June 29th, 2009 nick
The prize of our garden, a large and leafy and dark green Paul Robeson tomato plant, succumbed to some kind of wilt this past week. We came back last Sunday and it was looking droopy. Thinking it might be a lack of water, we gave it a good soaking. The wilt continued and spread throughout the plant. By Wednesday, we knew it was a goner. We salvaged the five or six good-size fruits that were already set (fried green tomatoes, anyone?) and chopped it down on Saturday, cutting out losses and making way for a few new pepper plants (Portugal hots, chocolate, and Klari cheese) in the big container.
The sadness of losing “Paul” as we’d taken to calling him, was offset slightly by the resurgence of the oxalis plant in the home office. I had given up hope for this little guy, seeing as he’d been in dormancy for over 6 months. But Kip advised me to keep my hopes alive and I kept up the occasional waterings, just in case. Sure enough, on one of those hot summery days last week, out came three shoots (at the same time, but from different rooted lobes?).
We suspect a bacterial wilt although we didn’t observe any of the milky whitish seepage from the cut stems. A few photos (below) show the pith having turned brown — looks like the water just couldn’t make it out to the leaves. Two of our other tomato plants look like they might have Fusarium wilt, but, as recommended by Cheryl at Mill Valley, I sprayed lightly with a rubbing alcohol/water (1:3 ratio) mix. Hopefully that will slow down any more evil-doers out to sabotage our tomato crop.
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| By the end of the week, the entire plant looked like the branch on the left. |
A cross-section of the main stem. |
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| The stem was brown all the way through. |
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| The new oxalis shoots. |
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June 15th, 2009 nick
We haven’t been as diligent checking on the herons as we have been in previous years. I saw a pair at one nest above the creek (we’ve seen them here every year since 2006) and one of the nests above the road (they were here last year), but none seem to have stayed. That said, we did run across a juvenile yellow-crowned night heron down on the Jones Falls this weekend. Walking back from dropping off my bike with Josh at Baltimore Bicycle Works (bottom bracket feeling crunchy), we saw him/her hanging out on some cement rubble (gotta love the Jones Falls) in the middle of the stream.
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May 15th, 2009 nick
Some before and after shots of the upstairs floors. Despite some lingering dust on the walls and downstairs floors (good thing we put up some plastic!), this was an awfully nice present to come home to. The first and third ‘before’ shots show the floor after we pulled up the rug, but before the 100-year-old heart pine was sanded and finished.
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April 23rd, 2009 nick
A paper that I’ve been working on for close to two years with some colleagues at school has just been published by Lancet Infectious Diseases. Our review of incubation periods was selected as one of the “Editor’s choice” articles for this month’s issue and is also featured on the podcast. Maybe it’ll even be cited a few times…
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April 9th, 2009 nick
After much complaining from my housemate about stale stir fry recipes that were too vinegary or didn’t have quite enough pizzaz, I hit the books last night in search of a good stir fry sauce recipe. This was the result (it got rave reviews from the home restaurant critics), and was the first time that I had made a sauce that coated all the vegetables — I think maybe mixing it all together beforehand instead of just sprinkling all the sauces individually over the wok makes a big difference…
- 1/3 c soy sauce
- 1/3 c sherry
- 1/3 c water
- ~1 T corn starch
- 1 big squirt rooster sauce
- thumb-sized piece of ginger, minced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- ~1 tablespoon honey
- sprinkling of cooking rice wine
- dash ground white pepper
Mix all wet ingredients together (and white pepper), add corn starch and mix with fork until no lumps. Add ginger and garlic. Let it sit while you chop veggies, pre-fry tofu. Pour the sauce over the stir fry when you’re just about done stir-frying. Let it all fry for about two more minutes, stirring it all up so the sauce coats nicely and starts to thicken just a bit. Serve to housemate with low expectations. Enjoy!
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April 7th, 2009 nick
Coincidence? You decide.
1605h EDT :: Beckett throws the first pitch of the season for the Sox.
1605 EDT :: I am released from my position as an alternate juror on the murder trial that I’ve been sitting on for six days.
Starting tomorrow, I get a full day to work for the first time since before the trial, before Thailand and before ENAR, i.e. since March 13.
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March 19th, 2009 nick
Ever since acquiring a new stackable washer/dryer combo for the basement — a wondrously space- and energy-saving addition to our house, the washer must use about 1/4 the water of the old top-loader — we’ve been hard at work reclaiming more space for us to use down there. The first addition: Jojo’s workshop — a place where bookbinding, sewing, and all sorts of random arty projects are brought to fruition at the 611.
We’ve also started the spring seedlings — with new equipment this year. First, a legitimate grow light from E. B. Fluorescent lights. Second, one of those seedling warmers — a flat rubber heating pad that sits under the seedlings and keeps them warm all day long (bought from the Organic Growers Supply branch of Fedco Seeds). We also are finally putting to use an outlet timer that we got at christmas a few years back. So the grow light automatically flicks on around 6 a.m. and stays on until about 9 p.m. The heating pad stays warm all day long. I think the pad uses about 60 watts and the lights are each about 30 watts. So far the results seem good. Lots of fast germination, more sturdy growth early on than we’ve had in past years. We’re also watering the established seedlings with a diluted worm juice. Last year Celia conducted a carefully controlled experiment in her greenhouse and found that seedlings watered with worm juice did noticeably better than those given just water, so we’re following the hard-earned scientific evidence on that front.
Here is an early picture of the set up, back when we were trying to give just the sprouted seeds light. We’ve since taken to covering unsprouted seeds with tin foil — that works better than the cloth method.
This one was taken a week ago — we’re constantly repositioning the light… 
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March 19th, 2009 nick
After months of agonizing about how to fix the handle on our cool orange Descoware cast iron pan that we use ALL THE TIME, Elizabeth made a suggestion that was simple, cheap and best of all, it works.
The handle is a cool feature of the pan because it unscrews and, presto! You now have a casserole pan that can go right into the oven. However, this pan, inherited from Grandma, has seen many a chicken soup and many a tuna fish casserole in its day and the threads on the handle were worn down to the point that it would basically slip out whenever you tried to use it. So I’ve been poring over the internet for suggestions, searching EBay obsessively for descoware handles (apparently you can order new plastic handles — but, honestly, who wants a plastic handle?!) and imagining the handle slipping out at a crucial juncture — like when there’s a load of boiling soup in the pan and all of a sudden you have a crushed and scalded toe because 5 pounds of cast iron and bubbling water have just tumbled from your grasp.
In walks Elizabeth to our kitchen a few days back, and she makes the off-hand suggestion to see if a broom-handle fits. As it happens, we have an unused broom handle in the basement (it’s been there for at least 3 years) and sure enough — it fits! One slice with the circular saw and one piece of sandpaper later, voila! A new handle!
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March 11th, 2009 nick
Date night got off to a late start, but it was still warm enough that the bike ride up to Petit Louis was cozy. One bottle of Jurançon Sec (2004, very “full-bodied”, so we were told), one order of Pâté (wrapped in bacon) and one Cassoulet later we rolled back to Hampden (literally, you barely need to pedal — thankfully).
The Cassoulet was like baked beans on steroids — sausage, pulled pork, chunks of bacon fat and duck confit all adding a little je ne sais quoi to a standard white bean casserole.
Hopefully those seven games of embarassing squash against Derek this afternoon (my first ever attempts at squash, in my defense) will counterbalance the meal of meat, beans, meat and meat.
Johanna turned down the cheese cart and opted for a pôt de crème (a thick dark chocolate custard topped with a handsome dollop of whipped cream) which was pretty delicious too.
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February 25th, 2009 nick
Google News headlines, 25 Feb 2009
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