Vegetables and Bicycles, Part 2

This installment continues my two-pronged urban enviro-hipster attack. First on the agenda: vegetables.

We returned from Minnesota to find plenty of heat and humidity, but nothing close to the lobster-in-a-pot sensation July had so amply supplied. The relatively cooperative weather has resulted in a significant resurgence of our plants. The collards, both indoor and out, are getting broad-leafed; the tomatoes, again both indoor and out, have sprouted flowers and fruits; and the basil has reverted from bolting to leaf production in earnest. In fact, the latter adorned last night's tasty caprese salad.

Given my earlier fawning, it will surprise no one that the plants' resurgence has accompanied a very robust feeling of happiness and fullness, but their role in producing this feeling is difficult to extricate from certain other potential factors--

--of which the other one relevant here is my beloved bicycle, the second item on the agenda.

Wednesday morning, I took a three mile ride past parks and a community garden. Today I reprised my route with slight modifications. In addition to providing the thrill that inheres in exercising a newly-learned skill (such as it is), particularly one that involves some degree of speed and a resulting onrush of breeze, biking also allows an opportunity for impressionistic observation. Walking still seems best for picking up details, like gargoyles and busts of George Washington; driving is efficient but leaves little lasting impression; but biking's medium pace suggests a very significant amount of green on Providence's east side, the trees and gardens prevailing even over the bumps and divets in the road as the neighborhood's standout element. Without the distraction of details, a broad appreciation for the neighborhood's beauty is easier to cultivate.

That's it for now; today you get only gushing. Next time I hope to dig up some new food for thought and riff again on something beyond Summer's and my continued encroachment on urban crunchiness. Also, hopefully there'll be a picture involving the bike!

Vegetables and Bicycles

I wrote the following a week ago and never edited or posted it:

We have been eating our vegetables. Tomatoes in salads. Cucumber spears with hummus. Basil on caprese salads with farmers' market (big) tomatoes and Narragansett Creamery mozzarella. The eggplant is still growing--

--but seems to have stalled. As has everything else now. I blame the string of hot, humid days interspersed with sudden, fierce rainstorms whose rainfall evaporates seemingly instantaneously. Of course the relative fallowness of our container gardens has nothing to do with my failure to provide water adequate to keep up with the heat.

Nevertheless, in the battle of the tomatoes, the outdoor plant is proving victorious on the all-important flavor front. It seems the weather does not detract from flavor, whereas the indoor environment does somehow. Again the fault might lie with an over-zealous harvester (me) anticipating ripeness before it arrives. We'll see when the next few indoor tomatoes are ready.

As for the greens, so far it's a wash. But the indoor collards are finally beginning to show some spirit! They might yet pull ahead. Stay tuned...

Since then, the main update we have to report is the unfortunate demise of the eggplant. We never harvested it in part because of its spikes and in part because of its size. First its sides began to split, then something other than us started eating it. We’ve been seeing a suspicious bunny who is now the prime suspect.

But there’s another cuke in the fridge and a bunch of tomatoes in the works. These days they’re coming at a rate that’s good for snacking rather than dining. Hopefully the collards will be waiting for us on our return from Minnesota.

As things slow down on the garden front, I will begin phasing in reports on a new project: learning to ride a bike. Since we moved in January, everything is still close but a little less walkable. We do plenty of walking, but grocery stores and coffee shops are far enough away that the mental block is harder to overcome. On the other hand, we now live on a wide street opposite a cul-de-sac. An obvious solution clicked into place: bike.

Except for one thing.

Despite my family’s efforts, I never properly learned the whole “riding a bike” thing when I was a kid. I used to find bikes terrifying. And they still are, but in a more thrilling, fun, and oddly utilitarian way. Given this evolution in my mindset, I hypothesized and Summer agreed that now was the time to strike.

So we did our research. We read the internets and went to a couple of bike shops. I obsessively trolled craigslist, even heading out one Saturday to pick up a free, too-small, broken beater. I jealously watched neighborhood folks coast past our windows and took mental notes on biking technique. Summer teased me whenever a bike happened by wherever we happened to be.

Finally, yesterday we walked down to Legend Bicycle, about two miles away. The sun was out, the weather was warm but not oppressive for the first time in weeks, and I wore my bald guy hat. I had deposited my free bicycle at Legend a week before and got good vibes. The gentleman in the shop had suggested a particular no-frills single speed as a good bike to learn on, and my research had confirmed that it would be relatively easy to ride, indestructible, and not too difficult to convert into a commuter with the addition of a rack and fenders. (I am hoping to become competent some day.) Perfect!

Not long afterward, I was the proud owner of a blue and orange bicycle, a lock, and a helmet. And a two-mile walk, a lunch, and an intervening drive after that, Summer was helping to convince me I could stay upright as I attempted with varying degrees of success to do circles and figure-8s in our driveway.

Today I graduated to the cul-de-sac, and managed not to fall over at all! Tomorrow, before we go to Minnesota, I plan on going around the block. Deep breath. I’ll be a proper stereotypical urban green before long now. And soon I’ll be able to think and post reflections again; for now, I’m still just too excited by this new development to do much more than report. Fun!