°F

20%

63°F

41%

From E 4 mph

See what I mean?

Curse of the Were Rabbit

2008-09-09T13:36:00.000-07:00

I love movies and gardening. One beautiful blend of the two is "The Curse of the Were-Rabbit." I had forgotten how much I love this movie, the characters, the setting, and the unabashed (yet gentle) mocking of the Brits and their gardening habits. The puns come fast and furious and every time I watch this movie I see more details. The attention to the smallest touch is so thorough.

I love the Anti-Pesto issued garden ornaments and I’m really tempted to make a gnome with red light eyes. Maybe with a motion sensor to trigger the light-up eyes. I’ll probably just make an Anti-Pesto warning sign for my plot.

I’m also really digging Victor’s ubiquitous polka dot scarf, so classy. I saw something very similar on Sartorialist and it’s been hanging around in the back of my head ever since. After all there’s no reason why you can’t look good when you’re moving dirt around. I had a vintage bandana of my grandfather's that had an awesome polka dot pattern but I recall wearing it to death too. Also Gromit’s ever present knitting needles thrill me, knitting continental style too I might add! I might be easily pleased but as far as I’m concerned Wallace and Gromit can do no wrong. This movie is probably one of my favorites of all time.

Thrift score

2008-09-07T15:09:00.000-07:00

In the last week I have purchased these lovely items. All together less than $20 for the lot. The spice jars are glass with removable sprinkle caps (aka plastic thingies with holes) and metal screw-on lids. These will be perfect for dried herbs, or homemade bath salts. The cookie cutter was 49 cents, you can never have too many cookie cutters. And the jumbo brandy snifter is perfect for a terrarium. The source of my terrarium lust is here. The stand is wrought iron and super sturdy, perfect for plants. Woo hoo! Thrift score indeed.

Busy as a bee

2008-09-06T09:34:00.000-07:00

There is a different feel to the air these days. In the morning the air is cooler and smells fresher. Fall is fast approaching, my favorite season. That's hard to remember by noon since it blazes up into the 90's everyday. No wonder this was an awful summer for growing stuff. But like Bermuda grass, hope springs eternal. This week I have sown cucumber seeds, cilantro, calendula, fennel, and oregano. I have planted a chamomile plant and an ornamental pepper. I also got a columbine plant thinking it was something else. I've been wanting to create a terrarium and I mistook the columbine for a slower growing tropical thing. Oh well.

I've also disassembled the plant kinder garden and put everything in individual pots. One of the bean starts I've transplanted into the garden (along with some baby basils from the kinder garden) the others are toughening up on our front walk. I have a ton of pea starts. Since the weather is so blasted hot I don't want to kill them by sending them out to bake in the hot sun. They are in individual pots and I'll give the weather a week or so before I move them. I also need to build the bed where they are to go. Some of the baby basils were transplanted to individual pots too. I'm hoping to give some of them away as gifts. And I started another round of peas and beans since the heat might not cooperate and may very well kill off my tender babies in the next few weeks. Oh well. So much for fall.

While I was working on all the transplanting in the kitchen, my cat, Lola, tried to jump on the counter 3 times! She was adamant to be involved and she knows she's not allowed on the counter. She's never so bold as to jump up while I'm right there, I don't remember the last time she was that pushy. I misted her in the face with water which pissed her off but she kept coming back for more and complaining the whole time. I've thought about growing some cat grass in a planter on the floor just for her but I'm afraid that will be an invitation to munch on houseplants. Some of the plants I have are cat-toxic but they're inaccessible to her. I don't want her to get the idea that all houseplants are salad. She was napping in a sunbeam the other day, so in the spirit of Cute Overload here is a Caturday picture of Lola.

I was hoping to plant potatoes this fall but everywhere I have looked online I have failed to find potato seeds. I have a tire especially for potatoes and I was hoping to do the trick where you keep stacking tires up and the yield develops vertically. I might just scrap that idea and plant carrots in the tire instead. I've flirted with the idea of posting on Craig's list for potato seeds but I'm not super fond of Craig's list. I bought some sand in preparation of carrots and potatoes. Forty pounds isn't that much, it sounds like a lot but the bag isn't very big. I might need to get some more, at least it's cheap. I already know I need more dirt to fill my beds.

I have a container with cucumber, thyme, and cilantro and it's coming along very well indeed. The cuke seedlings are putting on new leaves and getting tall. It's right by a railing so the longer they get I can loop them over the rail and they'll get even more sun.

I probably need to get my collard greens in the dirt while it's still warm. And I need to get some broccoli and winter vegetables started in the kinder garden. Fall is coming and sooner or later the temperature will dip, if we're fortunate. There's still a lot to do in the plot such as making a keyhole garden. I've been slowly working on that. Little by little. More on that later.

Green eyed monster

2008-09-03T23:35:00.000-07:00

I am experiencing serious potting bench envy. This is too gorgeous. Maybe someday when I have my own house I'll have something like this. Sigh. Danny Seo's website often gives me inspiration or envy. He comes up with some cool stuff and takes great pictures.

Dress for success

2008-09-03T09:32:00.000-07:00

Check out this dress! It's on the lovely Lily Allen and I took one look at it and thought "Mulch!" I went with pine needles in my garden this fall and this dress' pattern looks a lot like my mulch. My beds are well dressed indeed! I say she needs a few accessories perhaps in green? And loose the sash but overall it's a great dress, and it probably keeps her from becoming dehydrated.

Tomatoes

2008-09-03T08:26:00.000-07:00

Image courtesy of Okie Dan

When people talk about the family line sometimes there are specific traits that form connections between individuals. These can be like the dots in a “connect the dots” picture that trace lineage and show direct heritage. Some families pass down personality traits such as stubbornness or good humor. Others pass physical traits like red hair or long flexible toes, characteristics that tie one generation to the next an identifiable code that can allow strangers like botanists to classify individual specimens into families. My family has plenty of physical and character traits but there is another feature which seems to be reoccurring: the need to grow tomatoes. This goes way back.

My great grandmother had a huge tomato patch. She was known for them and had a side business selling them. By the patch was a tree with a hollow spot hidden in a crook of its trunk. There she kept a salt shaker so people when people wished to sample her wares they could. The tree still stands but there are no tomatoes today nor is there a salt shaker in that tree. My grandparents met in that tomato patch and a few years later got married. Love apples indeed. Ever since then and probably before then my family has grown tomatoes.

All varieties have been cultivated by my kin: heirloom tomatoes when they were just called tomatoes, hybrids when newly in vogue in the ‘50’s and ‘60’s and heirlooms again when they became called that. We don’t have special seeds handed down from one generation to the next, though it would be wonderful if we did; it doesn't matter, we grow what we have. Even at family reunions where relatives from all corners of the country assemble, everyone brings their tomatoes to compare and contrast. And with tomatoes comes endless conversational opportunities. People you haven’t seen in years are suddenly comparing dirt, seeds, transplants, soil amendments, heirloom versus hybrid, tomato cages, and tomatoes they grew last year or the year before. It’s really a unifier among gardeners it makes families out of strangers even when sometimes those strangers are your family.

Weeding

2008-09-02T14:03:00.001-07:00

When I get bummed out about weeding I just have to look here. There are pictures of houses covered in Kudzu. I've never seen this plant in person and I had no idea it was this invasive and aggressive.

It's like the miasma in the movie "Kaze no tani no Naushika" aka "Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind" by Hayao Miyazaki (the same guy that did Spirited Away) in which a poisonous ecosystem is taking over the world, nations collide and drama ensues. It's a beautiful and deeply moving about compassion and the environment with a kick-ass protagonist. It'll make you look at bugs in a whole different way. It's fantastic and based on a phenomenal graphic novel. The movie was made in 1984 and is just as fresh and relevant today. Check it out!

New plants

2008-09-02T09:50:00.001-07:00

Newest additions to the plot: two kinds of parsley (flat and curly), "Black Beauty" egg plant, lemon verbena, "Celebrity" tomatoes, thyme, marigold, and mint. It seems criminal to pay for mint. In my experience it inevitably goes crazy and tries to take over the garden in a bloody coup. Once it starts sending out runners I'll need to pack heat to tend the herb bed. A few days ago I built a raised bed by the stakes that Babs and I thumped into the ground. Yesterday I finally filled it with dirt and compost and set up part of the bed frame as a support for beans. It doesn't look like a lot but my back tells me otherwise.

Last spring after I put in my initial plot at the community garden I realized my climbing beans needed support. Walking home I spotted the perfect item: a metal bed frame by the curb in our neighborhood. I watched the house for a few days, it was clearly being renovated and the bed was in the trash so I claimed it in the name of recycling. It's pretty heavy so Babs and I rolled it on its casters until the casters fell off. Then we just hauled it. It's amazing how distances seem to increase when you're carrying something heavy. What was a short distance seems to gain in distance proportionally to how heavy our load was.

There was a wooden bed frame too. Days later I was chatting with a fellow gardener and he and I went to rescue the wooden one. The renovators had placed a huge utility dumpster in the driveway so we climbed in, fished it out and carried it back together. Other gardeners have used the wooden one so I'm happy it's found a new purpose.

With the insane heat the beans never took off this summer. I have some bean starts for fall on my window sill. I have the perfect east facing window for propagating seeds and it’s right above my bed which is only fitting since I dream about the garden sometimes. I've a bunch of stuff started: basil (three kinds), two kinds of beans, two kinds of peas, swiss chard, "Roma" tomatoes and fennel. The fennel isn't doing much. It may have gotten too dry or I may have planted it too deep. Who knows? If I don't see anything in the next couple of days, it gets composted.

I also put in some hens and chicks. They're a favorite of mine. My grandma had a blue strawberry pot with them. Also I remember them in my best friend's mom's garden in Germany. I love it when they're tucked here and there so I started a little colony and we'll see how they do.

carrots

2008-09-01T18:27:00.000-07:00

I went on a bit of a shopping spree at the nursery; you know how it goes, you go in for one thing and "discover" 5 more things you "need." I'll use everything no doubt about that. With the new plants I went ahead to the garden and began digging. While poking around in the dirt I found some left overs. Whomever had the plot before me left a few carrots. This blurry pic of dirty carrots is all I have the energy to post tonight. I'll chronicle today's adventures in more detail later.

Horror-ticulture

2008-09-01T08:33:00.000-07:00

S and I went to the Cacti and Succulent Show at Zilker Botanical Garden. He dropped me off and searched for a parking spot while I walked into a wonderland!! I already love the otherworldly shapes and forms of these marvelous plants but it was even better to see them up close and personally. There are some awesome cacti and succulent pools on Flickr that I love to browse and it was so cool to see the real things. There was so much to look at and most of it was for sale.

After browsing around for a few minutes the organizers announced they were having a raffle and since they had sold few tickets and had lots of plants to give away the odds were good. I bought a ticket and I won! Here are my new additions! The lithop is a Lithop dorotheae and I’m not sure what the tall one is. I’ve been looking at a ton of cacti pictures online and I’ve yet to discover what it is. Any ideas?

By the time S showed up I’d already fallen in love with two more plants this String of Pearls, Senecio rowleyanus, and this triangular succulent, Haworthia viscose, that will begin to spiral as it grows up and sending spirally friends shooting up too. Very exciting!

S thinks the string of pearls looks like an H. P. Lovecraft plant with

bubbling tumor-like tendrils that will choke us in our sleep and eat our bodies. He has a point but I think it’s cute. That’s why we get along. And that’s why Cthullu hangs on my side of the bedroom.

No one will notice the dirt under my nails

2008-08-31T10:08:00.000-07:00

Get your own knuckles at the knuckle tattoo gun.

P. S. No Mom, I these aren't really my knuckles (not yet.... heh heh he).

I'm back!

2008-08-31T09:17:00.000-07:00

It's been a while, I've been gardening a lot lately and so I thought I'd share my adventures here. Enjoy!

Toad to Freedom

2008-08-31T08:47:00.000-07:00

I was at Home Depot last night. I try not to go there because it always makes me depressed. There never seems to be anyone to help you, they never have what I'm looking for, and all the damn chemicals just remind me that there is a market for poison. But at 7:30 on a Saturday night they are open and all of the independent local stores I prefer are closed.

I had a short list of things I wanted. I didn't find what I was looking for so to kill some time I just thought I'd look around. I found something I didn't come in looking for; I found a toad. A big one. With the number of people running around and machines I was worried that it might get crushed. So I picked it up and took it to the register to ask if I could take it to the community garden where I have my plot. The girl at the register freaked out a little. It's possible she'd never seen one before. She was shocked that I would touch it with my bare hands. "Don't you get warts from toads?" I told her that's a myth, you get warts from viruses. She was also concerned that it might bite. I assured her that toads are not built for that, the worst they can do is pee on you. I asked if she had a box, she didn't but kindly called for someone to bring one. Then the toad did its worst. Oh well.

A few other employees showed up, apparently they all knew this toad very well. They had pictures of each other with this guy on all their cell phones. They asked me a lot of questions and I did my best to assure them that the garden was a safe place with lots of bugs to eat, and safe places to hang out. I gave them my phone number and the location of the community garden. They were reluctant to see him go but they were concerned that he might get squished. Apparently they get a fair number of toads and frogs and they never know what to do with them. Hopefully they'll call me and the garden can be a toad/frog sanctuary.

Can you find the toad in this picture?

coolest paper shredder ever

2007-10-30T00:39:00.000-07:00

I found this on Cute Overload--my new addiction. I need a shredder, now I have an excuse to get a hamster too. This is part of Tom Ballhatchet's art work. Check this out.

RIP my wiggly friends

2007-10-25T12:16:00.001-07:00

The worms bit the dust. I don't know what went wrong but I think it had to do with temperature. Texas is hot. To conserve on our electricity bills S. and I kept it pretty warm in here and the little guys might have gotten cooked. That's the only thing that I can think of, I did everything right, I've been trolling the internet trying to understand what went wrong. The only thing that I can think of is that we let it get too warm. I can't justify spending the electricity to keep it under 80 degrees in here especially if we're not home.

It's too bad since the weather just flipped and it's now nice and cool. Oh well. It just turned into a big messy fruit fly home. I put out apple cider vinegar in little cups to catch the suckers but it didn't work too well. I caught some but not enough, though I will say my hand eye coordination is a lot better after hunting those buggers.

I guess I'll keep up my covert composting and recycling. Sigh. Oh worms, we hardly knew ye.

bath mat is done!

2007-10-23T18:59:00.000-07:00

I never thought I'd finish it but I did! The bath mat of doom has been finished. I felt like there was some kind of drum roll as I bound off. The bathroom looks so much better too. Check out the before and after pictures.

Garlic Soup!

2007-10-17T11:38:00.001-07:00

S. is sick today so I made my heal all soup. Move over chicken noodle this one will kick your illness in the pants.

Mince or press about 7 or 8 big cloves of garlic and saute it briefly in about 1 tbsp olive oil in the bottom of a big soup pot. Then add one container of Swanson's Organic Vegetarian Soup Stock. They come in big aseptic boxes. Bring to a boil and add one can of diced tomatoes and one can of water. Keep boiling for about 5 minutes. Then cover and simmer for about 15 minutes or so. Then take the lid off and add cracked black pepper and lots of oregano salt to taste. You can serve with a generous dolop of chopped fresh parsley if you like.

MMmmmm. It's tasty and so darned good for you. S. should be all better soon.

I have worms

2007-10-14T12:29:00.000-07:00

No, it's not what you think. I'm composting inside our apartment using red wigglers, a powerhouse of an earthworm that is perfect for apartment composting. I found out about this online when trolling around looking at various green sites I came across a video that really inspired me. After watching that I looked around on line and discovered there are lots of people doing this.

With landfill waste becoming issue it makes sense to divert organic waste away from the landfill. About 24% of household waste is compostable. It might not seem like a lot but over time this translates into a huge amount of garbage (especially for a vegetarian) that can be turned into super rich soil that can be used on my plants or where ever. If all this organic stuff went into the landfill all that would happen would be it mixing with other compounds and forming toxic sludge which usually leaks out of landfills. No, thanks.

About my new friends, they live in a stylish silver box under our sink. They're the perfect pets. They just need air, water, bedding and food. Babs and I drilled lots of holes in the box so they can breath easily. If the box doesn't get air then it'll be like a trash can (aka stinky) because of the anaerobic bacteria. I shredded about a Chronicle's worth of paper for their bedding which I moistened to just barely wet. I can feed them vegetable waste but not oil, dairy, meat, bones or animal wastes. We don't have a whole lot of that in our house anyhow.

I got them about two weeks ago and they've been pretty good about staying in their box. There were a few initial explorers wandering away from the box but I've been keeping a light on them (compact florescent). Because they're shy and avoid light they won't leave the box. After a few weeks they'll settle down and get to work. I have a stash of goodies in the tub--potato peels, cabbage leaves, carrot stubs, house plant leaves and what not. My wiggly friends will get hungry and get to work on those goodies and forget their wandering ways and I can turn off the light. They'll even eat the paper and turn that into soil too!

Vermiculture is the nice term for worm wrangling and it's nothing new. A lot of city waste websites have detailed information about it. It's not just tree huggers, a lot of gardeners compost with worms because it is a lot quicker than a traditional compost pile and the soil the worms make aka "castings" is so very rich and won't burn plants like nitrogen based fertilizers can. There are lots of books written about this too! It's not stinky and I feel like I'm making a difference. I'll still keep up my covert compost until my little friends calm down and concentrate on eating.

Here are a few links for you interested people. Check out the videos!

My favorite worm blog
Another cool worm site
Another cool video about worms

Ha ha ha ha! Ha!

2007-10-14T12:21:00.000-07:00

This is a super funny video on YouTube. I swear I'm not this pushy but it's good to laugh at yourself sometimes. No, I don't read by candlelight and I'm not renaming myself. Yes, I do pick up and recycle litter.

click here to laugh

Baby hat finished

2007-10-13T11:58:00.000-07:00

Last month when I was flying out to L.A. for a wedding I started working on a pair of baby socks. There's this group called Touching Little Lives that's been really great to my family so I've been working on some projects to donate to them. Anyways the friends that we stayed with announced they were expecting so with a lot of speed knitting I finished the baby socks and left them with our friends as a gift. I've been working on a baby hat in matching yarn and now I'm finally done. It's all machine washable--as I believe almost all baby gifts should be. I'm really happy with this yarn it's super soft. Well into the mail it'll go this week. Now to finish up the stuff for Touching Little Lives and to get a move on my holiday knitting. I've got to write a paper for school this weekend too.

The camera is down right now. I'll post a picture of it later.

Plarn=plastic yarn

2007-10-11T18:41:00.001-07:00

What to do with all those pesky plastic bags! It seems that no matter how much you try to avoid them sooner or later you've got some. Most grocery stores have bins where you can recycle them, however it you're crafty like me you can make stuff with them. I've been making market bags. I totally suck at crochet but that seems to be a bit faster and less stretchy than knitted plarn.

I take the bags flatten them out then fold them and cut the handles and bottom. That leaves a tube that I cut up into loops. The loops are then looped on each other to make one continuous string of plastic yarn or "plarn." Sure it's time consuming but what I have will last me a long time and stay out of the land fill. It takes a lot of bags to make one market bag so I feel good about it and I use up my friend's and family's bags. Making the plarn is my television watching activity or should I say "television listening" activity since my eyes are on my hands.

Maybe I'll get better at crochet and make something more interesting. Some people use old vhs tape to make these shiny, crinkly purses and stuff. I even save and wash the plastic bags from frozen veggies and fruits, as well as the bags that toilet paper is packaged in. Almost anything that can be cut into a tube or loops I try to reuse because I can get a lot of color that way. The plain white bags get a little dull looking and who doesn't like a little color?

The most colorful one is still in progress. I'm knitting some handles out of acrylic yarn to be a little easy on the hands. I'll post a picture once I'm done with it. By the way I keep working on the bath mat of doom but it's still slow going.

Bag the bags

2007-10-10T10:05:00.000-07:00

Let's give up bags, plastic bags that is. There's an awesome group in Austin called Bag the Bags. They want to ban bags in this town. It's not that there wouldn't be any bags but there would be a charge for plastic bags. In Ireland the adopted this strategy and they reduced their plastic bag usage by 90%. Wow. Plastic bags are one of the most prevalent kinds of litter. Just look around, they're everywhere. Not only are they unsightly and dangerous to animals, they give off nasty chemicals when they break down. Just say no to plastic bags.

Bag the Bags Here's their website

In the meantimes just use canvas or reuseable bags at the grocery. It takes a little getting used to but don't let that discourage you. Sometimes I get half way through my shopping and realize that I don't have my bags. I just park my cart and go get them before I get in line. It takes 2 minutes. Really. It's very practical. I always look at bags when I go to Goodwill. A couple weeks ago I found a really awesome white faux patent leather bag with black handles. Very chic! It was a Saks Fifth Avenue give away and practically brand new. $4 that's it and it's super sturdy and great for carrying just about anything. I've scored other awesome bags there.

A lot of times if I'm only getting one or two things I just say "no bag please" and carry it out. Some grocery stores will give you 5 or 10 cents off your purchase for bringing your own bag, places such as Wheatsville (I love Wheatsville!!) and Whole Foods.

Bloom!

2007-10-05T23:02:00.000-07:00

The baby toes bloomed! One of the plants in my succulent/cacti garden is in bloom right now. A big beautiful yellow flower! I haven't had anything bloom for me ever, it must really be happy living here with S. and me. It closes at night too only to reopen in the morning. I wonder what I'm doing right. The picture is a little fuzzy but you get the idea.
maybe I'll take a better one later

best recycling basket ever

2007-10-05T13:49:00.001-07:00

You know, sometimes things were just ment to be. For example, one day at work someone brought books to sell and left behind this gorgeous sturdy basket. We held on to it for a few days but no one came back to claim it. So it went home with me and it now is our recycling basket. It fits perfectly on our counter and can hold a lot of crap despite its compact size. It was just ment to be...sigh.

Carrots, how I do love thee

2007-10-05T13:39:00.000-07:00

I love carrots. They're probably my favorite vegetable of all vegetables. Sweet and crunchy, you can add them to almost anything, salads, soups, spring rolls, pasta sauce (a little grated carrot does wonders), or even on their own.

Today I made carrot ginger muffins, . I added 1/4 tsp cardamom and I think it added an extra oomph. Oh how I wish this were a scratch 'n' sniff picture so you could smell 'em. Technology lags behind though, here's the recipe. Pretty soon I'll learn how to make links. In the mean time you can just copy and paste.
http://veganizing.blogspot.com/2007/04/carrot-ginger-muffins.html

Covert compost

2007-10-01T14:29:00.000-07:00

Like a ninja, I prepare myself and move out under cover of darkness. The warm night envelopes me as I move towards my target. I've got the goods and I'm not afraid to do the job that needs to be done. COMPOSTING! Yes, I am the secret composter! Silent as an assassin with my stash of cabbage leaves, avocado skins, and carrot tops. I seek out the chosen place and deposit the goods. No one suspects a thing!

I sincerely believe that no one would mind either. There is a huge empty lot next to our apartment complex. It's just sitting there. Nothing ever happens except litter and a few stray cats. It's far enough away from any buildings to warrant complaints. I try to be a smooth operator though. I'll keep it neat and tidy. There's nothing gross like bones or animal wastes. Nothing to attract vermin. I'm not about to ask permission because there's no problem with what I'm doing and it's easier to ask for forgiveness than permission. About 25-30 percent of household waste can be compost able. I'm dramatically reducing our waste. The fact that we live in an apartment complex won't get in our way! I cannot be stopped! Ha Ha ha ha!

The bath mat of doom!

2007-09-29T10:54:00.000-07:00

This is the bathmat that will not end. I swear I work on it every day and it doesn't seem to move or grow or anything! The only reason that I started this project is because I thought I could whip this out in no time. Well it's been week and weeks. I think they call all those weeks months. Well it's been months.

The idea was a good one. Our bathroom is navy blue with hints of browns. We wanted a navy blue bathmat. Do you know how hard it is to find a navy blue bathmat? You can find baby blue, indigo blue, marine blue, Tiffany blue, sky blue, robin's egg blue and even navy blue and green, but no solid navy or heather/verigated navy blue bathmat. Nothing under $20. I found a nice one for about $35 online (not including shipping) but we're broke and it seems silly to pay so much for something that's the human equivalent of a spoon rest. Let's face it, all a bathmat does is catch drips.

So off to Hobby Lobby I went with gift card in hand visions of the coolest bathmat in the universe and got about $15 of cotton/something yarn (it's washer&dryerable) and got cracking. Initially it was flying by; I was making progress by leaps and bounds. Then when I used up the second ball of yarn it started to slow, now I'm on ball number three and I need to put a stitch marker in to tell if I'm making any progress at all. I keep knitting but it doesn't seem to be getting any bigger. I feel like Sisyphus pushin' his damned rock up a mountain.

When it's done it'll be pretty cool. Most of it is in garter stitch with moss stitch borders and lines breaking it up in geometric ways. I think it'll shrink a bit when I wash it for the first time and that'll probably bring out the contrasting pattern a little more. You can't tell much from this picture but I'll keep you posted.

Houseplants

2007-09-29T09:56:00.000-07:00

I have had mixed results with houseplants. In my last apartment there was just one tragedy after another including a miniature rose plant that just lost the will to live and shriveled up within days. There have been experiments with ivies and jade plants even an herb garden that met a tragic end (we won't ever speak of that herb garden again).

Ever since moving in with S. there have been successes. I have a small succulent/cactus garden that is going really, really well. The baby toes (a plant, I swear) are about to bloom! I have an ivy that I brought back from the dead and a croton that has come back from the other side of the veil of death.

The best part of all of this is that these plants do more than just look pretty. They actually help clean the air. A lot of common houseplants are really good at removing airborne toxins such as dioxin (big-time carcinogen), and formaldehyde (often found in carpeting and new construction material). The heaviest hitter in the houseplant world is the golden pothos. Easy to grow and easy on the eyes NASA has done studies on the most thorough air cleaners and this plant takes the cake. Ivies are also pretty darned hard working and easy to find in nursuries or even the grocery store. Other common plants that will work hard to clean your air are spider plants, snake plants, peace lilies (makes me think of the movie Hot Fuzz!), palms, Chinese evergreen, bamboo, and more.

For an interesting article read this:
http://www.extension.umn.edu/yardandgarden/ygbriefs/h110indoorair.html