Limonene
@limonene.bsky.social
Knitter, spinner, baseball enthusiast.
USDA Zone 7a
Opinions are my own and do not reflect those of my employer.
USDA Zone 7a
Opinions are my own and do not reflect those of my employer.
Growing potatoes in bags may not be the most efficient method (5 bags yielded ~14.5 pounds of potatoes and several acorns), but harvesting them sure is a lot of fun.
November 22, 2025 at 9:39 PM
Growing potatoes in bags may not be the most efficient method (5 bags yielded ~14.5 pounds of potatoes and several acorns), but harvesting them sure is a lot of fun.
I’m going to be so sad to pull my butterbeans on Monday. A 6-foot row yielded about a pound of dried beans over the season, and they are still flowering like gangbusters. I just don’t think I can keep them going through a multi-night freeze. 🌱
November 8, 2025 at 11:19 PM
I’m going to be so sad to pull my butterbeans on Monday. A 6-foot row yielded about a pound of dried beans over the season, and they are still flowering like gangbusters. I just don’t think I can keep them going through a multi-night freeze. 🌱
In retrospect, I probably shouldn’t have lost my temper and ripped out all the carrots in one of the garden beds, but I was working by flashlight ahead of a freeze and had run out of tarps.
November 6, 2025 at 11:37 PM
In retrospect, I probably shouldn’t have lost my temper and ripped out all the carrots in one of the garden beds, but I was working by flashlight ahead of a freeze and had run out of tarps.
That’s impressive! My biggest were only 3 feet long. By the time of year, I am guessing that is a fully mature squash rather than a younger one that is more like a zucchini?
November 3, 2025 at 5:08 PM
That’s impressive! My biggest were only 3 feet long. By the time of year, I am guessing that is a fully mature squash rather than a younger one that is more like a zucchini?
I will be sad when tomato season truly ends because I don’t think the Parisian gnocchi will be the same with frozen tomatoes. The cherry tomatoes and a few other plants are still hanging in there, but I think we are going to get a freeze soon.
November 2, 2025 at 6:52 PM
I will be sad when tomato season truly ends because I don’t think the Parisian gnocchi will be the same with frozen tomatoes. The cherry tomatoes and a few other plants are still hanging in there, but I think we are going to get a freeze soon.
I recommend giving the fabric a gentle tug down at the beginning of each row to make sure you are working the into the single loop that is on/around the needle (the true first stitch) and not the stitch from the row below that likes to curl itself up and get in the way and be tempting to knit into.
October 18, 2025 at 7:17 PM
I recommend giving the fabric a gentle tug down at the beginning of each row to make sure you are working the into the single loop that is on/around the needle (the true first stitch) and not the stitch from the row below that likes to curl itself up and get in the way and be tempting to knit into.
I’m making the fresh tomato sauce with onion from Marcella’s Italian Kitchen to try out my first Polish Linguisa tomatoes because the thought of peeling enough San Marzanos for a recipe with a vegetable peeler did not spark joy. I hope I like them because they are way less work than San Marzano.
September 21, 2025 at 10:31 PM
I’m making the fresh tomato sauce with onion from Marcella’s Italian Kitchen to try out my first Polish Linguisa tomatoes because the thought of peeling enough San Marzanos for a recipe with a vegetable peeler did not spark joy. I hope I like them because they are way less work than San Marzano.
I recently learned that dried butterbean (Lima bean) pods will ka-sproing themselves open, probably to fling the seeds farther from the plant. This discovery would have been much less alarming had I not been harvesting into my pockets because I didn’t bring a container out to the garden with me.
September 21, 2025 at 1:19 AM
I recently learned that dried butterbean (Lima bean) pods will ka-sproing themselves open, probably to fling the seeds farther from the plant. This discovery would have been much less alarming had I not been harvesting into my pockets because I didn’t bring a container out to the garden with me.
Trying to recall in which very safe place I stashed the citric acid after last year’s canning. I’m aiming for 3 quarts of passata for soup (simmering with a halved onion and butter like the Marcella Hazan recipe turns slicer tomatoes into delicious cream of tomato soup).
September 20, 2025 at 7:42 PM
Trying to recall in which very safe place I stashed the citric acid after last year’s canning. I’m aiming for 3 quarts of passata for soup (simmering with a halved onion and butter like the Marcella Hazan recipe turns slicer tomatoes into delicious cream of tomato soup).
Zone 7a; these are all from earlier this summer when I was getting nice greens, summer squash, cucumbers, figs, and tomatoes (the current state of my garden is making me unsure I’ll continue to garden next year).
September 14, 2025 at 3:12 AM
Zone 7a; these are all from earlier this summer when I was getting nice greens, summer squash, cucumbers, figs, and tomatoes (the current state of my garden is making me unsure I’ll continue to garden next year).
Mom brought home a memento of last week’s hospital stay. Godfuckingdamnit.
September 1, 2025 at 6:46 PM
Mom brought home a memento of last week’s hospital stay. Godfuckingdamnit.
It smells so good in my kitchen and I used a deep enough dish so that I didn’t weld my baking dish to the cookie sheet underneath it like I have done in the past, so I am declaring victory (fig-tory?)
August 28, 2025 at 2:11 AM
It smells so good in my kitchen and I used a deep enough dish so that I didn’t weld my baking dish to the cookie sheet underneath it like I have done in the past, so I am declaring victory (fig-tory?)
I have some doubts about the drop biscuit topping on this cobbler, but it’s got 2.5 pounds of figs in it, and I will try just about anything to keep up with these trees (I am nowhere near keeping up with my fig trees).
August 28, 2025 at 12:53 AM
I have some doubts about the drop biscuit topping on this cobbler, but it’s got 2.5 pounds of figs in it, and I will try just about anything to keep up with these trees (I am nowhere near keeping up with my fig trees).
I said “yes” to growing speckled butterbeans because of @billhookunion.beanyear.com with the intention of trying them as fresh shelling beans, but life is life-ing very hard at me right now. Can I just leave them on the plant for dried beans? This is my first time venturing beyond string beans. 🌱
August 25, 2025 at 10:22 PM
I said “yes” to growing speckled butterbeans because of @billhookunion.beanyear.com with the intention of trying them as fresh shelling beans, but life is life-ing very hard at me right now. Can I just leave them on the plant for dried beans? This is my first time venturing beyond string beans. 🌱
I pick figs at 3 stages of ripeness:
1) Sun-ripened, jammy perfection
2) Would benefit from another day on the tree, but I would be annoyed to find a single squirrel bite in it tomorrow
3) I am so far inside this bush that the tick check will require an endoscope; no way I’m leaving empty-handed
1) Sun-ripened, jammy perfection
2) Would benefit from another day on the tree, but I would be annoyed to find a single squirrel bite in it tomorrow
3) I am so far inside this bush that the tick check will require an endoscope; no way I’m leaving empty-handed
August 24, 2025 at 6:17 PM
I pick figs at 3 stages of ripeness:
1) Sun-ripened, jammy perfection
2) Would benefit from another day on the tree, but I would be annoyed to find a single squirrel bite in it tomorrow
3) I am so far inside this bush that the tick check will require an endoscope; no way I’m leaving empty-handed
1) Sun-ripened, jammy perfection
2) Would benefit from another day on the tree, but I would be annoyed to find a single squirrel bite in it tomorrow
3) I am so far inside this bush that the tick check will require an endoscope; no way I’m leaving empty-handed
Yes, that will do. I am still stressed out, but now I am stressed out with a cake.
August 23, 2025 at 3:29 AM
Yes, that will do. I am still stressed out, but now I am stressed out with a cake.
A little bit of stress-baking. The base is the Almondy Plum Cake from Snacking Cakes by Yossy Arefi with figs substituted for the plums. Cake is a horizontal surface, and every horizontal surface is covered with figs or tomatoes right now.
August 23, 2025 at 1:58 AM
A little bit of stress-baking. The base is the Almondy Plum Cake from Snacking Cakes by Yossy Arefi with figs substituted for the plums. Cake is a horizontal surface, and every horizontal surface is covered with figs or tomatoes right now.
Expanding the vegetable garden has been great for helping keep me more firmly tethered to this mortal coil and providing loads of healthful exercise and fresh air, but the way the heat makes me completely lose my appetite just when I have a lot of time-sensitive food coming in is not ideal.
August 17, 2025 at 6:01 PM
Expanding the vegetable garden has been great for helping keep me more firmly tethered to this mortal coil and providing loads of healthful exercise and fresh air, but the way the heat makes me completely lose my appetite just when I have a lot of time-sensitive food coming in is not ideal.
I grew plants that attracted a hummingbird to my backyard! I’m also starting to get some really nice vegetables out of my garden.
August 13, 2025 at 10:42 PM
I grew plants that attracted a hummingbird to my backyard! I’m also starting to get some really nice vegetables out of my garden.
Fresh leaf Japanese indigo dyeing is a lot of fast, cold work, but that dark, robin’s-egg-blue color is so, so worth it. I also tried my first itajime shibori and it is a lot of fun to clamp things onto silk scarves and see what unfolds. 🧶
August 10, 2025 at 7:45 PM
Fresh leaf Japanese indigo dyeing is a lot of fast, cold work, but that dark, robin’s-egg-blue color is so, so worth it. I also tried my first itajime shibori and it is a lot of fun to clamp things onto silk scarves and see what unfolds. 🧶
There’s the next gift-giving occasion sorted for my dad. Although probably nothing could take the place of “sharpened metal edging strapped to a broom handle” in his heart.
August 9, 2025 at 4:35 PM
There’s the next gift-giving occasion sorted for my dad. Although probably nothing could take the place of “sharpened metal edging strapped to a broom handle” in his heart.
The piping plover. They nest on some of our local beaches and are just the most charming little birds.
August 7, 2025 at 9:28 PM
The piping plover. They nest on some of our local beaches and are just the most charming little birds.
The first homegrown tomato sandwich of the year (on toast, with Boursin cheese) is one of life’s true pleasures.
August 4, 2025 at 10:30 PM
The first homegrown tomato sandwich of the year (on toast, with Boursin cheese) is one of life’s true pleasures.
Based on this year, of the tromboncino/Centercut (transplanted around 6/12) and the cheese pumpkins (~6/19), the former are faster to set fruit and might work better with your climate. We’ve been eating them as summer squash since 7/23 and the pumpkins are just starting with female flowers.
August 2, 2025 at 7:36 PM
Based on this year, of the tromboncino/Centercut (transplanted around 6/12) and the cheese pumpkins (~6/19), the former are faster to set fruit and might work better with your climate. We’ve been eating them as summer squash since 7/23 and the pumpkins are just starting with female flowers.