Possible Frost

K and I almost didn’t go to the garden today because there was a huge manhunt right in the area that closed down several streets.  I had a doctors appointment earlier and heard helicopters overhead, and the nurses were talking about running to their cars so as not to be caught outside as I left the office.  But there’s a frost advisory tonight, so the hubby and I figured we should mulch our plants so they make it through.

Our little lettuce plants look to be doing well.  We are beginning to see the first formations of rows!

Lettuce rows

I finally got a new picture of the strawberries again – they look like they have settled in quite nicely.  They are definitely bigger and greener.

Strawberry plants 4/29

This is how they looked 10 days ago.

Strawberry plants 4/19

In the end we decided not to mulch, as the hubby convinced me that lettuce is hardy enough to make it through a light freeze.  I hope he’s right!

Pesto FAIL

Bah, I tried my hand at making pesto tonight, trying to get rid of my unwieldy basil plant that’s been growing out of control all winter.  But I really only had about a cup (packed) of leaves, so I thought I’d make just enough for a snack.  Or something.

So I started chopping up some walnuts (not pine nuts) and garlic.

Walnuts and garlic

Added the pesto leaves.

Insert basil here

Poured in some EVOO.

EVOO added

Then I started to go very wrong.  The amount of parmesan cheese my recipe called for seemed to be way too much. So I only added about half.  Then, when I tasted it, it was too parmesan-y.  So I added some fresh black pepper.  Then a little more.  And a little more.  And then it was too peppery.

The finished product

So, all in all, eh.  But it was all my fault.

Mystery Plant anew

We found this on our neighbor Walter’s plot (he’s nowhere to be seen yet, and we’re thinking the plot might be abandoned).

K thinks it’s broccoli rabe.  For proof he shows me this, which we bought at the Farmer’s Market last weekend.

Broccoli Rabe

What say you?  Is it the same?

P.S. – the Summer Farmer’s Market (a.k.a. the Winter Farmer’s Market moved outside) starts next Sunday! I’m so excited! Since my last post on the farmer’s market, we’ve gotten a creamery to come!  Yay local milk!

Great Flats Pic of the Week

April 26, 2009

The green is multiplying!

(For a rundown of all the Great Flats pics this year, check out my Great Flats page)

Overnight Growth

We have growth!  Yay!

The beginnings of lettuce!

I am pretty sure that this is the Black-seeded Simpson Lettuce growing, but it might be the Amish Deer Tongue. I really need to get on making some seed markers or it’s gonna be a long summer!

Long-standing Spinach

Our first spinach plant!

I didn’t take a picture, but the strawberry plants look like they are loving life out in the garden.  I was afraid the huge change in temperatures last week would affect them, but they are looking green and happy so far.  I think they’ve even gotten a little bigger.  I’m ready for them to put out some runners and start producing us some strawberries!

We found this plant growing in our garden and are such new gardeners, we’re wondering if it’s a weed or something left over from last year.  Knowing our luck, it’s probably a weed.  But does anyone know what this is?

Mystery Plant

And finally, the tulips are starting to bloom! Albany’s Tulip Festival is next week, and there will be hundreds of tulips more to see!

Tulips

Could it be?

I was nursing a horrid hangover yesterday after my BFF’s bachelorette party on Saturday night, so the hubby kindly took solo garden duty yesterday to go water everything.  We were just there on Saturday morning but he says things are starting to sprout already! Really?  24 hours later?

So I’ll be stopping by (in my heels) this evening to get some pics!  Stay tuned!

Spring Garden Work Party

It is HOT out!

Garden water pump

The hubby and I just got back from our garden’s Spring Garden Work Party.  When you sign up for a plot, you obligate yourself to go to a spring party and fall party to help start up and shut down the garden for the season.  If you can’t make your own garden’s party, you can go to any other garden’s party to meet your requirement.

Our party started at 9am and we immediately got to work cleaning up trash, turning over mulch, weeding, and cleaning up plots from last year.  We got to meet quite a few people and it is very multicultural.  Lev is our “next plot neighbor” and there is also Oksana and her husband a little ways away.  There was an young Australian guy named John, who was from another garden, along with Steve, who’s accent I couldn’t place – he was just there from GE.  LOL, I couldn’t figure that out.  GE is General Electrics, the major employer (or used to be) in Schenectady, and I don’t think Steve actually had a plot, he was just helping everyone out.

Our other “next plot neighbor” didn’t show up, and hasn’t been to his garden at all.  Apparently his name is Walter, but I wonder if he’s going to do anything, or is just waiting till later to start.

We also met Terry, Joe, Marissa, Joan, Sue, Pat, and whole bunch of other people that I can’t remember their names of, and I just met them.  Here are some pics from today:

Joe working on the mulch pile.

Everyone pitched in to move this mulch pile to back fence.  This was going to be a new garden plot instead.

Lots of people pitching in

Cleaning up the plots

Sue working on her plot

Lots of leaf bags everywhere

Hewitts, a local nursery, donates leaf bags to the CDCG.

Rhubarb plant

Look at this huge rhubarb plant!  This is either Joe’s or Sue’s.

Weeding the flowerbed outside the garden

Everyone’s hard at work! This pic made me laugh because it reminds me of a Sprint commercial with those bars…

Veggie Mobile truck

As we were weeding, a truck playing hip hop music really loudly came thundering through the neighborhood. We looked up to see this bright truck coming through.  This truck is part of the CDCG’s program to get fresh fruits and veggies to the inner city.  Here, many people don’t have cars and don’t have a full grocery store for many miles.  Lots of people rely on the corner store, which has lots of processed foods, but not a lot of fresh produce.  The Veggie Mobile is a refrigerated truck that runs on biodiesel and solar power!  It goes through these neighborhoods and gives out free, fresh produce.  We can grow extra food in our garden this summer and give it to the veggie mobile to pass out, or participate in the Squash Hunger program, which donates the food direct to the communities themselves.  CDCG is great!

Close-up

There were so many people who showed up for the work party, we finished pretty quickly! And not a moment too soon – today is gonna be brutal!

That was fast!

So I planted the organic cilantro on April 15, right?

Look what I found today!

Sprouting!

Yay!  After taking this picture, I decided I should show what else I have growing at the house.

Basil

That’s our overgrown basil that made it through the winter.

Parsley

Also our half-dead parsley that is slowly coming back to life.

Our new organic curly parsley

You can’t see here, but I think the edges may have gotten a little frost-bitten earlier in the week.

Avocado

This is our avocado plant.  Given where we live, it will never produce fruit, but the hubby really likes planting random seeds.

Mystery

Case in point. K has planted so many different things in this pot, he has no idea what this could be. He’s narrowed it down to quenepas or lemon.  Sigh…

This weekend our plants are in for another shock. It’s gone from 36F degrees a few days ago to 85F degrees tomorrow.  Monday will be the hottest at 87F.  Our plants are so new, we’re hoping they can take the sudden change.  If there were older and had been planted awhile we wouldn’t worry so much. I don’t want my new strawberry plants to die!

101 Things to Do in 1001 Days

Alright, so I alluded to my 101 Things to Do in 1001 Days list the other day, when I insisted I would not be posting that list on this blog. But then I thought about it. Maybe I should have a public 101 things to do in 1001 days list. So here goes!

By Friday, January 20, 2012, I would like to:

1. Travel overseas again (Canada/Mexico do not count)
2. Read Illiad OR The Odyssey
3. Purchase either two kayaks or one canoe
4. Go on another canoe/kayak trip
5. Go properly vegetarian for one month (no fish allowed)
6. Be vegan for a week.
7. Read the Bible cover to cover.
8. Finish wedding crosstitch
9. Finish a paint-by-number
10. Put together wedding scrapbook
11. Have a spa day (a good $500+ in treatments spa day)
12. Visit Niagara Falls
13. Insure wedding rings
14. Donate food to food pantry
15. Paint inside of house
16. Read and recite Beowulf (Yes, I’m a geek. Deal 🙂
17. Go to the opera
18. Go to another broadway show
19. Burn new Rajaton CD
20. Get car detailed
21. Watch the sun rise
22. Complete a basic Welsh course
23. Learn how to knit
24. Really enjoy one day from beginning to end.
25. Organize closet under the stairs
26. Get living will written
27. Go camping again.
28. Take K to top of Mt. Ampersand
29. Visit Mabee history site
30. Visit Albany Schuyler mansion
31. Finish Wales book #1 (Started A History of Wales 4/5/08)
32. Finish Wales book #2
33. Read book on time period of 1483-1500 in England
34. Encourage parents to draw up will. ( I can’t believe they still don’t have one)
35. Visit CO again.
36. Visit FL again.
37. Get a dog
38. Buy new house.
39. Get bar and fed. bar certificates framed
40. Frame Wales pic that J gave me at my engagment party (!!! 3 years ago)
41. Visit Farm Sanctuary in Watkins Glen
42. Visit 3 farms from where we get our food
43. Go on a wine tour.
44. Pay off all private school loans
45. Increase retirement savings to 15%
46. Pay off car
47. Donate to WAMC
48. Donate $ to Humane Society
49. Hike Gertrude’s Nose again.
50. Run a mile.
51. Participate in an orienteering meet
52. Swim 50 laps
53. Swim 100 laps
54. Participate in a 5K run.
55. Have a child
56. Get to goal weight
57. Start a compost heap
58. Maintain a garden
59. Save up for new downpayment on a house.
60. Purchase a DSLR.
61. Be an expert at using the DSLR.
62. Finish writing new novel.
63. Edit Nanowrimo novel.
64. Get chickens.
65. Learn how to use my sewing machine.
66. Be more self-confident.
67. Go snow-shoeing.
68. Buy new bedroom furniture.
69. Buy new dining room furniture.
70. Buy new living room furniture.
71. Send my parents to Hawaii for their anniversary.
72. Put up shelves in closet under the stairs.
73. Make a list of 25 things I like about myself.
74. Make a list of 50 things that make me happy.
75. Write K a love letter.
76. Update my resume.
77. Wear heels at least once a week.
78. Make and give a book on how to make pasteles to my family for Christmas.
79. Make and can my own salsa.
80. Buy and learn how to use a pressure canner.
81. Sell something on Etsy or at the Farmer’s Market.
82. Visit Lake Placid.
83. Complete the Couch to 5K program.
84. Ride 100 miles on the Expresso bike.
85. Do all 24 weeks of Buff Brides again, even though I’m no longer a bride.
86. Write in my diary at least once a month.
87. Ride my bike down the canal path to Schenectady.
88. Ride my bike to the Farmer’s market.
89. Design professional looking labels for my jam.
90. Keep a political journal.
91. Go one month without drinking any coffee, tea, or soda.
92. Make pesto from scratch.
93. Make it through OHS.
94. Do something so utterly fantastic for my husband, to thank him for all he does for me.
95. Take  the Animal Law II class.
96. Figure out how to get my parents to treat me like an adult.
97. Invite my cousin J over for dinner, or take him out for the day.
98. Complete a 12-place Fiestaware set with serving pieces.
99. Invite over or go out to dinner with E and L.
100. Invite over or go out to dinner with V and K.
101. Keep this list updated.

I’ll organize this list better later. Does anyone else have a 101 in 1001 list?

More randomness

Congrats to Sherilyn B. who won my blueberry jam and peach preserves in Erin’s Auction/Bake Sale this week!  Thank you for your donation to Beth’s team!  Your winnings will be mailed very soon!

In other non-news, the weather has been cold, gray, and boring this entire week, and I feel like I’ve had nothing to post about.  Tomorrow is the start of a heatwave I hear, so hopefully that will be changing!  Saturday is our Community Garden’s Spring Work Party, and K and I are hoping to get the rest of our plot planted this weekend.