Garden Update

Here's the garden on June 1st. At this point I was convinced that the only thing that would survive would be the squash (far bottom left hand side). All the little plants look kind of pathetic.

Two weeks later (June 15th). All 3 squash seeds took and are now actively plotting how they will take over the lawn. Each leave is massive! I'm in all astonishment. The peppers and tomatoes are doing quite well also. Almost all the tomatoes are past the first rung of the tomato cages and should past the second rung by next Wednesday. I plan on pinching off any flowers that appear before they reach the third rung so that the plant will be mature enough to produce good fruit. The pepper plants are doing wonderfully well too. Only 1 out of 15 is really struggling but not enough for me to rip it out and plant a new one in its place.

Here's the first pepper of the year. When its fully ripe it will be an orange pepper, I think. Or maybe a yellow one. I can't remember. It's still pretty small and has a bit more growing to do before we harvest it and give it to the neighbors.

Here's the first jalapeno of the year. This puppy is growing fast and just started to plump out this week. I can't wait for more spicy treats to make an appearance.

I thought I would include a picture of the tree in our backyard. We never planted this little guy. As a matter of fact we mowed over it every week for almost 6 months. One day, Alex got fed up and went to dig out the "weed" and discovered that it was more of a "bush". We let it grow all last summer to see what kind of "bush" it was. Turns out that our bush is really an Elm tree and is now almost 12 feet tall.

The herbs are doing really well too. The basil was the first to come up and then the cilantro came up next. I'll start harvesting them in about 2 weeks. I'm so looking forward to eating my fill of Margarita pizza's (tomato sauce, fresh basil, and fresh mozzarella cheese). Pictures are sure to follow!

May's Reading List

I'll admit it. I'm a weak-willed individual, especially when it comes to books. I finally broke. Caved in. Capitulated. I read the Twilight Series. There's more... I did it in 5 days. Yeah, I'm a little obsessive/compulsive when it comes to sequels, trilogies, and series. I insist that the series be complete before I begin so that if I find I enjoy what I'm reading I don't have to wait 9 months for the next addition. Think of it as delayed instant gratification. The down side is that I'm never a part of the first wave of excitement. With that said, I'm guessing that you've all already read the phenomenon but if you haven't then be warned: spoiler alert!

Of course, Twilight was the first. I found it interesting and fast paced. The teenage romance was almost a bit much for me, but whatever. By the end of the book I was fed up with the whole "stay-away-from-me-cause-I'm-dangerous" stuff, and okay, I get it- Edward is beautiful, but it was still interesting, fun to read, and I was hooked.

I liked New Moon. I have to give to credit to Stephenie Meyer- I think she did an amazing job describing the all consuming pain of a lost love. I couldn't help but smile when she used up an entire page for just the word "October" and then followed with the other months. What a brilliant move because I've been there and there just aren't any words for that kind of depression when for a brief period of time you stop existing but keep breathing. I finished this one in a mere 5 hours. Good thing I had the next one by my side.

I loved the action in Eclipse but by this time I'm getting a little frustrated with Bella for being Bella. And when she breaks Jacob's heart for like the hundredth time at the end- I'll admit it- I cried a little for Jacob. This one took me a little more than 6 hours to read.

I took a little longer to read Breaking Dawn because I knew the story was over after this and I wanted to drag it out a little bit longer, not wanting it to end. I loved hearing Jacob's voice in the book, especially since I thought he was the most realistic character out of all of them. I was absolutely breathless when he imprinted on Renesemee. I was waiting for the imprinting thing to happen during the last book and for him to finally become the Alpha. I'm with my brother-in-law on this one- I really, really, really wanted to read all about a knock-down drag-out fight and watch the Volturi destroyed or at least disbanded a bit. I wanted to see all those so-called "dangerous" vampire powers played out that I had been reading about for the last few days but instead I got nothin'. Nothing but a truce and another Stephenie Meyer style introduction into another character and another possible show down followed by the words "The End". Booo! But it ended just as it was suppose to with a happily ever after for Edward and Bella, Jake and Nessie. I hope the movie does the book justice.

And then...

I know, random, right? I suppose Science-fiction is Science-fiction but still, how could one go from a lovey-dovey teenage vampire romance to.... this? I don't know what to say other than I am a sucker. Don't let the movie fool you (but you Twilight lovers already knew that didn't you?) this is another one of those cliche cases where the movie is nothing like the book. Somehow they were able to take a few names and one or two small events in the book and turn it into a movie of sorts. It sadly didn't do the tiny 200 page book justice. It's an interesting thought if you take the idea of a having a permanent military to the next level. What happens when you create a civilization and economy that is dependent on military? I'm not talking about the military governments that we already have. I'm talking about a democratic military government where your citizenship depends on if you serve in the military. It's an interesting idea and Robert Heinlein does a really good job.

And then this book may seem even more random but oddly enough, it ties perfectly into the last 5 books.

Brian McLaren proposes an interesting theory. Perhaps, we are not so far away from what Robert Heinlein wrote about back in the 1960s. Perhaps, we are a part of a suicidal social machine that is running out of control, consuming our natural resources at an alarming rate, dumping destruction in its wake and forgetting that every person regardless of his nationality, race, gender, religion, or country affiliation is important, worthy of love, respect, and is to be taken care of. Isn't that part of what the draw to Twilight is all about? We all want to be loved and taken care of unconditionally in a way that has no bounds and yet is healthy and sustainable. Isn't that what Jesus wanted for us too? McLaren's book is fascinating and has undoubtedly changed the way I see people and the message of Jesus to the world.

I'm not sure what I'll be reading next month. I'll be starting on Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand today. I've put it off a little too long. I'm hoping to get in some historical works and maybe a little more classic literature too. I'd love to hear about what you've been reading. As I said before, I'm a bit of a sucker and easily swayed! :)

Farmville, Part 3

I know that I said in my last post that "planting would have to wait for tomorrow" but that was a bit of a lie. I just couldn't resist having all that black dirt lying empty for the night. Plus, I had all those Burpee babies just waiting to be planted. So I quickly grabbed a few tomato plants and this monster (summer squash) and planted them in the few remaining moments of fading light.

The next day it rained all day long. In between each shower I managed to plant almost every thing else. This picture is taken a few days later when everything had a chance to dry out a bit. The squash in on the far left hand side with 9 sweet peas, and two rows of bunched onions. The next 3 rows contain a variety of peppers- Sweet Cayenne, Hot Portugal, California Wonder (green bell peppers), Red peppers, and a mystery mix that might produce white, green, red, purple, and chocolate color bell peppers. The last 3 rows (closest to the patio) contain Jubilee (yellow) tomatoes, Roma and Big Boy tomatoes. So far it looks like they're all going to make it with the exception of 1.

I'm really hoping that we get a good crop this year of at least something. I'm really learning a lot as we go along. I started putting down the manure yesterday and in a week I'll start giving them liquid fertilizer. I think they need all the help they can get.

I also planted 6 types of herbs. We go through so much basil, cilantro, mint, oregano, rosemary and thyme every month that I decided it would be more economical and accessible if we grew some ourselves. I set the boxes out the night that we dug up the sod and they completely flooded because I didn't get a chance to drill tiny holes in the bottom so that water could leak out. So I killed all of them except mint. The moisture level was back to normal yesterday, so I replanted all the herbs.

So there's our little farm. I'm really, really hoping that we get some produce this year. It would be great to see all this effort produce something tasty. Next year I might not grow the tomatoes from seeds like I did this year but instead just buy the plants from a nursery. I guess I'll just have to wait and see how everything turns out.

Our Little Farm

So as promised, the story of our little farm continues...

On Monday, the 17th, we decided the time had come to finally plant the garden. Our planting season is a little different than that of Nevada in that we have to wait to plant after the frost zone passes, which is May 15th. Monday was a dreary and cold day. Everything was muddy and soaking wet. Great for cutting up the sod, not so great for picking up the sod and transporting it somewhere else. My job was to push the wheel barrow through the yard, past the neighbors house, and over to the empty lot and empty it. But I couldn't just discard muddy grass in a huge heaping pile because that would just look to ghetto. I mean, really, this is where we live, right? So I carefully removed every stinking piece of sod and turned it up right and laid them side by side. Alex thought I was nuts but I didn't mind because I didn't have to shovel up the sod. Here I am on my way back from the last load of sod.

Remember the little, pathetic patch I dug? It's nothing compared to what Alex did. The entire garden is a little more than 16 feet long and 8 feet wide.

Even though we dug out the sod we wanted to have a raised bed to grow all our vegetables in. To do that we needed a good border to hold all the dirt. Alex took our little hand-held shovel and dug a 4 inch border around the garden. We then headed over to Lowe's to grab all our supplies. We bought 15 bags of manure, 51 bags of black top soil (yes that's right- 51 bags!), 6 planter boxes, 27 tomato cages (two different sizes), vegetable fertilizer, and a massive piece of ply-wood that we had cut into 6 sections to box in the garden. It took us 7 trips to Lowe's to transport all of it home in our little Hyundai.

Here's the garden boxed in with 48 bags of black top soil waiting to be emptied.

And here's our 16x8 garden filled with wonderful black dirt.

We marked the sprinkler with an orange flag. By this time it was 8:30 at night. The sun had just set and we were pretty beat. Planting would have to wait for tomorrow and so will the rest of the story. :)

When in Rome...

Alex and I have been planning to plant a garden for what seems like ages now. I became thoroughly convinced last summer when bell peppers cost $1.50 a piece that we desperately needed to grow our own. Last fall we mapped out an area in our back yard and in March I purchased a 50 piece Burpee starter kit. That's the 2 square boxes you see at the bottom. In the far left one, I planted all the herbs that we use on a regular basis (thyme, oregano, basil, rosemary, mint, and cilantro). In the second box I planted 3 types of tomatoes, 2 types of bell pepper, onions, and one summer squash. On the far right, I planted 7 spicy/hot pepper plants. I think next year I'll organize a Garden Party in the neighborhood and see who shows up.

Then in April, when I should have been studying, I decided to start digging some of the sod out of the garden. Under the sod is 100% clay. It's easier to dig up than Nevada clay, but once its wet it sticks to everything. We picked an area in our back yard that gets tons of sunlight but has fairly good drainage.

After an hour, this is how much I had dug. Yes, its pitiful. I grew bored and conveniently realized I had better things to do.

I'll post more tomorrow.

Before I go, I want to wish my beloved husband a wonderful and Happy 36th Birthday! May the next 36 years be more amazing than the first!