Things I’m loving right now: 1. Early autumn is my favorite part of my favorite season and save for sad apples, this one has been lovely so far. 2. I recently downloaded the free CardioTrainer app on my outdated android phone. It tracks workout distance, route, time, steps, etc. in a very easy to use and reliable interface. Lil and I are having fun seeing how far we walk and I’m sneaking in some math [...]

They say it was too cold or windy to warm the little bees’ wings. Or the apple flowers blossomed just before a storm and their white petals marbled the ground before they could attract pollinators. Perhaps it was Colony Collapse, A frightening name for the frightening idea that we humans or weather or something mysterious is killing the bees on which we depend. The only certainty is that apples are few this year. Then last [...]

There are several opportunities for gardeners to improve their landscape this week at little to no cost: On November 1, visit supermarkets for free straw.  Our closest grocery uses straw bales to display pumpkins and then gives them away after Halloween.  We use straw to protect our strawberries from frost/thaw heaving, to mix in garden beds, and for chicken run bedding. Word on the street (aka twitter) is that the Columbus Habitat for Humanity ReStore [...]

One of the pleasures of living in Ohio on a small plot of land is that succession planting is relatively easy. Succession planting, or seeding crops right after another, extends your growing season from the same plot of land. It works very well if you fill the space from a plant gone by with a new one that will succeed in the coming weather conditions. We’re a little under two months away from the frost [...]

This weekend was a blur of summer fading to fall.  I put three garden beds to rest, including harvesting peppers and green tomatoes, pulling out honeysuckle and ivy creeping around the fence, and adding to our massive compost heap. In discussion last night we decided to take advantage of low mortgage interest rates at our favorite credit union.  We hope to sell our Honda Fit and buy a mid 90s Civic or similar, using the [...]