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Currently showing!

Eloine

I am pleased to say a few of my photos are currently showing at faculty and staff show at Los Medanos College through the end of the month.

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Here I am at the LMC reception shot by my friend John Schall

There will be another show after that is open to all on October 8 (submissions need to be in no later 10/4) on you relating to earth as a terrestrial being on the medium of a postcard.

Coming up Saturday, October 5 from 10 – 3 will be a reception and the start of the Delta Digital Camera Club Photography Exhibition in which more of my photos will be displayed. There is a collection of wonderful photos in this show from many photographer that will be prove to be worth your time to come and see. The event will be at CR Framing with food and and light jazz. The show will run for a whole month so if you can’t see it then come and take a look later.

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Here a pepper, there a pepper…

Eloine

It’s that time when all the Summer fruit is in abundance. Now what the heck do you do with it all? There are only so many ways to stuff a pepper before they all start to taste the same.

When trying to figure out what to do with my peppers I happened across the Pacific Coast Farmer’s Market web database of recipes and found you could look up by seasonal ingredient, type of dish or type of cuisine. No ads and easy printing as opposed to other recipe sites.

I opted for the grilled bell peppers since I had garlic chives, rosemary and peppers. The only thing I didn’t grow was the olive oil. There is something so satisfying about using everything you grew yourself for a recipe even if it’s a simple one (something that rarely happens for me)!

Doesn’t it kinda look like Christmasy? 🙂

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Powdery mildew solution

Eloine
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Swan Neck Gourd

I was sooo excited about my big swan neck gourds that were developing only to be let down by the  sudden appearance of fluffy ugly white patches on the bottom leaves of my plant. It’s right now in the heart of a hot August in dry California – it’s just a given that my plants are going to get it.

I instantly cut the leaves off only to find many more the next day. At that rate I wasn’t going to have a plant left!

From what I read powdery mildew thrives in hot windy dry conditions. From my reading this is one of those times that overhead watering is ok. This will slow the spread of the white patches. Before this I had only been soaking the soil with soaker hoses below and no water was getting on the leaves.

Ants in addition to wind spread the powdery mildew and when the ground is dry it’s more susceptible to an ant invasion – which I also had. If ants are on the soil after you water cover the soil with cinnamon. This acts as a repellent and they will go elsewhere. Which still left me with dealing with the powdery mildew that already took hold. Read more →

Will you vote for me?

Eloine

RUSSIAN STANDARD VODKA INCREDIBLE PURSUITSI entered into the Russian Standard Vodka Incredible pursuit for a chance to win $10,000 and several mentor sessions on my project. Along with my mother and I we have developed a way of gardening that requires very little work when set up and done in such a way that disabled or elderly people will still be able to garden. We call it “easy gardens” for now.

Someone with a wheel chair would be able to garden with this system. It requires little soil. Protects the plants from bugs and rodents and is completely organic. Once planted all someone would really need to do is harvest. There is no reason you have to be in tip top shape with a good back to garden. There is no reason the elderly need to be shut away in little boxes in front of a blaring TV talk shows when they could be enjoying the sunshine and enjoying ripe tomatoes fresh off the vine.

Click the button below to go the Russian Standards Vodka page and enter your birthday to make sure you’re of legal age and please show your support. I am happy for the votes I have so far and am energized that I might be able to make this a reality in an assisted living facility or a place like this where people are of limited mobility but still want to get out and enjoy life.

[button link=”http://russianstandardpursuits.com/entry/Eloine-Chapman” type=”big” color=”orange”] VOTE[/button]

 

 

Double duty bokashi composting

Eloine

I have share a little garden update success. I’ve been doing bokashi composting (rapid composting) for a little while now and developed a routine that I thought I would share.

Bokashi is a method of composting that is basically fermenting kitchen waste with a mixture called EM-1 and then burying it in the ground to finish the composting cycle in about 28 days. It can vary of course according to the weather – in winter it takes longer than in the Summer but it’s safe to say when digging the soil back up after 28 days most of the kitchen material will be gone and you’ll have rich black fluffy soil in its place. (read an article about bokashi here).

The advice is to dig a trench in the backyard and bury it at least 8 inches deep after it has fermented. The deeper the better and given  I have birds and thick heavy clay soil I opted for another way of doing it.

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Read more →

Magnify an image

Eloine

I ran across this jquery plugin to magnify an image. I needed to put a map on a page that I felt was a little small for the detail it had. This plugin allows the mouse over to actually load a larger image in place of it without destroying your layout.

[button link=”http://www.losmedanos.edu/construction/pathways.asp” newwindow=”yes”] Demo[/button]

[button link=”http://mlens.musings.it/” color=”green” newwindow=”yes”] Download[/button]