scifiknitter

No CSA for us this week - we are on the boat for a few days. We thought we would be taking a longer trip on Lake Ontario, but our plans have had to change to make room for a rehearsal and for some business that R. has to do. Our son's GF will pick up this week's veggies. It's changing here at the marina. Mike, the owner, died suddenly this past winter. His family is operating the marina, but we all miss the presence of the man with a large voice, an endless stream of stories, and a passion for opera. The radio in the main building is tuned to a commercial station playing popular music, not to the classical music station. Soon there won't be much of Mike left here. It is becoming a different place.

There were peonies in my CSA share this week. After a long day of work after a long day's drive the day before, seeing and smelling the flowers as I opened the cooler made me gasp a little, and break into a smile. This is definitely the best purchase I have made this year. Also included in this week's batch of good things: lettuce, spinach, green onions, garlic scapes, a cucumber, kale, herbs (dill and cilantro), and beets. I decided tonight on my strategy for eating what we receive: whatever we would be most unlikely to buy for ourselves will be the first item eaten, with adjustments for perishability. That means that the dish for the night is beets, because I have thrown away more fresh beets than I have eaten in my lifetime. Also, the greens are perfect tonight, and they won't stay nice for long. Simply in Season will be one of my go-to sources of recipes. Tonight I am making a whole beet skillet that uses every part of the beet, and seasons the dish with lemon juice, gi...

Once again this year, I was not able to get my little raised garden plots ready for planting in time to do serious vegetable gardening. Two years of neglect due to doing grad school on top of a full-time job means a garden overgrown with weeds. About the time I realized that my dreams of a veggie garden were not going to happen this year, I got a postcard from Farmer Bill and Annie , a small farm that I drive by nearly every day. I have bought a lot of veggies from their farm stand over the years. Their postcard offered me a share in their CSA. CSA = Community Supported Agriculture. I, the consumer, pay upfront for a share of the farmer's production. The farmer gives me fresh food every week. The farmer has a guaranteed, stable income and can plan what to plant. I have guaranteed fresh food with less work than tending a garden, and I am keeping a farmer in business. CSAs are being offered by several farmers in my area. Some offer a very wide range of food, including meat, poultry...

Yesterday I took a little trip to a brand new type of store for me to frequent: the pool and spa supply store. (Up here, they all sell woodstoves, too.) The reason: we are installing a hot tub in our solarium tomorrow. And hot tubs require chemically treated water. I learned quite a bit about our water yesterday. First of all, it will take all this to manage it: I learned that spa water needs to have a certain level of alkalinity and hardness to stabilize it, so that it is not subject to rapid swings in acidity and doesn't suffer corrosion of metal parts over time. I learned that our water, which comes from a drilled well that is at least 80 feet deep, is too soft and acidic to be used as is in a hot tub. I didn't expect that. We will have to add calcium and sodium carbonate to the water whenever we fill the tub. I also learned that there are lots of systems for managing spa water. The store I went to carries four product lines - chlorine, bromine, baguanide (a peroxide based s...

This is a rant. While it may be based on some articles that I have read lately, don't expect me to link to references. I believe that we have a severe structural problem in our economy and as a result, people are not getting value for their money, specifically for their tax dollars. In my opinion, we have become a two class society, but it's not the classes you might think, rich and poor. It's people with security and people without. I think of the people at the auto shop who repair my car. They do excellent work. Whatever health insurance they have, though, is whatever the business owner can afford to buy in the private sector. And whatever retirement they have beyond Social Security must be financed with money that they invest themselves. Good luck with both of those things. Meanwhile, I have a defined benefit government pension and a decent government health insurance plan. I pay for part of my insurance, but the rest is paid with tax dollars. Tax dollars paid by me, but...

Ever so surely, the good weather is coming. It's still pretty cool - those who have planted their tomatoes and basil are covering them nearly every night up here, and we had a fire in the woodstove last night. When it is still light out at 8:30, though, you know that the warmest part of spring should arrive soon. I spent several hours during last week getting our sails ready for use. Both our mainsail and our primary headsail are getting a bit long in the tooth, and usually need some repairs before sailing season starts in earnest. This year the mainsail passed inspection, but the genoa needed long stretches of new edge facings on both of the edges that are exposed to wind and wear. The genoa is a huge sail, and very heavy, so sewing the facings on is arduous even though the sewing itself is very simple. I folded the sails after inspection and repairs - the only time they will be neatly folded all year. Assuming that we don't need to take them down during the summer, they'l...

Whew! I just finished the kimono sweater that I started in January. Of course, I finished it just as the weather is getting so warm that I will hardly be able to wear it for months. The weather took pity on me today, though, and brought us a very chilly and windy day. So, instead of moving our sailboat from its winter to its summer home, I wore my new sweater. One of the dilemmas of knitting for me is choosing a pattern. I collect patterns by the gross, with subscriptions to three knitting magazines and regular purchases of pattern books. Sifting the wheat from the chaff has been a problem for me, though. Over the years, I have probably knit at least as many duds as flattering sweaters for myself. I finally have figured out what looks good on me. It must be pretty closely fitted, and I look best in colorful clothes. The new sweater is no dud, I am very pleased to announce. The sweater was designed by Celeste Pinhiero and was the cover sweater for the Fall 2006 issue of Knitter's Ma...