Living on the Edge

One of the things we learned about in permaculture class was wild harvesting. I needed some borders for my garden bed, so this Saturday, my new friend (name withheld to protect the innocent) and I decided we would drive down the Turnagain Arm to harvest some wild rocks. I mean after all, why buy rocks at the store when you can get them for free in the wilderness?

I didn't take any pictures on our drive, because ho-hum, same old Turnagain Arm (ha!). That's how you know you've been in Alaska for a good little while. Also, it was super hazy because of all the smoke from the Funny River Fire down on the Kenai Peninsula (now at over 123,000 acres). But it was still a good day for a drive.

We drove all the way to Portage, the site of a once-visible but now disappearing glacier, and found a stream bed with lots of beautiful round rocks. We gathered a whole bunch of rocks, and were just deciding whether we wanted to try to collect some lupines or some fiddle head ferns when a man pulled up. "Are you two removing those rocks?" he asked. "Uh....yeah...." we responded. "Hmmm. Okay." He glared at us and drove off.

Now, I'm not sure if we missed some sort of rule about rock collecting. But the stream looked like this (not my picture, but this is a very similar stream in the area).

We followed the rules of wild harvesting, which state that you shouldn't collect more than 30% of what you're harvesting to allow it to recover. Obviously, there's no way we collected 30% of the rocks. But additionally, even if we had collected all the rocks (which would have been a feat!), guess what? See those mountains in the background? They are made of...you guessed it...rock! More rocks will come from the mountains to replace the ones we took!

I'm not sure what that guy's problem was. Maybe he was mad because he just paid a fortune to have a company in town deliver rocks to him (as my friend pointed out "Where does he think those rocks come from?"). But anyway, we decided not to do any more wild harvesting and call it a day.

My rocks, awaiting placement around the beds.

Now I have a yard full of wild rocks lining my new native flower bed I want to create. And somewhere out there, there's an angry man telling his friends "I saw two ladies stealing ROCKS from the river!"

Spring Projects

Now that I'm back from my short trip, things are really starting to ramp up here, spring wise. The snow has almost all melted, and I'm starting to do more outdoor things. I've been hiking several times lately, I have the Heart Run next weekend, and I'm starting to clean up the yard.

In addition to those things, I've started several batches of seeds indoors. I decided this year I'm going to take the plunge and try to grow some warmer weather items, like tomatoes, peppers and eggplant. I will need a greenhouse for this, but I've wanted one for years and I think I can get a temporary one until I decide where I want to permanently build one.

I used an old spinach container to make a seed incubator.

As if I didn't have enough to do, I also decided I want to build a table out of a pallet I found behind the electronics recycling center. It's a really nice pallet -- I've been told it's oak and used for heavier duty stuff. I'd like to use it on my deck for an outdoor plant table. It should be an easy project, but of course, there's been some snafus with buying 4 x 4s at Lowes, etc. I am hoping to have this done in the next couple weeks, to share on the blog.

The pallet.

In other news, I'd like to share my friend's next adventure: Allyn is going on a cross-country bicycle trip, and she is blogging about it at http://almaontheroad.blogspot.com/. This would be an accomplishment for anyone, but Allyn is also a teacher and a mother of two, so it's not like she doesn't have anything else to do! She's a great writer, and I'm really excited to follow her journey.

2013 Year in Review

The last few years I've done one of these posts summarizing things I talked about on the blog over the past year. This year I had a big break in blogging, and some important things happened that I didn't mention, so I thought I'd mix it up a little and do a "best and worst" post for you.

Best New Song I Discovered: Broken Heart by Dr. Dog



Best New Purchase: My Samsung Galaxy SIII. So long, iPhone!

Worst thing that happened: I got divorced. This is probably a surprise to some of you, but it happened. It sucked, and there was a lot of depression during that time. Hence the sporadic blogging.

Best thing that happened: I got to go back to Australia and see all my old friends and make some new ones. Very healing for my heart.

Best new dog: Tilly.

Best old dog: Fievel.

Those two are also the worst new and old dogs.

Most fun project: The GISHWHES photo I took for my friend. It made me laugh and she loved it. So that's a win, even if she didn't win the scavenger hunt.

You are what you eat!

Least fun project: cleaning up the garage. Not surprising I didn't blog about that one.

Best garden/house related success: my rocking garden!

Worst garden/house related item: Lake Fode formed in the backyard.

Of course, this is an ice skating rink now.

Best new venture: the winter permaculture course I signed up for on a whim.

Learning about Cindi and Curt's mud and straw greenhouse

Biggest adventure: hiking Kesugi Ridge.

Yay Denali!

Most favorite thing I used to do that I still love: Book club

Habit I got out of: reading regularly. The reading plan totally fell off track. I have been struggling to keep up with book club, even though I like it. Also, baking bread falls into this category too.

Thing I never got around to but wished I had: making a batch of beer on my own (a first goal for 2014)!

Most ironic turn of events: I came in last in one of my fantasy football leagues, and won the championship in the other. As my friend Simon pointed out, this makes me "just average".

So, 2014 is a calendar full of blank pages, and I have no idea what it will bring. I'd like to make some more friends, and spend more time with the ones I have. I want to go new places, but enjoy the beautiful place I live, too. I want to find some great new music, and rock out to my old faves as well. Based on what happened in 2013, I am both scared and hopeful for the new year. And so I'll conclude with a quote from my favorite movie, The Shawshank Redemption:

I find I'm so excited that I can barely sit still or hold a thought in my head. I think it's the excitement only a free man can feel. A free man at a start of a long journey whose conclusion is uncertain. I hope I can make it across the border. I hope to see my friend and shake his hand. I hope the Pacific is as blue as it has been in my dreams. I hope.

Water Works

This weekend was the second weekend in my series of Permaculture Design Classes. One of the focuses was water -- how to conserve it and control the flow within your area. Why was I so excited about this?

Did I mention we had another record breaking wet fall?

Right now our class project is to design a new plan for the Matanuska Experimental Farm. But we'll have something put together by early next year and then we'll move on to a more traditional permaculture project -- designing our own space.

First task I need to do is observe. There's a lot of parts to this of course, but regarding the water issue, I need to calculate the contours in my back yard. We learned a couple of techniques to do that this weekend. Here, Cindi and Louisa are making a simple A-frame to use. I hope to get that done soon, before it starts snowing and things get all covered up.

My tentative plan is to take the deepest spot (to the left) and turn it into a pond (obviously I'll have to do some reconnoitering about whether I want to keep the garden boxes there or not). Then, I'll take the line that runs along the fence, and make a gradual slope so that water that collects here runs into the pond. It won't be a stream or part of the pond, but I will plant it with water loving plants to make a sort of rain garden. This will also reduce my mowable area, another goal of mine. I hate mowing.

In a Bit of a Pickle

 

Remember my giant zucchinis? The four that were 3+ pounds? Well, I really wasn't sure what to do with them. I gave a couple away to coworkers, who made zucchini bread. But I was still left with 6 lbs of zucchini, which were too large for a side dish, and likely to be bitter besides. So I decided to try my hand at pickling.

The challenge for me was canning, which I had never done before. You can make pickles and just store them in the fridge, but I didn't really have room for that. Plus, I didn't think I would eat all these in a timely manner, so I wanted to preserve them. Canning was easier than I expected.  I was pleasantly surprised that all the jars sealed!

The pickle recipe I chose was a dill pickle recipe, but I mixed a few other spices in as well. I have two jars with mustard seeds, two with celery seeds, and two with hot peppers. I suspect I put in too much hot pepper, so I don't know if those will be edible! But I'm looking forward to trying the pickles in the next couple of weeks.

Cultivating a Lifestyle

In the spring of 2012, I took an Introduction to Permaculture Class in Australia and really enjoyed it. Ever since then, I've been excited to apply the principles to my own yard and life, but a little overwhelmed on where to start and what resources I have here in Alaska. I've often thought that I would like to take the full design course, which gives you a Design Certificate (you can use the certification as a credential when designing for others), but haven't had the chance yet, partially because it's a two week course and I'd have to take leave. Then this year, a cold-climate specific course opened up in Palmer, on one weekend a month, which is perfect! My first class was this weekend.

What is permaculture, some of you may be asking? I'm glad you asked! Permaculture is the design of a living system that works together harmoniously and abundantly for its components -- plants, animals, humans, and soil. (We had to come up with an "elevator speech" for one of our activities). It's a garden, but it's also incorporating aspects of your home, organics, sustainability, community, integration, self reliance, and no waste!

I'm sorry to say that I don't have any pictures from the weekend, but that should give you a clue that I was really busy and having a good time. We learned a lot, made sheet mulch ("lasagne" mulch), planted a cover crop (a.k.a. "green" manure), did soil tests, observed our environment, and started a major project to present to the Matanuska Experimental Farm sometime in February.

Part of the reason I joined this class is to meet new people who share my interest in organic gardening -- creating a group I can rely on for advice and resources and hopefully make some new friends! I enjoyed meeting everyone, and it was so nice to talk to people about the things I'm interested in (raising chickens, buying fruit trees, composting, etc) without feeling like a weirdo.

So, this was just the first weekend. What now? Well, I need to start some google docs for our project and share them (I'm actually really excited about this!). I want to get a journal and start spending more time observing my yard and my garden. I need to do some compost work, and lay down some sheet mulch for a native plant garden I want to grow next year. And, I need to keep in touch with my classmates so I can develop the community I'm looking for! A lot of work, but I'm definitely excited for the upcoming months.

2013: The Garden's Lucky Number

Since I have a yard of my very own this year, I was super excited to start a real garden, and I've been surprisingly successful! Of course, that may be due to the sun as well.

I followed the instructions in this book to create 3 garden boxes, which the author swore was more than enough for two people. And boy was he right!

The three overflowing boxes.

I actually had to tear the spinach out of this box, because it started going to seed. But there's still lots of swiss chard, peas and carrots.

A closeup. This box had peas, artichokes, swiss chard, carrots and spinach.

I've always wanted to give artichokes a try, so I bought a couple plants. One was kind of a dud (must have been the plant), but the other has two buds! I can't wait until they're big enough to eat!

Baby artichoke! I'm going to eat you!

I made the mistake of complaining out loud that I'd never been successful with zucchini. "They're supposed to be easy to grow" I whined. "Why haven't I ever gotten any?" Apparently now I'm making up for the previous years. This is just the first batch, and I let almost all of them get too big.

For size, check out the bottle opener on the end.

For color, and to attract beneficial insects, I planted some nasturtiums and marigolds. They really make the boxes look pretty. And I found a ladybug on one of my brussels sprouts, so they must be working!

Nasturtiums and marigolds.

I can't take credit for these, since they were left by the previous owners. But we have a large raspberry patch that's going great guns, in spite of my neglect. This is what I collected tonight. I am excited to have fresh berries on my cereal tomorrow!

The first collection of the raspberries!

I know part of my success this year is due to the wonderfully sunny summer we've been having. But after several years of lackluster gardens, I'm happy to finally have something to show for my hard work. Now to just eat it all!

Permaculture Musings

I mentioned in my annual Beginning of the Year post that one of the things I wanted to do this year was take a permaculture course. There have been a few opportunities to get involved with some permaculture activities in the community garden, but I wasn’t able to attend any before we left the area. Regardless, I still want to get into a course, although it looks like it will probably be next year at this point.

I’ve been checking out the Milkwood Permaculture site recently; I found them via the Permaculture Research Institute, which is also interesting but preachier. Milkwood is a bit more my speed. I thought this current blog post on urban permaculture design had some really cool ideas.

There are some permaculture design courses coming up in Sydney and I’m going to try to attend one. I’m going to shoot for the introduction to permaculture class in March (the December one is full). What I would really like to do is attend the two week course for a permaculture design certificate in January. Unfortunately, it’s pretty expensive, but more importantly, I don’t really have the leave to do this and our planned Australia/Japan trips. Plus, I’m still a real newbie to these ideas – I haven’t even managed to plan a proper garden yet – so spending a lot of money on a course seems like it’s putting the cart before the horse. Gardening (and permaculture) rely on growth and development, which require time, meaning of course, that I must have patience. I’ve always been very short on that quality, so this is a good exercise in personal growth.

In the meantime, I’m trying to decide what I want to do in the garden/yard at our new house. We will only be living here a short time, so I don’t want to spend too much, and I don’t want to do too much that’s permanent at the risk of irritating the landlord and spending a lot of time and energy on things that are just going to be sprayed with herbicide in 8 months’ time. I still have some time and room to grow a few things though, so I hope to get to the garden store soon to plant a few veggies to enjoy this summer.

Exciting News!

I got assigned my very own plot in the Randwick Community Garden!

Well okay, this news is not that exciting to you, perhaps. But it’s exciting to me, and this is my blog, and let’s face it, if I had titled this post “Semi-Boring News!” you wouldn’t have even read it. Back to the garden: not only do I have my very own plot now, it’s a premium plot. The lady who had it previously installed piping underneath, so now I just have to pour water in a tube on the side and it will slowly water the plants from the bottom. Irrigation, per se. This will work out really well during the summer if I don’t have a chance to stop by and water very often.

Unfortunately, I can’t seem to find my list of seeds I wanted to buy, so I’m going to have to replan everything and order seeds this week. That’s okay though, I get to plan it all over again. Plus, I am just so excited about having my own plot! It is almost like having my very own yard.

Stay tuned for further updates (and pictures of the garden)!

One Man's Weed is Another Man's Houseplant

I just spent a morning at the community garden ripping out Wandering Jew.  Back in Alaska, I had a Wandering Jew that I kept coaxing along in our living room.  Every once in a while I would have to strip out all the old, dead branches and start again from scratch.  Here, it is literally a weed that takes over the garden.  It even blooms these pretty blue flowers, which I never had the opportunity to witness in the U.S.  Strange how different things can be depending on your locale.

We have just returned from a 3 day camping trip with our friends Scott and Brenda.  I will attempt to post some pictures soon.  Unfortunately, my camera seems to have gotten quite a bit of dirt in it, so I will need to spend some extra time photoshopping.  Stay tuned!

2010: Year in Review

January:  I got a Wii as a graduation present from my folks.  I went skiing a bunch of times.  I announced that we were looking to move out of AK, and that we were going to buy a house when we do.
February:  I complained about reading Walden.  I went on a diet.  I started posting about my interest in permaculture.  I finished Walden, and ended up liking it.
March:  I baked lots of bread from my favorite bread book.  I posted one of the awesome Mt. Susitna webcam images.  I whinged about missing a speech by the author of my favorite permaculture book, and I talked about one of the foremost women in Atmospheric Science, Joanne Malkus Simpson.
April:  I went to Virginia to visit my relatives, and posted that I had big news upcoming soon.
May:  I announced our upcoming move to Sydney!  I complained about decluttering and getting my visa.  I attempted to explain the Australia healthcare system (which I am no more knowledgeable about now that I live here).  I acknowledged that I was going to miss Alaska.  My visa arrived and I resigned from the National Weather Service.
June:  We went on a rafting trip down the Chulitna, where my boat flipped and I ended up floating down a glacial river.  Scary!  Next thing you know, I was packing up and moving on.  I arrived in Sydney and went to see the light show downtown and Manly Beach.  I unsuccessfully looked for an apartment and got discouraged by Sydney prices.  Back in Alaska, Ethan got punched in the face.
July:  I found a great apartment only 10 minutes from the beach!  I checked out the Royal Botanical Gardens, and got up close and friendly with bats and cockatoos.    I heard my first Kookaburra and bought tickets to see one of my favorite bands, The Eels.
August:  I went to Cockatoo Island to see an art show. At Featherdale Animal Park, I petted koalas and kangaroos. The Eels concert rocked.  The Australia election happened and I attempted to explain Australian politics. I went on a ski trip to Perisher Valley and got to visit Canberra in the process.
September:  I joined GoGet car share, took a bike riding class, and planted my garden.  I posted pictures of the beach I live near (looking back at those pictures, I can't believe how empty the beach is!).  I went bushwalking with my coworker and her husband through the glorious spring bush.  Ethan and Fievel arrived safely.
October:  I started my worm farm.  My garden started growing.  We made our first attempt at home brew.  We visited Taronga Zoo.  I did a post on water for Blog Action Day.  Fievel came home.  We enjoyed fish and chips at Watson's Bay and hiked past a nude beach.  We hosted a Halloween party, and people actually came in costume!
November:  Ethan and I went camping, sans camera card, where we saw kangaroos and possums in the wild.  I butchered Ethan's hair.  We did the Sculpture By the Sea walk.  My garden started producing, and dying at the same time.
December:  I did a 6-month in Australia update.  I posted about how weird it was to have Christmas in the middle of summer.  I went to the community garden for the first time and really enjoyed it.

Looking back, this has been a year full of unforeseen changes!  Back in January I had no idea I would be moving to Australia for the adventure of a lifetime (joke's on me about buying a house, huh)?  Although I've been a bit lax about posting in December, I hope to find some time to post more in the New Year (including those beer posts Uncle Carl asked for)!  May you all have a safe and happy New Year!

Growing in the Community

Since I was unable to obtain an apartment with a yard when we moved to Australia, I thought it would be good for me to join a community garden and hopefully get a plot. Randwick council has a community garden located a little ways away from our house. It’s pretty cool – it has shared plots, offers lots of workshops, and even has a few chickens. As of yet, I had not made it to any workshops, but on Saturday I finally managed to get to an Organic Gardening Basics workshop.

As anticipated, I had a lot of fun and learned a lot too. We built a compost pile and went over the basics of a no-till garden (also called the “lasagna method” of composting). It’s a method of building the soil by composting in place. You then plant seeds in your compost pile, which grow into plants while the materials around them break down. This eventually creates a fully composted plot, with rich loam instead of hard packed dirt or sand. It can even be done in a raised bed on tile or cement.

The requirements for getting a plot in this garden are semi-strict: you have to attend 3 workshops and 3 working bees. Fortunately, the workshop I attended will count for all of my workshop requirements since the lady who ran it will be having a baby soon and there won’t be any workshops for a little while. There is a planned workshop on edible weeds in February and one on permaculture in March, both of which I hope to attend.

Since I got a late start, I don’t’ know if I’ll be able to get a plot this summer. However, one benefit of the no-till method is that the compost surrounding your plants generates its own heat, and therefore keeps the roots warmer in winter than if they were planted in the ground. I’m hoping to get a plot and plant some late summer crops for harvesting in the fall with this method. In the meantime, I’ll be gleaning all the information I can form the workshops and working bees, in the hopes that I’ll be able to use it someday when we have a garden in our own backyard.

More Garden Partying

Well, there’s good news and bad news about the garden.

Good news:

I have green beans!

My nasturtiums are flowering!

I also have developing tomatoes and green peppers! And…I bought a bacterial killer for my tomatoes that targets those nasty caterpillars I complained about last time, and it seems to have worked. I’ll need to keep an eye on it, in case a new batch has hatched, but for now we’re good.

Also, this is not my part of the garden, but the bushes the owner has planted are flowering, and they smell lovely. Anyone know what kind of bushes these are? The big flowers start out white, then turn yellow before dying. The small flowers just bloom and then die.

Bad news:

My tomato bushes look like this:

In particular, the large heirloom tomato is suffering. Even worse, I did some googling, and I think they have fusarium wilt, which comes from the soil and is not curable. I spoke with my coworker, who told me that all the potting soil here comes with lots of nematodes, which are the cause of the wilt.

Professor google also informed me that heirloom tomatoes are especially susceptible to the wilt, which explains why the big tomato looks even worse than the cherry tomatoes. At this point, I am desperately hoping that at least a few tomatoes redden up before the bushes die altogether. This is a huge disappointment to me, as it is the first year in ten (10!) that I have even attempted to grow my own tomatoes. Hopefully I get a few before I have to start over from scratch. At least it’s still technically spring here, so I can start over with fresh soil and fresh plants if necessary.

Update:  When I came home last night, I found that my heirloom tomatoes had finally bitten the dust.  We had some relatively strong winds yesterday and the plant was just not strong enough to withstand the breeze.   At least 2 branches with tomatoes are broken.  Of course, nothing had ripened, so I plan to have fried green tomatoes for dinner tonight.  Then, I'll dump the plant and dirt, sterilize the pot, and try, try again, this time with a disease-resistant variety.  So goes gardening, I guess.

I Went to A Garden Party

One thing about living in an apartment with a courtyard is that I have no place for a garden. I want to get involved with the Randwick Community Garden, but I’ve been a little slow on that due to other commitments, and frankly, I don’t know if I want to take a plot when I don’t know how often I’ll be able to get over there. Anyway, the stop gap solution is to do some container gardening.

I’ve planted strawberries 
 

 

     tomatoes

 




basil

     thyme

peppers (on the right) and beans (on the left)












nasturtiums, which by the way, are an edible flower

    mint

and carrots.

So far the strawberries have been the big producer, yielding one whole berry. I have flowers on the tomatoes, so I’m really hoping they start producing something soon. I have already learned a few lessons, like I probably should have some more large pots, because I’m pretty sure I overcrowded the cherry tomatoes and the peppers.

I still wish I could have a real garden. In the meantime, this will have to do.

Update:  Since I originally wrote this post, there have been a few developments, mainly a few baby tomatoes.  So assuming they don't get eaten, we'll have tomatoes sometime in the next couple of weeks!  The bad news is, I have some sort of green caterpillar eating just about everything.  I need to get some organic remedies, because the caterpillar is really hard to find and pick off, which is my current method of prevention.  But at least I'm making some progress!

The Worms Crawl In, The Worms Crawl Out

Alpha Monkey asked me in the comments about my worm farm, and I very rudely did not reply, because I planned to post on it.  With Ethan’s arrival, there have been some delays, but finally, I’ve gotten my act together.  

A worm farm is a method of disposing of your organic waste if you don’t have room for a compost pile.  Of course, if you do have a compost pile, you can still have a worm farm!  I took a free class on worm farming through the Waverly City Council, and received a free worm farm and 500 worms to start one at home. 

The worm farm has three levels.  The bottom level has a solid floor and is known as the “bathroom”.  The second level has a floor with holes in it and is known as the “bedroom”.  The top level also has a floor with holes in it and is known as the “kitchen”.  The lid has holes in it for air.   

Worm Farm

 Here is the worm farm all set up.  The tap in the bottom is for draining the worm farm when it rains so the worms don’t drown.  This isn’t a problem if you leave it under a covered area, like I have.

When the worm farm arrived, it had a solid block of coconut fiber in it.  I soaked this in water, and after a couple of hours, it had turned into a peat-like mass.  I put this in the “bedroom” for the worms.

The bedroom

Most of the time, the worms live in the bedroom, but they will travel up to the kitchen to eat the organic waste you leave for them.  Their waste falls through the bedroom to the bathroom, where it can be collected to apply to your plants.  It sounds kind of gross, but realistically, good dirt is pretty much made out of ground up minerals and worm poo.  

The worms eat a lot of things, like celery leaves, carrots, banana peels, hair from you or your dog, paper (such as your old receipts) and eggshells.  They will not eat oranges, lemons or onions.  It is also inadvisable to put meat or cheese in the worm farm, as this attracts other animals such as raccoons (in the U.S.) or possums (in both the U.S. and Australia).

Worms!

 

I had to let the worms settle in for about a week before I fed them.  Don’t worry, they were well fed at the worm nursery!  Today, I put a little bit of our organic waste in and covered it with an old cloth to deter flies and animals.  I’ll leave them to it, and check on them next week.  If I find worms in the kitchen, that means they’re eating the waste.  I hope this will be the case!

I was a little disappointed to find out that the worms are not very productive.  It will take them up to 6 months to produce enough waste to start putting it on my plants.  Obviously, this is more of a long-term investment than I thought!  Still, I thought it would be fun to get started with this, and when we leave, I’m sure it will not be too hard to find a good home for my worms.

Busy, busy, busy

I thought I would post a picture-less update of what I've been up to. I have some pictures, but I don't know when I'll get the chance to post them. My days at work are long -- 12 hours, and then an additional 30 minute bus ride/15 minute walk each way -- so in the evenings I'm pretty tired. Plus, I finally got my stuff, so I've been spending lots of time setting up the apartment. Anyway, here's what I've been doing:

• I unpacked all the boxes and got the place pretty much set up. I still have a few pictures to hang, but overall, we're set.
• Speaking of which, I have been pushing to do this before Ethan gets here in 9 (nine!) days!
• I bought a bunch of seeds and vegetables and planted them in pots in my courtyard. So far I have cherry tomatoes, an heirloom tomato, a mix of green and red peppers, mint, thyme, rosemary, and basil, nasturtiums, carrots and dwarf beans. This will be my first attempt at growing veggies in pots, so we will see how it turns out.
• I went hiking with some coworkers this past weekend to a nature reserve that's only open a few weekends a year. This was the last weekend for it, and they open it in the spring so you can see the bush in bloom. I have pictures of this I'll post later.
• I went to a free class on worm farming, and got a voucher for a worm farm. The Randwick Council Nursery hasn't gotten the worm farms in yet, so I haven't picked it up. Maybe on Friday, or next week.

Upcoming:

• Pick up the aforementioned worm farm
• Pick up the aforementioned husband
• Find time to visit Fievel in doggie jail (he is supposed to arrive Thursday, cross your fingers, everyone!)
• A free class on commuting by bike. I will need to ride my bike to this; it's at a park in the middle of the city, so this will be an adventure for me. Plus, I am out of bike riding shape. It should prepare me to ride to work though, and once Ethan brings my new bike light from Alaska, I can try riding in to work.

Last week I also went out to dinner with my coworkers, and this week I'm invited to some friends' house for dinner as well. So I've been, and will be pretty busy. Good, because it will make the time until Ethan arrives pass more quickly!

I'll try to post again before Ethan arrives.

Bad timing

So I just found out that Toby Hemenway, the author of Gaia's Garden (which I am still reading and loving), will be here in Alaska as a keynote speaker for a conference! Unfortunately, I will be in the Lower 48, visiting my family. Dagnabbit!

Greening the Desert

So, one of the books Ethan got me for my birthday last September is Gaia's Garden, which is all about permaculture -- the idea of building organic gardens that are basically self-sustainable. I've been reading it in preparation for when (when!) we buy our own house, and it's pretty cool.

While surfing on the internet, I found this video about a permaculture project near the Dead Sea. This is an area which is basically void of life and considered to be very difficult to farm. This man built a farm using some of the ideas of permaculture and was able to create an organic farm that is thriving in a very harsh environment.

Check it out. Even if you aren't really into gardening, it's pretty cool.

Last Post of the Year

I thought I would do a quick review of my year, blog-style.

January: My cat died. We looked for a dog. I measured the electrical usage of all my household appliances.
February: We found said dog and adopted him. I finished one out of three of my mosaic tables.
March: We attended the Fur Rondy Reindeer Run and watched the recalcitrant reindeer return to the start. I went home for vacation and then on a business trip.
April: I stressed out about school and my parents comforted me. I also got my new fire boots and some business cards.
May: My parents sold my childhood home and moved to Florida. I talked about my CSA and eating locally. I started riding my bike to work again and made a public service announcement about rules of the road. I also started a garden.
June: We went on an awesome float trip down the Chulitna. We also went camping over Memorial Day and about froze to death. I whinged about blogging.
July: I got dispatched to my first fire, where my trainer nearly escaped death during lunch. We took Fievel hiking and he was a brat, so we stuffed him in the backpack. I complained about being weird.
August: I got dispatched to another fire, where I got rained out. I became obsessive over my lame garden.
September: We drove the Denali Highway with the dog. I had an awesome 31st birthday with great gifts from my husband.
October: I attended the Local Food Film Festival and posted way too much about it. I reviewed our 7th annual Crow Pass Hike, and harvested 3 lbs of carrots, putting an end to the garden posts.
November: I ignored the blog in favor of school.
December: I completed my Master's Degree. We had a graduation celebration and attended a Christmas party. Fievel liked his new Santa sweater but did not like the hat. I went cross-country skiing. We flew down to Toledo for Christmas, where we went on a wagon ride and visited some art museums.

So that's it for 2009. I hope 2010 is just as good and I wish all my blog readers the same!

Harvest Time

Okay, I promised no gardening posts for a while, but I also promised Kelly some orchid pictures, so I figured this was as good a time as any to brag about my harvest.

I didn't get anything from my garden this year except for carrots, but I did get a lot of those! Here is a picture of my harvest -- cleaned and dirty.


Total amount of carrots: 3 lbs! Not too bad for a teeny 3 x 5 ft garden.

And, now, the orchid. All the blooms are open and will probably remain so for a while. It truly is spectacular.