Spring

It's Spring.  Everything is blooming.  Time to plant the bulk of the garden.  Birds are everywhere.  Cats are everywhere, and shedding like crazy.  My favorite time of the year!

On Monday Norm and I took vacation days and went up to the Skagit Valley to see the Tulip Festival. There are vast stretches of brown muddy fields, and then you come upon something like this -- a slash of bright flowers which seem to have light coming right out of them. It was a beautiful sunny day.  Despite it being a Monday, there were thousands of people out to see the tulips.  People troop in from Canada or Seattle, in big groups on tour buses, in clumps of senior citizens or young mothers trailing bunches of little kids, all to walk around and look at flowers. We're always bemoaning the electronic nature of our lives and how everyone is plugged in to laptops and cell phones, but Monday was like a step back in time. People were dashing from one patch of tulips to another, each more beautiful than the last, pointing, talking and laughing together.  Many were just standing in awe before a field like this one, saying, "I can't believe how beautiful they are."



We have more patches of mud than vegetables or flowers in our yard right now. Hoo boy -- we have a long ways to go on this garden. Norm says we've had so much going on in the last couple of months, and just face it this is not the year for producing 1,000 pounds of food in our yard.  I don't know how much we'll produce, but we're back to planting, and have our first crop! To the left is a picture of part of our Golden Orach bed. Norm planted seeds under a cold frame months ago. Nothing else made it, but we have these greens and some garlic outside the cold frame.  I have never grown this heirloom green, or seen it as far as I remember, but was so thrilled to see them last weekend that I immediately picked a bunch and sat right down in the middle of the muddy garden and ate them. They are delicious! Whew! I'd have eaten our first crop of the year no matter what, and am so glad they taste good.  I got re-enthused and planted lettuce, peas, more greens, onions, and fava beans.


We have seven varieties of tomatoes started inside.  Looks like we started them too late, but they are all up now, maybe 1 or 2 inches tall. I'm not sure if they'll be big enough to transplant outside in May.  Maybe June 1st?  Or do we give in and buy starts from one the many garden sales?  Stay tuned. 

Keep growing!

Spring?

The first day of Spring was on Thursday.  Naturally, we had a little ice storm that evening!  It has been below freezing overnights the last few days, although some sun during the day.  I should be planting lettuce, peas, mustard greens and the like outside, but before this freezing weather it rained steadily whenever I had time.  So, the whole garden is getting a later start than I thought.

Here's a sign of spring from our yard!  A flowering cherry tree planted some 25 years ago.  It was sunny earlier, with birds all around this tree, but by the time I thought to snap a picture the clouds had rolled in.

This late spring has certainly mirrored my feelings about Ruth's death. Two weekends in a row rain just poured out of the sky all day, just like the tears flowing at her Celebration of Life ceremony on March 8th.  It was a beautiful ceremony, with many, many people there.  We released balloons into the rainy sky at the end.  She was so loved by so many, and left us far too soon.  Some people have had messages or symbols from her in the afterlife. 

I don't know what I believe about the afterlife.  I recently read  Proof of Heaven: A Neurosurgeon's Journey into the Afterlife by Eben Alexander, M.D., which describes his experience when he was in a week-long coma and how he came back.  Like all of these stories and books about people who have a near-death experience, there is an overwhelming peace and love on the other side.  It doesn't seem like it is connected to a prior religious experience or any particular belief in God.  At least that's how I interpret it. 

I'm here on earth at the moment, and mostly enjoy every moment.  Here's another Spring moment - some of our Helebores blooming in the front bed.  These are some of my favorite flowers!  They would only be improved if you could eat them.

 And here is our huge, messy Forsythia bush.  It is just like us, kind of messy and free.  This bush has been growing in the front yard for many decades.  It was already growing when my family moved into this house 50 years ago!  We live in an old farmhouse, built in 1920.  I wouldn't be surprised if had been planted way back then.  The nice thing about Forsythias is that all of them are messy and exuberant like this, and there is no way to prune them.  I like a plant that insists on being free and does not respond to human direction.

Here's a link to a picture of the balloons released for Ruth.  I couldn't figure out how to get the picture itself posted on this blog. 

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/t1.0-9/p235x350/1622004_10202377297366535_1714125081_n.jpg

In Memoriam: Ruth Mason

I am just back from a very sad week and a half in Florida attending my sister Ruth's final illness and eventual death.  She went in the hospital on Thursday, February 6th for blood transfusions after a doctor appointment.  On Saturday, the 8th Ron called to say she was declining, so my sister Susan and I flew down to be with her.  We joined mom, Ruth's  husband, Ron, and their three sons, Travis, Steven and Brendan, and Ron's parents.  Ruth and Ron had bought a house in Homosassa, Florida, near our brother Peter, and were staying there during the winter.

Here is a picture of Ruth and Ron from a few years ago.

Look at that smile!  Ruth was famous for it!

She actually rallied for a few days in the hospital, and I thought she would pull through.  However, on Thursday afternoon the 13th she developed pneumonia, rapidly declined and went into a coma, which she  never came out of.  There was no treatment that would bring her back.  We transferred her to a hospice facility nearby and spent the next two days with her there.  She died mid-morning on Saturday, February 15.

She had been sick for over a year, but was very close-mouthed, so we do not know everything about her condition.  I don't know if she knew everything that was going wrong. Perhaps I'll write more about that in another post.

Here is a more recent picture of Ruth and Ron, maybe a year or so ago.  Still with that one-of-a-kind smile.

The people at the HPH Hospice in Brooksville were truly wonderful in helping with her passage from this life.  Ron and the boys and Susan and I stayed there two nights, one whole day, and half of the last day.  We were able to camp out in her room and spread out to the common area and a little lounge, sleeping in spurts on makeshift beds, couches and chairs. The nurse brought us crocheted afghans to cover up.


All of the nurses there were very kind and helpful, but we think one the first night was an angel.  Around 2:00 in the morning we were all up again, crying, and she talked to us about taking this moment to tell Ruth how we felt and share our memories with her.  Ruth was non-responsive, but probably could still hear what we said.  We took turns alone in the room with  her, climbed up on the bed with  her, and told her what we wanted her to hear.  I don't think any of us would have thought of doing that if that angel-nurse had not come by, noticed our angst, and talked to us.  After that, Ron and the boys especially would get next to her in bed, even sleeping or dozing off with her, and we all hugged her and talked to her throughout the stay.

Saturday morning a chaplain was talking to Ron, while Susan and I listened.  He spoke of books about near-death experiences, and how people who come back from them are unanimous in reporting a beautiful afterlife awaiting, full of unconditional love and the total absence of fear.  The last thing he spoke of was how often people will wait for someone or perhaps some symbolic act, but when the time comes to actually pass over, they are alone in the room; that they seem to want their privacy for this last act on this earth.

Ron had found a special "Family" charm for Ruth's Pandora bracelet, planning to give it to her on Valentine's Day.  His parents brought the bracelet and new charm over on Saturday morning, and Ron went in by himself to put it on Ruth's wrist and tell her again how much he loved her.  He left the room, and within minutes after that, she had passed peacefully away, somehow managing to find that minute when no one was there to leave by herself.  Only Brendan was in the room, asleep on a couch across the room.  It was the most peaceful, sweet death for her, although so hard on her family to finally see her go.

Everyone remembers Ruth's smile and her zest for life and fun-loving spirit.  She had an eye for decorating, and her house always had lovely little touches that none of the rest of us could pull off.  She was a great mother to her three boys, and a great friend to all of their friends, who spent hours in the comfortable Mason house, and Ruth always listened to them and had just the right thing to say. She adored her nieces and nephews and her great-nieces and nephews, and they adored her.

Ruth was the youngest of our family of six kids, nine years younger than me, the oldest.  Here is one of my favorite pictures, me and Ruth when she was just a baby.  I think I was in 4th grade here.  Sorry for the light in the upper right corner, a reflection from the glass as I snapped this picture from the framed picture that Ruth had on a dresser in her house in Florida.  Or maybe it is Ruth in angel form, telling us all is well.  I do believe that is true.

Once in a life time...

The Seahawks Superbowl victory parade in downtown Seattle on Wednesday, February 5th was one of those once in a life time events.  I kept hearing people say that as I was standing along 4th Avenue with the other 700,000 people!

It was a joyous day!  And a cold one - below freezing all day.  Really tough on the fans who had been standing in their spots for hours and hours.

It was an hour late getting started, and people on the street had no way of knowing what was going on because our trusty cell phones had no data.  Too many people using too many devices at once.
This was in front of Rainier Square.  Some kids went by on skate boards with this Seahawks flag, to wild cheers. Otherwise, the crowd entertained themselves by cheering SEA - HAWKS back and forth across the street.

A guy near us finally succeeded in getting signal, tuned in to the local news and discovered the parade was just at the Seattle Center.  We figured it was an hour away.  Norm and I dashed in for lunch at The Rock Bottom, where it was gloriously warm, we could watch the parade progress on one of their many huge flat screen TVs, and I was fortified with a nice IPA beer.  We ate lunch, paid the bill, and dashed back outside to see the parade.  Brilliant!

Yes, this is mostly what we could see!  Up at the front there were some actual Seahawks going by, some in Seattle Duck Tour vehicles, some in dump trucks, some in Humvees, and other assorted vehicles. 

This is a picture of the trophy! Perhaps it is hard to see?  I can't quite make out who is holding it.

Some kids had a great idea and climbed up in trees!  Across the street are some people on a building roof.  Lucky!!  There were people in all the windows of buildings along the way.  Some of the old buildings have windows that actually open, and people unfurled Seahawk flags and cheered their team. 

Despite the cold and the crowd, everyone was smiling and happy, still talking about that fantastic Superbowl game.







The most amazing thing was that whole day, with all those people in the city, with all the uncomfortableness of cold and people crammed up against each other, there was no violence, no vandalism, no arrests at all.  It was a completely peaceful event!!  Maybe it's one of those Seattle things.  Or maybe people anywhere can unite over something positive.   Something to ponder.

Me and Norm early in the parade.  A nice guy snapped our picture with my phone.

Seriously getting back to gardening later this week...

As soon as I get over my obligatory Seahawks Superbowl victory post, that is.  Seattle has gone Seahawks crazy.  We can't stop talking about and thinking about that perfect game yesterday.  Our team didn't make any mistakes, executed nearly every play perfectly, and there weren't even any bad calls.  It might have been more fun for the rest of the country to watch if the game were closer, but for us it was perfect!

And it is amazing how much it really does seem like US.  We aren't the ones out on that field getting hammered or doing the hammering, but Seattle fans actually feel like a part of the team.  I can't think of the last time so many people were so united.  Football rocks!  We're having a big parade downtown on Wednesday.  Luckily I'll already be downtown for work because traffic will be impossible.

  Speaking of work, here's a picture of some of my office mates on Friday.  Half the people were actually working in their offices, but here are some lawyers, paralegals, legal secretaries and administrators in blue and green.  I'm in the green sweater, second row from the back, second person in.  Yes, we could have used someone to stage us a little better!  But it was fun, and we had a pre-Superbowl party with beer and appetizers.  Seriously, every office in the building was having similar parties and nearly everyone was dressed in Seahawks colors.

In other news, I am battling a stye on my right eye.  Started getting it Friday and it's full blown now, driving me moderately crazy.  My brother Steve and I used to get these infections frequently when we were young teenagers, he more than me.  I haven't had one in over 40 years!  It should resolve itself within a week or so, and the only treatment is hot compresses, which I only started today. Am I getting younger, or what?

It is clear and cold here, very pretty!  Seems quite a bit too cold to be digging in the garden, though.

This new cat came in the cat door tonight. The flash on the phone is too bright, so you can't see that it is quite a pretty tabby cat.  But seriously, no more cats!!

Signs of Spring and Tools of the Trade

Saturday's progress!  Here is our high-tech way to cram more yard waste into the barrel.  We take one of our empty plastic buckets and ram it against the pile of brush in the barrel.  It is rather satisfying to crunch those blackberry vines.

Norm had drug out dozens of blackberry vines from the plum tree side at the end of our work session last weekend.  Today I cut up all of the vines in front of the soon-to-be vegetable bed.  That filled the yard waste once again, and I left the back section for another day.  I cleared leaves and sticks and even a huge mushroom out of the center yard.  Waiting for a halfway dry day to run the lawn mower over the remaining leaves.  I wanted to start clearing ivy out of the vegetable bed, thinking it would make me feel like I was making progress if I could get down to bare earth.  I did get a bunch pulled, but it's a long ways still to bare earth.  Ivy is a lot easier to pull than blackberries!

Tools of the trade:

Leather gloves, big pruners and small pruners.  And my waterproof Timberland boots.  I'm actually not a pink person, but got these for $15 one time at the Fremont Sunday market.  They are quite awesome for working in the soggy Northwest.

Norm had been at work, but came out to do the first bit of pruning on the apple trees.  He got a recriprocating saw with special pruning blades at Lowe's.  Wow - it worked great!  So much easier than any of the hand tools I've used before.  He cut off a bunch of branches before it got too dark.  We've let the trees go for a couple of years.  They're a mess anyway, from other years when they've been let go.  Can this tree be saved?  Stay tuned!

 There are signs of spring everywhere.  I cut vases of flowering cherry branches and forsythia.  Hopefully they will bloom inside in the next few days. 

Lots of birds out yesterday.  Robins and sparrows, and I think I heard our resident mourning dove.  It turned much colder over night, and I hope birds and buds all survive.  So beautiful today - clear and sunny.

Getting ready for the Superbowl game this afternoon.  Go Hawks!!

Super Bowl Gardening!

 

It's a quiet week for gardening  here.  Cold and dark, and I'm at work during the daylight hours.  Then it started to rain.  Normal January weather for Seattle, but I'm not making any progress in the garden!

It is a fun time to be in Seattle, though, with the Seahawks playing in the Super Bowl on Sunday.  12th man flags are everywhere, and people wearing their Seahawks gear all week.  When we were out at Grazies last weekend a young couple changed the words to a song we were all dancing to to "Seahawks!"  I have completely forgotten what song it was, but we all cheered wildly and took up the mod.  And everyone is talking about the team, the game, analyzing players and strengths, talking more about the weather for game day in New Jersey than here.  Our office, and I think every workplace in the city, is having a Super Bowl party on Friday afternoon, so I went out and got a Seahawks jersey to wear. Shirts and hats were flying off the shelves, probably the best thing to happen to Macy's in the last week of January for years. It's all great fun, and it seems to me that that is the spirit of the whole city this week.  Best place to be a football fan in the country!

It's hard for me to settle down and be serious about growing food and being more self-sufficient, but we're still planning a few things.  I'm hoping to get some indoor space set up for starting some seeds sometime in this festive weekend.  On Saturday I'm going to pick up our order of 40 pounds of chicken from Zaycon Foods https://www.zayconfoods.com/  We'll have to package it all in small packages and get it in the freezer Saturday afternoon.  Hopefully I'll get a chance to do some digging or clearing done Saturday or Sunday morning.  I'll let you know!

Tonight I made broiled chicken and a vegetable stir fry with onions, celery, garlic, zucchini, tomato and parsley.  I didn't enjoy it quite as much as usual, though, because I could not help but be aware that all those vegetables must have come from somewhere a very long ways to the south of us.  If I had a truly fantastic garden I could expect to have some onions and parsley this time of year, but none of the rest of it.  If I had to depend on what I grew, I'd have to can or freeze the tomatoes and zucchini, not sure how celery would fare. Or eat carrots, potatoes, parsnips, squash, and greens all winter long.  I'm thinking about that for a goal another year, using this year as a base line and to just start thinking about it.

We buy local produce from farmer's markets a good portion of the year, but it is still so tempting to drop into one of our huge shiny supermarkets and pick up any vegetable or fruit imaginable in the dead of winter.  We've all read about vegetables and fruits being bred to stand up to travel, while sacrificing taste, or about the high use of pesticides and artificial fertilizers in the big agri-business farms.  I care about those things, but I am more motivated now by just wanting to grow my own food, or buy it from someone within a few miles of me.  Just to see if we can do it, if we can survive on our own.  That's my food for thought this week.

Have fun, and GO SEAHAWKS!!
 

Climbing the Mountain

Whoa - I am so sore from hauling blackberry vines, clipping them in pieces with big clippers and small, bending to pick them up, and dumping them in the yard waste barrel.  This evening at dinner I couldn't get the cork out of the wine bottle, my  hand was so sore.  How's that for dedication?

Actually, I haven't been that dedicated and didn't get nearly enough done this weekend.  No trees pruned, no seeds started inside.  Those blackberries are already really boring, and I'm already discouraged with how many there are and how long it takes.

It struck me this afternoon that the instructions to beginning mountain climbers to not look down, just keep your focus right in front of you, are just what I need for this task.  Don't look up, don't look at how much more needs to be done.  Just focus on cutting these canes in front of me.  Cut them in 12 inch pieces, bend down and pick them up, put them in the grey plastic container.  Start over.  If  I look up, I'll be paralyzed with fear of never getting done.

I have one hopeful gardening fact:  Norm tells me our goal is to grow 1,000 pounds of food this year, not 2,000.  Hurray!  I feel like we're halfway there!

One scary observation:  I was out in the back yard in the sunniest time of the afternoon, and the sun never hit the middle of the yard.  I'm afraid the trees have grown up too much and we won't get enough sun.  I'm hoping as the earth moves into its summer path, there will be more sun.  Or, we can cut some trees down or something. I knew I shouldn't have looked up.

Time Off

January 25, 2014

Gardening chores await this weekend, and it is even sunny!  I'm planning to prune some trees, load up the yard waste with more blackberries, and start some seeds inside.  Perhaps ambitious, in that I have 3 classes of Macbeth essays to grade as well, but we'll see how far we get.  In the meantime, some music notes!

We started the weekend last night with going out to two places to see our favorite local music groups.  First we went to the Willows Lodge in Woodinville, where The Side Project plays most Fridays from 5:30 to 8:30.  Absolutely sublime vocals by Suzie, wonderful guitar and vocals by Ben, and beautiful stand-up bass lines by Adrian.  Check them out when you can!  See Facebook link below.  They have a unique sound - part country, part folk, part pop.  Every song has their own twist, and I like their original tunes the best.  They've started playing at the airport Mondays, play at Wild Vine Bistro https://www.facebook.com/pages/Wild-Vine-Bistro/129994877044422 on Wednesdays, many other places around town and private parties and weddings.  Okay, we're Side Project groupies and see them most weeks at least once!

https://www.facebook.com/tspbandband

After that we headed on over to Grazies in Bothell where my favorite group, the Michael Powers trio, was playing their once monthly gig.  Michael is a virtuoso jazz guitarist who makes his living playing music in Seattle.  Eddie Ferguson on bass and Ronnie Bishop on drums.  These guys are pros, incredible musicians, and the place was hopping last night!  We are incredibly lucky to have him come out to Bothell and play in this small lounge a mile from our house!  Check him out - you won't be sorry.  Friday and Saturday third weekend of the month, 7:30 - 10:30. 

https://www.facebook.com/MichaelPowersMusic?fref=ts

Back to gardening later today! 

Keep growing!

January Gardening

It is that hopeful time of year, when you first notice it staying light later every day.  The sunsets in December and early January are gorgeous from my Seattle office building, but now I don't see the whole spectacle because it is still a little light when I'm leaving at 5:00.

But still, it is absolutely dark by the time I get home, and too dark in the morning, too, if I might want to get a little yard work in on a weekday.  After having 4 days at home, I'm itching to get back outside every day.  It will have to wait until the weekend.

And I know January in Seattle, especially this year, is a far cry from January in much of the country.  No snow so far, and it hasn't even rained for a week or so.  Daytime temperatures are in the 40's, even a couple days in the 50's.  Still far too cold to plant anything, except in a greenhouse or a hot box or possibly a cold frame, none of which we have at the moment.  So what kind of gardening is there in January?

We'll start some seeds pretty soon, and I tell everyone about all our seeds and where we got them.  We bought from all new seed companies to us this year, many of them small, local companies.  But that's a big organizational project I'm saving for another day.

Today I'm in a January of dream gardening.  It is hazy and cloudy out, and could be considered a dreamlike state - although actually it's pollution and we're under an air stagnation advisory.  No, I'm daydreaming of humongous zucchini plants, pungent tomato vines dripping with red fruit, bees buzzing around the flowering herb garden, and me wandering through the garden, perhaps plucking a few weeds, and harvesting an armload of vegetables for dinner.  Ahhh - such a sweet dream!

Grey Kitty not particularly amused at having his January dreams interrupted by a photo shoot.

Blackberries!

January 21, 2014

So, today I was corresponding with one of the people I bought seeds from this year and who offers a weed killer recipe you can make yourself, that is non-toxic to people and animals, but that kills weeds when you spray it directly on the weed.  We wanted to know if it would kill blackberries before we shelled out the money for the recipe, so I sent him an email.  He replied that he couldn't imagine wanting to kill blackberries, because he loves them, and actually wants to increase his blackberry patch.  Obviously this guy does not live in the Pacific Northwest.  Even non-gardeners here are well aware of how this plant spreads and takes over everything.  Come August and September we're likely to see lots of people picking buckets of blackberries along trails and roads, in ditches or in empty fields.  I don't think any of them wish they had those blackberries in their own yard! 

But it did get me thinking, which got me Googling.

   An innocent looking Himalayan Blackberry just blooming...

Himalayan Blackberries will produce a 15 foot square impenetrable mass of canes 10-15 feet high in a couple of years.  They need water in their growing season, which is spring and early summer, and we have plenty of rain then!  The first year canes don't produce berries, just lots of growth.  The second year canes produce berries, and then die, leaving behind a mass of hard, brittle canes.  In addition to propagating by seed - which itself is incredibly long-lived and viable even a couple years after falling - they produce new canes from the roots AND by "daughter plants."  The long, long canes (20 to 40 feet) fall in a long arc as they grow.  When the end reaches the ground, it takes root and starts growing another cane straight up.  Some of them grow up and land back in the briar patch they started in, which causes the impenetrable nature of the patch.  Second year plants grow laterally as well as vertically, and each of those long laterals can also produce daughter plants.  The old roots can form root balls a foot or two in diameter. 

If you'd like to see this life cycle up close, just come over to our place and we'll let you pull some up and chop them to pieces.  It is remarkable how just one plant can spread so far.  Remarkable and scary, when you consider the hundreds of plants there are in our yard.

On the other hand, blackberries are delicious!  They could add a lot of pounds to our food production goal.  But they would take over the entire yard, and I want to have some lettuce, peas, carrots, beets, pumpkins, etc., etc.  I gather in other places there are other kinds of blackberries, which perhaps behave like civilized raspberries, and which you would want to increase in your yard.  That's not the kind we have.

The lesson for me?  Don't assume everyone has the same experience I do!  I know I can learn things from this guy, who has great patience and determination in saving heirloom seeds, and then generously sells them for a good price.  And he can learn things from me as well.  Keep on listening and learning!  Just be sure to credit your own experience first and foremost.

Here are some links to blackberry information.  Lots of stuff I didn't know before - but all showing even more reason to want to kill all the blackberries in our yard!





http://alienspecies.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/eng/species/himalayan-blackberry

http://www.kingcounty.gov/environment/animalsAndPlants/noxious-weeds/weed-identification/blackberry.aspx

http://lakewhatcom.wsu.edu/gardenkit/unwantedpests/Blackberry.htm

  A stem tip growing roots.  Looks like an alien, right?

http://www.nwcb.wa.gov/detail.asp?weed=111

Many more interesting sites, just a Google search away.

Keep on growing!

First steps: reclaiming the land

January 20, 2014

This is actually the second day of our garden project.  This spot used to be a vegetable garden.  Then for many years it was a dahlia garden.  The last few years, however, we got busy with other things and didn't grow anything here, although we still had some dahlias in other areas, and we really let the whole yard go.  Our project for the year is to grow a LOT of vegetables (i.e., a ton, literally!) and transform our suburban yard into a mini-farm.



The first step is to reclaim the garden areas from blackberrries.  Here I am pulling a 40 some foot blackberry vine out of the middle of the soon-to-be vegetable bed.  Yikes!


Here is Norm tamping down the THIRD yard waste container of cut up blackberry vines.  Our hands and arms are so sore from dragging out vines and cutting them up!

I cleared out our 2 compost bins, and was happy to find a decent amount of compost we'll be able to put on our first beds.  I filled up two barrels with some of the leaves in the picture here, will dump them into the compost bins when I empty them.  By that time we're sure to have plenty of green stuff to add, and compost will be cooking.  Back in the early '90's I was one of the first King County Master Recycler/Composters!  Not sure I ever really mastered composting, but I know enough to get a decent compost pile started.

Our new cat, Megatron, is helping with some blackberries, too.

Megatron, or Mega as we usually call him, is a HUGE cat!  He came in our cat door a couple weeks before Christmas - just at night at first, to grab some dry food and sometimes sleep on an old cat bed I put down for him by the door.  He warmed up to us gradually and now follows each of us around and is the most affectionate, sweet cat we've ever had.  He's not really very helpful with blackberries, but he's willing to hang out with us when we're working outside, unlike the other two cats, Grey Kitty and Cleocatra.  More about those two in another post.

We have some Italian Prune trees on the south side of the vegetable beds that have gone a little crazy with seedlings the last few years, and are also covered with ivy and blackberries.  We want to clean them all up so they will start producing again.  If any of you have had Italian Prune trees, you know they produce bushels of fruit in late August or early September.  Definitely will help with the pounds-to-a-ton count.

Here's a picture of Norm in a tunnel of plum, blackberry and ivy.  Whoa - that's out of focus!  Sorry about that, but I still think it's a cute picture.

As you can probably tell, we're both more than a little out of shape...  One extra benefit of all this gardening is it is a good way to get in shape.  I figure if we have a blog about growing a ton of food and getting in shape, we'll have more accountability and more chance of success.  Right?

More in the next few days.  In the meantime, a parting shot of Norm and Mega.