Work Picnic Weekend

This weekend, we decided to enjoy the summer whilst it lasted and went Kayaking in a local lake near Germantown. This time, we explored a different part of the lake, and continued our slow and steady progress steering. We only went in a complete circle once whilst going straight, which was a large improvement!

Towards the end of the explore, we saw this section full of trees sticking out of the lake. Yet another reminder that all of the local lakes are man-made.

Saw this guys climbing out of the water and enjoying the sun. There were a lot of downed trees for him to perch on. Probably due to beavers.

Also this weekend, work had a picnic at a local Farm barbecue. The amount of food cooked was amazing, with row upon row of grills:

Chris and Sarah's trip to England (Part I)

Sarah and I headed back to England for my brother's wedding. Taking time away from a busy schedule, we managed to get a quick trip around Henley on Thames (where they have the Henley Regata), which was lovely:

It also had a great cake shop, which Sarah greatly appreciated:

The wedding was near (very near) to Wales, home of some of the best castles around. As we were in the border region, there were some amazing examples here, and we spent a day or two exploring some of the ones in our area. The castle at Raglan was one of the best:

We also ventured up some ever narrower lanes to visit some more out of the way castles. here is me looking relieved after reaching a particularly difficult to reach example. It was on the way to this castle I discovered the little-known Welsh tradition of upgrading a single track lane to a two way road by painting a dotted white line down the middle.

The end of an experiment

As we prepare for a short trip back to the UK, we realised that out plants might not survive at 90F without us. So, we instituted the only sensible response:




We gave the plants a solemn farewell....



All in all, I rate this experiment a success. Everything survived and we even produced a chilli and 12+ tomatoes. Next year, we will attempt to take another step toward full self sufficiency.

Just remembered, one plant is still thriving....



Ok. Off to the UK.....

Schaeffer Farm Trail

This weekend, we took it slow, as I was recovering from a cold/touch-of-death. I think this was bought on by hardy American viral strains.

Despite the blocked up feeling (why haven't we cured the cold yet?), we went on a walk around Schaeffer Farm Trail yesterday. This was a lovely little walk on a mountain biking trail near our local park. They've done a great job making a trail full of features for bikers, and there were loads of guys zipping past us on speedy bikes.

The trail is located next to a corn field; and reminded us to look out for local Maize Mazes, like the great one in Cambridge.

This week, we also harvested our entire chilli crop, prior to us heading off to the UK. It was an arduous process, harvesting the chilli's, preparing them and storing them for the winter. It felt very satisfying after the effort, love and attention we have put into our chilli plants, and the harvest (shown below in all its glory), shows that all that effort was well worth it:

We will be using this crop as a spice for a long, long time. I think we are very well on the way to a self-sufficient lifestyle.