Sunny day

Posted On October 10, 2008

October 6th:
Here are the finished red raspberry leaves! I just ground them up a little more in my food processor to get a finer texture. They look and smell just like they should. It’s so exciting to have a free local organic source for something like this. I never thought I’d be drinking local tea for free! So fun. I really hope to hone my skills as far as free food goes. I know that I can get free red raspberry leaves, grape leaves, pears, cherries (although I sort of missed my opportunity there). I also got half off of my apples last week for picking them off the ground! Hopefully I can just keep my eyes peeled for more in the next few years.

Oct. 7th:
One of the last bundles from the garden, I’m sure. I realized that I kind of dropped the ball on really recording and studying what happened in the garden this year. Life happened, but I’ve certainly gotten better. I’ve lost some things- so I learned that if I really want a harvest I may have to plant a few things in different spots. For instance, I got about 4 green beans this year before the plants died from some weird disease. It dawned on me how easy it would be to do green beans in two spots in the garden so maybe one batch would survive. Worst case scenario we have beans up the wazoo! I also lost both my acorn and delicata squash to disease as well. Kind of a bummer, but I’ll just plant more next year. Tomatoes did not do that well this year, but it seems like most people I talk to feel that way about their plants. Most things did well though. The tomatillos grew like crazy, and while I liked the small pineapple ones (also known as "ground cherries") I found that the larger ones just didn’t taste good to me. Sort of a dirty-gym-sock quality that just didn’t sit right. Jeff didn’t taste it until I mentioned it, and while I have always liked salsa verde, these just tasted gross to me. I’m going to buy some and see if it was just mine that were grody, but for now I think I’ll just be making salsa verde with my green tomatoes. I have loads anyway. It’s strange to find something I don’t like. The only other thing I don’t like is liver. 
Anyway, point being, I’ve learned. A lot. Each year is a big step in the right direction and while I tend to always make some mistakes, they aren’t often repeated, so I’m counting it all as progress. Next year I’m going to focus on root space and soil quality, as well as really maximizing the capacity of the raised beds by careful planning- for example I’ll plant kale in between lots of bigger plants as a sort of mulch, etc. Anyway, I always have fun, and that’s all that matters to me.

Oct. 8th:
We went to this local place called The Ark to see one of our favorite bands, Girlyman. They were awesome, and we had lots of babyless fun. I also realized that there are lots of opportunities to see live music there for only a few bucks, sometimes for free. Once a month they have a free "Take a Chance Tuesday" with some local band, and now they’re starting to do their open mics again which are only 3 bucks for hours of music. I’ll just have to find a sitter here and there, but I think it’ll really do me good to make a point to see people play. The Ark rocks, too. It’s remained a small venue, so you’re really close to the performers (who are sometimes pretty famous). It’s just always a warming experience. I think I might volunteer there soon.

Oct. 9th:
This little stinker is just amazing. On this morning I set her in her bassinet thingy so that I could get dressed, and she pulled herself up to standing! She can basically get wherever she wants to go (namely the dog’s bowls, which we haven’t found a good solution for…). The only downside to this is that I’ve now realized how dirty our floors are, although I suppose you could see it as a positive- they are cleaner now that she’s around! She’s also basically baby-proofing the house for us. It’s gotten so safe that I’ve left her in a room for a few minutes without being worried she’ll get into anything she shouldn’t. Improvements all around! She makes my heart smile.

Oh yeah, and other Vera update- she’s getting teeth like crazy. All four front top ones are coming in at the same time. It’s been interesting. I could use some more sleep, and both Jeff and I have noticed we’ve been on shorter fuses with each other. At least we can talk candidly about it. We’ll just look at each other all annoyed and then say something like "sorry, I’m just irritated and tired." and then it’s all ok. Anyway, it’s really cute to see these bright white little tooth buds peeking out, and I’m sure we’ll all get a good nights rest soon. Every time I start to think it’ll never end it’s almost over. 

Oct. 10th:
It’s been really cold at night, so we had to bring in our porch plants. I love all this green everywhere! I can’t ever seem to have enough plants!

 

Quote of the day:
"The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today." -FDR