22 April 2011
a humble opinion
Did I tell you how awesome my new can opener is?
That is a line to get people's attention, for sure.
I used it on my sister, who was over for dinner last week (we made white-girl sushi with brown rice, cooked shrimp and no bamboo mats). This was after hearing about my worm bin, baby seeds, raw milk and dream of one day owning chickens. I think the can opener was a little too much for her. We were in peals of laughter all evening.
It's a Kuhn Rikon Auto Deluxe Safety Lid Opener, officially.
It costs more than your average stainless steel hand-cranked jobbie, yes, but how often do you replace your can opener? Shelling out another ten bucks for a piece of equipment you'll use for ten years doesn't seem to be a huge sacrifice, in my opinion.
After I'd ordered it from Amazon, I told Kevin about my new engineering marvel, expecting him to be intrigued. "That's cool", he said, no doubt while mulling over a graph theory problem. YES IT'S VERY COOL.
But no matter. When I had it in my hands, and couldn't figure out how to work it - that's when he got involved. I was twisting it around the can, as instructed, but nothing happened. Nothing popped up, no sliced metal, no indication that I had done anything consequential in those previous fifteen seconds. We squinted at the crinkled paper instructions, then at the can, then back at the paper. Then one of us realizes - just pull up with the clamp. (I know none of this makes sense to you all). So we did - pull up with the clamp - and voila! The lid came off, having been perforated about five times too many from my excessive twisting of the opener.
That got his attention. "I just didn't realize how cool it was!"
It cuts from the side, rather than the top, so there are no sharp edges. Being the most successful klutz of 2011, this is great news. I've bled more than I care to admit thanks to jagged-topped empty cans on their way to the recycling bag.
It's a dream, and I never intend to own a regular can opener again.
16 April 2011
sprouts of all sizes
The seeds have sprouted! I love saying that.
Last night, I peeked into my containers to find that the yellow squash seed on the kitchen table under the lamp had broken through the soil with a beautiful brand new green head. This morning, its neighbor followed suit, as well as its neighbor container, the bush bean seed.
The tray on top of the fridge has a winner for earliest sprout: the bush bean.
However, not far behind it is the summer squash. You can see a tiny green fleck in the foreground (out of focus) that is breaking the soil as we speak.
The germination times for summer squash and bush beans are six and eight days, respectively, so my guys are doing quite well, being that today is only day five. The containers on my windowsill have yet to be disturbed, and the eggplant and cucumber seeds have not germinated in any of my three experiment locations. No fear, though, it is still early days.
Here is the windowsill today, a gorgeous summery afternoon, with Bella and Klaus being the heart-melters that they are:
And here are the seedlings I planted Monday:
Cherry tomatoes in the back, purple peppers in the front.
Red leaf lettuce, and basil. See the rich black topsoil? That's actually worm poop. Worm poop (aka worm castings, aka vermicast) full of nitrogen and water-soluble nutrients. Worm poop I spent an hour separating from the worms, by hand.
My snap pea plant (one vine in there I grew from a seed - the rest I bought as seedlings) is now four feet tall, and outgrew the bamboo sticks and string cage I made. The pea vines started growing into and clinging to one other, becoming a tangled mess. I bought a tomato cage structure to support it, and spent upwards of an hour carefully untangling and re-feeding the vines up their new support system. They look much happier now!
And, snap peas have already started growing:
And over here, my steadfast plants from last December, growing strong:
Broccoli (the beautiful, bouncy, wiry plant in the back), parsley and chives. I'm not sure if the broccoli will ever grow an edible part (!) but I'm still hoping.
Finally, my warm-blooded growing young things (it's their first birthday this week!):
Couldn't help but zoom in on this one.
What a life.
11 April 2011
seeds, for summer
Time to plant some seeds.
Or, at least, that's what ended up happening today. I drove up to Virgil's Hardware in Glendale, planning on buying some assortment of growable, edible things. I ended up with eight seedlings, four seed packets, four new containers and six cubic feet of organic potting soil (that's four very heavy bags). My bill was gigantic, owing to the containers and soil, but now at least I have enough containers to re-use for the foreseeable future.
I'll post tomorrow about the outdoor garden, but right now I want to document my first seed experiment. You see, last December when planted seeds, I didn't really know what I was doing. I read books and websites and gathered all the information that people had put together regarding starting seeds indoors. There are no less than fifty different ways to do it, flush with contradictions. So, I combined some methods that I felt might work well, and started seeds in little pots that were sealed in ziploc bags under a lamp. Not a fancy lamp, just a regular reading lamp. (Who knows if it did a thing, considering it wasn't particularly warm.) There were some disappointments: an unnamed kitten ate the heads off pea sprouts, my spinach never took off, the green onions shoots died a sad death outside. There were also some (okay, one) accomplishment: today the little pea sprout that avoided the kitten guillotine is healthy and happy and growing like a vine outside. For the first time in my adult life growing something from seed, and with no fancy equipment or help, I think that's pretty good.
Now, it's April and the days are getting warmer and longer. I could have started seeds over a month ago and been planting them outside by now, but anyway. Today I picked up the following organic seed packets: bush beans, yellow crookneck squash, cucumber and eggplant, and tonight I sat at my kitchen table and went to work carefully planting tiny seeds in beautiful, spongy, loamy organic potting soil.
I have enough seedling containers to distribute one of each type of seed in three different areas of my house, to see if there is an advantage in location/or and temperature. The constants for all seeds are: sterilized containers to kill any microscopic fungus or bacteria from the previous soil, the same organic potting soil, and eight ounces of filtered water (relative to the size of the container). I have set up one station exactly as before: in ziploc bags, under a lamp.
The second station is on top of my fridge, without ziploc bags. Open air. It's not any warmer on top of the fridge than elsewhere in the kitchen. The overhead lamp hangs somewhat near, but nowhere close to the 6 inches that is recommended for appropriate heat.
The third station is on my windowsill. For most of the day, these seeds will effectively be outside, since the window will be closed. Two of the four little pots are in a ziploc bag, and the other two are open air.
I look forward to seeing how this experiment goes. The use of ziploc bags is to keep a warmer temperature than if the seeds were sitting open in the room. The moisture of the soil from tonight's watering, plus a few sprays of water onto the inside of the bag, keeps it pretty humid in there. Seeds need water and warmth to germinate. But I know it's also possible to plant seeds outside, as plants have been getting their seeds naturally distributed outside very successfully for eons. I vaguely remember doing garden projects as a kid in England, and we were always outside. It's warming up in Southern California - highs are in the low 70s - but it gets down to high 40s-50s at night. So - we shall see which seeds sprout!
07 April 2011
coming up
Hear, hear! This week marks the end of a month of self-inflicted injuries. That's right, it's over. No more shall I do things like almost slice my thumb off, barrel into a steel chair at full speed, or carelessly light an oven full of natural gas and almost blow my face off.
No, that is in the past. The future looks like me waking up regularly before dawn, working out with the early morning regulars at the gym, feeling restored and energized and re-charged. It looks like me feeling balanced and regulated throughout the day, and making good choices about food. It looks like me kicking ass at my job and rooting for my boyfriend to get a fantastic summer job offer at a company he's really excited about. It looks like me making delicious things in the kitchen and tending to my spring vegetable garden. It looks like slanted summer light, warm evenings, windows flung open all day, sundresses, no bras, and bare feet. Self-inflicted injuries are not in the picture.
As my sister would say: Adorbs.
Ok, so it's not like I haven't been making delicious things in the kitchen. A girl's gotta eat, injured or not. Homemade gluten-free muesli, above.
Delicious and so easy leek + zucchini quiche sans crust (or, more colloquially, 'egg pie').