sustainable living
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The June Food Stamp Challenge begins
My friend Katy over at the NonConsumer Advocate lit a fire under her followers to take the June Food Stamp Challenge. I won’t go into parameters, so check her out for all the details, but the idea is to live on a food stamp budget — what you would get for your family if you were living on food stamps — and, if you are so moved, donate the difference in what you spend vs what you would have normally spent on food. (We’ll be donating to the Alameda Food Bank.) Katy has a chart on her blog site about how much to spend per family/person, but for the sake of…
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yeah, well, so it’s Monday.
So what has occurred since last time I posted? The Tax Man. We’ll leave it at that. Meanwhile, we spent the weekend digging up dirt (not on the neighbors, but for the garden). Planted more strawberries (8 new plants), and one new artichoke. Next spring will be crazy with plants. Will we still be here? At the current rate of attrition of children-leaving-the-nest, one wonders. We’ve been thinking about how long to stay in this dreamhouse as the nestlings fly away. A 5-BR house was perfect when we moved in in 2006. Now there is one empty bedroom, an office, and the other two girls make noises like they might go live…
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train to nowhere
When sleepless in Alameda, the only thing to do is read (but I finished my book earlier this evening), watch TV (nuthin on) or blog. Here I yam. I’m slowly adding to the wonder that is the garden. I planted corn in a very small box — usually I have tried planting a row (one line) of corn, and we get perhaps a dozen ears. But I know it does better when it’s closer to other stalks, in multiple rows. The pollen needs to run into itself, and in one straight line that just doesn’t happen. Our friend Phil says that we have to have sex with our vegetables to make…
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Lordy Lu: What’s new
Such days, such busy days. Been reading, working in the garden, taking care of chickies, cats, birds, people, and self. Weather, projects, house, life. Busy days, I tell you. Biggest project has been the raised beds. Here come the photos, my little chickadees. So here’s the chicken coop with a new green corrugated roof. That took us a weekend day to repair. The coop still needs a solid door, as we discovered last night — either an electric fence or steel spikes dug down at least a foot into the earth. Yes, our raccoony friends were here overnight and dug underneath, into the coop. Luckily, the chickies still sleep in the garage,…
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puttering, or if you’re British, pottering
Black coffee and rain. Sleepy cat, laundry piles, Mr. Husband packing to go away for a business trip (which includes a 24-hour marathon relay through the Arizona desert, and a visit to spring training); the girls are in various states of sleepiness as they arise and go about their day. Raindrops against the window behind me. Yesterday was sunny-ish, and almost warm, and since it was forecast to rain today, I took advantage of the weather (I know — there I go, taking advantage again. I’m such a user.) and puttered a bit. Puttering turned into a little bit of huffing and grunting when I moved a couple of pots I probably…
