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There's been a countless number of times I sit down, start to write a blog post and abandon it. If I don't finish it within the next 24 hours, the likelihood I'll ever finish it at all goes pretty damn close to zero.
I've dramatically reduced my own expectations and goals for this growing season. The weather is wild and I've discovered that I'm not getting any more productive, even with the possibility of going totally broke. As you can see... we've got some Chinese Kale going on, and Japanese Daikon. Cherry seeds that managed to sprout, for whatever reason, and I've also planted Thai peppers, these ผักบุ้ง that haven't managed to sprout, for reasons unknown to me. In the tiny red catbox is a Thai basil. These stems usually die, though there were a couple last year that managed to sprout roots but I screwed it up by tearing the roots. Maybe this year I won't fuck up. We'll see.
There's a raised bed that's along side the garage, and isn't the sunniest spot in our yard. It's doing well though: beets, garlic, arugula, and some gigantic kale from last year that never died, even when it snowed. An impressive creature in my book. This bed is doing better than the other because initially, half of it was compost. The soil within the bed has almost sunk down to ground level. Part of this bed, however, was only clay dirt and horse manure. That half didn't do so well. That same kale was unperturbed about this situation and location, and is thriving right now.
I spent about three days hacking at useless clay soil in one of the raise beds and working compost (with lots of critters), vermiculite, horse manure, and industrial-made soil into the mix, to make some sort of use of the clay. Right now, that bed contains green onion I managed to save over the winter, a beet, a potato plant, some sort of squash that sprouted in a random pot I found, two weirdo kinds of leafy greens (lettuce that's not iceberg lol). Over the winter, I spent my time watering some of these plants, which were potted, inside a green house. I took pictures. But I won't be posting them because I'm lazy. Plus, there were about 11 avocado plants that managed to sprout. But the unpredictable and cold weather has rendered their leaves yellow and withered. I personally find it sad and embarrassing. I also find the last year in gardening, which is also my first year, generally embarrassing. Talk about biting off more than one can chew, really.
Next to the unproductive raised bed, I made a beer trap to drown slugs. Sorry, fools.
This photo was taken in January. The last time it snowed (and spent the next whole day taking its time to melt) was in late March, a few days before April. It wasn't properly cold for most of winter. Now the skies are having trouble being properly warm.
I often want to give up on blogging. I'm always wandering the grey area between being extremely personal and trying to be as-not personal as possible, because the internet will always remember, and anything I Say and anything I Do Can And Will Be Used Against Me. In the public, I have little interest in sharing my personal history, but without it, the substance of my message essentially evaporates. I'm not sure if that's true, but that's how I feel.
I have a conflict between wanting to reduce my miniscule impact on greenhouse gases. I use electricity, though, which will always come from a source that will produce greenhouse gases. Most of my energy comes from dams/hydro electricity, which does produce greenhouse gases.
Here's my current reading pile, when it comes to gardening/planting at least. The most important text in the pile is "Permaculture 2," which can be found here. I found it by chance at my local Powell's, and also for $25. Though it's not much help as a practical guide for my particular coordinates, I found the concepts described and ways of thinking valuable. It's very textbook-like. I don't have much to say about the other books, most of which were ones I found lying around the house. Two of them, the Western Garden Book and 10,000 Gardening questions, are from my paternal grandmother's house. I have the cactus book because I like cacti, but always manage to somehow kill them, sadly.
Among other readings: "It All Turns on Affection. I found this wonderful and sad at once. I'm not sure I have anything substantial to say about it, apart from some stray thoughts: everything is connected; what about the Native Americans?; homelessness ((in united states, vacant homes outnumber homeless people)); and the assholery that is planned obsolescence.
A cool narrative and thoughts about bees.
P.S. I don't watch football ever, and have only done so exactly twice in my life. But Rest in Peace, Junior Seau. A short twitter story about the man. An American Samoan who played with the Chargers when my family briefly lived in San Diego. Not that I knew anything about football then; I'm okay with the fact that I missed out on that culture.
I've dramatically reduced my own expectations and goals for this growing season. The weather is wild and I've discovered that I'm not getting any more productive, even with the possibility of going totally broke. As you can see... we've got some Chinese Kale going on, and Japanese Daikon. Cherry seeds that managed to sprout, for whatever reason, and I've also planted Thai peppers, these ผักบุ้ง that haven't managed to sprout, for reasons unknown to me. In the tiny red catbox is a Thai basil. These stems usually die, though there were a couple last year that managed to sprout roots but I screwed it up by tearing the roots. Maybe this year I won't fuck up. We'll see.
There's a raised bed that's along side the garage, and isn't the sunniest spot in our yard. It's doing well though: beets, garlic, arugula, and some gigantic kale from last year that never died, even when it snowed. An impressive creature in my book. This bed is doing better than the other because initially, half of it was compost. The soil within the bed has almost sunk down to ground level. Part of this bed, however, was only clay dirt and horse manure. That half didn't do so well. That same kale was unperturbed about this situation and location, and is thriving right now.
I spent about three days hacking at useless clay soil in one of the raise beds and working compost (with lots of critters), vermiculite, horse manure, and industrial-made soil into the mix, to make some sort of use of the clay. Right now, that bed contains green onion I managed to save over the winter, a beet, a potato plant, some sort of squash that sprouted in a random pot I found, two weirdo kinds of leafy greens (lettuce that's not iceberg lol). Over the winter, I spent my time watering some of these plants, which were potted, inside a green house. I took pictures. But I won't be posting them because I'm lazy. Plus, there were about 11 avocado plants that managed to sprout. But the unpredictable and cold weather has rendered their leaves yellow and withered. I personally find it sad and embarrassing. I also find the last year in gardening, which is also my first year, generally embarrassing. Talk about biting off more than one can chew, really.
Next to the unproductive raised bed, I made a beer trap to drown slugs. Sorry, fools.
This photo was taken in January. The last time it snowed (and spent the next whole day taking its time to melt) was in late March, a few days before April. It wasn't properly cold for most of winter. Now the skies are having trouble being properly warm.
I often want to give up on blogging. I'm always wandering the grey area between being extremely personal and trying to be as-not personal as possible, because the internet will always remember, and anything I Say and anything I Do Can And Will Be Used Against Me. In the public, I have little interest in sharing my personal history, but without it, the substance of my message essentially evaporates. I'm not sure if that's true, but that's how I feel.
I have a conflict between wanting to reduce my miniscule impact on greenhouse gases. I use electricity, though, which will always come from a source that will produce greenhouse gases. Most of my energy comes from dams/hydro electricity, which does produce greenhouse gases.
Here's my current reading pile, when it comes to gardening/planting at least. The most important text in the pile is "Permaculture 2," which can be found here. I found it by chance at my local Powell's, and also for $25. Though it's not much help as a practical guide for my particular coordinates, I found the concepts described and ways of thinking valuable. It's very textbook-like. I don't have much to say about the other books, most of which were ones I found lying around the house. Two of them, the Western Garden Book and 10,000 Gardening questions, are from my paternal grandmother's house. I have the cactus book because I like cacti, but always manage to somehow kill them, sadly.
Among other readings: "It All Turns on Affection. I found this wonderful and sad at once. I'm not sure I have anything substantial to say about it, apart from some stray thoughts: everything is connected; what about the Native Americans?; homelessness ((in united states, vacant homes outnumber homeless people)); and the assholery that is planned obsolescence.
A cool narrative and thoughts about bees.
P.S. I don't watch football ever, and have only done so exactly twice in my life. But Rest in Peace, Junior Seau. A short twitter story about the man. An American Samoan who played with the Chargers when my family briefly lived in San Diego. Not that I knew anything about football then; I'm okay with the fact that I missed out on that culture.