Happy Independence Day!

It's been a while, huh?

Rather than discuss the Founding Fathers, or the pros and cons of nationalism, or even how my stupid neighbors are already shooting off fireworks in our tinder-dry neighborhood...before 10:00 a.m....I'll just tell you about my newest project:



It's just a box within a box, stuffed in between with too-short-to-spin alpaca fiber as insulation. The interior of the box is painted with non-toxic, washable poster paint. Added a little black pot and a glass casserole lid from Goodwill for around five bucks. With the paint, the whole set-up cost less than $10.

It works surprisingly (to me, anyway) well. Yesterday I baked (or, technically, more like steamed) a batch of biscuits in it. Today, in honor of the holiday, I'm fixing that most uniquely American of dishes, brown rice cooked in coconut milk with curry, lime, and lemongrass...

Dude! It, like, totally worked!

Yup, my too-cheap-to-live seed germination solution worked perfectly and insanely quickly. Like, tomatoes and basil germinating in three days. Here they are, tucked under lights and lookin' good:


Tomatoes


Basil

The only thing resisting are the chilies (poblano and jalapeno). Maybe they're waiting for the completion of the greenhouse? That's cool. I wouldn't trust me either.

Mmm...makin' babies...

Well, plant babies, anyway.

If you've ever been to my house, you know I keep it cold in the winter. Sure, you can see your breath, and the frigid air will likely bring on yet another of your coughing spells, but just look at my heating bill! Assuming you can grasp it with your rapidly-numbing digits.

What I'm getting at is that tomatoes and peppers need warmth to germinate. And it's pretty obvious that a person as cheap as me isn't going to shell out for a fancy heated germination mat. So about me I cast mine eyes, and they came to rest...on a cheap-ass foam cooler.



Ding! Just add a quart jar of hot tap water morning and night, and you have the perfect, temperature-controlled enclosure. At the first sign of green, the new seedlings will be placed under grow lights and learn to deal with the realities of my chilly little house. But for now they're almost living the good life in their foam-clad Margaritaville. Lucky little bastages...

Sprung

Today's the first day of spring. I know what the calendar says, but nature's clock has other ideas. Today was so beautiful I could (and can still) taste it.

I spent this liminal afternoon putting together the first half of the garden beds. Who says print news is dead? From where I stand, it's positively writhing with worms.



Seriously, newsprint makes an awesome foundation mulch for a new garden bed. Covered with well-aged manure from a kindly neighbor, partially-composted leaves, and topsoil, it's ready to molder for a couple months until planting time begins in earnest. The new, ultra-rich soil will be planted with sweet corn, squash, and a metric ton of tomatoes. I'll use my older, shadier garden beds to plant root veggies and greens.

Compounding my planting mania, the ever-resourceful manfriend found us a free, jumbo-sized greenhouse frame. This year we'll have eggplant, peppers (hot and sweet), and (with any luck) maybe a gourd or two to add to the harvest. I haven't been this excited about spring in years. I see my planting options expanding, and I'm thoroughly tickled.

Spring...it's what's for dinner!

It's been a tough winter. I mean as tough as wimps like us Pacific Northwesterners ever see. Temps in the single digits, seven*TEEN* inches of snow. Pity us, oh folks with actual weather. We're just not built for this.

But now it's feeling spring-ish. I'm desperately trying to think about considering setting aside some time to ponder getting my garden together. But in the indefinite interim, I'll scrounge. Last night the man-friend and I went to visit a friend of ours. Her housemate had harvested a large quantity of tender spring stinging nettles (Urtica dioica, for those keeping score at home). I have fond memories of nettle-eatin' from my misspent youth in Alaska, but I haven't harvested any from my home "stash" (they're related to marijuana, you know). So today I picked a bunch:



I steamed 'em thoroughly, combined them with a half-dozen eggs, some fresh parmesan, a few chopped basil leaves, and a diced avocado. This I poured into an oiled glass dish and baked at 350 until all puffy and pretty-looking. Thus was created my first Nettle Frittata:



Which is not to be confused with Nelly Furtado:



This is an important distinction, as frittatas (in all likelihood) originated in Spain, while Furtado is Portuguese. Both nations get surly when their identities are conflated.

It's My Lucky Day!

My very first blog post of the new year, and we're only a month and a half in. So much has happened. Obama was elected in a perfect storm of Republican idiocy and unexpected public idealism. The economy has slipped even further down the pooper (it's down near the s-trap, I think, as I can't seem to reach it with a bent wire hanger). And I've made a bunch of stuff to take my mind off it all. Here's one:



These are sock blanks. I knitted up identically-sized rectangles of Patons Kroy superwash sock yarn, then laid them next to each other and dyed them stripe-ily. I now have two (more or less) identical balls of yarn with which to make two at-least-relatively-similar socks.

In other news, yesterday (Saturday the 14th) was Valentine's Day. We don't treat it as a holiday at my house, but on Friday I couldn't resist making the gals at my grocery store smile by having them customize this:



So Happy Friday the 13th to you all! Here's hoping next month's will be even better!