Friday, November 19, 2010

Technical Difficulties

Sorry guys, I'm going to be MIA for a bit. I had this horrible virus last week that knocked me out with a 103 fever for five days straight (I'm better now) but now my laptop screen has gone almost entirely kaput. I can only see the things that are in the top 1/3 of the screen. Not very helpful. So I'll be back to report on my knitting and other activities as soon as I can get this bugger figured out. Wish me luck!

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Rekindling the Fiber Love

I've been fiber-inspired recently because I found this hilarious podcast, The Knit Wits. It's a husband and wife team who podcast out of Tennessee and have a wonderful repore with one another. They usually end up talking about lots of things other than knitting, like "what's in your wine glass?" and these pirate stories that the husband, Rick, tells (he's in radio/voice-overs and you can tell by his incredible voice).



So dug into my stash and pulled out a beautiful Malabrigo yarn in fall-type colors and started a cowl. I had to unwind the boring one I started a few months ago to start this new one, the Califon Cowl by Lelah Olender.

I also dropped by Rosie's Yarn Cellar and Loop, two great stores here in Philadelphia to bulk up my staff. I got a great deal on some Koigu yarn in a beautiful seashore color (four skeins for $20!).



I also picked up a simple sock pattern and some yarn to knit my very first socks! Wish me luck, I'll need it.





Oh, and of course I'm on Ravelry where you can see the shameful WIP that I started almost a year ago, the Balthazar Vest.

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Friday, November 5, 2010

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes!


Exciting news everyone!

My garden/farming partner Nic and I have decided to take our partnership one step further and start to brand ourselves and write our own grants with the goal of (sometime in the future) being able to support ourselves on our urban agriculture projects alone!

It's an exciting step, and it's actually a process we started back in August. The first thing we did was talk to our non-profit partners and tell them what our goals and intentions are. UC Green offered to be our fiscal sponsor, which we are incredibly glad and grateful for because we can use their non-profit status to write grants. And we've written two grants since then and been awarded both of them! They are both small community grants (and most of that money goes towards materials for specific projects), but still!

And of course we needed a name and a website to feel legitimate. The name took some brainstorming, and we thought long and hard about it. We came up with "Philly Rooted," and we had our friend make us a logo:



Rad, right?

The website development took a little bit longer, but we finally got it all together: www.phillyrooted.org. Check it out and let me know what you think.

This also means that I will start posting more of my farm and garden posts there, in addition to posting at Farm to Philly. I will try to keep this blog up-to-date with my knitting, making, baking, and thrifting activities. The fall weather (and upcoming "holiday season") has me back into my knitting, which I will post about next week (I just got some beautiful yarn and might even try a pair of socks soon!). I also just found this adorable podcast The Knit Wits, which has got me all fiber inspired again.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Veggies Powering Veggies

IMG_5219

Nic and I delivered the second CSA box to our families in Walnut Hill: Swiss chard, mustard greens, beans, cayenne and habanero hot peppers, green bell peppers and rosemary.



We pulled the warm season crops and sowed cover crop; rye grass in the middle rows and clover in the long side rows, under the fall crops. The farm is looking good!



We also have some exciting news: Nic purchased a veggie truck! It's a small VW truck that is powered by diesel fuel and used veggie oil from nearby businesses. We delivered our boxes in the truck and were really excited to show it off. Veggie oil powering veggie delivery!

Monday, November 1, 2010

Extending the Season




A few weeks ago my friend Sally and I held a cold frame workshop at The Woodlands Community Garden. Sally is a community gardening guru, the person who runs the Garden Tenders program at the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society that I love so much.



A cold frame is like a mini greenhouse that you can use to cover a small part of your garden or place in the grass to start seedlings in. It warms the air and soil underneath it so you can grow crops even in the snow! Of course, you are limited by the height of the cold frame.



I'm using mine to cover the carrot seedlings I have in my plot with the hopes that I can warm the soil enough to get them to a decent harvest-able size before too long. We used aluminum and glass windows that we picked up for free in the trash, and some recycled plastic wood for the sides. The window simply sits on the top of the frame in our design, but you can attach it with a hinge for a fancier version.



Happy gardening!