Wildlife

One nice thing about our rather haphazard garden is that we have a lot of wildlife. This is helped by our birdfeeder; we've counted over a dozen species at it and there's nearly always a few birds eating. But we've also provided a habitat that allows them all to make homes. Lots of high trees, lower, dense bushes, and good ground cover. We've also seen several small mammals: squirrels, chipmunks, moles, and a couple rabbits. We had one problem with a groundhog mowing on our parsley and peas, and we once had a green-tomato-eating racoon, but they've otherwise stayed away from the garden. I think (and hope) it's because we've provided them with preferable alternatives for food and shelter.

Anyway, we planted some sunflowers this year. I didn't get any pics of them blooming, but we left them on after the blossoms had died. I was originally thinking we'd roast our own sunflower seeds?

But someone else wanted them as well. He's so pretty, I decided that he gets them instead.

Later, he brought his girlfriend as well. I like how she's hanging upside down in this pic.

The goldfinches are rather messy eaters, leaving plenty around for our chipmunks.

There's definitely something nice about a garden with wildlife. It's always sad to me when I visit California. Everyone has big expansive lawns, but there's few trees or bushes. A few annuals here and there, but nothing is allowed to go to seed and feed the wildlife. Heck, there's even HOAs that will forbid it. I just find it very sterile. What's the point of having land if it's not going to be used? Just to show that you have enough money to support that amount of land and maintain it? (I wish there was a better word than maintain. I consider my garden maintained, but many would consider it rather wild. It is in fact maintained daily though. Manicured?)

My neighbor put it rather well the other day. We were ripping out some lawn between our houses for the roses and strawberries, and we asked him if it was ok since it's partially on his property. He said "Grass is the stuff between vegetables and flowers".

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My camera works again!

I hadn't posted for a while as my camera wasn't loading pictures onto my computer. I finally figured out the problem though; it seems there is something wrong with the cable. Here's the weird deal though: it works fine on Saul's computer, just not mine. But when I switched cables, it worked. So whatever.

Anyway, just found this on the camera. The culprit is in the lower right.


And this one was just cute.

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It's Spring!

Ten days ago, we walked outside and crocuses were blooming! I declared it the beginning of spring and spent the next weekend planting peas, lettuces, and spinach. My neighbor says the timing was perfect; according to her, all of those are supposed to be planted on St. Patrick' Day. Nothing has germinated yet, but I'm hopeful. I think it's partly because I'm not watering it enough; you would think that it would have rained, but it hasn't really yet.

I am also not going to have too much lettuce this year. Really. I split seed packets with Emily, Kami, and Michael, so I only have .... 400 lettuce seeds....ok, I'm still going to have too much lettuce.

I'm always surprised at how depressed I am in winter and how much happier I get when we finally have some sunlight and weather above freezing. One of my neighbors was laughing because he still considers it winter right now, and I was out flipping the compost pile, raking leaves, and planting! I did try to prevent planting too much this year though. I'm spacing out the lettuce, and there are no radishes this year. That should help some.

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Our house cleaners

Saul and I hired a cleaning company to do the basic house cleaning for us. (Hey, we're not cleaning 3 toilets and 4 bedrooms). They just do the basics every other week.

We used to have an eco-friendly company come, but they started charging a high price, so we switched to a normal cleaning company. I explained my issue with harsh cleaning chemicals and asked that they please use only the cleaners that I provide.

I don't know what it is with these people though. They can't just do as I ask. The guy who owns the place keeps asking about using a different floor cleaner because the one I provide isn't "disinfecting". I don't want it to be "disinfecting" dammit, I want it to remove the grease and grime! What I don't get is why he apparently feels compelled to discuss this. It really is as though he is as morally opposed to bacteria as I am to dumping ammonia on the floor.

Thinking of...he suggested that he use his own concoction which he "adds disinfectant too". I doubt he got an A in high school chem. Cause if he did, he might know that mixing bleach and ammonia causes chloramine gas.

Info on combining cleaners

Oh well, I might be firing them soon anyway since they haven't come for over almost four weeks.

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Rediscovering how to cook

When I was young, we cooked a lot in my family. My mother was a home economics major in college, so cooking is a hobby for her. I remember her trying out a new recipes frequently when I was growing up, and my brother and I both learned to cook from her.

We always ate meals that were well balanced, had at least two sides, and went together well as a menu. Of course, my mother loves to do this, and since this was her major in college, for her, doing this is a matter of keeping up in her field. However, I have another field, and I don't have the patience to do this. Additionally, we only have two people to feed, so making a 3 course meal seems over-the-top for us (though I suspect my mom always cooked like this, even when living by herself). So, when faced with make-a-big-meal-with-an-hour-of-prep or cook-pasta-and-dump-in-sauce, Saul and I always go for the later.

When I decided we should start eating only local produce and meat at home, I was really concerned about the cooking. I mean, then we'd have to prepare big meals, and that kind scared me. Somehow in my head, the only options were gourmet meal or packaged meal. Kind of ridiculous, but looking back, that's what we ate at my house. (Unless my dad cooked, then it was always "Dave's Surprise"). I really need to get over the fact that I'm not my mother. I think I've made progress, at least in the cooking realm.

I started trying to find seasonal recipes, but they all looked rather frightening. I think the problem is that if the recipe is simple, people don't write it down because it seems obvious. Except that, if you're one of us who don't cook gourmet meals, it isn't obvious. :)

Here's what I've rediscovered about cooking:

1. My mom and my grandmother and aunts don't fret about measurements because unless you're baking or canning, it doesn't matter. No one will notice. 2 carrots, 3 carrots, 1o carrots. Depends on the size of the carrot anyway, so who cares? No one will notice between 1 t. of oregano and 1 T. of oregano, so dump it in already.
   
2. Fresh herbs are everything. Seriously. If I only had a small amount of space, I'd just grow a few herbs. They last spring through fall, they taste better when fresh picked, and then you feel like you've "contributed" to the meal. Even if you're just using canned pasta sauce, add some fresh oregano and parsley. More on herbs later.
   
3. It is impossible to mess up cooked veggies. If you can't think of anything else, saute and add some herbs. If the veggies are in season, they'll taste good. The only bad thing you can do is burn them. This is the key to eating local produce only. You can't mess up something that's already yummy.
   
4. Everything tastes better with cheese. If it wasn't that yummy, pile on some fresh parm or mozz. I mean pile. You'd be surprised how much cheese Saul and I can eat. (Hey, the rest of the meal is vegetables.) Unless it is burned, it can be resurrected with cheese.
5. Garlic must always be on hand. Garlic garlic garlic.
   
6. If you can't figure out anything else, amend pre-packaged food. Add herbs and fresh veggies to marinara sauce. Make tomato soup, but add fresh tomatoes, cheddar cheese, and oregano.

I think the most important thing was that I actually attempted, on several occasions, to make something based upon a pile of veggies in my fridge and some herbs in the garden. The first few attempts were just steamed veggies. Then saute veggies. Then saute veggies with sauce. Finally, roasted veggies. If they are fresh and local, there really is no need to do anything fancy with them. They'll just taste good on their own.

I think it still takes a few recipes to get going (I sure needed them). So I'm going to post my recipes, even the simple ones, as I make them at home when veggies come in season. I'm going to back-date a few posts to spring to fill in for next year. Since what I can make changes every month, I tend to forget myself what recipes are good, even the simple ones.

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Welcome to the garden

I've been thinking about starting this blog for a while. My "liberal guilt" has been causing me to change how I live over the last several years, and looking back, I've changed my lifestyle quite a bit in little ways. It's been hard to find information though about living more ecologically. I mean, we all know to change out the lightbulbs and that organic food is good (though expensive). And yeah, we should take public transit. We've changed the lightbulbs, we own a Prius, and while I'll pay an extra $1 for organic at Giant Eagle, I'm not paying 4x the price for the same thing at Whole Foods.

There's actually a lot of info about living ecologically online. However, a lot of it seems to be focused on families with babies. This makes sense really; parents are naturally going to be more concerned about what goes in Junior's mouth. But it's a lot about diapers and bottles and baby food and rattles, and for those of us that are DINKS (Dual-Income No Kids), a good 50% of these blogs don't really apply. They also seem very "mommy-centric", which I just feel odd about (are there any daddies out there?)

Maja reminded me last night that I really should start this blog. I've got huge lists of recipes for eating locally, random tips for cleaning the house in without harsh chemicals, and other random resources. If you're a busy young professional (or grad student), it's hard to find the info that actually applies your life and is reasonably practical (ie: I don't shop at Whole Foods). So, hopefully this helps people out, and also helps me remember things (like what I can eat in January if I'm only eating local food!)

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