Tomatoes. Bike miles.

Today's tomato harvest. There are at least a couple of handfuls of cherry tomatoes daily. In bowl, Lemon Boy (big yellow), Better Boy (big red), Tomande (medium red) various varieties of Cherry.

Lemon Boy is 15 ounces, 2nd one that size.

Bike miles: Sun=20; Mon=20; Tues=20; Wed=10; Thurs=20, Fri=20 so 110 miles this week. My legs feel rubbery. Time for a little break.

A powerful weed: Tansy Ragwort moved me 2000 miles. Flat tire.

 

It now seems like a previous lifetime, but this is the plant that moved me from Indiana to Oregon in about 1990. Tansy ragwort is an herb that you do not want in your garden - eaten, the toxic alkaloids target the liver, causing fatal hepatic venoocclusive disease. This European weed grows throughout the region west of the Cascades, a nonnative plant that, as shown in this photo, grows even in the oceanside forest at Ecola.

It's a long story. At the time, it was thought that I could bring expertise, by way of my graduate work, that would help prevent toxic effects of these plants on cattle. Life ultimately took other (less carnivorian) turns, but without the presence of this weed and the havoc that it causes to the bovine liver, I might never have seen the Pacific Northwest, let alone moved here.

Flat tire today, at E 89th and Millplain - 8 miles from home. Walked bike to what turned out to be a closed bike shop 10 blocks from there. Took bus home. Interesting diversion. Learned how to attach the bike to the rack on the front of the bus (easy - I always wondered how they do that). One, not-quite-all-there woman on the bus kept staring at me and smiling. All-in-all, not a disaster; plus I'll take the spare (more rugged) bike to work tomorrow (I will not be stopped!). 

Four Herbs: Rosemary, Chinese Chives, Thyme, Rose Geranium

Creeping Rosemary - strongly fragrant, pine - lavender scent. Good in marinade for vegetables.


Chinese Chives - garlic flavor, good in stir fry and Chinese dumplings


Thyme and Rose Geranium - I havent used in food. Bees like the thyme blossoms and it makes a good groundcover. The Rose Geranium has a great herbal scent.



Too tired for any other comments. Bulb catalog came - but are any more needed?
Bike another 9 miles each way, 54 miles so far this week. It's not the bike that makes me tired, it's the stress of the workday. 208# BP 139/86 HR 65

Epiphyllum oxypetallum "night blooming cereus"

The blossoms opened completely at 11 pm. Fragrant, amazing to look at. By 5 am they were nearly closed, now fully closed.

I did try to pollinate 2 of the blossoms. Curious to see if they make fruit.

Vitals:
Bike to work. Today, 9 miles each way (same as yesterday).
Wt 209. BP 128/87. HR 76

Tan Hua Kai Lei: Night Blooming Cactus Epiphyllum oxypetalum

Looks like it will bloom tonight. Auspicious in Taiwan.

Grown from a cutting - a gift from a colleague. This cactus was more or less neglected last winter in a South window. It was moved to a sheltered north & eastern location outside this Summer. More expert instructions are available.

I'll need to get up at various times tonight to see what happens. Photos to be posted tomorrow if the flowers open.

Hard work day. Bike tomorrow.

I cant say much about work in this blog, since this is public. So, I'll just say it was a long day with a lot of stress. Even though it's Saturday.

Tomorrow I'll bike to work. It's not the same location as my usual work. The setting is bike-friendly. This is the bike locker section of the parking deck - Out of the elements, and roomy locker for each bike, with overflow rack (I haven't seen the overflow rack used. There is a locker room with a shower. Traffic is OK - more than the back streets that I usually use, but there is a bike lane.

Off to bed early.

Grapes are starting to ripen. Brown Turkey fig shows promise.

Canadice Grape. Not quite ripe. These are beautiful when they develop the full red color. Grapes make excellent edible landscaping because:

1. They can be grown over a deck or sidewalk, so their 'yard footprint' is small. Grown on an arbor over a deck, they make cool shade and provide a mediterranian feel. Like a vacation in ancient rome.
2. They dont need any fertilizing (In fact, if they are fertilized, they grow too fast and dont have any grapes).
3. They grow very easily.
5. They are good for you, one of the top 10 antioxidant foods.
6. Home-grown grapes taste much better thean the grocery store grapes.



Price Grape. Nice "Grapey" flavor. The first ripe grapes in our yard.



Brown Turkey Fig. These will probably ripen in September.

Tomatoes. Bike. Figs.

Tomatoes are bearing bowl-fulls daily. Lots of cherries, tart & sweet and juicy and tomatoey.

Gave some Cherokee Purple away. This tomato is amazingly good. People love it so much, it's better to share it & see the response, than to eat it. Almost. Well, not really. But it is very fun to see how people respond to these super delicious tomatoes. I love sharing them. LemonBoy, different flavor, more tropical fruit - but still very juicy and very good. Tomande - wow. But that Cherokee Purple is amazing.

Biked another 22 miles today. Constantly hungry. BP 139/84. On bike days (or rather, nights after bike days), I sleep like the dead. It's great. Very few bikes on the road, but last year it seemed like there would only be one or two per day, now maybe a half dozen.

I finished the breba figs. Vancouver Brunswick had only one breba; Ilet it ripen until there was clearly the beggars robe. This fig was sweet as candy; almost maple sugar. Petite negri had about a dozen brebas; also much better when fully ripe (although each looked like a bird had poked one poke in each fig). Main crop: I counted about 30 on Brown Turkey, about 30 on VB, and about 100 on PN. I'll try not to "count them before they hatch" - oops, already counted. Oh, and Marseilles - one fig. But all I want is to get a taste.

Gratuitous Cat Photo. Bike Statistics. Vitals.

Her name is George W Bush. She kills mice. She tolerates poodles. She was homeless and starving. Now she's not.

Today's bike ride, another 22 miles today. I added a mile each way for safer route and more peaceful ride. That's 66 miles so far this week. Lask week was also 66 miles, also, so 132 since starting after the broken rib incident.

Weight this am 209. BP 129/89 HR 78. This compares to January, 239#, 163/105. No meds.

4 Gingko Photos, Vancouver WA