Oh the Drama!

Life since last posting has been oh so very very dramatic... Hence the delay in sharing.

As I alluded to previously, the house has gone up for sale. We had an offer that fell through, but not without much anger and heartache. There is now a second offer that could go well, but I am not getting my hopes up until we sign closing papers. The buyers seem to be cash-strapped which could make negotiations rough if the lender is tight or the appraisal comes in low.

I think I mentioned that I have gone to work with Sweetie at his parents' company, about 150 miles away from home. They were generous enough to set up a bedroom for us in an unused office. Convenient, but not restful. At least we are finally together, though! I think Porter is glad to be a shop-dog with his Mama all day.

Because of the impending move, we have migrated almost all of our belongings to the office as well. Who knew I would resent all of the summer's canning, and a lifetime of crafting!  There are three or four more trips planned to the house for various reasons, and each time I'll pack the car there and unpack, repack it all at the office. The 150 mile ride in a car requires significantly different packing techniques than 2000 miles in a freight truck!

The big news, though, is four days ago I found out (officially) that I'm pregnant!  Currently scheduled to deliver July 19. July is a busy birthday month between Sweetie's family and mine, so our kid will likely get/have to share a day. Six of eight grandparents are not so thrilled that we'll be moving cross country in January and taking their grandbaby with us.

Holidays plans are already being made for post-move. Dad has claimed us for Thanksgiving next year in Iowa.  Sweetie's family is planning to fly us home for an "annual company meeting" in late December every year... the fact that it will take place in their living room under the Christmas tree is pure coincidence!  ;)  Everyone will be there in July, for obvious reasons. I think the only significant holiday unclaimed so far is Easter.

Really, the only crappy thing about all of this is that I now have to cope with constant nausea in addition to the stress. So far, no actual voilent episodes, but it's exhausting to check in with your gut every half hour to make sure. I realize that someone out there was horribly ill in the first trimester and is thinking I ought to keep my mouth shut. You're probably right. I am sincerely thankful that it's not worse (yet).

Photo from http://www.footdoc-il.com/children.htm

Comments fixed?

For anyone who was trying to post a comment and wasn't able to, I think I fixed it. Guess if it didn't work, I'll never know since you can't tell me! ;P
If it did... say something so I don't go mess with it again

Veggie Garden 2012 Recap

It's October, and the time has come to put the garden to bed, and review the year. For being my first "real" try I am quite proud. There are things, however, that need done differently. I have already done a post about a new layout/design so I'll try to leave that alone and focus mostly on plants but a little on soil.

Soil: I did about a 50:50 mix of mushroom compost and horse manure in sawdust, that came out 6-8" deep. Spread on top of about 4" baled field hay (weeds and all!) and two layers of cardboard. Assuming at some point I will build on the ground again... I'll need WAY more cardboard spread on top of tilled sod, and skip the nasty hay. If I could get clean straw, that would be ok, but the compost/manure mix worked much better than I expected and didn't need any assistance. After reading on the Square Foot Gardening system, I couldn't really wrap my head around not needing at least a foot of soil to feed my produce. Now I can; you don't need it. You just need it to be nutrient rich for about six inches.

Plants: There were some shining stars in the plant world, and some total duds. Lets get the duds out of the way because they're depressing. 

The worst thing this year was my heirloom Mortgage Lifter tomato. Maybe they were too close to the ant nest, but almost every single fruit had bug holes. The ones three feet up fared ok as far as bugs, but they still rotted out on the bottom before the tops even ripened. They have a tendency toward being kidney bean shaped which makes it difficult to get hold of the stem, and to peel them. The stem doesn't help matters by not wanting to let go. Ever. I lost at least two thirds of the overall production.

Cabbage was second runner up for worst crop. They grew great big leaves but never turned into a head, then got some sort of bug and I pulled them. The only reason they aren't the worst, is because they didn't tease me all season.

Herbs also didn't do well. I couldn't get a green onion to grow to save my life, despite three attempts (the seed was old and maybe heat abused so it may not be my fault?). I had one little parsley plant pop up, go to seed and get run over by butternuts. I harvested maybe a quarter cup of cilantro before it bolted. It subsequently got run over by canteloupe so I couldn't even get hold of the coriander seed. Dill did nothing whatsoever. Basil was maybe the star of the herbs but I discovered I don't really have a good use for it. By the time the tomatoes are ready for italian sauce, the basil had not only bolted but had nearly mature seed on it. blech.

Hot peppers might have done alright if I had started seed in May or early June and transplanted on July 4. They were too weak to handle any spring chills and died off. Purchased jalapeno seedlings produced well despite being stunted early on. In the future, I think I'd like to do plenty of peppers but not all so hot. I can only stand about one japaeno in a giant meal for two. Banana or other mild pepper we could throw in everything.

Ok, now the good stuff!  The absolute star of the whole season was Sweet Mojo tomato. It's a cherry sized tomato that looks like a micro Roma. It's so meaty and sweeter than either the Sweet 100 or the Sweet Million. I was concerned because it actually got less than three inches of compost mix, a heavy dose of weedy hay and was closest to a shading fence. It managed to spread over four feet in either direction, make the tomato cage top heavy and was so prolific in its production I could almost have gotten all my tomato needs from the one plant!  Amazing. I will try to save seed, but will most assuredly be growing this again no matter how I have to get it.

Kale was also a super-star. It produced very well in the spring, slowed a little during the heat but sprung right back as soon as it dropped below 90. We wound up needing to harvest into a milk crate, about once every two weeks.

I keep forgetting about it, but the canteloupe did pretty darn well. We got 10 smallish fruits, from four plants that took up only a little more than their designated 4x4 (6) plot. Ten is pretty good. They just didn't do anything until late in the season, and we harvested only yesterday.

Things I'll need to know and remember going forward.... Support, Support, SUPPORT!!! I did a really bad job getting plants the support they needed. I didn't do enough research and fell way behind. If I put something in, I need to provide at least a cheap tomato cage for it as soon as it hits the dirt. I can always take the darn things out if they don't get used, but even the zucchini, which doesn't climb, would probably have appreciated having something to lean against when it had four pounds of fruit hanging on.

If it looks like it might possibly be squash-like... trellis, stake, cage, and control it. I think there's a reason we grow so much from this family. It's hard to not feel empowered by that much growth. I had butternut vines over 14 feet from where they started (and belonged). Cucumber plants nearly took out a young birch tree, and late-seeded pumpkins still almost ran over the jalapenos.

When in doubt, plant later than earlier. On a whim I put two pumpkin seeds in the ground in late June or early July. I didn't get fantastic production, but I'm looking at probably a thirty pound warty pumpkin, and a couple more about bowling ball sized. Jack-o-Lanterns I planted in late July, however, were just setting fruit this week and would never have matured so they got pulled.

Do not, ever, plant six tomato plants in a 2x6 bed. EVER. It's dumb, and wasteful, and inhibits production. Even if I hadn't been late with supporting them, I don't think they would have done great. There's so much foliage that water can't get to the soil, and sun can't get to the fruit. It's especially sad since these were my Romas and the other six were in partial shade and didn't hardly produce anything. Don't get me wrong, I have more than I can really handle, but I could have easily doubled my production if I had spread them out. One plant per 2x2 and a tall, sturdy cage is plenty. A person has to get her hands in there to pick afterall!

I also crowded my zucchini. I did 15 seeds (100% germination!!) in a 3x5 bed. at least four of them never saw daylight, or had fruit mature because they crowded each other out. I could have done six plants in that space and had nearly the same production.

What else didn't I mention? Oh, bush beans and snap peas! Both were in the same boat. I forgot to support them in time, which resulted in my missing some of the production. Both also produced suddenly then pretty much stopped. I still have a few bush beans out there but only because I'm trying to save seed. They're producing new beans occasionally, but not enough to do anything with. Spinach was respectable while it lasted, but it was a very short stint before it bolted. I could probably start another round about now and get a good couple meals before cold weather turned them to mush. Lettuce did a little better, especially the mesclun mix. I think if I was going to buy another mix, though, I would get one that didn't have the purple kale in it. It's ok, just not lettuce and I so love my curly kale.

All in all, a good learning experience. I need to work on tracking the growth patterns when we grow in Indiana, so I can do a better job rotating crops. I think peppers can go in where peas come out, and cool weather things like spinach and lettuce can go between zucchini plants when they begin to decline. Other than that... no clue!

You know it's Fall...

It's official, Fall has arrived. Seems like some years I really look forward to it, and it takes forever to finally get here. Other years, I barely get into the swing of summer and the leaves are off the trees! 

Having a house makes the changing of the seasons much more apparent. For example, I decided this morning to forego watering the brown front yard because the rain will start soon. The same reason was given for waiting to transplant a few perennials. Why move them now and stress about watering when Mother Nature will soon do it for me? Other perennials got cut back for the winter and mulched lightly with the leaves they dropped after transplanting last spring. My hope is that they will resprout just a wee bit before cold weather hits, and I'll have nice little green mounds in the beds like last winter.

The garden is also getting ready to bed down. It's a delicate dance. I want to give ample time for the last few things to ripen, but I also have to admit at a certain point they just never will. This year there is also the added stress of needing to remove all of the garden to make way for new grass. It has been determined that since the house will go up for sale, and the group most likely to be attracted to it is young families, they would sure appreciate having lots of room for kids or a dog to play. Really, that grass ought to have been planted a few weeks ago, but I wasn't going to give up all of my tomatoes and winter squash!

We are also only a week from my birthday. It's kinda silly but I still get excited about them, and dissapointed when absolutely nothing happens. After one disheartening year, I decided my gift from Sweetie would be a pie every year. He would be welcome to do more, but he's not big on celebrations or gifts. Most years, it's pumpkin pie. Once was a Ginger Peach. Oh my goodness; it was heavenly. Since I am back to being "good" with food and trying to lose the 15lbs I've gained over the last year and a half, I think it will have to be something decadent but small.

Fall is also really great for eco-friendly craft supplies. I start looking for acorns and pine cones. Not that I do much with them, but I like to collect anyway. One of these years I will get really motivated at the right time and make christmas ornaments or something from them. I have seen very classy pinecones dressed in glitter. Once, I painted two acorns to look like a penguin. It was super cute until the acorns finished drying and he wound up with a split in his pants.

Not everyone is so happy, however. Porter loves the sun and hates the rain. Pretty soon he'll be miserable, and it will become difficult to get him up and moving between breakfast and dinner. Fellow drivers also get a little cranky when they don't get to see the light of day; going to and from work in the dark just isn't good for them.

Strange, I never think of winter as snow or frost or ice... Oregon winters are about rain and grey skies. Guess that will change when we get to Indiana. What sort of culture shock am I in for when we arrive in January?

A New Chapter

Today begins a new chapter of life. Today, I began working for the company that, if all goes well, I will likely retire from/die working for. At 26 years of age, I think that's sort of an accomplishment.

Sweetie's parents own a company that makes things from recycled rubber. Next time you're stuck in a construction zone, look at the black things holding the orange cones to the road. There's a decent chance you'd be looking at one of our products. Ever tried to lift one?! They're really heavy. Some are over twenty pounds, just for the black base. When you start thinking of them in pallet sized quantities you'll understand why shipping, and the rising cost of fuel for the trucks that do the shipping, is a major concern for us. In an effort to combat fuel consumption, they decided that they needed a second location. Since we do a lot of shipping to the Chicago area, we decided to set up our second facility nearby in northern Indiana. This puts us a few hours away instead of a few days away.

Naturally the person they first looked toward to run this new factory is the eldest son, the enginner, the man who has spent nearly a quarter of his professional career in China helping them fix their factories... Sweetie. Since we come as a matched set, that means formulating a plan for me as well. While he runs the shop, I'll run the office.

Under normal circumstances, a person would go to work and go home. Rarely do you hear of a  company relocating upper management positions without prior experience in the matter. Neither is true for us. Since the current factory is a two hour drive from our home, we have packed up our clothes, our food (I'll try to get a post about our strange eating habits sooner or later), and the dog for four days and three nights each and every week at the factory. Yep, we sleep in the office. Really odd, but we're making it work. The only kinda terrible thing is that the shower is across the parking lot in another building which means trying to get our timing right so showers happen during the half hour of down time between shifts. Fortunetly, Mr. I-am-used-to-travelling has been doing this for six months already and has a system already in place that I can just slide right into. He's even willing to make a few adjustments to accomodate me so we can sleep in a little longer on Monday and come home mid-day Friday instead of late Thursday night. We'll see if the change actually happens, though. :)

This setup will go on for about three months, while we pack up our belongings at home, put the house up for sale, and get ready to move to Indiana in January. Only twelve short months in this house. It made a good practice house, and I have to say, I think we'll do better the second time around.

In January we start a mirrored version of the life we're living now. We are actually going to move into the office full time, then look for a house. No sense in paying rent when the company can build an apartment in the office as part of a capital expenditure they can do magic tax tricks with! Besides, if we having nothing else to do, we'll likely get more done on office projects.There's certainly no shortage of those.

In the meantime, I get to learn the company top to bottom, inside and out. Today, that meant helping Sweetie sort the tooling we use to make the product. Being a family business, passed down from his grandfather, there is a lot of remnant items and practices that all need looked through as we become a modern company. I think it's a critical time in any business when growing pains could get the best of them. I believe we have success in the future, and I am excited to watch a slumbering beast shed its 70's skin while keeping the heart of a 40 year strong presence in the industry.

Master Plan: Garden!

Note: If you haven't already read Master Plan: Backstory, I would recommend it. While not essential, it will give a little more, well, backstory for this post

THE MASTER PLAN

Step 1a. Find a house with an RV pad! Yes, yes, I realize that RV pads have not changed and are still the boon to yard lovers. However, they are also the boon to weeds and are a stable basis for building a structure, and therefore will be utilized to the greatest extent possible. As we will be moving into RV manufacturing heartland, finding a property with a pad ought to be easier than finding one without.

Step 1b. In the unlikely event that an RV pad is not available, we will dig out and level an adequate portion of the property. This is subsequently prepared for pavers, leaving space for beds described below.

Step 2. Have pallets of cinder blocks delivered. The blocks are to be arranged in approximately 3x12 foot beds, about 2 feet high, with three foot walkways between. Whether these ought to be cemented together or not will depend greatly on whether or not they are set on concrete or gravel/sand. A few 3x3, 3x6 or 3x9 beds may also come into play depending on the space.

Step 2b. In the event we do not have a large expanse of cement to work with, we will pave the spaces between beds with large cement pavers. I believe the ones we looked at were 8x16. One paver-width will surround the entire garden area so that weeds have a much more difficult time getting a foothold, and we have a nice clean edge to mow up to. Also, without the RV pad, we would need to prep the area under the beds with chicken wire to keep burrowing marauders away from my veg. In either scenario, dealing with the weeds that come up between pavers, under and between cinder blocks, etc are easily removed or killed.

Step 3. Notice the recurrance of 3's and multiples thereof, in Step 2. This is on purpose. :) The reason, is that supports will be place at exactly three feet apart, all through the garden. The actual measurements of the beds and walkways will be slightly different depending on how we set up the support system.

Step 4. Build a modular system of support, trellis, and covers. These will lock into the supports and give us the utmost versatility in planting and crop rotation. This, is what makes our plan so amazing, so I will elaborate at the end.

(fill beds with planting medium. This is a natural assumption and does not deserve a step of it's own, however, it will happen at this point in the process.)

Step 5. Once the beds are filled with soil, a system of perforated pvc pipes will be laid out at exactly 1 foot intervals for watering, with a main shutoff at the source, and valves for each bed. Depending on how it goes, there may be additional valves in the beds so that we can turn off the water for areas that are not actively being used. In addition to effective drip watering, this will be the basis for our continued use of square foot planting methods.


Cinder block beds are not unusual, drip watering is not unusual. What is different about our plan is the support system. This started when we saw a different type of yard fencing that used 4" livestock fence, with redwood frames around it. Secure enough for pets and kids, but providing lots of visibility. Then, a friend of the family extended an invitation to her house, where we noticed she used the same style of framed livestock fence as garden trellis. It was just as attractive on the end of a bed as it was at the end of a yard.

From there, we decided, that if we exchange the heavy and expensive redwood for light and cheap pvc pipe, we could extend the sides into legs and set them into larger pvc supports or off-the-shelf pipe brackets. By making the trellis legs exactly three feet apart, we could attach them at any end, side section or even over top of a bed. It could also be temporarily covered with a sheet or other like item and used as a shade for cooler weather crops like lettuce.

After watching snap peas overtake our six foot stakes this year, we thought it would be nice to be able to attach a "roof" piece between two parallel trellis pieces and provide more growing room. This would also be framed livestock fence. Lightbulb moment... rather than letting the peas (or whatever) grow over the bed, why not let them grow over the walkway! Of course, we may still want them over the bed, so the same roof piece needed to fit both locations; hence the three foot support system.

As native Oregonians, we understand that a midwest growing season is going to feel incredibly short. Intellectually, anyway. In preparation for that, I decided that those special roof pieces ought to be able to connect to shorter supports that would allow me to cover them in inexpensive plastic drop cloths, and create little hoop houses over my garden. Naturally this extension of the season will minimize the amount of space dedicated to starting seeds indoors, as well as extend harvest into the fall. Watering will not be an issue because the system is already in place under the hoop!

Contrary to the midwest, western Oregon does not have snow to speak of. It is my understanding that snow has a tendency toward being heavy. Having Midwest-quantity of heavy snow on top of my garden soil is likely going to compact it into uselessness; maybe within the year. Fluffy soil is a gardener's friend. It absorbs water without getting soggy, and doesn't provide an obstacle for healthy roots. Therefore, snow on soil is not a gardener's friend. Since I already had modular hoop houses, I didn't see any reason why the roof pieces could not be supported just above the soil to prevent snow pack. How easy it would be to brush off even very wet and heavy snow from a flat plastic coated surface? Since the whole area is on concrete, I don't even have to get my boots muddy! And, if midwest snow is as light and breezy as I am led to believe, I won't have to do a darn thing, it will just blow away with the next gust.  Mwahaha! There is nothing much like feeling as though one has conquered the winter.

The last thing that the modular system would allow for is mobile seating. We would be able to make a bench that spans the 3 foot walkway and attaches directly to the existing trellis supports. A three foot wide bench would be plenty wide enough for two people, one person plus a harvest basket, etc. It could also provide temporary shade for potted flowers or herbs in the heat of the summer.

Finally, after any number of seasons, the soil will be worn out. The final season, we plant root veggies there. As we dig out potatoes, onions, garlic, yams, turnips, beets and carrots, we pull out the soil too. My hope is that once we get into the swing of it, we can rotate at just the right rate that we remove the soil from one bed per year and produce enough compost to replace it. The exeption would be, of course, crops which do not get removed, like artichoke and asparagus. These would probably get top dressed with compost and worm castings. Still not sure how to combat compaction, but I guess a little more education, and Mother Nature will take care of that.

Master Plan: Backstory

I recently promised to give an account of our amazing garden plan, and so I will. So simple, it's stupid.

But first, a little backstory. When shopping for our current house, less than a year ago, Sweetie firmly stated that we would NOT buy a house with an RV pad unless the property was massive. We like yard (or thought we did), we have a dog that needs to use the yard, and I wanted to dig up a vast quantity of yard for vegetable gardening. Naturally, even more would have to come out for landscaping.

The house we bought, does not have an RV pad, there is adequate space for Porter to utilize, even some clean grass in the front for the neighbor dog, Midnight, to utilize. I did cover about half the back in veggies, and all but one flower bed has been revitalized or removed.

Because we took possession of the house in December, I had limited time to get a garden in order. This was exacerbated by my reading the date of last frost wrong, and shorting myself by nearly two months. I decided that a modified version of lasagna gardening would do well for the soil. I could build on top of the grass, it would be inexpensive, and my garden would be "weed free." Yeah, right. Also, I would utilize square foot gardening to get the most out of my space, however I would plant less intensely because I was sure my soil wouldn't be perfect

Fast forward to today, where I have so much vegitation in that section of our property that I can hardly walk, and the dog has given up trying to get in to eat the grass because he can't manage to get back out safely and without getting corrected for stepping on my nice fluffy compost. Seed packets simply don't tell you how large squash vines get, therefore I have completely lost almost half of my walkways to vines. The other half have been lost to grass (yes, large fluffy bunches pushing their way through three carloads of cardboard) and other garden weeds. The areas I planted less intensely than recommended by the square foot system, are a constant battle with grass and weeds. The areas I planted according to square foot recommendations, are blocking out weeds fantastically, but often the plants are so dense I can't find the produce.

So, since this is only a practice house, and we will be offloading it this winter with plans to buy in the Midwest, we have created a much more user friendly plan for the next garden. (More on the midwest later, when I  know something about the location).

To prevent the appearance of excessive rambling, continue on to Master Plan: Garden! for the details of the actual plan.

Under Pressure

This week has been an adventure in pressure. Pressure Canners, to be specific.

As I develop my domestic side, I have found I actually kinda like canning all my homegrown produce. It's fun, and I feel productive. Even better, I get to show off later! 

The really cool thing about being close to not only my family, but Sweetie's family too, is that I was gifted a (now) fourth generation pressure canner, complete with the original manual containing many handwritten recipes stapled and tucked inside. It is so old there is no model number on the canner, only "Maid of Honor" and "Our Best Quality". The manual doesn't even have a print date. I was able to find advertisments for the manuals online, but virtually no information about the canner itseslf.

Today, I hulked the canner and all the associated implements to the OSU Extension office to find out if it was safe to use. The short answer is, no. The guage is miles off the mark, and the emergency valve is incomplete. After discussing what it would take to repair it, I was told I would be better off to just get a newer canner. :( Sweetie doesn't know his Mom gave "us" a small pet project to get it running again!

By some stroke of luck, I had arranged to visit Grandma this morning, and she mentioned she would like to have her canner's rubber gasket checked. Turns out, her gasket is fine, but her guage is also off. It is safe to use, and we got instructions on what the guage will read at 5, 10 and 15lbs but it was recommended that she replace the guage.

The Master Food Preserver at the Hillsboro office was fantastic. She was in awe of my ancient canner, and really helped Grandma make sure she was doing things safely, without damaging her final product. Turns out they even knew some of the same people from way back when, and a mountain range away.

After lugging both canners through Hillsboro (really only a few blocks, but they're big and heavy and it was 90 degrees out!), we load up and drive home. At that point, Grandma had already decided that she has no interest in canning alone any more, I am going to take her canner off her hands. Suprise! 

Inheriting not one, but two pressure canners in one week... I am proud that our families have entrusted these sorts of items to us. While they are bulky, and I don't know what I'm going do with the true antique, I am honored to have them both.

Many women now don't have a way to learn canning, even though they may have an interest. In my mind, there is nothing stopping anyone from growing their own food and preserving it. I have tasted the difference between tomato sauce in a can at the grocery store, and tomato sauce canned at home with homegrown produce. No comparison! The cool thing is, absolutely anyone can do it if they're willing to sacrifice a bit of outdoor space, a window, or even install grow lights in a back bedroom.

Black Forest Cupcakes

I really shouldn't be taking the time, now, but I am so stinking proud I had to stop and share!

Sweetie and I bought cherries last weekend. I think he likes cherries, but every time we buy them I eat them all!  It didn't help this time that he left to go to work on Monday. It's now Thursday, and he is getting the last few cherries inside cupcakes. Black forest cupcakes.

Awww, yeah! 
Here's the skinny (well, not this time)...

I almost always use a Hungry Girl recipe when doing cupcakes. Rather than eggs and oil added to a box mix, you add either canned pumpkin, applesauce, or 12oz of diet soda. It's supposed to reduce the calories, and normally it does. For these, I didn't care; I went with a full-sugar Cherry Coke, and a milk chocolate cake mix. Mmmm.
Inside each cupcake is a bit of cherry that had been tossed in cocoa powder. For the little ones, I used only a half cherry, and the big ones got three halves.

*Note, when using a HG cake recipe, I have discovered that they almost always come out much more dense than they would if you followed the box. Mini brownies are good, but not what I'm aiming for, usually. This time, I used a lighter mix (avoiding the triple chocolate chunk, fudgy cakes), and added a half teaspoon of baking soda. If I was using anything less acidic than soda, I would probably use baking powder instead to get the right chemistry in there.

The icing was the hard part. I don't like massive quantities of frosting on my cupcakes. I put a lot of effort into flavoring the cake part, and I don't want it smothered! So, I went toward a donut type, powdered sugar icing and planned to just dip the tops. Even though the recipe I started with had measurements, the reviews were mixed and I knew I was going to change it, so I didn't measure anything. Probably should have because it was amazing.

Started with a small (tea?)spoonful of cocoa, sifted with maybe 3/4 cup of powdered sugar. Added about four drops of cherry vodka with the aim of helping it dry out later. Then, about a tablespoon of chocolate syrup. Thank goodness for my stand mixer, or I would have given up before it was even mixed. It did, eventually, mix into a sweet paste. Probably could have molded things with it. I considered doing a mounded, spreadable frosting but the flavor was flat. I knew I needed to go further.

Many of the reviews for the original recipe said the powdered sugar/milk mix needed the addition of butter for flavor and sheen. Sheen is good. Flavor is necessary. Mine wasn't warm, but the friction of the mixer would get it going well enough to taste. I'm going to say, it was about a 1/8" slice off the end of a stick. Not much. Then, I added virtually equal parts of the cocoa, powdered sugar, and chocolate syrup because if I was going to dip these guys, I needed more volume to work with. The cherry flavor was non-existant, so I added about 1/4 teaspoon the second time. Mix, taste... still too thick, no cherry flavor, etc. Then it hit me; I still have the remaining bit from my bottle of soda. Over two doses, I added maybe two tablespoons of the Cherry Coke. Perfection. While testing the consistency, I noticed that it drizzled beautifully off the end of the whisk, so I drizzled instead of dipping. I am glad I did. It's pretty, and reduced the amount of icing. I wish I had left it just a smidge thicker, so the icing wouldn't melt into the top of the cupcake so much, but those nuances should be left to a person who measures. They taste good, and that's what matters.

Every little thing, all the way through, reinforces the chocolate cherry flavor. And about the time you start to think it might be too sweet, you hit the actual cherry and get that bit of sour. Yummy!

The only thing left is to get them packaged up and delivered to Sweetie at work in Eugene.

Overwhelmed

I was told, "If you plant that many (insert veggie plant), you're going to get overwhelmed with them."

I ignored them; and they were right.

If were trying to eat the young zucchini fresh, we'd be sick. When I was a kid, Mom planted 15 zucchini plants and I still tease her about making zucchini pizza (it was in the crust, it was a topping, I am pretty sure it was in the sauce). Now, I have exactly 15 zucchini plants-darn them for all germinating-but no zucchini pizza. Instead, our's is getting dehydrated and will get added to soups and such in the winter. In the interest of being uber-conservative, the juice I squeezed out before setting the shreds in the dehydrator was poured into ice cube molds and saved for the dog. Sure gave him a boost in the 100 degree temps we had last weekend. He was reluctant to drink but would eat those frozen juice pops right away! Was nice to know that I could get both water and vitamins in him any time I felt he needed it, without excessive calories.

Pickling cucumbers. I never dreamed that four little plants would get so huge. I had to make an impromptu support so they didn't smother the green beans. I also  had no idea the cucumbers would grow so darn fast... Like 1" long yesterday, and barely recognizeable as produce and probably 4" long tomorrow. And so, so many!! I had to go buy quart jars because I could only fit three cucumbers in a pint, and that's just wasteful. As it is, I am going to probably have to quarter or chip some of the larger ones so I can get more than three in a quart jar! Kinda glad Mom got confused and gave me the recipe for processed pickles rather than fridge pickles. They would never all fit in the fridge!

Green beans also got a dose of the dills. I would loved to have eaten more of them fresh. Even though we eat a pound at a time each, there were a LOT of beans all ready at once. They're also not the best for, "I think I'll go pick green beans for dinner tonight." After picking, washing, trimming, snapping, and drying, I don't want to look at them anymore, nevermind eat them. Most of that is my fault. I didn't do the proper research.

In square foot gardening, which I attempted to emulate, you are supposed to plant nine bean plants per square foot. You are also supposed to reseed every couple of weeks to spread out the harvest. I took that to mean, plant four seeds now, and go back and plant five seeds later. Nope. If I had done the research, I would have learned that you plant all nine seeds at once, and leave the remainder of your bed empty, to be seeded later.

Even more important, is to put in supports as you put in the seeds, no matter what you're planting. Nothing is more difficult than trying to lift three foot tall bean, pea, cucumber, tomato, etc plants onto supports after they have fallen over. They will never recover. Also, the traditional support methods-strings for peas, and pole beans, cages for tomatoes and bush beans-really are the best. Strings do not work well for tomatoes, nor for bush beans. I suppose cages would have worked well enough for the peas, but been even more difficult to pick in the center.

I am regretting not supporting the squashes at all. The zucchini is fine. No need for support. The winter squash, however, is taking over the planet. Without separating the leaves, I don't actually know where the delineation is between the two beds of butternut; it's just one 10+ foot wide mass. Every other day or so, I have to go move a warty pumpkin vine to keep from smothering the jalapenos. Thank goodness the canteloupe vines/leaves are so petite or I wouln't have anywhere to step in the whole front half of the garden. The jack-o-lanterns are just getting started, but if they take after the warty's they're likely going to need extra room. Hopefully the melons or the zukes will be finished and I can take them out to let the jacks spread.

If I remember, I'll share the plan for a massively improved bed system. Minimal water waste, weeds, and work with maximum production, and rotation. Plus, I will be able to make it "pretty" for mid-winter when there will be little else to look at.

Houseguest!

True to the name, we have our very own transplant for the week!

Bell is a beautiful lab mix. She has been an addition that comes with mixed emotions!  On the one hand, she is an amazing dog. On the other, Porter hates her. When she was in my dog classes, she seemed so willing to do what her family and I instructed that I thought she would pretty much submit to whatever torture Porter wanted to dish out. Nope!!  I expected a few scuffles as they worked out their relationship. Instead, it's a constant battle to keep them from staring each other down, and when it has escalated, Bell lets Porter know SHE makes the rules!

The great thing is that their relationship has been a fantastic motivator for me to get more exercise!  Not only does Bell not allow me to use the snooze button ("You're awake? Let's play!!! No, don't lay back down. Here, let me wash your face with my beard."), but I am pretty sure that if they didn't get a morning walk, one or the other would need to see a vet when I got home from work. The down side is that there is absolutely no way Porter can keep up with Bell. She has him beat in both speed and stamina. Luckily, we have dog parks!

I am pretty sure Bell hadn't ever been to an off-leash park, because she was very timid the first half hour and didn't want anyone to sniff her. She did, however, run interference for Mr. Leave-me-alone, which was amazing to see after only 24 hours together. Fortunetly, she opened up a little and sniffed butt quite a bit, but this pic was about the farthest she got from me in two hours.

Our second attempt had a much better result. Not sure if it was the previous experience or the fact that we tried a different park. Bell left my side to run with the pack, and even Porter found a not-so-secret admirer. Prior to having Bell in the house, Porter would have outright attacked any dog who mounted him, nevermind one that pestered him non-stop. Don't know if it was good or bad that he just stood and took it, but very nice to not have him attacking a 15lb delicate little Italian Greyhound!

In other news...
Today is pickle day. I have about three pounds of green beans that need dealt with, and cucumbers are just starting to get big enough to put them in jars. If I don't get started I am gonna lose some produce. Will keep you updated on the results


***Update: Turns out Bell was a much better educator than I first thought. I remember the two dogs having a scuffle, about the third day she was here, and Porter took on a very pathetic bark/scream as I separate them. After that, he'd yell at her, but wouldn't run up and try to bite her chest and neck. Turns out she just nicked him with her teeth (probably as I separated them). A week later, a scab came off in my fingers, leaving a quarter inch scar. Good job, Girlie! Too bad he hasn't been able to transfer the lesson to other large black females. Still hates Midnight with a passion.

It Begins

Why would I start a blog?  For order. Life is a-flutter and there must be a way to get out the daily joys and stresses. Gardening is kicking my butt. Moving across the country and feeling like I'm going to lose my support system. Trying to have a baby. Maintaining a healthy weight. Owning a dog I have a love-grrr relationship with. Joining a company I never plan to leave. Things are nuts!

First and foremost, this is for me. I also hope that I can share with friends and family who will feel oh-so-distant in the very near future. I suppose IF strangers find their way here, we'll all just have to make them into friends so it doesn't seem so weird to have them around.

Where will we go together? No clue!  I think that's the fun in this type of atmosphere. My hope is multi-faceted.
There is a desire to be able to review my thoughts and experiences in gardening. Goodness knows I do things wrong, and hopefully I can minimize the repetition of silly decisions year after year.
I hope to be better able to cope with some upcoming major stressors.
Journaling my pregnancy and early life of my baby. (Fingers crossed I won't have to use this to cope with "I can't conceive!")
Teach  myself to enjoy the little things-like a well made meal, or when the dog gets goofy!
Get feedback in any- and every-thing. I like being validated but I also like to hear new ways of seeing things.
Probably more...