corn chronicles

Corn Chronicles! Friday Update!

First – the corn. I was concerned for a while during the past week, because the corn children were starting to look like a bunch of unwashed hippy women who don’t share their ‘pits, but things are starting to work themselves out, and instead of just silk protruding, there are actual ears of corn showing now!

Ulysses is still the the tallest, although Carrie & Amy are right up there, too!

The tallest corns are too tall for me to measure accurately anymore, but I think they’re right around 7 feet tall now – about 14-15 inches taller than last week! They are still growing!

James is tasseling, finally, but still not growing very tall. He is 40 inches now – which is 9″ more than last week, so maybe I shouldn’t criticize!

The corns are getting all crazy, starting to have ‘real relationships’ and are less moody than before. Many of them are filling out college applications, although a couple are eying trade school instead, and a couple (Kelly & Meredith, notably) have talked about moving to Hollywood to become film stars. Although that isn’t the path I would’ve chosen for them, I certainly don’t want to squash their dreams!

ha ha ha – see what I did there? squash? ha? I slay me!

In other garden news, we’ve been eating well: green beans, zucchini, summer squash, onions, garlic, potatoes and one pepper.

The black beans are nearly ready for harvest – which is pretty exciting! The broccoli is done for now, I think, but I’m getting ready to plant for fall harvest soon, and may put in some more.

We have a lot of tomatoes. I am so excited!

There are also quite a few pumpkins & squashes! Including this monster:

The mustard is just starting to go to seed – which is great. I need to get a mortar & pestle so that I can grind the seeds up!

I have such grand plans for next year – I can hardly wait Here are some more pictures of this year’s though!

And now for my Friday workout report (I know that’s the most interesting EVER, right?)

So – I got going pretty early this morning and was proud of myself! I left home shortly after 8 and hit the pool. I swam 1200 yds, but wasn’t paying attention to time today. I wasn’t going hard at all, since I am planning an open water swim tomorrow with her & her.

After I finished up at the pool, I struggled into my running gear (it takes forever to wrangle a couple of sports bras when I’m still damp from the pool) and headed out to the trails.

I had a 7.4 mile loop planned. I started up Saltzman from the gate, and turned right on Maple Trail. After a while, Maple runs into Leif Erickson, and I ran back to Saltzman from there, and then turned right on Saltzman again & ran up to Wildwood. I went left on Wildwood for about 3 miles or so to the Maple Trail connector, and then Maple Trail down to Leif Erickson again. I was supposed to continue on Maple back to Saltzman & then back to the car, but I just couldn’t do it! The trails were super webby today, and I was about 3 spiders away from a meltdown. I turned and ran back on Leif Erickson to Saltzman & back to my car.

Total miles: 8.7

Total time: 1:45 (12 minute miles, more or less…as per usual)

And – to the spiders of Forest Park. I am sincerely sorry about destroying 8 million homes and pantries today. I am sorry for the death of a couple dozen of your family members, and I regret taking some of your dinners. however, might I suggest not building homes, pantries, etc. across the trails? I’m sure they’re great places to hang out, catch food, shoot the shit, etc., but no one will believe your “the one that got away” story anyway, and I don’t like washing you out of my hair when I get home. THANKS so much.

Ahem….tomorrow I am garage saling with my kick-ass neighbor, and then hitting Blue Lake for my swim and a bike.

I also have a shit-ton of homework to do this weekend, so will spend the rest of the day on that.

Sunday I’m doing my long run in Beaverton – 14 miles. It will be my longest intentional mileage ever (JM & I did end up doing 15 a few months ago, but that was an accident…)

In about an hour, I’ll be at Laurelwood for my Brew Review – hope to see you there!

AND – don’t forget. Wednesday July 22 – yoga in the park! North Park Blocks by the elephants – 6:30 PM!

Corn Chronicles + Updates

Jul 9th, 2009

by gazelle.

15 comments

First – the corn! Because I know Carrie checks here over & over on Thursdays until she finds out how her little Carrie Corn is doing.

Needless to say, we definitely achieved ‘knee-high by the 4th of July.’

James Corn is 31″ tall. That is only a 2″ growth. My father has now resorted to threatening his little corn namesake with violence & divine retribution, which is exactly what he did to me when I was young, and you can see how well that worked (I am 5’2″ but at least I do have two ears).

Carrie Corn is 68″ tall. That is an 8″ growth from last week. She is tasseling nicely. However, she has been surpassed. She is still the second tallest, but Ullyses has finally out-grown her. It’s a close race – he is 70″ tall, so there’s no telling who will be the tallest at the end (Amy corn might still get there – she’s been neck & neck with Carrie Corn since the beginning).

Many of the corns are tasseling, and most of them have the beginnings of ears showing. They are at their most vulnerable now, so we are taking very good care of them. We have a pretty high level of nitrogen in the soil, so I don’t need to add extra fertilizer, but we are watering them. They’re all ready to get their drivers’ licenses now, which as you can imagine, it’s a little nerve-wracking for me!

The rest of the garden is doing well. We’re beginning to enjoy the fruits of our labor – summer squashes & zucchinis & potatoes. The broccoli is very nearly finished – we pulled up half the plants last night, and our last bean crop needs to be picked, too. I’m finally seeing cucumbers in there, and my pumpkins are getting pretty big!

The flowers are so beautiful right now – wish I’d remember to photograph them for you. Maybe next week!

And, for the rest of my week:

Tuesday I didn’t work. I did a 3-mile recovery run, my first run since the half. I meant to go at a slow pace & just work out the kinks & last bits of muscle soreness.

I looked down at mile 1 – 10:02. “Slow it down, Amy,” I thought to myself. “That is not a recovery pace.” (I was thinking more like 10:40 or so.

Mile 2 – 9:44. “Hmmm….that is not what I was aiming for, but I feel good. Not sore or winded or like I’m working really hard. But still, I should slow it down for my last mile.”

Mile 3 – 9:36

Yeah…..that slowing it down thing isn’t quite working for me, is it? But, I felt great after. No stiffness or soreness, and I wasn’t even too winded. I feel like I’m finally getting somewhere! All this running & hills & speedwork – it actually works! And the cross-training & weight-lifting? Seems to be helping! Who knew? (Oh wait – everyone knew that? Dammit! I thought I was on to something revolutionary.)

All that being said, this has been a pretty wussy week. I took Monday off because my quads were very, very angry, as was my whole body. I had weird feelings all day Sunday & Monday. I kept getting leg cramps & feeling like I was seriously deficient nutritionally.

Tuesday I did run. And then I ate at Taco Bell. And then, I may have gone to a concert.

Although my friend & I were ridiculously disappointed in our lack of hangovers Wednesday morning, we had no one to blame but the $9 drinks at the arena (that you couldn’t even drink at your seat! And for $9, they really should have been served in crystal & come with a shirtless masseuse named Enrique or something.)

I still didn’t get my bike & swim in yesterday because I am lazy! Home by noon. Nothing to do. Didn’t over indulge the night before. Just lazy. The architect & I did go for a walk last night, though. That was nice.

And today, I skipped my planned am run, because I suddenly realized that I have a planned trail run tomorrow and a long run on Saturday, and I have rules about running three days in a row (rules handed down from my physical therapist). So tonight is yoga (yay! I missed yoga) and then swim/run tomorrow. Run Saturday & swim/bike on Sunday. I’m volunteering at a trail race on Sunday, which is something I’ve never done, so I’m pretty excited!

I think that I always schedule too much the week after a race, and then up not being able to do it all, and then feel like a lazy slacker. I don’t often schedule more than 1 day of recovery, and I’m finding that I need 2-3 days for a half, and will probably need 2-3 TIMES that for the full. How long do you allow for recovery after a half?

The architect & I will be headed out for some camping either the weekend of the 17th or the weekend of the 24th, so whichever weekend we’re home will see the next Brew Review and my first open water swim. SCARY! (the swim, not the beer.)

Also, grad school is a lot of work! Also one of those who knew situations!

So – what about you? What have you been up to?

Amy of the Corn (part 1,986)

Jul 2nd, 2009

by gazelle.

11 comments

Are you guys sick of my corn updates yet?

Ha! Too bad. We have more corn updates (and general garden goodness).

The exponential corn growth is starting to slow down a bit I think.

The good news? I no longer have to wear clothes for these pictures & can now fulfill my dream of naked gardening! ha ha.

Carrie Corn is still the tallest, measuring in at 62″ yesterday (a 7″ growth from last week), and the exact same height as me (according to my driver’s license, anyways).

James Corn is about 29″ tall – 5″ taller than last week. He looks so healthy, but just not as strong as his brothers & sisters. There is a pretty good selection of tall corns, though, so I think I’ll end up with a decent crop.

In fact, there are some exciting things happening in corn world! (I know these pictures are going to embarrass them, but that’s too bad. It’s one of the joys of parenting.)

That is a wee corn tassel starting to poke up out of Carrie Corn! She’s hit puberty and is now changing in ways that made me wish I had a film to show her.

Also, another picture of Carrie Corn:

It may be hard to see, but I promise you that there is the very, very beginning of a tiny ear of corn there. My baby’s growing up! *sniff*

Other corns are starting to tassel as well, but Carrie is the only one with a baby corn ear place.

And for the rest of the garden:

conjoined pumpkin twins

a few of the nearly 3 dozen visible tomatoes

baby jalapeño

Baby cayenne peppers

And, just in case you wonder why I bother with all this gardening stuff:

The green beans, the broccoli, the potatoes, the parsley & the onions on the burger all came from my garden. The architect makes all our bread usually, but this is a leftover bun from our party. Soon, the peppers & tomatoes will also be from the garden. And I really have made cheese in the past, and am definitely going to give it another go again soon. However, I don’t think I will be slaughtering my own bison any time soon, so the meat will have to continue to come from the market!

This was a delicious meal – one of the all-time best (although not sure if it beats last summer’s best lunch ever – photo at the bottom of the page).

Corn Chronicles (Part V, I think)

Jun 18th, 2009

by gazelle.

11 comments

Last night, I almost forgot to take pictures & measurements, thus risking disappointing my dad multitudes of readers.

With no further ado:

Carrie corn is still the leader, although it gets harder & harder to tell who’s the tallest. This week, she measured 35″, which is an 11″ growth spurt from last week! James Corn is 20″, an 8″ growth spurt. Last night, I sat them all down & had “the talk” with them, and let them know that they can always come to me with any questions. It won’t be long now until they reach sexual maturity – probably in the next month-6 weeks, and if they aren’t prepared for all that silking, things could get out of control.

I’m pretty busy today, so no more words! Just photos:

Corn Chronicles & Garden Update

Jun 4th, 2009

by gazelle.

11 comments

But first – just wanted to update you. So far, no spider encounters today. (I didn’t go out the back door today, where they have been building their webs to catch me!)

And now – onto the corn.

The corn, as you can see, is well on its way to being knee-high by the fourth of July!

Even James Corn, who went through a rough patch for a few weeks has rebounded. He is not as tall as Carrie Corn, but he is doing better. It’s possible that the pep talk from my father (for whom James Corn is named) helped.

Carrie Corn - 18"

James Corn is 7" Tall

The rest of the garden is looking pretty good, too. I could definitely use some rain, though (and for you rain haters out there, I’m just letting you know now – if we have no rain, there is no garden, and then you get no free produce – six months of no rain would be very, very bad indeed). My rain barrels are getting LOW, and have hardly enough pressure to fill up my water can anymore.

BUT – without further ado – the rest of the garden.