Chicken fence! and vegetable garden

This weekend we built a fence around the raised vegetable planting beds to keep the chickens out.

You may remember that initially we got the chickens to kill grasshoppers and other garden pests.  They did a wonderful job of this - but eventually they figured out that they could eat the vegetables themselves.  Last winter they devoured all of my lettuce in one afternoon.

So Dev and I built a chicken-proof fence around the vegetables: the CEZ (Chicken Exclusion Zone).  To be fair, Dev did all of the building, but I designed the fence and also dug the 24-inch-deep post holes, which was no easy task.

With the fence up, I rushed to fill the beds with new vegetables (after first refreshing the soil with manure, compost, and fertilizer).  Since we're getting a late start this year, I grew some plants from seedlings and others from seeds I'd already ordered.

My garden notebook, where I take notes with a level of detail too excruciating even for this blog

This summer we have:

Tomatoes (Better Boy, Early Girl, Beefmaster, Celebrity, Roma, Cherry, Sungold, and Kellogg's Breakfast)
Carrots (Imperator and Nantes)
Beans (Beurre de Rocquencourt and Missouri Wonder)
Beets (Bull's Blood)
Zucchini (Golden, Black Beauty)
Crookneck squash
Butternut squash
Pumpkins (Connecticut Field and Jack of All Trades)
Bell Peppers
Shishito Peppers
Eggplant (Black Beauty, Ping Tung, and Japanese Long)

Crookneck squash

 

Hopefully I can make up for the late start and get some good produce this summer. I admit, my heart is set on finally growing pumpkins this year (this will be my third try).

Bonus picture of my herbs on the front porch - I love that rosemary tree:

Yet Another Backyard Preview

We have a concrete pad in the southwest corner of our backyard, the remaining foundation of an old rusty shed we tore out last year.  I wanted to break up the concrete pad and plant things where it had been but Dev was set on keeping it because it's a useful place for him to do certain projects (like when he turned it into an impromptu painting booth).  Plus we might put a hot tub on it someday.

 

So I added a hammock, some rugs, lanterns, candles, and container plants.  That weird wicker peacock chair was a free curbside find.

We also pruned the large camellia back considerably, making it more a tree and less of a hedge, and cleaned up bags and bags of dead leaves, old bricks, and other junk.  I also added a little brick footpath similar to the one under the orange tree.

On the back pad itself we added lots of potted plants, including jasmine and ivy to cover the harsh cinderblock, plus mandevilla, sweet potato vine, and a small potted fruit tree.

Between the "children's garden" and the new hammock area is mostly a dead space so we moved the children's sandbox and water table over to this shady spot.  This keeps them out of the sun while also keeping the sand off our patio.  We also moved the chicken coop over, freeing up access to the storage area behind the garage.

Now I'm working on creating a new flower bed in this area, but I've had a hard time finding things that work - the area is dry and hot, but also shady, and the soil isn't great, though I'm working on amending it. 

As for Project Backyard - there's still tons to do, including expanding our existing drip irrigation system and installing sprinklers, lots more landscaping, better outdoor lighting, and of course the installation of the back room/brick pad, among other things.

Beatrice and Arthur's (Belated) Birthday Party

 
We finally had a party for Beatrice and Arthur! A parade party, in fact, inspired by Beatrice's love of parades.

 

We started the afternoon off with some pre-parade crafts, including decorating megaphones and pennants.   

 

The "lead float"


 

 

Amelia's flag

 

 

 

Then at five o' clock we set off on our parade - following a pre-decorated route that lead to the little neighborhood park a few blocks from our house.

 

 

 

Signs along the parade route

Relaxing in the park before heading home for dinner

 As a party favor, all the kids got ribbon sticks they could also use in the parade.

Then we all paraded back to our house for dinner (tacos from Vallarta) and for dessert, a make-your-own sundae bar.

  



Arthur and Callan chatting over ice cream

Best of all, my parents were able to join us for the party - as well as helping to set up and clean up, of course.



Opening presents after the last guest left

I feel like we've been celebrating birthdays non-stop for the last month -  So now, happy birthday to everyone, and no more birthdays until the fall...

Coming soon

This December, another baby...

The Literary Stage at the PEN Center Jubilee

What is that? PEN Center USA presents The Literary Stage at the Jubilee Music and Arts Festival here in L.A. and Hot Dish will be there as Hot Dish A La Carte!

So really, what does that mean? It means I'll be reading tomorrow night at 8pm with J. Ryan Stradal, Rico Gagliano, Nikki Darling, and Anthony Miller - plus two more wonderful literary line-ups on Friday night and three more on Saturday night.

Get all the information here.

Texas Trip 2013

  

We just got back from almost two weeks away in Texas.  We did so many things and took so many pictures it's hard to know where to begin, but here are some highlights.

First we flew into Dallas and spent a few days relaxing with Suzan, Naresh, and Mamo.  We swam in the pool, had some great meals, and went to the new Dallas Perot Museum of Nature and Science.

Arthur reads from the Ramayana.

Then all six of us drove to Austin to catch up with Mina, James, Maureen, Paul, Rosemary, Louis, Travis - and their new dog, Sophie.

On the road to Austin

Unfortunately, Beatrice is going through a fearful phase where she's scared of everything, including hiking, swimming, and boating - she was even afraid of making smores - so all of our activities took a tremendous amount of coaxing. Here we are hiking "The Taco Trail" from Mina's house to amazing breakfast tacos at Tacodeli.

Psyching Beatrice up to wade across the stream

Arthur did not need to be psyched up.

Sophie!

It isn't easy to get ten people smiling at the same time.

After a few days in Austin we loaded up again and drove to this beautiful house on the Llano River in the Texas hill country.  There we spent a lot of time swimming in the river, sitting by the fire, and eating.

Travis by the riverside

 

James and Louis relaxing

A little unsure about swimming in the river

Arthur's favorite activity was throwing rocks in the river.

Mina takes the kids on a nature hike.

 

Floating Travis

During our time in Llano we also scaled Enchanted Rock, described by the Texas Parks and Wildlife website as "a huge, pink granite boulder that rises 425 feet above ground." Beatrice was terrified and crying the whole way up - I had to carry her for long stretches - but as soon as she got to the peak she was so, so proud - she's been telling everyone back in L.A. that she climbed an "enchanted mountain."

Photo from Texas Parks and Wildlife (because I forgot to take a photo from the bottom)

It was very windy up there.

B wasn't so sure about smiling.

View from the top

Wildflowers on the rock face

 

We saw a tremendous number of animals on this trip, including deer, rabbits, raccoons, armadillo, lizards, turtles, snakes, crayfish, hawks, vultures, owls, tarantulas, and many more fish, birds, and insects.  Dev and Paul even encountered a six-foot-long swimming snake in the river.

 

Back in Austin, we also visited our friend Jascha's family farm where we met his chickens, ducks, goats, sheep, donkey, and horses.  I asked Jascha's father a barrage of questions about running an organic and humane farm, and Louis got to ride a tractor.

Petting goats

Louis goes for a tractor ride.

Suzan and Naresh got some great photos of us all swimming in the river and some good family group shots, I'll post them soon.  We also took a wonderful glass-bottom boat ride, though it didn't photograph very well.

The highlight of Arthur's trip was eating.  His new favorite foods are barbecue ribs and queso.  He also ate four hot dogs at dinner one night - which makes sense considering how incredibly busy and active he was all day, every day.  I think this trip was the most fun he's ever had.

On our last night in Austin we took the kids to the beautiful riverside lawn of the Four Seasons to roll down the grassy hill and wait to see the nightly procession of bats.  Beatrice even seemed to recover a little of her bravery and joined in the rolling.

 

 

I was so happy to see how well all four kids got along on this trip - Rosemary and Beatrice have developed their own relationship, and Rosemary also adopted Arthur as her special charge on this trip, making it her job to see that he was always safe and happy.  Even Louis, who can be shy, told Mina that he hoped Dev and Arthur would stay in Austin forever.

Leaving Texas devastated poor Beatrice (in fact, she tried to hide in Mina and James' house so she wouldn't have to go home) and she still asks when she'll see Nana, Nani, and her aunts, uncle, and cousins again.  Until then, at least we have some wonderful memories - and about 500 photos...