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life from the ground up

Real living in a processed world.

First asparagus

By: Gabecomment

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When we moved into our new house, I planted a bed of asparagus in the front, so I’ve been waiting for several years to enjoy the fruits (or vegetables) of my labor. You don’t want to eat it the first year, and not much the second, so it gets nice and big and strong.

So last year, when we were able to eat it, we had an early warm spell followed by a hard freeze that pretty much squashed those hopes. Thawed, mushy asparagus is not good.

So this year, while the first couple spears up were similarly frozen, we’ve been picking every couple days to keep up with it. It’s such a seasonal treat, gotta enjoy it while it lasts!

asparagus

Happy Spring!

By: Gabe1 Comment

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Here in northern Ohio, we are still waiting. Usually by this time, we’ve had a stretch of sorta nice days to whet our appetite, but outside of a few widely scattered periods, nothing so far. The good is that, unlike last year, when we had a week-long stretch in the 70s in the middle of March, nothing is leafing out or starting to grow (only to get frozen to death a week later). The bad is that… I’ve had enough of winter 2012-13. Yes, I like the different seasons, snow, blah, blah, blah. After a point though, I don’t care anymore and I just want it to get warm and green.

Seeds have been started, and some things will be ready to go outside in a couple weeks, if the ground ever thaws.

The dogs are tired of frozen stuff too.

I tapped some trees two weeks ago, and had a nice two-day stretch of sap flowing, at which point the temps dropped below freezing, where we remain. So, maple season 2013 has still yielded nothing, with no plans in the immediate future (forecast is for below freezing for the rest of the week with a lake effect snow warning for the next two days – yay spring!).

springsap

C needs to get out of the house too. We venture out occasionally, but not enough.

We’re getting a little stir-crazy around here.

The color brown

By: Gabecomment

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Of which we’d better get used to – we’re getting a heavy dose of it lately, unlike the regular spring deluges from last year. It’s been a pretty frustrating spring so far in terms of weather (though, when isn’t it? As I’ve pondered many times before, is there really such a thing as perfect weather around here?), as we’ve had one semi-decent rain in the past month-plus, and even semi-decent is probably being generous; it was maybe a half-inch or so. I’d bet we had no more than an inch the entire month of May. Aside from that, we’ve had a few instances of sprinkles (that may as well be nothing), and lots of “a line of storms headed our way,” only to watch them magically dissipate or veer just south right before it hits us. Those are the worst.

Because much of what I’ve planted is still in a pretty delicate, early stage of growth, I have to water things almost daily, meaning I’ve already had to water more this year than I did all of last year. The grass was turning brown in May, which tends to not happen around here, even considering how messed up Ohio weather can be. I’m hoping this is not a harbinger for the rest of the summer, otherwise it’s going to be a long year.

The latest “rain” we had came the other day, and was about the most worthless two hours of “rain” I’ve witnessed. Again, everything heavier just seemed to vanish before it hit us, so while it “rained” for several hours off and on, it alternated between a mist and a heavy mist, and did nothing more than get the grass wet – I don’t even know if anything made it to the ground. The only good that came out of it was that we got to witness a nice rainbow just before sunset. Nice gesture.

Guess what the forecast looks like for the next week? Lots and lots of heat and sunshine. I hope the tomatoes are happy…

Garden update 4/11

By: Gabecomment

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Things have been quite busy around here, which is why I haven’t been posting much recently. Reseeding bare patches in the yard, digging new beds, moving rocks and dirt piles, planting trees, starting seeds, chasing the boy around… There’s a lot going on.

The weather continues to be strange. Although, I’m just accepting the fact that there really is no ‘normal’ weather, just an average based on dozens of years of highs and lows and in-betweens. We had, apparently, the warmest March on record, then no appreciable rain for almost two weeks (meaning I had to water the grass seed. Every. Day.), and today we woke up with a couple inches of snow on the ground. At least I don’t have to water this afternoon.

I haven’t planted anything else outside since the initial seeding almost a month ago now. I forget how quickly things dry out inside (in some cases, I need to water more than once a day in the cool, dry basement), and I’ve had to replant a couple tomatoes already because they’ve gone crispy.

After that really warm stretch, temps have more or less been normal for this time of year, so as much as is possible, things are kind of getting back to the way they should be outside. The early start doesn’t appear to have negatively impacted much. So far.

The little outdoorsman

By: Gabecomment

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Now that the weather is getting nicer, C really enjoys being outside. He can also walk (okay, run) a lot better than he could last year, meaning I don’t have to be worried about him tripping and falling into a puddle or mudhole. Now, if he’s in the mud, it’s fully intentional.

Of course, being outside is a good thing, but it also comes with its own set of challenges, as, I suppose, does anything involving a toddler. We now need to work on boundaries. We fortunately live on a cul-de-sac, with only one other house on the street, so traffic is not an issue, but teaching him that he can’t go into the street without mommy or daddy is likely going to take a while. He does kind of seem to understand the concept of grass, so I can tell him to stay in the grass with mild effectiveness. Though with him, understanding is the least of it – he can understand it perfectly and still choose to ignore me. I’ve quickly gotten to the point that, as long as I can see him, he’s not destroying anything important, and he’s not in danger of hurting himself too badly, I’m okay with it. We spent an hour outside last week – I was shoveling dirt, and he was moving the dirt one handful at a time to another bucket all the way across the yard. Worked out perfectly for both of us.

He likes to pick up sticks, stones, clumps of dirt; you name it. Which is perfectly fine, for the most part, until he starts trying to move the driveway, stone by stone, into the front yard. Stand back when I’m cutting the grass later this summer.

The biggest challenge is not about being outside though, it’s about trying to get him back inside. If he’s not ready to come in (which is never), he either voices his displeasure (loudly) or goes completely limp when I try to pick him up. Usually both. And continues until we get him inside and distract him with food. You know exactly what I’m talking about. Quite fun.

It should be easier to get things done outside this summer, since he’ll be able to come along and stay upright. Should be.

Playing with the crazy dog.

Plotting their escape.

Dad is still too quick.

Even the food didn't work for this tantrum.

I'm sure he'll enjoy revisiting these in fifteen years or so.

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