24 September 2007

Carbon Footprint of a Wedding

Finally! Two weeks of family from all over the country. Two weeks of The Hectic Social Round. Jason and Carey safely married -- it was a very nice wedding, one of the nicest I've ever been to; very low key, casual and fun!  But I do confess I'm glad its all over.  The wheel of the generations has turned another turn...

I knew we were getting pretty bad at the whole Social Gathering deal, but we have obviously become a bit more reculsive and hermit-like than previously suspected. Space, quiet time, solitude have become positive needs. The past fortnight, as much as we have enjoyed having all the families around, became a trial over the last few days. We, along with J&C, are the only people who actually live in this area, so friends and family arrived from all over the country -- Pietermaritzburg, Grahamstown, Johannesburg, Cape Town, Gansbaai.  I shudder to think of the Carbon footprint of this wedding!  Carey's mom drove from here to Port Elizabeth and back no less then three times -- a drive of three hours each way! -- to cart people to and from the airport there -- all because airfares to PE are a bit cheaper than airfares to George (our nearest airport.)  A clear case where individuals' personal, localized self-interest reflects a direct contradistinction to our common interest.  Crazy stuff...

Needless to say, not much has happened in the way of self-sufficiency for the past fortnight, apart from heavy harvesting the delicious baby-Lettuce mix. Thankfully the crop stood up well to the demands of the crowds!

First Artichoke harvest this morning. Only two 'Chokes, but they look great. I was not even aware that the plants were beginning to flower.

09 September 2007

Catching Up (A Little)

Whew! Busy times mean less blogging. Consider this a quick catch-up, and I'll try and fill in the gaps in a couple of weeks' time.

Veggies
Despite the Wounded Knee (still troubling me, forcing me to move slowly and carefully, but steadily getting better, thanks!) I've managed to dig eight new beds so far, with another 5 to go before I reach my goal. I don't expect too much out of the new beds -- they still need a couple of years of composting before they reach a good level of health.

The Tomatoes have come up. The first were already showing their heads last Friday, only five days after they were sown. This is out in the open , mind-- no greenhouse, no glass, no bottom heat. Only the Tigerellas are being tardy. (Uh Oh!) Tomatillos are up, alongside Radicchio, Lettuce mix, Endive, some of the Squashes and Artichokes, and even a few of the Chillis.  (That was quick!)  I'll follow-up with yet another sowing of most of these again towards the end of the month.


So What's Been Happening?

So what has kept us so busy, you may wonder... Older Son is getting married next weekend, so we're having family from both sides descend on us for the coming week :-O Bride's family are all from Pietermaritzburg, Groom's from Cape Town. Don't expect much in the way of farm news for the next couple of weeks.

During a couple of rainy days early last week I managed to get closer to the finish line with a software project I've been working on sporadically for a couple of months. More when I'm closer to releasing unleashing it on the unsuspecting world! A hint: it's to do with my main passions and predilections -- gardening, seed-saving and tilting at corporatist/ globalist windmills.

The Mushroom Book arrived, Hooray!  Paul Stammets' Growing Gourmet and Medicinal Mushrooms. Wow! Everything from A to Z. So lots to learn. Already I'm trying to figure how and when to incorporate fungal growth into my soil improvement efforts.

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