FYI, this is what fly poo looks like

I watched a fly poop on this leaf then fly away.  Huh!...

The greatest compost manager that has ever lived

... at 350 N. Maplewood St., Orange, CA 92866

My recent compost adjustment has resulted in a SHATTERING of my previous puny record of 164° to a new high of 168°!

A strange emotion has swept over me... a feeling of emptiness or a pit that can never be filled - now that I have achieved the highest levels of supreme excellence, what else is there?

Spirit Crop - can you steal from the dead?

Family came over today for Dad's birthday.  Nieces were slip-n-sliding on the lawn, dogs were chewing on each other's necks and adults were sipping my fresh squeezed Stoli screwdrivers.

Of course I grabbed oranges from my buddy Chris' house as per usual however today he wasn't home and his gate had a new padlock on it.  Hmmm...  Chris mentioned that his next door neighbor had recently passed (he was old) and that I could gain access from his back yard and hop the fence.  On my return hop over I noticed a Spirit Crop - a few tomato plants and a chili that were, I hope, lovingly cared for while neighbor was still kicking but now looked terrible and neglected.

The key to extra sweet tomatoes is stress by water reduction (the plant focuses energy on fruit production because it thinks it's dying - you get to play god)  and these things looked hella stressed!  Long story short I nervously pilfered everything that was ripe or even a little overripe, added to my oranges and got the fuck out of there before lightning struck me down!

I expected more in a week

3rd corn crop this season - third times the charm

I was away in Miami for work all this past week.  My Mom stopped by Wednesday and watered for me as we were having a hell of a heat wave.  This morning when I finally walked out to the yard I was expecting... something more than what I saw - things just didn't grow as much as I had hoped.  But... everything looks good and healthy.

I love amazon and blue stripe 1/4" emitter line

I also had my Amazon order waiting for me.  This was a shipment of Toro blue stripe 1/4" emitter line on 6" spacing.  Home Depot used to carry this stuff but I tried to buy some a couple weeks ago and was told they no longer carry it.  I tried a local commercial irrigation supply company, "HydroScape" and while they were able to finally locate it from a distributor the price was something stupid like $48 per 100' roll plus shipping and tax (<-- this will make sense in a moment).  So I left and I was irritated (ha - irrigated, irritated...).  Good ol' Amazon to the rescue! - note that the picture shows all black tubing but I verified the PN and it was the right stuff.

This was a chewed up, leafless
stem last week (check
older post).  It bounced back
well!

My PVC collars worked perfectly so I'm hooked on that solution.  Pole beans look killer, tomatoes are shaping up nicely and my watermelons and cantaloupes also look good.  I flipped my entire compost pile (which is huge) and watered it, expecting it to spike back up to 150+.  Fertilized and watered the lawn, heavily watered the Carolina Cherry trees and pruned my navel orange trees.

I just lost interest in writing anymore, I'm tired and have to get up early.

Red Noodle beans

This is one of the sickly looking tomatoes
that Seanna planted when she was here.
After some manure and fish emulsion
they are responding well

Stupid huge compost pile

Lots of different things taken care of today, best of all was getting caught up on my composting.  All ingredients I've stored up over the past few months have been shredded, mixed and in the pile.  I broke my rake I've had for years and drove to the store and found the exact model for $7.59 - sold.  Installed another section of trellis and sowed a run of red noodle and fortex poll beans.  I also sowed a row of bush beans on each side of the poll beans as an experiment.

Bean seedling that was devoured last
night.  I want to see if it will fight back
and send out some leaves

Re-sowed the areas that haven't emerged yet and cut some PVC collars for seedlings that are being targetted by pests - If this is effective then it's a nice little method to keep the bugs off.  Problem is you can't install these until the seedlings are a certain height or else you'll make them leggy which is a whole new problem.  It's also tempting to drive the collars down into the soil but that will shear off the roots or at a minimum damage them.  I'm leaving them floating to see how it works out.

Cool spider hanging out on my glasses

Pray for my kidneys

I've consumed a very large amount of alcohol in the past 36 hours and there's another storm on the horizon!  It started Yesterday with (now probably played out) fresh squeezed screwdrivers and Chris Huber.  I think. Yes, it was yesterday and Chris arrived with oranges and the oranges met the vodka and away we go.  WTF does this have to do with vegetables, farms, composting, etc.? - nothing, but I want to talk about it.
So we had 3 rounds at my house, then to the kitchen where we finished off the last of the 1942.  Now we're feeling good.  Kevin is dispatched to my parents house where a plan is forming to watch Flight 666 with my dad.  So Chris, Kevin and myself descending on my parents house to drink more and watch an Iron Maiden documentary.  Luckily my Dad pulls the plug on the plan so we adjust to have dinner at the circle and more drinks.  We get to Citrus City Grill and there is a 30 minute wait.  Name in, off to the bar next door to kill time.  Two more beers, actually they were my first but whatever.  Back to the restaurant where over the course of our nice ambiguously gay mandinner I slurp down two martinis.  We leave and have a quick detour by the barber shop for another beer (long story) then off to the Pump Room for a few more.  That was Friday.

Best baby I've ever encountered and I've encountered... well, like 4
babies

Now today I wake up with a hangover that would kill a small child, hell it would kill an adolescent in some countries.  It's serious and I decide to drink through it rather than suffer the nausea and headache of a stage 5 hangover.  Blueberry bagel extra toasted with extra jalpeno cream cheese and a medium americano with 4 shots later and I'm feeling 73% human and ready to get dressed and brush my teeth.  And drink.

Screwdrivers (<-- plural) give way to a near-frantic desire to have friends come over and destroy their perfectly good Saturday with me.  Several well crafted texts designed to temp, guilt and beg later and Kevin Anne and Emma are en route!  Anne only had one drink and was the designated driver but Kevin and I put the hurt on, again.

BTW, if that "baby pen" looks familiar?... maybe cause it is!

I want to hang out at my parents house tonight, I like 'em, they're cool and don't forget my Dad has an Iron Maiden documentary.  Kevin and Anne ("K&A") get the boot, my teeth get brushed and I inexplicably pair a nice shirt with my absolute shittiest pair of jeans and set course for parents house.  Movie was rad, scotch was good, Chui hung out with my Mom while she did needle point, my Dad made his famous popcorn and my great day wrapped up with a perfect relaxing night with Mom and Dad.

No farm work was done Today, NONE.

Amendment experiment

Bag-an-a-half of steer manure blend before being
cultivated into the soil

I pulled my 2nd failed corn crop yesterday and sent the stalks to the compost heap.  I'm narrowing down my cause of failure and at this point I think it's a combination of insufficient water and nitrogen - shocking, the two things corn needs the most.  With the area cleared I amended with two bags of Steer Manure Blend (HD no longer sells straight manure, at least not by me and Pam just dumped her chicken manure in the compost).  Worked the manure blend (manure and compost) into the top 3" of soil and leveled out, then dragged some shallow furrows to set seeds and planted away.  Four rows 18" apart with 6" seed spacing that will be thinned to 12" spacing.  Irrigation is now working well and the area should get plenty of moisture.  I'll talk to Pam and try to get the next bucket of chicken shit worked into the corn field.

This is one of the better looking tomatoes of the
suffering bunch, I'm experimenting to see if the
problem is nutrients/soil fertility

While I was at it I amended the  mounds that held the tomatoes that Seanna planted when she was here.  As soon as the poor guys hit the dirt they started to yellow and wilt.  After observing for a few days and monitoring soil moisture I can only assume it's a soil fertility problem.  Added manure and deep watered with seaweed extract.  The next few days will tell the tale.

While I was in the sowing mode I dropped some zuccini and summer squash seeds into EW4, just a rough job as this is about the absolute latest you can start those guys.  If it works it works, if not then no big deal as the seed will be shot by next summer anyway.

I can't believe how fast the Red Noodle pole beans have emerged!  I'm not sure, but I think I sowed those seeds last Sunday with Ben and they emerged by Tuesday - 3 days, that's awesome.  Wednesday I will succession sow another set of bush and pole beans, then again 10 days after that.

My dream hoe

Corona diamond hoe

I never really expected to fall in love with a hoe.
This bitch knows just what to do and how I like it - a real pro.  Sometimes we think we've seen it all, that we know all there is to know about hoes but this just goes to show, me at least, that you can always learn more, can always be surprised by something new.  My new how may just make me a better man, if not a better farmer...

Slides right below the soil surface, you
push and pull and it slices the weeds
off at the root.  I love this hoe

In other news: I mulched the most heavily weed infested areas with newspaper and 4-6" of straw.  Not only will it hopefully kill off the weeds but it looks good and it's nicer to kneel on and walk on.  Here's some progress photos in case you are too unimaginative to visualize for yourself.

Lay it down thick, the point is to block
the light to the weeds

Wet the newspaper so it doesn't blow
away or slide around on you

Add straw, enjoy

I miss my truck

The weed situation near beds EW4 and EW5 has reached ridiculousness and required drastic measures.  It's tempting to use chemicals which would make quick work of the invaders but I've worked too hard avoiding chemicals to start now.  Decided that a thick layer of newspaper topped with straw would be the best bet to smother and lightstarve the peskiest of the weeds.  Loading straw into the T4R is less than ideal, I miss my truck.

¡Frijoles!

Pulled the straggler carrots (and ate them) from NS1, prepped the bed and planted some provider bush beans, just 6-8 plants and then will succession sow over the next 2-3 weeks.  This is a real experiment as the liquid amber shades this bed significantly, only allowing 4-5 hours of direct sun.

Firing up the compost machine

Once again I've left the compost pile to go cold and generally neglected.  I caught the farm bug again just before Seanna came down and it's stuck so I figured I better get the compost going.  I love my chipper.  I love taking a Vicodin, putting on my ipod and chipping stuff for a couple hours.

I needed greens so I went around and pruned some offending far reaching branches from the Chinese flame (Koelreuteria bipinnata).  This type of material is great for composting as it's just about the right mix of browns-n-greens.

Southbound and Up

Some problems were fixed Today, some issues addressed and as I stand here typing on my Mexican blanket mobile desk I can't help but appreciate what a difference 24 hours can make.  As my good friend Aaron told me on the phone this morning (referring to yesterday's post): "Sounds like you hit a low point" - yeah, I guess I did.

Skipping past my AM routine, cause' really who cares(??) - my real day started with irony, a solid bite from a sort of karma shit-sandwhich, if you will; I bought Whiskey in Washington, in the VERY STORE "Janet" suggest I visit Yesterday. (BTW, side note to Aaron - the name "Janet" is inspired from that trip that I will never forget).  With provisions settled I made way for Bend, Oregon.

Dropping down into a valley somewhere in central Oregon on Hwy 97

Two hours into my drive on Washington state highway 12 I was pulled over by a state trooper (speeding).  I mentioned Karma already, I know how it works and yet I will still tell you that I kick ass at getting out of tickets!  All thanks to my Dad, my getting-out of getting-ticketed mentor.  Turns out the trooper was raised in a town about 30 miles from my home town, couple that with the overall first impression of my trip (dog, 4wd truck, mountain bike, far from home, etc.) and he was cool to me, giving me tips and sending me on my way with a "We won't give you shit for 6-8 miles over so just keep it around there"

47 degrees and raining, but still might be my favorite night

My back became enough of a problem I made finding a Dr. highest priority.  I was coming into Walla walla, Washington and looked up a walk-in clinic and made my way.  Nice little town, even nicer clinic and a GREAT, kind and time-generous Dr.  He asked me many questions and confirmed that what I had been doing to that point was about as good as I could do on my own.  He sympathized with me just enough to make a Dr. patient connection and then wrote the scrip; vicodin and muscle relaxers for nighttime and continued Advil for day time.  The vicodin was the "weak" kind in that it has a low Hydrocode-Ibuproferin (or whatever it is) ratio - Vicoding has a secondary agent that is designed to make you sick (barf) if you take too much, this is designed as a deterrent for recreational use.  I filled my scrip, took a vicodin and hit the road, within 30 minutes the pain was dropped to the point I could again enjoy my drive.

I managed my pain with the pills for the next 6 hours finally blowing through Bend, Oregon (it was pouring rain and I'm short on time) and pulling into the woods to find "La Pine" state park and stup for the night.  It's been raining all day, it's raining now yet I still have a great fire, my dog is bundled up in a blanket warm inside the truck, I have my scotch, 3G access, pills and most importantly I moved past and above that crappy place I was yesterday.

Bad with the Good

Yeah, that's one drink left...

I made it to Lewiston, Idaho and I'm sorry I did.  It could be that my mood is generally very sour, but this town sucks.  I'm out of booze and I drove up and down the length of the town (it's not small) two times and didn't find a SINGLE place to buy groceries, let alone a liquor store.  What do these people eat?  Where do they shop?  I finally stopped at a gas station to pee (and I bought gas, I feel like I need to) and the lady (who was pleasant) answers me with:
"Ohhh... well, you should just head over to Washington"
"OK, Where is that?"
"Well, if you go down the road here about another mile you'll be in Washington"
"You mean the State?!  I need to go to another state to buy whiskey"
"Ohhh..... well, I think that would be best...."

Fuck!

A bit of depression hit me Today, actually more than a bit.  It's because of my back, I'm miserable, constant pain that I can't do anything except ice to numb it.  The ice works for about 20 minutes, but it's so disruptive.  I stop, make an ice pack which seems to always leak and I end up with a wet butt and lower back, I reach behind while driving trying to adjust it and all this for only minor relief.  My back pain has the potential to wreck my lifestyle and at the sake (is that how you spell that?) of being dramatic.... my life -  I HATE IT that I'm 33 years old, full of energy and desire to do everything under the sun and instead of soaking up every moment of this great trip I'm fucking around with home made ice packs and trying to keep track of how many Advil I'm taking so I don't nuke my kidney.  Or liver, whatever!

Despite the heavy whining tone of this post, I'm happy to be off the
road and with ChooDog

Don't even get me started about the McStatePark I'm staying in Tonight.  Tomorrow is a new set of hours and roads and I hope to turn this frown upside down.  Peace.

PS: Do you notice how different this post is?  If you know me it probably seems more, "like me" - that in itself is a bummer to face.

Graduation Day

Pulled off for lunch and a walk in the middle 

Woke up and made the West bound trek to Boise.  nice ag country most of the way then the last 60 miles were godawful ugly and boring.  Arrived at uncle Jeff's house to a yard full of familly, food and cold beer.  Nice to get out of the car and see familiar faces and I forgotten how nice Jeff's house was, perched up on a hill with a full view of the valley.  Good job, Jeff!

Graduation ceremony was.... a graduation ceremony.  Glad I was there to support and celebrate with Ben, but my god was it boring and all around me were screaming teenagers:

• Yeah, Jody! 
• Yeah, Mike! 
• Chris, yeah! 
• Yeah! Dan!!  Danno!!!

Ended up sleeping like a baby at the Tolomeo house, thanks again!

The Night of Camping that Would Not Be...

Woke up, packed up and took off to continue my Northern march.  Descending from the Nebo loop into Southern Payson was interesting, there are some great properties and I could imagine having a ranch in an area like this.  In fact, overall I'd say that I like what I see in Utah.  I had such good luck with the Nebo loop byway I tried another alternate option via the 91/89 combo from Bringham City, UT to Pocatello, ID - bad idea, while it was pretty, the traffic through Logan was terrible!!!!!

The trees in downtown Pocatello have
"twinkle light" and the string is connected
to this box.  I thought it was funny.

I stopped by the BLM and Forest Service office in Pocatello and asked for ideas on where to camp.  Usual criteria:

• No people
• Few rules
• No fees
• Dirt
• Etc.

I got a hot tip on a road up in the forest on the South side of I-86 so I checked it out.  The following video was taken on that road, it was amazing.

OK, so I didn't camp there and I'll tell you why:  I had a lot of office work to do and therefor needed an internet connection - I lost signal about 500 yards before I turned off on that road and it didn't return in the 20 minutes I spent on it.  So I turned around and headed for the next State Park that was close to the interstate as I'd likely have 3G coverage there.

Salvation! was found at Massacre Rock (great name!) state park.  As I pulled in I had full 3G bars.  Campsite was pricey at $26 and a cabin, according to the info board, was $55.  Normally I wouldn't even consider this, but the following flew through my head:

• Power - it would be convenient to plugin the laptop instead of sitting near car with inverter plugged in
• Bed - my back is hosed and a bed sounded nice
• Wind - it was blowing hard and sitting outside in the dark with a headlamp (so I can see the keyboard) didn't sound as good as sitting in a cabin at a table
• Alcohol - while this didn't have a direct connection to the prospect of staying in a cabin I nonetheless had a craving for a drink.  Update: I have not yet had a drink, I'm about to though!

Snake River as seen from my porch

Fresh pot of coffee at 8pm, ready to work late.
This is the view from my cabin-office

My back is screwed.... I really tweaked it when I crashed.  I spent the whole day stopping and applying ice packs and taking Advil.  Fingers crossed that I can ride with the Idaho MTB group on Friday.

Day 2 - part deux

The Nebo pass summit (the road, not the mountains in
the background) at 9,240 ft

As promised, here is the second installment (actually posted on the 30th).  So the day turned out great, I was driving up the 15 through central Utah and I started getting worried that I didn't really know where I was going, I also wanted a more remote experience than I had the previous night.  Long story short I stopped at a state park and talked to the super cute (but too young) Utah DNR park employee.  She seemed nervous (tattoos? - I dunno) but managed to give me some good info.  While looking at a map on the wall I saw an interesting looking route from Nephi to Payson - AKA "The Nebo Loop" (click link for map).  I talked to another DNY employee who knew the route very well and told me I had to check it out.

I found a great campsite - well, not a campsite but a place to camp, in fact I think I was camping illegally but figured I'd please ignorant if a forest service ranger came by.  The site was this grassy meadow with tree coverage on 3 sides and drenched in sunlight when I found it.  It was a no-brainer - I veered off the highway, dropped down a slope and half slid on the grass into my position.  Cracked open my pabst 24oz tall-boy and spent too long stacking rocks under the tires to level my truck.

Once that was done I spent 2 hours cutting and splitting firewood (worked off the beer).  Chui had a blast exploring the surrounding woods and eating junk he found on the ground.  He barfed later, then ate it.  Please note my raging OCD induced stacking of firewood by diameter!

It's almost 9 o'clock and still that light out...

Epic Gnar Slam

I'm sitting in a Starbucks (for WiFi) about 30 miles North of St. George.  It feels like Mammoth or Kennedy Meadows - the Sierras, I guess.  Slept great.  Temperatures dipped to only 50 overnight.  My alarm woke me at 6am (felt like 5 due to time time zone) and I started getting ready for my Ride.  I left Chui in the truck with Windows down and figured I'd be gone for 2-3 hours.

I rode the Bear Claw Poppy trail (link has GPX file too!) and it's one of the most fun trails I've ridden in years, just this great rolling pump-track like trail.  Plenty of jumps and opportunities to float over the crest of mini hills. About 12 miles in it was already hot and I started worrying about Chui in the car so I made my way back prematurely.  That's when I slammed, hard.  I was riding a right side berm on the side of a trail and when I start to come down my tire washed out in sand and 'thud!' - all on my right side, wore off some more tattoo and scratched up my knee.  Also irritated my back so I've been on ice while I drive, Advil, etc.  Still a killer ride though and I'd do it again any time.  Check out this YouTube video of some guys doing the first section (called "Three Fingers of Death")

St. George felt like Prescott or Flagstaff to me, very new and extremely clean and well cared for.  I didn't see any buildings that looked older than 20 years.  It also looked a bit depressed economically, lots of vacant buildings and unrealized housing developments.

OK, continuing North bound to SLC and then will look for a camping spot.  I want to be on a lake or river if I can find a place.  Hopefully it's hot as hell and I can find a river camping site.  I will post again Tonight once I get settled.

Off to a good start

In a way, my trip started yesterday.  Monday has been my departure date from the onset, but I needed to pick up guns and ammo from the house in Arrowhead.  My sister's family was up at the cabin so I decided to make the run up there Sunday night - sort of get a jump on gettin outta dodge.

12 PB&J sandwiches, 3 apples, 3 bananas, 4 carrots, an orange and a
bottle of scotch

I slept in my car last night while it was parked on the driveway, just 30 feet from 5 beds, a fireplace, large TV, full kitchen and all the blankets you could ask for.  It's OK though, I thought it wise to test the new sleeping platform in my truck at the house rather than 300 miles away from home and tools.  I went to bed a bit drunk and didn't realize the car was parked about as unlevel (word??) as it could be which resulted in a restless night fighting gravity pulling me into the door panel.  I was warm though.  And nothing broke and Chui and I, overall, were fine.

Shot over my shoulder while driving

It was all I-15 North today - through Vegas, Mesquite Arizona and finally into St. George Utah.  I left at the end of everyone else' vacation, while they were heading home with hangovers, empty bank accounts and dread for Tuesday I was just getting started - the best part is that I had NO traffic!  I made the 336 miles to St. George in about 5 hours with several stops to give Chui (and me) a chance to pee.  Speaking of Chui, I've never seen a dog travel as comfortably as he is with the new sleeping platform.  I was worried that he'd be freaked out but it's quite the opposite, he's totally comfy and slept the whole day.

Yes, those are houses in the background :(

When I got into St. George my plan was to stop by the BL:M field office to get some guidance on where I could camp - on BLM land, not a campsite.  See, there are different classifications of BLM land (Open, Wilderness, etc.) - Open is the one I want, that's the type where you can do what you want, how you want and when you want - within reason.  Anyway, it was a holiday and hte BLM office was closed.  I started calling hiking and "outdoors" shops and asking for advice.  A nice guy said "Check out Green Valley Gap.  I did, and while it's not nearly as remote as I'm accustomed to it was beautiful and I have 3G service which means I can type this story and get the jump on some work emails and other tasks.

As I type this with a headlamp on so I can see the keyboard, a (too large) glass of scotch and a fire warming my shins I can't help but realize that this is a pretty good start.  My technology works, my scheduled end point was reached, I had a 1 hour hike through a gulch and watch guys rock climb and I just realized I'm sleeping 300 yards from the trail head I had planned to mountain bike in the morning.  Time for dinner.

Diatomaceous Earth - Enough is Enough

Like a weed - arugula from last year, I'm going to eat it all!

I finally broke down and bought some diatomaceous earth to fight the pill bugs.  This stuff sounds terrible, it basically dries them out, sucks all the moisture right out of them.  I read that humans should seriously limit the amount that is inhaled so I wrapped a wet rag around my nose and mouth when I spread it.  I already realize that I need a tool to properly apply this stuff, I'm thinking a turkey baster may work well.

Yesterday's storm gave me another ~30 gallons of water.  Second sowing of carrots have emerged and I just realized that what I thought was a weed growing all over the South end of NS1 is arugula!  I let my arugula bolt last year and I'm paying the price, although on the other hand it's nice to have it in salads.

Meteorologists are Retarded

• Rain coming
• No rain coming
• Gonna rain Tomorrow
• No it's not
• 60%, 40%, 20% 5% chance of rain
• Ugh!

So I've been in Chicago on work, came back late Saturday and was excited to check on things Sunday morning.  Peas in EW3 look great, carrots were almost all eaten.  Spinach too.  Neighbors cat shit all over EW4 (or is it EW5?).  Peas in back wall planter haven't emerged.  All in all a very disappointing set of developments.  I walked back inside.

Later that night I walked out to see what was eating my plants.  My old nemesis the "rollie pollie" and her bastard children were swarming on everything green and sacred!  I hate them, I smashed 50-60 in between my fingers, their little isopod liquid guts squirting out.  I went to bed, unsatisfied.

Flipped compost Saturday, added the stuff from the tumbler as well as a bucket of chicken manure.