SUMMER VEGGIES!

Radishes

Not even a month since planting the seeds, beautiful, crisp, round radishes begin to emerge from the ground!  They really let you know when they're ready to be harvested.  I found all of these ones just bulging out from the dirt!  They are tasty, too!

Everyone.  PLEASE wear helmets when you ride your bike.  Daniel would probably be dead or a vegetable right now if he hadn't been wearing a helmet when he took a spill on Saturday night.

It's still a bit mysterious what happened-- he suffered a concussion (even WITH helmet) and lost about an hour of memory.  Apparently he lost control of his bike somehow and flipped in the midst of thick car traffic.  Through a twist of fate, I witnessed the scary-looking post-crash scene from the bus I was riding, which I think I will remember in horrifying flashbacks for a good long time.  I am so thankful that it wasn't as bad as it looked.  We got off easy, given what could have happened!

So, I implore all bike riders: even careful riders can get in accidents.  Be careful, but also wear a helmet!  Always!

In the day spent watching concussion-victim-Daniel for signs of more severe damage, I managed to get a little art-ing done for my roommate Nina's booklet about the UW farm.  (Clever segue, eh?)

These are little watercolor illustrations to function as headers for various topics in the booklet:
edit: make sure to click on the images to see them in full size!

I'm not going to try to explain the last one...

Perhaps my favorite image in the book is this illustration by Nina:

"Imagine a time and place where ecology students
cannot recognize a carrot growing in the ground..."

CHICKENS!!!

At the Portage Bay Grange, just a couple blocks from my house, they raise baby chickies!!!

And baby duckies, too!!!

and MORE baby chickies!

And baby Tays, too!

Here are my VERY OWN CHICKY BABIES!!! (And my roommates' and neighbors'...)

They're such sweet clucks.

Here's what the chickens see when we're stealing their eggs:

URBAN FARMING, YEAH!!!

See how the garden grows!

Look at my post of a mere two days ago to see the dramatic difference!  The carrots have just poked out their tender little sprouts, and check out the beans:

(They're the ones in the front couple rows: behind them are radishes.)  They are looking SO hardy!

Salad lovers, drool with envy!  These kales and lettuces are fresh and tender and delicious:

Eager radishes

Radishes begin to sprout already:

And rainbow beets:

And even the bush beans just barely begin to peek outside!

Beets, Carrots, Radishes, Beans

I'm excited to watch these little guys sprout and grow (I hope!!!)

Thanks, Marie, for letting me be your sharecropper!  :)