On a limb with Claudia

This summer, I decided to return to my garden. At our old house, we had an extensive garden that went the way of the “no time” 100 hours a week work week. I thought this week, I’d share my venture into veggie gardening.

Thursday Thirteen #26 – In the Garden.

Our garden will be an organic, Biodynamic or French intensive garden. Here’s the whole story:

1. Well, Ok. What actually happened is that we decided to get rid of the guys who were mowing our lawn. (They did a horrible job as you can see in the photos.) Smiling, I convinced my biostatisitician husband that there way NO WAY he’d have time to mow. He smiled and said, “If you want to take care of the grass, that’s fine with me.”

Hee hee.

2. “So you won’t mind if create a veggie gardens this year?” I asked.

“Knock yourself out,” he said.

I hate grass. I just hate it. It sucks up water, creates a waste area of toxic chemicals and pollutants, causes cancer in dogs… bleck! I just hate it.

A fact that my husband of 11 years forgot.

Hee hee.

3. I had a few old manuscript drafts laying around. In March, I laid the manuscripts over the grass and put some homemade compost on top.

Death to grass!

Hee hee.

4. “I was thinking about maybe a rose bed in the back.”

“Just tell me where to dig,” he said.

This is the other side of the path. Rosie loves me so much that she killed this grass by herself.

Go Rosie Go!!

5. Beautiful Rose garden, wouldn’t you say? Four roses – three Aromatherapy and one yellow nameless. Purple spring iris and daffodils/crocus along the edge.

Now wouldn’t you say that’s better than grass??

6. A French Intensive garden starts with double digging the bed. Basically, you take off the first 12 inches (layer 1) and set it aside. Then you take off the next 12 inches of soil (layer 2). Under that you add compost (we used Clay buster). Then you put layer 1 back. Another bag of compost and layer 2 goes on top.

7. Truth is? My husband is never happier than when he has a shovel in his hand. He just loves digging in the dirt. That’s part of the reason this system works so well for us.

8. Of course, “we” had to deal with the tree stump.

9. How does it look? like? Funny you should ask!

We had to use “clay buster” compost because our compost is mostly clay. This bed was created in late April. It takes at least a month for the soil to return to bioactivity after grass

Ok, it doesn’t look like much – but you can plant at least 2x the amount of plants in this bed due to the soil prep.

We will have three French Intensive beds.

10. After the dirt work, French Intensive gardening is about companion planting. This means that everything that draws nitrogen is planted next to something that gives nitrogen. Therefore, we never deplete the soil, only improve it.

Huh?

Short version: we plant a lot of beans. Rosie loves beans.

Also, some plants enhance the growth of other plants. Some plants hurt the growth of other plants. For example, Lettuce, Radishes, and Carrots do really well together. Whereas, onions and garlic don’t do well next to peas and beans.

11. If you are really on it, you plant seeds two days before a new moon. Unfortunately, the growing season is sooo short here in Denver, that it’s almost impossible to do that. I’m not about to lose 2 weeks of growing while I wait for a new moon. Period. The idea is that the moons gravitational pull draws water to and from a plant.

Moving on….

12. Here’s our garden plan for this year:

13. A lot of this information came from a book called How to Grow More Vegetables by John Jeavons. I was given this book about 10 years ago when the book was out of print. (My copy is circa 1995.) Although it can be technical, if you want to grow a lot of vegetables, this book will teach you how.

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How about you? What are you growing this year?
Leave your plans in the comments and I’ll add them to this post.

• Sandy Carlson says she has “to try double digging (not double dipping?)!”
• Janet is growing: “tomatoes, jalapenos, strawberries, basil, rosemary, two kinds of mint, sage, cilantro (altho I?ve not had much luck with it), and a couple of other herbs, I haven?t decided what yet.”
• Laura “always plant(s) lots of potatoes, lettuce, spinach, green beans, peas, broccoli, peppers and tomatoes.”
• Susan Helen Gottfried “likes pretty plants.”
• Tommie says, “If we are around for more than one growing season, we try to do a mini pizza garden: tomatoes, peppers, onions, basil, etc. The kids love it!”
• Colleen “planted corn, swiss chard, dill, marigolds, and zinnia. No manuscripts though.”
• Forgetfulone is “in the midst of replanting shrubs in our front yard. We had red tips, but I would like to plant a variety of garden plants and some flowers, too, but I?m still looking. Lily of the Nile is one I like, philodendrons (not sure of spelling), a small palm, perhaps a juniper tree, pansies, and who knows what else.”
• Julia is “a flower gardener, especially since our yard has a lot of shade. I do grow herbs but mostly for aesthetic reasons. I garden with my mom (my husband and I live with her) and we compromise on our gardening styles. My mom likes to impose order on nature, and I like to have a garden that seems to erupt from nature. Between the two of us, we have a lovely yard.”
• Are we there yet mom is “planning to plant a Pizza Garden with them, with tomatoes, zucchini, and eggplant. Next year it will be a Sunflower House with Morning Glories.”
• Toni has “2 types of potatos and 2 types of onions as well as radishes growing. In a month or so we will also have peppers, cucumbers, yellow squash, zucchini, tomatos, okra and probably one or two other surprises?”
• Hazelnut “keep(s) things simple by using containers, a variety of sedums (less watering), and native grasses. I love the look and sound of the grasses when a breeze is blowing.”
• CajunVegan says, “I was just talking to the hubs about starting an herb garden. Fresh mint ? rosemary ? cilantro ?”
• Josie is “growing Clematis, Geraniums, Nasturtiums, Forget-me-nots, Petunias, Hollyhocks, Snapdragons, Roses and whatever else I feel like planting.”
• Michael C is trying to “grow his hair out.”
• Ornery’s Wife is growing “herbs, weeds and a lot of grass.”
• Shaunesay grew bunnies in her pots last year.
• Di grows complacent.

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The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others’ comments. It?s easy, and fun! Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

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Get the Thursday Thirteen code here
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I wondered over to Odat’s site Monday morning and saw her six word memoir. This reminded me that the lovely Blue Ridge Mountain Colleen at Loose Leaf Notes tagged me for a six word memoir a while ago. *

Ok, I lied. I didn’t forget that Colleen tagged me. I wrote a bunch of delicious six word memoirs. When I shared them with my darling husband, biostatistician math geek, he said:

“One memoir, six words. Not twenty six-word segments. That’s a poem.”

Sigh.

He’s a brutal writing task master. I must tell you, though. My writing has improved because of his attention to detail. So, I’ll stop complaining… right… about… HERE.

My life in six words.

“Happy living just outside your normal.”

Yep. That sums it up.

I’m gonna tag a few: FuriousBall, HRH from June Cleavers Nirvana, Tommie at Tuesday’s Update, that other Claudia, oh and the other Claudia, and No Nonsense Girl, who’s name MIGHT be Claudia (you never know!), Liz at Los Angelista (her name is definitely not Claudia) and my darling Squirrelly at Lone Grey Squirrel. I’d ask Jameil but she’ll say ‘no’ so I’m not going to ask. (Love you J!)

If you want to do this – go for it. It’s fun!

Feel free to do as many as you want. Odat did about six and Colleen did a sixteen.

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Colleen was tagged by Pearl and, in turn, tagged Deana, Bonnie, and Country Dew, June, and of course, me.

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After waiting and pacing around for most of the morning, I watched the mailman’s back as he moved off our porch and on with his route on Saturday.

No queenbee in sight.

Two hours later, a breathless postman pounded on the door. Tucked under his jacket was a box from ZiaQueen. He said his boss drove the package out to him. Together, we opened the package to find a beautiful queen and five attendants.

She was shipped in a priority mail box. Yellow queen cage was set next to the blue sponge so that they could get some water. This is brilliant packing. She and her attendants were happy, unstressed and ready to go.

Here’s a photo of her shadow. It’s hard to see her through the yellow cage. You can see that she’s longer than the other bees. Because she’s not very old, she is also not very fat. She will fatten up as soon as she gets in the hive and starts laying.

In the second picture you can see her red dot. Queens are marked by their born year – this year is red.

What did I do with her?

Last week, I put a queen excluder between two hive “deeps” this force the nurse bees to rise to care for brood while keeping the queen on the bottom of the hive. I took the top box – with only nurse bees, brood and food – and created a new hive. Once they were situated in a new location, the worker bees will fly back to the original location leaving the nurse bees and baby bees.

Lost yet?

Basically, I took the top half of a hive and moved it to a new location. This creates a new hive.

Then I put this queen in the hive. There is a candy plug on the end of the bee cage. The nurse bees will eat their way though the candy plug (my fingers are holding it in the first picture) to release the queen. When I left her, the nurse bees were already feeding the queen.

(Bees are like that. If they see another hungry bee, they will feed and care for it – as long as it’s not a threat to their physical location.)

The queen cage keeps the queen safe until the nurse bees get used to her smell. They will readily accept her in about 3 days – the length of time it takes to eat through the sugar plug. I’ll check on her on Wednesday to see if she’s been adopted.

Today, I fed the original hive with sugar water (5 pounds of sugar to 1 gallon of water) to replace the food I took. I put the syrup into a gallon ziplock bag then lay the bag in the hive. I made a light slit so the bees can get the syrup. I have a bunch of fancy equipment that does this but ziplock works the best. (Go figure.)

I also go stung. What stupid thing was I doing?? I wore my yoga pants instead of my jeans. The first bee sting of the year always has a little fanfare.? Later on, it’s like “whatever”.

I should get another queen later this week. She’ll go in the “little” hive, which has managed to hang in there.

Thanks for your interest and support. If you have any questions, do not hesitate to ask.

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“We can do anything we want to do if we stick to it long enough.”
– Helen Keller

I love the trill of starting something new.? I research every possibility.? I conducted endless conversations about what’s “right”. Then the moment comes!

I jump in feet first.

I can sustain my new and exciting project for a while.? I can go years enjoying a new challenge. ? Then, whether I like it or not, the newness wears off and the grind sets in.

I despise the grind.

When I was younger, I never experienced the grind.?? Before I could grind, I’d jump to something new – new diet, new friend, new business, new apartment, whatever.? The thrill of new never left my life.

My goals are larger now. If I want to achieve my dreams, I must hang in day after day.? I must grind.

I took this picture while we were hiking the Colorado Trail.? In 2006, we hiked 150 miles at over 10,000 feet in two and a half weeks.? This picture represents another day moving from 8,000 feet to over 10,000 feet (the mountain in the distance) only to end the day around 9,000 feet (the other side of the mountain).

This picture reminds me: If I want to achieve my dreams, I must grind a bit in paradise.

How do you stay motivated day after day?? What keeps you going?

Happy Monday!

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I keep thinking I’m going to grow out of this… But I remain fascinated with my response – and particularly yours. Please play!

Here’s our list for this week:

1. Thug ::
2. Slurp ::
3. Alley ::
4. Sweater vest ::
5. Targeted ::
6. Snazzy ::
7. Oy! ::
8. Jury duty ::
9. Low fat ::
10. Responsibility ::

And my answers?

1. Thug :: Angel (Tupak movie – scary, eh?)
2. Slurp :: I just hear the sound of slurping…
3. Alley :: Cat
4. Sweater vest :: Social
5. Targeted :: Audience
6. Snazzy :: Dresser
7. Oy! :: Vey!
8. Jury duty :: Vacation
9. Low fat :: Torture
10. Responsibility :: means respond.

These seem very odd to me this week.? Please play by leaving your responses!

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Just out of spite
by claudia hall christian

?Just out of spite, I confess I ruined three lives?.? – the English Beat, I confess

?Crap.?

Turning his collar around his neck, Ethan Foster pulled the door closed and crept across the wooden porch. He hoped to be across town before Janette woke up. And, of course, he wanted to miss the Husband?s return from work.

His car was?. That?s right. The car was parked in front of the bar. They walked back to her place. Again.

He hadn?t noticed the cold last night. But after three hours of drinking whiskey and playing pool, he wasn?t feeling much of anything. He tried to remember what Janette felt like.

He did remember the noise. She made so much God damned noise the entire neighborhood got off last night.

Right on cue, the Husband pulled up. Crap. The Husband raised his hand in ?hello?.

[...]

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I received an email about my man tool yesterday. The email, from a close personal friend named srinivasa, insured that my man tool would hit the right spot.

What does that mean?

I’m female and have been all of my life. I’m wondering what exactly is my man tool?

Thursday Thirteen #25 – My Man Tool

Knowing all the wise and wonderful TTers in the crowd, I thought you might help me out.

I present thirteen possible man tools:

1. I have some marbles.

This gorgeous photo by Claudia Meyer (St Germain en Laye) France

2. I can program in HTML, blah, blah, C+, blah, database, blah.

3. When necessary, I use my manly power tools: cordless drill, skill saw, kwik-saw, electric reel lawn mover, and a variety of rusty shovels.

4. I have an entire manly weight rack of dumbbells and a pull down machine in my basement.

5. I recently purchased a brand new box of Crayons that were immediately confiscated by my darling husband. Clearly Crayons are a man tool.

6. My bar-be-que hits the spot. (That’s got to be a man tool, right??)

7. My diamond wedding ring is a powerful man attractant. Every time I wear it, even if the darling husband is there, I get hard core hit on. Last week, I spilled my drink and needed some napkins. Leaving my dh and Rocker Boy at the table, I asked a tattooed guy on a barstool to pass the napkins to me. He gave me a stack, called me “babe” and I wandered back to the table. Rocker Boy noticed the guy slipped his business card in the stack of napkins. Rocker Boy and dh busted a gut laughing.

8. The Tetrus on my manly Google Sidebar hits my “I need a break” spot.

9. I have a subscription to the modern man’s tool for enlightenment (in Spanish). Mas sexo!

10. I own my very own propane torch.

11. Here’s a host of manly multi-tools:

12. I own a 4×4 off-road truck but it’s never hit anything. Ok, it doesn’t look like this….

13. What about this man-tle:

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PLEASE HELP! What is my man tool??

Write your ideas in the comments and I’ll post them with a link to your blog.

• Anthony North suggests that maybe “Peter O’Toole” as the man tool.
• Jill “wonders if it might be an… unmentionable”
• Beth is convinced it’s a “television remote.”
• Kaige wonders what will happen when my man tool grows.
• Adelle Lauden encourages me to ask my husband.
• Susan Helen Gottfried says: “Isn?t your man tool your husband?”
• KC thinks “maybe its a big thick wooden rolling pin.. you know the thing to fix the man that isn?t working right.. One hit to the head and it works wonders”
• For some reason, Nononsense Girl has some man tools in her pocket.
• Nap Warden is confident that a man tool is the barbeque.
• Alasmydear says, “I always thought your Man Tool was Charm?or failing which, Fake Eyelashes!”
• Heart in SF says, “Probably not your brain.”
• TLC suggests: “could it be a Clue x4? Nah?men don?t have a clue!”
• Judi encourages me to: “ask the person that sent it to you”
• Darla thinks it’s the TV remote even suggesting: “Maybe there needs to be a manliness ceremony in which we present the boy with his very own remote?.”
• Tilly Green thinks it “might be that special suit of armor (freakem’ dress?) in the back of the closet?”
• Janet reminds me that my “mantool, of course, is what you bought at that adult toy par-tay!”
• CEO says that the TT banner pictures is: ” man tool docking station.”
• The Walking Man suggests US soldiers in ‘man dress’, keys, anything that goes boom, steering wheel, baseball hat, comic books, ‘righty tighty, lefty loosey’, “Knowing that no real man knows what a mantra is”, ability to grow a beard, Not making lists, “a four foot long pipe wrench and a hex wrench measuring better than 3? across”, television remotes, and, of course, sloppy handwriting.
• Jill Lysas says that “what I have in mind is R!”
• Sue “lost my man-tool on the way to commenting on this entry.”
• Di’s man tools are “resourcefulness and the ability to nap on command.”
• Kelly says “my man tool is the ability to make my self ?happy?.”
• Smtwngrl thinks”that email was a man tool in disguise?”
• CelticLibrarian suggests “the ‘man’ page for the ‘Tool’ command in UNIX”
• Denise is confident that the remote control is a man tool.
• GdayBloke says “The barbecue. Clearly.”
• Colleen reveals “Maps. My husband looks at maps like other men look at Playboy centerfolds.”
• Tina’s confident it’s” one of those too rude too mention lol.”
• Michael goes “with the BBQ.”
• C(laudia) envisions “a collection of dildos in an elaborate cabinet lined with red velvet.”
• Shaunesay postulates that “many boxes of computer parts in my basement” might e a man tool.
• Jamie suggests “selective hearing.”
• The Gal Herself says “my man tool hums and runs on C batteries.”
• Tips and Tricks reminds: “your best man tool is your hands”

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Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others’ comments. It?s easy, and fun! Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!
View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here
View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

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Hey don’t miss this.? Nine Inch Nails has released the first single “Discipline” from it’s upcoming album.?? You can get the MP3 via their website for free.

And it’s actually pretty good – reminiscent of old NIN and ancient Michael Hutchins INXS.

Check it out!

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We are aggressive greenies. Now that you’ve been reminded to recycle, reuse, find freecycle, etc. I thought I’d share some important other things you can do.

1. Purchase recycled paper, plastic (clothing, Garden tools, etc.), wood flooring, construction surplus. There are warehouses filled with used newspapers and plastic bottles. You can find recycled construction materials on Craigs list or, here in Denver, at Buds. Recycling is not enough. We must create a strong demand for recycled products.

2. Support local agriculture. It may shock you, but it’s almost impossible to get financing for an organic farm. Organic farmers rely on Community Supported Agriculture to finance their farms.** There’s one in every community. Even organic food is shipping from Mexico to each individual Whole Foods market.

3. Stop the bleeding. Insulate your home. Look for gaps in your weather protection. Get storm windows and doors or replace those leaking windows. Look for leaking water bibs, faucets and toilets. (The Walking Man has great suggestions for water reduction.)

4. Plant an organic row. It’s not that hard to grow a plant or two. Try it. Every time you pick a tomato or a cucumber for your salad, you have saved the environment from trucking fumes and gasoline waste.

5. Do not eat feed lot beef. Period. Of course, it’s carcinogenic. Beyond that, one steer costs over 1,000 gallons of crude oil. That’s more than you will use commuting to work in a month.

6. Get off the grid. There are excellent programs now for homeowners to convert to solar. Our utility company will even buy back excess electricity. Get an estimate and stop the madness. (Our hope is to be off within the next 2 years. Currently we are 100% wind.)

Just a few ideas to continue your Earth day glow.

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**Farms rely on financing to support their growing season. They pay back that money after harvest. Non-organic farming is supported by plush government programs. We have organic farmer friends, people you’d recognize, that only stay afloat on the money they make at farmer’s markets.

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With any luck, two ladies will arrive in my mailbox Friday….

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