First one of the season

The first of the seed catalogs has arrived. Just like Christmas music and decorations, they come earlier every year.

The election

What is a liberal with a serious interest in keeping her Second Amendment rights supposed to do? I voted 3rd party.

Let me explain.

I have never been so conflicted by an election before. Obama stands for most of my core beliefs. Education, choice, taking care of people that need help, ending the war in Iraq, all those warm fuzzy things. He even has hinted at the need for lots of us to make sacrifices in order to pull the economy out of it's freefall. John McCain I found to be erratic and really dangerous, except where my 2nd Amendment rights are concerned. And his choice for VP really made me question his judgement. I thought back in 2000 that he was all that and a bag of chips.

I'm still angry that the country had to suffer through 8 years of GWB. I thought it was apparent in 2000 that GWB was an idiot. In 2004 I thought everyone would see through him and get him the hell out. But no. So now, we have huge deficits and a costly war that is sucking the life out of our economy. Because of the lamest.president.ever I get to sound like a nut.

I don't want to sound like a nut. If I can't defend myself, all my other rights are useless.

I'm a really bad blogger.

So it's October and I haven't blogged since July. August and September have just blown by.

Up on "the hill" where we live, we had our first frost on September 19th. We've had a few more since then.

I started the garden clean-out. I still have brassicas left. We may actually get some brussel sprouts soon. Pumpkins and raspberries were my best crops. Winter squash was also good, but the voles ate my best looking squash. I fed the remains to the chickens, who had a field day.

I was really lazy getting things put up. I did not process any tomatoes. I froze a few beans and about 3 packages of broccoli.

Until I am at home full-time I don't think I can do a lot of food preservation.

Maybe next fall.

Oh yeah, I bought 50 pounds of potatoes over the weekend (at the Carrot Barn).

JULY!

Where did May and June go?

We have peas, beets, lettuce, dill, kale and mache to eat already. Local corn has begun.

I have tomatoes on vines. Also a mysterious lack of pests.

This is a pea plant in May. We have eaten lots of peas (pods not actual peas) and the plants seem to have expired. I miss one day of picking and they stop producing. Next I'll rip them up and plant broccoli.

April has been warm and dry

The first week of April was not so warm, but the last 2 weeks have been warm and dry. So dry that we have a open fire ban.

Last weekend we moved the compost pile and filled up the garden beds. The week before, I had planted peas, beets, chard, spinach, lettuce, mesculen and mache.

Pictures to follow soon.

It's cold, even for March.

On Easter Sunday I started peppers, tomatoes and eggplant indoors. Also snapdragons, but they like it cool so they are in the basement.

As soon as the compost pile defrosts I have to start making more beds. I need space for my winter squash and pumpkins. I also have to work on my bean trellises.

It's nuttier than a fruitcake here

So, I work in downtown Albany. In case you've been living under a rock and don't catch any news, the governor of our great state is going to get hung out to dry because he was STOOPID. The tension up around the Capital is pretty thick. The weather is its usual crazy March self. We just started Daylight Savings Time and our internal clocks don't match the adjusted clocks.

I have many irons in the fire and we don't have our new chicks yet. We get them on Good Friday (I hope).

See Sharon's blog post on the stupidity(to the left is a link). It's hilarious.

A call for Victory Gardens

Remember those? During WWII everyone was encouraged to grow a victory garden to support the war effort. A little bit of self sufficiency went a long way. WWII was over more than 20 years before I was born, but I've seen pictures.

If we grow some of our own food, we won't be dependent on food trucked in from far away, we won't be as dependent on foreign oil and we will reduce greenhouse gases. Organic practices help the soil hold on to carbon. Vegetable plants use carbon.

Anyhow, I'm not really sure exactly how everything works (I'm no scientist) but I do know that I can produce really yummy food without too much work and even have enough to share.

So get on the bandwagon people. Start a victory garden.

Gardener's Porn

So I finally got my seed order together. I order from Fedco Seeds. It's a co-op in Maine. They have great prices, no GMO seeds and they do no business with Monsanto.

When my seeds arrived I had a refund for the eggplant I ordered. Since I never grew eggplant before, I had my heart set on this one particular variety "Rosa Bianca". Seeds Of Change didn't have it anymore. I finally found seeds at Baker Creek heirloom seeds. I spent $3 just for shipping. I got an extra packet of seed so I don't run out and I can share with my seed exchanging buddy Christy.

I took all my catalogs to the office I work in and explained how they are gardener's Porn. Seed catalogs sell a fantasy. In their pages there is the perfect amount of rain every season. There are no bugs, rabbit, voles or grubs. The vegetables are blemish free and never have blossom end rot.

In January the gardener is a motivated human with big dreams and HUGE ideas. By August a gardener is just a human with a lot of zuchinni.

Long time no post

The holidays are over. We have a little bit over a foot of snow. The boy has started skiing (strap on skis) and we are enjoying the snow.

I pruned the raspberries before the snow. Seed catalogs have arrived and I'm working up an order.