For those of you that don't follow my grocery challenge blog, it's worth mentioning that the mid-year bottom line is $705.13. That puts me on track to come in well under the yearly limit of $1600, although that excess may be spent on lobster dinners when Ryan comes to visit in August.
Supposedly Ryan stopped at the store the other night and as he was getting out of his car someone said, "Whoa, I really like your car; it's like a mini-Batmobile!"
I'm getting more excited about the idea of getting chickens at our next house. Chickens are magical animals that eat bugs and turn it into fertilizer. Here's a link to the breed I'm interested in. I would want a similar coop setup, maybe a little smaller with only 3 birds.
Oh, and I thought of a few more things I want to grow: grapefruit, avocados, kiwis, walnuts, apricots, and blackberries. Grapefruit and avocados would have to be inside the greenhouse.
The weather here in Maine sucks big time. Today was nonstop rain/fog. Everyone is constantly talking about how unusually wet this year is :( Hopefully July will be better.
Monday, June 29, 2009
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Right now I have a pretty good idea of what my realistically ideal life would be like... {enter hazy dream sequence here}
First I need to finish this darn PhD-thingy.
Then there's a minor fork in the road: any of these paths will get me to my final goal, although some are obviously preferable to others. In order of descending desirability:
1. Get a permanent teaching job that's in close proximity to a L0ckheed that's in gardening zone 6 or higher. Yay, I win at life.
2. Get a permanent teaching job that's in close proximity to a L0ckheed that's in gardening zone 5. Okay, a little chillier than I'd like, but I'll deal. We'll take tropical vacations in the winter and I'll get a big greenhouse.
3. Get a short-term/interim teaching position in the Philly/NJ area. That will give me a little something for the resume. And we can stay in our current house for a little longer. Then apply for jobs as seen in 1 and 2.
4. Kill time with non-career type job (substitute teaching, etc) for a year or two until well-situated short-term or permanent job is attained. Resume doesn't get as padded, but I have plenty of time for gardening and kitties.
5. Get a short-term/interim teaching position that's outside of commuting distance from Ryan. Also a resume-padder, but based on how much I miss Ryan just being away for the summer, I don't know if I could handle it. Get a cheap apartment, pay my dues, then reapply for better-situated jobs.
Okay, at any rate, eventually Ryan will still be working for L0ckheed and will have advanced a few pay grades (associate manager?) while I have permanent teaching job at a small (i.e. non-research) college. I don't want to do research...too much time is spent on grant applications and manuscripts that get rejected. I enjoy teaching, and at the right school I could just teach and have a light load in the summer, which leaves more time for gardening.
If and when we find this ideal employment locale, it will be time for a new house (unless it happens to be right where we are now, in which case we can stay put for a couple more years, then upgrade). Based on the effort/time it takes to start a new garden of epic proportions, we'll probably live in that house for our whole working life (and possibly retirement too, if we still enjoy it). So...we'd better make it a good one! I really like our current house, but the things that would be big improvements are more land, larger rooms, and a separate dining room.
Ideal second house:
After living in this house for a few years we should have enough money to pimp our roof with solar panels...and if we live in the house for 30 years they should more than pay for themselves. Totally random, I know, but something I've always wanted to do. Oh yeah, I want Lasik too, so I'm not so blind.
What am I going to do with all that land? Epic garden! I'd like to grow more than enough food for both of us (give away extras to friends, donate to food bank, etc). We'll get a chest freezer and food dehydrator to help keep my bounty sustaining us through the winter. I'll have sufficient quantities to can stuff, too. And for the holidays everyone will be delighted to get baskets of homegrown jams, jellies, dried fruit, nuts, etc (score! no more racking my brain for gift ideas!).
With all my land and large greenhouse, I would grow:
We will fence in a large part of the yard with a very tall, attractive fence so that the cats can play outside without worry of getting lost or hit by a car. Maybe if they're good they'll even get a kitty door to the outside.
That's "all" I want. A mini farm, nice house, and 4-5 cats. I don't really, really want a job but should probably do something with my degree. A tropical vacation each winter would be nice but otherwise I'm not too big on traveling. I'm happy with the type/quality of cars we have now...maybe in the future I might splurge on leather seats as an option in my next small Japanese sedan but don't aspire to drive a BMW/Mercedes/etc. Don't want kids. What else do people spend money on? Guess we'll have to start making large donations to charity with all the money we will have to burn!
Addendum: What does Ryan want? He doesn't really know. A year ago he might have said a big-screen TV, but we got one. He's very career-oriented so all his future plans are about advancing there. I'm sure he'd like more open roads to go biking. So a farm in the country works for both of us.
First I need to finish this darn PhD-thingy.
Then there's a minor fork in the road: any of these paths will get me to my final goal, although some are obviously preferable to others. In order of descending desirability:
1. Get a permanent teaching job that's in close proximity to a L0ckheed that's in gardening zone 6 or higher. Yay, I win at life.
2. Get a permanent teaching job that's in close proximity to a L0ckheed that's in gardening zone 5. Okay, a little chillier than I'd like, but I'll deal. We'll take tropical vacations in the winter and I'll get a big greenhouse.
3. Get a short-term/interim teaching position in the Philly/NJ area. That will give me a little something for the resume. And we can stay in our current house for a little longer. Then apply for jobs as seen in 1 and 2.
4. Kill time with non-career type job (substitute teaching, etc) for a year or two until well-situated short-term or permanent job is attained. Resume doesn't get as padded, but I have plenty of time for gardening and kitties.
5. Get a short-term/interim teaching position that's outside of commuting distance from Ryan. Also a resume-padder, but based on how much I miss Ryan just being away for the summer, I don't know if I could handle it. Get a cheap apartment, pay my dues, then reapply for better-situated jobs.
Okay, at any rate, eventually Ryan will still be working for L0ckheed and will have advanced a few pay grades (associate manager?) while I have permanent teaching job at a small (i.e. non-research) college. I don't want to do research...too much time is spent on grant applications and manuscripts that get rejected. I enjoy teaching, and at the right school I could just teach and have a light load in the summer, which leaves more time for gardening.
If and when we find this ideal employment locale, it will be time for a new house (unless it happens to be right where we are now, in which case we can stay put for a couple more years, then upgrade). Based on the effort/time it takes to start a new garden of epic proportions, we'll probably live in that house for our whole working life (and possibly retirement too, if we still enjoy it). So...we'd better make it a good one! I really like our current house, but the things that would be big improvements are more land, larger rooms, and a separate dining room.
Ideal second house:
- 3-4 bedrooms
- 2.5 bath
- large kitchen
- master suite with walk-in closet and room for king-sized bed
- separate living, dining, and family room or den
- finished/finishable basement (bat cave)
- 1+ acres of non-wooded land (additional woods okay)
- super bonus: pond
After living in this house for a few years we should have enough money to pimp our roof with solar panels...and if we live in the house for 30 years they should more than pay for themselves. Totally random, I know, but something I've always wanted to do. Oh yeah, I want Lasik too, so I'm not so blind.
What am I going to do with all that land? Epic garden! I'd like to grow more than enough food for both of us (give away extras to friends, donate to food bank, etc). We'll get a chest freezer and food dehydrator to help keep my bounty sustaining us through the winter. I'll have sufficient quantities to can stuff, too. And for the holidays everyone will be delighted to get baskets of homegrown jams, jellies, dried fruit, nuts, etc (score! no more racking my brain for gift ideas!).
With all my land and large greenhouse, I would grow:
- Apple, peach, pear, cherry, apricot, hazelnut, plum, lemon, lime trees (2 each)
- Everything that's in my garden now, but in much larger quantities so there's enough to preserve
- Blueberries
- Asparagus
- Leeks
- Celery
- Cucumbers
- Beans (additional types)
- Peanuts
- Sweet potatoes
- Tomatoes (for homemade tomato sauce)
- Rhubarb
- Grapes
- Chickens! Just a few hens for eggs.
- Corn (extra to feed to chickens)
- Flowers (just a few, for decorations)
We will fence in a large part of the yard with a very tall, attractive fence so that the cats can play outside without worry of getting lost or hit by a car. Maybe if they're good they'll even get a kitty door to the outside.
That's "all" I want. A mini farm, nice house, and 4-5 cats. I don't really, really want a job but should probably do something with my degree. A tropical vacation each winter would be nice but otherwise I'm not too big on traveling. I'm happy with the type/quality of cars we have now...maybe in the future I might splurge on leather seats as an option in my next small Japanese sedan but don't aspire to drive a BMW/Mercedes/etc. Don't want kids. What else do people spend money on? Guess we'll have to start making large donations to charity with all the money we will have to burn!
Addendum: What does Ryan want? He doesn't really know. A year ago he might have said a big-screen TV, but we got one. He's very career-oriented so all his future plans are about advancing there. I'm sure he'd like more open roads to go biking. So a farm in the country works for both of us.
I broke my promise; I am back in Maine and didn't take any garden pics while I was home. Here is the verbal description of how things are growing (probably more for my future reference than your enjoyment, unless you are a garden stalker).
Strawberries are pretty much done for the year. If it weren't for all the excessive rain there would've been at least twice as many. Note to self: move downspout before next spring and be sure to re-mulch and remove old leaves before they rot.
Raspberries: half of the the plant I got at Lowe's this spring has tiny green berries on it and the other half turned brown and died. The plant that I planted in spring 2008 is lush and green and much larger than last year, but no berries.
Carrots: growing much faster than last year. The soil/sun exposure/Nitrogen-rich fertilizer in their new spot must have helped. They should be ready to harvest in July (as opposed to September last year). I'm going to have Ryan seed another round as soon as some other plants are out of the way.
Peas, peas, and more peas. The snow peas matured earliest (early June), but now seem to have a second wave that will be ripe at the very end of June. The snap peas started coming in mid-June, and are probably pretty much done by now. I ate a lot while I was home. Big success, and big plants- they were about 6 feet tall before falling over under their own weight. The shelled peas matured at the same time as the snap peas, but the pods only had 5-6 peas each. Not really worth the effort/space when frozen peas are so cheap at the store. So I won't be doing those next year.
Green beans: the easiest thing in the world to grow. I put them in the worst section of the garden (least sun, worst soil) and they're still doing great. The first mature beans arrived in mid-June and we had them with dinner a few nights while I was down.
Onions: they took off fast in May but look kinda whimpy now. They probably need more sun...hopefully there will be more sunny days as we move into July.
Broccoli: matured during the first two weeks in June. A bunch of caterpillars climbed up in the later-maturing heads...hard to get all of them out. Next year: cover broccoli with floating row cover as soon as heads start to form. But in general, another successful broccoli crop.
Soybeans: in place of the broccoli I put about 20 soybean plants. I started the seedlings on my trip home in early June, then transplanted them last weekend. I started another set of seedlings that Ryan will transplant for me once there's room. Edamame...yum!
Lettuce/spinach/mixed greens: they had a good run but are getting close to their expiration date. The spinach and most of the mixed greens have bolted (gone to seed). The lettuce are still okay for now. I told Ryan to eat most of the rest of it in the next week or two, then the new soybean seedlings will get transplanted to the old lettuce real estate.
Pumpkins/yellow squash: the plants are growing rapidly and there were some immature buds before I left. I expect mature squash starting in July and pumpkins starting in August. This year I planted carving-size pumpkins rather than the mini ones. Depending on how many we get, I may try making pumpkin pie from super-scratch (I have only used canned pumpkin before). Pumpkins keep for a long time under the proper conditions, so we'll use them for Halloween decorations.
Honeydew melons/watermelon: the plants are about a foot long now. Hopefully fruit in late July?
Phantom crop of the year (I didn't plant on purpose, but grew anyway): potatoes! I obviously missed a few while digging up last year's potatoes. I let them grow and they should be mature in a few weeks. Ryan will be planting additional potatoes where the snap and snow peas are right now.
Peaches: there are 6 peaches remaining on the tree out of the 20-ish that were there in May. 6 is probably a good number considering the size of the tree and the fact that I planted it last year and the catalog said it should fruit in 2-3 years.
Apple/hazelnut trees: no fruit/nuts this year, but that's to be expected...all the trees weren't supposed to fruit until 2-3 years. Guess I just have some prodigal peaches. The apple tree is very skinny and tall, whereas the hazelnuts are short and bushy. The peach tree is right in between, medium height and full-bodied.
Strawberries are pretty much done for the year. If it weren't for all the excessive rain there would've been at least twice as many. Note to self: move downspout before next spring and be sure to re-mulch and remove old leaves before they rot.
Raspberries: half of the the plant I got at Lowe's this spring has tiny green berries on it and the other half turned brown and died. The plant that I planted in spring 2008 is lush and green and much larger than last year, but no berries.
Carrots: growing much faster than last year. The soil/sun exposure/Nitrogen-rich fertilizer in their new spot must have helped. They should be ready to harvest in July (as opposed to September last year). I'm going to have Ryan seed another round as soon as some other plants are out of the way.
Peas, peas, and more peas. The snow peas matured earliest (early June), but now seem to have a second wave that will be ripe at the very end of June. The snap peas started coming in mid-June, and are probably pretty much done by now. I ate a lot while I was home. Big success, and big plants- they were about 6 feet tall before falling over under their own weight. The shelled peas matured at the same time as the snap peas, but the pods only had 5-6 peas each. Not really worth the effort/space when frozen peas are so cheap at the store. So I won't be doing those next year.
Green beans: the easiest thing in the world to grow. I put them in the worst section of the garden (least sun, worst soil) and they're still doing great. The first mature beans arrived in mid-June and we had them with dinner a few nights while I was down.
Onions: they took off fast in May but look kinda whimpy now. They probably need more sun...hopefully there will be more sunny days as we move into July.
Broccoli: matured during the first two weeks in June. A bunch of caterpillars climbed up in the later-maturing heads...hard to get all of them out. Next year: cover broccoli with floating row cover as soon as heads start to form. But in general, another successful broccoli crop.
Soybeans: in place of the broccoli I put about 20 soybean plants. I started the seedlings on my trip home in early June, then transplanted them last weekend. I started another set of seedlings that Ryan will transplant for me once there's room. Edamame...yum!
Lettuce/spinach/mixed greens: they had a good run but are getting close to their expiration date. The spinach and most of the mixed greens have bolted (gone to seed). The lettuce are still okay for now. I told Ryan to eat most of the rest of it in the next week or two, then the new soybean seedlings will get transplanted to the old lettuce real estate.
Pumpkins/yellow squash: the plants are growing rapidly and there were some immature buds before I left. I expect mature squash starting in July and pumpkins starting in August. This year I planted carving-size pumpkins rather than the mini ones. Depending on how many we get, I may try making pumpkin pie from super-scratch (I have only used canned pumpkin before). Pumpkins keep for a long time under the proper conditions, so we'll use them for Halloween decorations.
Honeydew melons/watermelon: the plants are about a foot long now. Hopefully fruit in late July?
Phantom crop of the year (I didn't plant on purpose, but grew anyway): potatoes! I obviously missed a few while digging up last year's potatoes. I let them grow and they should be mature in a few weeks. Ryan will be planting additional potatoes where the snap and snow peas are right now.
Peaches: there are 6 peaches remaining on the tree out of the 20-ish that were there in May. 6 is probably a good number considering the size of the tree and the fact that I planted it last year and the catalog said it should fruit in 2-3 years.
Apple/hazelnut trees: no fruit/nuts this year, but that's to be expected...all the trees weren't supposed to fruit until 2-3 years. Guess I just have some prodigal peaches. The apple tree is very skinny and tall, whereas the hazelnuts are short and bushy. The peach tree is right in between, medium height and full-bodied.
Monday, June 15, 2009
Sunday, June 14, 2009
It's boring up in Maine. I didn't go out sampling today because it's pouring rain. So what did I do instead? Make my first Blingees! Making these reminds me of the silliness of the infamous Cheshire Cat picture I drew late one night at a PSP party.
Speaking of killer Jib, the bad boy, he caught his second bird of the year yesterday.
I guess I never mentioned that I drove home last week Wednesday-Monday. I reached a convenient stopping point in my research, the tides weren't that great, and I missed my Ryan, kitties, and garden. Ryan and I went to NYC on Saturday and saw a matinee of the Broadway show Rock of Ages. It was good, but I was disappointed that both the male and female leads were being played by the understudies.
It has been super rainy in both Maine and NJ... a lot of the strawberries ended up getting mildewy because they never dried out in between rains. The ones that didn't rot tasted watery...too much water and not enough sunshine for intense sweet flavor.
I will be going back home again on Tuesday, but flying this time. I promise garden pics.
Speaking of killer Jib, the bad boy, he caught his second bird of the year yesterday.
I guess I never mentioned that I drove home last week Wednesday-Monday. I reached a convenient stopping point in my research, the tides weren't that great, and I missed my Ryan, kitties, and garden. Ryan and I went to NYC on Saturday and saw a matinee of the Broadway show Rock of Ages. It was good, but I was disappointed that both the male and female leads were being played by the understudies.
It has been super rainy in both Maine and NJ... a lot of the strawberries ended up getting mildewy because they never dried out in between rains. The ones that didn't rot tasted watery...too much water and not enough sunshine for intense sweet flavor.
I will be going back home again on Tuesday, but flying this time. I promise garden pics.
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