Judy's Homegrown Blog

There’s three times to spray for peach leaf curl: around Thanksgiving, around X-mas, and around Valentine’s Day. I use a sulfur dormant spray. It stinks, but it’s “organic” and it’s better than not doing anything, especially if you live in an area of high humidity, fog, or frequent rain.

We’re in New Jersey right now, in Weehawken, staying in a lovely townhome across the Hudson from Manhattan. We have a beautiful view of the city.

We’ve already been to Stage Deli and La Mela restaurant in Little Italy, two of our favorites. And did you know that 2 mg of memory for a digital camera costs only $5.00? That’s five dollars. That’s so inexpensive!  This week, we plan to eat pizza downtown, to see Mary Poppins on Tuesday and the Little Mermaid on Wednesday. We’ll also visit Free People because that’s one of my favorite clothing stores. And Shanghai Tang is Jeff’s favorite, so we’ll go there too. A little bit for everyone.

The garden thrives by itself because it runs on a timer system for watering. I’m looking forward to picking peas when I get home!

In 2002 I took a Master Gardener course in California. After I passed the test, I volunteered about 6 hours toward becoming Certified (it takes 50 hours of volunteer time to get Certified) and then promptly moved to Massachusetts. In MA, I took the MG class, passed the test, and spent the 60 hours becoming certified, so in MA I’m a Certified Master Gardener. But in CA, not yet.

So I’m trying to catch up. I’ll be letting you know what volunteer opportunities I’ll be doing, and if you’re interested in gardening, you can attend most of these events yourself. So keep reading these posts for your opportunity to learn more gardening tips!

Last night, I set up a fruit exchange for RPV! Why not; nobody else was doing it! Find it at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/fruitexchange

If you want to be added as a member, send me an email with your phone number and I’ll check out your trees or berry brambles or whatnot, and then I’ll send you an invite.

What do you do with a kid who doesn’t like what Santa brought her last night? In exchange for 1 1/2 freshly-baked  chocolate chip cookies and half a glass of milk, Santa left a Kodak digital camera. Unfortunately, it wasn’t on the list my daughter handed him a week ago when Santa flew through Mira Catalina on his sleigh (with an advertisement for Green Hills Mortuary on the back!). She wanted either a bicycle; a new Barbie Dollhouse, the one with the pool, because the one she already has isn’t good enough; or a hair styling kit with vanity and stool. We explained to her that he probably didn’t have enough room on his sleigh for these large items, but really there were other reasons.

Do we really want a whole Barbie village in our family room, for instance?

The reason Jill is so out of sorts is that she has the flu: fever, body aches, stuffy nose, and laryngitis! Sick as a dog. So how could we make her happy?

Nothing we’ve given her this Hannukah has been an occasion for jumping up and down. The Guess Who game got her upset enough to ask for a second toy: Where’s the toy from Dad? Like each of us was supposed to give her a toy each night of Hannukah.

And the High School Musical Characters called Zach and Gabriella that she got the night before made her very upset because what she really wanted was the HSM stage that fills up part of the Barbie Village she’s trying to create in our family room.

We discovered, upon removing Zach and Gabriella, that the song they were singing in the box, while they were having their Tree House Moment, would forever end when you removed the dolls’ cords that attach only when they’re corded to each other. If you remove Gabriella’s cord, only Zach sings while he’s still connected. We decided to make both of them mute forever by removing their cords. How depressing is that?

Now Jill wants what she had coming to her from Santa: one of the three things on her list.

But the Hair Salon was tried and failed. We bought her one on the day she saw the doctor. She picked out her own present at Toys ‘R Us: a Dora Explorer Hair Salon and vanity with stool. She played with it for 15 minutes, and it was old hat. We had to return it because the plastic that held the mirror up was broken, and she didn’t miss it at all. Why would Santa want to re-buy her something that lost its sheen in 15 minutes?

Now we’re headed to NYC for a week. We’re staying at the lovely townhome of our friend Jeff Glickman in New Jersey right across the Hudson from Manhattan. Maybe Santa’s camera will convert the recalcitrant Jillian once she sees what she can do with it.

Or maybe she just needs some “Mommy time” hugs.

Within my small enclave called Mira Catalina, many homeowners have trees with surplus fruits. When their trees are loaded with ripe fruit, they can never eat all that their trees produce. Wouldn’t it be great if we could all share in this bounty? It’s not my brainchild; there are other cities, like Altadena who have set up a virtual marketplace on the web. They call it the Co-op and Food Exchange of Altadena, a Yahoo Groups email list and discussion board with 45 members who live in or near Altadena or Pasadena. The members post announcements, offering their surplus or seeking a particular crop. They also meet in a local park to swap fruit and talk.

If you’re interested and you live in the RPV or San Pedro area, please email me and let me know what type of fruit you have. The more people who are interested, the more likely we’ll have the beginning of something very sweet indeed.

For the full article that taught me about this fruit swapping program, go to: http://articles.latimes.com/2008/sep/13/home/hm-exchange13

Happy holidays!