Wild Foods Weekend

Monday, April 27, 2009


The Wild Foods Weekend was crazy fun, and super tiring. The pic above is of a bowl of entirely edible flowers.

In summary, here are some of the outcomes:

  • I'm definitely going to do more me-only trips in the future
  • I'll almost certainly do return trips for the Wild Foods Weekend
  • I may go to the Wild Foods Weekend in West Virginia in September
  • I had so much fun on Saturday night I either cracked or bruised a rib.*
Here's the first of 7 videos I recorded, documenting the trip.



There will be a bunch of pics to follow, but I need to get them all organized & uploaded.


* Having had a bruised rib before, I'm familiar with the feeling. Suffice it to say it ain't good, and it takes months to heal.

Sunday, April 26, 2009

"I think it is very seductive to form a picture in your mind of how it will be, or how you would like it to be, and then frantically try to apply that picture to what is happening." -SARK

Introspection 101

Thursday, April 23, 2009

So, it's interesting, this blog of mine. It's about me, but it's not really *about* me, if you know what I mean. It's about the stuff I do, not about the nitty gritty, who I am, what I believe, throwing myself out there and not really caring what anybody thinks about it, me. None of my blogs ever have been, and heck, I totally separated this from my last blog because I just don't know you all that well to share even some of that (super mild) stuff with you. Audience is always the issue, right? Always so much judgement in the world, about the stupidest crap. Usually I just don't give of myself in ways like this, you have to earn it, and then maybe we'll see. But today, in the spirit of truly launching my blog, here's a few of my milder thoughts and beliefs... Let's call it introspection 101.

Things I'm learning:

People are fragile and weak. Everyone I've ever known has let me down at one time or another. Hell, I let me down all the time, and I'm sure that I'm an ongoing train wreck of letting other people down in one way or another, so I can't claim I'm exempt (though I'd surely prefer to think so).

I used to be a relationship assassin. You screw me on certain things that on some unidentifiable, unannounced (but clearly defined with boundaries in my head) level, and next thing you know, the last sound you heard is a soft "poof" of the bullet I just put into our relationship, and I'm walking on and not looking back. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't flippant about the decision, and I had to get a pretty clear signal of the dysfunction to make the choice, but once I knew, I knew. There was no reevaluation period, no trial separation. Why waste our time?

Maybe you noticed the "used to be" in there. That's the part I'm learning about. At our nature we're all just hairy, smelly, unkempt, gaseous, maintenance requiring, masses of iniquity. Those people that aren't letting me down at this moment are just about to. Inevitably. Even those that try not to. They don't want to. We are not perfect; we are human. Humans are frail. We are weak. Humans understand the concept of enlightenment, of good, but it is a constant effort to maintain against the ongoing atrophy leading us back to our basest natures.

Changing is painful. It is uncomfortable. It is uncertain (will I be let down again? almost certainly). Being an assasin is the easy path. But as I look around me and see, the true friends I have remaining are so very few, I realize... This year, as with my gardens, for myself... I choose growth.

I forgive you. I forgive myself. I am learning the quote I posted earlier. "We are all stumbling toward the light with varying degrees of grace at any given moment." - Bo Losoff.

People have "the year of" in their personal life, but I never have; maybe it's about time I did. This year, for me, well... I hope it is my year of growing.

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

SARK is a magical being!

"We are all stumbling toward the light with varying degrees of grace at any given moment."
- Bo Losoff

Six, SIX garden beds



Here are some more updated shots of the garden - you can see all six beds (including the two that aren't totally leveled and filled in yet). There's also a shot of the psuedo deer rigging. I'm not sure what deer's favorite food might be, but I thought the lettuces might be the thing to tempt them and so I started with fencing those in. We'll follow suit on the other beds shortly. You can't see it too well, but basically there is plastic netting (like you'd use to keep birds out) strung up around the bed on the PVC. Then one whole side is separately netted so you can take it out for easy access to the beds.

Everything is growing great so far, and just about everything that I've planted out from seed is sprouting, except two of the three darn pea varieties! One is coming up, but the other two, nothing. I'm starting to lose hope that they're going to germinate at all. I need to figure out what the one that is coming up is, and put more of those out! Nothing better than spring peas.

More to come!

Wild Thing, I Think I Love You

This weekend I'm heading out of town to the Wild Foods Weekend in North Carolina. It was originally to be a trip with a girlfriend of mine, but she's got a lot of life going on right now and canceled on me today. I'm usually a codependent and need a buddy to travel with, but it looks like I'll be on my own for this one. Seeing as I'm almost 40 (shh, don't tell anyone!!), I guess it's about time I started being comfortable traveling on my own. I always wanted to be one of those empowered women who take crazy trips by themselves, and here's my chance! Besides, I'm beginning to turn into one of those antisocial people who's forgotten how to make small talk with strangers. Wait a minute, in fact, I'm fairly sure I actually am that person. Well, it should be interesting. I'll fully document the experience and let you know how it goes.

What's growing on?

Monday, April 20, 2009

Here's what's started so far... I'm pretty sure I went a little seed (and a LOT tomato) crazy...

On 02/27/09, these seeds were started (indoors, under lights):
Purple Beauty Pepper
Quadrato d'Asti Rosso Pepper
Quadrato d'Asti Gallo Pepper
Val d'Orges Lettuce
Thai Yellow Egg Eggplant
May Queen Lettuce
Little Gem Lettuce
GA Southern Collards

On 03/16/09, these were started (indoors):
Chadwick Cherry Tomato
Thai Red Turtle Egg Tomato
Riesentraube Tomato
Cherokee Purple Tomato
Gold Medal Striped Tomato
Arkansas Traveler Pink Tomato
St. Pierre Tomato
Super Choice Tomato
Quadrato d'Asti Giallo pepper*

* Now, you're probably wondering why I started more of these seeds, it was because the ones started in February hadn't germinated. Come to find out, I moved them indoors (from the basement) and they all germinated just fine - just a bit later than originally planned!! So, for future years' reference, I'll know that the peppers and eggplant won't germinate in the cooler basement temps.

The week of 04/06/09, I direct seeded outdoors:
Sugar Daddy Snap Peas
Sugar Snap Peas
Oregon Sugar Pod II Peas
Early Purple Vienna Kohlrabi
Florida Broad Leaf Mustard
Bloomsdale Long Standing Spinach
Cook's Custom Mix Radishes

I also ended up moving all the tomatoes into bigger peat pots (from their seedling dirt discs) for their stay indoors for the next month or so. I transplanted out the GA Southern Collards, and planted a (very) few red & white onion sets. As of this writing (04/20) only one of the Pea varieties (I don't remember which it is; I'll check later!) has germinated, but the Kohrabi, Radishes and Mustard are going strong. The spinach still hasn't germinated either - it seems to take FOREVER!


On 04/11/09, I direct seeded outdoors:
Various mixed and heirloom varietals of leaf lettuce
Vulcan Chard
Canary Yellow Chard
Fordhook Giant Chard
Ching Chang Bok Choy

And I started these inside:
Hill Country Heirloom Red Okra
Perkins Long Pod Okra
Table Queen Bush Squash
Early White Bush Scallop Squash
Certified Organic Yellow Crookneck Squash
Certified Organic Dark Green Zucchini
Bush Champion Cucumber
Sweet Market More Cucumber

On about 04/16/09 I transplanted out these (the ones started back in February):
Little Gem Lettuce
May Queen Lettuce
Val d'Orges Lettuce

Whew! More pics of the garden to follow.

How does your garden grow?

Sunday, April 19, 2009


2009 will be my "year of the garden." Having moved to Blacksburg, VA, to a home with a 1 acre mostly sunny and *almost* level lot, the goal is to have as much gorgeous vegetable gardening real estate as possible. It amazes me every time I see a plant shoot out of the ground where I had sewn tiny seeds only weeks before. These are a couple of shots of the humble beginnings. We are putting in a total of 6 beds, all told.

 
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