Lady Avery has been doing some AMAZING jumping lately.  We keep setting up barricades to keep her from wandering into the driveway (after a scary incident where our neighbor returned her, having caught her right before she walked out into the busy street)… and Lady Avery keeps jumping over every barrier!  Yesterday we left her in her pen, which has a 36″ fence, and we found her wandering in the driveway at the end of the day… pen closed… somehow, she jumped over the fence!

So, there is clearly only one thing to do.  Clip her wings.  I’ll try to document the process.  It’s kind of like giving someone a haircut.  No pain or anything.  But I haven’t clipped hers ever… I feel a little bad, but it’s for her own good.

The beans, peas & edamame I planted in the ground are all sprouting.  Indoors, my pots of tomatoes, broccoli, basil, lettuce and onion are all poking up through the soil.  This is a great place to be at for early March.

Last weekend we went to a dinner party, before which we provided the host with eggs, parsley and tomatoes from our garden.  It felt great to be able to contribute to the meal with food we’ve helped bring into this world in one way or another.

Farmer market news – it’s heavy citrus season.  I’m excited for the moment, any day now, when the market gets so glutted with grapefruits that big, beautiful ones are only 50 cents each.  Then I’m gonna buy a bunch and make one of my all-time favorite sorbets:  grapefruit champagne!  YUM!!  I love the flavor of grapefruit.  And grapefruit in a frozen refreshing treat format is even better.  mmmmm.

Also at the market — yummy young asparagus.  More and more strawberries (the season never really ends her in Cali, it’s just a matter of how many are available and how cheap they are).  Lots of greens.  Apples.  and as previously mentioned, citrus: oranges, grapefruit, mandarins, blood oranges, oro blanco, etc etc.

back to work!

Green beans

Edamame (really cute little round green seeds)

Sugar Snap Peas

Spinach

Romaine Lettuce

Butterhead Lettuce

And a bunch in pots to start inside -

Tomatoes (3 varieties)

Onions

Sweet Bell Peppers

Basil (3 varieties to see what will sprout – old seeds)

Broccoli

THEN I tried to build a simple fence to keep Lady Avery Chickenstein from eating these plants when they sprout.  The easiest and cheapest solution seemed to be using chicken wire.  Somehow in the process I managed to trip and hurt my ankle and ended up sitting on the ground for a while until Seth came outside and helped me get up.  So the fence isn’t done but that’s just as well because we came up with a better idea today for where to put it to protect both the plants and Lady Avery.

SPEAKING OF … it was a very exciting day for Lady Avery as well.   Some days she seems to really need companionship and some days she seems content to scratch around the yard on her own.  All day yesterday when I was working outside, she was 50 feet away in the yard doing her own thing.  Today, all she wanted was to try to follow us up towards the driveway and the house, looking for a flock to hang out with.  After putting her back in the yard twice and making sure my makeshift fence blocking her access to the driveway was up, I went back inside and worked on Seth’s Valentine’s presents (making him desserts of his choice – vanilla flan and mint chocolate mousse).  Around 4:30 I went outside to check on Lady Avery and finish replanting a few houseplants (cuttings from my mom which had been in a glass jar since October).  Lady Avery was nowhere to be found in the yard.  Starting to get nervous, I walk up the driveway and look under the car… no chicken.  I look in the front of the house… no chicken.  What if she walked into the street?  What if a dog caught her?  What if someone saw a cute yellow chicken and decided to take her home???  Then I hear a familiar little cluck… I look over, and there she is, scratching around the flowers in our neighbors’ front yard.  PHEW!!   At that moment I was so thankful she’s such a friendly chicken – as soon as I called to her, she trotted over and I was able to pick her up from the sidewalk and bring her back home.  yikes!!  I asked her what she was doing wandering off like that, but she just clucked a bit and went back to eating our old broccoli plants.  Sooo… she’ll be spending a few days in her pen (which is generous, just not as fun as the big yard) until we get a better fence worked out.

And in case you were wondering, both the flan and the mousse turned out DELICIOUS.  Add those to the leftover peanut butter chocolate buttercream frosting I made last week (to go with brownies for work for v-day) and we have WAY too much dessert in the house for anyone’s good.  OH WELL it’s winter somewhere and we all need comfort foods right?

So that’s the weekend update…. I’ll try to take pictures soon to get y’all some visual aids.  Happy Olympics!!

all of the sites are very inspiring and I am tempted to redesign and make this even bigger and better… probably won’t happen soon but it’s awesome to get all these ideas.

pardon the sloppy writing – haven’t left bed yet (rainy saturday) and my brain is still half-asleep.  happy weekend!

The main problem has been that I don’t know what the next thing should be.  I love trees. I love nature.  I love the environment.  I’m a decent photographer.  I’m a decent writer, when I try.  I can be persuasive.  Advocacy?  Environmental journalism? Research? But I’m not a scientist.  That’s a roadblock for some paths.

One of my dreams?  To start a foundation that saves forests.  I get to travel, see the forests, buy them, maybe get governments to protect them.   What’s stopping me?  There are other more established foundations doing this already.  I don’t want to work a desk job at one of them.  The usual fears / hindrances.  I don’t know where to begin.  Who am I, to do this, when I should be working with one of the more respected groups?  The fear of jumping into a new field, totally unprepared.  Worry of not being taken seriously, being a newcomer, being told what to do and how to do it by those who’ve been doing it for years and years.  Which is why I kind of want to just do it on my own.

The good news for me is that I am getting to a point where I can see this next stage ever more clearly.  I used to have a vague feeling of “this is not quite right” with my job but no clear vision of what was next or when I would make a change or how to do it.  Every day that goes by, I see one piece a little better, have one more idea, let go of one more problem holding me back.  I kind of hate to admit it, but I think it’s maturity.  If this is what turning 30 feels like, I’m looking forward to it.

meditation for the day:

What we call life is no more than a procession of transformations.  If we do not change, we are lifeless.  We grow and age because we are alive.  The evidence of our having lived is the fact that we die.  We die because we are alive.

-Yasutani Roshi, 20th century Zen master

-Bassui, 14th century zen master

Garden update:

We had two chickens.  One turned out to be a rooster, so we gave him away.  Now we have one sweet yellow chicken, Lady Avery Chickenstein.  She’s really friendly but really lonely without her buddy.  I’m looking for another egg-laying hen to be her friend, but so far haven’t found any closer than 70 miles away.  When one shows up in the LA area, I’m going to go get her!  Lady Avery just started laying eggs one week ago.  It really is amazing… every day, 1 egg.  They’re small but tasty, and it’s pretty cool knowing that we are eating something we helped produce.

I just placed my seed order for this year.  I ordered:

Bush beans – mix of varieties

Edamame (never tried this before!)

Sugar Snap peas (my favorite raw vegetable)

Cucumber (a mix of varieties) (my other favorite raw vegetable)

Carrots “Saint Valery”

Lettuce – Romaine & Butterhead

Onion “Giant Zittau” (never tried growing onions before)

Sweet bell peppers (haven’t had good luck growing from seed, but will try again)

Spinach “Monster of Viroflay” (spinach didn’t grow well last summer, so I’m trying a variety that is supposed to be more drought-resistant)

Tomatoes – Marmande, Pearson and Cherokee

Broccoli “Piricicaba”

I ordered these all from Bountiful Gardens, a non-profit that specializes in heirloom, open-pollinated, non-GMO seeds.  They do good work.  If I’m a good gardener I could save the seeds from all of these and not need to order them ever again.  We’ll see if I stick it out for that part of the harvest.

We still have growing:

Broccoli – an Italian variety that doesn’t taste very good but is a beautiful, dramatic plant with little yellow flowers that the bees love.  Our chicken loves the leaves.  So, at least the animals in the yard are benefiting from this one.

Tomatoes – Early Girl – very tasty & very productive.  Was disappointed to learn that Monsanto holds the patent on this great variety.

Lettuce – some small green lettuce that sprouted up recently from leftover seeds from last year!

Strawberries – two varieties I bought last year, which have spread out & are doing pretty well.

Rosemary & Lavender bushes

Apple & Plum trees – we got these baby bare-root trees free last year at a community fruit tree giveaway.  The apple tree has grown taller, but hasn’t really branched out at all.  It looks like it’s about to start flowering.  Last year we got 1 apple from it.  Not surprising as bare-root trees take a little while to get going.  The plum tree hasn’t grown tall but does have a couple small branches.  It has a ton of flowers right now… here’s hoping we get some fruit from it this year.

Loquat tree – this was here when we moved in.  We had a huge harvest last year.  Rather, Seth had a huge harvest since he ate most of them, 3 at a time, right off the tree.  It looks like a ton of loquats are going to come in this year.  They are starting out as fuzzy green balls.

Dwarf Lemon tree – produced seven (7) lemons in one year.  Kinda sad.

I tested our soil recently.  The good news is, it was fairly neutral acidity-wise. The bad news is, it has hardly any nutrients.  I was a little surprised since I tried to mix in a lot of compost & manure last year, but it was a relief in other ways since some of the things we planted last year did really poorly… so I can blame the soil, not me.  right?

Work update

My job on “Princess and the Frog” ended in November, and I was able to take a surprisingly long amount of vacation over the holidays.  I ended up taking 5 weeks off.  I haven’t had more than 2 weeks off at a time (that I can remember) since I entered the workforce full-time almost 7 years ago.  It was, of course, much-needed and very very appreciated.  One of the many bonuses of Seth working freelance is that his schedule is fairly flexible and we were able to take a number of last-minute trips together.  We went to:

Chicago & Michigan for the holidays

Sequoia National Park for New Year’s… a gorgeous winter wonderland this time of year!

Yosemite National Park … also beautiful in the winter.

Catalina Island… relaxing… feels worlds away from LA

Avon, Colorado – near Vail – for a fantastic ski vacation with my parents & his aunt & uncle.

I definitely got my winter fix with all these cold destinations!  And once again, I was humbled by the awesomeness of southern California.  So many amazing destinations within driving distance (or boat distance).  It’s pretty amazing.

So the break came to an end, and now I’m working on the next Disney animation release.  Last week was my first week back at work.  It’s completely different than what I’ve been doing for the last several years.  For one thing, it’s 3D animation, and “Frog” was 2D.  It’s a totally different production process and a totally different set of artists.  For another thing, I’m now working with character looks, hair and cloth, which is worlds away from the last 5 1/2 years I’ve spent in Story and Editorial.  It’s been great meeting all the artists and learning about the process, but it’s certainly outside my comfort zone as far as knowing a job inside and out.  I love Editorial.  It’s tough, and stressful, and you’ve got to answer to the producer and director about really big issues all the time (do you have all the lines you need for today’s recording session?  If not it’s gonna cost thousands of dollars to bring back the actor.  Did you get all the Editorial notes?  If you missed one it’s gonna cost money and valuable time to fix it later.  Did you QC that tape that we are sending to Oprah/Lasseter/Rich Ross/insert other big name here?) … but I thrived on the pressure and loved being involved in the heart of the film, creatively and production wise.  It’s weird to be removed from it.  But I’m so, so glad I did it from nearly the start of production all the way to the very end.

So we’ll see how this new role goes.  The good news is that it’s a very short time-period. These departments are on the tail end of production and will be wrapping up by the end of April.  But it will probably be a tough couple of months as I figure out the job, get to know everyone, and then have to make sure all the final fixes get done in time to feed all the downstream departments.

more updates to come later….

Tomatoes lasted well throughout the summer.  Still getting a few a week.

Bell peppers finally have picked up and there are approx. 15 growing on the 5-6 bushes we have (Seth counted them)

Lots of rosemary and chives.

Italian broccoli was not a big hit.  we have a lot of it but neither of us are crazy about the flavor.

Some lettuce popped up after I dug up all the old plants.  I feed it to the chickens.

The chickens!  We have 2 chicks now.  Technically they are “pullets,” not chicks and not yet egg-laying hens.  They’re pretty cute and fun to watch.  Today I let them free range around the yard for the first time.  They loved it.

Having chickens has led to some yard improvements.  Today I fixed a section of the fence that was broken and nailed wood over some holes in the fence on the opposite side of the yard.  I found ways to close off a few of the gaps between the house and the neighbors on both sides.  it’s *almost* fully ready to let the chickens roam all the time, just need to make a little fence to close off the main entrance into the yard from the driveway.  Will probably just use chicken wire and some wooden posts to make a fence that can be rolled up and stored when not needed.

happy fall!

I can’t believe it’s July already.  Crazy.

Part of my delay with posting is that I’m always waiting to add photos, so I’ve decided that I’m not going to let a lack of photos hinder my writing.  I’ll add photos when I can but won’t stress about it.  Cool?

Garden update:

Tomatoes (Early Girl): We just got our first ripe tomatoes in the last week – and when it rains, it pours!  we went from 0 to 14 red tomatoes in just a couple days.  We’ll have to make some tomato sauce, tomato soup, and caprese salads very soon.

Tomatoes – Cherry: I grew a few from seed, and of the ones that sprouted and survived the transplant, they are getting HUGE!  No flowers yet but the plants are shooting up.  They’ll be a fun surprise – the packet was a “rainbow blend” and I have no idea which colors I have growing.  Also planted some seedlings from the nursery and those are doing fine.

Apple tree - we ate the one (1) apple yesterday.  It was delicious, juicy, crisp, perfect.  Too bad there was only one, but pretty impressive for a baby tree that was little more than a stick when we got it back in March!

Green Beans – doing well & very popular in the household.  Seth likes them raw, I like them lightly boiled.  I would have planted more had I known he would like them so much.  I planted them too close together, though – was a bit greedy – and now I see why you shouldn’t do that.  The plants are competing with each other for space and light and aren’t as strong as they should be.

Lemon tree - doing okay.  Not growing much and the few lemons on it are small and green.

Strawberry plants – doing well, seem to give us about 1 strawberry every couple days.  A nice sweet treat but definitely not a high yield crop.

Corn – amazing!  Tall!  I can see the start of the corn itself with tassles on top.  the plants are about 4′ tall right now.

Sunflowers – 2 sprouted, the rest will sprout soon.  Tall and fun.

Watermelons – 1 plant is doing really well and has a vine that’s about 2′ long.  The others are still very small with just a few leaves.

Cucumbers – doing well, lots of flowers on my 4 plants.  I hope each flower = a cucumber – if so I’ll have quite a few.

Fig tree – we have a fig tree!  Still haven’t figured out the perfect picking / eating ripeness for these.  I don’t think I like raw figs.  Tried one at the farmers market last week but still wasn’t thrilled. Might be better in a fig spread or preserve of some kind.

Chives – getting tall

Herbs – Now have rosemary, lavender, basil, cilantro, parsley and thyme.  Discovered that one of my favorite middle eastern dips is thyme based (Zatar Bi-Zait, served before every meal at Gaby’s).  Makes me want to grow lots and lots of thyme so I can make jars of this dip.  Need to grow more parsley & oregano so am planting more seeds.

In other plant news, an orchid that was dormant for ~2 years finally bloomed again!  I had forgotten what color it was.  Turns out it’s a lovely magenta / purple hue.  Thanks to Troy who got this for me at the downtown farmers market years ago.  What a treat. 

that’s the garden update!

Oh, I should mention that thanks to “Animal, Vegetable, Miracle” in conjunction with “Fast Food Nation” (the book) I was re-inspired to look into grass fed beef options here in California.  After loads of research and emails I finally settled on a ranch and placed an order for a 25lb beef sampler, which we’ll get on Monday.  I highly recommend this site as a good launching point for finding a farm near you and learning more about the issue:  EatWild.

Did you know that grass fed beef is healthier than regular beef, and in fact, has less fat than dark meat chicken (and almost the same amount of fat as white meat)?  It’s also high in omega-3s, vitamin E, and CLA which supposedly helps fight cancer.

I’m excited about trying this new method of meat purchasing.  I really like the idea of knowing where exactly my food was raised, how it was treated, and what it contains.  Hopefully this meat will be delicious and a good start to the experiment.  (We have been eating grass-fed ground beef from the Hearst Ranch lately and that’s been really good.)

Between the beef order, buying almost all of our produce and free-range eggs from the farmers markets, and growing some of our own food, I’m feeling good about our food supply these days.  One of the biggest missing links for me is a local dairy provider.  There is no way I can do without milk, cheese, and yogurt.  I imagine when we officially settle down (i.e. buy a house) I’ll try to find a local dairy.   Someday I’m going to follow Kingsolver’s example and try making cheese…

Planted so much stuff in the last couple months and it’s all doing pretty well.

Lawn = Green, lush, amazing.  So calming to pull into the driveway and see a beautiful green patch.

Tomato plants – bought as seedlings – have grown temendously and today we saw the first 5 tomatoes actually growing.

Parsley = Planted under the tomato plants, supposedly they grow well together and they are indeed sprouting

Carrots = Growing slowly but surely.  Planted in 2 batches so we’ll have a couple rounds of ready carrots.

Green beans = growing pretty well, not as big as I’m used to but doing okay.  Planted in 3 batches so we’ll have a lot throughout the summer.  I like fresh green beans.

Sugar snap peas = Kinda weak, I think they don’t like the heat.

Sunflowers = Doing well, I planted one row that’s about 1′ tall now, and another row a couple weeks ago that have all sprouted.  It was amazing, every single seed popped out on the exact same day.

Lettuce mix = going CRAZY!  We have more lettuce than we can eat!  It’s a little bitter though.  Any tricks to make it sweeter?  one of the varieties is kinda spicy, too.  I’m trying to thin out the ones I don’t like so that the ones I do like can get bigger.

Strawberries = Doing pretty well, not a lot of berries but a few so far.  They have all sent out runners so I think they’re happy.

Rosemary bush = Really happy & big & smells great.

Broccoli = Getting big, no signs of broccoli heads yet but the plants are doing well.

Bell pepper plants = Doing well, they have flowers so peppers should be starting soon.

Cucumbers = Slow starting but they have a couple “true leaves” now.  Amazing to think that in a few months they will be big viney plants.

Watermelons = Same as above.  2 of the 3 varieties sprouted but none of the 3rd, will have to try replanting in a sunnier spot.  Also, bugs keep eating the leaves as soon as they sprout, so I think I’ll plant some and cover them in jars right away.  Very frustrating to see them sprout, then be eaten, then die.

Sweet corn = I have a litte corn patch!  It’s doing well so far but is in a very sandy spot so I just hope they actually get tall and do what they are supposed to.

Fruit trees: Apple has one apple & is growing tall & strong.  The plum tree is a little slower to grow but seems to be doing okay.  My dwarf grapefruit tree is unhappy at the moment (lost a lot of leaves) so I gave it some fertilizer & compost & will try to pay a little more attention to it.

More herbs: Planted thyme, cilantro, lavender and basil.  All are doing well and I’m excited to see them spread out.

New developments: We have a loquat tree, a yummy sweet fruit.  And a mulberry tree, which has berries kinda like blackberries.  Also yummy but really messy.  They fall all over the ground and leave purple stains on everything around.  There is also a strange fruit growing on another tree, variety TBD.

Some pics..

Before...

After!

In other news…  I have made some delicious grapefruit-champagne sorbet, some so-so frozen yogurt, and some more malted vanilla ice cream.  The sorbet has been the most succesful. I also did a straight up grapefruit sorbet that is tasty but kind of like eating frozen grapefruit juice.  and a very alcoholic chocolate ice cream.  Good but like taking a shot.

More pics to follow!