Holey cauliflower Batman!
When we first moved into this house our land lady told us we’d see a parade of animals walk across the deck at night–skunks, raccoons, opossums, neighborhood cats. “I used to turn out the lights and watch the show,” she said.
“So do the animals just like the deck? ” I wondered. The answer is, who knows, because it turns out she used to feed them. All of them. Kind of cool, but also kind of gross. We don’t feed any of them, but they still come waddling/slinking/scampering across the deck almost every night.
But it isn’t any of those guys eating my cauliflower. It’s these green caterpillars that my dad swears will not turn into butterflies. He pulled 6 off of just two plants when he was in town a few weekends ago. Green jerks! Luckily we’ve had some rain which has washed them away for nowand the cauliflower appears to be recovering.
In other gardening news, I got 7 starter plants of what is called dinosaur kale from my friends William and David who live in Carpinteria. It is a nice combination of crazier and tastier than regular kale. Here is a photo of Jonah in front of some dinosaur kale plants.
The kale is just behind him to the left.
Also, I wrote an article about people who keep chickens in Los Angeles. These urban farmers are very inspiring, but I don’t think we’ll be getting chickens anytime soon. Most of the chicken farmers are people who like to build things, and I really think being handy would be a useful skill in raising chickens. Eric and I are not handy. And whenever I say maybe we should get chickens anyway Eric shakes his head and says “We are not getting chickens.”
And finally, here is a photo of what my life would look like if I lived on a farm in Carpinteria. That’s my friend David behind the tree. Could you imagine if the wheelbarrow was just out 90 percent of the time? Because you needed it to be?
Can you believe it?
My Patio Farm 