Tomatoes have been ripening for about a week now, so I have been stuffing myself silly with them.
That is all I can report at this time.
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Monday, August 11, 2008
Nothing but trouble
This just hasn't been a good year for the garden.
First we had a non-existent spring, now we are having a cold summer. Rabbits and deer attacked the peas and coles early, now something is killing my squash plants. The one bed I used an organic "weed preventer" in, instantly turned into the most weed-infested bed of plants I have ever seen.
The weather the past few days has just been beautiful, but definitely not normal. Early August should be unbearably hot, with humidity so thick that laundry hung out to dry just gets wetter. I woke up this morning and it was 53°! No wonder my tomatoes are taking so long to ripen.
Even with all the problems, we haven't suffered any significant lack of fresh produce yet, things just might be a bit leaner later in the summer. There's still time to plant many things, I just have to remember to do it!
First we had a non-existent spring, now we are having a cold summer. Rabbits and deer attacked the peas and coles early, now something is killing my squash plants. The one bed I used an organic "weed preventer" in, instantly turned into the most weed-infested bed of plants I have ever seen.
The weather the past few days has just been beautiful, but definitely not normal. Early August should be unbearably hot, with humidity so thick that laundry hung out to dry just gets wetter. I woke up this morning and it was 53°! No wonder my tomatoes are taking so long to ripen.
Even with all the problems, we haven't suffered any significant lack of fresh produce yet, things just might be a bit leaner later in the summer. There's still time to plant many things, I just have to remember to do it!
Friday, August 01, 2008
Gone for a bit...
Sorry about the lack of recent postings, but in my defense I was gone for about a week on a backpacking trip in northern Minnesota on the Superior Hiking Trail.
Day 1: Dropped off by the Superior Shuttle at 9:45am at Caribou River wayside. Stopped at Caribou River to fill my water bottle and my Camelbak. I was oh-so-very-impressed with my new technique of filling the bladder while it was still in the pack, what a timesaver! Put my pack on and instantly felt dampness, the bladder had a crack in the hard plastic by the fill spout and leaked all over the inside of my pack! Luckily I noticed it right away and got everything out of the pack and dried off before things got too wet. Took the spur trail to the bottom of the falls, very impressive! Quite rugged hiking today, a hard introduction to the trail. The trail leading into Crosby-Manitou park is not well blazed, but is still easy to follow. Camped at Aspen Knob campsite, best water on the trail, in my opinion. Rained all night but thoughtfully cleared up before hitting the trail.
Day 2: Left camp about 8am, microfiber towel did a great job of drying off the rainfly. Much easier trail today, but boggier and buggier. And of course I forgot my bugspray back at the campsite! Hit Sonju Lake and walked down the boardwalk to the little island. Absolutely beautiful, and there were a couple of guys leaving the area who offered me bananas, and BUGSPRAY! Awesome timing. Highly recommend camping at Sonju Lake. I pushed on to South Egge Lake, also very cool and scenic. A pair of playful beavers were fun to watch, then it started raining out of a clear blue sky. Ate an early dinner and hid in the tent as the rain turned into dramatic storms. The beavers would slap their tails against the water anytime that the thunder was particularly close, not sure if they were imitating it or trying to scare it away. Woke up to amazing loon calls, walked to the lake and there were seven loons swimming together. I decided to call it an "asylum" of loons.
Day 3: Decided to hike into the town of Finland today to call and reassure my wife that I am alive. Grabbed a bit of food from the grocery store there, and they will let you use the phone in the back for free, just have to use a calling card or call collect. Walked back to the trail, saw two black bears run cross the road about a half-mile up, then put on some serious miles through some of the toughest terrain I've seen, mostly the last 4-5 miles. Being in town softened me so I skipped stopping at the Kennedy Creek campsites and pushed into Tettagouche State Park, where there are showers. Fell asleep to the sounds of couples arguing ("Dammit Cheryl!") and people running generators. Still, it had a shower!
Day 4: One of the most beautiful sections of trail I've seen, especially in the Bear and Bean Lake areas, where you are standing on the edge of 500 foot cliffs on one side of the trail and gazing at Lake Superior to the other. Mt. Trudee is another that is just awe-inspiring. Planned on staying at Penn Creek, but it was still early so I decided to press on another 5.8 miles to the Beaver River campsites. Lots of up and down ridges to get there, and all of it was on ROCK! The feet were getting a bit sore from walking on rock all day, but it was still gorgeous. Beaver River campsites were both full of rotten kids and counselors from some wilderness therapy group, but I was too tired to go any farther, so I camped on the outskirts of N. Beaver River site. Trains and stupid foghorn every 10 minutes helped keep me awake most of the night. Lots of raspberries along train tracks, though. Big day today, a little over 15 miles.
Day 5 : Got up and hiked into Beaver Bay, great little town only about 1.5 miles from Beaver River campsite. Did laundry at laundromat behind Holiday gas station and stocked up on some food. Ate a giant double blue cheese burger at the diner, delicious! Walked back to the trail, hiking to Chapins Ridge campsite. Found a few handfuls of blueberries on Fault Line Ridge. Got to Chapins Ridge and the water there was murky, brown, fetid, and even had a scary oily sheen on top. Decided to walk on to the Split Rock area. Ended up camping at site on north side of the Split Rock canyon, very cool campsite. I was looking forward to the giant heavy can of beef stew that I carreid all day, only to discover my spoon had broken! So I carved a handle for it out of a birch twig. Another 15+ mile day today.
Day 6: Realized that if I do another 15 miles or so,(ended up being 18 miles) I will finish today. Given the scary weather outlook for the next day, I decide to make that my goal. Lots of "green tunnel' hiking early in the day. Trails inside Gooseberry Falls State park are wide and well marked. Amazing views along river and cool falls. Once you leave the park, all bets are off. The trail is slightly better than a game trail, only 4-5 inches wide and mostly following the river. Waist-high weeds and vegetation hide the trail effectively and it was washed out in several areas near the riverbanks. This continued until the Nestor Grade, where conditions improved. It started raining not far past Nestor. At this point I was in a hurry to finish and escape the weather, but Mike's Rock and Wolf Rock were challenging and I'm sure quite beautiful when the weather cooperates. Got back to my car about 6 pm and just sat there for awhile and dried off the best I could.
By request, I will post a few pictures of the trip and a condensed version of my journal.
Day 1: Dropped off by the Superior Shuttle at 9:45am at Caribou River wayside. Stopped at Caribou River to fill my water bottle and my Camelbak. I was oh-so-very-impressed with my new technique of filling the bladder while it was still in the pack, what a timesaver! Put my pack on and instantly felt dampness, the bladder had a crack in the hard plastic by the fill spout and leaked all over the inside of my pack! Luckily I noticed it right away and got everything out of the pack and dried off before things got too wet. Took the spur trail to the bottom of the falls, very impressive! Quite rugged hiking today, a hard introduction to the trail. The trail leading into Crosby-Manitou park is not well blazed, but is still easy to follow. Camped at Aspen Knob campsite, best water on the trail, in my opinion. Rained all night but thoughtfully cleared up before hitting the trail.
Day 2: Left camp about 8am, microfiber towel did a great job of drying off the rainfly. Much easier trail today, but boggier and buggier. And of course I forgot my bugspray back at the campsite! Hit Sonju Lake and walked down the boardwalk to the little island. Absolutely beautiful, and there were a couple of guys leaving the area who offered me bananas, and BUGSPRAY! Awesome timing. Highly recommend camping at Sonju Lake. I pushed on to South Egge Lake, also very cool and scenic. A pair of playful beavers were fun to watch, then it started raining out of a clear blue sky. Ate an early dinner and hid in the tent as the rain turned into dramatic storms. The beavers would slap their tails against the water anytime that the thunder was particularly close, not sure if they were imitating it or trying to scare it away. Woke up to amazing loon calls, walked to the lake and there were seven loons swimming together. I decided to call it an "asylum" of loons.
Day 3: Decided to hike into the town of Finland today to call and reassure my wife that I am alive. Grabbed a bit of food from the grocery store there, and they will let you use the phone in the back for free, just have to use a calling card or call collect. Walked back to the trail, saw two black bears run cross the road about a half-mile up, then put on some serious miles through some of the toughest terrain I've seen, mostly the last 4-5 miles. Being in town softened me so I skipped stopping at the Kennedy Creek campsites and pushed into Tettagouche State Park, where there are showers. Fell asleep to the sounds of couples arguing ("Dammit Cheryl!") and people running generators. Still, it had a shower!
Day 4: One of the most beautiful sections of trail I've seen, especially in the Bear and Bean Lake areas, where you are standing on the edge of 500 foot cliffs on one side of the trail and gazing at Lake Superior to the other. Mt. Trudee is another that is just awe-inspiring. Planned on staying at Penn Creek, but it was still early so I decided to press on another 5.8 miles to the Beaver River campsites. Lots of up and down ridges to get there, and all of it was on ROCK! The feet were getting a bit sore from walking on rock all day, but it was still gorgeous. Beaver River campsites were both full of rotten kids and counselors from some wilderness therapy group, but I was too tired to go any farther, so I camped on the outskirts of N. Beaver River site. Trains and stupid foghorn every 10 minutes helped keep me awake most of the night. Lots of raspberries along train tracks, though. Big day today, a little over 15 miles.
Day 5 : Got up and hiked into Beaver Bay, great little town only about 1.5 miles from Beaver River campsite. Did laundry at laundromat behind Holiday gas station and stocked up on some food. Ate a giant double blue cheese burger at the diner, delicious! Walked back to the trail, hiking to Chapins Ridge campsite. Found a few handfuls of blueberries on Fault Line Ridge. Got to Chapins Ridge and the water there was murky, brown, fetid, and even had a scary oily sheen on top. Decided to walk on to the Split Rock area. Ended up camping at site on north side of the Split Rock canyon, very cool campsite. I was looking forward to the giant heavy can of beef stew that I carreid all day, only to discover my spoon had broken! So I carved a handle for it out of a birch twig. Another 15+ mile day today.
Day 6: Realized that if I do another 15 miles or so,(ended up being 18 miles) I will finish today. Given the scary weather outlook for the next day, I decide to make that my goal. Lots of "green tunnel' hiking early in the day. Trails inside Gooseberry Falls State park are wide and well marked. Amazing views along river and cool falls. Once you leave the park, all bets are off. The trail is slightly better than a game trail, only 4-5 inches wide and mostly following the river. Waist-high weeds and vegetation hide the trail effectively and it was washed out in several areas near the riverbanks. This continued until the Nestor Grade, where conditions improved. It started raining not far past Nestor. At this point I was in a hurry to finish and escape the weather, but Mike's Rock and Wolf Rock were challenging and I'm sure quite beautiful when the weather cooperates. Got back to my car about 6 pm and just sat there for awhile and dried off the best I could.
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