Blueberries

Blueberries at Harmony Farms (Scituate, RI), taken 7/26/09.

This past Sunday, E & I went blueberry (& rasberry) picking at Harmony Farms. A lovely, but hot day + fat, luscious blueberries = I need a shower. The raspberries tasted a bit like soap (to me), so I brought home many more blueberries. I like this whole 'pick your own' thing. Blueberries for everyone!

Rasberry Picking, 7/26/09.

Harmony Farms, 7/26/09.

Berry Picking

A few weeks back, we went berry picking down at Sweet Berry Farm in Middletown RI. We started in the raspberry patch, and ended among the blueberry bushes. Something like Narnia, but very hot. A hot Narnia. Sweet Berry has a gorgeous view, and great ice cream, but errs on the pricey side, so we probably wouldn't repeat the trip. Last year, E & I went to the much less commercial, cheaper, and still charming Harmony Farms (blog post here). With sweet berries stacked in the freezer, I'm set. Time to re-do my favorite fruity chocolate treats (here).

Raspberries at Sweet Berry Farm, 7/11/10.

C. hunting for raspberries.

Blueberry bushes.

Jess & Eliz

Taylor

E.

Haven't been able to figure out what these flowers are...
Almost like colored Queen Anne's Lace flowers.

Sweet, Sweet...Super 8

There is something incredibly wonderful about receiving a gift that demonstrates how well a person knows you. It's not the market value of the item or the money spent that makes it valuable, but the meaning we give to things, especially when they indicate the nature of a relationship. There's nothing special or unique in viewing gifts and belongings this way. Most of the people in my life feel the same way about material goods and I appreciate them for that. (I also appreciate the fact that Chris is great at picking out gifts, since I stress so much about 'what gifts say.')

For my birthday last month, Chris bought me a perfect gift--an old but mint-condition Super 8 video camera. I would have never bought it for myself, but he thought I'd like it for its creative potential. He was right and I can't wait to play. I don't know how to use it yet, or what I'll use it for (I'm trying to convince Chris to do Food Network clips, but he's resisting), but I know the film will look amazing. The camera takes Super 8 film cartridges that are fairly easy to find, but developing the film is trickier. Once developed the film can be played on a projector, or filmed and digitized. I'll keep y'all posted on my cinematic debut. All I can say is - watch out, Kaminski.

Changing Leaves

Despite the perks of living in a big city like new york, it's easier to soak up the beauty of Fall when you live in Rhode Island. This past weekend, with my mom in town, she & I witnessed the peak of the Fall season in 4 different states. I'd say it's impossible to 'max out' on the views here. These pics are from the previous weekend (apple-picking)...

(Taken 10/12/08)

Fall Blows In

I love Fall. But doesn't it seem like the shortest of all of the seasons? Maybe Rhode Island's Fall will feel longer, since I haven't been surrounded by this many trees since I lived in Ohio. I'm most affected by the smell of fall (smell is supposedly the strongest memory trigger of all of our senses). Every year, the smell of fall reminds me of my sophomore year of college at Wittenberg University. Sophomore year was big for me. I was depressed and had decided to transfer out, but the smell of fall triggers nostalgia for me. I lived in Myers Hall on Wittenberg's campus, planted atop a huge hill overlooking the rest of campus. The dorm even had a rumored ghost-horse. The building was once a military hospital, wherein a fatally wounded captain had his horse brought upstairs to his deathbed but that had to be killed once the captain died, since horses can't walk down stairs.

My first year, I lived on that 5th floor, but never heard the horse running the long hallway at night. Mid-year I moved down to a single at the end of the second floor (my people-skills were rough) and for my second year, I lived just to the right of the front steps, in the second floor quad (even thought my people-skills still needed work). I spent many nights sitting on the front steps looking down across campus, often with good friends who helped me through that very difficult year. I don't even think they realized they were taking care of me that year.

Literally, the smell of fall is the smell of leaves dying. I don't find this morbid, but instead, see it as a parallel to the fact that the moments or days in our life are constantly passing away. We don't get them back. And once a year, when the leaves give us a send off with that cool fall smell, we get contemplative. Seems perfectly and naturally appropriate to me.

So I'm hoping to spend some time outside this fall -- to enjoy my favorite season, even if its usually a mini-season. Maybe apple-picking?

October 2012

 October was a busy month of running from thing to thing, often in the dark.  ...a surprise Regina Spektor concert, a fundraiser for SCLT, pumpkin picking in Southern RI with my colleague Michele and her kids, Chris' birthday and a class at XO Cafe with Chef Marty, the Steel Yard's Iron Pour, and Rosie's birthday/Halloween party.

 "Call them Brothers"

 Harvesting Hope 

 

Chef Marty 

 Iron Pour

Halloween

April-May 2012: New Gardens

Doubling the main garden to make room for new veggies and flowers.

...cover rocks hauled away, giant chunks of slate dug out, soil turned, and new soil mixed in.

 After picking up starters at the mid-May plant sale, I laid down black plastic bags as ground cover. This kept the soil warm for an early start for the peppers.  In the end, the peppers flourished more than any other veggie this year.

 Eventually every seedling and starter grown in-house and picked at Southside's plant sale made it into the ground (end of May/early June, 2012).

Garden on the Deck: Upgrading to Grow Lights

Grow Light Shelves, 3/28/10.

Grow lights! This is impressive, is it not? I would love to take complete credit for the idea of rigging these grow lights, but the truth is, I did see a similar rigging/Ikea-hack at Digginfood (don't ask me how I found it). Our Ikea shelves (above), which have always held dishes, were incredibly easy to covert. Assemblage Time: less than 1 hour. Time at Lowe's: About an hour. I'm very easily distracted.After picking up the grow lights (light fixture dept. at Lowe's, $10-12/each), I grabbed a package of screw-in hooks (above) for the underside of the shelves ($1), 4 x 1-foot long chains ($2), and additional hooks that I used to attach the lamps to the chains. The rigging below is rather precarious because the hooks can slip out of the lamp, but they work fine for the time being.

And the results are...more and more seedlings pop up every day. Perfect timing...since I haven't seen the sun in a while and Rhode Island is drowning in floods right now. Apparently little old Cranston even made it onto the Today Show!

Spinach seedlings 3/30/10.

First sign of lettuce, 3/30/10.

Flowers on the Deck: Pansies & (super) Marigolds

Pansy flower, 5/1/2010.

Who needs the botanical garden, when we have these? Chris added flowers (these beautiful Pansies) to our garden this year. Good choice. Easy to take care of, and since picking up and planting the starters, they continue to look great.I planted a few Marigold seeds indoors along with all the other seeds I'm trying this year. The seeds came from my friend E and they've survived the indoor start. Apparently they make good container-partners with tomato plants (nutrient-wise), and bring the added bonus of fending off squirrels, who don't like their smell.

Marigold seedlings, 5/1/2010.