Allotment Late October

I finally remembered to bring my camera to the community gardens today and got photos of what could be the last pre-frost day. It was a busy day as many of the gardeners were doing last minute harvesting and soil preparation. The marigolds were also being harvested for the Day of the Dead celebration coming this week.

My broccoli now has small florets. According to my neighbors, I need to fence these soon or the deer will eat them. They already got the red lettuce I had left open which is now growing back.
I harvested a 3rd head of green lettuce (Black-seeded simpson) grown from transplants planted my first week of gardening in September.

I also planted 3 heads of garlic in 2 3x3 plots and sowed winter rye in several fallow areas.
My neighbor gave my parsley and more strawberries to over-winter. It was pretty chilly today!

Chickens at Suydam Farms, East Brunswick, NJ

Here are poor camera phone pictures of a few of the chickens at Suydam- there are 2 coops this size attached to a large barn with in/out for the chickens. I've seen 4x as many as seen here outside at once, but don't know how many total they have. Very happy, funny chickens to which you can throw corn kernels from cobs in basket outside their coop.
Suydam also has some sheep, I found out, along with plenty of pumpkins, squash, and late summer vegetables, empire apples, and hayrides on October Saturdays. Not sure if the apples are sprayed, though he told me last week they use no pesticides on their crops.

Big E- New England's Great State Farmer's Market

We just got back from the Big E (Eastern States Exposition) which is paradise for local food seekers. I got some yummy cheese from Pineland Farms in Maine which, judging from the website, is quite a tourist attraction. I bought some cheese curd and onion & garlic monterey jack, and salsa jack. Their cows are (mostly) grass fed and entirely rGBH free, and live very near the dairy. Other finds- Lots of soap producers, including That Soap Guy, whose lotion we've used and like, and Vermont Soap, where we picked up about a year's supply of bars. We'll see if their Neem & Oatmeal soap will help keep the bugs away from me at the community garden.

Also viewed: the giant pumpkin judging contest. To get the little pumpkins on the scale, they shimmy a special tarp with handles under the pumpkin and a few men carry it to the scale. As the weight goes up, more men are needed. After the pumpkins get so big that 7 men aren't enough, they start using the forklift with a sling that fastens around the pumpkin. This process takes a long time so we didn't wait to see who won but it was probably the giant squash at 700 some pounds. Giant pumpkin raising is apparently quite the macho sport judging by the competitive camaraderie among the club members. We also saw a 10 year old boy's yearling heifer (young female cow) win best in show for all kinds of categories. It was a beautiful cow.

All in all, another excellent day at the Big E and I am glad this tradition has held up so well.
Little things have changed and improved, and with the exception of the silly cream puffs, eclairs, and mardigras, the organizers haven't tried to mess with tradition too much.

Flex Petz Pet Sharing Service

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/05/flexpetz.php

A somewhat-old post on Treehugger regarding Flex Petz, a "shared ownership" pet club in which members pay a monthly fee in exchange for spending time with club dogs. The fee pays for the medical bills and other costs.
Most treehugger commenters were horrified by this idea, but I've actually thought time-share pets would be a good idea for a while now. If you work full-time, you have 2 choices: No dog, and lonely person; or bored-and-lonely dog with person who has to come home right after work every single day. That second solution doesn't work for me, but I'd like to not forgo dog companionship altogether. Also, my experience as a once-a-week volunteer with the Animal Rescue League of Boston has taught me 1) you can form a meaningful relationship with a dog on a part-time basis and 2) the dog doesn't suffer "emotional distress" from a rotating schedule of caregivers.
So here's to spreading the love to dogs and people.

80% of seafood eaten by Americans is imported (from where?)

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/03/business/worldbusiness/03fish.html

Here's a really disturbing article from the NY Times regarding the substandard quality of fish being imported into the U.S. from China. What really gets me is the prevalence of Chinese goods in processed foods. Whose to protect us from imported fish, raised in filthy water and pumped with chemicals, when we have a seafood salad sandwich at lunch? What about fruit juices made primarily with apple juice, that mostly comes from China, too? Labels should list country of origin for each ingredient so that consumers can choose which regulatory environment they want to ingest.

Hartford's Hawks- Red-Tailed Beauties Prospering Throughout City

http://www.courant.com/features/lifestyle/hc-red-tailedhawks.artjul04,0,5937792.story

Interesting article in today's Hartford Courant about the resurgence of hawks in the city and efforts by Trinity College to track and study their numbers and habits.

I have seen hawks several times in Hartford, including once when the hawk was sitting by the road ripping apart some unidentified prey in the middle of winter. There was blood all over the snow.

IKEA!

As part of my informal participation in Apartment Therapy's March Cure, I spent 3 hours yesterday at the Elizabeth Ikea. So far, I've been really happy with the $120 worth of merchandise I brought home, especially the Vestby 4 Drawer Dresser. In accordance with Cure guidelines, I'm getting rid of pieces that are not functional or loved, and replacing them where needed. So today, out went the extremely heavy headboard that doesn't attach to my current bedframe, and the worthless bedside table with only 1 drawer and a weird dead space. In came the Vestby. It looks so much better, and my new furniture is about 1/4 of the weight of the old headboard alone. Yay.

Toronto Infill

http://www.maisonneuve.org/index.php?&page_id=12&article_id=2617

http://www.courant.com/news/opinion/commentary/hc-plccondon0107.artjan07,0,2465399.column?coll=hc-utility-opinion

First Blog Entry

Let's see how this works.