Planting in the heat

Last Saturday was the hottest day of the year. Make that the hottest day in 24 years. If only we could have been even a tiny bit clairvoyant when we planned our planting party back in the springtime. Instead, we skipped the beach, broke out the rototiller and invite some friends over for some manual labor. Some explained that their thermometer told them not to come (which was exactly what we would have said to ourselves).  But a few brave souls bared the heat and came over for some gardening and some beer.

This small community event was co-hosted by the good folks at the Coffee & Tea Collective, and featured some Radio food and Atomic beer. It's ultimate goal was to put in the ground what could be a Radio Acres Tea blend. So chamomile, marjoram, mint, lemon basil and other herbs hit the dirt. Lemon Verbena and lemongrass got cut and dried, and new rows were added to our farm, which we're all very excited about.

No one passed out, which we thought was a success. It was fun to hang out with other people in San Diego that are excited about local food, and we made the beer last late into the evening, when the weather began to cool.

This weekend, blessed by a marine layer that's just beginning to fade, we're planting our fall garden and getting our irrigation going. Here's hoping the harvest will be plentiful!

If you like, today you could make your way over to the C&T Collective for an artisan cup of joe, and then stop on over at Tiger! Tiger! for some tasty beer, come on down to Radio to plant some seed, and you can recreate the weekend for yourself.

Party Favors. More pics here. 

Snakes on a Farm

Nothing will make you have to change your underwear faster than opening up the worm compost bin and finding a snake inside.  Apparently, I shrieked like a little girl before I called for Colin, our much more manly houseguest, to come and catch it.  Its interesting to get to be part of a more natural cycle of life when you choose to take even a small step out of our consumer grocery store lifestyle and try something as simple as letting worms eat your garbage.  We don't throw our spoiled food in the garbage, we let the worms eat it, then the worms attracted a mouse (which I noticed in our bin numerous times), the mouse then attracted this beautiful California Kingsnake! Yet another reason NOT to use poison for rodent control! There is no such thing as poisoning just rodents, everything that eats them gets poisoned too, which eventually makes your property a dead zone.  When things are in balance, you might have some rodents, but you'll also get snakes, owls and hawks to keep them in check. Let nature do the work and we will hopefully will have less mice, better compost and more fun animal encounters.

I might have shrieked, but Camille is one brave little girl

Forget kittens, these girls want a pet snake

Colin having a moment, thanks for catching it buddy!