Aggregated Goodness

Here is an amazing blog post on the hardships of trying to be a responsible adult. I'm pretty sure that the author of Hyberbole and a Half is my long lost best friend. Even the title is so me. More than a few people in my life have been bothered by my hyperbolic tendencies.

Apparently Chinese basketball players have trouble with starting sh*t on the court. One team recently beat the crap out of the Georgetown team at an exhibition game in Beijing.

If you live in Boston and you haven't yet RSVP'd for the Boston Cyclists Union First Annual Meeting, please do so now. I have acquired some really swell raffle prizes including, but not limited to, a free CSA from Allandale Farm for next season, a gift certificate to Salmagundi (sweet hat store in JP), free bike tune ups, a helmet, a tire pump, and a 10 class card to South Boston Yoga. I'm planning on buying $20 worth of raffle tickets and you should too. RSVP for the sweetest bike party of the year here.

Overcoming obstacles to growing your own vegetables and herbs

These notes are meant to compliment a presentation at the 2011 Boston Skillshare entitled No Space? No Cash? No Problem! Overcoming Obstacles To Growing Your Own Vegetables and Herbs.




When getting started with your first gardening project, think about it like a newspaper story. Be sure to figure out the who, what, when, where, why and how.

Who can help you?
What are you planting?
When will you start?
Where will you plant? Community plot, porch, sunny window, driveway?
Why? (this is an easy one)
How? Will you use grow lights indoors, vertical trellising on the side of your building or hanging containers on your porch?

Hot tips:
- Wash your containers before using or reusing. There could be diseases, bacteria, etc. lingering in there.
- Get your soil tested!!!! (UMASS Amherst)
- Learn about common pests, diseases
- Store seeds in the freezer
- Plants have different needs - know what your plants like best in terms of soil, light, etc. For example lavender like sandier soil and less water than a basil plant so your probably don't want to plant them together.
- Clean your tools. It's good for the tools and for preventing the spread of disease, pests, etc.
- Potted plants need fertilizer, especially perennials. Find out what your plants like best. A little side dressing of compost or worm castings (worm poop) usually goes a long way.
- Mulch is your friend. It helps keep soil moist and prevents weeds. You can use newspaper (no magazines please) or shredded leaves, among other things.
- While not absolutely necessary, planning, labeling plants, and tracking the success of your plantings is highly recommended.


More fun stuff

Acquire this book: The Urban Homestead by Kelly Coyne and Erik Knutzen

Make your own self-watering containers

Landless Gardening: Use a potato sack and put it anywhere! Make it yourself or buy a kit from Landless Gardening with everything you need for $20.

Living Wall
Living walls can be a great way to grow a lot in a small space inside or outside.

The Boston Gardener in Dudley Square carries the pumps, filters, and growing medium you need to build your own irrigated system. See a demo in this video:



Wallypockets are pre-made plant bags that you can mount on the wall and water like you would any potted plants.

Get a head start on the season with winter sowing. This involves making a tiny greenhouse so you can sow seeds outdoors in the late winter. Use milk jugs, takeout containers, and even clear plastic bags. More at WinterSown.org



Terrariums are fun and back in fashion. While they are most commonly made with ornamental plants, you could make a nice one with herbs.



Resources:

Allandale Farm
Boston Natural Areas Network
Container Gardening Guru
Garden Girl TV
Organic Gardening Magazine
RootSimple (By the authors of The Urban Homestead)
TruckFarm (what I was trying to show early in the session)
Urban Homesteader's League (Boston Area)
Urban Farm Magazine
Wormjava (order worm castings online to enrich your container plants)

Farm Blog, Seedlings, Bread, Tickets

Good News: I got two tickets to see Jeff Mangum. After struggling for 10 minutes to get them on-line I literally ran to the Harvard Box Office to get them in person. Thank God the show is at Harvard, where I work.

Music adventures aside, I have been very wrapped up in food matters. I am currently doing research for a story on food security and obesity for my journalism class. If it turns out well I may try to pitch it to real publications (by "real" I mean not this blog).

My new favorite blog is that of my old boss, Farmer Jim Buckle of Allandale Farm. In the most recent post he shares his feelings on the impending slaughter of his buddies, Allandale's two Scotch Highland cows, Curtis and Willard. Even as a big proponent of eating meat, Jim admits he'll have a hard time saying goodbye. I love those beasts too, even though Willard once almost impaled me with one of his horns and I got sick of explaining to customers that no, they are not in fact bison or buffalo, just super furry cows.

With my seedlings at three inches high in my kitchen, I am getting super pumped about spring planting. I will be attending my last Master Urban Gardener class this week so, in theory, I am now better equipped to grow the garden of my dreams, and help others do the same. The plan this year is to both increase yield and integrate flowers into the bed at 34 Robeson. More on that here. I have already started holly hocks, cosmos and zinnias, though I recently read you're not supposed to start zinnias indoors. Oops. We'll see what happens.

I recently made my best loaf of bread to date. I didn't try to use whole wheat flour this time and I think it made a big difference. All together this loaf was made with bread flour, oatmeal, wheat germ, flax seed, salt and some multi-grain mix. I also coated the loaf in olive oil before baking. The crust was incredible.

Happy Weekend!

what summer looks like

I start a new job at Harvard, at a desk, in about a week. I'm excited about it but am also sad to say goodbye to being outside all the time.



Gladiolus. Also known as old lady flowers or, in mixed bunches, circus vomit.

I saw Tune-Yards again, this time in the courtyard at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. Good news: she still rules. Cambridge natives Drug Rug headlined. They're one of the few guy/girl duo bands I've seen in which the girl totally upstages the guy. They're a little bit surfy at points but can also rock really hard.

Nina and Roasted Chickens

We're having a heatwave in New England and boy, is it a joy. This morning I tried to ignore the sting of sweat pouring down every part of my body, into the scratches made by raspberry brambles.

The good news is, while we've lost a few plants on the farm, the animals seem to be fairing well. Chickens, it turns out, are hilarious when they're hot. They pant like dogs, with their mouths open, and walk around with their wings lifted halfway up, as if airing out their little chicken arm pits.

I'm not doing much better myself. I spent an hour yesterday lying on the gorgeous parquet kitchen floor, in front of the fan, with a bag of frozen tater tots under my neck.

Things got better today with the arrival of Nina Simone's It Is Finished on vinyl in the mail. I couldn't be more pleased. It's out of print and difficult to find but I just found a cheap, brand new repress. I fell in love with the album while staying with my girl Laura after Green Corps in 2008. Thanks L - Dog. The whole album is rad. It's got both sad and happy, crazy Nina on it. And, with sitar, hand drums and Spanish guitar, it's got some neat instrumentation too. Highlights include "Funkier Than A Mosquito's Tweeter" and "I Want a Little Sugar in My Bowl."

Girlfriend don't give a f**k.


Both my garden plots are stayin' alive so far. Zucchini and summer squash is in, and the first tomatoes ripened this week.


Fourth of July was neat. This was my third year in a row watching fireworks from a city rooftop. New York, then D.C. and this time Boston. I'm a fan. This time we watched from a rooftop in the harbor and had a 360 degree view of approximately 10 million fireworks displays. AND, before that even happened, we were greeted by a happy little rainbow.


Does this photo make anyone else want to ride Falcor from Neverending Story off into the sunset?

Anniversary!

I've been meaning to commemorate the 1 year anniversary of Commandeered and today I realized I missed it. Rut ro. I'll do my best now, even if I'm over a month late.

What's in a name?

While "commandeered" is historically a military term (see below), I chose to re-appropriate it. I regularly acquire phrases, recipes, philosophies, etc. everywhere I go. I take what I want of them and use them towards my own ends. I wanted to honor the fruits of my habit in the blog. It became mostly a record of what I'm eating and listening to but that could still change.

com-man-deer
Function: transitive verb

Etymology: Afrikaans kommandeer, from French commander to command, from Old French comander

Date: 1881

1 a : to compel to perform military service b : to seize for military purposes
2 : to take arbitrarily or forcible possession of

Why Blog?

Recognizing that I needed to spice up my workaholic lifestyle, I started blogging as a way to force myself to get out and do things. You can't have a blog if you don't have anything to write about, right? That's what I thought at the time. And, while I've been slacking a little in writing lately, I do feel my quality of life has increased significantly.

For one, my garden kicks last year's garden's ass. It's twice as big, more varied, and was made possible by contributions from Wyatt and my roommates. Last year I did it alone. I'm also sharing a community garden plot with my friend Jesse. It's full of strawberries, raspberries, tomatoes, eggplants and cucumbers. We're hoping to do a crap-ton of canning this fall. I hope everyone in my life is cool with getting pickles for Christmas. Back to progress... I feel blessed to have made a lot of new friends in the last year. Not having a job that takes over my life has definitely been a plus in the social category. I now have a super man in my life and tons of new and interesting people to share new adventures with. Big props to Emily (an old friend) for helping me realizing this when I was choosing to focus on my lack of financial well-being, which, by the way, was dumb.

In terms of swell people, here's a good one:

This is Samara, amongst some garlic scapes. She's half of Team Capricorn, the all-girl auxiliary farm crew at Allandale Farm.

We've spent the last two days harvesting these little buggers. Raw they taste a little like garlicky green beans. I have not cooked with them yet but I hear they make a bitchin' pesto. Samara suggested putting them in guacamole. I'm thinking she's a genius.

Other things:

If you ever need a pick me up, try the Tenacious D Pandora station. Think Jack Black at his best followed by SNL's "I'm on a boat" and highlights from the Team America Soundtrack.

I know you miss pics from the garden but they're coming soon.

I'm back on the music review bandwagon so if you know of any good, small, American acts that need press, let a girl know.

If anyone knows anything about pitching freelance stories, I could use advice on that. Mostly, Wyatt and I want to get paid to determine 1. who has the best mac 'n cheese in Boston and 2. which diners are the best in the city. We don't need to get paid for the story so much as we need start up capital. : )

And fellow Bostonians, I can tell you two things:
Dorado's a fish taco place in Brookline is the best food I've had in Boston in a long time. It is straight up delicious, there is outdoor seating, the fish is sustainable and while they use disposable plates and cutlery, it's all compostable! AND they have $2 tacos after 5pm on Wednesdays. Yeah. Do it.

Revolution Bicycle Repair in Hyde Square, Jamaica Plain hooks it up! I got new handle bars, the labor it took to re-do the cables and housing and a tune up for $63.00. I love Bikes Not Bombs but that wouldn't happen there. If nothing else, Revolution's website is entertaining.

Lady Gaga, I love you but really? I hope this isn't real.