June logs
OK, then, I said I would post my semi-daily logs. 90% for myself, but possibly of occasional interest to friends or family. These are lightly scrubbed to protect the innocent.
June 2009
Mon June 29
Progress on the fruit drying: the jicama, peas, and strawberries are dry, but most of the serviceberries aren't. I guess the skins are protecting are serving their intended purposes. So I squished the berries a little and put them back in for a few more hours.
tk: A thought while doing this drying, and also while eating bulgur yesterday, and shelling peas Saturday: we did all these things in Utah. Remembering shelling peas with Grandma C, in the shade of the apple tree overlooking the west garden. I do admire the industry and earnestness and good will and community of that pioneer culture. It isn't so different from the agricultural roots of people we are getting to know in Iowa.
tk: I'd like to spend less time surfing. See if I can sit down and immediately engage in work, rather than easing into it by first doing 5 or 10 minutes of surfing. Also, I'd like to try cutting out the glass of evening wine. It's bad for the teeth (acidic), and it doesn't really help me be more productive. Honestly, I seldom get any work done after about 8 pm anyway.
Sun June 28
Weeded in the am. E and J went to the Slater trail.
I weeded for an hour and a half, then went to the 10 am service. This was "This I Believe." Speakers: X White, ?? (poem on confusion, love, zen etc.); ?? (on dealing with father-daughter incest, and on not coming to terms with her father); A.W. on learning from mental illness. Amber M. accompanied (very nicely). Afternoon: wrote again. Also picked serviceberries after dinner with E; started drying these in the new dryer.
Sat June 27
Our anniversary. Shelled peas in the morning. E biked with Jeri to Brekke's with trailers; each of them picked up two bales of hay. We'll use those in our 4th of July bike-trailer parade. Afternoon: did a little writing. At 4:30, went to Rex's and Liz's party. On the way home, just before 6, stopped at Jax. E picked out some shorts. I bought Nike 5-fingers shoes, and tried running home with them (well, from North Dakota Ave.) That went very well: they are thin enough to force forefoot landings, but offer protection against pebbles, sticks, glass. Running through clover, the flowerheads get stuck between the toes : )) At the entrance to Brookside, I took the shoes off and ran through the park barefoot. I think the total was 4-5 miles, which is quite a lot for me. Only casualty was a blister on the outside of my right little toe; seems there are seams there.
Fri June 26
Called Dan N. to ask about HTGS statistics. He said Fisher's Exact Test is good, and so is binomial. The problem with the Z test is the behavior at the asymtotes of the distribution; it doesn't handle cases well in which one sample is zero or both samples are small.
Evening: went to the farm. Pulled all the peas (filled the back of the car). Planted sprouted Kamut.
Arrived today: the Excalibur food dryer. Pretty excited about that.
Thur June 25
Was up at 4:20 am and at work by 5.
Many email exchanges with M., with Scott J CC'd, on authorship and the 454 data. Testy and discouraging. M. would like the 454 data removed from the annotations. This seems petty, small, ungenerous to me.
Evening: worked profitably on the comparative review, then went for a barefoot run through the park (back and fourth one lap through Brookside, and around. Fireflies are out in abundance.
Also met new neighbors: Lori, Noah, David
Mon June 22
Ran barefoot around the park loop. Fireflies are out. Frogs. Coming home from service yesterday, stopped by my field. Watched a doe and her two spotted fawns. Wildlife earlier this year: big snapping turtle (shell probably 18 inches long, and a tail maybe 9 inches long); a very young fawn; an owl who watched us over her shoulder -- head cranked all the way around.
Sun June 21 Solstice. Went to service. Brian did a nice job leading a directed meditation, with the focus on "light." Also, I placed a placcard by my symbolic garden there: the sunflowers, beans, and tomatoes (these are in a visible spot, near where people walk from the parking lot). The placcard says:
"During World War II, nearly 20 million Americans (a sixth of the population) planted "Victory Gardens". These gardens produced up to 40 percent of all the vegetable produce consumed nationally (Wikipedia). This little UU garden of beans, corn, and tomatoes (all crops that were domesticated in the Americas by indigenous peoples) is symbolic of the gardens, large and small, that people in our Fellowship and around the world are growing out of concern for the environment, and for the pleasure of growing food that is alive, nourishing, and beautiful."
Afternoon: dropped "One River" off at Feeleys'.
Evening: went to a solstice party at Michael and Terry's farm. A beautiful spot on the Des Moines river. Nice group of people too. Talked with Stan, Bethany. Marke gave us a tour of the house, the barn with pigs and chickens, the garden.
Sat June 20
Afternoon: went to the student organic farm. Picked a few peas (they're just starting to ripen), and righted the fencing for one of the rows. We've had heavy rains in the last week, so the ground is soft and the vines are heavy. Also picked a bowl of strawberries, and weeded as we went. Thought (one I have often these days): there is a place for efficiency, but for growing food for one's self and family, efficiency isn't the primary goal. The activity is, itself, so pleasurable, why try to shorten the time in the activity. Evening: went to Sue's farewell party. Sad to see her go (to Maine, to be a "local foods coordinator" for a nonprofit farming cooperative). But it's a good position for her.
Fri June 12
Wendell Berry, The Gift of Good Land: "The most necessary thing in agriculture ... is not to invent new technologies or methods, not to achieve 'breakthroughs,' but to determine what tools and methods are appropriate to specific people, places, and needs, and to apply them correctly. Application (which the heroic approach ignores) is the crux, because no two farms or farmers are alike; no two fields are alike. Just the changing shape or topography of the land makes for differences of the most formidable kind. Abstractions never cross these boundaries without either ceasing to be abstractions or doing damage ... The bigger and more expensive, the more heroic they are, the harder they are to apply considerately and conservingly." (quoted by Paul Nabhan in "Enduring Seeds", p. 69)
Wed June 3
- tk: importance not of maximizing personal productivity and efficiency (measured as output), but of getting the activities right. Gardening is not highly efficient, but is "living well".
- tk: gardening as a model of activity: a set of well-defined small tasks (planting, weeding, watering, mulching, etc.), and conditions set to go efficiently from task to task. Weeding: when you see a weed, pull it. Weeding email?
- tk: a problem with the weeding and gardening metaphors: at a computer, with a browser at hand, distractions take precedence over the next legitimate task.
Tue June 2
- responded to N.G. (M-S M lab)
- worked on 454 paper
- talked with Greg; will get budget on the 3rd
- evening: worked at the SOFarm. Weeded our bed, and thistles from strawberries.
Mon June 1
Returned from Mpls Sat night. Sunday: "flower communion", and put pots on UU grounds (sunflowers, runner beans, tomatoes);
then lunch with the Le-s, then potted up ~55 chestnuts and hazels
Evening: biked w/E to drop check to Laura M; saw Matt's garden. Used the trailer and bins to picke up wood chips by cemetery; spread these, put row cover over squashes and brassicas, and weeded.
June 2009
Mon June 29
Progress on the fruit drying: the jicama, peas, and strawberries are dry, but most of the serviceberries aren't. I guess the skins are protecting are serving their intended purposes. So I squished the berries a little and put them back in for a few more hours.
tk: A thought while doing this drying, and also while eating bulgur yesterday, and shelling peas Saturday: we did all these things in Utah. Remembering shelling peas with Grandma C, in the shade of the apple tree overlooking the west garden. I do admire the industry and earnestness and good will and community of that pioneer culture. It isn't so different from the agricultural roots of people we are getting to know in Iowa.
tk: I'd like to spend less time surfing. See if I can sit down and immediately engage in work, rather than easing into it by first doing 5 or 10 minutes of surfing. Also, I'd like to try cutting out the glass of evening wine. It's bad for the teeth (acidic), and it doesn't really help me be more productive. Honestly, I seldom get any work done after about 8 pm anyway.
Sun June 28
Weeded in the am. E and J went to the Slater trail.
I weeded for an hour and a half, then went to the 10 am service. This was "This I Believe." Speakers: X White, ?? (poem on confusion, love, zen etc.); ?? (on dealing with father-daughter incest, and on not coming to terms with her father); A.W. on learning from mental illness. Amber M. accompanied (very nicely). Afternoon: wrote again. Also picked serviceberries after dinner with E; started drying these in the new dryer.
Sat June 27
Our anniversary. Shelled peas in the morning. E biked with Jeri to Brekke's with trailers; each of them picked up two bales of hay. We'll use those in our 4th of July bike-trailer parade. Afternoon: did a little writing. At 4:30, went to Rex's and Liz's party. On the way home, just before 6, stopped at Jax. E picked out some shorts. I bought Nike 5-fingers shoes, and tried running home with them (well, from North Dakota Ave.) That went very well: they are thin enough to force forefoot landings, but offer protection against pebbles, sticks, glass. Running through clover, the flowerheads get stuck between the toes : )) At the entrance to Brookside, I took the shoes off and ran through the park barefoot. I think the total was 4-5 miles, which is quite a lot for me. Only casualty was a blister on the outside of my right little toe; seems there are seams there.
Fri June 26
Called Dan N. to ask about HTGS statistics. He said Fisher's Exact Test is good, and so is binomial. The problem with the Z test is the behavior at the asymtotes of the distribution; it doesn't handle cases well in which one sample is zero or both samples are small.
Evening: went to the farm. Pulled all the peas (filled the back of the car). Planted sprouted Kamut.
Arrived today: the Excalibur food dryer. Pretty excited about that.
Thur June 25
Was up at 4:20 am and at work by 5.
Many email exchanges with M., with Scott J CC'd, on authorship and the 454 data. Testy and discouraging. M. would like the 454 data removed from the annotations. This seems petty, small, ungenerous to me.
Evening: worked profitably on the comparative review, then went for a barefoot run through the park (back and fourth one lap through Brookside, and around. Fireflies are out in abundance.
Also met new neighbors: Lori, Noah, David
Mon June 22
Ran barefoot around the park loop. Fireflies are out. Frogs. Coming home from service yesterday, stopped by my field. Watched a doe and her two spotted fawns. Wildlife earlier this year: big snapping turtle (shell probably 18 inches long, and a tail maybe 9 inches long); a very young fawn; an owl who watched us over her shoulder -- head cranked all the way around.
Sun June 21 Solstice. Went to service. Brian did a nice job leading a directed meditation, with the focus on "light." Also, I placed a placcard by my symbolic garden there: the sunflowers, beans, and tomatoes (these are in a visible spot, near where people walk from the parking lot). The placcard says:
"During World War II, nearly 20 million Americans (a sixth of the population) planted "Victory Gardens". These gardens produced up to 40 percent of all the vegetable produce consumed nationally (Wikipedia). This little UU garden of beans, corn, and tomatoes (all crops that were domesticated in the Americas by indigenous peoples) is symbolic of the gardens, large and small, that people in our Fellowship and around the world are growing out of concern for the environment, and for the pleasure of growing food that is alive, nourishing, and beautiful."
Afternoon: dropped "One River" off at Feeleys'.
Evening: went to a solstice party at Michael and Terry's farm. A beautiful spot on the Des Moines river. Nice group of people too. Talked with Stan, Bethany. Marke gave us a tour of the house, the barn with pigs and chickens, the garden.
Sat June 20
Afternoon: went to the student organic farm. Picked a few peas (they're just starting to ripen), and righted the fencing for one of the rows. We've had heavy rains in the last week, so the ground is soft and the vines are heavy. Also picked a bowl of strawberries, and weeded as we went. Thought (one I have often these days): there is a place for efficiency, but for growing food for one's self and family, efficiency isn't the primary goal. The activity is, itself, so pleasurable, why try to shorten the time in the activity. Evening: went to Sue's farewell party. Sad to see her go (to Maine, to be a "local foods coordinator" for a nonprofit farming cooperative). But it's a good position for her.
Fri June 12
Wendell Berry, The Gift of Good Land: "The most necessary thing in agriculture ... is not to invent new technologies or methods, not to achieve 'breakthroughs,' but to determine what tools and methods are appropriate to specific people, places, and needs, and to apply them correctly. Application (which the heroic approach ignores) is the crux, because no two farms or farmers are alike; no two fields are alike. Just the changing shape or topography of the land makes for differences of the most formidable kind. Abstractions never cross these boundaries without either ceasing to be abstractions or doing damage ... The bigger and more expensive, the more heroic they are, the harder they are to apply considerately and conservingly." (quoted by Paul Nabhan in "Enduring Seeds", p. 69)
Wed June 3
- tk: importance not of maximizing personal productivity and efficiency (measured as output), but of getting the activities right. Gardening is not highly efficient, but is "living well".
- tk: gardening as a model of activity: a set of well-defined small tasks (planting, weeding, watering, mulching, etc.), and conditions set to go efficiently from task to task. Weeding: when you see a weed, pull it. Weeding email?
- tk: a problem with the weeding and gardening metaphors: at a computer, with a browser at hand, distractions take precedence over the next legitimate task.
Tue June 2
- responded to N.G. (M-S M lab)
- worked on 454 paper
- talked with Greg; will get budget on the 3rd
- evening: worked at the SOFarm. Weeded our bed, and thistles from strawberries.
Mon June 1
Returned from Mpls Sat night. Sunday: "flower communion", and put pots on UU grounds (sunflowers, runner beans, tomatoes);
then lunch with the Le-s, then potted up ~55 chestnuts and hazels
Evening: biked w/E to drop check to Laura M; saw Matt's garden. Used the trailer and bins to picke up wood chips by cemetery; spread these, put row cover over squashes and brassicas, and weeded.