Author: Richard

leaf bag experiment and a cable sizing conundrum

My leaf bag collecting operations produce confusion for some neighbors and emulation with others.  A close neighbor, whose current preoccupation is the recent resignation of Mark Richt, the UGA football coach, was unclear whether I was collecting the leaf bags in order to keep the paper bags or for the leaves, and if the latter, why?  On a more pleasing but also disconcerting note some, or at least one  neighbor, has also begun removing leaf bags from the curbside - new competition for next year?.  Read more [...]

update on growing, blueberries, leaf bag collection, shoe repair & ups

Today is Nov 20 and, after lots of rain earlier in the week the past few days have been in the 60's and 70's and no freezing temps yet.  So my fall greens (collard, kale, turnip greens and radishes) have been doing really well with minimal pest evidence. Each year I get a little better.  I pull the weeds early and cover the growing areas with growth.  Garlic is different since it does not provide shading leaves and does poorly with weeds so I weed carefully before planting garlic and then Read more [...]

gravel drive

My drive is 220 ft long and is a gravel drive with most of the original gravel buried, worn or washed away.  Time for a new face.  I contacted the local trucking company and dispatch was not available but the accounting lady, who acknowledged she was not very knowledgeable about gravel, suggested that #34 gravel would work and that it costs $30.50 a ton.  A ton is 2,000 lbs which is what she was referring to, though there is also a metric ton which is defined as 1,000 kg which equates to 2,204.6 Read more [...]

stuck waiting

I am in a holding pattern and were it not for the glorious weather I would be frustrated.  From my jungle clearing work and regular pruning and also clearing growth around the chicken paddocks (to better spot and dissuade predators) I have amassed a lot of chipping material. The bush hog is mounted to the tractor and I would like to complete all the bushhogging for the season before I replace it with the chipper.  I only bushhog a couple times during the year and growth rather than kempt Read more [...]

mushroom, brier & oak

As anticipated, the recent heavy rains kickstarted fungi activity in the woods.  Lots and lots of different mushrooms. The one above is for me the most attractive.  Here is a grouping of various ages. And yet another pic. Brier I last cleared the area between the house and the road in October 2012 and worked hard to remove the bramble and brier.  Three years was too long to wait and again my oak saplings were submerged below pines, poplars and snared with brambles.  And Read more [...]

growing update and unusual sights

With shortened sun hours and fall in temperatures, my summer vegetables are yielding, as too are the pests which feasted on the chard, collards and greens.  So I have been clearing the raised beds, adding compost and cool season seeds such as kale, spinach (after 1 week germinating stint in the refrigerator), and turnip greens.  Also lettuce and radishes for harvesting before it gets too cold.  I had packets of several years old seed and not knowing which was viable but knowing that with each Read more [...]

whats growing

By September the large tomatoes have passed their prime, tho the small varieties - Juliet, Black Cherry (our favorite), Jelly Bean, Sweet Cherry - are still producing. The Juliet is a hybrid and also grows well and tastes good. The burgundy okra is producing well - the smaller okra can be eaten raw off the plant, the oversized are tough and the covering is stringy even after grilling (we grill rather than fry) and the transition from small to oversized happens within a few days, so Read more [...]

west coast trip – Bodega Bay area and Burbank

Most towns in Bodega Bay area are small and each has a general store with canned goods and occasional fresh vegetables. Gas stations are sparse and you have to travel several towns to find one. You can measure resident size by the number of gas stations - Bodega (where "Birds" by Hitchcock was filmed) has none, Bodega Bay one.  Sebastopol however, has 3 plus a Safeways a Whole Foods and two bookstores! I felt very at home in Sebastopol which reminds me of Asheville NC. A street is named Read more [...]

west coast trip – fulfillment outdoors (part 2)

Larry North of SanFran is Marin county and north of it is Sonoma county and Bodega Bay. The promontory called Bodega Head has craggy cliffs overlooking the ocean with crowds of cormorants and seagulls soaring and calling. On a rocky guano caked outpost flecked with salt foam, squadrons of Pelicans have gathered. And then they pitch forward and off and with powerful wings thrumming they beat above the foaming sea and ascend higher and higher in broad V wave formations until they disappear Read more [...]

west coast trip – fulfillment outdoors (part 1)

Mike We just visited 2 sons in the San Francisco area and as usual lodged at Pacifica.  On the BART train we passed the houses clustered on the hillsides of Daly City which inspired: Little boxes on the hillside, Little boxes made of ticky tacky, Little boxes on the hillside, Little boxes all the same. There are green ones and pink ones and yellow ones and blue ones and today they all cost a lot of money. Pacifica is a small town with undistinguished buildings overlooking the ocean Read more [...]