So yesterday was my first shift volunteering at the Farmer's Market. I absolutely loved it! The stand that I was working for was selling greens, some turnips and radishes, hot house tomatoes, and lots of plants. Tomato plants, flowers, herbs, squash, eggplants, cucumbers, lettuces and cabbages.
I learned a lot, not in the least how to tell the different greens apart! I saw so many of the people that I know. When I was telling Mister about all the people that I know who stopped at my stand (including two of my baristas, my old landlady, old customers from the ice cream store, etc.) Mister said that it's a sign that we've lived in this neighborhood for a while! Even the people that I didn't know, I certainly recognized. There's something comforting about knowing "your people". And this neighborhood is certainly very community oriented.
I also chatted, while on break, with the owner of a new local brewery, and he was super friendly and was telling me about some of the fun things they offer on the brew tours. Jalapeno beer anyone?
Unsurprisingly, I'm damn good at running a booth and moving swiftly through a line. My new boss, C, seemed pleasantly surprised with my work and stated that it was nice to see such enthusiasm. Considering how much of an "interview" process they had (she didn't ask my name, I had to volunteer it -- AND practically push my information on her), I'm not surprised that she didn't know my predilection for such work.
One thing that's nice about working a booth is that most of the other vendors offer a vendor discount. I got the best bacon in the world for half price -- so I spent $4.50 a pound. I'm willing to PAY the $9/#, but half price is amazing. I will buy a pound a week, because as we eat it in one sitting, we don't need much more bacon than THAT in our lives.
I'm getting paid in credit amounting to $10/hour and any money I don't spend goes towards a winter CSA share. So in order to help my bookkeeping, I'm going to tally it up here as well.
5/30/12
Worked from 10:00 am - 7:00 pm
took one 15 minute break (paid)
bought: 2 baby bok choy at $2.50 a piece
Lemon Balm potted plant at $3.00
3 pop corn cobs at 3/$1
One head of greens in trade for hummus at $2.50
Earned: $90
Spent: $11.50
Credit for day: $78.50
Overall credit: $78.50
Thursday, May 31, 2012
Garden Happiness
So even though I had read so many things that said that gardening is one of the many many things that require experience and lots of trial and error, I had thought that I was way too cool for that. And then I'd had so many summers of flops.
For the first time, I feel comfortable with where my garden is, and I have hopes that what I've planted is accomplishable. My basil seeds are sprouting, and I believe that ALL of my peas and beans sprouted as well. (I mistakenly pulled up two little plants, and replanted one of the peas when weeding -- whoops!) The potatoes either will or will not succeed. I don't care. They were an experiment that I've been intending to let do its own thing anyway.
Speaking of the potatoes, when I first planted them, something dug three of them up. It ate one the first night, and then the next night just dug up and left there two potatoes. I've been giving every squirrel in the neighborhood the stink eye. I also cut off some eyes from another patch of potatoes and planted some more of them, so perhaps I'll have potatoes from them too! I do so love potatoes.
I bought at the Farmer's Market yesterday a little Lemon Basil plant and separated the little stems and replanted them in Basil's old pot with some fresh soil and fertilizer. She's looking a little sad now, but I'll wait until tomorrow to do anything else to her.
I also received gratis two sunflower plants that I still need to put in the ground. But I already scrubbed my hands and washed my face... so I'm not itching to get out there again. :-P
I also put the trellising up for the peas and beans fully today. I had strung some denim "yarn" across each of the post sections parallel to the ground, and zig-zagged some cotton thread weight yarn all around for my little climbing plants. I'll check on them tomorrow as well to see if they need any help in the climbing department.
So I've already made one large batch of mojitos with that massive amount of mint back there. It took a mere two 15" stems. Any help for how to use up mint would be appreciated!
I've been collecting the german chamomile flowers daily, and I'm loving that ritual. It gets me outside, into the garden, and I can check on my plants and do a quick weeding. I've rigged up a screen in the pantry to dry the flowers. It may not have the best air flow, but it's out of the way.
I would like to get my compost set up today, but I'm not sure when I'll get to it. I still need to find a top for the bin, which is one of the reasons that I've been delaying.
So R -- how is this for not failing you?
For the first time, I feel comfortable with where my garden is, and I have hopes that what I've planted is accomplishable. My basil seeds are sprouting, and I believe that ALL of my peas and beans sprouted as well. (I mistakenly pulled up two little plants, and replanted one of the peas when weeding -- whoops!) The potatoes either will or will not succeed. I don't care. They were an experiment that I've been intending to let do its own thing anyway.
Speaking of the potatoes, when I first planted them, something dug three of them up. It ate one the first night, and then the next night just dug up and left there two potatoes. I've been giving every squirrel in the neighborhood the stink eye. I also cut off some eyes from another patch of potatoes and planted some more of them, so perhaps I'll have potatoes from them too! I do so love potatoes.
I bought at the Farmer's Market yesterday a little Lemon Basil plant and separated the little stems and replanted them in Basil's old pot with some fresh soil and fertilizer. She's looking a little sad now, but I'll wait until tomorrow to do anything else to her.
I also received gratis two sunflower plants that I still need to put in the ground. But I already scrubbed my hands and washed my face... so I'm not itching to get out there again. :-P
I also put the trellising up for the peas and beans fully today. I had strung some denim "yarn" across each of the post sections parallel to the ground, and zig-zagged some cotton thread weight yarn all around for my little climbing plants. I'll check on them tomorrow as well to see if they need any help in the climbing department.
So I've already made one large batch of mojitos with that massive amount of mint back there. It took a mere two 15" stems. Any help for how to use up mint would be appreciated!
I've been collecting the german chamomile flowers daily, and I'm loving that ritual. It gets me outside, into the garden, and I can check on my plants and do a quick weeding. I've rigged up a screen in the pantry to dry the flowers. It may not have the best air flow, but it's out of the way.
I would like to get my compost set up today, but I'm not sure when I'll get to it. I still need to find a top for the bin, which is one of the reasons that I've been delaying.
So R -- how is this for not failing you?
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Wtf Google?
No, I do not want to sync my cell phone with my blogger account. No, I do not appreciate arriving at the screen where there's no "No Thanks" option. Yes, I have said OVER AND OVER AGAIN that I do not want my phone synched even though you keep assuring me how fabulous it is. Fuck off Google.
Friday, May 25, 2012
Gigs!
So I now have two part-time gigs. One, is that every Wednesday I help out at a farm stand in the Farmer's Market to the tune of $10/hour or its equivalent in vegetables. OM NOM NOM.
Also, I applied for, and got, a gig to make a vintage style dress for a lovely dude from Craigslist. He has a comedy act that involves dressing like Queen Elizabeth II, and his previous dress was a hacked together creation that is falling apart. So I'm going to work with him to create something beautiful and 50s style, and we'll probably work out some barter as he's a photographer and offered to shoot my wedding. Woot! I had completely forgotten about having to look into that!
I'm actually pretty excited to work on that dress, as it should be fun, and the guy seems awesome. We sent like 50 emails back and forth, and it should be an excellent collaboration. We're going to meet this Sunday to figure out exactly what we want to do.
Also, our band is now officially named: Ahab's Elephant. I've put in an application for this awesome seeming gig. An inn in Vermont will provide free room and board in exchange for musicians playing in their hall. So, hopefully they'll let us play!
Also, I applied for, and got, a gig to make a vintage style dress for a lovely dude from Craigslist. He has a comedy act that involves dressing like Queen Elizabeth II, and his previous dress was a hacked together creation that is falling apart. So I'm going to work with him to create something beautiful and 50s style, and we'll probably work out some barter as he's a photographer and offered to shoot my wedding. Woot! I had completely forgotten about having to look into that!
I'm actually pretty excited to work on that dress, as it should be fun, and the guy seems awesome. We sent like 50 emails back and forth, and it should be an excellent collaboration. We're going to meet this Sunday to figure out exactly what we want to do.
Also, our band is now officially named: Ahab's Elephant. I've put in an application for this awesome seeming gig. An inn in Vermont will provide free room and board in exchange for musicians playing in their hall. So, hopefully they'll let us play!
Monday, May 21, 2012
Gardening 2012
Here is the current state of the garden. I finally got around to putting things in the ground (like the potatoes that were colonizing my kitchen). Except for the mint, everything is freshly planted. I'm planting potatoes based upon this method, which tells me to cover the shoots halfway everytime they reach 10-12" in height.
Because all of my seeds are so old, I've put two seeds of each type in every spot. We'll see if anything germinates.
I've made a nice bucket of compost tea with my chicken poop and I've watered all of my plantings with this.
I've also put basil seeds in a large gardening bucket that is on the front porch. Hopefully it'll grow because I do love basil.
I'm also well again into the war with the trumpet vine. I've had my third or fourth foray into the backyard to cut back everything green and trumpet vine shaped. It is friggin tough.
I would like to put vining plants along the side of the house, but it is currently full up on hosta and other type large green things. I will need more than a spoon and hands to get rid of it. A weedwhacker would be nice. But we'll see what I can come up with.
Sunday, April 29, 2012
Kaiser Rolls
Mister and I have a friend who's coming to stay for nearly two weeks. In an endeavor to have food at home, we actually bought cold-cuts. This means that we needed either bread or rolls. Being much more a fan of rolls for sandwiches, I figured I'd make some rolls with my sourdough starter.
I had had a sponge in the fridge getting sadder and sadder for almost a week, so I tried to wake it up first. I added another cup of flour, a half cup of water, and put it in a warm oven. As it rose quite beautifully, I searched for roll recipes. I based my rolls upon this recipe. I poured one cup of bread flour on the counter, added 4 tsp of salt, about 3 or 4 Tbs of sugar, 3 Tbs of powdered milk, and another cup of bread flour on top of that. I whisked it all together and into a flat circle. I poured my healthy sponge onto this dry mix and proceeded to combine the two. While kneading this all, I also added about 4 Tbs of oil, in 4 increments and a single egg. After working it all together, I let it rest for about 5 minutes while I washed out and oiled the bowl. Re-kneaded the bread for a few minutes, then put it in the oiled bowl to rise in a warm oven.
After it had doubled in size, I dumped it on the counter (the oil helped prevent sticking), and divided it into 16. I shaped each piece into a little ball, and placed it on an oiled pan while working with the others. After balling each of the 16 balls, I then covered the balls with a damp towel while shaping the rolls.
To shape the rolls, I based it off of these directions. I sprinkled rye flour over the counter, and flattened a ball on the flour. Picking up little bits of the edge, I brought the edge into the center much like folding flower petals inward and with the final one, gave the center a good smoosh. I inverted the rolls onto a dish of poppy seeds, and put it poppy-seed-down on a pan lined with parchment paper. After all of the rolls had been shaped, I covered them with plastic and let them rise overnight in the now-cool oven.
This morning, I preheated the oven to 425F and, after turning each roll poppy-side-up, baked the rolls for ~25 mins, rotating the trays halfway through the bake.< br />
The only thing that I would do differently for the next batch is to twist the "petals" of the kaiser knot as I brought them to the center, as most of my rolls recombined and didn't have distinct markings on the top. But they're delicious! Mister and I have already made a breakfast sandwich with them with great success.
I had had a sponge in the fridge getting sadder and sadder for almost a week, so I tried to wake it up first. I added another cup of flour, a half cup of water, and put it in a warm oven. As it rose quite beautifully, I searched for roll recipes. I based my rolls upon this recipe. I poured one cup of bread flour on the counter, added 4 tsp of salt, about 3 or 4 Tbs of sugar, 3 Tbs of powdered milk, and another cup of bread flour on top of that. I whisked it all together and into a flat circle. I poured my healthy sponge onto this dry mix and proceeded to combine the two. While kneading this all, I also added about 4 Tbs of oil, in 4 increments and a single egg. After working it all together, I let it rest for about 5 minutes while I washed out and oiled the bowl. Re-kneaded the bread for a few minutes, then put it in the oiled bowl to rise in a warm oven.
After it had doubled in size, I dumped it on the counter (the oil helped prevent sticking), and divided it into 16. I shaped each piece into a little ball, and placed it on an oiled pan while working with the others. After balling each of the 16 balls, I then covered the balls with a damp towel while shaping the rolls.
To shape the rolls, I based it off of these directions. I sprinkled rye flour over the counter, and flattened a ball on the flour. Picking up little bits of the edge, I brought the edge into the center much like folding flower petals inward and with the final one, gave the center a good smoosh. I inverted the rolls onto a dish of poppy seeds, and put it poppy-seed-down on a pan lined with parchment paper. After all of the rolls had been shaped, I covered them with plastic and let them rise overnight in the now-cool oven.
This morning, I preheated the oven to 425F and, after turning each roll poppy-side-up, baked the rolls for ~25 mins, rotating the trays halfway through the bake.< br />
The only thing that I would do differently for the next batch is to twist the "petals" of the kaiser knot as I brought them to the center, as most of my rolls recombined and didn't have distinct markings on the top. But they're delicious! Mister and I have already made a breakfast sandwich with them with great success.
Friday, April 27, 2012
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