Foolproof Gardening?

I don’t have much gardening experience beyond sticking a few annuals in the ground each year, but I decided to try vegetable gardening this year, on a very small scale.  On the advice of a friend who knows a lot more about this than I do, I got two Earth Boxes and planted them this weekend.  I’ve been assured that they are almost foolproof.  Assuming you can follow directions to set them up properly and that they get enough sun, the rest is pretty easy.  A below soil irrigation system means that as long as you keep the reservoir full, you can neither over- nor under-water the plants.

.

Behold, tomatoes on the left and cucumbers on the right.  (Ignore the weedy mess that is our “lawn”–we inherited that when we moved in last summer.)  They aren’t much to look at yet, but I have high hopes for my fledgling vegetable garden.

About two hours after I planted the Earth Boxes, the boy came into the kitchen and noticed the tomatoes I had purchased earlier that day at the farmers’ market.  He was disappointed when I told him that no, they had not come off the new tomato plants

Argument or Contradiction?

Should I use more big words?

Great tits cope well with warming

Smile-inducing headline from the BBC for its story on how one of Britain’s birds has adapted to climate changes over the past 50 years. 

“It’s great to hear that the great tit is able to keep pace with the rapid rate of climate change, but then it’s probably in the best place to do that,” observed RSPB spokesman Grahame Madge.

 

My Current Favorite Song

“No Children” by The Mountain Goats from the album Tallahassee.  Listening to this over and over on my Metro commute this week.  You really have to hear his delivery of the lyrics to do them justice:

I hope that our few remaining friends
give up on trying to save us.
I hope we come up with a fail-safe plot
to piss off the dumb few that forgave us.
I hope the fences we mended fall down beneath their own weight.
And I hope we hang on past the last exit;
I hope it’s already too late.
And I hope the junkyard a few blocks from here
someday burns down;
and I hope the rising black smoke carries me far away,
and I never come back to this town again.

In my life,
I hope I lie,
and tell everyone you were a good wife.
And I hope you die.
I hope we both die.

I hope I cut myself shaving tomorrow;
I hope it bleeds all day long.
Our friends say it’s darkest before the sun rises,
we’re pretty sure they’re all wrong.
I hope it stays dark forever.
I hope the worst isn’t over.
I hope you blink before I do.
I hope I never get sober.
And I hope when you think of me years down the line,
you can’t find one good thing to say.
And I’d hope that if I’d found the strength to walk out,
you’d stay the hell out of my way.
I am drowning.
There is no sign of land.
You are coming down with me,
hand in unloveable hand.
and I hope you die.
I hope we both die.

 

 

Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival

On Saturday I attended the annual Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival (MDSW) for the first time. What a great day! This is one of the largest fiber festivals in the country–I’ve heard estimates of 50,000-100,000 attendees per year. It’s a celebration of all things fiber–from the sheep, rabbits, and goats to the finished products–yarn and knitted/felted/woven fabrics. There is an animal component with exhibitions and judging, and a market component where one can buy fleece, roving, yarn, spinning wheels, and any knitting/spinning/weaving tool or accessory you can think of. There are also other vendors selling hand crafted baskets, furniture, jewelry, and the like. Add in musicians and fair food and you have the makings of a great festival.

Having heard the stories of the crowds and traffic backups on Saturday (the festival runs all weekend), I decided to head out early for the just-over an hour drive from Northern Virginia to the Howard (MD) County fairgrounds. My strategy worked well. I breezed right in ahead of the crowds, got a great parking space near the entrance, and headed onto the grounds. Even though I arrived about an hour before the official start time, there were people there even earlier, and there were already substantial lines of people waiting outside two very popular booths–the festival souvenirs, and The Fold, vendor for the currently-hot item “Socks That Rock” sock yarn.

I wandered a bit and then met up with some friends who arrived a couple hours later. We went to the Ravelry meetup, then spent the rest of the day shopping, eating, and sitting on blankets knitting. I left the festival 10 hours after I arrived, sunburned, dead tired, and very happy.

My “loot” from MDSW: yarn for four pairs of socks and a shawl, a felted iPod case, and a hand-woven white pine basket that was made as I watched.

Lessons learned:
–The hype about things selling out is overstated. To listen to people talk beforehand, you’d think that the stock of certain popular booths would be ravaged within minutes of the festival opening. There was still plenty of yarn and other goodies left by the end of the day.
–People talked about how crowded it is on Saturday and not to go until Sunday if you dislike crowds. Yes, there were a lot of people there, but it wasn’t uncomfortably crowded. Maybe I’m desensitized from living in DC and commuting on the overcrowded Metro trains every day?
–Having been there once, next year I’m going to plan my time so that I see more of the animal side of the festival. I spent most of the day browsing the booths and knitting on the lawn. No regrets about that, but next year I would like to see the sheep dog demonstration, maybe a shearing, and wander through the barns to see more of the animals.
–Cell phones are a godsend at events like this. Made it so much easier for our group to coordinate and find each other when we wanted to go separate ways and then regroup.
–Reapply sunscreen liberally. With my fair Anglo skin I’m usually over-vigilent about sunscreen, but I still managed to get burned on one side of my neck and shoulders.
–There was more of a cross-section of people than I was expecting: male, female, old, young, singles and families.

I’m eager to start knitting up the yarn I bought, but I’m trying to finish at least a few of the projects that I already have in the works before casting on more.  Stay tuned for updates.