jane’s (and also mine by default) new blog

Jane started a new blog documenting our life in Long Beach, CA. Of course, the blog won’t end when we leave the LBC, which will likely be sooner than later, but it’s all southern California so far. It’s also way cooler than mine already. Hope you enjoy…

http://timheartjane.blogspot.com/

Turkey melt and tomato salad

Don’t hate…Propagate

Propagate (verb)

• breed specimens of (a plant, animal, etc.) by natural processes from the parent stock

Plants are amazingly resilient.  I’ve recently learned how to propagate some of my plants, including a “money” plant, snake plant, papyrus, and a purple-leaf plant that blooms with tiny pink flowers (anybody know the name?).  To give credit where credit is due, Jane taught me how to propagate the money and snake plant.  I take all credit for the latter two.

Why it’s great to propagate: Multiply your plants without planting seeds or spending more money!

Exhibit 1 above displays the first of my propagations: the money plant.  You’ll notice that she’s thriving in my dining room; in fact, I have already propagated her TWICE and she is still trying to touch the floor.

How to propagate a money plant:

1) Cut directly above the brown knobs, which will turn into new roots.

2) Place in a jar of water for at least a few weeks: when the roots grow in (as pictured in the lower left picture), they are ready to be planted!

I haven’t planted these new babies yet (it’s been over 2 months).  They seem to love the jar of water, which is fine with me.

Exhibit 2 above displays the purple plant that came from a neighborhood which will remain nameless.  About a month ago, Jane pulled over on the side of the road and plucked this little piece from what seemed like a forest of these purple plants.  You can see that the roots have grown in beautifully.

Finally, Exhibit 3 to the right demonstrates the process of propagating a papyrus plant:

1) Cut about 1 to 2 inches below the top of the leaves.

2) Place the cuttings upsided down into a jar of water.  The roots actually grow from where the leaves originate.

3) Watch the roots grow, and place in soil upside down just as you did in the jar.  The new stems will sprout by the roots and find there way upward.  If you look closesly, you can actually see new stems in the bottom picture.

I propagated this papyrus fewer than 3 weeks ago, and she’s ready for potting.

In conclusion, I say again: don’t hate, propagate!  Indoor plants are great for the air you breathe.  In fact, snake plants and money plants are 2 of the best indoor plants you can buy: they not only create a healthy flow of oxygen, but they also absorb the air toxins caused by building materials.

For more details on good indoor plants, visit:

http://lifehacker.com/5149643/three-plants-that-give-you-better-indoor-air

Happy propagating!

garden salad

I had a nice harvest the other day.  The “Black from Tula” heirloom tomatoes are coming in very nicely, and the lettuce is growing like a weed…so I decided to throw together a little chicken and grilled asparagus salad.  The yellow pear tomatoes were also invited to the salad party.  To dress it, I just squeezed a lemon over the top and added some nice olive oil and crushed black pepper. 

BBQ for…two?

Han came over for dinner so I fired up the grill accordingly: 4 chicken thighs marinated in a sweet mango sauce, 2 steaks, one red onion, mushrooms, asparagus, and a peach to grill for dessert.

We didn’t actually incorporate anything from the garden into this meal, but it wasn’t too disappointing considering the results:

I am a self-proclaimed grilling addict, so if you want to fire it up…you know where to come!

RIP worms

Jane wasn’t content with just one 4ft x 4ft raised bed, so she persuaded (forced) me to make another one with 2ft x 4ft dimensions.  This smaller version I call Junior.  Junior has a special place in our hearts because he is host to a special compost from Jane’s old worm bin.  I say “old” worm bin because it no longer exists.  The worms were flourishing in that bin underneath Jane’s sink: they were eating everything that came there way, they were growing, they were reproducing, the were living what Collective Soul would call a “Dandy Life.”

Until…a day I call “The Day of Judgment.”

There is a band named Cake who sings a song called “Sheep go to heaven, goats go to hell.”  After a tragic incident that involved separating the worms from their life-giving poop, I was forced to ask the dreaded question, “Where do worms go!?!?”  I don’t like to relive the moment when Jane called me sobbing on the phone because the worms were sprawled across her floor, dry and lifeless.  But I just did.

We may never know where those worms went, but I do know where their good ole poop is…and that is, in Junior.  Junior doesn’t have the pretty twine grid that demarcates the cucumbers from the chives and lettuce.  But he’s producing like crazy and I’ve already picked handfuls of lettuce that have been perfect compliments to hamburgers, wraps, and sandwiches.  At this point, I could make a salad for the Brady Bunch.  The cucumbers are on their way to fruition and I just added some chives and parsley.

The worms lived good lives.

And though they died, they left us a little something that fosters life.

Life redeems death.

Let us wrap.

This is what I almost choked on one time in Denver.  My friends Anya and David just smiled as I made the choking signal.  It tasted so good even the second time down…

Jane is going to DC for a month, so we made a special korean-style dinner together: lettuce wraps filled with rice, grilled garlic and onions, top sirloin slices (you know I do it right), and fermented soybean paste (thank you Mrs. Choi).

We got the lettuce from the garden.  You savvy korean food lovers will notice the korean sesame leaf (kken-nip) layered on top of the lettuce–a product of the Choi family garden in Cary, NC.  The onion, not pictured because the slice of beef hogged the photo shoot, was a dandy find at the Durham Farmer’s market last weekend.

2 months later…

Pictured above:

1) the raised bed (2 months old)

2) red bell pepper is too shy to blush

3) “black from tula” heirloom on the verge of ripeness

Sweet.

What would camping be without this???  And all you need is a camp fire, some foil, marshmallows, butter,  and brown sugar for the extra sweet.

They always say, you are what you eat…

Pizza pizza

Jane and I made a pizza with italian sausage, basil, “Powers” House seasoning, and of course—(smile)—extra cheeeeeese.  We also went heavy on the sauce.  We cheated and made the dough out of a Trader Joe’s bag, but next time it’ll be from scratch…including tomato sauce from the garden tomatoes.