We were blessed to have a beautiful Easter break at our house on Shelter Island.  It was a busy week filled with work, but also relaxing.  The main focus of our week was our garden.  With high hopes that we'll be able to spend most of this summer on the Island, and knowing how lonely for our own veggies we were last year, we tilled a large area of lawn and fenced it to keep the deer out.  At the end of March, Craig broke out our old faithful rototiller, a leftover from our landscaping business (and maybe a dozen years old or more!), and tilled an area of grass to break it up and get the process going.

After a second round of tilling last weekend, Craig got my Dad's old Bobcat started (that's an antique from Dad's construction business, and at least 35 years old, maybe more).  With the Bobcat, he moved our entire compost pile into the garden.  I think it was maybe 5 yards of compost--several years' worth of fall leaves, weeds from my parents' flower beds, sod we've dug out here and there, kitchen scraps.  He dumped it in piles around the garden, and I raked it out as evenly as I could so he could till it yet again:

After another round of tilling to mix it in, you can see the difference below.  What a change from the pathway soil (on the left) and the improved garden soil on the right.

Next I grabbed an old gate that we swiped from my Sister when she sold her house, and I dug post holes to put in four 4x4 fence posts where we wanted our two gates so we can walk through the garden.  Of course I had to buy a $17 hinge kit to hang the "free" gate, but at least I didn't spend ten hours building it, and it worked well right off the bat!  We bought a few metal fence posts and 100' roll of 7' high deer net, and we borrowed both posts and more net from our winter shrub deer fencing, (which we'll have to replace in the fall), and went around the perimeter.  The second set of wooden posts I dug in just has deer net for now, but we will build a gate for that one later in the season.

So here are the results of our work.  The garden is a haphazard trapezoid shape with 5-ish corners, but I think it's around 30x50 feet.  It brought together a few floating garden areas--on the north edge is a row of old evergreen cedars which we branched up to put the fence along their trunks.  The apple tree is next to them, in the bed we dug up and mulched into an island last year.  It's now enclosed too, with some thornless blackberries I moved there last year, along with a new row of about 20 canes of raspberries from our Baldwin perennial bed.  They have been creeping under the fence from the neighbors, and last year they fruited so we got to taste them.  They're not everbearing, but they were sweet and free, so no complaints!  Along the East edge is my herb/rock garden, which now has a Beach Plum (Prunus maritima), which was a major score, found at Southold Agway!  The herbs have been there a few years, but hopefully the deer won't eat my new plum tree/shrub. I need to replace the lavender and rosemary which aren't showing any signs of life yet after this winter.

Along the South edge (the trench you see above, outside the fence), we transplanted a row of Asparagus that I dug up from Baldwin.  I think it's called "Purple Passion" and we didn't like the flavor as much as the green, so we are taking a chance the critters will leave it alone  and recovering a lot of perennial border at "home" in the transaction.  If I recall correctly, my Sister had asparagus in her SI garden when she lived here, and they didn't eat it, but there were fewer deer then.  Time will tell.  Inside the fence (below) you can see our newly planted beds after their first watering.  I got in about 30' of organic seed potato from Wood Prairie Farm, a bed of yellow onion sets, snap and snow peas, small blocks of lettuce, arrugula, spinach, and some Fukugawa bunching onions (scallions).  Most of the seeds are from Scheepers aka Kitchen Garden Seeds.  I also planted a six pack of flat leaf parsley and a bunch of lettuce seedlings I bought locally, to give us a bit of a head start--barely visible in this photo.

And the final touch.  We needed a bar above the gate, so the deer wouldn't get into the garden there, and when I turned around, Craig had added his beautiful finishing touch.  My Mom says she has a great view of it from her yard.  If you can't read the classy orange spray paint at the top, it says Beware of Zombies.

And then we had to go home.  We'll be back in two weeks.  Hopefully it will rain a bit (it has), things will sprout a bit (they will, if it ever warms up here), and the critters will stay out (fingers crossed!).  Happy Spring!

Anyone who really knows me, knows that I have a loathe-hate kind of relationship with the area where we live.  Nassau County is a suburb of NYC and one of the most densely populated counties in the United States by population.  We have around 1.3 million residents--the 28th highest population/county in the US in 2005, with retail sales of over $14,000 per capita in 2002--so you can imagine what things are like here.  I'll spare you the gory details.  I tend to be somewhat of a hermit within this society, only venturing out when absolutely necessary, avoiding the mainstream because it doesn't fit me.  For some reason, despite the fact that I grew up here and Craig is a transplant from the country, I think he has a better peace with this place than me.

So here is the story as it forms:  I decided to call it 'Recycling the American Dream'.  WARNING--it's long!

Setting/Background:  In the years when millions emigrated from Europe to the US, for many, the areas around NYC were seen as the place to live the American Dream.  Today we reside in this place, transformed into an overpopulated suburb with polluted air, where consumerism is king, credit debt is massive, waste and gluttony are rampant, responsibility is a four letter word.  The children of the immigrants who settled here have ditched their parents' frugal ways of life and forgotten the skills their parents used to build and make a new life here.  They have succumed to a life of entitlement that is even now becoming their downfall.   And yet, a glimmer of hope springs forth in a 12 hour period where I witness and/or participate in 3 miraculous acts:

Miracle I--"The Can Man":  My recycling instinct re-awakened as I was upstairs winding a ball of yarn to work on Audrey's sweater jacket (I swear, photos of progress tomorrow--this story couldn't wait!).  I could hear this metallic rattling sound, only to look out our small attic windows to see the "can man" coming down the street.  There are 2 can men in our neighborhood, each of whom has his own territory on recycling days.  Ours has a shopping cart and the other guy rides a bike, balancing two huge garbage bags on either side of him--amazing!  They go from curb to curb and pick the deposit soda cans and beer bottles out of the recycling tubs.  They are the reason I spare myself the dreaded task of taking our family's handful of 5 cent deposit cans and bottles back to the store.  I can be reassured that someone else is doing it for me, and it's helping his income to boot.  What a relief!

Miracle II--"Curbside Treasure": This morning, Craig is sick, so I walked Audrey to school in the brisk cold air.  On the way home I spotted a really nice piece of furniture waiting for the garbage truck.  It's a sideboard style piece with drawers, on heavy metal casters with a late 50-s to 70's era look, a "Broyhill" original.  Solid wood--no particle or plywood--in great shape.  I rushed home to get the truck to go pick it up.  If none of our family or friends wants it, we'll drag it out to Shelter Island where it will fetch somewhere between $20 and $50 at our yard sale next Memorial Day.  Great find--shown below left, with other treasures:  a rusty organizer that makes a great bean tower in the summer.  A huge plastic play house that my in-laws and I carried from a block away in sub-zero temperatures, the frightening collection of junk in our garage!

In the past, 'curb crawling' was a favorite family pastime and one of the few things that both Craig and I enjoyed doing together.  So much so that I got us matching "dumpster diving team" t-shirts to wear for the sport.  When Audrey was little, we had a recreational bike riding system for warm evenings.  It exactly matched the next day's trash pick up routes, and we would ride, get some exercise and take mental notes on the great curbside finds, later returning with the truck to pick up.   We supplemented our free treasures with inexpensive yard sale, tag sale and flea market finds that we couldn't pass up, and had our own family yard sales once or twice a during the summer, keeping some treasues--this is how we furnished the summer house which we rented out at the time--and selling the rest at a small profit.  This worked wonderfully until our home, garage, and summer home shed began to overflow with the fruits of our labors, the things we couldn't bear to part with.  This is especially easy to do with two collectors in the house.  One is a vintage video game junkie who also tends to like old pottery, books, and anything to do with fishing.  That's Craig. 

My problem is fiber related, of course.  Suffice it to say that if I opened the bags and unfolded all the linens and fabric at once, I might be able to blanket my entire neighborhood with them.  I never can pass up a box or tin of buttons...aahhhhh, buttons...and it pains me to leave those old sewing machines on the curb.  I'm like a pathetic 5 year old with a lost puppy I found on the street: "Oh honey, can't I bring it home?  Please?  I promise I'll take good care of it...."  (Incidentally, my spinning obsession began at a yard sale with a wheel I picked up in a package deal with a portable sewing machine.  The seller wanted $20 each and I bargained her down to $35.  It's worth about $350 used.  Deal of the century, huh?).

Miracle III: "Viral Contamination!":  I can prove it--this curbside thing is contagious, really!  My third miracle is the lady who I saw on my third trip out this morning, the one to take Audrey's forgotten lunch box to school so she could eat.  This trip was urgent, so I drove.  On the way back, I watched a mini van with a  woman about my age, driving from house to house, eyeballing the trash for goodies and pulling over a few times.  While I loathe the competition in my own neighborhood,  I felt like my piece of furniture was even more of a score (hey, I beat her to it!), and know in my heart it's a good thing, especially since we're not the active 'curbside reclamation artists' we used to be.  Every piece of the past that gets re-used instead of going into those garbage trucks is a blessing, and I don't want to be the one to complain about a little competition if it means saving the planet.

Heck, I'm truly an enabler.  My neighbor's back yard is now filled with giant plastic toys that have been "saved"!  She watched us hauling goodies home once too often, and caught the bug.  She often babysits other kids, so the toys are put to great use.  Of course I have a sinking feeling that her husband isn't thrilled....I can tell by the way he looks at me sometimes that he is struggling with my viral 'green' behavior as it slowly seeps across the hedge into their yard, infecting his wife with the desire to recycle old battery powered kid-sized Jeeps, and giant molded plastic see-saws and kitchen sets and slides and bikes, all that were destined for the landfill and now reside on their neat, green lawn.  I also know that he personally fixed up one of the Jeeps to working status, so his heart is gold even if his lawn is green in August :)

Others have been affected too.  I scored a giant plastic doll house for a friend last year.  It was hidden on the curb between two parked cars as I drove home from a playdate at their house.  My 'trash sense' was tingling when I spied it.  On arriving home, I immediately called them with the news and her husband went out to pick it up.  It was the EXACT one she had been searching ebay to purchase, and was immediately put to use after a good scrubbing.  A few months later, the same friends got a small load of firewood because of a sighting I made--beautiful Cherry wood that was all cut up into ready-to-burn pieces.  I know they've gotten other goodies on their own as well...

Of course, I know that saving trash from the landfill isn't a new thing.  Friends of our family built an entire house from building materials salvaged from "the dump" on Shelter Island back in the 1970's.  But it is frightening to think that being frugal and sensible about not needing new things all the time is a mostly forgotten art.  On our travels at the curb we see the other stuff, the proof of consumption out of control:  the garbage, and the empty boxes from all the stuff people buy.  And it is HUGE.  With that in mind I must be honest; we're not saints.  Our family purchased a brand new sectional for our living room in 2008 , and Craig succumed to his need to have a 42" LCD TV a few weeks ago.  However, I am proud to say that the giant TV sits atop a very old, ugly and distressed chest of drawers that I love. 

So I have hope--a glimmer of hope.  With the current economic situation, I expect to see more dumpster divers, curb crawlers and reclaimation experts surfacing to take their piece of The Dream off the curb.  And my furniture find of this morning has stirred my desire to get back in the game in 2009.  I plan to put some of my existing goodies on Etsy and ebay to clear out space for the treasures that are sure to be found, inflate the tires and get the baby seat ready for spring bike rides.  The competition for the good stuff will be stiff, but I'll be ready for them.  Besides, I need the exercise.

Aaaaaaaah.  Can I say that again?  Aaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh.

I'm not cured, but I'm better.  What I mean is that I think I'm finally done "going around" (finally being the word to focus on here) or at least on the right track toward figuring out the inner ear thing with the ENT who was (I must say) a total ass for his bedside manner, but who clearly knows what he is doing so I am putting up with him.  So I now feel like I'm finally (did I say finally again?) "coming around" back to the land of the living, or at least I have hope that I will someday soon. 

I am on some brain crushing drugs (*note to a-hole Doctor: WHY would you prescribe an antibiotic with a major side effect of "dizziness" to a person with Vertigo??).  But besides that fact, and that the cost of said drug was outrageously expensive--above and beyond our supposed copays--oh yeah, that's WHY you'd prescribe it, so the pharmaceutical company can send you to the Bahamas for a free vacation!!  Of course...(no big chip on MY shoulder about big Pharma.  Nope. No siree!) Oh yeah there's also  the fact that the same exact drug put my father in the hospital the week before Christmas because of his brilliant MD who forgot to read the warnings "do not mix xyz antibiotic with blood thinners". No, I'm not kidding, but where was I going with this?  Aaaaaah, yes...I think that the Rx is actually working on this persistent sinus infection.  Within hours of taking it I could feel the gunk draining out of my head, and the death grip on the nerve/muscles from my ear down the back of my neck to my shoulder blade loosen and relax in a way that hasn't happened since before Christmas.  Of course, the side effect was that I also felt like the top of my scalp was sliding off my head, but a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do, right?  Anything is better than another day with the room sideways and spinning while I cower on the couch and randomly puke into a trash can for 14 hours.  Really.  Trust me.

I hope that you all enjoyed that visual :)

Meanwhile on my trip back around, today I found the time, balance, and desire to photograph some of my work that I just got back from my Sister's Gallery which is closed until spring, and I managed to list four items on my etsy, put photos of the same items on flickr, browse a few blogs I've missed looking at, and generally feel inspired about fiber art again.   Here's one sneak peek of something pretty to combat the earlier visual I left you with--a nuno felted scarf/shawl I named Fireworks.  It's silk chiffon that I hand dyed in orange and chartreuse, then I wet felted stripes of a fiery merino wool/silk blend on it for a ruffled effect:

Tomorrow--my current spinning project (yes, I'm spinning again, the RIGHT kind of spinning!), and some peeks at the sweater I'm slowly knitting for little A.

What to do when you're spinning out of control?  Search me.  That's where I am now.  I'd love to be spinning some yarn, and even started to this weekend.  And after a good start, I fell asleep on the couch Sunday night and woke up in a spin...again.  Vertigo.  BAD.  Spent all day monday in vertigo/vomit city and finally gained a semblance of control by yesterday afternoon after a couple of doses of antibiotics and antivert meds.

So where have I been since the fall? Long story short: Dizziness, Doctor, ER, neurologist, hypothyroid, MRI, ER...  so far it all leans toward inner ear problems which have been exacerbated by a lingering sinus infection, and hypothyroid which may or may not be related.  The first 'big spin' sent me to the ER on New Years' Eve day in the ambulance, ugh.  Antibiotics didn't quite get the infection and it came back this weekend.  I was holding off to go to the ENT (please let this guy have answers for me...I'm at the end of my rope) this afternoon.  Glad my midwife wrote me a backup script for another round of antibiotics or I'd have ended up in the ER yet again this weekend when the second spin began.

I always seem to be on the edge of 'out of control' but this sent me over.  I had been making some positive progress, slow and steady...decluttering, sorting, shredding old papers, getting rid of baby clothes, emptying boxes, throwing out old, useless items, donating things.  I had plans of getting some painting and maintenance done on the house this winter, getting a jump on our taxes instead of doing it the last week of March.  Instead I am making at least one doctor visit per week, and now am making a long list of symptoms and issues to give to the ENT, with prayers that he will help me get to the bottom of this thing that's dragging me down.

Cross fingers that I can be spinning yarn again soon, instead of my world whorling around me...