June 12, 2007 link
A Day’s Pickings: Mixed lettuces and radishes—the makings of a salad. I eat a bowl like this each day.
June 7, 2007 link
I should mention that I’m growing a garden this year, and it’s looking pretty good. In contrast to the huge weedy space that I occupied for a few years, this tiny patch of ground
looks so orderly and clean. It’s much easier to take care of a narrow strip than to manage a big yard.
I planted tomatoes, green beans, onions, strawberries, collards, peppers, chives, lettuce and radishes. I actually managed to fit quite a few plants into a small space: 5 tomato plants, plenty of lettuce, 4 bean poles. I should get plenty to eat.
And already, I’ve been enjoying huge bowls of mixed lettuce salads with a few radishes on the side.
The strawberries, which I planted in April, are sending out runners and even producing a few berries. I wish I had room for a lot more strawberries.
Other than the strawberries, onions and peppers, I think I’ll get just the right amount of food to keep me satisfied with something from the garden every day this summer. I've got plenty of lettuce (until it gets too hot, and it all vanishes), and I'm hoping for bounties of tomatoes, collards and beans—which are always dependable producers.
I’ll try to post some pictures soon.
April 5, 2007 link
Exactly three years ago, I mentioned the early phases of construction on “The Bunker”, a building project next door to my garden that went on to become a 4-story monstrosity that blocked all sunlight, and doomed that garden.
Keeping that incident in mind, I was amused to discover this video this morning, made by some folks in my neighborhood: Won't Be Matlak-ed Again (YouTube video).
The Matlak described in the video is Ted Matlak, my neighborhood's current alderman, who is blamed by many residents for encourging developers to tear down perfectly good 2-story housing stock and replace it with ugly 4-story (or higher) condominium towers. The video shows some sadly amusing examples of neighborhood cottages that have been dwarfed by the new buildings next door. The whole thing is accompanied by a strumming guitar and folk singers.
My favorite part of the video is near the end, when the singers sigh: "My gardening days are done, cause the buildings blocked the sun. I’ve been Matlak-ed again..."
I'm not against "development", but you'd think somebody could come up with some architecture that assimilates into the neighborhood a bit better. These giant condos really are intrusive.
April 3, 2007 link
Dirt Exposure Boosts Happiness—Exposure to dirt may be a way to lift mood as well as boost the immune system, UK scientists say.
January 20, 2007 link
Defending Nostalgia: Why is it that one of the greatest sins in American discourse is to suggest that “the latest thing” might not be better than the thing it replaced? Recently, it's been acceptable to suggest that maybe the iPhone isn't really so great, or that the Zune is no better than the iPod. But suggest that a leaf blower may not be superior to a rake, that kids should be allowed to roam free in their neighborhoods, or that Chicagoans have no business eating grapes in January, and you risk being branded clueless, conservative—or worst of all, accused of going "back to the past". (Alternately, you may be accused of being elitist.)
I like what Ted Howard says over at On The Commons:
It is common today to dismiss…nostalgia. To entertain the possibility that a previous state of affairs might have had advantages over the current one, is to be deemed psycho-emotionally deficient. But I have yet to hear a convincing defense of this. Why is it progress when children play with manufactured video games instead of games they invent themselves? Why when people yak on cell phones instead of sitting quietly and reflecting on their own thoughts?
Why is it progress when people take pills for loneliness and isolation instead of partaking of built-in social settings—such as rural post offices—in which to find companionship and support? If you were to read tomorrow that people were doing less of the former and more of the latter in these contrasting pairs, would you say, "Drat. Things are moving backwards?" I'm not so sure.
