Time to plant some onions!

Although it's just the first of March, it's not too early or too cold to get members of the Lilliaceae family in the ground. Of the genus, Allium, onions are actually bulbs that shoot up a stalk and create a beautiful ball-like blossom of tiny little flowers. This year, we're growing your basic yellow onions that get pretty big, smaller spring onions (scallions) and leeks.

An onion bloom

We started the scallions and leeks in the greenhouse several weeks ago. In the past couple of days we placed them outside the greenhouse so they could acclimate to the weather. We also bought small bunches of bigger yellow onions, which can be found at any home improvement garden center, nurseries or feed stores. These bunches consist of very small bulbs with tiny roots and a small section of stalk. While there are usually quite a few in the bunch, you could share some with a friend or family member and plant a few for yourself in any small home garden. They don't take up much room and need to be planted about a foot apart, although they could be planted closer.

You'll need well draining, loose soil. Ours is just regular garden soil with no particular amendments. It's important to plant the onions very shallowly, which will encourage their roots to develop more, bringing nutrients to the bulb and making it easier to pull up once it's ready for harvest. Onions must have a good supply of water throughout their growing season, but they're pretty drought tolerant and don't need to be soaked everyday. Mother Nature will probably take care of it for you, especially during spring months.


A row of yellow onion bulbs, planted about one foot apart in regular ole garden soil. Nothing fancy here.

If you've planted the onions shallowly, you'll be able to see them developing in the soil. They can be pulled and eaten anytime from this point on, and scallions will need to be pulled and eaten during spring. For the biggest onions, it's best to leave them in the ground until around June to ensure nice sized yellow onions, big enough to make delicious beer-battered fried onion rings, my favorite way to prepare them. We usually leave most of them until the top stalks start to dry out and turn brown. One of my favorite days in the garden is when we pull them all up, lay them out in the sun for a day or so to dry their outer layer, preserving the moist layers inside. We tie them up and store in a dark, dry place. They can last for months if done this way. I've gone through entire summer and fall seasons without having to buy any from the store! In my opinion, onions grown in the home garden, plucked from the soil and taken straight inside to be prepared have so much more flavor and provide a much more gratifying experience.

76-100

Finally, here is the end of the long, exhaustive and pretty much unnecessary list. It was kind of fun though!

76. In case you haven't noticed, I'm a real outside kind of gal. Definitely not a treehugger, hippie or anything like that, but being out in the beauty God created just feeds my soul. At times in my life I've been embarrassed or in denial about the fact that it's who I am, but now I can admit it with pride.
77. However, I hate bugs.
78. Unfortunately, bugs love me, especially mosquitoes, which means I am a very efficient processor of cholesterol. That's what Good Morning America told me.
79. I love dystopian novels, and "The Giver" by Lois Lowry is my favorite book forever.
80. I have a really wonderful husband, even if I don't like calling him that.
81. Every time I, or anyone else in my family, has any kind of health problem, I consult the Mayo Clinic.
82. The best trip I've ever been on was to the Smokey Mountains two springs ago. It was the perfect trip with my family, and we will never be able to recreate it.
83. Technically I had five majors in college: English, Elementary Education, Art, Horticulture and Mass Communication with Journalism concentration. (The Horticulture stint was at a different school and only lasted for three days, because I did not own a cowboy hat or a pair of Wranglers.)
84. I love mushrooms, but not to eat. I just like to look at the magical little creations. The hubs gave me a mushroom doormat for Christmas, and I love it!
85. Mission style furniture/design is my strong preference.
86. I am very much enjoying the Winter Olympics!
87. I've been volunteering in the nursery at church some on Sundays. I have absolutely no experience with babies/kids, and I'm not sure if it makes me want to have some or not.
88. I have the best parents in the world.
89. I feel that I am meant to live out in the country with lots of land, no neighbors, chickens in the front yard and at least a 15 minute drive to the grocery store. We're working on it.
90. It's taken me a week to make this list.
91. I once worked as a Production Assistant for a "Preparedness Minutes" series that was broadcast online for emergency personnel around the state. Or something like that.
92. I have never watched an episode of American Idol, and I don't plan to.
93. I also somewhat secretly love teen science fiction/fantasy novels. This does not include the "Twilight" series (although I have read it), but books like Graceling, The Hunger Games, Eragon, etc.
94. My favorite scent is tea olive (Osmanthus frangrans)
95. I like Publix doughnuts more than Krispy Kreme.
96. Addicted to Publix chicken fingers. They're a Friday night tradition.
97. I don't wear make-up. Not because I have a problem with it or think I don't need it. I just don't.
98. Some days I also "just don't" remember to brush my hair or put on deodorant. Thankfully, it never really matters much.
99. I am a Certified Master Gardener with over 100 volunteer hours completed to date.
100. I'm done!

51-75

51. I yearn for The Wonder Years. I don't like the people who can't figure out the music rights situation to get it released on DVD.
52. My favorite bands have at one time or the other been (in no particular order): No Doubt, Silverchair, Sublime, Hanson, Weezer, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Smashing Pumpkins and Modest Mouse. I still like most of them.
53. I had a job lined up right after college where I worked for almost a year. It taught me a lot and I got some great experience, but working in an office all day where my only connection to the outdoors was my landscape desktop image, just didn't do it for me, so I quit.
54. My favorite flower is queen Anne's lace.
55. Picking flowers is my favorite.
56. Arranging flowers is my favorite.
57. I was a bridesmaid and the floral designer for my best friend's wedding last May.
58. Napoleon Dynamite is my favorite movie.
59. Two of my cats are named after characters from the above mentioned movie.
60. My other cat is Gus. He was older when we adopted him, so we didn't want to change his name. If we had, it would have been Uncle Rico.
61. I grew up with goats on our farm. My special buddy was Popcorn, and I fed him out of a bottle while he was in bed with me.
62. I realize #61 is probably a little weird.
63. All of our goats were named after food items of some sort.
64. We also had chickens, a turkey named Gertrude, and a rabbit named Ralph. Ralph became Rachel when we realized he was a she.
65. We use Fiestaware every day with all the colors mixed together.
66. I don't own an iron.
67. I enjoy bagging my own groceries.
68. I try to always use reusable bags.
69. I am a quarter of a century old.
70. In the summer, I pretty much wear only t-shirts and brightly colored knit shorts.
71. Some of the t-shirts I still wear are from elementary school. They're all environmental, and my favorite one has the earth surrounded by flower petals on both sides. On the front it says, "They love me," and on the back it says, "They love me not," with one petal plucked off.
72. My bedroom is painted the color, "Stem Cut."
73. I have a part-part-time to part-time job, spring through fall as a plant vendor/merchandiser at a large national home improvement store. I am not employed by the store itself, so I have no set hours or schedule. It's a pretty physical job, but I like that it helps keep me in shape, and I get to be outside, working with plants.
74. I drive a silver Nissan Versa.
75. I am quite fond of chocolate.

26-50

26. My favorite color is purple.
27. I also really, really like green.
28. I accidentally ended up with a pure bred (or almost) wheaten terrier from the Humane Society. Her name is Layla (pictured to the left, in the front). She was recovering from horrible mange and in bad shape when we got her, so we didn't know what kind of dog she was. Wheatens are awesome, but they have extremely long hair that doesn't shed. Her hair's at least 4 inches long right now, and I have to constantly brush it.
29. My other dog is a yellow lab/cocker spaniel mix. She looks like a lab but is on the small side. Her name is Roxanne (also pictured above and to the left), but she was called Bashful at the Humane Society, because she was extremely scared and shy.
30. Yes, both of my dogs were named after the Eric Clapton and Police songs. Which means Roxanne was actually named after a Parisian prostitute. She's OK with that though.
31. Watermelon is my favorite food.
32. I get very attached to small moments.
33. My favorite movie/TV moment of all time is when Ed and Ruthann dance on the mountainside grave he gave her for a birthday present in the Season 3 episode of Northern Exposure, "A-Hunting We Will Go."
34. My husband and I watch the entire Northern Exposure series, which is five seasons every year.
35. I don't like the word husband. Or wife, really.
36. I am a Christian.
37. I love making stained glass, but I don't have the space to do it right now.
38. I graduated from college in 3 years.
39. I wore contacts for about 10 years, but about three years ago, my eyes revolted, and I have to wear glasses now.
40. In the 2nd grade, around the holidays, I was running over to talk to my friend, but the sun blinded me, and I collided with the monkey bars and broke my nose instead.
41. My parents hang the bloody reindeer necklace I made out of popsicle sticks and was wearing at the time of the accident on their Christmas tree every year. It's my favorite ornament.
42. I hate cleaning the house but make myself do it every Friday and before any major vacation or holiday.
43. I prefer mountains to beach.
44. I have one sister-in-law who I consider a good friend and get along with most of the time, unless her favorite past time, looking at houses, is involved.
45. Even though I write about houses and neighborhoods all the time for work, I hate looking at them for recreational purposes.
46. I spend all my extra money on books.
47. I loved AP English in high school and passed the exam at the end of the year, so I didn't have to take Freshman English in college.
48. The only Bs I got in college were in math and chemistry.
49. My favorite college class was Plant Physiology. It was also one of the hardest.
50. In Plant Physiology, I got to make a plant collection that involved digging up native plants, identifying, recording and pressing them. Sometimes I want to make one again, just for fun.

The First 25

Recently, Tina from hatched has been a source of inspiration and encouragement for me to start a blog. I actually do know her, so I don't feel quite so stalkerish when I read her blog. Or maybe that makes it worse, I don't know. She got the idea from a fellow blogger to list "100 Things About Me." Remember when everyone was posting "20 Things About Me" on Facebook a year or so ago? Yeah, I never did that, because of some reasons that will follow, but I'm trying to expand my horizons and be a little less of an Internet recluse.

1. According to the Myers-Briggs Personality Type Test and the evaluation I got for free when I wrote an article about it, you don't get much more introverted than me. I've always known this, but hearing that it's OK from someone else kind of changed my life a little bit.
2. I'm an only child, which helps explain #1 to a certain extent.
3. I currently have three cats and two dogs but grew up with four dogs and never more than one cat.
4. When working at a vet's office in high school, I adopted a "kennel" cat who had feline leukemia (FeLV) and feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV). His previous owners took him in for euthanization, which the vet did not do. My family and I were blessed to have him for about four years before he died due to complications of the diseases.
5. My husband and I forgot we were in our mid-20s and got a hamster from Petsmart. Neither of us really liked her, because she bit us and peed on us, but we pretended we did. When her little life ended after less than a year we cried like babies.
6. I love animals. Can you tell?
7. Recycling is my favorite.
8. Even when I get to know people, I'm pretty quiet.
9. I'm a very private person, so making lists such as these is hard for me.
10. Mental hospitals fascinate me.
11. I love to bake and cook but hate dealing with recipes. Rather than go through my recipe "file," I will go back to the computer, find the recipe again and rewrite it all down.
12. I get great satisfaction out of making a successful roux.
13. When I was little, I sat on a slug.
14. I hate dealing with bills of any kind. So I don't.
15. I have a husband who is good at paying bills.
16. There are 5 purple finches eating from my bird feeder.
17. This is hard.
18. I have an unnatural obsession with teen angst shows from the 90s that were written more for adults but about teenagers and only lasted one season. I love My So-Called Life, which I can watch all the way through in less than two weeks. I received Freaks and Geeks Christmas 09 and am already on my third trip through the series. My husband is watching this time though, so it's not really THAT sad.
19. I don't think I was a freak or a geek in high school. I was a band nerd though.
20. On January 1, 2003, I marched in the Lord Mayor's New Years Day Parade in London, England. I played the trumpet while doing so.
21. I am currently wearing my long-sleeved tee that commemorates the event.
22. My favorite current television show is The Office, although it has been somewhat disappointing as of late.
23. I am also quite fond of the original, British version of The Office, created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant. I usually watch the series all the way through at least once a year with English subtitles, because I can't always understand what they say between the accents and heavy giggling.
24. We usually eat leftovers on Thursday nights.
25. I am reading my 10th book of 2010.

Signs of Spring

Clockwise from top left: leeks, lettuce, crocus, tomatoes

Earlier this week I worked with my dad in the greenhouse. The leeks and onions that we started from tiny seeds several weeks ago are really starting to grow. They have already been transplanted once, and in just a few more weeks, we'll be planting each one in the garden by hand. I'd say we have hundreds at this point, so that's sure to be fun on our backs.

Lettuce was also one of the first vegetables we started this year. Mescalin is pictured above, and I love all the different colors, shapes and sizes that are so different, yet it can all grow together and thrive with the same light, soil and water requirements. I don't see any yet, but my favorite is the speckled lettuce that is bright green with little freckles of deep red. We'll also plant much of this in the garden in a few weeks.

Tomatoes usually take at least two weeks to germinate, but we started our seeds indoors on a heating pad, which allowed them to start popping up in just four days! With heat underneath and a bright light above, they have been growing rapidly and desperately needed to be transplanted into their own small containers. One variety we've already started is called 'Sungold,' which are delicious little yellow cherry tomatoes. A new variety for us, 'Hillbilly,' tomatoes are an heirloom variety that my dad's cousin requested. Of course, we've also got an entire flat of the classic "Better Boy."

The sweet little purple crocuses popped up about a week ago. Just a few of the tiny bulbs that were planted several years ago have multiplied to make many more. First thing on a cold morning, they are completely frozen and closed tight, but as the sun comes up and warms the earth and air, they thaw out and open up to reveal their light purple petals and orange interiors that always hug the ground. They are the only thing blooming, but they promise that Spring is on the way.

First thoughts about "A Wolf at the Table" by Augusten Burroughs

I'm probably one of the few people who read "A Wolf at the Table," a memoir of Augusten Burroughs' father before reading his own memoir, "Running with Scissors." I've seen that some other readers who discovered him much earlier than I did, feel "A Wolf at the Table" changes all the impressions they had of him, his childhood and family. Having only read his first novel, "Sellevision," which wasn't about his own personal experiences, as far as I know, I can't say if this is true or not. I'll see if my impressions change after reading "Running with Scissors."

"A Wolf at the Table" is the type of book that just makes you cringe, whether the events that take place are all true or not. There's not much physical violence, but it's emotional violence that makes you want to curl up into a ball and hide in the closet. As an animal lover who babysat a guinea pig, owned a hamster and has never been without at least two dogs, Burroughs' experiences with his beloved guinea pig and two of the three dogs he grew up with are heartbreaking. (Thank goodness there aren't any cats in the book, because I don't know if I could have taken it.) Even though it was obvious in most cases that it was coming, it didn't lessen the pain and shock I felt for the poor hamster, Ernie, who his father starved to death and left in his own filth, for the dog who was the only one his father never allowed in the house and suffered with a tumor in his mouth without ever being taken to the vet or Burroughs' faithful companion, who had once protected him against his father but was somehow turned against the young boy by his father while he was away for a few days.

About three-fourths of the way through, when he is about 12 years old, the book quickly skips over a huge block of time when he says he was living with his mother's psychiatrist. I assume this is explored more fully in "Running with Scissors," but it disrupted the flow of this book. The chapters after this point seem unconnected and fly through time, skipping over several years at once showing Burroughs' struggles with his career in advertising, alcoholism, continued strained relationship with his father, deterioration of his mother and his father's eventual death. His father leaves Burroughs his diaries, most of which include mundane writings about the weather and gas prices, but in one entry it mentions that Augusten had been distant that day, and his father speculates that it's because of his "games." In a way, that kind of makes the whole book make a little more sense, but I was left feeling as though I wasn't completely sure what had actually happened, what might have been severely or slightly exaggerated and what his father was really like. Did his father truly have rotting teeth, peeling skin that bloodied his shirts and such a terrible relationship with his son that he chased him through the woods at night? I'm hoping reading his earlier work will shed some light on those questions.