Run to the River (I beat Jed!)

As hoped for/predicted back in June, all of the homegrown, organic produce that Jed and I have been consuming paid off--for me, at least. On this cold, wet morning I reclaimed the 2703 Hanover running crown at the Run to the River 10K "Hill Run" in Richmond's East End.

Needless to say, neither Jed nor I set any personal records on this one. Check out the elevation chart:

It was a pretty brutal reminder of why Richmond is sometimes called the "City of Seven Hills" (along with 44 other cities around the world. Way to be unique, rva).

Despite losing the crown, Jed ran like a true sportsmen, smiling all the way. He finished with a thumbs-up dedication to all of the urban farmers struggling to grow heirloom tomatoes in their back alley gardens.

Next year we're going to get Sean to be our corporate sponsor.

Corporate Cookie Monster

Beloved roommate/corporate lawyer Sean doesn't need an urban garden as long as he can buy Private Selection Chocolate Lovers Chunk Cookies from Kroger.

Jed and I spent a relaxing Sunday afternoon soaking in the autumn sunlight while Sean racked up some more billable hours in his downtown office tower. Those cookies cost money, you know.

JAMES RIVER HARVEST FEAST 2009

NOVEMBER 14, 2009....Put It On Your Calendar

Morning: Richmond Marathon/Half Marathon/8k

Afternoon: 2nd Annual Richmatic Adventure

Evening-wee hours of 11/15/09: 5th Annual James River Harvest Feast

Awaiting the Great Pumpkin

Things are slowing down a bit in the garden, but most of our plants are still yielding fruit, if at a slower rate. Turns out these are red peppers after all. Delicious.

An exciting development has occured in the adverse possession garden in recent weeks. In a sure sign that autumn is approaching, the A.P. garden been transformed into a legit pumpkin

patch.

Can't wait to turn these guys into pumpkin pies for the 5th Annual James River Fall Harvest Feast.

Garden Party - Tomatina 09

Pre: During:

Post:

CHAOS IN THE GARDEN!!!

Things are starting to fall apart in the 2703 Urban Garden...

Yesterday I walked in the back gate and a flock of birds dispersed as I entered. Odd. I then looked down and saw what appeared to be the remains of a large number of sunflower seeds.

As I walked toward the house I noticed the source. Our friendly squirrel must have broken a mature sunflower off a sunflower in the adverse possession garden and carried it over the fence into the 2703 Urban Garden. Then for some reason the squirrel left the flower on the rail of our deck for the neighborhood birds to enjoy.

While I stood pondering the generosity of the squirrel I turned around and noticed the return of the Tomato Hornworm. What I had hoped would be a one time thing last year has unfortunately decided to become an annual event. Luckily the invader had yet to do any apparent damage when he was plucked from the reaching branches of one of our brandywine tomato plants.

Never fear. This little guy will not be visiting your garden anytime soon. He has been locked away in the security of a Mason jar on our kitchen table until we determine the appropriate sentence for attempting to destroy our tomato crop.

The carnage is not over. Earlier this week Lane alerted me that the cayenne pepper that had been maturing on the plant for the last month and was just about to harvested was stolen. I thought it was probably Sean but Lane suspects it was our resident squirrel. Lane actually had an expletive laced rant about what he hoped this hot pepper was doing to the squirrel's digestive system. As a nice example of the circle of life, as you can see in this picture, right next to where our pepper had been growing a new pepper has sprouted. I'm going to keep my eye on Sean until this is harvested. Lane will be watching for the squirrel.

On top of all the damage caused by the birds, Sean and the squirrel the 2703 Urban Garden is also becoming a victim of it's own success. After surveying all the damage in the garden yesterday I noticed that the eggplant had fallen from the rail, glancing off the compost bin on the way down and finally came to rest on the ground on it's side. What could have caused this to happen? Nothing more than the massive eggplant that is growing on the plant of course. To my great relief the plant escaped any substantial damage and the eggplant will still be able to grace our plates at some dinner soon.

Mutant Tomato Plants

Back in the winter, Jed brought back some heirloom tomato seeds from Maine. These Brandywine tomatoes have produced some delicious fruit so far this summer, and they continue to grow at a surprising rate. This guy, yet to produce a tomato, has turned into an urban farming experiment to see how tall it will get before it tops out. He's currently at 9 feet and growing...

Here's Jed sizing himself up against the giant Brandywine:

By the end of the summer, our backyard will look something like this: