Vines

I keep thinking about how to get more vine plants into the mix. I get these crazy visions of all kinds of supports criss crossed over the back yard. It would be nice to keep things a little formal near the house, but it would be fun to let them get a little more wild as we get further away. I'm just uncertain about just how crazy I can get away with. Some books have made it clear that I need to be mindful that vines can end up being pretty heavy, so flimsy jury-rigged supports are probably not a good idea. Still, one can dream....

I have also been thinking, with all this stuff "up in the air" that I am going to want to pick and prune, how am I to get myself up their for the work. A ladder just seems like such a pedestrian solution. Maybe some kind of climbing rig and pulleys? Stilts? Elven walkways suspended above ground?

Baking wish list

In addition to looking forward to getting back into baking with sourdough, there are a bunch of things I'd like to figure out how to bake:

• flat breads: Pita Bread, wheat tortillas, naan, Injera "Ethiopian sponge bread"
• sopapillas (my family used to make these when I was a kid)
• bear claws
• asiago garlic bread (one of my favorite artisan breads)

Natural calendar

I have been thinking about how to break down the year into parts that are short enough to have similar weather from year to year and across the period, and the breaks along the eight days in the Wheel of the Year (Solstices, equinoxes, and their mid-points). I am leaning towards 16-divisions of about 3 weeks each:

6/21 Summer Solstice

3 weeks

7/11 Mid-early Summer

3 weeks

8/ 1 Mid Summer (Lughnasadh)

3 weeks

8/21 Mid-late Summer

3 weeks

9/23 Autumnal Equinox

3 weeks

10/12 Mid-early Fall

3 weeks

10/31 Halloween

3 weeks

11/20 Mid-late Fall

3 weeks

12/21 Winter Solstice

3 weeks

1/11 Mid-early Winter

3 weeks

2/ 2 Groundhog Day

3 weeks

2/25 Mid-late Winter (Gas Tax Day)

3 weeks

3/20 Vernal Equinox

3 weeks

4/10 Mid-early Spring (William of Ockham Day)

3 weeks

5/ 1 Beltane

3.5 weeks

5/25 Mid-late Spring (Towel Day)

3.5 weeks

6/21 Summer Solstice

Not really sure what to call the mid-mid-points.

Some of the dates are fudged (e.g., Beltane) a little to match cultural traditional dates rather than the astronomically derived date. I'm more interested in fostering some cultural resonances than being a slave to accuracy.

I think this will be useful for organizing garden tasks, planting dates, gathering statistics, grouping journal entries, seasonal menu planning, managing and planning around solar access, etc.