Guess What Still Isn't Finished.....

THE FLOORS! The stain looked phenomenal, but I screwed up the eco friendly top coat. Then Alex tried to gently sand that off and destroyed half the stain. Then we ran out of stain (that we'd waited THREE WEEKS to get in the first place, and that Artemis Environmental claimed would cover twice the area we have.)

I broke down and just bought polyurethane. The hallway is finished and looks fabulous. The dining room is 2/3rds done, but the final third has neither stain nor finish. The living room is getting there, but needs the stain touched up and a new top coat.

This floor has made me cry, and driven Alex to drink. We need to get it DONE!

However, we have completed the world's ugliest, but most functional and dog-proof pen for the chickens. They graduated to grower feed today, since they are now two months old. It's always fun to visit our "Urban Chicken Headquarters" in Regent Square, since the pet store has chickens just hanging out at all times.

The garden is on the verge of insane productivity. Today we tried a few of the Amaranth greens, but I think you're either supposed to pick them smaller or cook them, since they were pretty bitter. Snap peas are probably halfway done with production, but the french and green beans have flowers, so it'll be a week or so until they start churning out a ton of beans. The surprise early producer is our peppers. We have two killer green bell peppers on the vine, and some great looking jalapenos.

I learned a little something about cauliflower: you're supposed to plant it for fall! Who knew? I'm just happy it produced anything, given the warm weather. I think the weather is preventing our broccoli from doing anything. They are leafy again after we killed all the caterpillars with neem, but haven't flowered yet, and it's pretty late for that. We shall see. If not, I will plant more to over winter.

I'm having a great time eating half our bounty and squirreling half of it away in freezer bags for winter. We have 1/2 gallon of cauliflower, 1/2 gallon of broccoli, and 1/3 gallon of snap peas. For those interested in preserving veggies for later, the best method is to blanch them in hot water for a minute or two, them submerge them in ice water. Dry them off thoroughly to prevent freezer burn, and stash them in thick freezer bags or freezer containers. I also have a few precious blueberries chucked in there, but it's about one day's worth on yogurt or in cereal. We'll need to buy bushels of rasps at the market for me to satisfy my 5$ a week frozen raspberry habit all year.