This is not a great revelation for anyone, but making things, to say nothing of growing things, is an act of believing in a better future. In this case, it’s a better future, by definition, since it includes cilantro and holy basil.
Last year I was perfecting “holy basil fried egg”, which was pretty much what it sounds like. But then winter came. I’ll be at it again in a month or two, I’m sure. My summer and fall last year was pretty disjoint.
My winter has been disjoint, too, to tell the truth. It’s amazing how distracting things can be. I haven’t been exposing them to you for various reasons, but I’ll give an example of one: in the winter we had a pretty severe cold snap for a few days, during which there was also a power failure. The interior temperature of my house was 5 degrees above freezing when I ran an inverter and an extension cord to my truck so I could power the furnace for a few minutes. Fun stuff. In all that drama, I forgot about the other house I own that is on the property. I used to rent it to Mike C, who maintained it well, but Mike moved on so it has been sitting empty. And, it froze solid. When I finally had my shit together and got down there, every one of the 6 cast iron radiators had exploded, as had the entire water system and hot water heating system including the furnace. So I had to call my dad and tell him I had totaled the house, and of course his suggestion was “well, you got pretty good at running PEX pipe when you did your darkroom, I guess you could get it all back together again this year.” He’s 90+ and I’m 60. It’s not going to happen. But it’s distracting.
Let’s talk about hopeful things, instead.
I dumped the old soil from the pots and re-charged them, with a brief pause to practically jump out of my skin when I put the trowel into the bag of potting soil, and a mouse popped up and ran up my arm before high-jumping and parkouring away. If you’re not expecting that, it’s a surprise.
Naturally, the piece de resistance is going to be the tomatoes. I am aiming for 2 big pots, which will give me enough that I can periodically have a special salad or tomatoes for breakfast.
Thai bird chilies are necessary, as is cilantro:
And, of course, Italian basil, too:
I did not tell you about the various adventures I had with the greenhouse. Most notably, it was open-floored, and it’s made of pine. I quickly concluded that it could not simply sit in a puddle of water: it needed to be jacked up and placed on bricks or pavers. So, I solo’d that project, using a cinderblock and a railway pry bar, and my weight, to selectively raise the corners, then lay rows of pavers, and let it back down again. And in the summer it screamed up to 150F inside, which was too much heat, so I had to rig a sun-scrim and a solar fan system. All good fun, but time-consuming gumption traps.
I think you’re supposed to take the seeds out of the packet.
I think you’re supposed to take the seeds out of the packet.
I thought Brawndo(tm) was all I need!
“Gumption traps”. I like that. So true. We have to deal with power outages pretty much every other week, and originally would have things happen like pipes freezing, so now the place is set up such that it will stay just fine even if the power is out. That was quite a journey and some of my gumption did indeed get left behind.
Yay for plants and new things growing. For some reason, I find the sight of plants coming up to be very soothing. The fact that I’ll also get food out of it is not the most important thing, at first.
“Gumption traps” is from Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
That sucks about the frost damage to your other house.
We’re off the grid and have some very cold periods during the winter. Freezing the house is a persistent terror that keeps at least one of us at the house basically all the time. I hope to have implemented fully redundant electrical and hydronic heating systems by next freezeup. The wife is making very threatening noises about feeling cooped-up during the winter months.
Incidentally – if your power needs aren’t huge, a used construction lighting plant trailer makes an excellent diesel backup generator. We harvested a 3 cyl diesel kubota out of one of them and it puts out a very reliable 6KW with reasonable fuel economy. It’s basically the only way I’ve found to acquire a water-cooled small diesel engine for any kind of a reasonable price.
Pair that with a suicide cord into your dryer outlet (or welder plug) and the discipline never to connect it until you’ve opened (and ideally locked out) the service entry disconnect or service breaker, and you’ve got heat all winter :)
snarkhuntr @ #5: […] and the discipline never to connect it until you’ve opened (and ideally locked out) the service entry disconnect or service breaker.
Personally, I don’t trust myself to always have the discipline. You also need the discipline to not do it when you don’t have the mental capacity to give it enough attention — assuming you even realize you don’t. It’s so easy to be woken in the middle of the night, with bleary eyes and a foggy mind, and miss a step. Or to brave it after a bottle or two, or on meds that nerf your INT stat. Or to try to direct a member of my family over the phone while you’re away, and screw it up.
There’s a proper way, with an interlock and safe connectors, and I’m sure Marcus can afford the electrician’s visit to get that installed.
My gumption is missing, I assume it’s under a snowbank. A greenhouse would be great, though I would prefer an attached sunroom so I could overwinter my plants and have a little sitting room too. I have never managed to convince the rosemary to survive winter in a sunny window, and it’s not hardy enough for MN arctic winters.
Bummer about the frozen radiators. Plumbing and leaks are always the worst, but the entire system going kablooie would certainly kill my gumption. I’m currently ignoring my barely draining kitchen sink because I don’t want to deal with plumbers and their overpriced bullshit.
(And my snake seems to have disappeared along with the gumption).
Why can’t fixing things ever be simple and easy?!
“If you’re not expecting that, it’s a surprise”
Today, in tautology club :P
Sounds like there will be some tasty food in a few months!
I’m currently ignoring my barely draining kitchen sink
I’d fix that for you in a jiffy. I have this thing called a “drain weasel” that’s a plastic flexy thing with a bristly brush on the end – stick it down, twirl it around, pull it out, clean the gunk off, repeat. They are $9 at most hardware stores. If you want me to send you one, you can email me offline – I keep a supply of them on hand and give them out as necessary. Seriously.
Why can’t fixing things ever be simple and easy?!
I saw a great Tshirt the other day, which read: “WE do not do these things because they are EASY. WE do them because we THOUGHT they were EASY.”
@dangerousbeans#8:
Sounds like there will be some tasty food in a few months!
There is always tasty food here! That’s one nice thing about living in rural Murrica: you have to learn to cook, or desensitize yourself to eating burger king and chinese carryout food. It’s all chain food. So, I pretty much have a home-cooked meal every night. Breakfast is usually also home-cooked but simple stuff like eggs and tomatoes.
cvoinescu@#6:
Personally, I don’t trust myself to always have the discipline. You also need the discipline to not do it when you don’t have the mental capacity to give it enough attention — assuming you even realize you don’t.
I’ve noticed that sometimes I hit a wall, energy-wise, and start getting sloppy and stupid. I carefully trained myself to recognize the beginning of that feeling and to immediately cease and desist all lathes, table saws, or bandsaws (when you’re made of meat, a metal bandsaw and a wood bandsaw are not much different) One of the great joys of having as much shop-space as I do is that I can put something down and walk away and it’ll be there tomorrow.
Having experience with the error-rate of software depending on the programmer’s energy and fatigue, I learned early on to work in a sort of “momentum warfare” – know when you’re rolling hot and when you’re not, and adjust accordingly. Also: “death marches” usually result in crappy work.
.
Aw, that is so kind of you. I would make you some Thai red curry in return. The weasel is insufficient for the task. I got the trap cleared, but I need to go down in the cold unheated basement, open the access panel to the drainpipe and clean out thingy, and clear the whole line to the main.
I will be ordering a power snake.
Then I can deal with the foulness that has filled my dishwasher. It’s a classic CF of things breaking and needing repair. Ugh!!
It’s a classic CF of things breaking and needing repair. Ugh!!
Problems conspire.
Good luck Marcus, may you be rewarded with lush greens and tasty snacks.
@avalus: Thank you!