Making the Best of the Worst

As you may have guessed from my previous post, I have had a gardening disaster. In other gardens I have had there have been aphids, and the aforementioned mice, but apparently in the city, the pest of choice is caterpillars. Unfortunately for me, caterpillars ate my lettuce, mint, thyme, oregano, and basil. They also succeeded in damaging other plants before deciding that they weren’t tasty. After and exhaustive internet search, I discovered that the only healthy way to get rid of the creatures was to pick them off by hand. I went for option 2, waiting them out.It has been about 3 weeks since that attack of the caterpillars, and it appears I won. They are no

longer destroying my plants, but my plants are extremely stunted in their growth.. Hopefully with

the

summer sunshine, and my new water transportation system (aka my kitchen trash can which has taken the place of my dogs water bowl

that I was using previously) my plants will make, if not a full, a satisfactory recovery and we will be able to enjoy the fruits of our labor shortly.

Garden Disasters

Like pretty much anything we do, gardening can sometimes be - stupid – for lack of a better word. Anybody who has had a garden knows that things just don’t work out sometimes. In hindsight some of these disasters are actually hilarious. Here are some fun, traumatizing, hilarious stories of garden mishaps.

One time when I was little my grandma was over at our house and decided to help out by watering the garden. She somehow tripped and fell into the bed she was watering and got stuck in the bed with the hose pointed at her. We found her a little while later, she was ok. One of the best parts of the story is that she had to borrow a pair of my dad’s MC Hammer style pants to wear while her clothes dried.

My family had a cat for, well, longer than they had me. My dad caught it as a stray when he was in college. The cat’s name was Axel. She had a broken tail and was just about the toughest thing you have ever met. When I say my family had a cat, I do not mean that my family had a litter box or that the cat cuddled at night. Axel lived outside, roaming our large backyard and the bordering open space. We fed her every night and took her to the vet when she needed to go, but she wasn’t one of these cats that people confuse for human children. ANYWAYS, when axel was 20 years old or so and I was 10, she had a stroke which led to her death. Because we are obviously not cat people, my family decided not to get another cat. This is where the story turns into a gardening disaster. As I mentioned, we have a big back yard that borders open space. We also have a big garden. When spring rolled around we planted our garden as usual. Mice ate everything. It was awful. My mom being ahead of her time, and a very eco-friendly woman did not use chemicals or anything like that to get rid of the pests. She heard that chewed juicyfruit gum shoved down the mouse holes would get rid of them. Needless to say my sisters and I spent the summer chewing juicyfruit gum and shoving it down mouse holes to no avail. The next winter we got a new cat.

My boyfriend was carrying a huge pot from the street to the back patio to plant a lemon tree in. It was already full of dirt and ready to go. He was almost all the way back when he tripped and fell and landed on top of the pot, which smashed to pieces and the dirt went everywhere. To add insult to injury he stepped in dog-doo that our neighbors didn’t pick up. Unfortunately he got rid of the evidence before i could take some really good pictures.

What’s your story?

Lets take a second to remember MJ....

I am not a music fanatic, but nevertheless MJ was as integral a part of my youth as scrunchies and slouch socks. I thought it appropriate to post a little tribute.
I think we all have little anecdotes of MJ moments. I remember when my babysitter had to explain to me that you could cry because you were happy because I didn't understand why girls were crying at the concert we were watching on TV. It was an important lesson! I also remember when Brandon got up for show and tell in 2nd grade and did a somewhat inappropriate MJ impression.
Whatever he became in his personal life, MJ was a bad ass musician! I also made some black and white cookies for the office in his honor.

Who Needs Gluten Anyways

I have not been able to eat gluten since my senior year of high school. It is actually not that bad at all, although I do struggle with the idea of people voluntarily giving up some food group as diligently as I have had to give up gluten, when they are not even allergic to it. In the last couple of years it has become much easier to find gluten free food because some parents have found that their autistic children do better without it, it is also just being diagnosed more often because people are becoming aware of it. The upswing of gluten intolerant people has lead not only to gluten being left out of many products where it was not necessary, but also to better labeling of products. My main problem is that I grew up for 17 years eating gluten. My favorite food is doughnuts. Eating gluten free is only hard because I have a pallet for gluten filled foods. In people who realize their intolerance early, it is much easier to kick the habit. There are plenty of delicious dishes to be had.

There are several ways to be ‘allergic’ to gluten or wheat. Being allergic to wheat is different than being allergic to gluten. The type of allergy I have is called Celiac Disease. Unfortunately/fortunately it is genetic, so my mom and sisters cannot eat gluten either. For more information on exactly how you can be allergic to gluten, google search it, because there is a plethora of information from trained professionals who have written about this topic.

It is not hard to eat gluten free because gluten is not a main component of cooking in all cultures. Every culture has a starch. This is perhaps a gross simplification, especially in light of globalization, but we are going to go with it for the purposes of staying gluten free. So in some cultures the main starches are gluten free; corn, quinoa, rice, teff, millet… you get the idea. Try using these starches to substitute for wheat, barley, and rye. Buying gluten free food can be expensive, but if you cook your own then it isn’t. Actually most things don’t have gluten in them as long as you don’t add it. Chicken, fish, beef, tofu, none of these things have gluten in them by themselves. Some of my favorite dishes to make are, roasted chicken with potatoes, risotto with mushrooms and asparagus, red beans and rice, white beans and whatever I have in the refrigerator, quinoa salad, lentils, soup, and quesadillas (with corn tortillas). They are all very easy. And I make enough to take for lunch the next day. For even easier cooking I like the Indian food packets from Trader Joe’s over rice. To make it uber fancy I add some hummus, pesto, and yogurt, but the likelihood of me having all of these ingredients at the same time is not high. For special occasions, I do buy the mixes. I love Pamela’s brownie and pancake mixes. Also I love the Gluten Free Pantry’s scone and muffin mix, and the Namaste spice cake mix, but they are expensive unless they are bought in bulk. This is why I say that it is sometimes fortunate that celiac is genetic; mostly for the opportunity of bulk purchasing. I also eat a lot of the Tinkyanada pasta. It tastes like real pasta and doesn’t get mushy like lots of the gluten free pasta can. Everything can be found here http://www.glutenfree.com/home.aspx

There are some situations where it seems impossible to eat anything. This past summer I went camping for one month around the Southwest, and I was hungry for a better part of that trip. I never want to eat a rice cakes again! In hind sight I did not go prepared. Places like Thai Kitchen make lots of tasty, lightweight, portable food. It is mostly add water, rice noodle dishes http://www.thaikitchen.com/ . I took nothing like this on this trip, which was a huge mistake. The thing about being gluten-free is that some places, Like Eugene and Portland Oregon, and San Francisco, carry all kinds of gluten-free food at Safeway and Albertson’s (or Lucky’s, whatever it is); other places, like the gas station outside of Bryce Canyon, have very little selection of quick, gluten free food. Of course you can always cook, but in camping situations this is much more difficult. If you are prepared, there is all kinds of stuff that you can take. Trader Joes makes delicious granola and fruit leathers http://www.traderjoes.com/ . I also like Larabars. They come in a variety of flavors and are delicious. I keep one of these in my purse at all times in case I get stuck on the subway or something. Lemon is my favorite! http://www.larabar.com/ . Tiger’s Milk bars are also gluten-free and delicious but I ate enough of those in college to last me a lifetime http://www.tigersmilk.com/ .

Raindrops on Roses: Pyrrhura orcesi “Perico orcés” “El Oro Parakeet”

El Oro Parakeet es un tipo de ave chicito y verde con frente y dedos rojos. Tienen pecho medio gris y rosada. Hay otras aves parecidas en la misma área, pero son más grandes. Cuando están volando, llaman en voz con tono alto, pero cuando no están volando, no hablan mucho.
El Oro Parakeet es un tipo de pájaro que esta en peligro. Es un pájaro que no estuvo descubierto hasta 1988. Desde entonces la población ha bajado mucho. Ahora solamente hay entre 2 mil y 10 mil pájaros de este tipo en el mundo. Es considerado ser en peligro porque solo viven en un área de 100km por 10km en ecuador, con altura entre 600 y 1,300m. Mucho del área esta sufriendo deforestación increíble. Mientras los pájaros son tolerante de la deforestación, y pueden vivir en árboles que queden en pastura, sobreviven mucho mejor en bosque que no ha sido destruido. Además hay predadores naturales que matan los bebes del grupo como Aulacorhynchus haematopygus o Crimson-trumped Toucanets.
Normalmente viven en el parte oeste de los andes en el sur oeste de ecuador. No viven en altura mas de 1,300m.Los nidos normalmente quedan en huecos naturales de árboles o la tierra. Típicamente son arriba a, entre 2 y 24 m del piso. No es importante que tipo de árbol hagan los nidos, más importante es donde queda en altura, y si hay el tipo de hueco que les gusta. Parece que se aparean entre marzo y mayo, pero es difícil a decir porque con los efectos de ‘El Niño’ se aparean entre diciembre y enero.
Viven en grupos de entra cuatro y quince pero hay grupos mucho mas grande. Cuando no hay mucho comida los gropos viven juntos, pero siempre, antes de se aparean, se separaran en sus grupos chicitos. Cuando se aparean es en grupos de cuatro hasta nueve pájaros. Para cuidar los huevos, comparten entre tres pájaros. Cuando los huevos empollan, todo de los pájaros del grupo cuidan y dan comida a los bebes. Normalmente hay un pajarito que sobrevive por cada pareja. Pero parece que el numero de bebes esta bajando casi do 50 por ciento.
En el bosque, los pájaros quedan en el área de sub-dosel, porque aquí hay mas comida. Este tipo no tiene competición con otros tipos de aves aunque hay especies muy similares en el área.
Los pajaraos comen higos que se llaman Picus y otras frutas parecidas. También comen flores de tipo Cecropia. Parece que siguen la comida, y por eso se mueven alturas en agosto y octubre. Se mueven a alturas mas baja en estos meses porque no hay menos comida en la altura más alta durante estos meses. Cuando no están con bebes, solamente se queden algunas noches en cada lugar de su área. El área puede estar entre 1 hasta 5km.
Hay 120 en la reserva de Buenaventura pero hay mas que viven cerca del reserve. Para conservar la población el dueño de la reservación compró dos áreas mas donde vive este tipo de pájaro y la población que está en partes protegida es dos veces mas grande ahora. Es difícil porque las aves se mueven y depende en la estación y donde queda la comida. Los pájaros son tolerante a los cambios y pueden vivir in muchas áreas desde bosque hasta pastura, pero sobreviven mejor en el bosque donde hay mucho mas comida. Es difícil conservar este tipo porque viven en un área muy pequeño donde hay mucho deforestación para hacer pasturas por las vacas. Por eso la tierra de los pájaros es muy fragmentada. Para conservación, el Buenaventura estas comprando mas partes del bosque donde viven los pájaros, pero todavía hay los que viven afuera. La cosa que muchos grupos como Loro Parque Fundación están tratando a educar los jóvenes y niños de conservación y la importancia de este parte del piase. Hay programas que llevan los niños a Buena ventura para enseñar de todos partes. Algo importante por esta especie es información. Como es un especies relativamente nuevo investigaciones sobre como viven y mueven son pocos.

Spicy Office Plants

I am a recent college graduate and working at my first ‘real’ job, what they call a “career appointment.” I don’t mind working. Really, I thank my lucky stars everyday that I have a job and am able to pay my rent and have health insurance etc. in this economy. I also know that I am working towards something and that this is very good experience and will be very helpful for my future plans of going medical school and other world saving activities. That being said, lets be honest, a lot of times I am bored to death sitting behind my computer filling out paperwork (hence the blog). I was shocked to find out that there is so much paperwork to fill out and so many hoops to jump through after college. It is very easy to get down on the world from behind a desk. I have found that there are a couple of things that make the day go faster and keep me hopeful.

First tip: have a snack around 10am and lunch around 2pm because the hour from 2-3pm seems to take forever….

Just kidding! (kind of) What I really recommend is inflicting your personality on your otherwise bland and typical cubicle. Of course this has to do with gardening! Instead of those creeping office plants that everybody has try growing herbs on your desk. By now you can probably tell that I am obsessed with mint. I love it because it is just so hard to kill! So mint is of course what I have on my desk. Growing mint, or any herb, on your desk will kick that stuffy office smell (at least in the immediate area) and can be added to water for an afternoon pick me up. They can also be munched pre-meeting to kick bad breath if you run out of gum. The final benefit is that, in my opinion, watering and pulling dead leaves from your office plant totally counts as working. It is a constant reminder that there is a world outside of your desk.

A REAL tip: make sure that the pot is glazed on the bottom, same with the saucer that you put it in. The ones that are not glazed on the bottom will ruin your desk because they are porous and let water seep through (even if it doesn’t seem like it, trust me I am talking from experience).

Oh My "Garden"

I am pleased to say that my barrel garden, and first attempt at summer apartment gardening, is going very well. I have 2 half wine barrels and several miscellaneous pots I ‘borrowed’ from my mom’s house.

In one barrel I planted Sun Gold tomatoes. The Sun Gold tomato is a type of cherry tomato that, rather than being super sweet like your typical cherry tomato, tastes like a regular tomato. They get their name, I can only assume, from their sun gold color. They are my personal favorite type of cherry tomato, and they have a very high yield in my experience. I have a tomato cage that the plant is quickly outgrowing, but that will be fine. If you want to go high tech, there are fancy tomato cages that are very sturdy and will keep your plants growing upright and give you better access to the fruits. They are about $15 each at Home Depot.

In the other barrel I planted 2 lemon cucumber plants. I have put a mini bean trellis to see if they will creep up it for better access to the fruits. I am also hoping that they will creep over the sides of the barrel.

Lettuce takes a very short time to grow, so it can be planted around things like the tomato and lemon cucumbers while these plants are maturing. Lettuce doesn’t like to be baked in the sun so you can put them in a kind of shady spot (they still need sun, not complete shade). I personally like red lettuce, but you can plant whatever kind you like. I bought the seedlings at the grocery store, so it was not out of the way at all. I plan on growing several crops of lettuce throughout the year.

The other various pots are stuffed with various herbs that I like to cook with. I have basil, sage, cilantro, thyme, oregano, chives more lettuce, and of course, mint. The oregano, thyme, chives, and sage will keep growing year after year (this is what they call perennial) so I do not have to keep going out and buying them every spring. I kept this in mind when I was planting them and placed them accordingly. Remember that mint is a weed and should be grown by itself in a pot.

I also added to my collection, a Meyer lemon tree. I got it as a birthday present and am very excited because they grow well in pots, which is perfect for my apartment garden. It already has flowers, which I am hoping means lemons soon!

Here is something to think about. I worked with this lady who wasn’t terrible, but had a way of talking down to people and being a kind of Oscar the Grouch type. I always thought of her as a kind of crazy cat lady. I came to find out that it was not in fact cats that she fancied, but her garden. One day she brought in several well kept scrapbooks of her garden, one for each year. Please note that I used the word ‘scrapbook’ not ‘photo album.’ These things were labeled for the seasons and plant types and had di-cuts, the whole nine yards. It was kind of my boost or inspiration, if you will, to think about her and her scrapbooked garden. I would think things like ‘at least I have better things to do than scrapbook my garden’ or ‘I have to go back to school so I don’t end up scrapbooking my garden.’ The question I have is; is having a blog about my 2 barrels I refer to as a garden at the same level as the garden scrapbooks?