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.

The start of The Garden

This is what our front yard now looks like. Hopefully months from now, it will be a big, beautiful vegetable garden. I'm studying and planning right now, and waiting for a large shipment of seeds to come from Burpee.
We wil be employing the BioIntensive Method of gardening which should insure that we do well and yield lots of yummy things.
So for now, this Blog will be devoted to what we're doing about this garden.

2.17.08
Today we went to Navlet's and bought 3 bags of sand and 3 bags of "Super" compost. Then we came back and dragged all the rest of our homemade compost up from the back, while bringing the no-longer-lawn to the back for decomposing. It was a lot like work.
To the best I can tell, we should start planting seeds next weekend and then have the yard fully rototilled right after the wedding. So the target date for plants in the ground is April 1st.

Seriously

This whole political thing is potentially harmful to my health. I realized last night that I absolutely cannot afford to stay in the horror that it brings me, lest I lose my tenuous grip on the mental health I've got.
I spent two days in the grip of 9/11 and it started a backslide into depression that took me 4 years to get out of. Now I thought I lost close family that day. But I absolutely refuse to allow the likes of these bastards (Clinton included) to get in the way of my good health.

So go ahead, America, and vote for Mike Huckabee. Vote for your old Aunt Bessie. Vote for a 4 pound bag of shelled walnuts. I don't care, just do it away from me.

Let's get started

I finally got CG's approval to post about it, but we are getting married this year. March 21, 2008 First Day of Spring (best day of the year to get married, don't you think?)

I have been married twice and he, never, so this is truly a crossing over of sensibilities in creating a wedding. As you can guess, it's not very traditional. And therefore, it's not very big. We will be taking just immediate family with us to SF City Hall for an A.M. ceremony and then going out to lunch. That evening we will have some people over as an open house to help celebrate. Eventually we hope to have a party on the East Coast for all our friends and relatives there.
So, I'm sure I'll be hashing out remaining details as it goes...just wanted you to know :-)

The situation til now

Let's see if I've got this right. I was raised in a country (yes it was here to prevent confusion) that was founded on principles of religious tolerance and a sense that a man's faith was his own affair and separate from that of the state. I liked that country. I felt a certain degree of freedom and security living in that country.

As of last night, it turns out that there are enough of my fellow countrymen who think that it is a good idea to elect a pastor to the highest office in the land, one who has been heard to say that he would like to "return this country to Jesus", among other such pearls of zippy insightfulness. Did you just hear me??? We as a nation, sit back in horror/judgement that Pakistan might want to become a Islamic Theocratic state, and yet there are people here who think that Mike Huckabee is a good idea for President??? At this point I fail to see what the difference is. Becoming a Christian Theocracy is no better than being an Islamic one...just different. I suppose I am fortunate in that I have a large, loving Creator that is a bit beyond sectarian differences, but that's my business and I'd rather live in a country where it can stay that way and not be threatened in any way by a ruling class religion.

It's early in the morning, and MR. CG got the most of this rant last night, but the truth is I went to bed early, sad and dejected because I fear that the America that I grew up with and loved is truly gone, and it's not entirely clear what has come to take it's place yet. But in the meanwhile, I mourne what is lost and all that could have been had we not run ourselves off the rails.