the difference a day makes

8/1/14

8/2/14

'Budding' oyster mushroom

Mushroom season should be picking up soon. This will be my second year of mushroom hunting, and I hope to broaden what I've harvested from oyster mushrooms to chantrelles, boletes, elfin sadles, and hedgehog mushrooms.

Summer is winding down

Or at least it feels like it is. Orientation for next year is on the 19th, meaning I have 18 days left this summer to relax and prepare for my final year of grad school.

We finally finished moving in and organizing, and now our home is what I'd call "comfortably Spartan".

I like this set up because it gives us room to do stretches, acro, and body weight exercises. It's also incredibly easy to clean up. When company comes over, we can pull out the table to eat on, or simply play board games on the floor.

Designing a living space that meets your needs

      Moving into the new apartment, where we'll be living together alone for the first time in our adult lives, gives us an opportunity to create a living space that meets our own shared desires, without having to compromise with renters and roommates. This is a really exciting prospect for me. We get to design our environment in a way that suits us, and reflects ourselves, rather than one that meets the generalized expectations of what is normal in order to not scare away potential renters.

     As I consider what we will move into the new place, and what we will sell, I find myself considering what purposes each room will serve. Our bathroom, bedroom, and kitchen still serve the usual purposes, but our living room is where my mind keeps drifting towards when I lose focus on studying.

     For us, the living room will probably be used mostly for acroyoga and game nights, where we usually end up on the floor. What would be the purpose of a couch in this room? We have a couch currently, but honestly, I more often lean against it than actually sit on it. So we're probably going to sell the couch, and use the money to buy cushions, which make sitting on the floor much more accessible for many people, and are easy to put out of the way when it's time to do acroyoga.

     We already don't have a tv, so our living room in my minds eye looks like a mostly empty room, with some house plants near the window, a crash mat, yoga mats, and some brightly colored cushions. Certainly, far from what people expect in a living room, but is serves the needs and functions of the room.

     I can't wait to move!

The prefect day for transplanting

      Is a day exactly like today: overcast, with high humidity and a slight mist. The high humidity and cool temperatures allow plants to start working on rebuilding their root structures, without suffering much water loss through their leaves.

     I took advantage of the weather by moving over the rest of the walking onions, and transplanting green onions, lettuce seedlings, and one artichoke. So now the first 3/2rds of the garden bed look like this:

I'm thinking about getting a second garden bed just to grow kale, swiss chard, basil, cilantro, and more lettuce. I think once I have the rosemary, thyme, and sage in this garden bed it'll be pretty full. On the other hand, I might pot up the rosemary, sage, and thyme and keep them on the patio. I'm not sure yet, and it would be another $25.

Is gardening frugal?

Some would claim that it is not, citing the cost of your time, fertilizer, tools, etc. I believe that gardening can be frugal, if:

• You identify the plants you eat a lot of and are expensive and grow those. Eat a lot of russet potatoes? Probably not a good idea to grow them, because they're so dang cheap. Like chives? Well, they are really easy to grow, and cut herbs are expensive in the store, so go ahead. Raspberries are also super easy, and pretty expensive. My general rule is: grow leafy vegetables, herbs, and berries. Buy root vegetables and squashes, plus anything that doesn't get enough heat here. This is a of course a very generalized rule; there are superior and exceptional tasting varieties of every crop, and if you really love eating them, than it might be worthwhile.
• Find out what crops grow well and easily for you, in your climate. For me, beans and squash are tasty, yes, but we just don't get a big enough crop to make it worthwhile. However, I grow a lot of kale, swiss chard, and chives, because they just do fantastically here.
• Develop your soil's fertility cheaply or for free. Use composted kitchen scraps and lawn clippings, check out coffee stands and see if they'll give you coffee grounds, collect deciduous tree leaves during fall. All of these are free or nearly free sources of fertility that will make your garden really produce. Coffee grounds are particularly useful because if you layer it thickly enough it acts as a wonderful weed block.
• Don't get carried away and buy a pile of tools. Really, unless you have a big garden, all you need is a shovel, a trowel, and maybe a rake and garden fork. You do not need to buy rototillers or other fancy and expensive doodads.
• Realize that gardening is a skill, and may take some time to develop. Some people are fantastic their first year, but many have entire crops fail before they figure out what they need to do.

The short version: Find out what crops you eat a lot of, aren't cheap, and basically grow themselves for you. Get free and cheap sources of soil fertility. Only grow what you will actually eat. Figure out how to minimize effort and time investment while maximizing yield.


If you're looking at per sq ft yields because you've got a small garden like me, this table is a good stating place. This site is also very informational, and tracks a garden's costs and profits through the year.

A garden, small, efficent, and cost effective

     Along with moving into an apartment, we're getting a new garden plot in a very near by community garden. In the past, I've had much more room to work with, more like a quarter acre than the 50 square feet I'll be working with this year. As I have so little room and expect to have very little time to devote to the garden, I'm developing this garden with an eye towards ease of maintenance and maximized value.

    As I paid $25 for the year, if I don't spend any more money on it and don't count my time spent gardening, then I only have to make $.50 per square foot to break even. Since I find gardening both relaxing and enjoyable, I think it's fair to not count the time I spend in the garden as an expense. Additionally, I intend to work the garden care into my daily walk, so I'll likely only spend 5 or less minutes on the garden each day on average. I do however, expect to buy some seeds, namely basil, cilantro, lettuce, kale, and swiss chard. I don't expect to pay more than $2/per packet, although I might end up buying starts. Thus, I expect additional expenses to total between $10 and $20, meaning that each square foot has to produce $.90 to break even. This should be relatively easy, given the plants that I have selected to grow.

     Now, as to the plants I selected, there are three primary considerations, as far as I'm concerned: How much we like to eat it, how easy it is to grow in our region, and how expensive it is to purchase in the store. We like to eat a lot of leafy green vegetables and I love fresh herbs. Fortunately for me, these crops are very easy to grow in my area. They are also often the most expensive crops in the store. Why so expensive if they're so easy to grow? High demand is one reason, but the other reason is that, unlike crops like pumpkins, onions, and potatoes, leafy greens and fresh herbs are both more difficult to ship, and have a much shorter shelf life. Most root crops, for example, can be stored for months without a noticeable decline in quality. Leafy greens and herbs however suffer a noticeable decline within a week. But since I'll be harvesting minutes before dinner, I don't have that problem!

      This is what the garden looks like right now:

Or rather, one end of it, and my feet. I promise the sides are actually square, the camera angle just makes it look funny.

      What you see here is what I've been able to transplant so far, namely: chives, garlic chives, walking onions, and elephant garlic/perennial leeks (elephant garlic is actually much more closely related to leeks, can be harvested in the 'leek' phase, and is perennial if you replant the bulbs), which I'm still experimenting with. As you might be able to tell, I like alliums. A lot. 

     Over the next few days I also intend to transplant over mint, lemon balm, rosemary, sage, thyme, an artichoke, and oregano. All of these come from my current garden, so I'm not including their costs (I'm pretty sure they count as sunk costs, but in a good way). I will start basil and cilantro seeds indoors soon, along with lettuce, kale, and swiss chard.

     Over the course of the year, I intend to record how much I spend on the garden, and how much I'm able to harvest from the garden. That, and any experiments I happen to do along the way.

Total spent so far: $25
Total pounds harvested so far: 0
Total harvest value so far (approximate, based on cost per pound in store): $0

Using Facebook positively

Facebook is often seen in a negative light. It's a time sink that gives nothing back, it provides the highlights of everyone else's lives, political arguments abound, advertising is everywhere, and it is overwhelmed at times with baby/cat pictures. Sometimes, people even pay real money to play facebook games. Beyond that, at times people become jealous because they see others doing that which they wish they were doing.

People often deal with the onslaught by deleting their facebook account, or taking a month long digital hiatus. Others seem unaffected.

I think facebook can be used positively; either as a means to boost your own mood and affirm ourselves, or as a means of building true friends networks, the emerge from the internet and become physical reality. I'm going to focus on the first right now, because the second seems fairly obvious; simply type "I'm bored, who wants to hang out" and see what happens, or create and plan a party/potluck/get-together online.

So how can we boost our moods and our self concept? My partner has done a lot of reading into research on happiness, and one of the interesting concepts he found was that if you see pictures of yourself happy often, they will improve your mood.

I personally want to tie this to the fact that I don't go out and do all those things I love to do as much as I wish I would.  And that I get a teeny bit jealous when I see people's pictures of those same things that I enjoy doing.

So, to use facebook to positively boost my mood, I'm going to go out and do those fun things I keep forgetting to do, and then post pictures on facebook. People's comments tend to be positive, so that will serve as an instant mood boost, and as reinforcement of the desired behaviour.

How to relax after a stressful day

It might surprise you, but sitting down in front of the computer or tv is probably not actually the best way to relax after a long, stressful day. Or at least, that's true for me, maybe not so for you. But it's easy enough to check. For me, after noting several times my initial emotional state/level of energy before and after using the internet, I found out that I often end up even more tired, and more emotionally drained after using the internet.

This might have to do with getting into arguments/discussions a lot.

There are some ways of using the internet that aren't tiresome, such as looking at cute pictures of animals, blogging, or posting pictures of cool fungi. However, I almost inevitably end up in the non-relaxing parts of the internet.

So how to actually relax after a long day?

1. Take a walk (even if it's raining). Walks allow me to process what happened during the day, and it's also physical movement which our bodies need.

2. Journal/blog/draw/photograph. Another way to process the day while doing something innately enjoyable.

3. Drink a cup of tea.  Don't do anything else while drinking the tea. Just sit, and think, and be in the moment.

4. Meditate. 

5. Pet your pet. Petting cats and dogs has been proven to lower your blood pressure.

6. Do yoga, go on a run, or work out. Yoga has been shown to cause relaxation, while a good run or work out causes your body to release feel-good hormones.

Wordless Wednesday: Wood and Mushroom Walk

Viola sempervirens

Trillium ovatum

Possibly Microporellus obovatus

Good question

Fomitopsis pinicola

Leucojum aestivum

Guepiniopsis alpinus

Positives of the potentail new appartment:

1. The cat will be allowed throughout the house.

2. A whole kitchen all to ourselves.

3. Lights will actually be off when not in use.

4. Playing my music without headphones.

5. The temperature of the house will be at the level we like.

6. No stompalompagasses while I'm trying to sleep.

7. Room to do acroyoga comfortably in the living room.

8. Only our stuff to clean and neaten.

9. No one making snide comments about my food.

10. No one stinking up the place with their food.

Moving out on our own

My partner and I have been together, well, for a while now, and for nearly the entire time we've lived with room mates. Granted, there was one summer where we lived together by ourselves during college, but since I graduated college in 2008, we've always had room mates.

Now, I'm very excited to be living just by our selves, but at the same time, I'm not exactly happy about what that means for our rent. I'm not going to say that we deserve it, or we need it, but I think just living by our selves while I finish the rest of my grad school program will be beneficial.

Besides the amount we've saved over the years by renting out rooms is... significant. And by significant, I mean we've never had to pay as much as our peers and at times it was less than half what other's have paid. This is the benefit of having your name on the lease of an house, and sub letting to three people. Mwaahahahahaha.

Anyway, as it is a step up in our housing costs, I'm going to be looking for ways to reduce costs as much as possible.

Obviously, the first idea that springs to mind is to keep the heat low in winter, and not using A/C in the summer, which we do anyway. But it's easier to keep the house cool during the winter when you don't have room mates who want the living room at 75 degrees. This goes along with using windows judiciously during the summer, and insulating the windows when it gets really hot/cold outside. It's amazing how much cooler your living space can stay if you've turned off all unnecessary electronics and have the currants drawn.

Next, actually having lights off, and electronics plugged into power strips so they can be shut off when not in use. Here again, renters are never as conscientious as we are.

I'm also considering not paying for internet at the new place, as there is free wifi in the apartment center. I definitely don't need it over summer, so it will definitely be cancelled for those months at a minimum. Definitely not something you can do when you have a renter.

I'm sure as the moving day comes nearer I will think of other ways to reduce the cost. Efficiency with money is one of my hobbies.

Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge 3/20/14

The Nisqually delta has recently (as in 5 years ago...) been allowed to flood and return to it's original state as a really big, wet mud puddle with a range of aquatic to semi-aquatic habitats. It's a really great spot to watch birds, and see western Washington in all it's muddy brown, green, and blue glory.

Though the dike that had been holding back the tides was removed in 2009, it still looks to me like nature has a ways to go in reclaiming the land, and it will be interested to watch over the years as the habitat shifts and develops. I expect that there will be more erosion of the sediment/sediment, and I'm curious to see how the vegetation coverage shifts as conservation groups get more or less funding.

There is currently a trail + boardwalk that is about 2 miles long, depending on how many of the side trails and loops you take. For only being 4 miles round trip, it sure seems like a long trail, but perhaps that's because it's so flat. Also, if I were more of a birder and less of a hiker, it'd probably seem more interesting overall. I bet if I were a birder it would seem like one of the more awesome places in Washington state.

For the time of year, it was surprisingly warm and sunny. Some of the deciduous trees have started to break bud, but most of the vegetation we saw was non-native reed canary grass. We were able to see lots of Canada Geese, Common Mallards, a wealth of Sea Gulls, and some less common duck species, tree swallows, and many sparrows.

Personal rating of the trip: 3/5, with probable improvement depending on the time of year and one's interest in birds.

Food, planning and shopping

One of the things I would like to do better in my life is the procurement and production of food. Right now, I have a load of recipes that all taste quite good, aren't too hard to make, and yet I find myself eating bowls of potatoes and stacks of sandwiches.

I think what I need to do it create a rotation of meals, that is quite limited, very tasty, cheap, and easy to make even when I am crushed under a pile of papers. We tend to eat one big meal per day, and eat the leftovers the next day as breakfast. I want them all to be very filling, and pretty easy to take to work/school with me. I also don't want to eat the same base protein 2 days in a row if I can help it (monotony in high doses gets to me). Here are some of the meals I can think of, off of the top of my head:

Black-eyed peas:
Black-eyed pea burrito with potatoes
Black-eyed pea salsa salad
Black-eyed pea kale and lemon tahini sauce salad.

Lentils:
Lentils and kale with tahini sauce
Lentil and Potato salad
Lentils, kale, and mushroom salad

Tofu:
Sautéed tofu and spinach with peanut sauce
Tofu and Avocado curry with kale
Tofu, tomato, brewer's yeast, mayo, lettuce sandwich (optional avocado)

Others/extras/snacks/breakfasts:
Oatmeal with apple, rasin, and cinnamon
Potato with green onions, olive oil, salt, and balsamic vinegar
Seitan, tomato, lettuce, mayo, brewer's yeast, pickle sandwich
Smoothie with cocoa powder, peanut butter and bananas

So, theoretically, if I did a black-eyed pea meal followed by a lentil meal followed by a tofu meal, I have nine days of meals, plus 4 breakfasts/snacks to break it up. Also, since I soak/sprout my lentils for 1 day and black eyed peas for 2 days, if I start both the lentils and black eyed peas soaking on the tofu day, they will always be ready for cooking on the right day. Plus, most of these meals include a good share of vegetables, and I can eat fruits with my snacks. I'm going to try it out and see how it works.