The State of the American Economy

So some few years ago I was wine tasting with a friend in Napa. Actually, she was tasting and I was smelling, since that's what is left me these days. But we came to a recommended place, Arger-Martucci, not a big name in wine, but it was a great little winery. They also happened to be the sole importers of a particular olive oil, Casa Brina, which we sampled and I bought some of.
Fast forward about 18 months, some other friends try the oil and love it, so I go looking to buy some more, hopefully on line. A quick search reveals that the distributorship for the oil has moved to a winery in Washington State, the Betz Family Winery. But when I go to order the oil, the 2006 batch is all sold out. So I call the winery:

Apparently the situation of the dollar and the euro is such that in order to get the 2007 batch they would have to double their price to sell it. (Going from $26 - $52 a bottle). So they have decided that they will not be carrying the oil this year, and hope to be able to get it next year.

That's right. the dollar is now so weak that we can no longer afford to import really nice olive oil.

But really Mr. Bush, the economy is fine!

Well, I'm back

So sorry for the long hiatus. I was, well, getting married. But now that it's over (yes, I am officially Mrs. Culture Ghost...no more sig-ot), and we are not the center of the universe anymore, it's time to get on with the garden.

I was looking at an earlier post that has a picture of the yard. We done a whole bunch since then and it still looks like that!

The first round of seeds came up gloriously, stayed around for a few days and then all promptly died. I have another round of seeds percolating in an impromptu greenhouse made by CG, but I think until yesterday, it's been too cold at night for them to germinate. So I wait, and dream of plants instead of seeds and dirt.

Round 1

Well, the seeds arrived. Yea! It was fun going through the box full of little seed packets. Then again, I have a warped idea of fun.

SoFriday was the inaugural day for seed planting. I had to make some amendments to my original plan based on the number of peat pots we had available. So in the end, I put down 5 cauliflower, 5 eggplant, 15 celery, 25 onion, 10 hot peppers(mixed), 10 bell peppers(mixed) and 6 each of Beefsteak, Cherokee Purple, BrandyBoy, Tangerine, and Sweet 100 tomatoes. Oh yeah, and a little bed of basil, too.

I currently have well, little or no faith that the act of putting these tiny little specs in the dirt is going to amount to anything, but I do stand over them and entreat them to "grow" for whatever that's worth.

Oh yeah, and I'll be Officially Mrs. Culture Ghost this time three weeks from now!

Garden Update

Well, the big Burpee shipment should arrive today. Feels like Christmas, I'm so excited. The ground, in the meanwhile, has insisted on growing more grass. I'll be glad when it's time to start tilling the soil and getting down to business.

But first things first. Got to get all those seeds into their little compartments and hope we can keep them alive long enough to plant!

Think good thoughts for the little seedlings:-)

Speaking of Seeds

Biodiversity 'doomsday' vault comes to life in Arctic

This is cool and creepy all at the same time. There are people saavy enough to plan for our eventual self (or natural) destruction by putting up all the seeds ever known to man, just in case we lose them. Cool. Literally.

Farming Schedule

The following is the aforementioned "farming" schedule. I had to push back the seed starting date by one week because Burpee is a little later than I'd guessed getting my seeds to me.
But from all I've studied, this plan should get us off and running, at least for the first part of the season. I know that I will need to make plans to replace crops, etc. as the season progresses, but right now I can't think that far.
March 1 - 3
6 Cauliflower
20 Celery
6 Eggplant
10 each Hot/Sweet Peppers
6 each Tomatoes
30 Onions
5 Basil
March 8 - 10
5 each Lettuces
20 Beets
100 Carrots
10 Cantaloupes
10 Pumpkins
10 Winter Squash
20 Zucchini
10 Watermelon
March 15 - 17
10 Cucumbers
March 21 - 24
Wedding
29-Mar
Pajarito Rototill:
compost, sand, bonemeal
March 30 - 31
40 Corn
50 Peas
20 Pole Beans
20 Bush Beans
30 Sunflowers
2-Apr
Topsoil Delivered
April 3 - 4
Work in topsoil w/manure, bonemeal
April 5 - 7
PLANT
Asparagus, Radishes, Corn
Sunflowers, Lettuce, Beets, Carrots
Melon, Pumpkin, Winter Squash
Zucchini, Watermelon, Basil
April 12 - 14
PLANT
Peas, Pole Beans, Bush Beans
Cucumbers
May 3 - 5
PLANT
Cauliflower, Eggplant, Hot/Sweet
Peppers, Tomatoes, Onions
May 25 - 26
PLANT
Celery

Garden Part 2

Over the weekend, we brought up all (well most) of the home grown compost and put it in the front yard. We also went and bought more Super Compost and more sand. Probably the most exciting thing is that I established a time-line for all the rest of what we have to do, including get married, between now and when we finally put the celery in in May. I have yet to load it into excel, but when I do, I'll post it here.
I'm learning lots from these books, I can't wait to get out there and learn from the dirt.