My Chicago Garden

$1 Shave Club – Review

tyler — Sun, 08 Apr 2012 01:51:02 +0000

Let’s be clear. I’m lazy. And my wife hates when I have stubble…with a passion. So I’m in a very bad situation. Usually I have two different types of shaving equipment in my bathroom. An electric Braun shaver and a Mach 3 Turbo. Most of the time I’m using [...]

Boston Baked Beans Baby

tyler — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 23:41:20 +0000

I have an unhealthy relationship with baked beans. No really. If you want to cause an angry discussion, then argue with me about what are proper baked beans. (sorry, you’re wrong if it involves meat, tomatoes, hot peppers or other abominations)

The best commercial beans on the market are from Bush’s….fact. End of story. [...]

2012 Planning

tyler — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 21:08:54 +0000

I have lots of things to plan for in 2012. All of it is doable, but much of the issue of getting things done always has to do with time slipping away before you can do it. Time is the only thing you can’t get more of, can’t buy more of, can’t trade more [...]

2011 In Review

tyler — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 22:07:32 +0000

I’m not one for new years resolutions, but I do like taking the time to look back on the year and make plans for the future.

2011 Plans – Didn’t Do

Go raspberry picking Go camping at Staved Rock Go on a family trip to the Dakota’s Go blueberry picking in Michigan

Because we [...]

2011 Scotland Trip Report

tyler — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 02:41:40 +0000

In mid/late September we spent 11 days in Scotland seeing the sites and being tourists. We worked with McLean Scotland to put the trip together. They also provided us with a driver (the owner of the company, Paul).

Day 1 [ Arrive at Glasgow ]

I didn’t tell Melissa before we left that I had [...]

Honey Flow Bee Report

tyler — Sat, 23 Jul 2011 22:00:45 +0000

Bee report for July 23rd. The honey flow is in full force and the bees are spending all day socking away as much honey as they can. This year has already out performed last year for me.

Hive #1 is the strongest this year with 2 full honey supers already and probably another [...]

Chicago Highland Games 2011

tyler — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 22:28:02 +0000

It’s back in town and it’s next weekend!!

Friday June 17, 2011 4:00pm to 8:00pm

Saturday June 18, 2011 8:00am to 9:00pm

The Schedule of Events have been published in PDF format. Still not done in a way that makes it easy to figure out what you want to do and when (see previous [...]

Tornado!! Well sorta…a little one

tyler — Fri, 27 May 2011 01:38:52 +0000

Gilbert Sebenste and I went storm chasing yesterday (me driving, him forecasting). We targeted Macomb, IL on the north side of the expected severe weather area. The good stuff was firing by the time we made it down towards Macomb. Gilbert had me reposition us further east after entering Macomb, so we started [...]

CoD Storm Chase 2011 Last Day

tyler — Sun, 08 May 2011 15:32:33 +0000

We wake up in Kansas City, MO for our last day of CoD Trip 1. It holds the best potential for chasing, actually the first real chase potential in 9 days.

10:00am : SPC has not been hyping today but they do have a slight day 1 probability out for NE Nebraska. Paul has [...]

CoD Storm Chase 2011 Day 9

tyler — Sat, 07 May 2011 15:56:24 +0000

11:00am : Been down for 6 days with nothing but blue skies and beautiful weather. We spent 2 nights in San Antonio, 1 night in Fredericksburg, and 2 nights in Fort Worth area.

Beautiful weather sucks for storm chasing.

We have to be home Sunday night, no exceptions. Using shortest path routing, it’s 8 [...]

CoD Storm Chase 2011 Day 3

tyler — Sun, 01 May 2011 14:27:11 +0000

Miles: 480

9:00am : Up and doing maps. Lots of precipitation ongoing but nothing particularly severe. We are hoping destabilization caused by day time heating will cause some isolated cells to go severe.

10:40am : Discussion with Paul regarding if we should stay in the Ark-La-Tx region in the trees and overcast or head [...]

CoD Storm Chase 2011 Day 2

tyler — Sat, 30 Apr 2011 13:36:56 +0000

Miles: 390

8:35am : Vans are getting loaded and gassed. We’ll be doing maps and a morning briefing shortly. But forecast from last night of heading towards Paris, TX looks to be correct.

10:15am : South bound and down. Heading to the Ark-La-Tx region.

01:20pm : at Jaxx Burgers in Paris, TX Clouds [...]

CoD Storm Chase 2011 Day 1

tyler — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 14:00:42 +0000

Miles: 774

8:25am : Heading to Kansas City for dinner at Jess & Jim’s Steak house. Looks like marginal chances for thunderstorms tomorrow, but not expecting much severe weather. Unfortunately the forecasts are calling for non-severe weather for much of the next 10 days *sigh*

10:30am : Blew through Davenport, IA. Probably stopping at [...]

New bee packages

tyler — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 00:34:02 +0000

The bees arrived 2 days ago, but it has been too cold and wet to risk putting them in the new hive so they have been staying in our laundry room. Well, the weather broke earlier this morning and the entire family was able to go out to the new bee yard and [...]

Heading to Scotland, finally

tyler — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 01:04:58 +0000

I’m currently in the middle of planning a trip to Scotland for later in the year. You can follow along on my Scotland trip planning page. I’ve decided to use the services of a trip planner to make sure I do this right. Liz @ McLean Scotland is helping with the planning and she’s [...]

30 minutes in a blizzard

tyler — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 04:56:33 +0000

So as the snowpocalypse was in full force in Chicago I decided to gear up and experience a real blizzard for myself. I dressed in slightly more than my normal winter clothes to see how I would fair and headed out into white out conditions. I was only going to go about 1/4 [...]

Looking back and forth

tyler — Sun, 02 Jan 2011 21:54:56 +0000

I’m not one for new years resolutions, but I do like taking the time to look back on the year and make plans for the future.

Looking back at my plans for 2010 I didn’t do too bad.

2010 Plans

Took a beekeeping class Went camping at Starved Rock Went on a short vacation with [...]

Small farm magazine review

tyler — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 00:03:31 +0000

I spent 6 hours during our trip back from Columbus, OH for the Thanksgiving holidays to read and put some thoughts together on three hobby/small farm magazines I picked up at a local grocery store. I’ve had a long term obsession with hobby farming and if I live long enough…I will have one of [...]

When I feel that chill

tyler — Sun, 26 Sep 2010 22:04:55 +0000

When I feel that chill, smell that fresh cut grass I’m back in my helmet, cleats and shoulder pads Standing in the huddle listening to the call Fans going crazy for the boys of fall

The Boys of Fall by Kenny Chesney

Fall is my absolute favorite time of [...]

First honey harvest

tyler — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 02:47:50 +0000

So last week I went out to the bee yard to check the progress of my hive not intending to harvest any honey yet. But once I got there the bees had nearly filled the 5th super on the hive (bottom two are for brood/pollen the middle one is a mix of honey/brood/pollen [...]

Best part of blueberry picking is the dairy farm…wait..what?!

tyler — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 03:00:13 +0000

Last weekend we headed out of Chicago at a normal time in the morning with plans to hit the Mac Wood’s Dune Rides up at Silver Lake. It just so happened that lunch time put us near Benton Harbor, MI so I used my iPhone to do a search for a [...]

Bees may have a home!!

tyler — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 02:13:25 +0000

Chris Saad of Honey Trails and I spent 2 and 1/2 hours today with the folks behind Pushing the Envelope Farm. Essentially what they have is 13 to 14 acres of property that is adjacent to the Continental Envelope factory in Geneva, IL. Actually, the owners of Continental Envelope, and their family [...]

Yes…we have a garden

tyler — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 14:53:32 +0000

Looking back over the past few months I realize that MyChicagoGarden hasn’t posted anything about gardens. How can that be?!

Anyway….here’s what I can tell you. We have a garden. It’s very small. At least by my measurements. I have 3 cabbage plants (on the right in the picture) that are growing [...]

Chicago Highland Games next weekend!

tyler — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 03:53:04 +0000

The St. Andrews Society of Chicago has released their schedule for the Chicago Highland Games on Friday, June 18th from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m and Saturday, June 19th from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m at the Oak Brook Polo Grounds, 700 Oak Brook Rd, Oak Brook, IL 60523. All children under the age of 12 are FREE!

[...]

Starved Rock State Park – 2010

tyler — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 03:54:27 +0000

Trip Report

for

Starved Rock State Park, Illinois (6/4-6/2010)

Picture Gallery: Flickr

We hit the road at 11AM on Friday.

As we did last year, we stopped at Outdoor World on the way down to Starved Rock to pick up some last minute items. [...]

Weekend away

tyler — Mon, 24 May 2010 02:02:35 +0000

Thanks to Melissa’s sister and one of our neighbors who watched our kids this weekend, my wife and I got to have a weekend together. We decided to spend 2 nights at the Crowne Plaza hotel on Rossevelt in Glen Ellyn. Our first choice was to stay in downtown Chicago, but the hotel [...]

First day with the bees

tyler — Fri, 07 May 2010 03:09:12 +0000

Unfortunately my bees arrived while I was out Storm Chasing and so Melissa and the girls had to go pick them up for me. Chris Saad of Honey Trails was gracious enough to not only let me place my hive on his property (hopefully temporarily) but also to hive my bees for me. [...]

Day 9 – 2010 Storm Chase

tyler — Sat, 01 May 2010 14:34:08 +0000

9:30am – Late start to the day, but we are in the right position. Last chase day of the trip and the best opportunity for a good storm. Tomorrow we head home.

10:15am – Heading to Little Rock.

12:00pm – Quick lunch stop at Arby’s and back on the road.

2:00pm – Ice cream [...]

Day 8 – 2010 Storm Chase

tyler — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 14:41:53 +0000

9:15am – No real good play today so we are making the only play we have. Heading south to Tulsa and then on into north Texas.

12:30pm – McDonalds stop for lunch. Back on the road.

3:45pm – Stopped at a DQ in Paris, TX. Warm humid air. First time we’ve felt that since [...]

Day 7 – 2010 Storm Chase

tyler — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 13:17:54 +0000

8:15am – Woke up missing my girlfriend. Forgot my good zip off pants/shorts that I use for camping/hiking at the last hotel. Hopefully not a sign of a bad day to come.

Map analysis begins.

9:45am – Paul is hopping around all happy. The model runs for the past few days have been wrong [...]

Day 6 – 2010 Storm Chase

tyler — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 14:49:46 +0000

9:30am – Map analysis begins. Paul says we are going to have lunch in Fort Worth and then about 2pm head towards Whichita, KS. No storm chasing in the forecast.

10:15am – Paul is finished with the 500mb map and he’s saying “wow, never seen this before”…in a bad way. *sigh* Change of plans, [...]

Day 5 – 2010 Storm Chase

tyler — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 18:44:41 +0000

9:30am – Map and analysis work.

11:30am – Extended analysis over. Storms are still in the forecast for Thursday…maybe a bit on Wed. Off to do sone shopping and maybe go to the Sox/Rangers ball game.

12:30pm – Disappointed with the shopping. Nothing on my list was really available. I think Ill look for [...]

Day 4 – 2010 Storm Chase

tyler — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 14:31:58 +0000

9:30am – Headed to SPC

11:30am – Great tour by Rick Smith of the Norman NWS/WFO. Also got a quick look at the OK mesonet gear thanks to Mike Wolfinbarger. Now to drop south into TX. Probably stockyards tonight.

12:50pm – Lunch stop at the border. Dave Mayhew dropped in to say hi. Nothing [...]

Day 3 – 2010 Storm Chase

tyler — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 15:10:45 +0000

9:45am – Finished GardenFork.tv radio show.

10:15am – Tourist day begins. We are heading to Coffeyville, KS. Looking for the largest something on the side of the road so we can stop for pictures.

11:10am – our first “diner, drive inn or dive”. BBQ Shack in Paola, KS. Our waitress is Roxy! [...]

Day 2 – 2010 Storm Chase

tyler — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 15:56:12 +0000

10:45am – Late start to the day. Nothing really expected today from a severe weather perspective in our area. We are heading south out of Des Moines towards Topeka. We will figure out which direction to head when we get there. Looks like the next few days will be “down days” for us.

[...]

Day 1 – 2010 Storm Chase

tyler — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 12:32:48 +0000

Last night the CoD group made a 5 hour late night push to Des Moines from Chicago, so we could have an easier time at setting up in the morning for the afternoon storms.

12:15am – In Des Moines, IA at the Courtyard Marriot. $65/night, no wireless, tiny room, Clint Eastwood movie on [...]

Storm Chasing Starts Thursday

tyler — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 02:00:22 +0000

My yearly pilgrimage to the great North American plains begins Thursday night. I will be once again storm chasing with the folks at the College of DuPage. (You can follow us here) I do this as part of my job with AllisonHouse.com, a weather data company, for first hand knowledge of how storm [...]

Ignorance & Fear & Bees

tyler — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 16:01:56 +0000

Unfortunately, the world is full of ignorant people. I don’t mean that in a derogatory way, it is a state of being. When ignorance is combined with irrational fear, it becomes a potent force. One that can not be fought easily and without personal cost. Combining the two conditions you get a near [...]

Busy few weeks ahead

tyler — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 00:57:47 +0000

I have a bunch of projects in the works that need to happen before I head out to the great plains to go storm chasing with the folks at the College of DuPage at the end of the month.

Wire up the Jeep for two batteries

I have a dual battery rig being delivered [...]

The bees are coming!!

tyler — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 01:25:13 +0000

I’m just about finished with my bee keeping class. I have my notes put together and I think I’m ready. I’ve paid my $75 for the bees and I’m anxiously awaiting their arrival sometime in mid April.

I also picked up my bee hive from Honey Trails as well as a couple extra pieces [...]

It’s a Jeep thing…you wouldn’t understand

tyler — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 15:49:16 +0000

Back in 2000 when Melissa and I lived in the bay area I fell into a fair bit of money from some stock options in the days of the .com boom. Instead of doing the responsible thing and saving for a down payment on a house, I went to a Jeep dealer and purchased [...]

Beekeeping 101…Class begins

tyler — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 02:22:52 +0000

I started my beekeeping class last night at the Wheaton Park District. There were about 20 people in the class and the instructor said the class was full in early December. I had heard the waiting list was at least 10 deep at one point. Many of the folks were around my age and [...]

Looking back, and forward

tyler — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 23:52:26 +0000

2009 In review

Purchased a worm bin in early March and got it going. Still going strong in the garage. Spring started on March 15th for us with a trip to Scooby’s Went to the Wheaton Native Illinois Plant sale, like we do every year. Need to get in line no later than 7:30am. [...]

Tomatoes next year?

tyler — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 21:09:17 +0000

I have limited space in my garden and have decided to not grow garlic to save about 1/8 of the garden space. I also decided not to grow tomatoes in the raised beds since they take up so much space too. Probably another 1/8 of the garden. Both decisions recovered about 1/4 of the [...]

2009 – Southern Wisconsin Apple Picking Trip

tyler — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 01:18:01 +0000

We just finished our annual U-Pick apple trip to Southern Wisconsin. My younger sister Summer came for the trip. We picked 1/2 bushel of Cortland (my favorite), 1/2 bushel of Fuji, 1/2 bushel of Jonagored and a 1/2 bushel of Liberty.

We spent our 3 days and 2 nights at the Timber Ridge Lodge [...]

Seriously?! First frost and Snow this weekend?

tyler — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 01:01:24 +0000

The graphic says it all. *sigh*

First chance of frost, no scratch that…SNOW!!…will be this weekend, specifically late saturday evening/early sunday morning. Not sure why I’m surprised really. It’s right on the average first frost date of October 15 +/- a few days.

Harvest any late season crops Saturday morning or they’ll probably be [...]

Raspberry jam for the masses

tyler — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 01:46:10 +0000

Used about 5 pints to make 1 quart of crushed raspberries. Added 6 1/2 cups of sugar and a pouch of pectin. Looks like I’ll need to go purchase some new glass ware next year, I seem to only have odds and ends left. The rest went into the freezer. We learned a cool [...]

2009 Raspberry U-Pick Trip to Plow Creek Farm

tyler — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 03:43:52 +0000

We took our yearly Raspberry U-Pick trip to Plow Creek Farm about 2 hours SW of Chicago. We picked 10 pints worth ($2.50/p). I typically make jam/preserves out of most of it…but we save a couple frozen ziploc bags full for putting on icecream. Apple picking in a few weeks! Yeah! Fall is my [...]

Trip Report for Western Michigan/Mackinac Island/Blueberry Trip

tyler — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 01:12:42 +0000

I finally got around to writing up our trip report for our 5 day trip up the Michigan west cost along Lake Michigan. Beautiful country up north. Great fun was had by all. Read about it here. [...]

Glen Prairie, possibly the best restaurant in town

tyler — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 02:51:44 +0000

I can’t say enough about Glen Prairie. I had been driving by the restaurant on Roosevelt in Glen Ellyn for many months and repeatedly thought to myself how horrible it must be given that it’s a “hotel restaurant”. It’s attached to the newly remodeled Crown Plaza hotel. I’ve now learned that it’s not [...]

Storm Chase Vacation 2009 – Followup

tyler — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 03:09:23 +0000

Some images and videos from others who were on the Valentine Beast of July 14th

http://www.warnerimages.com/gallery/090713/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCg6U87W4YQ

http://www.extremeinstability.com/09-7-13.htm

Garden Update

tyler — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 16:06:25 +0000

About 20 days ago I noticed the first signs of a japanese beetle damage and the little buggers crawling over some of the yard. At the end of the season last year I picked up one of those yellow bomb looking Japanese beetle traps on sale. I figured it couldn’t hurt and if it [...]

Storm Chase Vacation 2009 – Day 9

tyler — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 03:08:52 +0000

After a horrible night sleep in the crappy Lubbock Inn (3 diamond in the AAA book) we had breakfast at IHOP with the intent to just head home. Then Paul throws a curveball and were going to chase after all but we must leave no later than 7pm.

11:25am – Back up into the [...]

Storm Chase Vacation 2009 – Day 8

tyler — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 03:08:13 +0000

10:45am – Target is Dalhart, TX for lunch. Storms should fire in the North West panhandle later in the day. This will be our last day if chasing.

12:00pm – Woohooo!! SPC update with TOR probs for our area. 2 or 3clock initiation probably.

1:45pm – Hanging out in Dalhart after lunch. Probably heading [...]

Storm Chase Vacation 2009 – Day 7

tyler — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 03:07:51 +0000

10:20am – On the road from Overland Park, KS to Newton, KS playing along nice well-defined outflow boundary

1:30pm – Stopped in Wichita, KS at Hog Wold BBQ for lunch.

2:10pm – Heading to Pratt, KS. MCS is screwing up the storm setup.

3:30pm – Gas stop in Pratt. Paul us totally confused as [...]

Storm Chase Vacation 2009 – Day 6

tyler — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 03:07:24 +0000

Down day…nothing to report in the way of storms. Later in the evening we eat at Jess’n'Jim’s steak house and closed the bar down with the two owners. Good stories!

Storm Chase Vacation 2009 – Day 5

tyler — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 03:07:00 +0000

[ morning update delayed because AT&T lies about their coverage in Lusk, WY]

9:00am – Gilbert and I are looking at data issues at CoD.

9:30am – Gilbert reports CoD has rebooted their firewalls (what they should have done 2 days ago) and now everything is working again.

10:00am – Paul is dancing around [...]

Storm Chase Vacation 2009 – Day 4

tyler — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 03:06:30 +0000

[ morning update delayed because AT&T lies about their coverage in Lusk, WY]

9:00am – Gilbert and I are looking at data issues at CoD.

9:30am – Gilbert reports CoD has rebooted their firewalls (what they should have done 2 days ago) and now everything is working again.

10:00am – Paul is dancing around [...]

Storm Chase Vacation 2009 – Day 3

tyler — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 03:05:59 +0000

We left CoD around 10am and headed south west towards Davenport, Iowa. At one point Paul decided to head south on I-39 and make a play for southern Illinois but then 30 minutes later called it off and we did a Uturn and ran back to I-80. During a gas stop we picked [...]

Storm Chase Vacation 2009 – Day 2

tyler — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 03:05:27 +0000

8:00am – Wake up to find CoD has had a major data outage and there’s no weather data to review. Made a call out to Gil for help since I can’t find anything wrong with weather or climate servers. Gil can’t find anything either so calls are made to CoD IT.

9:30am – In [...]

Storm Chase Vacation 2009 – Day 1

tyler — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 03:04:18 +0000

Storm Chase Vacation 2009 – Day 0

tyler — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 03:03:36 +0000

Every year, at least I try to make it every year, I go out on a storm chase vacation. This year I’m going with the College of DuPage group for 10 days starting tomorrow/friday. I’ve gone with them once before and had a blast. I’ll be posting updates as often as I remember and [...]

Scottish Highland Games 2009 – Chicago

tyler — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 01:13:58 +0000

This was the first year for Mel and I to go to the Scottish Highland Games in Oakbrook, IL (chicago area). We have been to others before, just not in Chicago.

The folks at the Illinois St. Andrews Society put on the games and in general I think they did a fine job. Especially [...]

Garden Tour – June 8

tyler — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 02:35:16 +0000

A quick garden tour…

The blueberry bushes from last year. We are still picking off the flowers to encourage growth of the bushes instead of berry production. In the back row are peas and my new zig-zag trellis system. In the front are some beans and in the bottom left corner is a [...]

Scottish Highland Games this weekend

tyler — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 03:57:04 +0000

Quick post…

If you have nothing to do this weekend come visit the Scottish Highland Games this weekend at the Polo Grounds in Oak Brook.

Visit the Illinois Saint Andrew Society website for more info. See you there!

Life is good

tyler — Sun, 24 May 2009 02:47:39 +0000

Here’s what Sierra (my oldest girl) and I did this morning. What could be better than sitting in the garden reading a magazine with your dad?

So much for push mowers

tyler — Tue, 19 May 2009 03:40:53 +0000

When my lawn mower died last fall I decided I was going to switch to something more “green” and use a push mower. Our front yard is rather small and a little work would do me good so I’m the perfect candidate for a push mower. I did research online and from all [...]

mychicagofairygarden?

tyler — Mon, 11 May 2009 04:38:09 +0000

Sierra created a little fairy garden for her part of the garden. I have to say it’s pretty cute. I’ve spent the last 2 days trying to convince her that fairies are real. No luck.

While she was building the fairy garden I was around on the side of the house building the grape [...]

Uploaded – 4\259-2

shozu — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 13:42:11 +0000

score!

Uploaded – 4\259-1

shozu — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 13:25:11 +0000

10min to go and the line is now 4x longer and occasional traffic backup!

Uploaded – 4\259

shozu — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 12:56:54 +0000

7:45am at the Native Plant Sale. 45min to go and the line is already 50 deep and growing by 10 every few minutes. light rain for at least 20 min.

Get out and garden!

tyler — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 16:10:20 +0000

Wow! Wonderful weather today. In the low 70s for the first time in a long time (on a weekend anyway) and the soil is warming up nicely. With potential for a frost rapidly dropping and about 3 weeks from May 1st (traditional last frost day in Chicago area), I’ll be pushing th is weekend to [...]

Spring Poem

tyler — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 17:14:17 +0000

I heard this poem on a Celtic music CD my wife picked up at the Wheaton Public Library. My kids love it. Sierra (the oldest) goes around humming/doo-dooing the famous Scottish pipe and drum marching song “Scotland the Brave“. That song gives me chills. I’ve told my wife that when I die I want [...]

2009 – Wheaton Native Illinois Plant Sale

tyler — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 19:35:39 +0000

Wheaton has announced their Native Plant Sale.

Mark your calendar for the Native Illinois Plant Sale from 8:30 a.m. to noon April 25. The sale – which is sponsored by the Environmental Improvement Commission, the City of Wheaton and the Wheaton Park District – will be at the Wheaton Public Works Building, 821 W. [...]

Spring is here!

tyler — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 01:49:05 +0000

We had our traditional first day of spring on March 15. At our house we start spring on the first Sunday we can eat out at Scooby’s.

One week earlier the girls and I got our worm compost bin built and started. Now we are just waiting for the [...]

First Storm Chase of 2009

tyler — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 03:02:06 +0000

Last wednesday (5/13) I took a day off from work and went storm chasing in south western Illinois just over the border into Missouri. That’s me near the driver side in the picture to the left. Drove nearly 1000 miles in 16 hours but we were able to get our eyeballs on what [...]

Non-edibles?

tyler — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 23:52:02 +0000

Yes yes..I broke one of my own rules and I’m once again attempting to start flowers from seeds. But at least these are considered companion plants to my vegetables. I never had much luck with flowers in the past, but I figured since I had some extra squares available in my APS system I [...]

Best seed starting ever!

tyler — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 02:54:47 +0000

WOW!!! I’m overwhelmed with joy at the seed starting going on right now. My new APS system I posted about a few weeks back is working like gang busters and it couldn’t have been easier. I plan on starting another set tomorrow. I did not have much luck with the oregano, but the seeds [...]

Are bees coming to the garden?

tyler — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 18:01:14 +0000

Native/Wild bees come to the garden all the time. But what I’m talking about are the managed honey bees. Back in April 2008 I contacted the Illinois Bee Keepers Association expressing interest in adopting a colony and allowing someone to place an apiary in or near my garden. I traded emails with the [...]

Researching Garden Sheds

tyler — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 21:59:51 +0000

Our house doesn’t have a basement and the people who built the 2 car garage made sure it was exactly 2 cars. So needless to say we do not have enough storage space. The garden shed out back is about to fall down so I’ve not felt comfortable storing more than large garden items [...]

Seeds are started

tyler — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 21:38:03 +0000

If you’ve followed along for the past few years, you know that I’ve not had much luck with starting my own seeds indoors. After some careful thinking, I’m almost positive the reason I have not done a good job is that I spend so much time away from home (work, vacation, etc) that watering [...]

Does it really take all the fun out of composting?

tyler — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 02:46:38 +0000

Over on Rosemarie’s Garden blog she has a post about the ‘new’ electric composter intended to be used in/under/around the kitchen. She outlined several reasons why she dislikes the idea. Given that I have one of those on my ‘gift list‘ I thought I’d respond with the reasons why I like the idea of [...]

New Web Cam

tyler — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 02:32:23 +0000

Just a heads up that I’ve added a web cam to the website. It points at the garden and updates every minute.

Nifty!

What I’ve learned so far

tyler — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 03:17:05 +0000

In the last 35+ years I’ve learned several things about the world. Some of them I’ve seen described by others and by experience I find them to be true. Thus, these are not all my original ideas or wording…but they are soo true. There is a very fine line between “hobby” and “mental illness” [...]

Seeds of Change Garden

tyler — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 05:24:53 +0000

It just so happens that the Seeds of Change catalog came today and it had every seed item I wanted. So this year I’m going with a 100% Seeds of Change garden. Which also means all the seeds are 100% Organic stock. $72 dollars later. On the pricey side but [...]

Christmas in the Garden

tyler — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 16:57:15 +0000

First Catalog of the 2009 Season

tyler — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 20:26:29 +0000

The first seed catalog of the 2009 growing season has arrived! Fedco get’s the honors this year. 137 pages of gardening pornography. Time to grab my pen and start circling possible choices for next year. I already have a list of seeds to buy over on my planting [...]

Snow and ice brings power

tyler — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 01:01:17 +0000

With the forecast in Chicago of up to a foot of snow and 1/2 inch of ice, I decided to bite the bullet and get a small generator. For some reason our neighborhood has about 5 or 6 power outages a year, and we’re always the last ones to get power in Wheaton. No [...]

2008 Potatoe Harvest Video

tyler — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 02:48:57 +0000

Back in late September we harvested our potatoes. I created a movie and sent it to Erik over at GardenFork.tv. After making it, I realized it wasn’t very educational so I doubt Erik will use it. Here’s the video from that effort. My wife (Melissa) is behind the camera, the crazy kid in the [...]

Last week + First frost is here!

tyler — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 21:25:02 +0000

Time to break out the frost protection and/or take your last harvest. If it doesn’t frost tonight, it will tomorrow. And there’s a possibility of a hard freeze and snow at that!

I took the opportunity between 40mph wind gusts to run out and do my last harvest of beans and green tomatoes. Wind chill [...]

Where is our first frost?

tyler — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 01:46:41 +0000

Much like the past 5 months, the weather in the Chicago area has been…shall we say…abnormal. More rain than normal and below average temperatures made for a fabulous growing season for the home gardener. But all good things must come to an end. This growing season has been holding on for much longer than [...]

Pack a lunch and save $600 a year?

tyler — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 16:30:20 +0000

For the past 2 years I’ve been spending roughly $8-$10 a day on lunch. Sometimes less, sometimes more..but that’s about the average. I should know…I was on a budget

In conjunction with taking the train (see last post) I’ve started taking my lunch to work instead of buying. I did some notepad calculations [...]

The switch to public transportation

tyler — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 19:23:52 +0000

For the past 2 years I’ve been commuting from Wheaton to the northern edge of Chicago proper in my 2001 Subaru Outback wagon. My day job recently moved their facilities to downtown Chicago, about 4 blocks from Ogilvie Station. I had been waiting for this move for some time, as it allows me to [...]

2008 U-Pick Apple Trip

tyler — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 22:29:38 +0000

We spent the last 3 days up in the Lake Geneva area of Wisconsin, just over the border from Illinois. It’s a beautiful 1 1/2 hour drive from Wheaton, IL through some of the best farm country in the nation. (though not the most beautiful, that’s reserved to south west Wisconsin/north west Illinois/north [...]

Official start of fall

tyler — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 21:50:34 +0000

Sorry for the delays in posting. Here’s a rundown of September.

Four weekends ago we harvested the red clouds potatoes

Two weekends ago I made my order for garlic from Seeds of Change. My notes from last year say they should arrive in November sometime. I’ll be growing a soft-neck variety next year [...]

2008 U-Pick Raspberry Trip

tyler — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 02:47:20 +0000

On labor day, our family took our second annual U-Pick Raspberry trip down to Plow Creek Farm, about 2 hours south west of Chicago. Prior to leaving I had researched on their website to make sure the season was up and running and how the crop was doing. I noticed that blackberry season was [...]

Back in the swing..sorta

tyler — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 03:26:05 +0000

Sorry for the delay in posts. It has taken several weeks to get back to normal..sorta.

I was able to harvest 12+ cucumbers but was only able to use a handful for my refrigerator pickles. I ended up using one to make an absolutely wonderful cold salad using the lemon infused olive oil from [...]

Paso Robles, CA

shozu — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 20:31:04 +0000

Wine country in Paso Robles. The most interesting part of the day so far has actually been visiting an olive oil farm (Pasolivo) and doing a tasting and tour. I didnt realize just how bad the olive oil I have been buying from the local grociery stores realy is. Doesn’t even taste like [...]

Ristorante da Gaetano

shozu — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 03:50:12 +0000

Sorry for the horrible picture, the camera on my phone sucks in low light conditions (actually any condition). We had a wonderful dinner at Ristorante de Gaetano in Paso Robles, CA. Our B&B hosts told us most of the good restaurants in town are closed sunday night, but my wife found this little [...]

Elephant Seals

shozu — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 22:42:42 +0000

Elephant Seals at Point Piedras Blancas off highway one on our way down to Paso Robles.