EDIT//If you want to see my boring plants/seeds you can see some pictures here. I’m really just messing around and only have a base knowledge of horticulture, etc, so please feel free to kick in some tips, especially for germinating strawberries!//EDIT
Burns:
Yesterday we went surfing again. In Zhunan a “beach” about an hour away from Taichung. I shouldn’t really say it was a “beach”, I mean it was a beach, but it wasn’t a necessarily pleasant beach. It was completely trashed with tires, trash, and even a dog skeleton. The surf brought in a yellowish foam, which is never good. The wind was off the charts, whipping the rough sand over and into everything and making it practically unbearable to just sit there and chill out. Plus, the waves were extremely choppy and almost too-frequent.
Luna had an awesome time and even tried to swim out to us. She would swim out a bit and try to hop on the surf baord, poor thing. She was scared in the ocean, but missed us too much. Aw. I did ok. I didn’t surf too much, because I had to watch Luna, but the bit I did surf, I did pretty well so I was happy.
I think I would like to go back and try again, but I don’t want to bring luna. Also, I want a rash guard or something, because my back got FRIED and have a nice triangle/spaghetti strap speedo pattern burned into my flesh. Ouch.
New Growth:
We have been taking about “peak oil” and “after the fall” a lot lately and Nick decided to start some kind of “survivor’s club”, where we all meet and swap skills that would help us survive off the grid when there is no more petroleum, company generated power, etc.
On Saturday, he made a still and distilled gaoliang liquor into ethanol, which was impressive, but smelled terribly. For my project, I am doing something with hydroponics and experimenting with plant germination. I have cosmos, snapdragon, lavender, tomato, hot pepper, and strawberry seeds and on Saturday, I started germinating them. I’ve created my own germination chambers out of these weird, circular Japanese ice-cube trays, plant trays, and plastic-wrap. It’s only been about 48 hours and there’s already been some growth in the cosmos (2 seedlings) and hot peppers (1 seedling).
I’m also working with hydroponic mint cuttings. I guess my project will be useful because it will be necessary and important to efficiently grow food in a variety of conditions. Plus, I like trying to grow things.
Anyway, I hope my plants actually grow. Right now I also have a fluffy mint plant (that I often cannibalize for mojitos) and a proper rosemary bush (that is for cooking with). We also planted a pineapple top. In two years, we’ll have one, miniature pineapple. wow.
If you know anything about hydroponics or have some germination tips for any of those plants, let me know!
