break in the weather

The weather was a little better today. I actually had the chance to uncover the fish pond and add some water. All the fish are there, thank god, they have all survived. It most recently looked like this photo above, taken at our famous Lake Eola downtown. No rain today, and no chance of rain anytime soon. I am hoping we have a better rainy season this summer. We didn't get much rain this past year. We need it or the threat of brush fires grows. That we don't need.

rain barrels, and composters, and compost, oh my!

There is a local organization, Mills50, that is hosting a green fest tomorrow. I really like this area of town. It's very quaint, is walkable with many local businesses and has a unique culture. There is a big asian influence in this part of town. Some of the best peanut sauce you can find anywhere! Anyway, at the greenfest they will be selling composters and rain barrels, and these are exactly the same ones that I bought through work for a charitable organization:

and the prices are even cheaper than what I paid for originally. We're getting there early tomorrow to buy 4 rain barrels. Since we didn't have much rain this summer, we have used up almost all of our water from the barrels. One is empty and the other only half full now. These will come in handy next year during summer, if we don't get any rain over the winter. Sometimes we have a short rainy season in winter. Not as much as the summer downpours, but enough to get us some usable water. Hope to see you there!

Coytown Garden

hot peppers from the garden

We have quite a few hot peppers in our garden. We actually only have 2 large plants, but they produce a LOT of peppers. Needless to say, I give them away to friends. I think Nate likes to plant things to see them grow, because neither one of us eats these things. It's fun to watch them change color, and they seem to go through grow spurts. For awhile there won't be any peppers, then suddenly, we have a bunch on both plants. It's a pretty plant too, as you can tell by the different colors of pepper. I wait until they are very red before picking. They just twist off the vine then. 

I saw an ad the other day for community gardeners wanted. There is a parcel of land that used to belong to the navy base that is being looked at for development of a community garden, Coytown Garden, it's called. I know that a mountain bike park is going to be put in part of that land, but the rest is left open green space, and the city is looking to develop it for next years spring planting. I'll have to ask Nate what he thinks about joining. It's not far from home, and we could learn a lot from being around others that garden. 

The weather has turned COLD here! For us that is. It was very chilly yesterday morning as we went for a motorcycle ride. Thankfully our coats are impermeable to weather like that. I didn't feel a thing. But my legs did. and my hands. I did wear gloves, but these are summer in florida gloves, we aren't used to this weather. It makes for going to yoga not so hot anymore. Which is nice, I don't feel so claustrophobic. I am not complaining about the weather, not at all, it is just a sharp and marked difference from what we just had. No smooth transition from one season to another. Just HOT then COLD. This too shall pass...

Orlandoweekly.com - NEWS+FEATURES: Clucking around

Our local indie paper recently published an article about some rogue residents of Orlando keeping chickens in their backyard. Chickens, mind you, not roosters. Neither one is legal in the city, and the city of St. Cloud, cow town as it has been called, has actually voted to keep a ban in place from 1989 which makes chicken keeping illegal. We have some neighbors that have roosters in their yards as I hear them crowing in the morning. It makes me no never mind, I think it's great, and kind of funny too. But unfortunately there are some stuck up types around that don't think chickens should be kept as pets. This article talks a little differently about that. I think it's time we revisit chicken keeping also. 

Orlandoweekly.com - NEWS+FEATURES: Clucking around

rain, rain, where is the rain?

This is usually our rainy season, through most of the summer, notwithstanding hurricane season. We have not had much rain at all this month, maybe 2 days worth which is very unusual. This can create many problems.

1. We need rain for our garden. (duh)
2. The rain helps to cool the outside temperature. It has been in the 90's, with the heat index of 100's lately. we need the rain for cooling purposes. 
3. The rain helps to stave off brush fires. If we don't get some rain soon, there is a threat of fires. We had a big run in with this about 10 years ago. We didn't get any rain through all of July, and not until August sometime. It caused quite a bit of problems. 

Now needless to say, we don't want so much rain that it floods, or that we get rain from hurricanes, but some rain would be nice. I am hoping the rain gods are listening.