Full Throttle

It's catch-up blog post! A quick plug, first of all, to check the updated Flickr set, as it will supply more details of the 'goings-on' around here...
At last, the long awaited Guerrilla Gardening Bike Ride! We had, needless to say, a blast. Pictured here are the seed "bombs" (mixture of clay, compost, and wildflower seeds) that we threw in empty lots all over Knoxville... as well as our youngest (and most enthusiastic) participant- notice the ducking by-standers.
Jacob arrived last Monday night, and immediately got to work building me a proper greywater drainage system. Using 12' of 4" pipe and a ton of wood chips, my kitchen/shower/sink water will get a good filtering before soaking into the ground. It was sweet of him, but really, I think it was just an excuse to use the SkidSteer.
On Thursday we left for the Smokies, taking a round-about route through Gatlinburg, the National Park, the Cherokee Indian reservation, and finally, along 50 breathtaking miles of the Blue Ridge Parkway (southeastern part of the mtns in NC) to Asheville, NC. We kicked around that cute little town (think mini-Portland) for a night, stuffed ourselves with possibly the best BBQ ever, and Skamper'd back to Knoxville to attend a Permaculture/Urban Farming art show. The lovely Brendan demonstrates mushroom log-plugging techniques to the masses.


Vacation over, we plunged full-speed ahead with planting. Chris broke down and hired two Guatemalans (Sebastián y Francisco) to help save our backs. ¡Gracias a Díos! More about those gents as we get to know them better. The speed factor is much appreciated; since Monday we've planted cucumbers, squash, beans, corn, melons, and onions, dug several dozen tomato holes (details to follow, it's quite a process), weeded and mulched the greenhouse, trellised the rest of the peas, and have torn down the front wall (intentionally) of the barn. Did I mention its only Wednesday?
I'll leave you all with several images from my greenhouse photoshoot of last evening. We will make our first lettuce harvest on Friday! And if you've never saved seed from your spinach before (and really, why haven't you?), this is what spinach looks like when it "bolts" and goes to seed. More pictures from the shoot on Flickr, or maybe you'll receive one in your mailbox... If you don't think I have your address and would like handmade postcards, email me!