August 16th, 2009 - tomato problems

Our tomato garden is out of control. We used some pretty small tomato cages and the plants have completely overrun them. Now, unfortunately, the plants are getting blight because they grew so thick and no air or sun can get in. So it's time for drastic measures. I bought fence posts and a big spool of twine. The plants are being pruned and strung up, then we are hitting the plants and the soil with copper sulfate. Lets hope for the best!!


Other tomato threats. The chickens happen to love them!


More of a people threat ... we leave them alone so they eat other bugs. The tomato garden is loaded with these guys!


A dome-top view of where the dome will eventually live. Jason is digging out the trench of the foundation.

August 16th, 2009 - Boy am i tire'd! ;)

Boy, are we tire'd! CAR tire'd, that is! Yuk, yuk, yuk! Ya know - people ask me: Greg, what in the hell are you going to do with all of those tires?!


A bloody mess of tires!


I've intended all along to use them as the foundation for this dome garden. And here we are finally, manifesting the dream. The big, scary, neurotic dream! Here is the back end of where the dome will sit. The trench was cut out to be level with the lowest end of the slope. I was able to borrow Dad's surveying scope so that I could make the trench level. Pictured below is the first layer of tires that will form the foundation wall.


Live-action-Jason, wailing away on a tire. The idea here is to pack the dirt into the side walls of the tire, then into the center. Soon the tire is packed completely with dirt. Then another layer is set upon the initial line of tires, but offset by 180 degrees in a staggered orientation and those tires are pounded full of dirt. At the end we will have a 2 foot thick wall of rammed earth. The greenhouse will benefit by having a little geothermal gain because we are building into the hillside. It will look cool when we are done applying stucco to the exterior of the tires.

8-16-2009 - Dome is complete!!

Despite being up until about 4:00 AM drinking beer and various vodka concoctions, today turned out to be quite a productive day. We managed to erect the geodesic dome that I have been planning for the last few months! Very exciting. As I sit an drink a gin and tonic, I marvel at the small collection of photographs that I managed to snap to document the progress.

Here is the ditch that Jason and I have been working on. Eventually, all of the dirt even with this ditch will be removed in place of raised beds. The ditch represents the foundation, which will be made of earth-rammed tires, whose exposed surfaces will be faced with stucco.


Here us the initial ring of the dome.


The first layer is up! Young Grasshopper stands at arms ... be afraid ...


Now we are starting to get somewhere. Our roommate, Matt, helps out. The kids think they are helping! :)


Now we are REALLY getting somethere! Josh stopped over for a small visit just by chance - right when we needed him to help hold some of the struts!




It's getting late, but we are almost done! This is is me, preparing to tie in the last few struts!


A dark shot of the same.


alllllll ... mooooostt .... dooooone ...


Finished!! Pretty impressive! It is 20 feet across! That will give us about 314 sq ft of growing space - not to mention growing space by hanging vegetables from above! The dome is about 12 feet tall from the very center point to the ground.


And ... here are the chickens!

August 11th - dome struts

After an exhausting day of sitting in various doctors' waiting rooms, I was finally able to continue the exhausting work of preparing the steel pipe which will form the struts of our geodesic garden dome.

Parents are on vacation. This used to mean it was time to party! Now it means time to use Dad's shop while he is gone.


A close up of one of the struts. Once the ends are flattened, you have to drill a hole through them.


A pile of finished struts. I finished them all today - all 180 of them! Now, I have to paint them. We will begin assembly THIS WEEK!!! Stay tuned ...

August 8th - To All Ye Beer Snobs!

To all ye beer snobs - fear this! Mountain Creek - priced at only $2.50 a sixer, weighing in at 6.0% alcohol by volume, this cool slice of heaven goes down easy and crisp. Oh yeah!


Now on to serious matters - food preservation. Lately, we have been pulling out all sorts of goodies from the garden and are now in a position to prepare, consumer and/or store the food. Pictured below are the items we've collected! Dehydrated mulberries, chamomile, sun-dried tomato, pickles, carrots, zucchini and potato. In the foreground are the veggies I picked just today - the first eggplants, broccoli, and more zucchini! The veggies we don't consume right away will be spirited away to the dehydrator so they don't go to waste and for use this winter.


Dehydrating food is a beautiful thing. This technique of food preservation is very efficient in terms of space, integrity of vitamin and nutrient content and the amount of energy needed to get the food in this state. Once the food is dehydrated, it can stay on the shelf for years with little disruption of vitamin content and taste.

Here are the mulberries. There are more out there, but time has not allowed me to pick too much more. This should be enough for about 3 pies. I have rhubarb dehydrated, too, which will find its way into a few pies.


Pickles! It's a store-bought spice mix. Jason popped a jar open and they are quite delish! They should be better in a month or two.


Outside in the garden, things are getting good. Here are our bean plant. Those little flowers are where the beans will come from. Can't wait!


Tomatillo. Very excited about tomatillo.


More beans. These have purple flowers, adding to the overall purple theme of the garden.


Some of the first tomatoes out of the garden! The weather has been so strange and cool that our tomatoes haven't been able to truly take off. I think we will start seeing a lot more coming in now. The tomatoes plants are truly monsters - they love it in the 'spaghetti garden'. I wish the peppers could be persuaded ...


We've been getting eggs from our chickens now! This morning Jason brought in 7 eggs. No kidding. It is going to get ridiculous quite soon.


Purple-stalked kale. We have a kale-lentil stew recipe that we haven't touched since almost before we got married. That would be a worth-while recipe to bring to the front. Kale is very rich in vitamins and a great source of fiber. This, too, can be dehydrated for use in adding to soups and stews later.


The 'mystery gourd' a-frame! It's is, apparently, kicking some ass. I was scheduled to construct another a-frame, since the amount of gourd plants was wider then the a-frame ... but ... i don't think this is going to happen. I've been trying to get all of the plant vines trained up the side of the a-frame and just don't have time to build another right now. So ... we'll see.


So far so good! Here is some kind of squash hanging from underneath the a-frame. :)


It does appear that my urgent gardening duties have been exhausted and that I can finally get back to finishing up this crazy dome. I just spent a bunch of moo-lah on clear woven poly agricultural tarp to cover the structure. Now I have sit and do the meditative work of pressing and drilling the struts for the dome so that it may be once and for all erected.

I may need more Mountain Creek for this job. It's Saturday night ... my favorite jazz/world music show is on tonight ... and my friend downstairs will be playing music, which means I get to sit it. Should be a good night regardless. :)


peace ...

Aug 2nd part deux - The Food Dehydrator!! =D

I am obsessed with being self-sufficient - being able to live on what we grow, throwing off the shackles and living outside of what most people think of as normal everyday living. Yay!

That is why I purchased this most grand of appliances, the Excalibur food dehydrator.


It is most lovely, is it not??


Here is Lillian with some frozen peas we got from the local food pantry (yes, we are poor and hence we make a monthly pilgrivage to the food pantry for hand outs) and some yummy string beans we harvested from the garden. Thank goodness for simple little social-programs like the food pantry (dare i say SOCIALIST?! Bring it!)


Frozen food-pantry carrots ...


Loaded and ready to go!


And here are some jars of goodies that i dehydrated. We have mulberries, potato (bought on sale, frozen) and chamomile!

August 2nd, 2009 - lotta purple things in our garden

Had quite a nice evening playing music and drinking booze with my close friends. Katie wasn't feeling so well, unfortunately, but made it down to hang out with us anyways. :) I may be able to grab a few pictures of the jam off of friends' cameras.

This afternoon I had to drive to Ill Annoy to drop off my older daughter, Beth, with her mom. I've always wanted to snap a few shots of some of our local scenery while on the road making this trip. Here is one of my favorite views a few miles from home on Route 92.


... and a shot of our 'Compound' as I approach from the south.


Back in the garden. I had to do a little weeding and fertilizing. Here is one of the mystery gourds growing on the A-Frame - shot from underneath.


Finally, some peppers are coming in. They are not too happy living in the new 'lasagna garden' bed as the tomatoes are. Slowly, we are getting peppers in.


Purple kale. Quite gorgeous.


Purple kalarobi. A small pest problem, but nothing urgent.


Eggplant!! Oh man oh man do i love eggplant. I wonder what I will make first with the first mature eggplant that I pull off of there. Katie is slightly allergic to eggplant, but not so much that it is a medical concern. Her mom is very allergic. What a shame! I understand that some people just don't like eggplant, which - for me - is one of life's greatest mysteries. It is nearly the perfect vegetable.


... second only to brocolli ... here are some little ones coming up!


Mmm! Brocolli raw in a salad is my favorite. Steamed is good, too. With some rutabaga and green-beans on the side!