Final Harvest - Leeks

The last thing out of the ground were the leeks. Started from seed, they took forever to look like something worth picking. I would have never chosen to start from seed, but then again these weren't my project so I won't complain. They were nowhere near the size of leeks from the grocery store, but as an experiment any produce is worthy of praise.

An ambitious expansion

Okay so this year's garden grew from 4 to 6 to 10 of those 4x4 boxes as the spring planting inspired us. This is on top of a 2 wide foot wrap around the deck that is to the right of this picture. In addition we had two long bean rows out to the left of the square boxes just in the ground. As you see there are now three long boxes....4x12 basically. And you may not see them in the right background, but there are two more 4x4's. That brings us to 12 of the squares. With the wrap around bed it all comes to about 396 square feet. That is really only 20 x 20, but remember we are not doing traditional row gardening with huge walkways between rows of vegetables. To put that in perspective if I planted it all in green beans I would harvest 222lbs (using last year's results). At upwards of 4 dollars a pound at the farmers' market, that would be $888 in produce.

Part of this expansion is because I went bought that extra scoop of compost. With that much, we don't even have to worry about mixing the horrible clay crap in with the good stuff, but we did a bit anyways. Actually the long box to the left there we just put the compost straight on top of the grass. All the boxes are set 2-3 inches into the ground, but with no weed barrier. The other 4 new boxes received the tender loving care of me hacking out clumps of sod, shaking, and removing as much roots and rocks as I could. I guess this will be a bit of an experiment to see how many more dandelions come up through the first long bed.

I should have taken pictures of the dandelions I pulled. The tops were small and puny, but they had roots up to 9 or 10 inches long and some of them I wasn't even getting the whole thing. I always knew dandelions were survivors, but I assume they really dig deep to get through the cherty clay that was used to level the lot 25 years ago.

I don't know how Kyle is going to manage to garden that much garden. He likes the idea of doing a little bit of everything in the garden. That makes for a lot of work with things needing started at different times, different sun and water requirements, confusing crop rotations, and different harvests. I prefer to do fewer items that I like to eat more of or that I had a good harvest of last year. I would love to have extra to give to friends and family.

We have basically done square foot method or variations of it. Kyle suggests he will run long rows in those long boxes, but not give them space between. I am not sure what I think of that. I say if you have a large group you want to plant, do it in a 4x4 block.

Garden Journal #13

First the vegetable update, but then the really exciting news.

Parsnips. Like carrots but white and a stronger flavor. They were gnarly. Could have left them in, but needed to make way for......

THE COMPOST!!! A water bill, a borrowed truck (my dad's), and $20 plus tax bought me 2 cubic yards of the finest compost the City of Fayetteville provides it's citizens. And not knowing that each household is only allowed one scoop, I went back for a second. To give you a sense of how much 2 cubic yards is, my father's Ford F-250 was overflowing with the single scoop. Big thanks to Fillan for helping unload the first scoop and Gayathiri for helping unload the second. If Gayathiri's father knew that she came to the United States only to end up shoveling compost for a gay man I am sure he would reconsider his investment.

Don't you just love the way it crumbles?

Using the crappiest plastic wheelbarrow known to man, much of it ended up in the backyard in the many raised beds. Gentle turning in...not too deep...still leaves a good 8 inches of good soil work with in the spring. After some rain and some settling I filled them even further.

One little problem....some glass pieces in several of the boxes. Oh well..the compost is made from yard waste from citizens and I am sure random bottles end up in their curbside bags. I am still grateful to the City and her citizens who don't compost their crap in their own yard.

What Arkansas voters think about us

No, there wasn’t another chance for our opponents to put our civil rights up for a vote this year in Arkansas. In 2004 government-by-mob resulted in cementing marriage discrimination into the Arkansas Constitution by a vote of 75% to 25%. 2008 saw Arkansas voters vote 57% to 43% to deny parent-less children loving homes and families with Act 1, the foster and adoption ban on unmarried couples. 2010 was free and clear of efforts to put LGBTQ people and their families on the sacrificial altar that is all too often benignly called “politics.”

Where do we stand with voters right now? In an election year dominated by topics like jobs, the economy, and spending we didn’t hear too much about “the gays,” but the yearly Arkansas Poll from the University of Arkansas keeps asking voters and the results are in. The NWA Times reported yesterday in their editorial about the Arkansas Poll and the data was important enough for them to include a mention of marriage equality.

We also note the drop in the percentage of respondents who believe there should be no legal recognition of a gay couple.
The percentage of those polled who think gays should be allowed to marry is still below 20 percent. The number who would allow gay domestic partnerships is also steady at 27 percent, a number consistent with recent years’ findings. However, the number of people who think there should be no legal recognition of a gay couple is below a clear majority at 48 percent. This compares to 54 percent in most recent years.

Let’s work with the relationship recognition numbers first, but please be sure to read all the way down for the numbers on Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. They will surprise you! The numbers for relationship recognition support in Arkansas for the past few years:

So for the first time there is NOT a MAJORITY of Arkansans who want to make same sex couples legal strangers. Though full marriage equality is only supported by 19% of Arkansans, the additional 27% of Arkansans that support civil unions or domestic partnerships bring the total percentage of Arkansas voters who support recognizing same sex relationships to 46%. It’s not the magic fifty percent and I wouldn’t take it to the bank (or the ballot box) but it’s worth noting that support for relationship recognition rose 6 points from 2009. Sound odd for Arkansas? Should we just blame it on the economy?

To put this in perspective, both Equality California and Equality Maine have stated that they will not be returning to the ballot box until they see consistent polling for full marriage equality above 50%. Both states briefly had marriage equality and both states lost it at the ballot box, with just under 48% voting NO to repeal. Our number for marriage equality is 19%. We aren’t there. We won’t be there for a long time. But nearly half of Arkansas voters think there should be some kind of legal protections. Keep your chin up.

Now what about the actual pressing legislative issue dealing with the LGBTQ community, DADT? It was polled for, but why did the NWA Times not report the numbers? Perhaps because it’s not newsworthy? 56% of Arkansas voters approve of “homosexual men and women” serving openly in the military. Read it for yourself:

Something to keep in mind: how you ask the question matters. A CBS Poll this spring showed that the number approving increases if those “homosexuals” are referred to as “gay men and lesbians.” The repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell was held up before the election but the word is that it will be voted on again in a lame-duck session of Congress after the Pentagon reports December 1st on how it will affect the military.

Garden Journal #12

Late October (and a mid-November edit)

So October 28th seems late for a garden, right? Especially considering I didn't plant winter squash or pumpkins or brussel sprouts or cabbage or beets. It really should be over with, right? Nope.

As late as just September 3rd the experimental sweet potatoes were shorn off by rabbits. And all the guides say sweet potatoes need a long season, like 120 days at least. I think they went in July 1st and got eaten off twice so they got far less than 120 days of foliage. Well guess what? Booyah! I am totally doing these next year, but the proper way...earlier and way more of them.

That's right...ever-bearing strawberries put on just a handful late in the season.

But the biggest surprise came 19 days later...nearly Thanksgiving folks. What was it?

Wait for it...

...

....

...

...

Wait for it...

...

...

A Thanksgiving surprise! When I went to mix in some primo compost (you'll hear about that in a minute) I found the lost little guy.

Garden Journal #11

Mid-October Harvest

These three pictures of radishes do my heart well. The fall radishes were a whim...I realized there was still plenty of heat and there was leftover seed. They went into the ground mid-August (or was it late August?). Anyways, they performed very well. Of course they were bitter and nasty and spicy, but a beautiful nonetheless. I ate the greens though and those were nice and spicy.

One last carrot and one last eggplant.

Remember that huge pepper-fest? One more round had to come off with the first frost.

Graph of the Day - October 13th

See how corporations can pour millions of dollars into putting ballot measures up for vote that benefit themselves. Californians have the ability to say NO to the power of Big Oil. The original image is interactive and allows you to scroll over each contributor to find their total donation. More on stopping Prop. 23.

Source

Graph of the Day - October 8th

http://www.flickr.com/photos/speakerpelosi/5062499482/sizes/o/in/photostream/

Private employers have added 863,000 jobs this year. The recovery is happening but it is very slow and is much slower for the average American when compared to the stock market. Productivity and profitability is at all time highs for corporations but they there is not rapid job growth. I think corporations are holding the American economy hostage until they get the people to agree to even more favorable measures towards large business and wealthy Americans. Perhaps then the wealthy and their corporations will CONSIDER lending, investing, and expanding. Until then they save......and American hurts because of it.

Garden Journal #10

Edition Peppers! Some known as chilis, chiles, capsicums. Spicy peppers. Red peppers. Everyone seems to call them something different.

Our peppers produced all summer and into the fall. We basically planted one box with a huge assortment and we got a little of everything. Look at the spread we picked last week and then a few examples of each kind:

Anaheim: we only had one plant and it barely produced.

Mystery peppers: we have no idea what they are but they have NO SPICE!

Jalapeños: they just keep coming. They start green and turn red on the bush.

Cayenne: we think....or Mexican chilis....not sure....either way, plenty of spice for dried seasoning, whole or crushed.

Bell: did not produce very well, before they got big they turned dark and had thin flesh.

Bananas: surprising good producers but we had little use for them.

Garden Journal #9

Compost. Homemade. My heaven.

This batch is the first one that truly is what compost is supposed to be. It was a long slow batch sure to be full of seeds, but those can be turned into the soil easily.

That cage was over the strawberries to keep the rabbits out. It worked fine for a screen.

A good barrow full...isn't it beautiful?

The dill and fennel came out of here earlier. Now for the treatment and garlic to be planted later in the fall.

See how much darker and nicer the compost looks?

Mixed well with the existing soil and ready for a late fall planting of garlic.

Garden Journal #8

Late summer in the garden has been a little slow compared to some of the busy weeks in midsummer. I will try to post some pics from back when the produce was really cranking.

Learning: I never would have thought that okra plants would grow 5 feet tall. They started out as the tiniest little things and it took until the heat came on for them to really start growing. They ended up being quite woody and had a very well developed root structure.

Confusion: I have no idea what kind of peppers these are. They have absolutely no heat to them but they don't look like any of the others we grew. It was a mix called "salsa peppers" so who know what they are. Do you know?

Fall Reprise: The idea of a fall garden sounds neat but it terrifies me. I went a head and took a leap of faith and emptied out the packet of radish seeds leftover from the spring. They popped right up and continue to grow. (I was able to use some of my second batch of compost in the soil!)

An Old Enemy Returns: The rabbit(s) that live(s) under the deck previously feasted on the soya beans though we got a good crop out of them. Now the food of choice is a fall batch of Kyle's "granny" bean and my very late experiment of sweet potatoes. I worked in some of the second batch of compost into this late planting.

Fall Surprise: We pulled our onions after heavy rains when the tops started looking really bad. One box had some onions that a friend planted and they never got as big as the others, but they just kept growing. The tops had rotted off and I decided to pull whatever remained. Most small, but a few bulbed out. I was not expecting them at all!

Garden Journal #7

Carrots and soil conditioning

That's the same bunch twice. This is the first harvest of anything that grew in my own compost. The deep soil was good for growth, but these babies were shaded out by huge and leaning asparagus that will actually be harvested next spring.

What do you do when stuff starts coming out and you have nothing to do? Go ahead and condition the soil. This was a little bit of compost that was almost ready.

Half a bag of manure left over from this spring.

Map of the Day - September 12th

Why would this shock Americans? Basically Americans have been lied to through maps. It's difficult to display the surface of the globe (sphere-ish) on a two dimensional surface. In fact, the way they do it is by basically shining light through a 3D representation of Earth and recording what gets projected onto some other surface be it a flat sheet, curved, etc. The projections all differ according to how they are set up. And they all distort...they distort at least one of six to varying degrees....bearing, distance, direction, area, shape, and scale. You have to pick which inaccurate portrayal of the Earth you want. America picked one that showed our land mass prominently and that is what we are used to. One problem....is distorts badly as you near the poles, so equatorial Africa looks relatively smaller than it actually is. Think the really stretched out looking Canada. Doesn't exist in reality. Compare what you are used to, the Mercator Projection, to a globe. You aren't crazy....something is askew!

I think it's important to take things into perspective. Africa may not have the population of Asia or the wealth of Europe, but it's a huge place. Some say the future of the world lies in Africa. It is being decimated by HIV/AIDS and still suffers from diseases like malaria and tuberculosis. China is buying land rights to huge chunks of agricultural lands. Global climate change may hit Africa hard. We may see huge internal migration that causes strife, civil war, and, yes, even genocide. The world owes Africa.....we have stripped wealth from it for centuries.

Graph of the Day - September 7th

Source

It's funny how many people look back to the 5o's, 60's, and 70's with nostalgia yet they vote hard core corporatist Republican. You would think that people would figure it out that tax and economic policy matters in creating a more equitable society, one that more people enjoy living in. Income equality matters. Everyone doesn't have to make exactly the same, but everything works better when Americans are all playing in the same economy. As is, the wealthy play in completely different economies, often insulated by geography and other barriers.

Map of the Day - September 2nd

Source

Those green dots represent coal mining. The point is that coal mining (especially mountaintop removal) has not benefited the communities to which it claims to be vital. I don't believe in coincidences this strong. Yes that mountain soil doesn't provide a good agriculture base, but mountaintop remove is destroying communities and the extraction of mineral wealth is not taxed nearly enough.

Check out ilovemountains.org

Monday's Song from Hell - August 30th

Thanks to Misty for getting this stuck in my head.

Graph of the Day - August 28th

Ken Mehlman, former chair of the ENTIRE Republican Party, who was President Bush's 2004 campaign manager, who went along with the most homophobic campaign in history, who built a political culture that probably led scores of young gay teens to suicide, finally came out.

Fox News doesn't even mention it. This is beyond the excuse of "well the other stations don't report important stuff either." Fox News, by pretending to be news, is doing the country a disservice.

I got this from Pam's House Blend.

Graph of the Day - August 24th

Tax cut proposals by income level

Source

Republicans want to give Millionaires an extra $700 billion over the next ten years. They think it will be good for the economy. How are we to expand the American economy when the vast majority of Americans are losing ground?