things that are awesome: toads
Several things made me happy this weekend, such as the gorgeous dress Zoe Saldana wore to the Academy Awards tonight. Lavender is such a beautiful color for her, and I love the gradual darkening of the ruffles. She is perfect, I love her.
On the down side, the dance montage to the best score nominees was insane, and Miley Cyrus as a presenter is inexplicable. Has she even been in a movie?
(ETA: While I was writing this, Kathryn Bigelow won for The Hurt Locker, yay! )
***********
In unrelated YAYS!, we got the best newsletter from our CSA farmer today. We joined a new one this year, after a couple of others that weren't great for various reasons. Our new one is Genesis Growers, which is a woman-owned organic farm and I'm so excited! This farm uses hoop houses to extend the growing season, so our boxes will begin in April and go until mid-December. And they have fruit! That probably sounds like no big, but none of our previous CSAs have had orchards or fruit farms in them, and even in the peak of fruit season we never got so much as an apple in our weekly box.
(We did wind up with 84 pounds of apples last fall, but that was from leasing a tree at an organic orchard. And, um, the result of a slight miscalculation, hah.)
The newsletter is long but adorable so I'm putting it behind these cuts.
The sun is shining. The air is warm (at least warmer than it was). The birds have begun to sing their spring time melodies. All very noticeable signs of spring - ah, the hope and the promise of new life. For a farmer, we notice some of the smaller, less significant changes in the earth. These observations are key to our timing in the spring. We can't just say, "spring is 6 weeks away," and plan our work accordingly. We must judge the subtle signs of nature so we time everything as accurately as possible. I watch for the first signs of life in the plants in the unheated hoops. When they begin to grow we are 6 weeks away. I watch for the emergence of toads in the hoops. They tell me it is 5 weeks away. Lady bugs emerging in the hoops means we are 4 weeks away (none yet). Outside the days are getting longer - 139 minutes as of today. The sun is getting higher and wow, do the plants ever respond to that. The willows that serve as my front buffer zone begin to turn red - five weeks out. The trees begin to loosen their limbs, swaying in the breezes as the saps begin to flow - 3-5 weeks out. The weeping willows turn yellow - 6 weeks out. The rye in the field begins to grow - four weeks out. So, on my farm, the world of nature tells me we are 4.5 weeks away from spring. And, I am a happy farmer when I think of once again getting out into the fields. Our tractor has been fired up and moving around a bit already. I hear the sounds of spring as my neighbors are beginning to move equipment from a storage shed to the main farm. All the sights and sounds of spring make our hearts rejoice. But, as you will see in the attached picture, we already began spring in the hoops. The guys planted crops for me. The boc choi and Napa cabbage are doing fantastic. Just look at how happy that cabbage is! As far as my little experimental pickling cucumbers go, they are still just little nubs. They just don't seem to want to grow. So much, for me having a fresh pickle in the winter.
Our toads this year are extremely funny. The first one emerged and took up residence in a flat of freshly planted rosemary. The potting mix was nice and loose, so he/she uprooted the rosemary and nestled in. The second one found a newly transplanted flat of sage. In his case, he found an empty cell to nestle down into. So, for two weeks he was happy, but then Jose need to plant more sage so he asked Mr Toad to go for a ride while he planted the remaining cells. My Toad did not like that one bit, so he jumped out. For several days he hid, traumatized, I suppose. Today I found him. He decided to take up residence in the flat of Rosemary one cell away from the first toad. Now, another rosemary is on its way out and we best be careful when that flat goes to market so we do not have a toad hop out at market, scaring some poor unsuspecting soul.
I already know this is going to be the best CSA ever.
***********
Superfast MiFu2 update, days 6 & 7:
Actual writing: 309 new words over 2 days.
What it is: Editing brain made surgical decision to excise Bermuda Triangle of Writing from first six paragraphs of Spock Prime/Gaila, and Writing Brain is now crafting an alternative. Previous BT of W had certain good qualities, but was labored after too much editing. Despite net word loss, feels like progress.
On the down side, the dance montage to the best score nominees was insane, and Miley Cyrus as a presenter is inexplicable. Has she even been in a movie?
(ETA: While I was writing this, Kathryn Bigelow won for The Hurt Locker, yay! )
***********
In unrelated YAYS!, we got the best newsletter from our CSA farmer today. We joined a new one this year, after a couple of others that weren't great for various reasons. Our new one is Genesis Growers, which is a woman-owned organic farm and I'm so excited! This farm uses hoop houses to extend the growing season, so our boxes will begin in April and go until mid-December. And they have fruit! That probably sounds like no big, but none of our previous CSAs have had orchards or fruit farms in them, and even in the peak of fruit season we never got so much as an apple in our weekly box.
(We did wind up with 84 pounds of apples last fall, but that was from leasing a tree at an organic orchard. And, um, the result of a slight miscalculation, hah.)
The newsletter is long but adorable so I'm putting it behind these cuts.
The sun is shining. The air is warm (at least warmer than it was). The birds have begun to sing their spring time melodies. All very noticeable signs of spring - ah, the hope and the promise of new life. For a farmer, we notice some of the smaller, less significant changes in the earth. These observations are key to our timing in the spring. We can't just say, "spring is 6 weeks away," and plan our work accordingly. We must judge the subtle signs of nature so we time everything as accurately as possible. I watch for the first signs of life in the plants in the unheated hoops. When they begin to grow we are 6 weeks away. I watch for the emergence of toads in the hoops. They tell me it is 5 weeks away. Lady bugs emerging in the hoops means we are 4 weeks away (none yet). Outside the days are getting longer - 139 minutes as of today. The sun is getting higher and wow, do the plants ever respond to that. The willows that serve as my front buffer zone begin to turn red - five weeks out. The trees begin to loosen their limbs, swaying in the breezes as the saps begin to flow - 3-5 weeks out. The weeping willows turn yellow - 6 weeks out. The rye in the field begins to grow - four weeks out. So, on my farm, the world of nature tells me we are 4.5 weeks away from spring. And, I am a happy farmer when I think of once again getting out into the fields. Our tractor has been fired up and moving around a bit already. I hear the sounds of spring as my neighbors are beginning to move equipment from a storage shed to the main farm. All the sights and sounds of spring make our hearts rejoice. But, as you will see in the attached picture, we already began spring in the hoops. The guys planted crops for me. The boc choi and Napa cabbage are doing fantastic. Just look at how happy that cabbage is! As far as my little experimental pickling cucumbers go, they are still just little nubs. They just don't seem to want to grow. So much, for me having a fresh pickle in the winter.
Our toads this year are extremely funny. The first one emerged and took up residence in a flat of freshly planted rosemary. The potting mix was nice and loose, so he/she uprooted the rosemary and nestled in. The second one found a newly transplanted flat of sage. In his case, he found an empty cell to nestle down into. So, for two weeks he was happy, but then Jose need to plant more sage so he asked Mr Toad to go for a ride while he planted the remaining cells. My Toad did not like that one bit, so he jumped out. For several days he hid, traumatized, I suppose. Today I found him. He decided to take up residence in the flat of Rosemary one cell away from the first toad. Now, another rosemary is on its way out and we best be careful when that flat goes to market so we do not have a toad hop out at market, scaring some poor unsuspecting soul.
I already know this is going to be the best CSA ever.
***********
Superfast MiFu2 update, days 6 & 7:
Actual writing: 309 new words over 2 days.
What it is: Editing brain made surgical decision to excise Bermuda Triangle of Writing from first six paragraphs of Spock Prime/Gaila, and Writing Brain is now crafting an alternative. Previous BT of W had certain good qualities, but was labored after too much editing. Despite net word loss, feels like progress.