Getting Ready

The warm weather and steady melting, despite the time of year, have caused us to start thinking about the upcoming growing season, our fourth.

So far, with each successive year we've improved our production and selected an ever improving crop array.  Obviously, we're hoping for similar similar successes this year by building on what we've learned in past years.

Over the past three years we've two crops that have proven to be particularly successful: potatoes and celery.

Last year, thanks to Jeannette and my Mother, we had our potatoes in the ground early and producing potatoes early enough that we were able to have two crops in part of our potato patch.

Though starter celery plants were purchased at the same time as the original seed potatoes, they didn't end up going in the ground quite as early.  If I recall correctly, we again pushed our luck and put them in just a week or so later, still in early May.

This year, based on a few photos I saw online, I'm going to try a slightly different approach with the celery.  Instead of (or maybe in addition to) starter plants, I'm going to try to use the bases of the celery bunches that I buy over the next few weeks to start the plants.

So far, I've got two such plants going and I seem to be making some progress.

I'm really quite impressed by how much development I'm getting after about a week or so.

That said, I suspect that without the development of a new root structure - which I haven't seen yet - this operation may not be much of a success.  Assuming I do get new roots and the growth continues, I'm hoping that by the time we're ready to transplant our celery plants we'll have a few that will be ready to go and they will have come to us at no additional cost.

Cameron - 11

Neil - 0

A Few Quick Notes - 627

-After several days of warm weather we awoke yesterday to relatively cold and windy surroundings.  Of course, it seems that what passes for cold these days is nothing like winters past when cold was cold (and cars needed to be plugged in).

-One major consequence of our unseasonably warm weather is that we haven't had much snow to shovel.  While I can't really complain about the lack of shovelling, I was expecting a somewhat typical amount of shovelling this year.  I was further expecting that this shovelling would finally be enough to wear out one of our two shovels.  Because of these nested expectations some number of months ago I began dreaming about the replacement shovel I could justify buying once the cheap shovel I'm currently using finally wore out.  Somehow, and maybe for the better, the cheap two-pack of shovels that we bought about three years ago just so that we would have shovels when we moved into our house have been much more resilient than expected.

-Several months ago, for reasons that are no longer entirely clear to me, I decided to try to up my cabbage consumption.  Thinking back on this decision I think that it must have had something to do with price as it wasn't until after I'd made the decision that I learned that there were some nutritional benefits to be derived from the dietary addition.

While I can't say that I'm yet a daily consumer of cabbage, I have gotten pretty good at adding to my soup rotation, using it as the base component for any salads, and adding it to sandwiches.

I'm quite impressed with myself that I've managed to keep this going for a few months with relative ease.  Maybe with a few months more of effort the practice will become so ingrained that it will no longer require effort.

-I really think I need a nap.

Cameron - 4
Neil - 0

A pretty successful summer

With the addition of our fourth raised bed (and the subsequent addition of our stone paths) our vegetable garden has really started to produce rather substantial quantities of vegetables, particularly potatoes and celery. Oh, and kale and spinach.

Starting in July our harvests started becoming pretty regular.

And gradually began into include a few potatoes.

And eventually grew to include carrots and tomatoes.

Finally, a few days ago we pulled up most of the remaining potatoes.

We also managed to collect a few squash and peppers.  Sadly, neither of these to types were particularly productive this year.

The good news is that after another year we've learned a little more about what works and what doesn't work.

Carrots, the non-stubby varieties, actually work quite well.  Next year we'll try to grow quite a few more than we did this year.

Tomatoes, even only four plants, can be incredibly productive.  Fortunately, Jeannette has started making her own sauce so this overabundance will not go to waste.  Now that we have a better approach to dealing with the crop we probably won't have to worry about having too many tomatoes.  Also, smaller cherry-like tomatoes seem to do much better than larger tomatoes (and are preferred by Jeannette).

Potatoes are easy and productive and one needn't wait until the end of the season to begin harvesting.  By gradually taking a few potatoes at a time, as needed, we didn't have to worry about storing many pounds of potatoes and either having no potatoes or all of the potatoes.  If anything, I think we may be inclined to go pretty heavy on the potatoes again next year.

Squash just hasn't been worth the space.  We dedicated 1/4 of our space to squash growth and ended up with one fully ripe spaghetti squash and a few smaller unripe spaghetti squashes.  Next year we're not going to waste our time with squash.

Spinach, kale, and celery are great season long producers.  In all cases I think we had pretty good numbers of plants to allow for outputs that we could consume without having to worry about spoilage.

My attempt to grow romaine lettuce was a failure.  As I'm not really all that much of a lettuce eater I think I'll give this a skip next year and focus on foods I really like.

Peppers are definitely a little hit and miss.  Most of our plants produced at least a single edible pepper, but many only produced a single edible pepper.  Our small chili pepper plant, on the other hand, has been producing chili peppers for months.  Next year we should just stick to this one type of pepper plant (as we've now had two consecutive years of success with this type of plant).

And while we're not quite done with this year's harvest I think it's pretty clear that we're already looking ahead to next year.  With a little luck, we may even to break even on our vegetable plot investment by next year (though that may require some real luck).

Overrun with beans

Since the beans started pouring in a few weeks ago they've been coming non-stop.  It seems that we can't go more than a day or two without needing to spend at least a few minutes harvesting things.

Though there are a few repeats below, I thought I might bring together a few photos of our harvests to really demonstrate what I'm talking about (and these were all taken between July 13 and August 2, 2013).

Of course, with all of our success we're still waiting for a few things.  Despite the early presence of juvenile tomatoes we're still without even a reddish tomato.  Our edamame plants, despite their ever increasing size, are without fruit (or even flowers - though these should be just around the corner).  I guess it's still just early August so I probably shouldn't be too worried.

Finally, a harvest to write home about

So after a slow ramp-up, our garden has finally started to really come on strong.

This morning we were able to harvest quite a few beans, as well as our largest harvest of pea pods.  Jeannette even managed to snag an almost full-size mini-beet.
 

We may finally have so many garden fresh vegetables that we won't be able to eat them all on the day they were harvested.

Of course, our herb pot also continues to do well.

Even with the strange new additions I found this morning.

And after a seemingly slow start, our tomato plants are finally with tomatoes (though they don't look as though they'll be red any time soon).

And in case you haven't guessed it yet, we have definitely fallen down on the weeding.  It seems that every time we try to go out and weed we are just overwhelmed with mosquitoes and it doesn't seem worth it.

Harvest progress

In late May Jeannette and I planted our garden.  At the time this seemed a little late, if anything, as Spring was already several weeks behind schedule.

After several weeks of rainy grey weather, if anything, it felt as though we'd jumped the gun and planted far too early.

Now that we're into July things finally feel as though they're catching up (or at least close to catching up).

Of course, the weeds are also growing quite well and we've definitely fallen down on our weeding duties.

Our herb barrel has also really picked up over the course of the past month.

In early June it didn't have much going on.

And now in early July it's damn near full (and that's after a fair bit of chives, thyme, and mint harvesting).

Of course, we've also had our fair share of radishes (actually a full row of them at this point).

And Jeannette's been collecting various greens (beet, kale, spinach, pea, and strawberry spinach) for at least the past two weeks).

So just to round up what we've had so far because I haven't been diligent about photographing the harvest we've managed to get at least a handful of each of the following (in more or less this order):

1) Chives
2) Thyme
3) Apple Mint
4) Radishes
5) Spinach
6) Strawberry Spinach
7) Beet Greens
8) Pea Shoots
9) Pea Pods
10) Kale
11) Spearmint
12) Basil (two varieties)

My recollection of what we have left to come is as follows:

1) Green Beans
2) Edamame
3) Beets
4) Hot Peppers
5) Sweet Peppers (two varieties)
6) Pumpkins
7) Celery
8) Carrots
9) Sweet Corn
10) Potatoes
11) Tomatoes
12) Onions

If all the stuff on this second list works out we may actually manage something of a feed for ourselves at some point this summer.  I'll be particularly impressed with us if we can somehow managed herb roasted potatoes and corn at the same time (and maybe with some edamame for protein).

Pretty good variety for a balcony

Today I harvested all four different varieties of beans we have growing on our balcony.  For maybe the first time in my balcony gardening career I have a harvest that is actually larger than a single meagre serving.  Exciting.

A Few Quick Notes 547

-For the past few days we have been in the midst of something that feels quite a bit like a heatwave. Even now, just before 9:00 PM, it is still over 25 degrees and quite hot. Of course, I know that what we are going through is nothing as bad as people in big cities are dealing with, but it is nonetheless quite unpleasant.

-Tonight I took a trip to the grocery store. As I was approaching the store's entrance I noticed a Jaguar with the vanity license plate "MYY JAG." I couldn't help but thinking "JAG OFF" might have been more appropriate.

-It seems that in the past few hours there have been a series of attacks in Norway that have resulted in the deaths of more than 90 people. In the same timeframe British singer Amy Winehouse also died. The CBC has sent me four email alerts about the former story and two about the latter. Is it just me, but does the Amy Winehouse thing really even deserve a first such alert, and on a day when their is meritorious of an alert? Interestingly, the CBC Alerts Twitter feed seems to be have provided many more Norway updates than those they sent via email and has not really provided much more news about the Winehouse death (as sad and unnecessary as it may be).

-Over the past few days we have been able to harvest about 2 dozen beans. And while this may now sound like much, it does mean that we have now harvested more beans than we have bean plants (at least of a particular variety of bean plant). Jeannette was also able to harvest enough lettuce for a salad earlier today. If things keep up like this we may actually get our money's worth out of this year's seeds (though I think that that might be a little ambitious).

Hits close to home

Several aspects of this video have happened to me - more than once.



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In case you were curious, this was created by the baby monkey guy.



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A Few Quick Notes 495

-We had another relatively mild winter's day today. My recollection is that things were a little grey, but never particularly bad.

-Assuming the forecast is worth anything, it seems that we are due for a storm starting tomorrow afternoon. The forecast is calling for up to 30 cm of snow, which seems hopeful given my experiences with Halifax weather. Whether we get the full weight of the storm or not, getting at least some snow seems plausible.

-I managed to consume a few more pieces of exotic citrus today. Of course, I consumed this fruit without documenting it in any way. Oops.

-It seems that the relatively unknown PC party leadership contender has been found to have ineligible signatures on his nomination form. In many ways this development isn't particularly surprising. I guess we will now have to see if the potential leadership candidate does go through with his threats to take any such disqualification to court. What ever happens, this should at least make for a few more days of exciting news from Newfoundland.

-Our salad trend continued tonight with both Rebecca and I opting for salads for dinner. Hopefully this pattern sticks.

-It seems that Republic of Doyle will make its triumphant return to Canada's airwaves tomorrow night. I am sure you are all waiting with baited breath for the season premiere as I am sure the better part of Newfoundland is. I am particularly looking forward to the second episode as I have been lead to believe that two of my friends are likely to make appearances as extras.

A Few Quick Notes 492

-Today, much to my surprise, was actually quite nice, if a little chilly.

-I am presently in the midst of making some focaccia-like bread. Instead of following a proper recipe I just added some olive oil and herbs to some rolled bread dough. While it may not be great, it should at least be edible.

-A few days ago John Cusack was asked what he thought was going to happen in 2012. He told them to Mayand their own business.

-Our collective salad kick is still ongoing. Yesterday I stopped by the grocery store and purchased carrots, celery, sliced cabbage, radishes, green onions, and red onions. Today I supplemented our today supplies with another 10 lbs of carrots.

Of course, I haven't just been buying supplies but also consuming salads. Twice today I had salads that contained six Canada's Food Guide servings of vegetables.

I suspect that if that if I am able to maintain this rate of consumption I will be burned out on salads by the end of end of the month.

-Though I have already put in a fair bit of work today, I should probably try to do some more reading before I call it a night.

Evening Snack

In line with our new pro-salad stance, the snack I have prepared for the apartment this evening consists entirely of vegetables.



And because you care, I have already had two salads today. If all goes well I will have consumed about 5 or 6 more servings of vegetables by the end of the evening.

A Few Quick Notes 491

-As has been standard so far this winter, today saw us get some rain and have temperatures hovering just above freezing. Talk about fun weather.

-As suggested by our last post, we had salads with our dinner tonight. This means that everyone had at least one salad today and some of us had two. It should also be noted none of us over-indulged in the main course, which was chili. Of course, all of this salad consumptions means that I am likely going to have to make a run to the carrot store tomorrow to pick up a few more carrots and some celery (which happens to be on sale this week).

-I have been doing a fair bit of studying today, though I guess I could have been a little more diligent.

-It seems that there is some new graffiti on the cement wall across from my bedroom window. I guess none of us noticed this going up yesterday.



Unfortunately, this new addition to the wall, at least in my opinion, isn't as nice as what is to be found under it. That the graffiti has taken a turn for the worse is unfortunate as I have to spend a fair bit of my time looking at it. I guess at this point I wouldn't mind if the building decided to remove everything and start from scratch.

-Oh, and I should note that in addition to increasing my salad consumption I am trying to put a little more emphasis on doing more chin-ups, a pursuit that fell by the wayside this summer shortly after a accidental self-inflicted rib injury.

Making friends with salad

For the past few months Neil, Rebecca, Jeannette, and I have all be discussing, in somewhat aspirational terms, the concept of healthier eating (not that our eating habits were that bad too begin with). In general, the areas of discussion have tended towards both the idea of favouring the consumption of relatively healthy foods (more of the problem for Jeannette and Rebecca) as well as the idea of portion control (more of the problem for Neil and I) .

Not surprisingly, aside from a few ambitious thoughts, little had actually been done to work towards these goals. Jeannette, with her love of breakfast sandwiches, and Rebecca, with her love of tinned cola, had make little progress when it came to avoiding their respective vices. Neil and I were also continuing to over-consume a variety of foods.

Shortly after Jeannette and I returned from St. John's the general consensus that was reached seemed to be that increased salad consumption may help with both problems. Not only would the consumption of more salads mean the consumption of healthier foods (assuming we can hold off on bacon bits and croutons), but it would also mean that portion control would be less of a problem as most of the vegetative ingredients in our salads are close to calorie-neutral (i.e. you can eat as many carrots as humanly possible and they won't cause you to get fat).

So over the past 3-4 days this is what we have been doing - having salads either with, or as, many meals. Though it has been less than a week, our ability to stick with the program has been remarkably consistent.

Of course, aside from more trips to the carrot store, there is not much evidence that this dietary change has had any effect. Presumably, I should at least soon start to notice an increase in my carrot chopping speed, or maybe even in my ability to prepare a red pepper.

A Few Quick Notes 480

-Today was a pretty decent fall day. My understanding is that tomorrow isn't supposed to be quite as nice.

-I had the pleasure of leading a class today. Unfortunately, two of the five students weren't able to make the class so the dynamic was a little off. That being said, I think that things went relatively well, or at least not horribly.

-This afternoon, while I was backing up a few files, I came across a few photos and videos earlier today I happened upon a few photos and videos from my 2008 trip to Sint Maarten. I decided to upload one of the Sint Maarten airport videos.



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-I prepared another few pounds of vegetables tonight. I am slowly working my way though the bowl with little help from anyone else.

Easter Update 2

A little while ago we finished our Easter breakfast. As far as I could tell it was enjoyed by all.

After breakfast we played a few rounds of Sorry Revenge, a game that Rebecca received in her Easter basket. After a somewhat slow start I picked things up and managed to win the final two rounds.

I really need to get going on the turkey front, but I am feeling quite tired and lacking motivation. Given the size of the turkey, this laziness is really unacceptable.

After the turkey has been dealt with I will have to start on the vegetables and whatnot. In all I should have a few hours of food prep ahead of me.

I guess I should tear myself away from my computer and get down to work.

Absence Explained

Some of you are likely wondering why in the dying days of this year's blog-off I have been a somewhat inconsistent poster. The answer, at least for the most part, is that I have been a little under the weather for the past 10 days or so. I managed to pick up a rather pesky cold from Neil that I have as of yet been unable to shake. Fortunately, this cold hasn't really been as bad as some colds I have had, though I have felt particularly tired for the past few days.

Then, to make things worse, last night I decided to eat enough raw carrots and red peppers to make myself feel even more ill. If you are curious, it turns out that about 2 pounds of carrots and about 2 red peppers will do the trick (though it isn't a trick I recommend doing). The good thing about this trick, at least compared to the cold, is that the effects seem to be of a shorter duration.

I am really hoping that by tomorrow I will be back to something that is much closer to normal.

Edit: I will also blame this lingering illness on some of the poor quality posts that I have made recently. I have definitely been having a harder time concentrating on things like writing and coherence since I have had this cold, which is rather unfortunate for you guys.

Blog-off Score

Neil: 0
Cameron: 33

Because you have always wanted to know, or How to prepare turnip sticks

For the past few months I have been pretty aggressively spreading the word about the merits of turnip sticks as both a snack and a lifestyle choice. Not surprisingly, I have been meet with a little befuddlement, but typically once the delicacy has been sampled people are quite quick to understand and appreciate the value of a handful of turnip sticks as a snack or side.

While tasting a turnip stick is to know and understand its beauty and delicacy, some people, even after eating this delightful food, are a little confused about how it is prepared. To overcome this knowledge gap I have taken the time to prepare this somewhat poorly aimed time-lapse video of me preparing turnip sticks to help ease the general ignorance surrounding the preparation of turnip sticks. I hope that by making this information readily available I will be able to broaden both the appreciation of and use of turnip as a raw snacking vegetable. No longer should this noble root vegetable be seen as no better than horse food, as is presently the case in some otherwise progressive European countries. I hope that with this video and the associated campaign will mean turnip's renaissance is just around the corner.



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A Few Quick Notes 334

-Well, we seem to be back to the gray and rainy weather of June. I guess I am glad that we had a least a few days of sun, but it would have been nice if it had lasted at least a few more days.

-Neil and I have another Ultimate game tomorrow. I am really hoping that the rain doesn't make the field too wet and unpleasant. Though I haven't yet discussed it with her, I wouldn't be surprised if Kirsten came along with us to see us play (assuming our game isn't rained out).

-Though I haven't purchased them yet, I am thinking that we might have burgers for dinner tonight. I hope this is alright with everyone else.

-Last night Kirsten and I, along with a friend of mine, made our way down to the waterfront to check out some of the tall ships that are in town for the Tall Ships Nova Scotia Festival 2009. We timed our visit so that we could see some of the ships during and then hang around for the nightly fireworks show, which Kirsten was particularly interested in seeing.



The show started with a literal bang, though the figurative bang seemed to be missing. For about the first five minutes they kept sending up lone fireworks, all of the same variety, about every 45 seconds. This was less than enthralling, certainly when you have been hanging around just to see the fireworks show. Eventually things really picked up and the show turned out to be one of the best fireworks displays that I have seen. They did some neat things so that there were roman candle type things that went up to just below where the shells were exploding, which was a very nice effect. The other neat thing they did was have multiple shells explode in quick succession so that it seems smaller explosions were filling the ball created by a larger explosion. (It seems that tonight's show has been pushed to tomorrow because of the poor weather.)

After the show we met up with my friend's sister. As Kirsten wouldn't have been able to join us at a bar we all made our way back to our apartment where we had a few drinks, talked, and consumed a few pounds of turnip sticks. I like to think a good time was had by all, minimally, I exposed three people to the pleasure of raw turnip sticks.

-This morning Kirsten and I made our way to the Halifax Farmers' Market for a brief visit. Before heading to the waterfront to check out a few more of the tall ships we stopped for breakfast a local coffee and donut shop. We each had a beverage and I ordered a half-dozen donuts for us to split. It seems Kirsten was only willing to eat one of the donuts, which meant that there were five for me to eat. While I was able to cruise through the first four pretty quickly, I simply couldn't make it through the fifth. So while I am disgusted with myself for not being able to finish, I am pretty sure it wasn't worth powering through just so that I could say that I had completed the task. If you are interested, this is what was left of the final donut.



(Edit: Last night we spotted Newfoundland cabinet minister Tom Hedderson along the waterfront, and this morning we spotted our local MLA, and former political science prof, Leonard Preyra.)

-After 'breakfast' we made our way back to the waterfront, where quite a bit of fog had rolled in since the night before. I was quite impressed with the fog effect, it made things look a little more piratical, even the Coast Guard ships.



Unfortunately, the fog and moisture didn't really do much for the bouncy apparatuses. I really can't imagine that these could be any fun in such conditions.



-Last week we had the Paul McCartney concert, this week we have a KISS concert. While the Paul McCartney concert was fortunate enough to have near perfect weather, the Kiss crowd won't be so lucky. It is presently raining and there is a chance that there might be a thunderstorm this evening. I am also wondering who, and how many, will be attending this show. I just can't imagine that many people have much of their ticket budget left given the number of large shows that have already taken place (Paul McCartney, Bon Jovi, and the country thing in PEI), or are about to take place (AC/DC) in the region. Hopefully they make a go of it tonight. Whether it is a success or not, we are likely to all go for a walk by the concert site to see how things are going, and so that we can claim to have heard KISS in concert.

A Few Quick Notes 258

-Though we didn't get the storm that was briefly predicted, we did mange to get the above zero temperatures that were predicted. This means that much of the snow that has fallen in the past several days has now turned to slush. The particularly nice part about the arrangement is that as the temperature is now dropping quickly we are a great position to get all kinds of ice. Notably, the cement area outside my window may be a particularly good area for sliding in a few hours.

Just moments ago I learned that apparently the threat of ice was enough to close schools in Halifax this afternoon. As it is now after school closing time and the ice hasn't formed it seems that his may have been a slight over-reaction.

-Yesterday, while at school, I was told about a pile of crap that one of the offices was giving/throwing away. Almost as soon as I heard about this opportunity I made my way down to inspect the goods. Almost immediately it was clear that most of the things that were in the pile were on the obsolete and useless side of things. Fortunately I stuck to my inspection was thus able to nab myself a Dictaphone (complete with foot controller, headset, and tapes). The only problem with the find is that it didn't come with an appropriate AC adapter. Hopefully once I find an adapter I will have the Dictaphone up and running. I imagine that this should improve my efficiency by a fair margin.

-As celery is on sale this week at one of the local grocery store I picked up a bunch made myself a celery, carrot, onion salad for dinner. As I was making the salad I realized that I forgot to buy radishes, oh well, I guess if I head back to the store tomorrow I might pick some up.

-Today I learned that, if I am so inclined, I can buy a set of photocopies for one of my classes for $120. You may not be surprised to learn that I have decided to just go to the library instead. I can't see how I can justify paying $120 for things that I can borrow from the library for free (and now I can justify blowing $120 that I saved on school expenses).

-To save on textbook expenses in another class I decided to borrow the required books from other university libraries in Nova Scotia (which should work quite nicely as my loans are good until the end of May). I should give credit for this plan to Cheryl, who tried something similar last year (though there were a few glitches in the execution if I remember correctly).