Surprise!

Back from the dead, I am.

Nobody much blogs anymore do they? Facebook and IRC have taken over my blogging time, not to mention that whole job thing.

Oh, job? Why yes, thanks for asking!

I don't have one. Nope. My organization closed its doors last week, victim of piss poor management after the director left.

Thankfully, I saw the writing on the wall and began looking about a month ago, when they cut my hours back to 80% of full time. So far I've applied for 6 positions and gotten interviews for 4 of them. The last two are at the same organization, and they haven't invited anyone in yet. I have connections at all the places, so I'm not entirely in the dark about what's going on. One position was a stretch (at best) and I didn't get the job, which is fine. The other 5 I'm still in the running for, and are great fits with my experience.

So there's the backstory.

Now for the meat of this post. I'm bored and unmotivated. I've been like this for a while, actually, but with work I didn't have to worry about the boredom except on weekends. Now every day is a weekend. That's what I'm here to change.

I need structure. When I was last unemployed, I did tons of projects and it was fun, if stressful because of money. I have projects I could do now, but I'm lacking this motivation, which sucks. This is why I am going to put some structure in my life, and this blog is what's going to keep me honest.

Here's the plan, which I will likely revise as time goes on.

Wake up
Drink coffee, check FB, computer fun. (One hour)
Blog my schedule
Shower
Work
Lunch
Work
Make dinner

Here's my schedule for Day 1:

8-8:30 Shower
8:30-9:30 House cleaning
9:30-11 Get driver's license renewed.
11-12:30 Make and eat lunch, do dishes.
12:30-3 Look for jobs and apply
3-5 Garden

Garden in the afternoon isn't ideal, because it's going to be hot, but it's wet out there right now.

OK, ¡Adelante, Stew!

Rainy Day fun

I've been curious for a long time about eventually buying a house, I have today off, and it's raining. So just for kicks, I'm going to drive around to see (from the curb!) some houses listed for sale right now. Call it research.

Ideally I'd be wanting: no HOA, sunny enough yard for a garden, 3 Br and 2 Ba (for a roommate plus guest room), safe neighborhood, wouldn't make my commute more than 40 minutes one way, walkable, not stuck up, hardwoods, non-horrible kitchen, fenced yard, blahdity blah blah. They're mostly negotiable, these desires, but that list I gave tends to descending order of importance.

Neighborhoods I'm familiar with: Northgate Park (Hi Cristin!), Duke Park, Old West Durham, Watts Hillandale, Tuscaloosa/Lakewood, Forest Hills, Hope Valley, Trinity Park, Trinity Heights. Other areas that might be OK would be the Cole Mill area, around the intersection of Sparger and Hillsborough....

Any other ideas? Tell me about some nice neighborhoods here in Durham!

Projects on my mind

I have a neat idea, and I'd like some technical support, please.

Psuedo Greenhouse.

There's a nice porch on my house that runs the entire width of the front (See Photo). We don't use much of it, and I'd love to section off maybe 1/4 of it, on the south side, and make it into a very very low-tech greenhouse. The south side of the house runs roughly parallel with the driveway. So what we're talking about here is the area from the garbage can over to halfway between the first two iron pillars from the right.

I'm thinking right now that I could just attach vinyl sheeting from the overhang to the floor alongside the south and west edges (using a staple gun, maybe?), and then put up a tension rod and a heavy duty shower curtain. If I use a tension rod and shower curtain method, it would allow easy access via the porch. I'm not sure if that description made sense.

My excellent tape measure has gone temporarily missing, though, and it's driving me bonkers. I can't measure! The depth of the porch is about 6 feet (72 inches, or approx 2 meters), and the height to the bottom of the overhang looks about 8 feet.

Here are the basic questions I have for you. Keep in mind that I rent.

1. How do I effectively deal with the wind? I don't want strong gusts to blow everything down. This would be more an issue with the south and west sides than the tension rod side. Something I just considered would be attaching hooks into the overhang and use shower curtains there, too. That way they'd detach easily, so that if we have high winds I can just take them down. The added bonus to this possibility would be that I could buy fabric shower curtains to put up in the heat of the summer, providing both shade and privacy from the street.
2. How could I anchor the sheeting on the bottom? I don't want the bottom to be flapping around, but neither do I want to increase the stability so much that the sheeting will act like a sail. (See above re: wind.)
   
3. What other issues am I not taking into consideration? I'm not much of a planner, and I do want to avoid having to re-do the entire project. For instance, when I laid out my raised beds, I overestimated the amount of sun they got. One of my next major projects may be moving them (ugh!) a ways down into the driveway, which is much sunnier.
   

In other news, Project Front Yard is coming along nicely. That big ole mound of woodchips you can see if the photo has been spread over an expanse of cardboard, which should be killing the Bermuda grass in an excellent way. The entire south side of the front yard is now mulched, and the north side has a pleasing curved bed. As soon as I get more cardboard, I plan to also kill/mulch along the south side of the house. There's some nasty tall grass that I can't seem to keep under control.

Oh, another question: What your opinion about Round Up? I have a section in the backyard that is extremely overrun with blackberries and invasive honeysuckle. There's a stump under it all, so I can't mow over it. Will the Round Up leach into the soil and kill other stuff, or is it a valid way to clear the area?

Whew. OK, thanks.

Putting things up

Oh dear. I'm inundated with produce. None of it purchased.

This is what I've done so far:
pasta sauce
refrigerator pickles
cucumber kimchee
zucchini cake/bread
green beans, blanched and frozen
tomato confit
baba ganoush

Now what do I do with a few kilos of peaches? I'm thinking I'll freeze them. I also have access to blackberries for the next 5 days or so.

I've also been kicking ass at house cleaning this weekend. Dog-bringing Roommate moved a bunch of her stuff in yesterday, so I wanted to get things ready and make room. Not just for her, mind you, but because this is an excellent opportunity to get rid of crap and find places for things.

I've cleaned out the freezer, many of the kitchen cupboards, and my room. The bathroom is damn near germless, and I hauled a bunch o' crap out of the extra room. As I moved things around, I came across my camping kit--a largish plastic file box that contains things like a first aid kit, smore's sticks, a waterproof matches container, etc etc. It also had MY SIBLEY'S FIELD GUIDE in it, along with two other NC bird guides. Oy. Glad I waited to replace it.

My phone's gone missing, as of last night. I used it midday.

Sigh.

Back to the grind. Feels good to get things accomplished.

Exciting. New. Happenings.

Like all my other friends who either have had or will have had children recently, I too have a new baby.

A PROJECT GARDEN BABY!

I went over to SEEDS this afternoon and signed up for weekly volunteering. AND I rented a plot in the community garden. It's about 10'x10', and recently cured* of a fire ant infestation. The other choice (why do they have empty beds at all??) had better sun, but was much smaller-- 4'X4" or so. I'd have taken that one if it were the only option, though.

The Southside Garden encompasses the community plots, greenhouses, fruit trees (peach, persimmon, plum, mulberry, fig and probably more), outdoor classroom, cob pizza oven, composting areas and some of their youth-program plots. It's a gorgeous space. SEEDS has tools, compost, leaf mulch, some seeds, and water from rain barrels for its gardeners to use during business hours, and you can come garden at any time. Friday hours are until 8 p.m., so I think I know how I'll be spending my evenings!

After paying a ridiculously low rental price (The sliding scale fee starts at $1 per plot. I actually paid double of the full price, marking the balance as a donation.), I hauled a wheelbarrow load of compost over to my somewhat underfilled plot, but then I was done for the day. I'm thinking I'll need to amend the stressed soil. They use straight compost in the beds, so I'm thinking of buying some topsoil to get some clay in there. After all, we still have a drought on here.

I'm really excited about this, folks.

Advice solicited: what should I plant since I only have this rented until the end of August? I assume I'll be renting it for the September to March growing season as well, but I don't want to count on that. They may have needier and/or neighboring folks to give the plot to then.

*We hope! If you have any tricks about repelling fire ants without pesticides, please do let me know.

Housing

So...I continue to think about getting a house. Scratch that, BUY a house.

One idea that's come up has been cohousing. There are actually a fair number of intentional communities in the area, but none in Raleigh. I mention Raleigh because I'm thinking more and more about the 50+ miles I drive each workday. Ouch. Anyway, looking here the only real opening in an intentional community I was able to find in Durham has a house up for sale at $435K. No.

There's another that has no openings at all, and a third that is in its infancy. Looking at this latter one, Footpath, I don't see much commitment to affordability. At least not yet. I've registered on their site and posted to the forum about it, so we'll see.

Carrboro has more options, but again, no room at the inn, ironically. One wouldn't even allow me (AGEIST!), and anyway it's just a gleam in its elderly parents' eyes still. There are two more. One has no openings, and with the other I can't tell from the webpage. Pacifica, the one where I can't tell, offers the most reasonable possibilities for me. There are both 610 sq ft units and 900ish sq ft units. Small, but doable. And affordable, at ~110K and ~145K respectively. Living in Carrboro would add another 20 miles round trip to my commute though.

The final option, in Pittsboro, has a house for sale. It's cheap enough (ok, not CHEAP, but potentially), but the house is your proverbial Money Pit. And Pittsboro is likely to be an even longer drive to work.

Argh!


But still, I'm very excited by the concept.

I haven't had a lot to say recently, have I? There's no real reason for that. I'm just plugging along, enjoying life for the most part, and thinking about the fact that three of my friends had babies in the space of 1.5 weeks. I've only met one of them so far (so cute!!), but I hope to meet the other one real soon. The third lives kind of far away, so I won't meet her for some time.

Since I put together my grow light setup, I've been getting up a little before 6 every morning. It's nice to have a cup of coffee outside at that hour. I sit and listen to the birds; I've finally been hearing Roo-Roo the Rooster, who lives across town a bit, as an illegal pet. He's sweet, and very vocal. I'm also going to bed really early too. Except for last night, when I was up until midnight. I think I slept too much the night before!

I've finished a couple of neato crochet projects. One was the plastic-bag doormat. Note to self and others--use bags that have mostly the same weight to them. If you have particularly strong bags, cut the plarn WAY thinner than for a typical grocery bag. The other project is a jellyfish, which I think I probably mentioned somewhere else, but can't be bothered to look it up and see. I like this one where he seems to be swimming. (On my unmade bed!) And this one is what he looked like after I decided that he needed to have a heftier head.

I had my little nephew LiLi (Liam) in mind when I whomped that baby up. Now I need two more projects for 10 year old boys. Can't leave the others out, you see. I have no idea what they might like, though. It's also slightly complicated in that I still refuse to use patterns. Cobby Cobberson (Conor) loves soft things, so that's a factor. Bubbina (Ian) is a harder nut to crack. He likes science. Actually, both of the twins are really into nature. Maybe I'll make an caterpillar emerging from a cocoon or something for one of them.

Any other idea? What would 10 year old boys like? A nose with boogers?

This one's for Mom

I cleaned my room top to bottom. Found many missing shoes and $17 in bills and change. Treated myself to a paper shredder with the proceeds. I will soon start on the piles of junk mail, which I will either recycle or use as bedding for the worms.

No, your comment about whether I'd cleaned my bedroom yet did not inspire this! Internal motivation did. So, NYAAH!!! ;-) (that's a wink, mumma)


Unfortunately, the re-messyzation has already begun. To wit:

By numbers

Oh my, have I been productive today!!

It's noon. So far I've fully completed two loads of laundry, with one left in the dryer, one in the washer, and likely two more to go. WHAT? I counted 65 pairs of underpants, so it's not like I've been being too gross. (Except for that "can't see the floor of my bedroom" part).

I've also cleared most surfaces in the bedroom and bathroom, which had become overloaded with things that have no home, or who'd been separated from their families, like 36 hair bands* (btw, I don't know when I stopped calling them by their normal name)

While doing all of this, I kept coming up with things I want to do: felt something, get a chest freezer, go on a woodcock walk, buy an iPod charger, see Toby and Janet. The list so far is up to 40.

Somehow while getting all of these things accomplished, I also managed to whomp up some kick-ass lentils and onions from the Indian volume of the Foods of the World series. I substituted jalapeño from last summer for the red pepper it called for, upped the cumin seeds, and hoped for the best. Y'all? I even made ghee. Basmati rice to accompany, and I've eaten very well today.

I wonder what else I'll do today? Any ideas?


*Not to be confused with Hair Bands.

To market, to market

Waiting for the dentist to do no right by me (other than the two fillings and a problematic anesthesia), I taught myself how to crochet round things on Monday.

This afternoon when I was running an errand to pick up some yellow ribbon to make giveaways for a tabling event to raise awareness of suicide in a couple of weeks, I just HAD to swing by the yarn area. Picked up a couple of cheapo cotton skeins in a hot hot pink hue. All the way back from work I dreamed up how I'd make a market bag, using the few crochet skillz I have already.

I know too well that there are patterns out there I could be using, but seriously, folks, look at what they make you try to figure out and then DO!

MATERIALS:
J. & P. COATS KNIT-CRO-SHEEN, 3 balls of White or Ecru, or 4 balls ofany color.
Steel crochet hook No. 3.
Starting at short end, ch 138 (17 sts to 2 inches) to measure 17 inches long.
1st row; DC in 4th ch from hook and in each ch across until there are 136 dc, counting turning ch as 1 dc. Ch 1, turn.
2nd row: Sc in 1st 2 dc, * ch 10, skip 4 dc, sc in next 4 dc. Repeat from *across, ending with ch 10, skip 4 dc, sc in last 2 dc. Ch 1, turn.
3rd row: Sc in 1st 2 sc, * ch 5, 2 sc in next loop, ch 5, skip 1 sc, sc in next 2 sc. Repeat from * across, ending with ch 5, sc in last 2 sc. Ch 3, turn.
4th row: Dc in next sc, ch 5, * sc in next loop, sc in next 2 sc, sc in next loop, ch 10. Repeat from * across, ending with ch 5, dc in last 2 sc. Ch 1, turn.
5th row: Sc in next 2 dc, * ch 5, skip 1 sc, sc in next 2 sc, ch 5, 2 sc in next loop. Repeat from * across, ending with ch 5, sc in last 2 dc. Ch 3, turn.
6th row: Dc in next sc, ch 10, skip next ch 5 and sc group, * sc in next loop, sc in next 2 sc, sc in next loop, ch 10. Repeat from * across, ending with ch 10, dc in last 2 sc. Ch 1, turn.
Repeat 3rd to 6th rows incl for 44 inches, ending with the 5th row of pattern. Ch 1, turn.
Next row: Sc in next 2 sc, ch 4, skip ch 5 and 2 sc, * sc in next loop, sc in next 2 sc, sc in next loop, ch 4. Repeat from * across. Ch 3, turn.
Following row: Dc in each st across. Fasten off. Fold piece in half and sew up sides.
HANDLES ... Cut 37 strands each 3 yards long. Twist tightly, then doublethe twisted strands and give them a 2nd twist in the opposite direction. Knot loose ends. Make another knot 5 inches away from end knot. Make 3rd knot close to 2nd knot. Make 4th knot 5 inches away from 3rd knot. Cut cord between 2nd and 3rd knots. Fasten cut ends on wrong sides of knots and sew, handles to top of bag.

Copyright 2000-2006 Celt's Vintage Crochet

I'm way too Type B for that. So I just make shit up as I go along. Currently it looks suspiciously like a poor woman's doily, though I'm hoping I find the ingenuity to figure out how to make it all come together at the top. I'm thinking once I have a lot of the fishnet, I'll make a a chain as wide around as I'd like the opening to be, and anchorit into each finished loop. The band will be like, I dunno, three rows wide or something, and then I'll crochet a shoulder strap onto it.

And then I'll buy a fat pig to carry in it. Or at least some bacon.

The Day

I've decided to take Monday, February 4th off from work. I want to plan a day of extreme goodness, with no laundry, cleaning or any other "must-do's". It will be a day of ME ME ME.

I don't have all that many ideas of what that's going to mean, though. I know most if not all people are working on Monday, so it might be a day of solitude. One thing I've considered is establishing my (soon-to-be-purchased) grow light setup and beginning some seedlings. Part of that process is hauling some stainless steel wire shelving out of the shed. New Roommate has agreed to help me put it together. That will go in my bedroom, by the south-facing window. I will then purchase and hang a shoplight with some kind of florescent lightbulbs in it. I'm still working out what kind of bulbs I need, but I'll figure that out soon enough.

Other ideas I've had involve hopping over to the Aveda Institute for some pampering on the cheap. I need a haircut, and could use a pedicure.

Finally, I'm going to dinner with my sweet Nem. (Emily).

Not bad, eh?

Crochety

Jamie and I had some conversations about knitting versus crocheting when I visited her last weekend. I crochet; she knits.

Crocheting gets a REALLY bad rap. Most people think it's all granny squares, but I've never made one. I hate them. Truth be told, I've only ever made scarves. Wait. Once I crocheted a "scrubby" with my grandma, made of strips of tulle. It kind of resembled this, but it was double thick.

I think I wooed Jamie a little bit with that scarf I made her. She wooed me with the knitting she taught me. I've always been a bit intimidated by knitting, to tell the truth. But it worked just so very well when I was there, that I decided this week to get my knit on. I stopped by my local "good" yarn store and picked up a few skeins of wool and some bamboo knitting needles (one set of straight and one in the round).

What a pain in the ass this has been so far. First, I had to wind all the damn yarn from the skein into a ball. It took an hour, and I spent most of that time detangling. That's just wrong. Then, when I tried to knit, I just couldn't do it. I mean, I knew WHAT to do, but I couldn't make it happen. The straight bamboo needles were too rough. The bamboo round ones were just weird (that's way too complex for me, I fear) and sticky. I went to my fabric cupboard and pulled out some aluminum needles I had, to see if that made a difference. Nope.

By now I've "knit" and unraveled again about four times. The wool is fuzzy and splitty. Very very splitty. Damn it.

I've given up knitting for the moment. But I want to do something other than just crochet scarves, you know??

So I went on the search for free patterns. Wow. Now I really, really get the stigma attached to crochet. Check these out.

Lacy Crochet Basket
Ornament Jacket
Masquerade Mask
Crocheted Hoop Earrings
Flamingo in Filet (By the way? What the FUCK is a "Star Wars" birthday? 77?)
Crocheted Turkey Ornament
Ferret Hammock
Lacy Candle Cozy
"Apache Tears" afghan
Barbie "Red, Hot and Blue 4th of July Dress"
Bikini

And not least: Doo Rag.

Dude. This is what gives crochet a bad name. Seriously. Woo.

Here are some things I might actually make:

Socks
Toe-up socks
Plastic bag tote


And this is really cute, but I'm not interested.

As per usual

My time at Jamie's is more than fantastic. It's such a warm, loving place, their farm, and I can't help but think I'd love to live here with her forever. I'm sure she'd get extremely sick of me after about two weeks. But still.

To show my appreciation (and as some kind of challenge to myself), I crocheted her a scarf in 1.5 hours. All at once. The time flew by. I decided it was an early, early birthday present. It actually turned out quite well. Maybe if I get into it some more I can learn how to read patterns and actually make projects other than scarves.

Actually, this scarf is patterned. It's very lace-esque, like a loose string market bag. Which I think will be my next project. Basically you start with a long chain stitch, as is typical. Then you anchor back a few stitches with a single crochet, chain a bunch more (4 in this case), anchor again, etc. Then for the next row you make a turn stitch, chain four and anchor through the whole loop you've made. Maybe I'll post a picture. Ok, I just did.

And dude. Dinner. Oh My God. Roast leg of lamb with pan-browned potatoes, homemade pita and tzatziki, a carrot/parsnip mash and then broccoli and cauliflower with cheese sauce. Veg provided by a guest named Holly Golightly. Crabapple pie for dessert. And breakfast.

I don't want to go hoooooooome.

Progress!

Mind you, it took almost 4 hours (!) to oil my change this morning, but I multitasked the waiting with a little hot, class-planning action. And some buying-a-USB cord craziness over at el Rey de la Comida*. And some guilt-reducing parental phone calls. And some fab hardware-setting-up goodness.

And now I have a scanner. I've never had one before. EVER.

So here's a 10-year-old picture of Stew Short Hair from the Barcelona era, as proof that I got my multipurpose print-type device all hooked up.

Now MAYBE I'll eventually put away the enormous and ever-growing pile of clean laundry that shares my bed.

Eh...tomorrow.

(And tomorrow and tomorrow. For some reason I just remembered one of my fave soliloquies. I used to have it memorized)


*Who'd have guessed they'd carry USB cables??

Day one

So, thanks to the Peaceable Imperatrix, for this whole month of November you will be guaranteed!!! to have a stew experience here at the blog each and every day.

Um...I think the only practical difference is that guarantee.

I mean, here I am, Day Two of not going to work, Day Six of being progressively sicker, Day One of National Blog Posting Month and also Day one of Going. To. The. Doctor.

I've fulfilled my promise for the day.

Back to bed.

Curiouser and Curiouser

I wonder if I've been changed in the night? Let me think. Was I the same when I got up this morning? I almost think I can remember feeling a little different. But if I'm not the same, the next question is 'Who in the world am I?' Ah, that's the great puzzle!

I have to get back into sewing. I think I'm going to start tomorrow with a new project. I'm not sure what to do first, other than procure the fabric and notions.

Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end: then stop.

Easy enough, right? I dug through my fabric stash and found something that will work perfectly. And even though the project isn't exactly tough, I can't seem to visualize exactly how I want it.

I think I should understand that better, if I had it written down: but I can't quite follow it as you say it.

As is usual for me and my inability to concentrate much past the "Oooh! An APRON!!" stage, I'm planning on not trying to use a pattern. They scare me.

Read the directions and directly you will be directed in the right direction.

People have told me that it's really not that hard.

It would be so nice if something made sense for a change.

No...the directions are too complicated. I have the same problem with crochet patterns.

Let me see: four times five is twelve, and four times six is thirteen, and four times seven is -- oh dear! I shall never get to twenty at that rate!

I am not ready to deal with that mess. It's just an apron. A waistband, a pleated square for the bottom, a non-pleated square for the top, and some frilly touches--right?

Fan her head! She'll be feverish after so much thinking.

The things I sew rarely turn out as I want to them to. But I resist the damn PATTERN!

I have an excellent idea, LETS CHANGE THE SUBJECT.

Who knew?

ANYTHING can be made in a crockpot, people! OK, maybe not crunchy things, but anything wet can be.

As requested, a short explanation about the applesauce project.

All I did was chunk up some apples, skins and all, but not cores. Then I put them with about 1 inch of water in the crockpot, along with some spices (whatever you want...cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, etc.) Let it cook. I've done it two ways so far; the first batch went in overnight and then some. ~12 hours, I'd say. It came out quite brown, like apple butter, but tasty. The second way was shorter cook time at a higher temperature. This came out slightly prettier, because the apples hadn't browned as much. I didn't sweeten the applesauce, but you can if you want to.

SO! Once the apples are done, mush them through a Foley food mill.

Eat or can.

(I ended up with 5 quarts and two pints, btw. So far).

MORE HAPPY!

Are you at all sick of this if-it-weren't-so-real-it'd-be-saccharine mood?

Blame it on the rain.

Or maybe the bushel of Virginia Stayman apples I got at the SW Virginia Farmer's Market today that are currently cooking into applesauce for the canning. (Once again, thanks go out to our Marianne for my crockpot.)

Local apples which I bought on the way back from a wedding.

Where I saw my friend Cosmo marry the most perfect for him woman ever, each pledging vows that were exquisitely real.

While I was sitting with my good friend Nemoid.

Next to a spring-fed brook teeming with watercress.

Which I sampled.

But forgot to harvest.

OR maybe it's because I found out I'm getting a new computer for Christmas (together with my birthday).

A computer that, theoretically, won't have such issues as deciding not to charge. Or to only allow one application open before the spinny, rainbow wheel kicks in.

And I can get it whenever I want it. As long as I don't bitch when the holidays come.

Or maybe it's because I'm sunburned to a crisp.

Because of five straight hours in sunlight today, sans sunscreen.

Because you don't NEED sunscreen when it's only in the mid-60s, right?

And it's cold enough in those mountains to need a wrap.

Which you didn't bring.

Because you don't have one.

So you can just make one, right? No problem. 2 yards of brocade satin, some new scissors, 45 minutes to kill, a needle and thread? Wrap.







Or maybe I'm just happy. Things are going really, really, really well, my friends.

Fall!

It's cooling down FINALLY, at least today. Which reminds me that I've planted a fall garden and haven't talked about it beyond that time I was confused so about spacing and my tiny plot.

Planting happened a couple of weeks ago; I spent one Saturday scooping the sawdust mulch off of the area where the cukes had been and prepping the soil. I had purchased many a Brassica, swapped some with Maria, and ended up planting the following:

4 Red cabbages
2 Brussels sprouts
2 Broccoli of some variety I can't remember
2 Broccoli of another variety
2 Cauliflower
1 sq foot (approx) of Red Globe radishes
1 sq foot (approx) of French Breakfast radishes
2-3 sq feet of carrots
3 sq feet of various greens, from a "Mesclun" seed packet. So far I recognize arugula (rocket for those Brits who read) and kale. There's probably one lettuce of some kind. Maybe freckled.
Green onions? I put them somewhere and didn't label them. Oops.
2 sq feet of beets
One fall tomato plant (no big hopes, though)
Lettuce, maybe one head of, interestingly, the Grand Rapids variety. (Western MI represent!)

I have some good local garlic that I'll plant somewhere out of the way, since it takes something like 150 days until harvest. Jesus.

As to summer crops, I've still got jalapenos and, like, one sweet pepper that might make it. Soon I'll rip all that out. I have only one sad summer tomato plant hanging on. It was my favorite this year (Pink Beefsteak), for both flavor and volume of output. Mr. Stripey was annoying in that it decided that it wanted to be tasty for worms. I brought a traveler back to MI with me, much to my family's annoyance. Since then pretty much all of the cute, yellow and red tomatoes have been one, internal rotten spot.


Yeah, this is as good a place as any to do a tomato variety recap.
Indian Stripe: very yummy, but didn't really produce.
Pink Beefsteak: Love love love love love love.
Extreme Bush: Nasty, sour, thick skinned.
Mr. Stripey: Meh.

Next year I want to plant more red slicers.

I also want some normal peppers. This year mine essentially sucked. The frigitellos are cute and all, but not enough output. I accidentally planted only two sweet peppers and 7 spicy. Reverse that next year, mmmkay?

MORE MELONS! I bet I can buy some potting soil, cut an X in the bag and plant a melon in there and put it in the front or side yard. RIGHT ON.

I'm bored with writing this, so I'm going to stop now.

In Charge

A camping trip I'm going on at the end of the month is apparently Without Planner, which I discovered when I pumped my contact for the details. He's not been able to arrange what he wanted to be doing, so I'm going to try to step up to the plate.

So.

Help me, if you can.

Do you know of any places within an easy drive of the RDU area that does overnight canoe camping? Where you can rent the canoes?

Some links for me to check out. (This is a handy place to make some canoe-camping bookmarks for me.)

Carolina Canoe Club Canoe Camping (info about the W-S area Dan river, especially)

A Dan River rental place

New River canoe rentals, including an overnight thing.

Frog Hollow, A local-ish outdoor trips place

Raven Rock State Park (but where to get the canoes?)


This looks promising: