green things

Buffalo

2010-07-28T16:02:00.000-07:00

i just added "fix buffalo today" as one of the blogs that i follow. i am 80% sure that i am moving to buffalo, NY some time in the next year. property is super cheap there, and my plan is to be a slum lord. *ahem* i mean, a real estate investor. i say slum lord because that seems to be where you can make the most money. you buy a run down place in a run down neighborhood and then you spruce it up a little and rent it out. do that x5, x10, x50 and you've got an empire feeding you cash every month.

now, don't get me wrong, i fully have plans of making buffalo an awesome town. my properties will focus not just on making money, but on beautifying the neighborhood, and raising property values for the entire community. that's one of the draws for me. i will get to garden like mad!!! can you imagine me with 5 yards to design and maintain?! what a treat!!! and the better my houses look, the more rent i can ask for every month.

now, one real concern i have is that the population in buffalo is decreasing. if no one lives in buffalo, that would be a problem for me. i don't want numerous rental properties that i can't rent or sell. that would be bad for me. not only that, but i'm going to be living in buffalo, and i want to live in a cool place. there are universities there and that draws a large percentage of the population. education and health care. so, basically, students and the doctors that keep them healthy.

i guess taxes are high in the state of new york. that keeps businesses from coming there and all that snow doesn't help much either. it's not like you can ski in buffalo. there's no mountains to speak of, and only crappy skiing about an hour away. so, why come to buffalo? well, housing is cheap. super cheap. and the cost of living is super low. but what are you gonna do for a living once you get there? that's the main deterrent for people, i think. no jobs.

so, buffalo is the amazing shrinking city. check out this blog: fixbuffalo.blogspot.com. the city is going away. it's being reclaimed by nature every which way you turn. so, should we try to stop it? should we try to focus people on settling in the center of town and allow the outskirts to crumble? should we just go with the flow, and adapt to the nature of what is happening?

OR!!!!!!!

should we fight!? should we wage a war on The Nothing, like in the never-ending story?! a war on the shrinkage! we could start all kinds of campaigns to draw people to buffalo. "live cheaply!", "buy a house for under $100K!", "marry someone and settle down in the country!", "start your business here!", "at the foot of niagra falls!" i mean, whatever happened to honeymooning at niagra falls anyway?! there are so many ways this place could be marketed, and its just not happening. i mean, when was the last time you saw a commercial by the buffalo chamber of commerce advertising how great it would be to take a vacation to buffalo? go sailing on lake erie! take a beach vacation without the saltwater!

so, that's my question. fight or flow? what does the future hold for buffalo? and if it is disappearing, will i really make my millions in real estate investment there? we shall see, my friends. we shall see.

and if we let nature reclaim the city, would that be all bad? what unforseen good could come from that?

day ... ???

2010-03-30T10:59:00.000-07:00

ok, so this must be like day 290-something? clearly i have neglected my blog. my original plan was to sell these fancy heirloom melon plants online. yeah, like that was going to happen! i mean, if you wanted to buy a melon plant where would you buy it? home depot. for like $3 bucks. and you could have it in your hot little hand right there that day. my melons were special because they were an award winning heirloom version, but still, how big is my fan-base really gonna be there? not big. or more like non-exsistent. so, it was a nice try! a fun adventure, and i got a little more experience with growing plants from seed from that project. c'est la vie!

there's more to the melon saga. there's a lot of deep complicated back story, but suffice it to say, the day before thanksgiving 2009 i suddenly moved to los angeles from salt lake city. In the process, I abandoned the 9 melon plants that were planted at my now-ex-boyfriend's house. Like I said, it's complicated.

i also left the drip hoses and the automatic sprinkler timer at his house as well. he doesn't garden, but perhaps his housemate will appreciate them.

so! what is next you may ask? well, that is what i am asking myself as well. what is next? well, here i am in california! with, like, a year-long growing season! hooray! that is awesome! i've planted tomatoes from SEED(!) OUTSIDE(!!) in MARCH(!!!), pruned the LEMON TREE in my yard and the MANGO TREE i ordered online just got here last week! i've also found myself searching for a new direction for my career. i'm considering going back to school for horticulture, or even more specifically, viniculture. viniculture is the study of tending grape vines for the purpose of making wine. hell, i'm in california! why not?

going back to school does not sound like a fun prospect. however, the list of classes i'm looking at does sound fun. it sounds interesting to me, and since i will not have to take general education classes, perhaps it will be bearable. who knows! i have no idea what i'm doing with my life. just riding the wave people. just riding the wave!

so, this is my plan A. staying in california and doing something with plants.

then there is plan B. plan B involves following my long lost true love and his ex-wife and 3-year-old child somewhere in the vicinity of buffalo, NY. that's where the ex-wife is from. my long lost true love is an animator and book illustrator. he can find work in new york city, and me, i can find work anywhere! (because i have very very low standards and i am very easy to please when it comes to my career.) now, how new york city would work with a career in plants, i don't know. it would fit very nicely with my musical theatre career, and perhaps i should prepare myself for that possibility, but honestly, right now i'm burnt out. burnt out from it all. all that showbiz crap makes me tired. not only that, but it makes me feel bad about my body. when i am in shows i get kind of crazy about my weight. it's not good. so, if i end up following this new little family that i have made myself a part of to new york state, perhaps i will find myself going through a transformation and self discovery period yet again.

day 29

2009-07-23T18:01:00.000-07:00

day 29. i missed a few days, but a lot has happened in that short time. i planted 6 lambkin melon plants at my boyfriend brian's house. i'm thinking maybe i should take another 3 over and add those to the mounds i created. i mean, where else would i grow them anyways? numbers 21, 2, 4, 22, 11 & 15 are at his house. i also gave number 7 to a co-worker of mine. she's adding it to her garden. i was finally able to plant at my boyfriend's house because i set up a sprinkler timer and soaker hoses over there. it was quite a job to till the soil, remove the rocks and plant and mulch everything, but it looks great now! i'll take some pics & post them tomorrow.

day 26

2009-07-20T08:52:00.000-07:00

actually, i have over-extended myself a little too much this growing season. i wish there were sprinklers watering all of my stuff. and now it is time to harvest some stuff and i don't even have time to do anything with it because i am too busy watering! funny. i think today i will pull up the purple clover. it is almost totally dead. i don't have the gumption to keep hand watering it all season long. and i will harvest all of the lettuce and chard. that will be dinner tonight. there are fresh tomatoes and a pepper at brian's house that need to be eaten. yum! tonight i would like to finish tilling the plot at brian's house too. maybe even get the babies planted! i got drip hoses and a timer so they will be taken care of. i need manure to till into it and the transplant solution from my garden shed. busy garden night!

day 25

2009-07-20T08:35:00.000-07:00

day 25. i will be planting 6 of the lambkin melon plants at my bofriend's house. yesterday, which was day 25 (i am writing this a day late), i cleared the junk out of the side yard where i will be planting them. i pruned the tree that partially shades the area so that you could get in there. there were new little trees growing out of it's roots and into the chain link fence. there is a good chunk of it growing through the fence into the neighbor's yard, but i didn't cut that off just in case they wanted it. plus, it does add a bit of privacy. i am wanting to plant something green that will cover the fence to add even more privacy. green and edible. maybe.

day 24

2009-07-18T13:59:00.000-07:00

day 24. look who came to visit my garden!

day 23

2009-07-18T13:41:00.000-07:00

i've decided that i will give some of these away. i started with my neighbors heather and her son c.j. they took number 23, which i thought was interesting since it is day 23! hmmm... and then i gave number 5 to the other avid gardener in the complex, chelsea. i am going to try to plant between 4 and 6 plants at my boyfriend's house, but i need permission from his roommate (the owner of the house) first. i will have to set up an automatic sprinkler system over there if i do that, because i will not be able to water daily. i think i have the perfect spot, though. it's on the side of his house and there is a water spicket right there. it will get some nice shade which is good, because i think our utah summer sun is pretty harsh and i don't know that they would be able to survive it.

day 22

2009-07-16T17:08:00.000-07:00

day 22. they get wilty when i leave them in the hot afternoon sun. i don't want to do anything to stress them out. i smelled mildew in the box this morning. i think i'll spread them out a little... in the shade.

day 21

2009-07-16T16:56:00.001-07:00

day 21. july 15, 2009.

day 20

2009-07-14T08:28:00.001-07:00

day 20. the babies are getting their second real leaf! i put them in a few hours of afternoon sun yesterday. i will do the same again today.

it seems i have an earwig problem. they have munched the heck out of my blue potato plant and i found 3 of them attacking one of the melon seedlings last night. i am finding that a little beer cup in the garden is helping trap all kinds of bad stuff, cockroaches, earwigs, slugs. and i caught a few earwigs in some rolled up newspaper i tried. i'm going to try that again tonight.

it's funny, i didn't realize that rolled up newspaper could actually gather earwigs. if i had known that before, i might not have put them in paper pots! lesson learned! i still haven't tried that hot pepper solution yet. maybe i'll try that tonight.

day 19

2009-07-13T20:40:00.000-07:00

day 19. i think the big box is retaining water more than the little one. i think i will put some holes in the big one & see if we can get a little better drainage.

day 18

2009-07-12T16:55:00.000-07:00

day 18. click on the picture to your left to see a slideshow of the melon plants. that way you can choose which plant to adopt! $4 each. free shipping in the continental u.s.a. e-mail me at cote_kimberly@hotmail.com to make payment/shipping arrangements.

day 17

2009-07-12T15:58:00.000-07:00

day 17. i moved the seedlings into their paper pots! numbers 1, 3, 6 &19 didn't make it. number 1 was the one that i snapped in half with the greenhouse roof. number 3 was the mutant with the thick stem. number 6 didn't actually have a seed planted in it -- oops! and number 19 just never germinated. i am creating profiles for the rest.

day 16

2009-07-10T16:45:00.000-07:00

day 16. soon i will move the plants into their paper pots. probably tomorrow or sunday. then, i will take a picture of each one for sale and put it in a slide show to the right so you can choose online which plant you want. i am seeing wee little bugs starting to be attracted to the plants. i am going to try a simple hot pepper solution that i read about once to try to keep the bugs away. there is nothing really aggressive-looking, so i think that should take care of it. i posted the plants on ksl.com today. hopefully once i get some better pictures and start making a personal profile for each plant, and they start getting big, then they will start to sell. look at that gorgeous real leaf there! oh, and look what i found for camping: www.ecowareproducts.com.

day 15

2009-07-09T15:43:00.000-07:00

day 15. there is something about new growing things that is nourishing to the soul. babies, seedlings, puppies. i am watching an episode of oprah about this girl who had no human stimulation for the first 6 years of her life. she is severely retarded because of this. they call her a "feral child". stimulation can actually be nourishing for your brain. literally, the brain grows. neurons in your brain grow. connections bond. it makes you wonder how the stimulation we get as adults effects our mental health. i think growing these plants must be good for my brain. i feel their little plant souls singing when they are growing happy and healthy. it makes me feel good.

day 14

2009-07-08T16:27:00.000-07:00

day 14. i have made some newspaper pots. i shall fill them with lovely awesome organic potting soil. i made the pots from pages of the salt lake city weekly 4th of july edition. this one has a picture of my neighbor and friend, nick james. he is an awesome d.j. as well as a hairstylist. this pot features a blurb about him retiring from d.j.-ing. cute.

we have also begun to get a few true leaves on the seedlings! exciting! in a few months we will be eating sweet juicy lambkin melons.

the soil i bought today for the newspaper pots is awesome. it has bird poop and worm trailings in it. real organic treats!

i made the yummiest human treat the other night! tequila-soaked watermelon! it was a martha stewart recipe. damn, i love that ol' girl. she loves her liquor. it's watermelon, soaked in a solution of tequila, triple sec & simple syrup. then you chill it, squeeze limes over it, and sprinkle it with sea salt. yum! and in the same issue of martha stewart she tells you about her favorite brand of sea salt. it's maldon sea salt from england. and it really is delicious, folks. flaky and mild. it's some good stuff.

day 13

2009-07-07T20:13:00.000-07:00

day 13. things are looking good. i think the seedlings are about to need bigger pots. tonight i'm going to try to create some newspaper pots to move them into. i am going to give each seedling a number designation. if the seeds are in a grid and the top left one is number 1; the bottom right one is number 25. number 1 got its baby leaves broken off when i was putzing around with the greenhouse cover last thursday. number 3 looks weird. it has not fully emerged, but the stem that looks like is emerging is really thick. number 6 & 19 have not sprouted at all. the rest are all looking really happy and healthy. well, check back tomorrow to see what kind of fancy oragami i have come up with for pots!

day 12

2009-07-06T21:49:00.000-07:00

sorry for the neglect. i was in the wilderness this weekend peeing in the woods and bathing in a river. it was great! me and my boyfriend went to sun valley, idaho for a camping trip. it was so fun! we experimented with new techniques of campfire cooking, got caught in a wild hail storm and i learned the proper etiquette for what to do when you poop in the woods. so, i guess you are wondering, "what is the proper etiquette when you poop in the woods?" bury it, people. bury it.

luckily, we went into town on a daily basis, so that technique did not get a lot of practice. but at least now you know!

ok, so my new grand business idea is to start a winery somewhere beautiful, with a bed and breakfast. sounds lovely, doesn't it? you just wait, one of these days i'm actually going to follow through with one of these ideas. it's gonna be so great you won't even believe it!

the other idea we came up with was to make burnable utensils for camping. see, you're not supposed to burn plastic. it's bad for the environment or something, but they don't make disposable utensils that aren't plastic. it's a dilemma that will earn someone a million bucks if they can solve it... and mass market it.

until then, i will make a little cash selling these lovely lambkin melon plants online. they are growing up big and strong! make room in your garden for one today!

well, it's been a lovely weekend. hope you all have enjoyed celebrating your independence!

'til tomorrow!

day 8

2009-07-02T16:04:00.001-07:00

day 8. it's raining. which is fine. rain is good. i just don't want my seed tray to flood. plus, the sprouts are taller than the ceiling of the greenhouse now so i've come up with a solution to prop the top open. all but one of the seeds has emerged now.

i am going out of town this weekend, so i will have someone else take a picture of the seeds everyday, but there will probably not be blogs until i get back on monday. not sure where i'm going. i think me and my boyfriend are just going to jump in the car and go whichever direction the wind takes us! woo hoo! happy 4th of july weekend!

day 7

2009-07-01T20:26:00.001-07:00

21 out of 25 seeds have sprouted! the seedlings have nice big round healthy looking leaves. some are still folded into the earth. i think i got good seeds. and i seem to have a good formula for growing them so far.

my only concern is this one in the middle. it looks like it's tips are sunburnt. don't know why.

the pictures look a little different this time because i took them at night. this was the plants' first night time photo shoot. i was doing other stuff after work.

i went to an entrepreneur's seminar tonight. it was interesting. don't tell my boyfriend i went. he's already scared that i will follow one of my crazy dreams and lose the family fortune. what i am hoping for is that i follow one of my crazy dreams and i make the family fortune! anyways, they talked about the importance of branding, marketing, and having a tag line. we'll try the one above for awhile. it seems to fit. i also need to come up with a mission.

really, why am i doing this? well, i am doing this to make a little extra money. i am doing this because growing things fills my soul. i could do it for hours and the time just slips away. i am doing this because i want to be able to afford a housekeeper once a month. i hate cleaning my house--no, i take that back--i hate cleaning, period. she came here yesterday and did my dishes! she did my dishes, people! i don't have a dishwasher, and that is a big deal to me. it was worth every penny. so, yes, i am selling plants so that i don't have to do dishes... in a round-about sort of way.

but that can't be the mission for my company! "to grow and sell healthy beautiful plants so that i don't have to do my own dishes." i feel like it needs to be much more esoteric than that. i'll keep working on it.

day 6

2009-06-30T16:51:00.000-07:00

day 6. more sprouts! 13 total, and they look very happy and healthy. i am so pleased with how this is all turning out! if we keep going at this rate we'll have melons in no time! the package said that they would germinate in 10 to 20 days. so far 50% of the seeds are growing at double that rate.

day 5

2009-06-29T17:11:00.000-07:00

day 5. sprouts! 3 seeds have sprouted! that is way faster than the seed package said they would sprout! way to go seeds!

day 4

2009-06-28T13:38:00.000-07:00

day 4. so, after thinking awhile i realized it would be much easier to just talk to all of the garden club members individually about their own personal gardening issues than it would be to coordinate everyone's schedules for a meeting.

so, i talked to chelsea about getting her plantings into the ground. she's got 2 jobs and a dog. she's a busy girl, so she just hasn't had time to get her plants in the ground. i told her i'd remove the mulch and the weed barrier on sunday. she said she'd buy the soil and manure to till into the bed on monday. i think we will have those plants in the ground by tuesday!

she also gave me a sick mint plant she had. i plucked off all of the spotted leaves and pruned it way back and planted it in a shady spot in our courtyard. i didn't want to plant it near my mint plants if it was sick. i think it will do well there.

today i also talked to heather. heather is a forensic lab tech for the sheriff's office. we call her and her roommate "the witches" because they have halloween decorations up year round. they aren't really witches, they just like to decorate like them. heather bought some beautiful flowers and grasses to plant in the north bed, but she wasn't putting them in the ground. i stopped by this morning to let her know she was free to put those plants in the ground. her concern was that there were no sprinklers to water back there. i told her there were many other garden club members that would be willing to take a day watering until we get the sprinklers fixed back there.

we will even take a day to work on getting them planted as a group. she still seems hesitant, but i am bound and determined to get them planted in the ground! i also gave her a key to the "garden shed." which is really the old elevator shaft that is no longer used. i am hoping she puts her empty pots in there.

and more good news on the garden front! chris, the melon farmer, has taken more than half of his melon seedlings to the park city farmer's market this morning. hopefully they will all sell so that he doesn't have to bring them back to our courtyard for storage!

see, all it takes is a little effort and everything you wish for comes true!

day 3

2009-06-27T14:55:00.000-07:00

day 3. so today, of course, nothing new is happening... except for a little neighborhood drama. i am the queen bee of the caithness condominiums' garden club. i created it this year. the homeowners' association couldn't afford landscaping, and a few of the owners wanted gardens, so i thought to myself, "there's a win-win situation!" and started a garden club with the blessing of our h.o.a.

today one of the residents asked me, "when are those seedlings going to be out of the courtyard?" we have a renter on the garden club that raises heirloom melons and melon seedlings to sell at the park city farmer's market. so, it's not landscaping for the property that he is doing. it's his melon business. honestly, when i saw him put them out there i was a little hesitant as well. but, look at me! i've also started a little melon business, myself! but truly, i can relate to wanting people to get their junky shit out of our public space. it's tough living so close together, but i guess that's what being part of a community is all about - learning how to deal with each other's shit.

so, what are the rules? what is the acceptable time limit for plantings to sit before they are planted in the ground? are plants that are not intended as landscaping for our building welcome here? and if they are, then to what extent? i think these are all questions that need to be addressed by the garden committee and the h.o.a. board and residents. oh, and a realtor just put up a sign in our yard... again. not ok.

so, needless to say, i have moved my melon seedlings to a less conspicuous, more private part of the courtyard, that i feel a little more ownership of... my windowsill. and we will be having a garden club meeting soon. very soon.

day 2

2009-06-26T17:16:00.000-07:00

day 2. nothing has happened yet except for the greenhouse is foggy. i think that's a good sign. i actually tried growing these in a pot earlier in the season, but they failed. i think the soil they were planted in wasn't rich enough. the seed package says that the seeds should germinate in 10-20 days. feels like a long time. come check back then!

day 1

2009-06-25T18:40:00.000-07:00

day 1. it has begun! today i finished planting the seeds for my award winning lambkin melons! i will be selling these online. please contact me if you would like to reserve one. i take cash, money order, credit cards & paypal. $4 each.