Garden 2012

Well. It’s been a bit of a year, in terms of veggie gardening. I guess you can’t win them all. The spring was confusing, with record highs, then normal cold temps, up and down. It was the hottest July on record; we’ve had several violent storms, including one massive hailstorm. All during a drought. It’s not ideal. Our apple CSA was cancelled for lack of a harvest.

Add to that the damn varmints. Something is eating my large tomatoes. On the vine. Even the green ones. My very promising peach tree started out with 60 peaches. I finally brought in the last three green ones, in a fit of spite. I put out extra water bowls (we always have two filled birdbaths) hoping that that would help stop the destruction. It didn’t. The vine stem borers are slowing killing my zucchini. A total of 2 zukes harvested to date.

N put up a fence. Today I saw a baby bunny inside the fence. I think it’s keeping out exactly 0% of the animals. But it makes it harder to weed and harvest, so there’s that.

Behind the garage I started out with 4 melons, 4 pumpkins, and 4 winter squash. I’m down to one acorn squash plant. The others were trampled. What kind of jerk opossum or chaotic evil raccoon do you have to be to do that?

We moved the green beans. Turns out it’s not as sunny as we thought in the new location. Getting some decent yields now, but not like last year.

But to focus on the positive, I have a decent-sized cantaloupe hanging on the vine. One Red Rome apple left (all 6 Honey Crisps were eaten by squirrels). I’ve got some potatoes, and I didn’t even plant any this year. The peppers have finally set fruit. The carrots and radishes did well. Oh! And I grew daikon radishes for the first time, which was fun. Have also harvested a few cukes. Enough for two batches of pickles.

However, the real plus this year is the various neighbors I’ve been trading with. I got Egyptian walking onions (a perennial! woo!), some big zucchini, and a bunch of cukes. I handed out fresh basil, oregano, parsley, and pole bean seeds. I still have some. Wanna trade?

Book Club

So, the last few selections were: 

• May -  The Fault in our Stars by John Green (looove this book. Contains both a Venn diagram [but not that one] and Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. Win!)
• June - Sh*t my Dad Says by Justin Halpern (actually a better discussion than you may imagine)
• July - Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt (good fun)

We've been skipping August for awhile now, as vacation plans make it too difficult to read or show up. 

So, September is my pick: 

• Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer

You know me and my whole end-of-times books. I claimed at that time to be over this genre. But this one is different! Cuddlier! No cults! Just a mom and her kids, trying to survive a global weather-changing event and the breakdown of society. You know. The usual.

I'm expecting a good, if depressing, discussion. 

Traveling to Springfield with kids

Note: I’m stealing a lot of this content from my old buddy, old pal Suzanne, of book club fame.

Illinois State Capitol Dome, with welcoming statue

For those of you in Illinois with some long weekends on the horizon, may I suggest Springfield? It's very kid-friendly, teaches them about their civic duties, and most of it is being paid for by your tax dollars. Might as well go see what they are doing for us.

On the way down, assuming you start in Chicago, you can hit Pontiac, IL. Cute Route 66 museum (free!) and a good diner called Baby Bull's. 

In Springfield, visit:

• Illinois State Capitol (free tours!) See portraits of all the former Illinois governors, both currently jailed and dead.
• Old State Capitol (free tours!) 
• Lincoln Museum Come for the history, but stay for the bizarre future-o-rama theater productions.
• Lincoln’s home (free tours!) Be amazed by the air conditioning! Part of a whole Colonial Williamsburg-like neighborhood.
• Illinois State Museum (also freeeeee!) 
• Prairie Archives Old books piled high to the ceiling. Right around the corner from the Feed Store, which is across from the Old State Capital building.
• The Feed Store for lunch (soup even in July!).
• Charlie Parker’s for breakfast – home of the 16” pancake.
• Washington Park and its playground. It was 105 degrees when we were there, but we played anyway. Truly a sign of a good playground. 

And, if you feel like going on to St. Louis from there, I've heard very good things. I haven't been there (Except for a job interview once. Don't know what I was thinking, exactly.), so I have no advice, but Suzanne can set you up!

The portrait of John Peter Altgeld, best known for being Illinois only governor with any moral fiber

Nea telling John Wilkes Booth that he's a bad, bad man

Touring the estate

When we stroll around our garden, we like to call it "touring the estate." Aren't we fancy? Sometimes we wear hats and sip fancy drinks, too. I'd like to take you on a short virtual tour today. Last year N ripped out the strange half-wall on the side of our old wooden front stairs. We immediately received a code violation notice from the village. So he applied for a permit and that shut them up. Here it is, over a year later, and he just finished the last finishing touch, which is the lattice under the stairs. (The permit was closed last year.) 

Also of interest in the photo is the giant coffee cup planter on the platform. I love it an unreasonable amount. 

I'm going to pretend this is a magazine article, and include notes on where to purchase the items shown.

Deck and railing: Azek

Hostas and front planter: trashpicked


See those porch windows above? They are the windows shown below. This is most of our collection of birdhouses. 

Birdhouses and rocking chair: Nearly all of them from garage sales
Bench: trashpicked


Last year we added another small raised bed. At left rhubarb, moved from a too-shady spot. Front is onions and peppers. In the cold frame, two tomatoes (one Brandywine, one sweet 100 cherry). Between them is a potato that just showed up. That's known as a "volunteer."

Rhubarb: Chivilo Family
Onion sets and tomato plants: Sneed's
Pepper plants: Long Family
Big Honkin' tomato cages: Menard's


And my old bean area (see the last photo) was becoming shadier year by year, plus I was really sick of climbing a ladder every day to harvest them. So N had to build another bed. Hmm. Seems like we're averaging one new bed a year. Interesting. 


The beans are blooming, so we should be eating them soon.

Trellis and magnolia tree: Schwarz Nursery
Bean seeds: Duffin Family

Just another crazy summer

Today is our first day of summer. School ended on Friday, but the weekend obviously doesn’t count.

I’m just documenting our summer so that in a few years, I can look back on this and laugh.

• Camp Invention for the fourth year running. Science camp, 5 full days, at a grade school a mile away. Full of kids we know!
• Farmhands camp. 3 full days, run by the forest preserve. Signed up the same week as 3 other families! Bonus: Hot lunch included that the kids cook/bake themselves.
• Blues Busters Camp. Run by the park district next to ours, 3 full days. Way too much paperwork for such a short session. Last year we did 2 weeks here, but it’s twice the price of our local park district, plus we … are a little busy.
• Intensive Dance Camp, 5 half days. Run by our park district.
• Band camp for Boo, 5 short sessions. She is taking up the clarinet!
• Extended School Year for Linnea, mornings in July. Her fifth summer attending. Seven miles away this year. Bus provided.
• Hannah, from down the street. 3 weeks of 3 days each. So nice to have a local young babysitter. She brings crafts and fun ideas, and the girls love her.
• Oma, sporadic days throughout the summer. German immersion! When she’s not busy with Knitting Camp! (She’s been going for at least 11 years.)
• And, not completely settled, but very probably, three 90-minute sessions weekly (for 7 weeks) of Language to Literacy, run by a local speech center, but not our usual private SLP. 3 blocks away! Covered by insurance!!
• Plus our regular tutoring and speech therapy.
• Plus workbooks, reading at home, general educational stuff.
• There's been talk regarding scheduling swim lessons, but I refuse to even look at the schedule until, I dunno, later. When I feel less overwhelmed. At some point. In the future.

I need to go get a cold compress. Oh, my head. Oh, the paperwork and logistics. 

For comparison, last summer was also insane.

Fifth Annual Trash Pick

So, I flew solo for the big trash pick this year. The girls joined me for a few houses, on my way to dropping them off at my parents' house. (See previous years here.) This meant I could crank Yo La Tengo the whole time. So I did. Sets the mood, it does.

First up, a medley of items. Had my usual partner-in-trash been with me (she had an important softball game to watch), we would have been wearing these festive green hats. Top left, laptop bag, plastic storage container with flag paperweight, tie-dyed sheet, stationery and handwriting paper. On the right, two new Whole Paycheck reusable bags. Aren't they adorable? So me! I don't actually shop there, but I do recommend their bags. Knock down a hippie and steal theirs or something.

This is some gooood stuff right here. The Pottery Barn rug and vanity came straight out of a house and into my minivan. Much more from Nice Family (NF) below. We almost bought a cornhole game like this one last year. They are $100. So are rainbarrels, at least. Those big plastic containers will be used to grow potatoes next year.


You can see last year's very disappointing brussel sprouts blooming in the back there. 

Here's the sporting equipment section. New gardening gloves, too. The drill is from NF. Snowboard from my parents' neighbors. Also scored another pink flamingo. It matches the one from last year. The pair bonding was so strong that I was used as a tool to bring them back together. They are crafty animals, those plastic flamingos.


The kids have been playing catch with N ever since we got this stuff. I love trash. *happy sigh*

That's N mowing in the background. Left to right, a broken globe, which was almost immediately replaced by a beautiful $3 garage sale globe. This one was just to remind me that I wanted one for Nea. It's in a purple bike basket, to match my new purple bike (purchased last year for the triathlon), hand mirror and glasses in front. Why do people throw out glasses? You can donate them anywhere. People need glasses.


Next part, front to back, Easy to Bake Oven from NF, with mixes. I'm selling that. What a hunk of junk. A painted mirror, which I gave to a friend's mom. It's perfect for her summer house, and she loves it. New in box (NIB) clock, organizers. NIB flag and NIB hurricane lamp. Someone was throwing out wedding presents. (No, really.) Then one of my very favorite items -- old and sturdy gumball machine! Ooooh! And an assortment of purses. One of them is Tommy Hilfiger. I forget which one.

This is my OTHER favorite part. I should have counted how many beautiful books I started out with. I already swapped/gave away/sold a big stack. Some were in better shape than the same ones on my shelf. There were several book club picks! You can't see them all here. There are more in the box and the bag. Some in new condition. Poor little books. Unloved until now.

Another huge score from NF, a Dragonflies brand winter jacket with hood. As she handed it to me, she plucked off a sock. She'd just taken it out of the dryer. Nea loves it and wore it home. In the background, part of the swing we trashpicked a few years ago.

And lastly, I watched a guy lovingly put a newspaper-wrapped bundle on the curb. I swung back around and got it. What could it be? The suspense was killing me. So here we have it. Your moment on the Internet, old-timey people! Bet you didn't see that coming. It was probably 16x20 inches, and we couldn't rescue it from the broken glass it was stuck to. The frame is nice, though. We kept that. 


In conclusion, it was a sunny day. Ideal for picking trash. I love trash.

Rhubarb Crisp

Rhubarb Crisp

Filling

5 cups rhubarb, chopped

¾ cup sugar

Topping

¾ cup flour

1 stick butter, at room temperature

1 tablespoon cinnamon

¾ cup oats

½ cup brown sugar

¾ cup chopped walnuts

Mix rhubarb with sugar and set aside. Let stand.

Mix flour, butter, cinnamon. Add oats, sugar, and walnuts.

In a buttered dish (10 x 10 inches or so), place the filling, then the topping. Bake at 375 for 45-60 minutes.

Serve warm with vanilla ice cream on the side.

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I made this for Mother's Day for my parents. Everyone liked it a lot. The kids had seconds. I like rhubarb because it's so seasonal, easy to grow, and hard to find in stores. At least around here. And it tends to be expensive, so growing it seems smart.

And I know it's too late for Mother's Day, but here are three things I learned from my mom:

• Always go to places early (zoo, grocery store, whatever. It applies everywhere.) before the crowds show up.
• Wool is warmer than fleece.
• Keep some candy in your purse for emergencies.