One could muse -- with varying levels of veracity -- that Summer ambushed us from the cover of Spring about six weeks ago. When the seasons get out-of-whack like this gardeners tend to get itchy trigger fingers. I managed to maintain my composure and stick to my calendar and use the early start to get a bunch of other yard work completed.

However, now that May is upon us my gardening has begun in earnest. Follow along as the May Garden grows.

That time of year is approaching. Time for the annual kgceek BBQ/Beer tasting -- last year saw many new participants, a great selection of home brews and Chyna defeating Nougat in 3 out of 3 wrestling matches. Todd of the Austin Todds will make an appearance again this year and is hinting at bringing some fine goodies with him.

This year the BBQ/Beer tasting will begin around 2PM on Saturday, June 2nd @casa del blather

And per usual it'll extend until really late, a tornado clears us out or Irish eats the last bacon infused hamburger.

The Rules: If you are not a home brewer you are still welcome. Bring a 6 pack of craft brew you think might be interesting or that you would like to try, share with others. If you are a soda drinker be sure to bring your own supply. Food: food is always in short supply. I plan on providing some burgers, interesting sausages and possibly a brisket -- bring a side and/or your choice of additional protein (if you've something you would like to have smoked drop it by Friday evening -- Todd and I will likely be up all night smoking the brisket anyway).

Additional Challenge: Jam session -- make it happen.

I hope to see everyone there this year.

Spring has sprung -- early for the Midwest this year -- and a gardener's thoughts turn to, well gardening. This early Spring has had me chomping at the bit, double checking my Gardener's Advent Calendar, and wondering when the other shoe will drop (and the temperature along with it). It's too warm too early.

However, sprungth of the matter is I am motivated far earlier than usual. My Son and I expanded the garden by another 110 square feet (and we're currently working on an actual landscape bed now). Seeds are seeded. All that remains is the wait, watching that Mother Nature doesn't pull a fast one on us.

This year is the year of the tomato on Cucumis Farm. Over the past 5 or 6 years I've worked my way through several varieties of heirloom tomatoes and I've finally settled on a my standards.

Bloody Butcher:

60 days. A small 3-4 oz "cluster" tomato. Fruit are deep red in color and have a nice tomato flavor. Production is really good, but where this open-pollinated tomato really shines is its earliness. It ripens in only about 60 days, making it ripen about the same time as Early Girl, but this tomato is much tastier.

Jersey Giant:

This New Jersey canning variety is on the verge of extinction! Large, 6-inch long, pepper-shaped fruit are packed with great tomato flavor. Delicious fresh from the garden. Their large size makes them a snap to can. Their thick, rich flesh is much tastier than modern paste types, and the fruit have very few seeds.

Thessaloniki:

60-80 days. The Greek tomato that was introduced to the USA in the 1950’s by Glecklers Seedsmen of Ohio. It is a popular large, red uniform fruit with excellent flavor, high yields and disease resistance. An early variety perfect for home or market; keeps well.

October marks the nearing end of the green season here and begins a placid moment or two of seeding cover crops, making compost piles and quiet reflection (probably the last I'll get once Winter sets in hard).

This year was tough on Cucumis Farm. Lack of precipitation drove the deer right up near the house where they devastated my green beans and okra. All. Season. Long. I never got to have one serving of my favorite late summer dish, batter fried okra. The deer were also kind enough to keep the tomatoes trimmed back to their cages -- I'm pretty sure I hit the $64 mark per tomato this year.

It wasn't a horrible year but it wasn't great. I figure after labor and material it was still cheaper than therapy.

I was tasked with enhancing an existing system with the ability to grab an Excel file of the screen contents plus an armload more detail for each line item. A quick search of CPAN gave me Catalyst::View::Excel::Template::Plus. The docs for it were less than helpful concerning configuration and usage and it took a few hours of digging through the source of backing libraries before I grokked the whole picture.

Presented here is my solution that it may help you to save some time. Somewhere in MyApp.pm I placed these configuration items:

    'View::Excel::Template::Plus' => {
        etp_config => {
    	      INCLUDE_PATH =>  __PACKAGE__->path_to('root') . '/xlsplates' ,
    	  },
    	  etp_engine => 'TT',
    },

Then later when I am ready to present the link to the user I include in the action (Note: The requested recordset is already in the stash by this time):

    $c->stash->{template} = 'siteslist.xml';

...to pickup my actual template for this case and finally:

    $c->forward('View::Excel');

Magic!

Checkout the Excel::Template::Plus docs for an example of building a template.

I can produce all kinds of excuses for not posting recently -- exciting things have been afoot at work or (and this one is mostly true) I've been migrating to a new server and this site is already on there and I didn't want to have to repeat the process. But it's probably just laziness on my part.

I have been busy in the garden -- trying to catch up from three consecutive weekends of rain back in late April - early May -- busier than normal. And it still seems that I'm a month behind. I added about 20 square feet to the garden design that incorporated the Centennial hops but most of which is slated for asparagus (next year) and is currently seeded in buckwheat.

Again this year I didn't have enough wall-o-waters for all the tomatoes. It is rather noticeable and there is an order of magnitude in size difference between plants. Maybe next year I'll have enough.

However, there is good news. We've been eating strawberries by the bowlful for weeks now and I'll be harvesting some spinach and leaf lettuce for salads tonight. The cucumbers have put on fruit and we should see green beans in a couple of weeks.

June 2
June 10
June 26

It's that time again, time to gather our extended family of dorks outside to absorb the annual sunlight requirement. Or perhaps just some rain golf.

The appointed date and time is Saturday, May 21st at 1PM (or thereabouts). The rules are the same as last year.

I've been saving 4 slabs of beef ribs for this occasion and I'll have hot dogs and burgers to supplement the feast. You bring yourself, some interesting beer (distribution of Stone Brewing products in Missouri will be in effect by this time) and a side dish.

Thus far confirmed beers for tasting are as follows:
Sinistral Warrior IPA
Breakfast Stout++
Septimus ab Septum

I hope to see everyone there.

I did get a few projects wrapped up over the Winter -- the most interesting being prototyping and under cabinet and over sink lighting system for my friend Chad.

I soon discovered that even 'super bright' LEDs wouldn't throw enough light to be useful over a sink -- however, they would be perfect for supplementing ambient light under the cabinets. An alternative was found in the Luxeon series of LEDs. After a moderately expensive test we concluded that they fit the requirements.

The important point of using the luxeon is maintaining the current and to do this one will require a buckpuck. With the buckpuck you can easily accommodate a large number of Luxeons by changing your input voltage. The only requirement being that you must provide 2 more volts than the total forward voltage of the attached LEDs. You can build one or buy one. I decided to purchase one to help maintain order and small physical size on the circuit board.

The other thing we had to plan for with the Luxeon was heat dissipation. I opted for the 'saber' design which is a star shaped piece of aluminum on which the surface mount Luxeon is already soldered. This design allows for good heat transfer and several mounting points. Although the prototype hasn't yet been installed I plan on mounting the sabres to a long 'U' shaped piece of extruded aluminium. This should be sufficient for plenty of heat dissipation and a nice long life for the LEDs.

The dreary days near the end of Winter are the worst. The grass wants to turn green but waits out of fear of a late Winter tantrum. The birds cautiously cheer it on but only a few clumps of hardy fescue are swayed by their song.

Inside too we wait. Hoping we haven't been too lazy, that the projects haven't gotten behind and piled up. But they always do and we scurry around tying up loose ends trying not to get lost in the mess. We set aside half-finished books for next Fall and check the oil in the lawn mower.

Perhaps I get this all done next Winter.

Even during the winter retreat one must carry out some meaningful tasks and appear, at least, to be cognizant of the rat race speeding on to whatever end. But mere recognition of external stimulus tends to discolor the pure, white cloak of the deep freeze. However, not always does this lead to unfavorable results.

The holes in the roof got fixed. Or rather, the entire roof got stripped and re-shingled and the relevant exhaust ports (the ones no bigger than a womp rat back home) got new boots. A pair of 46"x16" skylights were added along with 4 new vents near the peak to supplement the sixty year old gabled attic exhaust design. It is a huge load off of my mind -- now all of the other projects I need to work on can stay dry.

While in the attic measuring for a skylight drop I discovered just how horribly out of code my electrical wiring is. It was probably within code when it was built but I've an aversion to copper wrapped in canvas laid willy-nilly over the top of joists. This makes a couple of fun filled Saturdays drilling, dragging and fishing new wire the most immediate project. I'll get to it Real Soon Now™ (ideally before the seasons turn and the attic becomes an oven).

Chickens. Yep, chickens. We're going to give it another try, five Gold Laced and five Silver Laced Wyandottes should arrive in about 3 weeks. This year I'm far ahead of the curve with the chicken tractor complete but a couple of other projects remain undone in preparation for their general release in the yard -- some fencing and prior to that a limb that needs to come down. I've a few months yet after their arrival before all that requires completion.

Finally, the retreat does lend itself to reading and I've cut a rather large literary swath this Winter. The one book that stands out in the bunch is Robert A. Heinlein: In Dialogue with His Century: Volume 1 (1907-1948): Learning Curve. While not a great consumer of biography I picked this one up because I'm a -- for lack of better terminology -- science fiction fanboy. The breadth and depth of this work is amazing, I found Heinlein's Naval career particularly interesting and the number of documented resources allowed the author to cover his life day by day in many instances. I would suggest this book to nearly anyone, Heinlein was an interesting and provocative character.

*[With a nod to Halford, Downing, Tipton, Hill and Atkins]