Mad Cat Garden | October 2020

November 5, 2020 Ana Mo Shoshin

It was an interesting month for the Garden. Most of October was dreary, rainy, and sparse in the garden. But there were moments of brightness and sun. For some reason, I didn’t take too many photos this month, so the Oct tour of the garden will be specific.

At the beginning of the month, our morning glories were still going strong and even coming up through every break in our concrete patio. We love the morning glories and want to think of a way to train them better next year.

We have been moving things into the green house, trying to get everything we want to save (or try to save) inside before the first frost. When the sun is out, it’s so nice to peek inside the walls. We have some foraged furniture and shelves inside, but it’s not big so it’s a fun puzzle to try and fit everything.

There was a lot for this month, we lost a lot of our last tomatoes and peppers as they were shook of the bushes.

Our pineapple sage went to flower this month and it was brilliant!! The flowers are beautiful.

Our orange thyme mascot is still doing well and got a little company for October.

What was your garden doing this month?

October Plant Update

November 3, 2020 Ana Mo Shoshin

Looking back at October’s plant observations, I sort of only took pictures of the brightest and bluest days! there was a lot of rainy days in October, that shook the blooms and fruit off the plants and bushes. There were copious downpours that made all plants grey, sodden and sagging. But there were clear bright days as well. Flowers hanging on for dear life.

Anyone know what these white drop blooms are?

Looking quite idyllic with a busy road right and train tracks out of view.

Tempted to buy any flower still blooming when we visit the farmers market.

American Beauty Berries provide a pop of color!

This moth was STUNNING! Huge and iridescent.

I never managed to see what this fellow was stalking.

What was October like where you live? Was it a month full of observation or light on them?

Video | First Vlog | "Weekend" Reading Vlog | BookTube and Cats | Walk on the Beach

November 2, 2020 Ana Mo Shoshin

Hi, I’m Mo.
Thanks for joining me today! I post videos on Mondays and Fridays.
This is my first attempt at vlogging. Wow, making a vlog is hard! In my first ever vlog we read, walk on the beach in Asbury Park, visit a free little library, see some cats, see some boats, and check out some recently acquired vintage and thrifted books. I read one entire book for this vlog and started another.

What do you like to see people do in vlogs? Do you like just DITL or vlogs with a theme?

Books I am reading in this vlog:
Through a Glass, Darkly (1950) Helen McCoy
The Old Country (2005) Mordicai Gerstein

Cats in this Video: Martin, Flounder, Irving, and some neighborhood friends

Original music by audionightlight. https://soundcloud.com/anlight/tracks

Blog: http://www.madcatquilts.com/blog
Instagram: http://instagram.com/madcat1
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/120401161-ana-mo-shoshin

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Video | Garden Walk No. 1 | Late Fall Garden | Cat in the Garden | Walk with Me

October 30, 2020 Ana Mo Shoshin

Hi, I’m Mo.
I post videos every Friday and Monday. Thanks for joining me today! Walk with me in our raised bed garden. Here is late Fall in our garden. There are still flowers, tomatoes, peppers, kale and lettuces, and much more. But bc the weather is getting cooler, the garden is winding down. I’m not the only one taking a garden walk today! Irving is walking in the garden, too!

What other plant and flowers can you spot in this video?

A word about zero waste and the garden:
We try to live a zero waste lifestyle and this extends to the garden as well! We do buy plants from local markets, but we always reuse the plastic pots they come in. We do occasionally buy bags of soil but we try to buy soil in bulk. When we have plastic soil bags, we reuse them or wash them out and recycle them with other plastic bags. We thrift or forage a lot of our pots and containers, wood and shelves for the garden.

Are you a zero waste gardener? Do you have tips or tricks? Would you like to see a video on how we use or reduce waste in the garden?

Cats in this Video: Irving

Original music by audionightlight. https://soundcloud.com/anlight/tracks

Blog: http://www.madcatquilts.com/blog
Instagram: http://instagram.com/madcat1
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/120401161-ana-mo-shoshin

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On My Mind On Friday Morning

October 30, 2020 Ana Mo Shoshin

I’ve never been to Florida.
I’ve been wanting to make soy candles.
Canva seems like a cool program. Has any of my readers used it?
An interesting article of the origins of some spooky stories.
I was happy to spot this paste up by @sentimentalhogwash in a perfect fall setting.

Something New | Seed Saving

October 27, 2020 Ana Mo Shoshin

We had our garden for several years now and this is the second year we have saved seeds. Last year, we saved seeds ideally. “let’s keep the seeds and see what happens…” but this year we are saving with a purpose! Almost with a fervor. So this can still be considered something new.

The first year we saved seeds, we saved pepper seeds almost exclusively. When we planted them at the beginning of this year, a lot of them were viable! We got a pepper crop from our old peppers! How exhilarating! It made us want to collect all sorts of seeds and try to grow them next year. We saved seeds from all our favorite items that we grew this year; tomatoes, peppers, flowers, peas, edamame, and more. My husband is great about researching how is the best way to gather, and save seeds. I usually just pick something, let it dry and get those seeds. what’s the worst that can happen?

Once we exhausted everything in our garden we started looking else where for seeds. Anything we ate, the question came up, can we save the seeds? If we took a walk and saw a fallen flower or plant. Can we save the seed? When we got our holiday pumpkins we thought - we can save the seeds! And when we visited community gardens we searched for fallen fruit and veg to save the seeds!

Now we are seed foragers and plan to grow all sorts of interesting things that we might not have if we hadn’t found the seeds. Ground cherries, why not? Pumpkin patch in the yard, sounds good! It’s been a fun adventure to seek out seeds. It’s zero waste, saving us money and it’s an enjoyable pastime. And it will be a fun adventure to see which seeds are viable next year.

If you garden, do you save seeds each season? Have you had good luck or bad?

Something Nice: Seeds from Strangers

October 20, 2020 Ana Mo Shoshin

I love to see other people saving seeds. We will be happy to plant these seeds in the Spring!

On My Mind On Friday Morning

October 16, 2020 Ana Mo Shoshin

Happy to report, the ghost is out!
This was a very interesting look at the contrast between American and British cop shows, the latter of which I am a big fan. Some obvious differences are noted (lack of guns, remote locations), but it also gets into more subtle differences.
I also really enjoyed this article detailing the 100 most influential cartoon sequences of all time. I feel like I’ve only seen less than half of them.
I’ve been listening to Agatha Christie’s Murder at the Vicarage read by Richard E Grant and it’s amazing!
Last week we met this fellow, we are calling him Martin for now. He appears in our yard and yells at us until we feed or pet him.

Video | Non BookTuber does the Mid Year Book Freak Out Tag | YouTube Newbie

October 12, 2020 Ana Mo Shoshin

Hello!
Thanks for joining me! I’m restarting my youtube channel and I appreciate you checking it out. Here I attempt a very late Mid Year Book Freak Out Tag. Have you read any of these books?

Mid Year Book Freak Out Questions:
1. Best book you’ve read so far in 2020
2. Best sequel you've read so far in 2020.
3. New release you haven't read yet, but want to.
4. Most anticipated release for the second half of the year.
5. Biggest disappointment.
6. Biggest surprise.
7. Favorite new author. (Debut or new to you)
8. Newest fictional crush.
9. Newest favorite character.
10. Book that made you cry.
11. Book that made you happy.
14. Most beautiful book so far this year
15. What books do you need to read by the end of the year?

Books Mentioned:
The Quiet American (1955) Graham Green http://www.madcatquilts.com/blog/2020/6/18/the-quiet-american

Red Dragon (1981) http://www.madcatquilts.com/blog/2020/7/26/red-dragon and The Silence of the Lambs (not yet read, 1988) Thomas Harris

Dayworld (1985) http://www.madcatquilts.com/blog/2020/5/24/dayworld and Dayworld Rebel (not read yet, 1987) Philip Jose Farmer

Notes from a Small Island (1995) Bill Bryson http://www.madcatquilts.com/blog/2020/8/22/notes-from-a-small-island

Let’s all Kill Candice (2002) http://www.madcatquilts.com/blog/2020/4/9/lets-all-kill-constance and

Something Wicked This Ways Comes (1962) http://www.madcatquilts.com/blog/2020/5/31/something-wicked-this-way-comes Ray Bradbury

The Black Tower (1975) PD James http://www.madcatquilts.com/blog/2020/4/22/the-black-tower

Loafing Down Long Island (1921) Charles Hanson Townes http://www.madcatquilts.com/blog/2020/4/3/loafing-down-long-island

Howl’s Moving Castle (1986) Diane Wynne Jones http://www.madcatquilts.com/blog/2020/6/30/howls-moving-castle

Joy in the Morning (1947) PG Wodehouse http://www.madcatquilts.com/blog/2019/8/29/joy-in-the-morning

The Adventure of Doctor Doolittle (1920) Hugh Lofting

A Mind to Murder (1963) PD James http://www.madcatquilts.com/blog/2020/6/12/a-mind-to-murder

Be Here Now (1971) Ram Das

Blog: http://www.madcatquilts.com/blog
Instagram: http://instagram.com/madcat1
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/120401161-ana-mo-shoshin

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September Plant Update

October 8, 2020 Ana Mo Shoshin

September was an interesting month for plant observations. I usually find that September is one of my favorite months. It’s Summer, but not summer. It’s Fall, but not fall. This year was more Fall than previous years: the weather took a chilly turn and plants were not as vibrant as other years. It was a good month to watch the fast forward of the natural entropy.

Our clematis bush pretty much took over our porch this year.

But quickly declined in Sept. (See that black bee??)

And now really looks like old man’s beard.

We saw quite a few good mushrooms in Sept.

Our morning glories also took over this year, our backyard is swimming in them!

This flower has all sorts of bee tracks on it!

Our neighbor’s sedum gets the prize for most bugs ever.

The bees started getting sleepy by the end of the month.

Our sensitive plants have been blooming!

This pothos is starting to climb the walls again.

I’m interested to see what October brings for the all the plants. We’re still getting tomatoes, flowers, buds and leaves. Will that change in Oct? I’m nervous that it will be very cold!

How were your plant observations this month? Is the weather changing by you? Are the seasons changing?

Mad Cat Garden | September 2020

October 5, 2020 Ana Mo Shoshin

Although September was still a good garden month, the weather and our harvest definitely took a turn towards Winter. I feel like the last few years, Sept has been one of the more lush months for the garden, but this month, you could see that everything is winding down in the garden. Our tomatoes got extremely scraggly, our herbs bolted and shed leaves, our peppers still produced but the fruit got smaller and smaller.

Even in the beginning of the month our front bed tomatoes were struggling a little. This was our orginal bed and we think that we will refresh the dirt very much before planting it next year to see if fruits and veggies do better than they did this season. The only issue we have with changing up this bed is that this is where our brilliant orange thyme lives. This thyme bush is the pride and joy of our garden and we hope not to disturb it too much.

The rest of our herbs in front beds got leggy and sparse by the beginning of Sept. We are working on taking some cutting and propgating them to see if we can over winter herbs in the green house. Overall, I’m excited to have this bed be all kitchen herbs again next year, but I hope to find a way to utilize them more in cooking.

Our back yard beds were pretty full at the start of the month and fell off as the month progressed. Our flower bed did well and we are excited to devote a bigger bed to this next year. Our zucchini was still thriving in the start of the month but by the end, it’s only producing flowers. We have not eaten any of these flowers yet, only the fruit. Does anyone have a great recipe for squash blossoms to share?

We’re finalizing (I won’t say perfecting) our water system. We hope to forage at least one more water barrel.

Our raspberries produced more in Sept. Or maybe the squirrels just ate less? Either way, it’s a delight to wander out into the garden in the morning as pick a few berries to eat throughout the day.
Our bussels sprouts, which we planted in the spring, are still around, the brussels themselves never got very big and I’m not sure if we should have picked them ages ago? We still haven’t, so we’ll see how that goes, or if we ever do pick them. Both they and the kale have quite a storm of white flies when you brush by them, but they don’t seem to harm much.

We’ve been working on the green house, figuring out projects for storage, heating, and comfort. We have moved a few plants inside and are making plans for what will overwinter there. We are also diligently collecting sand, every time we go to the beach, to line the floor with. My husband’s idea, he’s not sure that it will benefit the GH but it sure looks cool.

Even though the garden slowed down considerably, we are still eating from it almost every day. We had our first soup of the fall and were able to use some items. We have still be getting tomatoes, but more and more of them have to ripen off the vine. We planted a few late lettuces and chard which we hope to enjoy soon. The garden is not at it’s peak, but it’s not done yet.

What was you garden like in September? Is it lush or slowing down? Do you have a green house? If so, how do you utilize yours?

The Joy Of Using Up

September 22, 2020 Ana Mo Shoshin

The other day I realized that we are almost out of tomato season. It happened quicker this year than last year. But each time we pick tomatoes there are less then the last harvest, more are unripe or rotten before we can get to them and each bush produces less. No more tomatoes and cheese, no more salsa and fresh sauce, no more tomatoes garnishing our salads and pastas. It made me sad.

But then, the weather took a cold spell and I saw a potato. Mmmm, I thought, we haven’t had potato soup in forever!

Part of being as zero waste as possible is eating with the seasons, eating what’s available when it is ripe and fresh. One might think that this is restricting, but really, it’s only the joy of using up. All winter we eat great and hearty winter veg and in the summer, those are set aside to have fresh light summer fruits and vegetables. A perfect balance and nothing is given up.

On My Mind On Friday Morning

September 18, 2020 Ana Mo Shoshin

Love these gorgeous moth photos.
I’m low on garlic and onion powder. Now that it’s getting cooler, I think I’ll make my own.
I love the idea of a To Done list.
Think twice before you litter, your bad habit might come back to you two fold.
We recently bought two clearence pear trees to try our hand (again) at fruit trees. I did not realize they were late summer bloomers. Ours are NOT blooming, but I saw these blossoms on a nearby tree and wondered if it, too, was pear?

Mad Cat Garden | August

September 3, 2020 Ana Mo Shoshin

Another month, flown by! Summer garden is almost gone! We never had much luck with sunflowers, but in August we got a really nice one from our wildflower bed. The squirrels loved it too and once the head of the flower got heavy enough to bend, the squirrels ate every seed.

We had similar luck with our few beautiful strawberries. None were had by us, but birds and squirrels reaped the benefit. We have gotten our strawbs to a good place. They much prefer pots, we find, but are sending out shoots and runners so we must come up way to encourage them to grow new plants.

Something else the squirrels love eating are our raspberries. Our bush has quadrupled in size this summer, but we haven’t seen a single ripe berry.

We have two water barrels that were both gifted to us, and this summer we have used their content as well as rainfall to water the garden almost exclusively. It’s a nice feeling not to turn on the hose. I’m sure this is having an effect of some of our plants, but being a new gardener, I’m not sure what it is. Our tomatoes and peppers are producing well, but by the end of Aug are looking a little scraggly. This could have something to do with the water situation.

This is a year of experimentation and we have done so much. Peppers from saved seeds, some in pots, some not, lettuce, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, zucchini, chard (the squirrels ate it all before it could grow more than a few inches), soy beans, onions, potatoes, wildflowers, new things for us to grow, or new methods of growing. A lot of things we are letting go to seed, in order to observe, or save. Many things have worked and we will try again next year. Some we plan to plant again asap for our fall garden. A new crop of radishes are planted, some using seeds from earlier this year. I want to try ginger and garlic in the fall.

Our yard looks crazier and crazier, especially when it’s not mowed, but it is a paradise of growth, a maze of meals. And we wouldn’t want it any other way. The greenhouse makes it all the more intese, but we haven’t even finished or starting using it. It will prolong our season, I’m sure.

Our first home grown zucchini looked like a duck. We’ve eaten a lot since them in Aug. We have tomatoes every other day or so. Our favorite way is fresh cut with mozz cheese and vinegar or in simple sauces, or fresh over pasta with garlic and olive oil. We eat a lot of peppers, pepperonchini, shishitos, poblanos (although our crop this year is nowhere near as prolific as 2019). Our new favorite method to enjoy is blistered with a horseradish cream dipping sauce. We’ve had edemame, pananella salad, zucchini parm.

Due to social distancing we have not given away as much as last year, not shared as much. So we have had to come up with new ways to eat or preserve veggies. We are not great at it yet, but hope to get better.

We have had a very mild Summer here and I’m interested to see what September will be like.

What have been your biggest crops this year? What are you favorite garden meals? Have you been able to share with friends and family?

July Plant Update

August 5, 2020 Ana Mo Shoshin

July was a good month for plant observations. Although it didn’t feel like we got out too much, we did indeed see some fun things. From the moment flowers start blooming until it’s too cold, these articles will always be a lot of just pretty flowers.

Now sure what these are but we planted them in the spring and they keep blooming.

Who is this frilly fella? Another echinacea?

I tried to maintain our house plants this month, moving some, turning others.

We came across this and other mushrooms on one of our evening walks .

I was trying to capture the two enormous crows in this tree in this pic, but it turned out to be a nice tree portrait instead.

We drove out to visit Cherry Grove Farms and this is what it looks like.

Notable about July was that it was hot. Like really hot and sweaty. We were lucky to be out and about as much as we were. What was July like where you live?

Mad Cat Garden | July 2020

August 3, 2020 Ana Mo Shoshin

The month of July went by so fast, it seems like I only got garden pics from the very beginning. I’m sure, if you live in the northern hemisphere, you can imagine how July and the height of Summer is like tho. Tomatoes, tomatoes, tomatoes.

In our two main back beds, the tomatoes were still ripening in the beginning of the month, but by the end we had tons of tomatoes. Our peas were totally done. Our peppers were peppering away. We grew almost all our peppers from seed that we saved from last year, so we were excited to have such a good crop. By the end of July, the lettuces were all but gone. we picked the remainder and hope to get another batch for our fall garden going soon. Cauliflower had long gone to seed. For some reason our potato vine died, but there seem to be a few potatoes under the earth.

More tomatoes and peppers in our middle bed. Most of what we planted this year was experimental. Some worked well, others did not. It’ll be interesting to sow a Fall garden this year, for more experimentation.

The last veg bed was planted latest and has a random assortment. Arugula, tomatoes, zucchini, endive, lettuce. The endive is thriving all thru July, but it’s so bitter we can’t eat it. Someone is eating the zuccs but it’s not us. The tomatoes in this patch are inexplicably blush colored.

The herb bed in the front is booming and everything is bolting now in the heat. In late July I chopped all the basil down to hopefully get a second crop out of it. So far, so good.We planted soy beans, which are beautiful! But we can’t tell if they are ready to pick yet. We have a bunny friend who visits here and has eaten the low hanging tomatoes. We’ve started laying out any split or over ripe or fallen fruit from the back as an offering.

In the beginning of the month we still had blueberries. The birds quickly ate all of them. By the end of July, the bushes were bare.

Most of these were ripened, picked, eaten and the branches thinned by the end of the month.

One of the few store bought peppers, pepperoncini, was prolific so far in July.

Lovely lavender from a local seller.

We grew all our shishitos from seed this year. Why are they so hard to find for sale? Blistered up, with lemon and course salt, they are one of our favorite meals. I recently served them with a horseradish and mayo dipping sauce and they were divine. Tomatoes are another staple Summer dish and we eat a lot of them!

How has your garden been this month? are you eating a lot from your growing?

Urban Foraging Diaries

July 27, 2020 Ana Mo Shoshin

I’m not sure where I first got the idea to pick things out of the trash. But I’ve been doing it for a long time.

I will always remember a particularly gorgeous lime green velvet swivel easy chair. I remember seeing it as I was driving home, retuning a few hours later, delighted that is was still there, wrestling it into my car, giving it pride of place in my room, later moving with it to NYC, it getting scratched up and ruined by the cats, and the day I had to sadly put it back out on the curb, really trash this time. I added years and years to that beautiful chair’s life and it brought me years of joy.

When the pandemic started and we realized that we couldn’t go thrift shopping any more, we started paying more attention to when the big pick up days for garbage were around us. We were going for nightly walks anyway and had spotted a few cool things out out on the curb. Bc of Covid 19, it took us a little while to get comfortable, but eventually we picked up a few items here or there. We use gloves, or wash our hands after, and let the objects sit outside for a few days or clean them well before bringing them into the house.

Now we go out on the days we know to scout. Most weeks we don’t get anything, but sometimes we hit a small jackpot. We’ve gotten many planters and pots of all sizes, a baseball bat, wood for various projects, a large sun umbrella, and more.

Last week we picked up a well loved dining room side board. We plan to cut the top shelf off and use it on our green house. The top is warped and the wood there is splitting, so cutting that off won’t be a tragedy. It’s clear that this piece was stripped, refinished, and stripped again. Then left for a long time in a basement or shed. But it has plenty of life left in it!

It might seem weird to pick something our of someone else’s trash, but if an object is still useful, it’s far better for it to go on being used. So let’s not call it garbage picking. Let’s call it urban foraging.

Have you found treasure in other people’s trash?

An Unexpected Break

July 18, 2020 Ana Mo Shoshin

That’s what happens when your internet goes down.

June Plant Update

July 7, 2020 Ana Mo Shoshin

I see a definite theme in my warm weather plant updates: Flowers. I love flowers. In the warm weather, I love to see all the flowers that are out as they bloom. In June, we travelled a little, tried to continue our daily walks when we weren’t working, and hung out in our own yard. We stayed away from the beach, now that it’s packed with people. But we were able to sneak in some beach walks, too.

There are several lakes about 5 min from our house. If you see them at the right time, they are shockingly scenic.

I was captivated by this shade of purple.

We wondered down to Cape May NJ this month and stopped at some farm stands on the way.

A very flower full traffic island on my walk to work.

What do you love most to observe of the Summer plants?