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Worm Compost Party
Brian and I invested in a worm bin this last May. We took an organic gardening class earlier in the spring, and we decided to expand our composting options beyond just the regular old bin. Worm composting is one way to do that. There is a lot of information about getting started with worm composting online:
We found the bin at a local green shop and bought a pound of worms from a local worm farmer. We got them started with shredded credit card statements and some alfalfa pellets. Since then, we've been feeding them veggie and fruit scraps once a week or so.
After three months, there were a lot more castings in the bin than there was bedding and the whole bin had more than doubled in weight. When I mentioned that we needed to clean out the bin and harvest the castings, my friend Sameera volunteered to help and a few other friends wanted to watch. I decided we might as well make an event of it and thus came the idea for a worm compost party.
In spite of the ick factor - or maybe because of it - it was a lot of fun, and now we have a giant bucket of worm compost that's going to be some great tomato fertilizer.
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A New Summertime Favorite
We ate some delicious food in China. Many of the dishes were things that we'd never seen before. One favorite was a deep-fried eggplant dish that we ate at the Great Wall. I don't know that I'll ever be able to replicate that at home, but I did find a recipe for green beans and pepper, another favorite that was on the menu most of the places where we ate.
I adapted my own recipe from the szechuan green bean recipe listed on About.com.
- A pound or two of green beans
- Several cloves of chopped garlic
- Some diced ginger
- A diced small onion
- Two or three crushed dried chilis
- Canola oil for stir frying
- Soy sauce and sesame oil to taste
Wash and trim the green beans. Cut them into 1-2 inch long pieces. Stick them in the microwave for 30-45 seconds to get them softened. Heat a tablespoon or two of oil in a pan. Add the beans and saute them until they turn brown and begin to dry out. Once they've browned, set them aside in a colander.
Pour some more oil into the pan, and add the garlic, ginger, and onion. After the onion has softened, add the chilis. Add some sesame oil and soy sauce and mix. Add the green beans and heat for a few minutes. Serve over rice.
This is a great way to eat green beans. I'm swamped with them from my CSA. If you aren't lucky enough to have some through a CSA or farmers market, they are one of the easiest veggies to grow. Toss some seeds in the grown today, and you'd have some beans by the end of the August.
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Greening the House
This July and August, Apartment Therapy is asking for reader submissions on ways to be green around the house. I submitted a bit about my house and decided to cross post it here:
This tip isn't going to be revolutionary to anyone in New York or San Francisco, but I live in Salt Lake City... land of sprawl and strip malls. When I decided to buy a house here a few years ago, I wanted to buy a smaller home closer to where I work downtown. I found a perfect 720 square foot cottage with a little yard two miles away from where I work. It seemed perfect for my significant other, me, and our three dogs. A lot of people thought I was making a bad decision because it's so small by Salt Lake standards, and it's in a gentrifying area. But I went ahead with the purchase, and it's been one of the best decisions I've made.
Because the house is small and has new double-paned windows, it's very cheap to heat and cool. The small size also meant that I didn't need to buy more furniture to fill the space. I actually ended up passing along a few nice pieces that I'd had in my rental to friends who needed them.
But the best part is the location. Most of the places that I need to go are a short walk or bike ride away. I can bike to work, the library, the farmers' market, Whole Foods, the best gelatto place in town, the independent movie theater, etc. I can walk to coffee, the park, and some amazing Thai and Lebanese food. When the weather's bad, there's a bus line around the corner. It's gotten to the point that I drive my car so infrequently that the battery has died a few times, and I'm planning on selling it.
My significant other Brian would probably say that the best part about the house is the yard. we pulled out the lawn the first summer we were in the house. We composted it over the winter and used it to create raised beds for growing veggies. It uses a fraction of the water that the lawn did, but we feast on organic tomatoes, pesto, eggplant, and spinach any night of the week all summer long. And when we're done we throw the scraps in the compost pile or feed it to the worms, so that it will be help out next year's harvest.
If you've done something to make your home more environmentally friendly, you can submit it on Apartment Therapy.
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Weekend Ridiculousness
Over the last few years, Boo has slowed down a lot. In Seattle, we did long walks through Seward Park. In Boston, we went on 20 mile training walks through the Emerald Necklace. Today we're lucky if we make it around the block. Because of some damage to his lower back and thyroid problems, Boo drags his back feet and tires out really quickly. The problem is that he still always wants to go on walks, and it's hard to tell him no, especially when you have to step over him to get out the door. Since Brian and I have been biking a lot lately, I hit up my sister Katy for her old bike trailer. I picked it up this weekend, and we took it for a spin today.
Boo wasn't too sure about the trailer, but it seemed to grow on him.
I think he'll enjoy it more next time.
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Take Two
Later in the afternoon, we let Izzy join in. When we got home from a quick ride around the block, neither of them wanted to get out.
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Too Damn Hot
Our spring started off wet and cool, but turned abruptly to hot and dry in the last week or so. Our cold-weather plants had been loving it. Our spinach and broccoli kept growing and growing.
Then it turned warm, and it all went to seed. Two lovely heads of broccoli suddenly sprouted little yellow flowers and the lettuce started too bolt.
Luckily, we have loads of tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, and melons that are all too ready to soak up this heat.
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Soaking it up
Over the last few months, Olive and Sweet Pea have been slowly adjusting to life outside of a puppy mill. One of the things that they love most is the feeling of sun in the morning. They jockey for the best position and hope that we won't walk by and make them move.
Olive and Sweet Pea are still up for adoption. If you are interested, you can check out their pages on PetFinder:
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Lazy Morning
Boo never liked to get up in the morning, but he gets more and more pathetic about it as he gets older.
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China 2008
Brian and I got back from a ten day trip to China last week. While the jet lag since we got back has been debilitating, everything else about the trip was fantastic.
We flew into Beijing and spent our first few days there. We stayed at the Red Lantern House hostel in Beijing. It's in the Xicheng district, which is very central. We ended up with a private double room with a bathroom for 240 RMB/night. That's about $34. They also have delicious coffee, which can be hard to find.
To help us acclimate, we booked a couple of tours through Cycle China. They cater to English speakers who like to be on their own or in smaller groups. It's more expensive than your typical bus tour, but so worth it. Our tour guide Nemo was excellent. On our first day, he took us around to the Beijing sites. Unfortunately for us, the sky opened up and flooded the city. Nemo bought us all ponchos, and then took us to Tienanmen Square and the Forbidden City.
We had hoped the rain would keep away the tourists. It's possible that some stayed away, but the city was still packed with Chinese tour groups. Because early May is a holiday for the Chinese, a lot of them get out and see the sites. They seem to always travel in large groups. The leader carries a flag and the rest of the group wears matching hats. Here's a photo of one group crossing the street:
In the afternoon, it cleared up and we headed to the Summer Palace. From the temple there, you can look back and see amazing views of Beijing.
The next day we headed to the Great Wall at Jintang. It's a more remote part of the wall. Much of it has been restored, although we did get to walk on a short segment that hadn't been restored. It was a very steep hike up, but the views were amazing. We also stopped by the Ming tombs on our way back to town, but those paled in comparison to the wall.
After Nemo had shown us the sites, we headed to see our friend Erika in Xian. Xian is a twelve hour train ride to the west of Beijing, and on the way there, we took a soft sleeper which is basically a private room with four bunks. It was very nice and spacious. On the way back, we took a hard sleeper which is an open car with rows bunks three high. It makes for much more interesting people watching and isn't nearly as cramped as it sounds. My only real complaint was the restrooms, which were definitely overused in the hard sleeper cars. Otherwise, the ride was fine and we ended up sitting next to a fluent English speaker on the way back.
Xian is a big tourist site for a few reasons. It was once the beginning of the Silk Road, a major trading route between the East and West. It was where Buddhism was first brought to China. More recently, tourists have come to see the terracotta warriors found buried in the ground by a farmer 30 years ago.
Our major reason for visiting Xian was that we had a friend there teaching English. We got to stay on campus with her and learn a bit about what it's like to live in China. Erika also showed us the best places to buy pirated DVDs, told us which street food was vegetarian, and was just a great guide. Xian is a mid-sized city for China, but it has a population of 8 million. Trying to navigate it on our own would have been a challenge.
After a few days in Xian, we headed back to Beijing. We spent our last few days in Beijing visiting the city's many parks. Beijing's parks seem to be most used by the city's older, middle-class population. They come early to practice their tai chi, calligraphy, traditional dance, and hacky sack. They often have grandchildren in tow and seem to have a very pleasant life. Of course, you see older people who don't seem to be in nearly as good of shape, but the emphasis on physical activity later in life seems to improve the overall quality of life. Interestingly, you rarely see kids out playing games.
Considering how far the dollar goes in China, I would consider retiring in China if it weren't for the poor air quality and the fact that I still have another 40 years of working to do.
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It's a zoo.
It's a chihuahua party over at our house this weekend. We're fostering two chihuahuas, Olive and Sweet Pea, for the Utah Animal Advocacy Foundation. They're from a puppy mill rescue and are poorly socialized just like Amos. Olive is twelve and was in heat when UAAF got her; good reason for her to be spayed right away. Sweet Pea is twelve and very skinny.
Boo, Izzy, and Amos are enjoying all the excitement. Amos is especially excited about it because they're just his size and... we'll leave it at that.
They're very sweet little pups. They're going to take a while to warm up, but it will be so worth it. Anyone interested?
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So Sore
Brian and I felt horribly behind in our gardening after our organic gardening class at Wasatch Community Gardens last week, so this weekend we did a whole lot of garden prep. We made raised lasagna garden beds on the side of our house with last year's compost and some leftover soil from the great yard redesign of 2007. We cleared out the wood chips and rocks in the front yard so that we could dig out the weeds and replace the weed barrier, which obviously wasn't working.
We also got the beds that we made last year weeded and planted with some early spring veggies. The garlic that I planted last November is doing really well. Every single bulb that I planted is coming up (lower left in the pic). I'm always dubious when I plant a seed. It just doesn't seem like it's going to work, but it definitely does. We've got a couple of flats of seedlings coming up, and I can wait to get them all planted.
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