Half a Dozenth

Last year's resolutions...

Well, they were good ideas, but they were pretty much all dead by June because of really stupid things like brain fog, plantar fasciitis, and having an extremely hard time completing any task  if  when I get interrupted for the dozenth time.  Whoa, what?!!  Dozenth is actually a word, it didn't set off the auto-correct.    

Don't get me wrong, I had an AWESOME year.  I was surprised to find that the resolution-meeting/failing had no noticeable impact on my happiness or fulfillment.  I would say that this year was one of my happiest ever, spent in a busy blurry baby bliss.  Torin has turned into a super tall toddler who amazes me in one way or another every day.  It feels like he has always been a part of our lives, and that hyper-stressful times are only a distant memory.  Really, my most important goal/job of the year was keeping this crazy baby healthy and alive and to figure out how to be a mom, and those goals were definitely met!  In the past year he graduated both physical therapy and food/eating therapy (yeah, he's a lazy milk-obsessed sort of dude), and both therapists were sad to see him go because he's such a happy baby.  He has taught me to dance and sing and even to be silly in public, and has reinvigorated my love of playgrounds and the moon. 

Whee!

Vs. this year's resolutions...



Due to last year's goal flops, this year I am only doing six 6-month goals.  Fewer goals with a much shorter time frame seems like a far more motivating idea to me right now.  And the goals are pretty much just for me... selfish ones, since I spent all of last year's energy on others.  As a bonus, I have already been working on most of them for several weeks.

• Improve Sleep
• 1:  Focus on quality ('cause my quantity is ok!)... this means consecutive hours of sleep without waking.  This is the hardest goal but the most vital... the doc says I'm so tired all of a sudden because I've finally hit rock-bottom from sleep deprivation due to not getting a full 90-minute sleep cycle more than once a week for a year and a half.
• 2:  Add more reading to Torin's morning and nighttime routines, and progressively make the switches from nursing to sleep to rocking to sleep to reading to sleep. 

• Improve Strength 
• 3:  Weight lift daily for at least 7 minutes (arms/back one day, legs/core the next)... a proven plan that works for me when I actually stick with it.
• 4:  Learn to do a pull-up (I achieved this in ~6 months during college when I was weaker and heavier, from just hanging from the bar for 1 minute per night... it's possible!)

• Food Garden for Spring/Summer
• 5:  Share it with Torin:  focus on baby-friendly plants and get him interested/involved.  I'm making an exciting order for seeds and landscaping cloth today!  Tomatoes that are 1/4" across, toddler-height sunflowers, 1-inch cucumbers, and lots of bright colors to enjoy.
• 6:  Blog 4x/month about garden to keep me accountable.

Each goal has benefits that will leak into the other areas of my life... such as energy levels, general health, motivation, Torin's development, our readiness to start trying for baby #2.  Success will mean that by July I have integrated these things into life's routines to the point that they are an automatic habit.


And then...


If I manage to integrate these things, then it is time to work on the less-vital-for-existence stuff starting in July... social life, cardiovascular fitness/endurance, getting the etsy store together, starting the fall/winter garden, that sort of thing.


What are your resolutions this year?  Did you achieve last year's goals?

 

Step Tracking and The Leaf

Overall, I am pretty pleased with the Leaf's performance. 

I'll take you through an average day of the Fitbit vs. the Leaf, for Monday August 24th.  

The Leaf App:

 

 

The Fitbit App: 

As you can see, both of the fitness trackers captured my small periods of minor activity plus the two hikes on Monday. 


It is very accurate during designated hikes.  

Many hikes ranging from 1.25-2 miles were performed.  Many thousands of steps were manually counted using a fingers-and-dry-garbanzo-beans-in-the-cup-holders-of-the-stroller method.  Hikes were done with and without the stroller, and with and without the dog.

When worn on a short necklace, long necklace, shirt, bra, waist of pants, and as a bracelet, the steps were extremely accurate, only off by up to 3%.  The two fitness monitors were often only 2-10 steps apart. 

There was one exception... when holding on to the stroller with both hands, the fitness monitors on the wrist were both too low.  The fitbit clocked in at 8% too low, while the Leaf was a whopping 59% too low!  So, if you're walking with something like a stroller or shopping cart, just be aware that the Leaf will record less than half your steps if you wear it on your wrist.


Daily steps and mileage are a little... saggy.

The Leaf has been very consistently under-counting my around-the-house "soft" steps by about 700-900 steps per day, or about 10%.

It also does not count my nighttime steps (seen above as the purple dots in the Leaf App photo), since it thinks I am asleep.  For this reason the Fitbit gives me about 300 extra steps per night.  This makes the step count more like 12-14% too low for the leaf.

Since Bellabeat claims that the Leaf is accurate to 5%, I am reporting the information to them in the hopes that they update the app to be slightly more sensitive to the movement that the Leaf records.  They have already done this at least once.  I hear that it's in the plans to update the app so that I can change my stride length, and I am looking forward to that too. 


It's time to pass the Fitbit on to the husband.

Now that I know what to expect from the Leaf, I am handing the Fitbit over to Ryan.  I am primarily trying to get in about 3 miles hiked per day on top of my regular around-the-house activity, so the Leaf covers my main purpose for using a step tracker.

The Fitbit's nickname was the Titbit, because I always wore it on my bra.  I am really enjoying the flexibility of wearing the Leaf visibly as a necklace or on my shirt now, and also sometimes as a bracelet.  I've had a few compliments on it when out in public, but they seem surprised when I mention that it's a fitness tracker.  Torin likes it too, and will gently flip it over to look at the shiny back side... and the front side... and the back side... and the front side.

Tomorrow's post will be about the Leaf and its sleep tracking... stay tuned!  

The Leaf experiment lengthens.

The Leaf review is going to take a while. 

The first afternoon it underestimated my steps by about 70%, and the next day by about 30%... for reference, the Fitbit undercuts my steps by only about 5%.  Sleep tracking was hilariously incorrect the first night (guess I can't wear it as a necklace as suggested!) and only chuckle-worthy wrong the second night.


My formal evaluation of it starts today.

I'll be wearing both the Fitbit and the Leaf, and I'll go on long walks to formally count my steps.  Here's the plan:

Phase 1:  Both fitness trackers side-by-side in the same location

- Sunday:  on left wrist
- Monday:  on bra
- Tuesday:  on shirt
- Wednesday:  on necklace

Phase 2:  Fitbit on bra (the most accurate place), Leaf in variable places
- Thursday:  on left wrist
- Friday:  on bra
- Saturday:  on shirt
- Wednesday, on necklace


This should give me all the data I need to know!  The Leaf claims to be 95% accurate, so I suppose there's a chance that I either received a broken one or that it really does "learn" from your behavior and it needs some time. 

For sleep I'll keep them both on the same wrist and manually adjust my sleep window in the app each night.  The Leaf is supposed to learn from your habits to be better at figuring out when you were actually asleep. 

The Leaf is here!

Whoa, that was quick.

The Leaf was supposed to arrive Sept 3rd, but it somehow ended up on my doorstep today, 2 weeks early!
 

Mmmm, leafy fitness tracker goodness.

I'm going to wear the Fitbit and the Leaf at the same time for a couple of days, and compare them to see how accurate the Leaf is with regards to steps and sleep.  Hooray for science!!

The Wait for the Bellabeat Leaf

It's time for a fitness tracker upgrade!

Ryan's been a bit interested in getting a Fitbit, and I've been quite interested in a "functional jewelry" fitness monitor by Bellabeat called the Leaf.  I don't need another fitness tracker, but Ryan is totally an enabler, so he's taking my Fitbit and I ordered the Leaf which will ship out on Sept 1st.

 This picture is from the Bellabeat website... *gasp!* 

I know, it's shocking that I would use someone else's photo, but I don't have it yet.

The Leaf is similar to the Fitbit One:  it tracks steps, distance, calories burned, sleep, can be worn as a clip or bracelet, and also vibrates for an alarm.  The main differences are that it tracks your breathing rate, can vibrate if you want it to remind you to when you're being too inactive, can be worn as a necklace (and the leather bracelet is far more attractive than the Fitbit's), and doesn't need to be recharged every week (replaceable battery lasts 6 months).  The downsides are that it's bigger than the Fitbit and doesn't track altitude/floors.   

It's definitely targeted at women.  The app is interesting because it theoretically translates your breathing and activity into stress and then vibrates an optional alert to help you identify what is stressing you out and remind you to calm down (it can guide you through breathing exercises to calm you).  It is also claimed that the app combines info about your menstrual cycle, sleep, activity, and stress to show you how they are related and give suggestions for improvement... though I hear that Bellabeat is still working out some bugs and adding these and more functions.  If it works how they say it should, it'll be an awesome tool for self/health-improvement.

Most importantly of course, the design is that of a leaf, and has real wood on it.  This really appeals to my nature-loving side, and I won't feel the need to hide it by wearing it in uncomfortable places. 


And as a fun bonus...

The wood in the Leaf is ash, and I remembered ash being important in Celtic lore, so I looked it up.  Oh yeah, it's Yggdrassil, THE  tree!  Hahaha, how soon we forget.

Ash is also a wood that represents fire, since it burns well whether it's green or seasoned and is prone to being struck by lightning.  It's considered a tree of healing.  There's also an element of strength and action, because its wood was used for the handles of weapons due to being strong yet flexible.  Perhaps I can remember these elements when I wear it, and feel the fire of motivation.  Or maybe it'll just look cool.


Just in time!

In any case, it will arrive around the time that vacation ends, so I will officially start the Kaiser insomnia plan at that time.

A week of sleep recording and the horrible horrible conclusion.

I've just spent a week recording my sleep using the Fitbit One on my wrist. 

The conclusion?  It's exactly as I had thought it was.  I was a little surprised to find that I was not exaggerating my bad sleep experience.  It is much worse than my normal insomnia, which used to be just having a hard time falling asleep... before, I could mostly stay asleep and also had good quality morning sleep. 


The stats for the week!

Average sleep time:  4hr 15min (it is actually less, because the little bits of "sleep" in between restlessness are actually just me lying as still as possible)
Average in-bed time:  7hr 45min
Average wake times:  17
Average restless times:  25
Longest uninterrupted sleep:  1hr 27 minutes... in an entire week, I thought I'd do better!
Total naps:  1, for 20 minutes yesterday
Average baby feeding times:  1.7  ... well, that stat's actually pretty good.  :)

Dark blue = sleep, light blue = restless, pink = awake.

Torin used to wake for the day around 9:30-10, and my best sleep was in the mornings in that 6-10am window.  For some mysterious reason he decided to get up at 8:30 for a few days, and now he appears to be liking this 6:50 wake time.  WHY, BABY, WHY?!  Anyway, the reason I was in bed until 9 or 10 on Tues and Weds is that Ryan is awesome and he stole Torin away so I could get more sleep. 


The Plan... from Kaiser.

I found a 6-week cognitive behavioral therapy plan for insomnia on the Kaiser website.  If I go to the doctor with my life-long insomnia complaint (but still want to avoid sleep drugs), she is going to have me do this plan anyway, so I figure I might as well try it out before going in.  

I did one plan that I remember as the "Harvard" insomnia cure, which is sort of the same thing as Kaiser's insomnia therapy, except it was more strict.  Since I'm sleeping about 4 hours a night total, the Harvard one would have me spend 4 hours in bed the first night, and then slowly expand that once I am sleeping the full 4 hours.  Kaiser's plan has me in bed for 5.5 hours (that's their minimum, no matter how little you sleep, but otherwise they give you your sleep time plus 1 hour) and then will expand that as I sleep more than 4 hours.  I just have to decide what I want my wake-up time to be.

The point with both of those plans is that it teaches you to consolidate your sleep.  With the Harvard one, I did it a few times for a month or four at a time very strictly because I was determined to fix my insomnia once and for all... and then I swore never to do it again.  Those are periods of my life that I barely remember because I was so tired that I was in a daze the whole time, and all I remember is that it felt torturous and that I was absolutely sure it mentally and physically damaged me. 

I'll do the Kaiser plan, but if it gets to that Harvard point then I will have to stop because I still have to be able to do stuff like care for a baby without being filled with rage.  I am also going to start it after vacation because I still need to function socially. 

Update to "Trying to fix sleep": Fasting temptations and sleep data

I did the 16 hours of fasting last night.  

It was only hard around hour 8 when I stuck a 5-pound spiced pork shoulder butt roast under the broiler to sear it before putting it in the crock pot overnight.  It filled the entire house with a heady aroma of thick, perfectly fried bacon.  I was left wondering whether it was a shoulder or a butt (surely it could not be both?!), and whether it was a bad idea to eat undercooked pork if the surface was made of sizzly heaven.

Who's a good dog? 

Anyway, I woke at 8, but because of Torin instead of my alarm.  And then he wouldn't go back to sleep, which is unusual (most often sleeps until 9:30 or 10).  So, I'm up!  Looking at the fitbit data was really interesting...


The days are practically the same!  

18 wake times, 27 restless times.  Exactly.  The same 3 main (hourish*-long) sleep chunks.  The same Torin feeding (the two pink stripes in the middle are me walking to and from his room around 4am).  The same waking periods, and the same looooong restless period in the early part of the night.  Hehe, I'm so predictable.

I guess the good news is that I was able to wake up by my 8:30 alarm this morning and actually get out of bed this time.  And I do feel like I slept better, despite the sleep data, so perhaps the fasting made me sleep more deeply.  The bad news is that I may have a really well-regulated sleep cycle, it is just perfectly acclimated to Torin's newborn nursing schedule of never letting me sleep longer than an hour or so.

Time will tell whether the fasting and big breakfast helped to reset my sleep schedule.  And then... I need to figure out what to do about the laying awake all night thing.  
 

*Not pronounced "whorish"... well fine, pronounce it however you want.  If you can't tell already, I'm too tired for this grammar business. 

Trying to fix sleep.

I haven't been blogging much lately.  It's because I've been tired.  No, exhausted.  Braindead.  Completely devoid of energy.

Why?

Torin spent 6 weeks teething pretty darn hard for his top two teeth.  This involved lots of waking screaming (of the "oh my god I'm being flayed alive" type), lots of whining, lots and lots of comfort nursing.  The good news is that the last tooth came through a week and a half ago, and his sleep was fixed within just a few days, so he's only waking once at night to be fed again.  The bad news is that my brain is stuck in a major "anticipate the horrified-screaming baby all night" mode, so I can't seem to sleep! 

This is on top of the regular insomnia, plus insomnia due to hip ache (the less sleep I get, the more it hurts), plus the lingering "anticipate the crying baby all night" mode from the newborn stage that I didn't really grow out of either. 


The Analysis:

So last night I wore the fitbit (on a new wrist strap that is far more comfy than the original sleep strap!) to see what it'd say... my nights couldn't really be as bad as I think, right?  I read once that insomniacs tend to really exaggerate how much time they spend awake, so maybe I needed a reality check.

Nope, sleep is just as bad as I think.  Spent 9.5 hours in bed (didn't count the first hour pr last half hour of tossing and turning).  The two big pink stripes in the middle are the beginning and end of a half hour of feeding Torin.  The three dark blue (sleep) stripes in the middle left, I was most definitely awake but trying as hard as possible to be still and pretend to sleep for those 10-20 minute chunks. 

The three actual chunks of sleep were 1hr 24 minutes, 1hr 2 minutes, and 1hr 17 minutes... for a total of 3hrs 43 minutes, or only 42% of my time in bed asleep.  How am I surviving on this?!

No wonder I feel like crap.  This is really, really stupid.


What to do?

An experiment!  For science!! 

I recently read about a way to fix jetlag in one day through fasting, based on some Harvard study.  The plan is that you fast for 16 hours, then eat breakfast... it's supposed to get your sleep cycle back onto a regular schedule by training your body to be up and ready for breakfast at the desired time. 

Right now I've been on more of a "going to bed at 11pm, falling asleep by 3am, feeding Torin at 4am, waking a few more times, out of bed by 10am" sort of a schedule, but the problem is that by 10 it is too hot for the morning hike... Torin gets super sweaty, red, and grumpy by then end.  So then I don't hike, and the day feels even more tired.  I need to be getting out for that hike while the weather is still cool. 

So, I'm trying it tonight... fasting starting at 4:30pm, waking at 8:30 for a big ol' omelet and coffee immediately and then a hike.  Wish me luck!  

I have much more to blog about... sister got married, mead was tasty, Stormy had surgery, garden started producing, crochet stuff, travel trailer bunkhouse stuff, random sciency experiments.  I just... need... the... mental energy... to... get thoughts typed out.  I can't even tell if this whole post made sense.  :D 

Farmer's Market Wins!

This post is almost a week late, but hey, we went camping for the first time in the travel trailer this week! 

Anyway, here's the haul from last saturday's farmer's market: 

Those cucumbers are soooooo good.

Cukes x3:  2lb 10.7oz
Leek:  1lb 12.3oz
Celery:  2lb 5.1oz
Green onion:  5.1oz
Kale:  7oz
Yellow crookneck squash x4:  1lb 8.8oz
Green cabbage:  3lb 9.1oz
Yellow beet bunch:  1lb 10.1oz
Long red beet bunch:  15.5oz

Total:  15.2lb

Wait... but I only spent $15!  $1 per pound is pretty freakin' awesome.  I think the cabbage and celery may have skewed the cost per pound, but even so, that's still pretty good.  I took the extra few dollars to the plant nursery near my house and got some creeping thyme (we are considering replacing part of our lawn with it), and then across the street to a garage sale where I found a pop-up play tunnel for Torin for a buck.


I've been putting half a cucumber into a pitcher of water in the fridge every night with some lemon juice and some chocolate mint from the garden, which makes a super refreshing drink.  Mmmm.  Today Torin will get to try some squash for the first time.  The leek and some of the green onions and celery are destined for a shepherd's pie this weekend, and the beets and half the cabbage have already been eaten.  It is hard to believe that we still have veggies left after a week, but perhaps camping is the reason for that.

For the next few visits I will try to get only Buttercup Farms produce at the farmer's market... or just mostly their stuff if they don't have much variety yet.  They were pretty cleaned out by the time I got there, so I only got their beets.  It'll be fun to see what they have tomorrow!

Buttercup Farms

Buttercup Farms was the next CSA I was going to try out, because they are super local and it looked like their weekly boxes may have been the same amount as Doorstep Farmers at 2/3rds the cost.  I haven't been able to get in contact with them through their website, which said the CSA was to start in early June... but the website looked suspiciously outdated. 

I checked my local farmer's market's Facebook page right before heading out to visit it, and saw a post saying that Buttercup Farms was starting a booth there!  Awesome!  I rushed down to meet them.

I chatted with the lady, which was hilarious to me because I felt all giddy and excited as though I was meeting a celebrity.  Unfortunately there is no CSA right now.  If they start one, they will advertise it at their booth, but for now their plan is to just do the farmer's market every week.  I can deal with that!  There's something romantic about getting a mystery box of mixed veggies, but I'm getting better at convincing myself to spend money at the farmer's market so it's not that big of a deal to just gather as much variety as I can.

While the other veggie booths only had the normal type of red beet, Buttercup Farms had 3 types:  regular, golden, and some long thin red ones (which taste less earthy and more warm-spicy!).  The booth did look a bit picked over and empty, so next time I'll have to come earlier before the horde of hungry hippies descends upon the market!

On my way home I stopped at the local plant nursery to pick up a creeping thyme.  I told the lady about Buttercup Farms, and she excitedly said that she lives up near there, and her son had only yesterday completed a volunteer project with them!

Stay tuned for more on today's great farmer's market veggie haul...

Confessions, dreams, and tummy time talents

I must be trying to tell myself something.

Last night I had dream after horrible dream:

• I was a nurse, and had stolen a baby from the hospital and after a few blissful months had forgotten that he wasn't really mine.  Police showed up and took him away.
• Child services came to my door and explained that my baby had been switched with another at birth, so they had to take Torin away to his real family.  My real baby had died at the hospital, so I was left with nothing.
• I was a sacred whore in an ancient brothel-temple and my baby's father came to take him away because prostitutes weren't allowed to keep their babies longer than a few months.  (In retrospect, how did he know he was the father?  Hahaha.)
• I went to pick Torin up from preschool, and was told by staff at the school, "No worries, his real mom picked him up 10 minutes ago.  You aren't needed anymore... don't come back."
• Etc, etc.

Are you sensing a theme here?  I'm sensing a theme.

After thinking about it all day, I am pretty sure that my subconscious is beating me up over Torin's physical therapy milestones.  He's been in PT for about a month because he's lagging physically... or not lagging, according to his physical therapist grandpa, because all the kids on that side of the family are very long (Torin's still in the 95th percentile for length) and are therefore late bloomers physically.  I like to think that he's moving at his own gangly pace... he's been in 12-month clothes for a month already and I imagine it's hard to keep up!

In any case, the past 4 weeks have been grueling, because his prescription has been to do a few exercises plus most of his time spent on his belly.  His diagnosis was that he had 4-5 month tummy time skills with a 6+ month brain.  The physical therapist's tummy time joke was "nobody ever got anywhere laying on their back!"  I opened my mouth to mention high-class prostitutes, but closed it without saying anything because I didn't want to imply that I was planning to limit Torin's choice of professions.

Let me tell you, this is a kid who despises tummy time.  My days have been filled with making Torin unhappy by enforcing his exercises as much as he can handle without crying (we're up to 3.5 hours per day now in tiny chunks), which means I listen to his complainy whine all day.  He has all the recommended toys (yeah, I broke down and got the noise/light-makers!) and then some, he has 3 tummy time stations throughout the house, and he has all of my attention.  I do everything I can to make him laugh and smile and think the exercises are play.

ALL the toys.  Torin even has Torin the T-Rex!

He's made so much progress!  

So far, he's learned to:

• Stand when supported (this took only 3 days, and was the main reason I took him to PT)
• Prop up on his elbows during tummy time (instead of doing the "superman")
• Reach forward and up during tummy time
• Roll over from stomach to back in both directions
• Roll over from back to stomach in both directions (though rarely, as he hates being on his belly)
• Sit well with support

However... it's still not quite enough to catch up to his age.

He still needs to: 

• Push up onto his hands regularly during tummy time
• Bend backward from right above his hips rather than higher up his back during tummy time
• Sit unassisted.  (I wasn't explicitly told this, but he just turned 7 months yesterday and it's a general rule that they sit by now.  He has done it for about 20 seconds before realizing I wasn't supporting him and throwing himself backward in protest.)

These are the precursors to crawling.  I was really hoping he'd catch up in a month, but my hopes were just a liiiiittle too optimistic.


Hence the dreams.

The nightmares of last night came soon after I realized that he just had 4 more days until his second physical therapy appointment, where he'd (or I'd) be evaluated for progress, and it triggered my perfectionism.  I must subconsciously feel like a bad mom or a fraud... for his seemingly endless whining, for the failure to catch up to his peers.

Whoa, Nelly!  I mean Kendra.  Whoa, Kendra.  Stop right there, 'cause you have a few decades of parental worry ahead of you.  There's no reason to start giving the poor boy anxiety over his "grades" yet, or over how they reflect your parenting.  He's healthy, he's happy, and his weird parents will keep his life interesting until he goes off to explore weirdness of his own... that's more important than not sitting according to schedule.

Torin must have felt my mood after those dreams, because he cuddled me at every opportunity today.  This is why I shared my friend's blog post's quote earlier:

 ... I love my little demon. 

The farmer's market haul

This is what I found at the farmer's market:

Plus a pretty sword fern from the garden club's yearly plant sale.

• Beets with tops, 1 bunch:  1lb 7.8oz
• Rainbow chard, 1 bunch:  15.3oz
• 5 tomatoes:  2lb 1.8oz
• Brussels sprouts:  1lb 1.2oz
• Radishes, 1 bunch:  10.2oz
• Cilantro, 1 bunch:  3oz
• Asparagus:  1lb 0.3oz

Total:  7.5 pounds 


How does this compare to the previous CSA?


This time I spent $19 instead of the $29 for Doorstep Farmers.  If I had purchased the same exact mix of stuff for $29, I would have ended up with 11.4 pounds.  Doorstep Farmers gave me 8.6, 10, and 7 pounds for this cost.

Doorstep farmers worked out to be $4.14-$2.90 per pound, while the farmer's market was $2.54.  This is SO much closer to my goal of $2.50 or less. 

The winner here is clearly the farmer's market!



Is this an accurate representation of the farmer's market?

Not quite.  The lady selling jewelry claimed that several farmers backed out of the market at the last minute due to not quite being ready to sell produce, which is why there was so little variety... but they should be back next week, including a "huge" veggie stall.

This means that next week there should be more variety... and possibly some competition to keep prices down.

This week I chose produce based on getting the most variety, but also on getting stuff that was not already in the fridge or pantry, and I did not look at prices.  Next week I'll do the same, but the amount of veggies in the fridge will be reduced so I'll end up buying more... and I'll be able to compare prices amongst the more plentiful vendors.

Rats!

An unwelcome visitor approaches.

I set up the bird feeder for the season this week, and as of 2 days ago we have been having some regular visitors... a say's phoebe with a little poofy crest on his head, and a set of male and female house finches.  The male house finch has the cutest blush of red over his face and chest, and has been fun to watch. 

As a side note, whatbird is great for helping figure out what birds you are seeing.  

This morning we had another visitor, picking up the extra seed that'd been sprayed about by the enthusiastic finches... a rat.  Oh yeah, I forgot that this was the reason I stopped filling the bird feeder a year or two ago.  *sigh*  Rats!  When I had the bird feeder up, I'd hear them run back and forth over the roof at dawn. 

I let Stormy out to go rodent-hunting while I searched for items to fix the situation. 


Solution Part 1:  The live trap from my grandpa. 

I've tried peanut butter, birdseed, chocolate, all sorts of random food items, and they've never come to take the bait.  I even SAW a rat pluck off an heirloom cherokee purple tomato last year and take a big bite... I chased it off, and put that tomato in as bait.  Still didn't work... it was left untouched.  So, after some more research on other types of bait, I placed some gristly meat leftovers from last night's steak inside.  Please work? 


Solution Part 2:  Reduce waste from the bird feeder. 

I came up with this temporary fix, made out of a hanging plastic pot and a plastic plant dish.  Unfortunately it means that I can't see the bottom two feeding perches... but it'll work for now until I come up with a better plan.  Hopefully the birds aren't put off by the strange new addition. 

Maybe it doubles as a really awesome new perch.

Wish me luck!  How have you gotten rid of rats?  I can't use poison or snap/electric traps due to the dog.

Doorstep Farmers... the final decision.

The only solution is to stop using their service. 

I was reimbursed $5 for the 2 missing avocados from earlier in the week, which I appreciate.  I was not reimbursed $18 for receiving the incorrect poundage and therefore the wrong size box for 3 weeks, which is what I expected. 

The customer service reply says that their website is correct about the amount of produce I should be expecting.  Yet they essentially said that what I am experiencing will not change, which is what I needed to know.  Their explanation for my 6-pound box is that I opted out of potatoes and they replaced it with lettuce.  Let's break this down...

• My box was 6.75 pounds, if you count the 0.75 pounds of missing avocados.  
• Regular boxes got 1.25 pounds of potatoes.  Since I get a veggie-only box, let's say that they doubled that, for 2.5 pounds.
• I received two lettuces for a total of almost 2 pounds, so I'll give the benefit of the doubt and say that 2.5 pounds of potatoes was replaced with 1 pound of lettuce.
• This means that my 6.75-pound box would have normally been (+2.5 potato, -1 lettuce) 1.5 pounds more, or 8.25 pounds.  That is still not the minimum of 10 pounds.
• Considering that the first box (both fruit and veggie, and a normal weight for what everyone received) was 8.7 pounds, and the second box was 10 pounds, the pattern suggests that I should expect to only receive the minimum advertised amount at the most. 

I might have loved them.  The produce is high quality and very fresh, and I'd recommend it on those terms.  The delivery guy actually shuts the gate on his way out... thank you awesome delivery guy!  The customer service replies are prompt, friendly, and easy. 

I just think I would have preferred them more if I was not a scientist with a frugal streak and an unbending sense of justice/fairness, because I would not have been weighing everything to figure out if I was getting what I was paying for... which I am not.  Doorstep Farmers doesn't help me complete my goal of finding a variety of affordable-for-us organic produce, and the falseness in advertising is the same as a lie to me.

So long, but thanks for all the beets.


The other options may be better?

Doorstep Farmers was $29 for the 6.75 to 10 pounds I was getting delivered. 

For $20 at the local farmer's market and a 1-mile drive or walk this weekend, or $20 for the Buttercup CSA plus 1 mile of travel next month, I can't wait to see what I find.


What have I taken away from this?

In any case, I have learned my lessons: 

1)  If I want to increase my organic veggie intake and variety, a CSA is a really fun option.

2)  Don't just assume that a company is giving you what they claim to be giving you. 

3)  Science makes me unable to be blissfully ignorant at times... it is probably for the best, but can ruin a fun thing. 

4)  I love steamed beets!

Doorstep Farmers... 3rd box

Here was yesterday's veggie-only box: 

• Carrots with tops x2 bunches:  1 lb 5.5oz
• Chard x2 bunches:  1lb 2.5oz
• Beet without tops x4:  1lb 7.6oz
• Redleaf lettuce x2:  1lb 15.8oz

Total:   5.96 pounds.  Wait, is that correct?
I weighed everything twice to make sure I was not mistaken.  I shook the box, knowing it was empty but hoping the avocados would magically fall out.  I was certainly charged for avocados according to the receipt and the label on the box.


How does this box measure up?

Unfortunately, this is HALF of the 10-13lbs that the website claims for the box.  The lettuces are pretty fluffy, so they do take up a lot of space in the box.  But where are the avocados that were available in every box this week?  I dunno, I'm more than underwhelmed this time.  So far I've been happy with 1 out of 3 boxes... those aren't very good odds.  I feel like I've given this CSA a pretty good chance of seeing what their average boxes look like over the past 5 weeks.

I've emailed customer service about the missing produce, and also to see whether the poundage I've been getting is something I should expect or if it gets better as the season progresses.

I could potentially see staying with them if they refund me for the avocados and for the correct box size... I've been paying for the regular box, and basically getting the cheaper senior/student box amount, although this time the 6 pounds doesn't even qualify as any box size.  I would also need to get the correct amount from now on so that I am paying the advertised $2.50 per pound. 


What happens next?


This Saturday the local farmer's market finally opens, so I'm taking a week's worth of Doorstep Farmers' cost in cash and seeing what I can bring home.  It'll be the deciding factor... possibly the nail in the coffin?

That is... it'll be the deciding factor until June, when a farm close to me opens up its CSA for the summer! 

The Buttercup CSA is not customizable and there's no door-to-door delivery... but it is 2/3rds the cost for theoretically the same amount of produce, and the farm is so ridiculously local that it seems preposterous that I didn't know it existed, and their drop-off point is just a mile from our house, and they trade produce for volunteer work.  I'm waiting on a reply from them to see if I can test it out for a few weeks before joining for the whole season. 

A change to our definition of "camping."

We just brought home a little 18-foot travel trailer bunkhouse. 

As a 2014 model, it was very lightly used before the original owners decided to trade it in for something bigger... so it lost a lot of its original value and dropped into our price range even though the first owners added lots of upgrades.  Hooray for buying practically new used stuff from rich people!

Can you feel the fun?

We've been planning on getting one or renting one for a few weeks' trip later in summer... but renting is ridiculously expensive, enough that 10 weeks of renting would pay for the trailer (this equation does not work out for the larger types that are far more expensive).  We'd definitely be getting more than 10 weeks' worth of use out of it in the next few years.

It is super small yet somehow retains a roomy-enough feel, and has bunk beds (or storage space) tucked away in the back that Torin and his future sibling will enjoy.  Visions of family vacations have been dancing through our heads for a while, and it was so lucky that we found THE perfect one for us on a whim on a way back from a day trip. 

The bunk beds

"Glamping" is for wimps?

There's a big part of me... the nature-loving, girl scout part... that is ashamed of camping without a tent.  I mean, isn't that the whole point of camping, to get fully submersed in nature?

There is also a big part of camping that I hate:  sleeping.  I shiver on nights that others consider "nice," even in a sleeping bag meant to withstand freezing temperatures.  I always wake up after 2-3 hours of sleep over the whole night, having covered myself and my pile of blankets with all the coats, sweaters, and towels I can find in my bags.  I am a big whiny baby when it comes to chilly nights, and they impact my energy and ability to fully enjoy the next day. 

And then there's the freezing treks from the camping site to the bathrooms in the middle of the night.  And the lack of showers.  And my hips and back are tortured by sleeping on the ground, even on air mattresses... apparently my "old" started at 28.  And having to leave the tent before getting a toasty beverage to warm my bones is less than convenient.  And using an ice chest instead of a fridge and inevitably getting water in your cheese is really annoying.  And I can never leave camp without obsessing that someone's going to take the tent and sleeping bags and such. 

You know, it doesn't sound too bad.  Less of the suffering.  More of the fun.  It might make camping much easier with a baby and a dog.  I'm just gonna embrace my wimpiness and enjoy the perks of air conditioning and heaters and a locking door! 


We're a bunch o' noobs at this.

Do you have any travel-trailer-camping tips for us?  I lived in a larger trailer for a year as a child while our house was being built, and also visited my grandparents in their trailer on the coast every summer... but I've never traveled in one, and I've never lived in one while it was my responsibility to maintain it.

So far the tips I have collected are along the lines of:

• Get a very large outdoor rug to keep most dirt out of the trailer
• Fill the poop tank most of the way before you flush it
• Get some wheel chocks and leveling boards
• Cover the wheels from sunlight during storage
• Practice hooking it up and backing it up
• Bring folding chairs and a folding table for outside
• Start chilling the fridge the night before the trip (we got the power adaptor already)
• Get melamine dishes, and try to keep everything light weight 
• Check for leaks in the seals on top of the trailer every spring and fall
• Say hi to your neighbors because everyone forms an informal "neighborhood watch" 

What has made trailer/RV camping fun for you?  Where do you like to go?  What do you bring along?

Buddha's hand blossoms

The Buddha's hand tree is flowering!

C'mon bees... all that pollen is yours!

The flowers smell amazing... like an orange tree blossom, but a little more crisp.  This year I put the Buddha's hand into a half wine barrel with lots of fresh soil and a bit of fertilizer.  Perhaps this time the flowers will not all fall and leave me fruitless?  I still really want to make some Buddha's hand infused vodka.

Usually 5 petals, but sometimes 4.

Please, please let there be some fruit this year...

Mantii in the garden again

On our last trip to the hardware store, we decided to pick up some ornamental grasses.  One was a purple society garlic... decorative, yet edible.

I tipped the plant upside down and began tapping and shaking it to loosen the pot from the roots, and out tumbled some baby praying mantises!  Or preying mantii?  Anyway, I was very delighted to find them, and placed each one in a different spot in the garden... distance helps keep them from eating each other.  Luckily for them, I already have aphids and thrip everywhere, so they will have full bellies in this predator's paradise. 

These leaves are about 1/4th of an inch wide.

I've hatched a mantis ootheca once before, so I could tell that these babies were only about 2 days old.

Happy bug-eating, little guy!

You lose some, you win some.

Sad garden news... 

Something dug up my sage plants.  I say "something" and not "Stormy" because I am pretty sure I watched her well all day... and somehow the bed keeps getting dug up despite the fence around it.  It's a short fence, but as far as we know, Stormy doesn't know she can jump that high and always obeys fence boundaries.  I replanted them and hope they survive, and will not let Stormy out of my sight tomorrow. 

All 5 of the mexican gherkins fried to a crisp in the sun over the course of one day.  I also only have 1 left of each of the cuke and squash seedlings, but the list of which numbers corresponded to which varieties is somehow lost, so I wouldn't know which is which anyway.  I spent 3 weeks hardening these guys off, but I guess it wasn't enough. 

Looks like I'm planting a lot of seed directly in the ground tomorrow to try to catch up!  What grows, grows.  And if it doesn't, there's always seedlings at the local hardware store.  Maybe, just to be safe, I should just get a couple squash seedlings.


But on the bright side...

At least all the tomatoes are fantastic, the transplanted mint is having a field day in its new home, the basils and chard are looking stoic, and the strawberries and malabar spinach still appear vibrant.  These guys thought that 3 weeks was plenty of hardening-off time.  There should still be a lot to harvest.

I also repotted the extra tomato seedlings that were in the tiniest pots... sooooo many seedlings!  I have a big decision to make about the remaining garden space... how much do I want to give to squash (which never works for me), and how much do I want to give to tomatoes (I already planted 14)? 

Night of the Living Tomatoes

Yesterday wasn't as productive as I'd hoped, because Torin is teething and his tolerance of my other responsibilities was pretty nonexistent.

Before nightfall, all I had done was organize the seedlings by variety and decide on placement in the garden.

7 different flavors!  Plus baby and pup.  

Obviously I lined up every young living thing that is precious to me for this photo.

I was not deterred.

I had to develop an alternate plan, and ended up gardening in the dark for a few hours after he went to bed.  It was a frenzy of digging and flinging dirt and cupping roots with my bare hands.  Night gardening is very life-affirming... I had no thoughts beyond the dirt, the the plants, the hopes for bringing forth nutrition from the soil, and keeping an ear open for the baby monitor.  I haven't felt a zen quite like that in a while. 

The only downside to night gardening was the bugs.  I had to dig deep for the tomatoes, so I found several cutworms shining white and creepily in the moonlight.  At one point my zen was disturbed as I realized that my arms were completely covered past my elbows in ants because I'd disturbed a nest... but I just brushed them off and kept digging.


Much was accomplished!

The total seedlings planted for the night:

• 5 basil
• 2 sage
• 4 malabar spinach
• 13 tomatoes (9 in the ground, 3 in giant pots, 1 in a large pot for my grandpa)

Every tomato was planted up to its neck in the soil, so they have excellent potential for growing very large and robust root systems. 


The garden is almost done being prepped for summer.

When I woke this morning, it felt like a great surprise to have all that work done!  I still have to find spots for at least 2 more tomatoes and the rest of my herb/cuke/squash seedlings, but the bulk of the transplant effort is complete. 

Then I plant more seeds directly outside, and repot the leftover tomatoes.

Then I need to find new homes for all the excess tomato babies. 

Tomato Planting Day

Today is the start of tomato planting!!

I heard from someone who has had both great and horrible success with tomatoes over the years, and they say that if they plant any earlier than the end of April, they always have a bad time... there's always a cold snap, and then the plants become stunted.  It's already April 28th, and I checked the weather which forecasts no nights under 50 degrees (plus a couple of 90-degree days) for the next 10 days... it is time.


Yesterday's productivity means I'm ready for planting.

Yesterday I spent an hour weeding in the front yard, and an hour doing prep work in the backyard.  This is one thing I made...

First time trying a net in the garden.

Each of these beds are 5'x2'.  The left contains 2 tomato cages and is fully surrounded by a deceptively sturdy Vine-and-Veggie trellis net (5'x30' for the whole thing, $10 on amazon if you're curious), and it will hopefully hold dragon egg cucumbers and sour mexican gherkins.  The net will also keep Stormy from digging there!  The right has 2 tomato cages plus the rest of the net supported along the fence plus a wooden trellis that's been nailed to the fence since before we moved into the house, and it will hold 2 tomatoes.  The plants in front of the beds are volunteer chives.  I'll very likely have to add a few more nails to keep the net supported, but it's fine for now.

I'm off to place seedling pots on their new spots in the garden.  The thrill is giving me goosebumps! 

An Open Letter To My Oven Mitt

Dear Mr. Oven Mitt, 

I can take a hint.  I can tell when it's time for a relationship to end.

Our decade together meant so much to me... you were my first oven mitt, my only oven mitt.  We got together straight out of college, when I had no idea what I was doing.  Just a budding chef and her oven mitt... we certainly learned a lot together.  But lately whenever I reach for you, trying to touch in the way we used to touch, I get burned.  Have we just grown apart after all this time?  I used to be able to depend on you, but you keep letting me down.

Have I ever let you down?  No!  I have defended you against those who said you were looking a little rough around the edges, that you were letting yourself go, that I could do better.  I even stayed by your side when others said you weren't treating me well, weren't protecting me anymore... but over the last year, I've come to realize that they were right.  It's not how you look that bothers me, it's how we're no longer a team.  You've made it abundantly clear that I'm better off without you.  So I'm kicking you out.

So long, and thanks for all the lasagna. 

Good luck out there in the world, I hope you decompose quickly out on some rotting pile of garbage.  Your matching potholder will be joining you shortly... don't think that you can leave your crap behind at my house.

Up yours,
- Kendra

PS:  I already don't miss you.  I met some Swedish twins at Ikea the other day and brought the ladies home, and WHOA, let's just say that cooking has never been better. 

Exhausted after a few hours of baking...

Doorstep Farmers... 2nd box

Here's what came in today's box!

Nearly a beet a day!

• Kale x2... 1lb 8oz
• Red beet bunches x2... 4lb 2oz
• Cucumbers x4... 1lb 14.4oz
• Green beans 1.66 pounds... 1lb 9.6oz
• Hass avocados x2... 14oz 

Total:  10lb exactly

If I'd received a regular box instead of opting out of potatoes and fruit, this is what it would have had:

• Curly kale x1
• Red beet bunch x1
• Cucumbers x3
• Fuji apples x3
• Golden potato 1.33 pounds
• Green beans 1 pound
• Strawberries 8oz
• Valencia oranges x4

How do I feel about this new box?

As for the composition of the box, I am extremely happy.  There are always apples, oranges, and potatoes (bought in bulk) in the house, so the only variety I'm really missing out on from the regular box is the strawberries, but I'd totally take avocados over strawberries.  The veggie-only box (minus potatoes and onions) is a really good choice for us!  The veggies are extremely fresh and vibrant... I have NEVER seen such happy-looking beets and kale at a grocery store.  The photo doesn't do those beets justice, they are nearly 2 feet long.

As for the value of the box... last time I wasn't all that happy, but this time it is satisfactory.  It ended up being exactly 10 pounds, which is on the lower end of their range of 10-13* pounds for the box, and worked out to $2.87 per pound.  For organic produce delivered to my doorstep, I'll take it.

Torin's to start solids in 2 days, so I need to decide whether he gets kale or avocado this week. 

I can't wait for the farmer's market to start up in a couple of weeks so I can do some comparison shopping!  In the meantime we've decided to get another Doorstep Farmers box to tide us over until the farmer's market.  Ryan is very in favor of the box due to the variety which surpasses that of our typical farmer's market... it's true, they always seem to have the same stuff besides the new fruit of the day.  

*Doorstep Farmers' more easily accessible "how it works" web page says 10-13lbs, but I discovered today that on the "shop" page if you click the box three times, it says 7-9lbs.  So the 8.7lbs from the first box may have been intentional and/or more current.  All the boxes appear to be a few pounds lighter on the shop page, so I do not know which estimate is correct.  Their customer service didn't reply to my feedback (which they had requested)... if I was wrong about thinking it should be 10-13 pounds, I feel that they would have let me know by now or updated the website. 

Random culinary experiment of the day: Homemade Lemonade Jello

Someone recommended using Great Lakes gelatin because it fixed their peeling nails problem.  Mine have always peeled, no matter how well I care for them.  Why not try it?  I've been trying to get more collagen in my diet anyway by eating more bone broth, but lately I'm not in the mood for broth (especially turkey broth after that elimination diet!), yet I also don't want to eat the jello in my cupboard whilst breastfeeding 'cause it's all full of artificial dyes and lots of sugar.

I've also been trying to drink more lemon juice for an extra shot of vitamin C in the mornings, especially after the baby and I got sick.

So... lemon juice, gelatin, and low amounts of sugar?  Sounds like it's time to try making some lemonade jello in the same way I make a homemade gatorade.  The following is enough for one day's "prescription" of gelatin, lemon juice, and my magnesium supplement.

2 cups of jello:
- Let 1T gelatin "bloom" in 1/2c cold water for a few minutes by just dumping the gelatin on top of the water and waiting until the powder is hydrated. 
- Add 1T agave syrup*, 1/4c lemon juice (about 1 lemon), a pinch of sea salt
- Optional vitamins:  1-2tsp of magnesium powder (I use one called Natural Calm).
- Add 1 1/4 c boiling water, stir until totally dissolved.  Taste, add more sweetener if desired.
- Chill in fridge 2+ hours.

Sluuuuurp!

Hey, it's not bad.  Actually, it's pretty refreshing!  I wouldn't mind coming home after a long sweaty hike to some nice chilled lemonade jello cubes instead of the homemade gatorade... the jelled form makes me pause and appreciate it more instead of just chugging it down.  It also makes me feel like a kid again.  :)


*If you're used to sugary drinks, you will probably want more!

Updates on the weekend's goals.

Things always take much longer than I expect.

This weekend I didn't plant all the seedlings or seeds.  So much for that plan!

Parts of the plan that did get completed:

• repot all the tomatoes, 
• deeply pot a tomato for my grandpa, 
• fix the drip system (well, Ryan did that)... we're trying soaker hoses to see if Stormy will leave those alone,
• remove the ivy (an entire garbage can full), 
• leaf blower all the things, 
• decide where to put the clothesline, 
• repot the meyer lemon, 
• avoid sunburn (a miracle!)

Other stuff kind of got in the way of planting time.  

I decided not to put the seedlings out yet, because the basil seedling I planted has just a touch of sunburn on it... it means that the hardening isn't complete.  They may need a few more days.

We made a trip to OSH and got some 20-inch pots and a bunch of garden soil, mostly with plans to put tomatoes in them since we have so many seedlings of cool tomato varieties.  We also brought home a few ornamental grasses and a baby Japanese maple.  'Cause new plants are addictive.

I didn't plant the seeds in one bed because it ended up needing far more prep than expected.  Instead, I totally removed the giant chocolate mint from the raised bed (and collected a ton more cutworms, ugh) because I was worried about the roots compromising the structure of the rock wall.  I buried a large pot in the bed in that same spot and planted some peppermint in it to contain the roots.  Lastly I broke up the rest of the peppermint and planted it in a contained area on the pool side of the house... we have other plans there for next year, but in the meantime it's a safe partly-shaded place for the mint. 

I put the buddha's hand tree into a permanent place in a half wine barrel, with the hope that it will give us fruit this year.  Next I potted up the baby maple and found a nicely sheltered spot for it to live. 

The pomegranate tree will go into the front or side yard someday (next year??), but until we decide what to do with the lawn, it must be pot-bound.  I traded it up to a 20-inch pot from its 16-inch one, so it should be happy for a little while longer.


And then, dog drama...

Whilst starting to pluck the inside of Stormy's ears (a monthly grooming task with poodles), I saw a really fast bug that looked like a red fruit fly traveling under her neck hair next to the skin.  Really hoping that wasn't a flea!

I managed to get it out, but it escaped... and I was grossed out enough that I shaved her down pretty far.  Then I detail-shaved her feet, butt, and face.  Then there was the ear plucking and cleaning and nail trimming, and then she got a bath.  I think the entire thing took me a solid 2 hours... she is such a patient pup.  Now that she's had a bath, she needs a second trimming all over to make her coat look professionally even.


Well, it was a nicely productive weekend anyway.  The proof is that my back feels like it got quite the workout!

What's this plant?

I could use some help identifying this plant:

Cute, yet rapidly spreading.

It ranges from 1-3 inches tall (both lengths are displayed in the photo), and looks like individual sprouts but I just discovered that they are actually attached by long runners.  It's making a lush green carpet in the partial shade section across 4 feet of one of my raised beds, and I need to rip it out in order to plant herbs... unless it's edible. 

If it's edible, I'll let it run wild since it doesn't seem to be interfering with the nasturtiums, chard, or kale.

36 Tomato Seedlings!

Originally I planted 6 pots each of 7 types of tomato.  Yeah, it seems like overkill... but last year almost every single seedling I had planted ended up either not sprouting or dying within a couple of weeks.  I wanted success this time.  Out of those 42 plants, 36 survived!

This year I successfully sprouted the following heirloom tomatoes...

• 5 Egg Yolk
• 5 Yoder's German Yellow
• 5 Tigerella
• 6 Black Plum
• 5 Black Krim
• 5 Amish Paste
• 5 Green Zebra

Here's the "before" photo, as they were prepped for transplant and getting hardened off to the elements.

So many tomato possibilities.

I didn't realize exactly how many tomatoes I had until they were all potted up.  I'll probably make a post in a few days about how many tomatoes need to find new homes.  Yeah, most of them are pretty leggy... but with tomatoes that's not such a bad problem because you want to plant them as deeply (or horizontally under the soil) as possible so that all the stem turns into a robust root system.


My plan was to get all the garden stuff done this weekend, and this is a really excellent start!

Frostless and a bit behind.

Today's the last possible frost day.  Do you know what that means?

It means the sun is out and I need to get my butt in gear!!  Arrrg... except for one raised bed, I am a little behind on pretty much everything.

Yesterday Torin watched me weed for almost an hour (a miracle that I could set him down for that long!), and I also got in another good 40 minutes during his nap... it's looking mostly clean out there, and the geobin is full*.  Today's garden mission is to harden off the seedlings some more, transplant one of the basil seedlings to see if they're ready to handle the elements, go over my smartgardener plan (just printed it out), finish up weeding from the side yard, and apply compost to the last 3 planting areas.  Then the majority of the beds will be ready for a rapid massive effort to plant everything.

I should have a few days of intermittent help with the baby coming up, so...


This weekend's mission:

1. Plant all the seedlings besides tomatoes.
2. Repot all tomato seedlings.
3. Pot up a cherry tomato for my grandpa's tiny back porch.
4. Plant all the seeds.  ALL OF THEM.
5. Work on the wedding mead.  
6. Repot the small meyer lemon tree.
7. Plant the pomegranate in the front/side yard.
8. Trim the birch back a bit.
9. Fix the part of the drip system that Stormy chewed.  Again.  Also run it out to the pomegranate tree spot.
10. Remove all the ivy that has crept over from the neighbor's yard.
11. Use the leaf-blower on all the things.
12. Hang the clothesline for the diapers.
13. Don't get sunburnt.

But really, I'll probably only do the first 5 things at most.  I hear there's a free HBO weekend and we might need to marathon-watch some Game of Thrones?



*Just because the geobin is full, it doesn't mean it'll stay that way.  I keep filling it almost to the top, and it compacts surprisingly quickly. 

Doorstep Farmers... 1st box

Well folks, the box arrived!

Contents:

• Leek, 1, 1lb
• Kale, 1 bunch, 8.2oz
• Golden beet, 3, 1lb 4.7oz
• Baby broccoli, 1 bunch, 9.8oz
• Gala apple, 3, 1lb 2.3oz
• Naval orange, 3, 1lb 10.4oz
• Ruby grapefruit, 2, 1lb 11oz
• Kiwi, 4, 12.3oz

Total:  8.7lbs of produce (3.4lb veg, 5.3lb fruit)

The receipt says that 0.75lb of red onions were included, but since I opted out of them, none were included and they added 1 grapefruit which actually got me an extra 0.1lb. 


There is one big problem with the delivery, and a few positives.

The obvious issue:  we paid for a regular 10-13lb box ($29) but got the size of a senior/student 8-10lb box ($23).  Maybe it's shallow of me, but I am trying to stay somewhat frugal here and $3.33/lb doesn't fit into the budget (or into expectations set by the website, where no box gets over $2.90/lb).  I've never done a CSA before, so I don't know if some boxes are slim while others in other parts of the year are more bountiful.  They DO send an itemized list with the costs adding up to $29, but seriously, who pays $2.33 for a single grapefruit?

It also says that this box is for 1-2 people for a week... not counting meat/grains/beans of course, it would feed just me alone for 3 days and I'd still have to add in my extra carrots, potatoes, onions, garlic, salad greens.  I have a feeling that my expectations are way too high, and/or that we eat more produce than most people.

What I do like is the freshness!  Each item is high quality.  I haven't tasted everything, but the kiwis are fantastic (don't forget to eat the skins!) and now I kind of want a kiwi tree.  I also like that the box asks you to flatten it and place it out the night before delivery for reuse.  Another benefit is that they sent me 3 veggies I rarely cook with (last night's beets were a fluke), so it'll help me get a little more creative in the kitchen this week.

The plants look store-bought, down the the stickers on the apples and the printed ties on the bunches of veggies.  If they had a budget box that had cosmetically imperfect fruit or veggies with farm dirt still on them, I'd be all over that.  


Looking forward...

As the current box stands, it is not worth it to me.

I am going to change my preferences to only vegetables, since there is always a plethora of fruit in the house and I'm primarily looking to increase our veggie intake.  This move will very likely increase my happiness with the product.  I'll get at least one more box in 2 weeks, then decide whether or not it's worth it.

I am also going to visit the next farmer's market with $29, the same I spent on the box, and see what I come home with.  Now, I always restrain my spending to like $5-8 at a farmer's market for some reason... I've never forced myself to spend what I had, so this'll be a different experience.  I'll try to come home with the most variety and bulk as possible, then take photos and compare it to the boxes.  Maybe it'll be cheaper by the pound since there's no personal delivery cost involved, and it doesn't cost me much at all to travel since it's just a mile from the house.

The only problem is that the farmer's market doesn't start until May 9th!  My science experiment will have to wait.

Perhaps I'll end up doing the farmer's market while it's available May-Oct, and the CSA Nov-April.


In summary, 

I really need to get the rest of my garden planted.  NOW.  I'm running out of the volunteer mustard greens finally, and there's nothing really edible out there besides a few herbs, 1 kale, and some extremely happy nasturtiums. 


Edit:  I just found their Facebook page, and their variety from week to week is really impressive, there are almost no repeats!  Looking at the extra veggies that come with the bigger boxes, I do think that I'll be happier with a veggie-only box.


Second edit, 2 weeks later:  Doorstep Farmers' more easily accessible "how it works" web page says 10-13lbs, but I discovered today that on the "shop" page if you click the box three times, it says 7-9lbs.  So the 8.7lbs from the first box may have been intentional and/or a reflection of a more current estimate.  All the boxes appear to be a few pounds lighter on the shop page. 

Ideas for a non-lawn?

We've been considering getting rid of our lawn since we moved here 3 years ago... for just a circle of 700 square feet, it uses an incredible amount of water, and I just do not seem to have a green thumb when it comes to lawns so it always looks vaguely crappy (probably because I refuse to water it for 15 minutes twice a day, as people in my neighborhood say they do!).  Plus I'm pretty allergic to grass.  It's surrounded by bushes (mostly juniper) on all sides. 

What would you recommend?  We have a dog that loves to run circles on it, and a baby that would need a child-appropriate substrate in a couple of years.  It's surrounded by bushes on all sides.  It must look nice during the transition since we live in a HOA.


Option 1:  Take advantage of our water district's rebate plan, get $700 to work with.

They give you a free 2-hour landscaping consultation, and pay you $1 per square foot to remove your lawn.  They drive by and check for a few years that you haven't re-introduced lawn. 

The downside is that you have to jump through their hoops... you can only choose from their list of drought-resistant plants, and must install a drip system (and remove sprinklers), and 50% of the area must be covered with plants once they are mature.  The money gained would definitely help with the cost of the drip system, plants, mulch, etc.


Option 2:  Edible lawn.  Combine with Option 1?

Here I'm picturing perennial herbs that wouldn't take more effort than mowing/trimming, a kind of edible lawn.  Maybe stepping stones in a spiral or some other pattern across the circle of space, with a groundcover of creeping thyme around the stones.  We could leave the sprinkler system in place, or thyme (creeping, wooly, or carpet creeping) counts for Option 1.

It'd take a year or two to cover the entire space if we planted the groundcover every 8-12 inches... so do we mulch in between to keep it looking nice?  If I started some pots of it early, then I could take tons of cuttings to make this process cheaper.


Option 3:  Herb garden

Similar to Option 2, but with a lot more variety and more garden-like.  Maybe lots of different varieties (colors of flowers and heights) of creeping thyme to cover the ground, but then bushes of rosemary, mints, sage, thyme, lavender, etc.

Taller herbs could go in a circle in the middle that is divided up into different areas for each perennial herb.  Or they could go in a ring around the outside of the thyme-lawn to leave a larger play area inside.  We could separate the areas with retaining walls or stone borders, or not.

I do know that oregano grows well here (needs to be chopped down once a year but mostly stays green), and rosemary grows well here too and flowers for a very long time.


Option 4:  Non-edible non-lawn.

Is there a plant like creeping thyme that is easy to step on and can be mowed but requires little water?


Option 5:  No plants.

This would be the lowest-maintenance option.  Maybe do a decorative pattern with larger rocks and gravel, maybe spread mulch.  Gravel might be too hot for a kid to play on, and mulch might risk splinters?  Hmm.  But a nice rock garden, maybe with a giant basalt column, could look pretty cool. 

I could add interest in areas with pots, and remove/add pots as the plants become attractive or die out.


Option 6:  The tree.  Combine with Option 1?

We could put a single tree in the center of the circle, and mulch around it.  If we used a pomegranate tree, it would count for Option 1's rebate.  So would the common hackberry which has edible fruit.


Option 7:  Scorched earth.  Combine with Option 1?

We could get rid of the lawn AND the bushes.  Put in tiers on the main-street side that slopes using retaining wall bricks and add something interesting like small rose bushes or tufts of tall grasses or small irises, as a few neighbors have done when they've gone lawnless.  Then use one of the above methods for the rest of the area.  This would essentially double (or triple?) the play space, but it would also get rid of the protective feeling that the thick junipers give to the play area (they keep Stormy on the lawn, and would protect the house/lawn area from a drunken driver).


Thoughts?  Ideas?

Joining a CSA

Today seems like a good holiday for talking about abundance.

Last Tuesday when I was leaving for an errand I saw my neighbor across the main street getting a package from Doorstep Farmers.  Could it be?  A CSA* that delivers to my area?  The delivery guy was swift with purpose and had a happy bounce to his step.

I've had a fantasy about signing up for a CSA for a while, but the ones that friends recommended or that I found online seemed to all either not deliver to my house, they were too expensive, and/or they required a large commitment (like ordering by the season), or have some other inconvenient issue.  Why can't I just get cheaper organic veggies shipped to my house by the box?


This one seems like it might work out...

I signed up for an every-other-week delivery of the "regular" box, which is 10-13 pounds of organic produce, averaging $2.50 per pound.  In an attempt to increase the value I opted out of receiving onions and potatoes, 'cause I tend to get those in bulk from Costco anyway and grow my own onion greens.  If my fruit trees perform well this year I'll opt out of plums and apples too.  I figure we'll do at least 2 deliveries before deciding whether to keep it or increase it to every week.

I'll keep you updated with a photo of the first box on Tuesday.


*someone asked what CSA stands for, and I didn't know:  Community-Supported (or Shared) Agriculture