Chattanooga Market Visitors

Last Sunday, October 12th, some people I used to work with came by the Chattanooga Market. While I don't miss the Corporate world one iota, I do miss my comrades from the trenches. More times than not, it was the clever remarks, jokes, and general frustration-sharing that made it all bearable.

Paul and Dan work in R&D/Product Development. Dan is based in Chattanooga, but Paul works in the tech center in Chicago. I hadn't seen him in quite a while. (Paul on the left, Dan on the right)

Libby, who works in accounting, had a new camera and was capturing the moments! "A leetle snap-happy with the new camera, no?" She was still learning about what it would do, but still took some great pictures of everyone. There was a little hiccup in downloading them, but that was cleared up in no time. The more she uses it the easier it will get. I know that from experience!

There were pics we didn't even know she had taken of us toiling away (yeah, right!). She was sneaky!


However, she wasn't as thrilled to have the camera turned on her!! She tried to scoot away, but I caught her - with my cell phone camera!

Dane and his lady friend Meg were there, too. Dane is a pretty regular visitor to the Market. Currently, he works in payroll, but has worked in production, quality and environmental. At one point he was the president of the LEPC for Hamilton County (way to go, Dane!). He always stops by every time he's there. Aren't they a good looking couple? I've got my fingers crossed!


Bree and her friend Mary came by as well, but managed to dodge the snap-happy Libby.

It was really great to see everyone. When you work together for so long, and survived some of the rough times, it's like family. I hope they are able to come back for Oktoberfest on October 25th and 26th and bring others with them! I always like seeing my peeps!!

Cuttings and More Cuttings!

When most people are watching the last bits of their once lush gardens succumb to the autumn changes, we are already full steam into the next growing season. The work is hard and often tedious, but I wouldn't have it any other way!

In the past 10 or so days, I have done approx. 3200 cuttings of a variety of plants (but who's counting?). About a third or so of those were done with help from my friend Cindy. We spent 2 full evenings working with these tiny pieces of plant material, dusting their sometimes thread-like stems with rooting powder and sticking them into potting soil in plug trays. Some of the little sprigs looked pretty sad, but we gave them a fighting chance. Of course, after a few hundred you need some kind of relief, so margaritas were in order. It didn't have any negative effect on the planting quality, but it did increase the giggle factor exponentially!

Here are the fruits of my/our labor:

Needless to say, I'm almost cross-eyed and am going through the motions of sticking these little sprigs in my sleep! But hey, I can't complain - it's improving the profit margin!!

Fall in the Garden

The beans and squash are long gone and the tomatoes are slowing down. If I can get enough ripe tomatoes to can a little bit of juice, then the remaining green ones will go into green tomato relish. The okra is still bearing, but some of the plants have gotten so tall, I can't pick it! That job will now have to go to dh, Mark. Since he's 6' 5", he's the only one who can reach them without a ladder!

I planted swiss chard, red leaf lettuce, turnip greens, collards, mustard and kale. They are coming along nicely and will love the cooler weather over the next several days. Who am I kidding? We're ALL loving the cooler weather. The turnip greens have reached a nice size, so I harvested some for supper. There were a few of the other greens that looked pickable, so I threw them in, too.

The spinach and beets had to be replanted, as the first go-around didn't fair so well. I'm not sure if it was the heat at the time, or maybe I didn't water enough. I've also added about 30 or so broccoli plants.

I've already decided that I will expand the size of the garden for next season and try a few new things along with the normal fare. It will take multiple tillings over the winter to make it work, but I think it can be done. With the batch of compost that is brewing in the tumbler and maybe a cover crop of red clover, the soil should be workable.

I love my garden!