Ladies and Gentleman,
WE HAVE EGG.
Yahoo!
It's quite a bit bigger than I imagined the first egg would be, and it has a beautiful hard shell.
Minerva, one of the Plymouth Barred Rocks, was the proud layer of this egg of perfection. She let the whole world know it by making quite a racket. Tom heard the fuss, and came running. She had performed this duty in the nesting box, even - just where she was supposed to. Good girl! (hey, those fake eggs worked!)
The summer stretches out before me, full of fresh eggs to eat - frittatas, custards, omelets, soufflés...
Meanwhile, I spent the morning at the Alameda Antiques Fair. Holy cow, what an event. I had never been before, but a friend who refinishes and reupholsters vintage pieces convinced me that I must attend. I was completely overwhelmed from the moment I arrived until the moment I left, and I'm still not sure what happened, but my pal ended up with three pieces of vintage furniture, a leather bag, a leather cuff, a worn pair of Frye boots, and a painting. I somehow came home with a new light fixture for our kitchen. We've always lived with the fluorescent light there, which I loathe, and finally we can replace it. I bought the fixture from a man who uses all sorts of repurposed items for his pieces. Our new light is actually made of a boat propeller and is very funky. The minute I brought it home, Tom took down the old light and has been working on the drywall ever since. What a guy.
Tom also has a pulled pork braising in the oven and a peach jam simmering on the stove. He's a keeper.
Tomorrow after work, my job is to pull peas - man, it got hot today! and pull shallots, and plant pumpkin and cantaloupe seeds.
The paste tomatoes are looking a little peaked, I'm not sure what's going on with them. Tom sprayed them with a copper mix today, to help combat any fungus, and we removed the straw mulch underneath. Copper is the same thing that helps prevent peach leaf curl, which is what the tomato leaves look like at the moment. We don't spray things often, but we would like to save this crop of paste tomatoes if possible. Most organic farms utilize copper spray. From UC Extension: "Copper fungicides are on the National Organic Program National List as synthetics. They are regulated for use as disease management tools, with the restriction that they must be used in a manner that minimizes copper accumulation in the soil. Like any other synthetic pesticide used in organic agriculture, a farmer must first adopt all available alternative management practices and show that those practices are not sufficiently effective. Specific preventive and alternative measures would include destruction of cull piles, planting of disease resistant cultivars, roguing/destruction of diseased plants, irrigation management, and wide row spacing. Farmers applying copper products should periodically soil test for copper to track trends in soil copper contents." It's not ideal for us to use it, and we don't often, so I don't feel bad using it today.
Plus, we had such strange weather for all of May, quite cool and overcast for most of the month. Now it's hot, the problem might just right itself. Wouldn't that be nice? Meanwhile, I'll keep an eye on things.
WE HAVE EGG.
Yahoo!
It's quite a bit bigger than I imagined the first egg would be, and it has a beautiful hard shell.
Minerva, one of the Plymouth Barred Rocks, was the proud layer of this egg of perfection. She let the whole world know it by making quite a racket. Tom heard the fuss, and came running. She had performed this duty in the nesting box, even - just where she was supposed to. Good girl! (hey, those fake eggs worked!)
The summer stretches out before me, full of fresh eggs to eat - frittatas, custards, omelets, soufflés...
Meanwhile, I spent the morning at the Alameda Antiques Fair. Holy cow, what an event. I had never been before, but a friend who refinishes and reupholsters vintage pieces convinced me that I must attend. I was completely overwhelmed from the moment I arrived until the moment I left, and I'm still not sure what happened, but my pal ended up with three pieces of vintage furniture, a leather bag, a leather cuff, a worn pair of Frye boots, and a painting. I somehow came home with a new light fixture for our kitchen. We've always lived with the fluorescent light there, which I loathe, and finally we can replace it. I bought the fixture from a man who uses all sorts of repurposed items for his pieces. Our new light is actually made of a boat propeller and is very funky. The minute I brought it home, Tom took down the old light and has been working on the drywall ever since. What a guy.
 |
| what a mess! |
 |
| I promise it'll look cool when it's up |
Tomorrow after work, my job is to pull peas - man, it got hot today! and pull shallots, and plant pumpkin and cantaloupe seeds.
The paste tomatoes are looking a little peaked, I'm not sure what's going on with them. Tom sprayed them with a copper mix today, to help combat any fungus, and we removed the straw mulch underneath. Copper is the same thing that helps prevent peach leaf curl, which is what the tomato leaves look like at the moment. We don't spray things often, but we would like to save this crop of paste tomatoes if possible. Most organic farms utilize copper spray. From UC Extension: "Copper fungicides are on the National Organic Program National List as synthetics. They are regulated for use as disease management tools, with the restriction that they must be used in a manner that minimizes copper accumulation in the soil. Like any other synthetic pesticide used in organic agriculture, a farmer must first adopt all available alternative management practices and show that those practices are not sufficiently effective. Specific preventive and alternative measures would include destruction of cull piles, planting of disease resistant cultivars, roguing/destruction of diseased plants, irrigation management, and wide row spacing. Farmers applying copper products should periodically soil test for copper to track trends in soil copper contents." It's not ideal for us to use it, and we don't often, so I don't feel bad using it today.
Plus, we had such strange weather for all of May, quite cool and overcast for most of the month. Now it's hot, the problem might just right itself. Wouldn't that be nice? Meanwhile, I'll keep an eye on things.