Hobbies & Things

Berry Interesting

Michael — Sat, 07 May 2011 19:36:44 +0000

The berries are starting to ripen. Some look a bit odd, and those resting on the dirt rotted a bit so I had to do some pruning.

Also, about a week ago I discovered that a half of a white onion that I had in the refrigerator had begun to sprout! So on Nicole D.’s advice, I planted it along with some potting soil. This is the result so far!

Is This Thing On?

Michael — Tue, 03 May 2011 04:21:55 +0000

My strawberries are growing again, along with an onion that unexpectedly sprouted in my refrigerator, and I’m getting the hang of a few recipes. I’m going to try my hand at knot work soon, and I have a photography book … Continue reading →

Berry Curious

Michael — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 00:48:04 +0000

I’ve been watering my plants regularly, and except for a few dead leaves here and there, they seem to be growing well. But they’ve produced not a single berry since the first one. There were a couple other small ones, but they never ripened. I’m not sure what I’m doing wrong.

Plenty of vines, still no berries.

Forays Into Cookery

Michael — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 03:50:22 +0000

I said to my friend Nicole D. tonight that I would like to someday not feel like a clueless college kid when I am wandering the aisles of the local grocery store. To this she suggested that I start reading food blogs and watching the Food Network.

There are no end of food blogs, but I know some of my readers might have some good suggestions. Something with easy, beginner recipes would be ideal, of course.

Help me help myself, my friends.

Ripe For The Pickin’.

Michael — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 18:40:01 +0000

I wasn’t sure whether to wait a bit longer or not for this berry to ripen more, but temptation got the better of me!

It’s okay though… there’s more on the way!

First Blush

Michael — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 00:06:03 +0000

The plants are coming along nicely! They’re well-watered (not too much), get more than enough sun over the day, and there are several berries developing.

Best of all, the biggest strawberry that was already in progress when I brought them home is beginning to ripen! I’m trying to keep the number of berries on each plant around 3 to 4, per some advice I read on this eHow page.

Gotta Start Somewhere

Michael — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 05:00:03 +0000

Hello, internets.

This entry marks the beginning of my attempts to expand my horizons.

Well, okay, that’s not quite true. For a while now I’ve been casually experimenting with things like cooking, hiking, and photography in an effort to engage the world more than I have in the past.

My primary hobby is gaming, mostly of the tabletop variety. Yep. Dungeons & Dragons. Settlers of Catan. That kind of thing. Maybe I’ll even write about that here sometimes, too.

While games are a lot of fun, though, they don’t satisfy the call of the world.

I’ve had a lot of free time on my hands lately, what with being unemployed and all. After a couple discussions with my friends Annie and Nicole D., I’ve decided to explore more of my interests. I asked MetaFilter for suggestions, and got some from Ravelry, too.

I’ve begun with gardening. Specifically, with strawberries. This wound up being a lot more expensive than I originally had in mind (I’m trying to stay on a budget; remember, I’m unemployed.), but I’m hoping it will pay off in delicious smoothies in the future.

A quick trip to Home Depot got me started. It looks good so far!

The full list of things I’ve picked from the suggestions given is thus:

1. Gardening (container)
2. Cooking/baking (+ Breadmaking)
3. Knitting
4. Geocaching (+ Letterboxing)
5. Volunteering
6. Running/hiking/other equipment-lite sport
7. Sketching/drawing
8. Photography
9. Cylcing

I won’t be doing them in that order, necessarily. Some of them may overlap, like they did here with my photos of the plants. Others might never get my attention, depending on how things play out. Guess we’ll have to find out together!