Wonkybusker

Fox

We have a neighborhood fox that comes at night to bark at Loki.  Fortunately, she doesn't bark back.  But it is the weirdest noise.  I recorded it today so you could hear it too.

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Strawberries

May 5th the first ripe strawberries were plucked from the garden.  Sadly, we need to put down some straw because the bugs are finding them before we are.  However, I'm still happy to have red, ripe strawberries outside.  Other than lettuce and herbs, this is our first harvest of the season.

Spring Projects Never End

We don't have that many sunny spots in our yard.  You'd think we'd get to a point where the gardening would be done.  For some reason, every time I check something off the garden list, something else gets added.  Wait, there's a little more room in that corner.  Or, I think that spot may actually be sunny enough for another berry bush.  My wish list is long.  Maybe first I need to be successful with what I have planted.  My lettuce has not been impressive this year, despite patiently growing them from seed.  I haven't even picked any spinach because it's been so small.

On the plus side, the veggie garden is more protected.  There's a new fence with features to make even the groundhog steer clear.  And, we have a fox now.  Well, we have a fox that stops by at least weekly to bark at our dog.  The fox barks, not Loki.  It's a very strange noise.  Hopefully a resident fox will make little critters think twice about coming near our yard and stealing our plants.  It hasn't stopped the squirrels, though.  They've already been taking bites out of our green strawberries and leaving them around the yard.

I hope we get some red strawberries soon.  I've held off on buying the ones in the grocery store in anticipation of the ones growing in my yard, but I'm getting impatient.

Seedlings

The snow peas are up in the garden, the fruit trees are flowering, and my seedlings in the window sill are starting to really look like healthy little plants.  Hello, spring.

Bracket Broken Beyond Repair

Chris has already won our March Madness pool.  I'll have to wash the dishes for a week.  That's what I get for picking Murray St. to win.  But if you can't pick who you want to root for, that's no fun.

I'll post pictures of my windowsill soon.  Spring has come early and my seedlings are no exception.  Outside the fruit trees are budding, the strawberries are spreading, and the berry bushes are getting their first leaves.

So what will be growing in the vegetable garden this year?

Polybig Tomato

Principe Borghese Tomato

Manyel Tomato

Brandywine Tomato

Trip L Crop Tomato (the seeds were free)

Roma Tomato

Tomatillo

Red Bell Pepper

Cayenne Pepper

Dusky Eggplant

Ichiban Japanese Eggplant

Basil

Cilantro

Lettuce

Spinach

Minnesota Midget Cantaloupe

Sugar Baby Watermelon

Blue Hubbard Squash

Acorn Squash

Eight Ball Zucchini

Yellow Squash

Picolino Cucumber

Spacemaster Cucumber

Snow Peas

Corn

Leeks (maybe)

Gorgeous Day

I had a picnic lunch out in the sunshine today.  It doesn't feel like February at all and it makes me want to start all my vegetable seeds.  This time last year I had seeds sprouting and it really was too early.

Back Home

We're back from Italy.  We had a great trip and saw Etruscan tombs, the ancient Roman city of Ostia Antica, the Capitoline Museum and much more.  Now, after travel and the holidays, it's time for life to get back to normal.  As usual, while we were traveling we took lots of pictures.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

We're good at recycling.  And we try to reuse as much as possible, although composting has been a failure.  What I want to do more of in 2012 is reducing.  If we don't buy it in the first place, that's the best of all options.  To that end, I've been trying to cut down on the number of things I buy that eventually need to be recycled.  We have a water filter and a SodaStream, which cuts down quite a bit on the need for bottles.  We've switched to bars for soap, shampoo, conditioner, moisturizing lotion, and shaving cream, which also cuts down on plastic.  And we've started canning, which uses reusable jars instead of the one-use metal cans from the store.  And I'm trying to rely on canned, frozen, or cool weather veggies this winter instead of buying fresh tomatoes, cucumbers, and peppers just because they're available all year in the grocery store.  Hopefully I'll keep it up, but I already miss fresh tomatoes and it's only January.  At least we're doing something.  It's a little progress.  We use much less electricity and water than average  according to our utility bills.  And yet there's still so much more we can do.  I want to try to buy more in bulk.  I want to compost successfully.  I want to not buy a single can of soda in 2012.  I want to get back in the habit of bringing and using silverware at work instead of the disposable plates and utensils in the lunchroom.  Every little bit helps.

Making Christmas

This year we made Christmas presents.  It was a fun project and I was amazed by the final products of what we gave and received.

Chris had an idea of building a Tardis (from Doctor Who) box.  So he tried his hand at woodworking.  And after many hours using hand tools to chisel door panels, we got some electronic tools that sped the job up a bit.  The result is a spectacular box and now I've requested that Chris make me one too.

For my part, I knit a purse and made a quilt.

And I tried my hand at glass etching.

It's really easy.  You just need to get a special glass etching solution.  Then you take contact paper, trace what you want to put on the glass (I used a stencil) and cut it out with an exacto knife.  Then carefully remove the backing and stick it on the glass, being careful to smooth out any bumps.  The glass etching stuff goes on the holes you made in the contact paper, and then you wash it off a few minutes later.  That's all there is to it.

With all these Christmas presents, Loki didn't help at all.  However, she was very happy when she got homemade dog biscuits on Christmas day.

Home Again

I just got back from vacation.  It was a much needed break and now I'm ready to head into the holiday season.  Some of the pictures are posted at http://jessicaek.typepad.com/photos/carribbean.

The next few weeks will be busy, so you may not hear from me much but stay tuned for pictures from our Italy trip in early 2012.  Also, this year my family is making Christmas presents to exchange and we've been hard at work on a number of interesting gifts, so I'll be posting those after Christmas.

Rainy Day

I love rainy days.  I love dreary, dark, cloudy rainy days.  I love the sound of rain tapping on the window or on an umbrella.  And it's nice to come inside somewhere cozy after being out in the rain.  It makes me miss London.  It makes me happy that the rain will make the garden that much better.  And there's something slightly guilty but lovely about being happy on a rainy day.

Nothing to See Here

First there was an earthquake and then the hurricane came through.  It was quite a week.  All is well here and despite a day without power, some fallen branches, and a bent tree or two we really don't have anything to complain about.  It could have been a whole lot worse. 

I can't believe August is almost over!  Post hurricane, the temperature is nice and the sun is shining.  Our fall vegetables survived the rough weather.  We continued the canning experiment by making pickles and relish last weekend.

Work is still very busy and will probably remain so for another 9-10 weeks, so I'm sorry if this blog is a little quiet this fall.  I'll come back.

Little Bits of Fall

I love those days in August that let you know Fall is around the corner.  The breeze picks up and a few leaves begin to fall (although I think those are from the recent drought).

The garden has been going pretty well and we have a bumper crop of tomatoes and basil, although the rest of the crops never fully recovered from the groundhog, who is still at large.  We also got supplemental tomatoes from the local farmer's market and canned.  Now we have salsa, bbq sauce, diced tomatoes, and all sorts of lovely jars in the basement that I'm sure we'll be happy to have this winter. 

The Wildwood beach tournament was lots of fun and lived up to expectations.  It promises to be a busy end of summer into early fall and then I'm looking forward to vacation time in late fall and early winter.

Tomatoes

The groundhog has done a number on just about everything else in our garden, but the tomatoes are still going strong.  So far we've harvested 15 tomatoes.  The roma and the early girls are our top performers, but there are green tomatoes on all the plants.  Yay! 

And mom and dad got me replacement cucumbers.  :)  I was so upset that I might not get cucumbers this year but now I think I will. 

Oh, and the squash plants are finally getting their first female flowers.  We may still have a garden this season afterall.  If only we could catch the groundhog.  The trap has been set.

First!

Yesterday, I picked the first red tomatoes from the garden.  We have never gotten them this early before. :)

Mystery Solved

There have been no bunnies in our garden.  Nor have there been deer.  We found our mysterious guest and he is a particularly fat groundhog.  So far he's eaten all of our bush beans, all of our melons, most of our cucumbers, most of our carrots, half of our peppers, some of our eggplants, and some of our summer and winter squashes.  We've been trying to deter him with reflective material, dog poop and dog fur, and wire strung around the edge of the garden.  So far nothing has worked.  Now I know how Bill Murray felt about the gopher.

The one bright spot left in the garden is that he hasn't touched the tomatoes.  Those tomatoes are gorgeous.  They're already taller than I am with at least a hundred green tomatoes on them and as of this morning two tomatoes were starting to turn red.

Another Garden Bites the Dust

A deer got into our garden yesterday.  Today I picked a cucumber, but it will be the first and last of the season since the cucumber plants are pretty much gone.  The peppers have been half eaten.  Some will recover, some won't.  A few squash leaves are missing.  The tomatoes were untouched, so at least we'll have those.  I hate these kinds of set backs.

Rabbit Attack

In a time honored garden cliche, the rabbit ate our carrots.  Strangely, he also ate another melon plant and two pepper plants.  It is a setback and I'm left hoping our bunny friend doesn't return.  In the meantime, I'm anxiously awaiting the tomatoes and cucumbers that are slowly growing on the vines.

It's Hot Out Already

Our garden is doing well, although we're waiting for our next harvest.  There are some green tomatoes and tiny cucumbers that make me hopefully that veggies are coming.  Here is our jungle of tomatoes:

 

And then here are some of the peppers, along with shallots and garlic on the right.

 

Our squash plants look healthy, but so far no female flowers.

 

Some of our eggplants are flowering.

 

And then this is a bit of a mystery plant.  We know it is a squash plant, but whether it's summer or winter squash is unclear.  It is much taller than all the other squash plants we have.

 

DC Restaurants

DC is getting a Shake Shack!  I wonder if the lines will be as long as the NYC one.  It sounds like this is opening soon, unlike the Wagamama restaurant we were promised back in 2008 and still have yet to see.