I caved and bought a hoop house, and not a modest one. Â I could live inside it. Â I have, in fact, lived in smaller spaces, as has been well documented on this very web site. Â Here’s a general schedule of our first few days with it: Friday: Â assemble hoop house. …
We got a little overexcited at the apple orchard, which left me with a bushel and a peck of apples, which, in modern measurements, translates to a Half a Metric Cubic Shitload.  This meant a lot of applesauce, because our Squirrel, now 2, subsists on the stuff. It was, sadly, more than …
Typing these words hurts me, and I’m not speaking in metaphors or about my feelings. The tips of my fingers, with every letter pressed, hurt. Ow. Hurt. Ow. I could go on, but that’d be masochism. Ow. One winter day of my unforgiving childhood, I was asked to help my …
Two days before closing camp for our big winter trip, I was bestowed an early Christmas gift in the form of a quart of whey, leftover from a cheese-making adventure. My friend said it was tasty when drunk straight-up with a little maple syrup, and I don’t know about you, …
Last year at this time, when we were just getting used to the idea of having a Squirrel of our own, I was cleaning up the garden and saw a little kale that I hadn’t remembered planting, just starting to take off. I decided to leave it there, or more …
Despite the fact that this year’s garden looked like its boyfriend just broke up with it and it got a bad haircut the day after it failed the chemistry midterm, and despite the fact that it suffered further abuse at the hands of the chainsaw for the sake of our …
I guess this takes care of my garden neglect guilt.
Imagine you’re eleventy months pregnant when planting the year’s garden. If you can’t imagine yourself at such an unimaginable gestational length of time, I’ll disclose that gardening in such a condition entails rolling between rows on your own girth, or a general butt-scooting amid the feeling that one’s entire …
What you are looking at are the season’s first sprouts of the fanciest and crispest fancy lettuce mix, the evening before they were set outside to soak up some sun. Did you know that, if left outside to soak up some sun, fancy lettuce tends to disappear, all in …
When it comes to the planting and growing of stuff, I harbor a little bit of a spooky lifey anti-choice fundamentalist nut. (Not that I’d disclose anything about my political positions…) But I spend so much time preparing and starting seeds for the weaker and spindlier seedlings to be chucked …
