They Sprouted Overnight!

I have 38 (and counting!) delicata squash sprout overnight from one spoiled and moldy (ewwww) squash.
I stuffed it in the mound of compost I'd set out to grow my two little Moon & Stars watermelon seedlings.
The delicatas just popped up! Over night! After a couple of good night rains.
Luckily there was still a section of the garden where I'd planted clover cover crop last winter. The clover has died back. I chopped out five rows, added some more compost and tucked the little seedlings in, watered heavily. I left one sprout at the base of the watermelon growing mound. Now the waiting begins.

Thirty-eight! And then this morning as I watered the watermelons I notices that another delicata squash sprout had popped up.

I'm going to let as many grow as will and give some seedlings to the new garden project I'm helping get started for Loaves & Fishes. Later, if they all produce delicata squash, I'll donate some of them to the Loaves & Fishes kitchen for meals.

I'll add some photos and more about the Loaves & Fishes Garden Project later.

Is this an episode of Laurel & Hardy or Green Acres?

So, we were trying to catch the raccoon that was coming in the cat door. We borrowed a HavaHart trap. The raccoon stopped coming in the house when we set the trap INSIDE the cat door!
Blast!

Then a couple of nights ago I saw it in the compost bin outside our kitchen window (makes for quick easy composting especially in the winter. So, I put the top section back on so the raccoon couldn't get into it anymore but we can still dump stuff from the kitchen. AND I had the brilliant idea to set the HavaHart trap next to the compost bin. The raccoon pushed the trap away from the compost bin, triggered the trap without going into it. Blast!

But we left it out there a couple of nights more and changed the bait to see if that was more attractive.

Last night/early this morning, I smelled skunk again. *sigh* Closed the bedroom windows.

This morning I noticed the trap had be triggered. I slowly peeked around the compost bin. There really was someone in the HavaHart trap. A skunk!!

I went back to bed. I told Schatzi. He muttered "Well. We can't return the trap today," then rolled over and went back to sleep. Sometimes it's better to laugh than cry.

Oh, and we have guests coming over for a pot luck tonight so we HAVE to re-locate the skunk in the next two hours!

On Second Thought

That was a yucky idea. We're gonna Haveahart trap the racccoon. There's a big, big forest far enough from us that it won't put it into someone else's backyard and give it a chance to have a nicer life than being tormented by our cats nightly.

Next, lovely thoughts and photos from our trip to Austria, which has to be one of the most beautiful places on the planet. I'm still stunned by how gorgeous a beautiful sunny day in Austria is. Wow! Even the rainy days were pretty remarkable, too.

Just one hint of what's to come -- motorboats are NOT allowed on many mountain lakes in Austria. They are part of the water system that comes out of the mountains and provides drinking water. *sigh*

We Went To Austria For 3 Weeks

NOTE: We returned last Tuesday night-Wednesday midnight. It's been a week since I wrote most of this. and we have the yard looking much better. The garden looks more like a garden than before we left! Still a couple more heavy weeding sessions and many more seedlings to transplant into the ground but things are looking really good.


We entered the house and immediately noticed how smelly it was. It had been shut up for 3 weeks. Then we started turning on the lights and noticed what a mess was in the kitchen and front room. Flour, sugar, other food stuff knocked down, nibbled, moved around and in one spot --- broken glass.

I was all set to blame the Cookie Monster.  My Schatzi questioned my sanity but, consider the evidence --- it went after the sugar, flour and butter in the kitchen AND an Austrian decorative, wrapped cookie in the front room was the only thing that was completely eaten. It took about 2 hours to clean up after we got home at 12:30 AM. We had been awake for 24 hours (neither of us was able to sleep on our flights).

Ok, realistically, maybe a fox. But, no, it's actually a raccoon and boy-howdy is my Schatzi pissed, now that we saw and chased it last night (for the second time)!  It went after his precious rye bread (as good as from home but made for him weekly by a baker friend here). The cats are none too pleased either, it ate all their food. And I'm miffed it took(!) the biggest volunteer curcubit in our compost bin and dirtied up my newly mopped floors.  We were up several times through last night chasing sounds.  I finally startled it in the kitchen & T went after it with our only good broom. Yes, it broke. No, he did not kill the raccoon, those suckers are huge.

Oh and the night before? We had a skunk spray outside one of our bedroom windows.  Really.  They were wide opened.  We were sound asleep. I'm pooped and want to go back to Austria, watch European Cup soccer, eat too many deserts, drink good wines, hike mountains and wait for the Euro to collapse.  (Ok, maybe not the last one.)
Anyway, Nature -- we live in it.  Anyone know how to encourage raccoons "respect boundaries" without a .22?


UPDATE: The raccoon -- we get nightly visits. Schatzi stayed up one night for 3 hours waiting to kill it in the most benign way we could think in -- a hard whack to quickly (hopefully) break its neck as it comes through the cat door. That night it never showed up until 3AM. We were asleep, the cat door was blocked up and the cats were inside. They really don't like it, they've never been closed up their whole lives. It's all so awful. Last night, I tried to lay in waiting but it got spooked and got no further than poking its nose into the cat door. This is all really awful.

Why we aren't using a Have-a-Heart trap.
All we would be doing is moving him/her to become someone else's problem. Even the largest national forest many miles from here has people living in and near it. Raccons carry rabies. That's not fair to other people.

Someone suggested if we were squeamish about killing it ourselves we could drown it in the cage. That horrified both of us!!! Even now, the thought of it makes me shudder.

Shooting it require more skill than we have and we aren't going to ask a friend to do that. Raccoons die hard. even shot it takes then a while to die (and suffer).

Our hope is that whichever of us does it strikes hard enough to break its neck with one blow. Quickly. It's still awful. Thinking about it all makes me sad.

Sunny Day

Judging by today you'd never know that we had a horrible snow storm last week.

I'm convinced that the beans Jack bought (Jack and the Beanstalk) were Kentucky Wonder Pole Beans. ALL these babies sprouted inside and are are over 2". I transplanted last night. This morning I put the beans and all my other seedlings under the hoop house and re-covered it with used Agribon given to me by my farmer-mentor-friends. Now they have a lovely, lightly, breezy, shaded area to acclimate to the outdoors before going into the ground.

Ask farmers you know, maybe just from the farmer's market if they have old Remay or Agribon row cover they will give you. Mine isn't perfect, it has holes and rips but because I'm growing on a small space I can use it to protect my seedlings from flea beetle and too much sunlight. I'm so excited by how happy my seedlings are outside today. My cats like it under there, too!

The One Old Apple Tree: A Love Story

I just wrote this long, sad message to some girlfriends of mine. I share it here as I sent it. If anyone reads this please add your answers/suggestions to my last question.

Woke up to devastating happens around our property. We've had a mild winter in the Finger Lakes but last night we had rain then wet snow that knocked out power (that meant no hot water to bathe, ugh.) AND snapped tree limbs and trees. Here's a little tally of what I found as a walked around our little place in the countryside.
Forsythia: Crushed. It was huge and a beautiful screen between our propane tank and the rest of the yard.

Red Bud Tree: Limbs snapped. Blossoms had just started opening. It was lovely.

Blueberry Bush: Buried and Crushed. My Sweetie had just planted it last week, we plan to get more, but, so sad to see.

My lettuce, cabbage arugula transplants into hoop house: Buried and Gone! :( They were super tiny little seedlings but we had been having such perfect Spring cool weather, I put them out last week.

Peas: Not yet sprouted but now Buried under 4" of wet snow. I direct planted these just outside our bedroom window to create an edible, green trellis as they grew.

My Hoop House: Half Crushed, Some Seeds Buried. It's little only about 15 ft. long, 4 ft. high, 5 hoops. I'd finally turned the clover cover crop, dug out some little planting spaces and transplanted the lettuce, etc. seedlings and cover with plastic 2 weekends ago. Ive left the transplants uncovered and only the last 'bay' was covered. Under it I'd direct seeded Detroit Red beets and brussel sprouts. Keeping that part was making a nice constant wet area for the seeds to sprout. Now the hoops are broken at their support line and the seeds are buried the plastic which is covered in 2" of heavy (I tried to lift it), wet snow.

I've saved the WORST for last. THE APPLE TREE: UPROOTED. BLOSSOMS FROZEN. IT'S DONE FOR. Now, ladies, Prop. Me. Up. Our house is shabby. It's what he could afford with me unemployed over a year. It has great potential and 4 acres, mostly trees. One of these trees is next to the garage. An Old apple tree. When we moved in last Autumn it had already been bearing fruit for a while so we only got a few. Couldn't figure out what variety it is.

Gurrrls, they were DELICIOUS! I don't mean the variety you can get in every store in any city across the country. I mean, JUICY, NOT TOO SWEET, PERFECT FOR PIE, HOMEMADE APPLE SAUCE, OR STRAIGHT. OFF. THE. TREE.

Schatzi trimmed back some of the dead limbs, raked up all the leaves underneath (which were lovingly added to my growing compost pile). Just yesterday when it was only raining I thought to myself, "Self, that soil must be rich by now. That would be a lovely, protected place to try growing some more lettuces and peas under that beautiful, just starting to bloom Old Apple Tree." I was going to do it today. And now it's gone.

We were so looking forward to those apples this year. After all, this was our first year in the house. We only had The. One. Old. Apple. Tree. The snow was so wet & heavy that it bowed the branches full of beautiful, new blossoms to the ground. I imagine the whole tree held on so strongly until it couldn't any longer and the big main root literally snapped and heaved out of the ground and the tree, intact toppled over.

I must mourn it.

Then I must honor her by do good things with that apple tree wood. What shall I cook, smoke, dry with it's fire and smoke? Any suggestions?

To-Do Lists

We all have them -- to-do lists. Whether written on scraps of paper or kept in our heads, or neatly noted in a book. They accompany us through the day, the week, life. Today was a "to-do" day. One of those days when I got a bunch of relatively little things done. Some have been on my list for weeks, one over a year, and a few for just a day or two. From a distance it might have look as if I was just pottering about but things got done. This might sound trivial but when you're unemployed "getting things done" helps preserve a feeling of --- normalcy, no, competency. It feels good

Making dinner doesn't do it nor does sending in letters and resumes for jobs. It's doing the other things, the "projects". So what did I accomplish that has me ruminating about "doing"? It started yesterday actually.
I seasoned a large clay cooking pot we got in a trip to Costa Rica over a year ago. First it had to soak in water 12+ hours. Today, I oiled and baked the pot & lid for 3 hours.

While that was happening I finally did the 1-hour Pilates routine that I will be doing daily. Hopefully it will make my back feel better and make me look better to boot. it was more fun than I'd anticipated and didn't hurt as much either. I have a long ways to go though.

Next, I planted Brussels sprouts & beets outside under the hoop house but left it opened for the day.

Inside, I planted red bell pepper seeds where others have failed to start. I added worm compost to the new seeds.

By then the clay pot was ready to come out of the oven.

Then it dawned on me that since the oven was already warm I should bake the tofu I bought a few days ago. I had yummy baked tofu at dinner with friends last night so I tried her recipe.

While I was looking in the fridge I remembered I'd never brought in the groceries I bought yesterday. Mainly I'd bought ingredients to make homemade deodorant. I found the recipe online a couple of days ago. So, I made deodorant! Smells yummy! I used tea tree essential oil to fragrance it. The other ingredients are organic coconut oil, corn starch and baking soda. Simple and no crazy, unpronounceable chemicals.

Now, I'll make dinner. Just for me, Schatzi is away this week doing sound for the music festival.

Sprouts: real & metaphorical

I've made the important decision to resign from the non-profit board I'm a member of.

I've had two inspiring chats with different people in the past two weeks.

I've bought a domain for a venture I thought up last year.
Now I need to make something of it.

Planted some stuff outside last weekend. No sprouts yet.

Seeds started inside are still growing. More to be started this weekend.

For now, I will be writing mostly about making a year-round vegetable garden at our new place. I've got a small hoop house started and planted a cover crop of clover in that area last autumn. The clover is re-growing now, suppressing the weeds that would be there instead. The lawn is mostly weedy but we mostly tamed it down last autumn, too. Next, I'll be getting a few loads of composted cow poo from a farmer friend and making layered beds of newspaper, straw and the compost. There will be flowers too. Im hoping I can get bees this year and ducks next year. Cayuga ducks. They are a regional heritage breed. Schatzi like duck eggs.

The transformation of the yard into food and beauty is only part of our multi-year effort to restore this house from the nastiness it became while being mis-used by the people who were playing at making bio-diesel. So far, I haven't been able to muster anything more than disgust and contempt for them.

Ths past weekend while I was at my new, part-time weekends-only job this past weekend, Schatzi worked miracles in our kitchen. It took him Saturday and Sunday but got the kitchen stove and oven working by re-connecting the gas line to the house and wiring the electricity into the ovens. This is a huge milestone for me, well, for both of us. Since we moved in seven months ago, I've been cooking with a single-burner camping rig and small, old Black & Decker toaster over. The new cooking stove is an amazing treasure. I bought it for $500 from a baker friend of ours. It's a Viking Professional dual fuel (ovens are electric, stove hobs/burners are gas), 6-burner w/griddle, two stove work of cooking art! Five hundred dollars is a gift! The new cost was ~$8,500-10,000+. And it came with an overhead warming oven, too. One stove is convection the other is smaller and it convection. It's just gorgeous. If I can't learn to make great pies, savory and sweet, with this thing I'm a pie-making lost cause.

About my new part-time weekend job. It came just in the nick of time. My first experience in a job with tips. And the first time in a long, long time that I've been paid minimum wage. If the tips work out as promised it will be worth it, if they are less, this is just an exercise in employment. Which is not without merit at this point.

Almost as exciting as the Viking getting hooked up, our Rocky Ford Musk melon seeds have begun to sprout, as have the San Marzano tomatoes. Both of these surprised me. The melon seeds are from the 2011 season as are the San Marzanos so that might account for their viability. Lots of other things are sprouting too. And some things are not.

Sunday morning the hills around here looked like Chinese calligraphy. Sublime.

Starting Early

I'm pushing it today by starting cucumbers, zucchini, summer squash and Moon & Stars watermelon, fennel and celeriac. And herbs. The temps are dropping but it if they stay low it will be a while before they have to go outside.

I've also started stripping the paint off an old dresser I got last Autumn for little. Homesteading has it's fun days.

TIP: Check out your local Cooperative Extension office to find out if they have a seed giveaway and if they give away used potting containers.

Last year I got lots of great, great plant pots and seed starting trays!

No job offers but I've got some seeds started!

I started 2 trays of seeds last week. I have those big ones with 98 cells each. So far sprouting is: spinach, cabbage and 3 types of lettuces and a mustard-y greens! Waiting for the lavender, Thai hot peppers, jalapenos 2 types of sweet peppers, 2 types of eggplants, muskmelon, 3 types of tomatoes, arugula, onions, leeks, and purple tomatillos to come up next. Lots more to go: cucumbers, Japanese yams, potatoes, carrots, broccoli, green beans, herbs and MORE! I want to grow TOO MUCH food for my Schatzi and me, so we can have good food all winter AND give lots to a local food pantry! I hope you will too?

A farmer friend gave me a huge baggie of all sorts of seeds. So nice, I'm sharing wtih neighbors, too. I have loads of old seeds that might not germinate so one tray is an test. I made my own seed starting mix and it seems to be doing well for most seeds so far. I'm too excited about this year. It's our first year in this house and the yard was horribly overgrown when we moved in last autumn. This is the first Spring putting in the garden beds. We have deer, chipmunks, hawks, mice, ticks galore(yuck), squirrels, 3 acres of woods, song birds, AND no fencing!!! But we have two cats that love to hunt, bless 'em. I want ducks and bees. It's an experiment alright.

Peonies

Second interview done. Another applied for. No word from TED. Sad.

Seeds not yet sprouting.

It feels like Spring. I hope this lasts.

Start a weekend part-time job on trial tomorrow.

Had a very, VERY encouraging consult about my back with a physical therapist last night. He thinks I can heal myself for free. No health insurance necessary.

I want to plant a bunch of peonies around our yard.

Job interviews are so odd. I will be relieved when I do get a position I want to settle into so that I can avoid interviews for what will hopefully be several years.

I'm still holding on to this site. I lot had changed in the past 18 months. Good things. Love, worry-free Love. Moving. Owning a home together. Making a home together. Being unemployed. That last is the only not so good but even that has it's up side. Being broke is not the up side. Time to think and volunteer doing things I truly love. Less stress. Those are the good things. Learning about what truly matters to me in my work experiences.

I had a couple of job interviews this past week. They were the first interviews I've been asked to in 11 months. During one I was asked what my 'career goals' are. For the next 3 or 5 years. I didn't tell them what they wanted to hear, I told them the truth. I told them that these days, I don't think out 5 years since many jobs don't last that long (I didn't point out that included that one which was only a one-year contract, so why were they asking?). So, my thinking was only 3 years out, by which time I'd like to be settled into a full-time position that uses my skills and experience, that allows me to work creatively and with creative people, that is a pleasant place to work. They decided that day to hire someone else.

A few days earlier I interviewed for a different part-time professional position that only paid $12.50/hr., no benefits. It would have required that, in a matter of a few months, by June, I get work caught up that the person leaving the post had been lagging in getting started or completed. In other words, it isn't really a part-time position, it just underpaid one. The organization wasn't being cheap, it's really strapped for cash. It would have meant Schatzi & I could never have dinner together Mondays - Fridays because of the hours. It would have meant not going to Europe this summer to met his 82-year-old dad, his brother & family, cousins, celebrating two important family birthdays (his and an aunt's). BUT it would to be career beneficial because I've been unemployed so long now. I'd definitely leave it if I found something better. So, the next day I sent a 'thank you' email and explained my conflict. And just now, I got a call asking me to come for a second interview. I asked the assistant if the Director had seen my email. She's gonna make certain and get back to me. I'm sure he has, he's good about checking email, etc.

Then the next day, I interviewed/had a try-out at a local, high end bistro. A friend of ours works there and recommended me for the position. He's great! It pays really well (starting with minimum wage + tips) and only requires working Sat. & Sun. breakfast & brunch. Finished at 3 so we'd still have weekends together. It's small, serve lots of local food, good quality, fun benefits (like spa treatments, discounts at the hotel, meals), and according to our friend, good tips. So we had to re-evaluate my traveling with him. I came up with a compromise, I'd only miss one weekend at the Bistro and be with him and the family two weeks instead of three, but I'd be there for the big celebrations. The executive chef said that would be ok. YAY! It's work I've never done before with the *potential* of making some good money. Now, I have to make it through two more training days and a 30 day probationary period. If I don't make it then I can still with Schatzi for the full 3 weeks. I think that's what's called a Win-Win.

Before this week no one had asked me to interview for 11 months. And that was for a 12 hour a week job that was pulled from posting the day after I interviewed because of *budget*. Don't know what the real reason was, but they could have figured it out before making me go through 2 interviews for less than $10k a year.

The job I'd really like to sink my teach and soul into is with the TED organization. Staff Storyteller they call it. I'd be great at it. It's crying out for a folklorist. I'm not having success getting my foot in the door there though. I'd LOVE that position. L O N G S H O T. So. Worth. It. I created a separate blog that only contains my cover letter and resume. Then I sent the link to a few folks at TED. No response. Disappointing.


These are assorted rambling thoughts for myself. I've missed the daily contemplative practice of writing. I know this isn't seen or tracked by anyone (or only one or two) so I'm really only writing to and for myself. Feels good. Comment as you wish.