"The tragic reality is that very few sustainable systems are designed or applied by those who hold power, and the reason for this is obvious and simple: to let people arrange their own food, energy and shelter is to lose economic and political control over them. We should cease to look to power structures, hierarchical systems, or governments to help us, and devise ways to help ourselves." - Bill Mollison

Saturday, October 17, 2009

Good Clean Fun

So I go up to the house to retrieve my camera for a picture of some sunchokes, and what do I come back to? Two slackers fully engaged in a tomato fight instead of cleaning up the patch...surprise, surprise.

My wife was no match for the grandson's catlike reflexes, after all he did turn five this summer. Lucky for me, the camera man was off limits. Besides, they pelted me with deer apples last year, I deserved a reprieve from the fall garden war zone. Do you see what I have to deal with around here?

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

He looks like he is having such fun! I bet he loves grandma and grandpa's house
vickie

Mr. H. said...

They had a great time, but what a mess they made of each other. Usually it works the other way around and I'm the one in trouble for getting the boy all dirty.:)

Stefaneener said...

there's a town in Spain called Bunol that has an annual tomato fight . . . maybe they would be naturals!
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2009/08/26/international/i060828D22.DTL&feed=rss.bondage

Mr. H. said...

Stefaneenr,

Tens of thousands of revelers pelting each other with tons of ripe tomatoes sounds right up their alley.:)

el said...

My gah, it looks like your wife has great aim! My only worry would be the thousands of volunteers they're engendering...

have fun. Cleanup SHOULD be fun-ish.

Naomi said...

Nice for the mess-making shoe to be on the other foot, hey ;) looks like loads of fun!

Mr. H. said...

El,

Judging from the mess they made of each other I would say they are both pretty good shots.

But yes, I will remind them both next summer why there are so many extra volunteer tomatoes in that section of the garden when they go to weed it.:)

Mr. H. said...

Naomi,

Yes it is. They were well into it when I showed up and continued pummeling each other with the rotten tomatoes for about 15 minutes. Makes me glad that I'm not in charge of the laundry.

John Going Gently said...

lovely blog photos
I tried to grow celery on my allotment this year and failed miserably....any tips

regards John Uk (wales)

Mr. H. said...

Hi John,

My only advice would be to try growing a small patch of it under a row cover or cloche so that it will not only get lots of precipitation, which I believe you got this summer, but warmth as well.

If you cover it just before the sun goes down, helping to hold the heat in, and open it in the morning you will have accomplished this. I know it makes a huge difference with some of our crops during rainy summers.

Unfortunately, if your allotment is not close at hand this would not work out so well.

Normally celery likes warm, not hot, weather with lots of percipitation.

The only other thing I can think of is that perhaps your soil was not rich enough as celery is a heavy feeder that thrives on well composted soil.

One more thing, celery also needs to be started early as it takes quite a while to fully develope.

Mike

It's me ...Mavis said...

I loved the belly laugh at about 30 seconds on the video. The little man will remember this for a long time :)

LynnS said...

That was great video....thanks for the smiles. I guess the home-grown Saponaria soap must be working well!

Love the line, "..come a little closer..." My, my, he is already figuring things out! :-0

WeekendFarmer said...

What a wonderful way to raise a child!!!! Enjoyed the video : ).

Mr. H. said...

Mavis,

He was laughing so hard when he got hit right in the I thought he might wet himself.:)

Mr. H. said...

Lynn,

The boy is quite the trickster, fortunately it is his poor father that suffers the most. I just wish I could have captured the whole event on my camcorder instead of the camera, maybe I can get them to do a reenactment of the event.:)

Mr. H. said...

WeekendFarmer,

Thanks, we are teaching him all sorts of bad habits. The poor lad has to be so careful in the garden all summer, so in the fall we can't help but let him tromp around a bit. I'm just glad the tomatoes weren't still frozen.

Related Posts with Thumbnails