Jackfruit seedlings

My jackfruit seedlings are less than a year old and already roughly 2 feet tall. One of them developed a kink and started to grow almost completely sideways, so I tied it to some PVC pipe to straighten it out.

Jeopardy! birthday party

I love puzzles and games. Two years ago I held a puzzle hunt to celebrate my birthday. (The posts about the party are here, here, and here.) This year I decided to host a Jeopardy game, with my guests rotating through as contestants, and myself playing the part of Alex Trebek. I even made myself a mustache.

(I called myself "Alexa Trebek.")

I already had a set of answer buzzers that made sound effects when pressed - I'd originally bought them as amusing props for dog training.

I created 24 categories with 5 questions each, for 4 rounds of Jeopardy. (Click to see a larger image pop up.)

My friend Rachel also created one round, so that I could be a contestant.

My set up was cheap - I just taped the cards to a giant piece of cardboard that I saved for future sheet mulching.

I crocheted extra mustaches and gave them as prizes. The winner of each round would get to pick theirs first.

(They're pinned up because I blocked them to reduce curling up. The long strands of yarn are for tying them around your head.)

The game was a hit even though some of the questions were too obscure for anyone to answer correctly. I may repeat this for a future party!

Tree pruning practice

After attending the Tree Pruning Workshop, I was eager to try my hand at pruning my parents' fruit trees. Their trees had never been pruned since planting around 10 years ago. They need a lot of shaping to be done, but I learned in the workshop that one should not trim off more than 30% of the branches at a time. Some trees need to be pruned over the course of 2 years. Unfortunately, once I started, I had a hard time stopping.

Apple tree before. It had a lot of crossing branches and water spouts.

After - problems removed, but I cut more than 30%!

Little lemon tree after (I forgot to take a before shot) - I stopped myself short of doing the entire tree this time.

Orange tree before - lots of dead branches, and all the branches are long and hanging down with the weight of leaves and fruit.

Orange tree after - still needs a lot of work next year.

New pullets

One of my friends has a large flock of chickens and offered me some pullets to bring my flock back up to six. I took her up on the offer - I certainly couldn't resist once I saw that she had a beautiful Red Sex Link and Blue Laced Wyandotte!

They stayed in a separate pen within the run for a few days, but are now running with the big girls. The Australorp will briefly chase them away from food, but they're able to sneak back to eat and are getting along fine.

Toilet tank

The toilet tank was filling very slowly, and I suspected there was a blockage in the little hose at the top. I went to the store and saw that replacing the entire assembly was only a little more expensive than replacing any one part of it. I decided to go ahead and replace it all.

I don't have much experience with even basic handiwork, so I'm proud of myself.

Swan pants

Today is my 30th birthday, and I celebrated by making time for sewing, something I enjoy but rarely prioritize. I finally got around to finishing a pair of pants I've been "working on" for months and months. They are based on the muslin I made at a "design your own pants pattern" class at Stonemountain last December.

I am super pleased with how they turned out. I will make some minor alterations to the pattern (widen the bottoms, raise the back of the waist) and then hopefully make more pants in a more timely manner.

Fruit tree pruning and thinning workshop

I attended a workshop hosted by Common Ground Garden in Palo Alto. I've taken multiple workshops from them before, and always learn plenty. This one was specific to stone fruit tree pruning and thinning. Some things I learned:

• Summer pruning is more about cutting the outer canopy. The goals are to improve this year's crop, next year's harvest, and increase sun and light on the fruit.
• Do summer pruning once the fruit is set (about the size of your thumb).
• Prune out long, young whippy branches. Reduce branches with fruit to about 2-3 leaves above the fruit.
• Always prune out dead/diseased branches and fruit, any time of the year.
• Fall pruning is about shaping the tree, and you cut out more of the inner canopy. You should be able to see dappled light under the tree, rather than solid blocks of shade.
• You want to leave strong branches that will support fruit next year.
• Do fall pruning after fruit has fallen. Recent research shows that the tree will be healthier if it is done sooner rather than waiting until winter.
• Prune no more than about 30% of a tree in a year. That means that you might need to prune a neglected tree down over the span of 2 years.
• Fruit thinning is done to improve fruit size, color, and quality. It will reduce overbearing (too much weight on a particular branch) and stress on the tree. It will also help avoid heavy/light fruiting cycles.
• Do fruit thinning at the same time as summer pruning (once fruit is set).
• Remove fruit where it's growing too close together or it's too far out on the branch and might damage it.
• Practice, practice, practice.

I plan to practice on my parents' fruit trees! And on my tiny mandarin. Citrus trees can be pruned for shape at any time because they don't have a dormant season - often an individual tree never has a point in time when it doesn't have flowers and/or fruits growing.