stuff, things, etc.

Again, sorry about the lack of updates. I feel like I end up on farm time a lot, and all of a sudden can't believe how late it is in the month or how much time has passed or whatevs. It's been almost four months since we moved here, but it actually seems like a lot longer. It's funny how subjective time is.

The garden has been doing really well ... it was looking kind of hurting for awhile, just because of the not so amazing first year garden soil and the struggle to keep it watered enough. But we got a few days of really heavy rain (and epic thunderstorms, which is something I've been really missing, living on the island), and also got in and did a bunch of side dressing with all purpose fertilizer and feather meal, and everything is looking a lot better. The tomatillos are starting to fill out (as you can see by the photo above), the corn is frickin' huge (the photo above is taken holding the camera at eye level), the potatoes are small but edible, there is all the kale I could ever eat (that's right ... living the dream), and if I have to eat any more snowpeas, I think I might puke. The summer squash and cucumbers are really starting to go nuts, and the broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage are all ready to eat as well. So, we're managing to eat really well and ridiculously healthily and spend virtually nothing on groceries. The level of work on the garden is feeling really manageable again, which is nice. We're pretty much just working on bits of weeding here and there to keep things under control, harvesting, and trying to build up a buttload of compost for planting strawberries and garlic in the fall.

The bookcases I've been building for my friend are pretty much done, and came together well, if I do say so myself. They're the first really big project I've done all on my own, and I feel really good about them, which is exciting. I was initially kind of worried that I was taking on more than I could handle by myself and in a semi makeshift shop, but I'm actually starting to feel like a for reals semi-competent journeyman. When I come back from Victoria I'm going to install the bookcases, build the simple captain's bed, and then it's on to finishing shingling my house, the workshop, and framing out the windows in the workshop. Devin and I are going to work together on all those projects, which will be cool. I haven't done any framing or shingling, so I'm a bit intimidated by it but also stoked to learn new stuff.

I started feeling a bit restless, and then realized that now that I'm not being run ragged trying to keep up with the garden that I miss getting exercise. So I started going for big bike rides, and that has been uber posi. I can bike to the post office to check the mail and get groceries and stuff and it's only about an hour round trip on the beautiful trail by the river. One of the last times I headed down there I passed an old man walking along with an accordian, playing and singing to himself. Radness. So, yeah, basically I'm feeling like things on the farm are under control, and that leaves me time to start meeting people and doing things outside of the farm, and doing all that other settling in stuff that I didn't have time for when we first moved here and were shackled to the garden. Good stuff!

Slackass.

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Slackass = my blog updating schedule, not my life in general, although things have slowed down a bunch, which is not too pretty bad. Trip to Victoria was max awesome ... so rad to see everyone and help in the garden at my old house and get to actually go to a show and all that good stuff. I'm gonna try to make it back to town sometime this summer, but we'll see how that works out.

The garden is actually, finally, kinda sorta under control. The potatoes look pretty damn boss, as you can see from the photo here. We're pretty much wishing we planted the whole thing with potatoes because they grow so well in a first year garden, and they're so easy to take care of. We're definitely starting to get a sense of how little we will yield this year, which is to be expected because we're just starting to build up the soil. The spinach all bolted way early, and the broccoli and basil are doing their best to do the same, although we should get a bit out of them. The tomatoes are doing pretty well, as are some of the peppers, and a decent amount of the squash should be fairly decent. So, we're eating well between this garden and Judi's garden and not having to spend much on groceries, which is a huge relief to my brokeass self. Unfortunately, all the lettuce we planted in the new garden didn't grow fast enough and was too bitter to eat. I pulled it all out this morning and chucked it in the compost, which was a bit of a bmmer. It sure took a lot less time to take out than to seed, anyway. Next year it will all be easier.

It is starting to get super crazy hot here (35 degrees yesterday), so we started waking up at five so we can finish the garden work by ten. I'm trying to divide up my day so I spend the morning in the garden and the afternoon in the workshop. It's been hard to tear myself out of the garden because there's always so much to do, but it's really necessary for my own productivity as a woodworker and sanity in terms of not being chained to the garden. Besides, there just isn't a ton to do in there right now besides harvest, so that's pretty okay. I'm starting a new project for a friend here .... doing a set of built in bookcases and a little captain's bed. I'm really stoked on both endeavours ... it should pay okay, and they'll both be a lot of fun to build and really good for my portfolio. The woman I'm doing the work for is an absolute sweetheart as well, so that's always a bonus.

And, yeah, other than that everything is good. We officially bowed out of doing the market, which is a huge relief. No more hawking lettuce to hippies for basically no money. I'm working on selling to a couple of grocery stores in the valley, which seems both promising and unlikely to drive me completely bloody insane. There's still some folks that we met at the market that we'll end up hanging out with, but no more wasting all day Saturday in bongo drum hell, which was really getting to me. In other news, Gretchen got stung in the face by a wasp and had some crazy face swelling, as pictured above. She looked like Popeye on half of her face for a few hours, but she didn't seem bothered by it. Also, Devin's mum came to visit, which was totes sweet and a fun couple of days. She took the goofy family photo above. In pretty much every picture either Devin or I managed to look like a total dullard. I have generously chosen to post one where I look as though I'm halfwittedly trying to figure out what's going on while Devo strikes and epic pose. Yup, we are max photogenic.