Archive for June 29th, 2008

Blog (and Me) at Rest

Sharon June 29th, 2008

So I’m leaving shortly for a week of vacation – visiting family on Cape Ann near Boston with a brief interlude in New York City.  Don’t expect much, if any, posting here, although I will be checking email occasionally.

 A few updates, though.

1. If you are in New York City on Wednesday (July 2), definitely come see myself, James Kunstler, Colin Beavan and Michael Hogan discussing “Catastrophe” – what it might look like, what we need to do.  I think it is going to be both fascinating and fun.  The panel is 6-8 at the Atlantic Gallery – I’m told their capacity is only 100, so it might be wise to arrive early if you can.  I’m really excited about this panel, and I think the whole evening is going to be fascinating – the art exhibit is supposed to be amazing (and who knew Kunstler painted?). More info here.

2. On Monday, July 7 we’ll have the first discussion in the Post-Apocalyptic Book Club, starting with Heinlein’s _The Moon is a Harsh Mistress_.  I’ll talk a little about it in relation to “The Wasteland” as well, so if you feel like reading the Eliot, you might look it over.  We’ll spend 2 weeks on Heinlein and move on to Niven/Pournelle’s _Lucifer’s Hammer_ after that. 

3. On Tuesday, July 8 my Food Preservation and Storage Class will begin, and you all can follow along on the blog. If by some chance you requested a spot in the course and you have not heard back from me with information about how to register and what to do in advance, could you please email me at jewishfarmer@gmail.com.  I’m having some problems with disappearing emails, or emails appearing on back pages of my account, and so I’m a little worried I may be missing someone. 

Ok, have a great week everyone, and I’ll be back next Monday!

 Cheers,

Sharon 

Independence Days Update – Focus on Planting

Sharon June 29th, 2008

Hi All – It has been a busy week, some of which I talked about in my latest garden post. I know that “plant something” is kind of obvious, but my own observation is that July is when things like succession planting and getting ready for fall tends to peter out – you’ve been planting all summer, and now there’s tons of weeding and harvesting to be done, and it is easy, easy, easy to just put off that next row of lettuce or bush beans. So my exhortation to everyone here this week is – don’t.

If you live in a place where it is too hot now to plant, but you’ll be able to do it in a month or so, it can be good to get a few weeks jump on the season, and to start things inside, in your (hopefully) comparatively cooler house. If you live where it is generally cool, like me, the next few weeks are key to getting a good harvest of vegetables continuing to come in through late fall and early winter.

Ok, on to my update.

Planted: Onions, bush beans, mustard greens, potatoes, beets, chard, brussels sprouts, cabbage, borage, basil, cucumbers, watermelon, carrots, winter squash, saskatoons, comfrey.

Harvested: Strawberries, more strawberries, more strawberries (from the pick your own – mine got toasted), bok choy, arugula, lettuce, mint, the very first baby summer squash, peas, onions, garlic scapes, chard

Preserved: Strawberry jam, dried strawberries, strawberry sauce, triple lemon vinegar (lemon peel, lemon verbena, lemon balm), willow bark tincture

Stored: Sprouting seeds, whole wheat linguine, peanut butter, chana dal

Prepped: Bought two used sets of sheets for guest sheets (and kicked myself for not noticing the brand new down comforter for $10 that was snagged by a friend), bought some bigger shirts for Eli at Goodwill.

Cooked something new: Elderflower fritters with honey, Robyn M’s garlic scape pesto recipe – very good!

Managed: We have rats in the barn, and they are killing our baby chicks. Eric and I constructed an elaborate cage of chicken wire and pvc, which took them a whole two nights to break into – the dogs kill them, Zucchini the not-quite-barn cat kills them, but not enough. We cleaned out the whole barn, but still have not gotten rid of them. We are thinking short term of using poison, very, very carefully out of desperation (and with very careful awareness of
other things with barn access, careful restriction of dogs and cats away from barn etc…) since we are desperate (these are birds for sale, and they need to live), and while we are gone, the chicks are moving into my bathroom ;-P. Dealing with the rat problem has taken much of our time and energy this week. As a longer term solution, we’re thinking of getting a terrier breed dog with ratting skills – anyone have any recommendations?

Worked on Community Food Systems: Put in an herb garden for a friend, had dinner with a friend from Albany who knows everything about local food projects.

Reduced Waste: Same as last week.

Ok, how about y’all?

Sharon