More Winter Gardening

Although I guess it's really still fall...

I was pleased to still get a number of zucchini on 11/19 (and then picked a couple more a week later below).  My summer squash effort (late planting from seeds started in a container) was pathetic.

November 19 harvest

I made one pumpkin pie from the two pumpkins I picked.  I empty out the seeds, cut up the pumpkin, and microwave it for 20 minutes to get the filling.  Suppose it took about two hours to make the pie.

Pumpkin pie and filling from garden pumpkins

Had three cups of filling left over, and used it to make pumpkin soup.  

Pumpkin Soup and November 26 Harvest

Winter Gardening Underway

Nearly November, but still picking some tomatoes.  May be a couple more, but this pretty much finishes the garden.

Will even have a couple more zucchini, and should be able to at lease make one more soup.

(Apparently I didn't take much of a picture)...bought some new plants at Nordic Nursery (broccoli, winter tomatoes, green onions, and spinach).  This picture poorly portrays the broccoli and green onions.)

This is my failure of a pumpkin growing effort his year.  The three pumpkin harvest is my worst ever, and worse, the vine continues to tease me with new fruit.  I should just pull the whole thing, but I remain hopeful for a miracle, I guess.

Spinach.

Have some beets started from seed that are barely poking through the soil.

And, yes, I really like broccoli, and planted a few more in the west bed.

Fighting the Good Fight

One would think that not much in this world could be more benign than my hobbies of bike commuting and gardening.  Particularly regarding bike commuting, I obviously keep one car off the road and that car's associated pollution and congestion.

But, taking a depressing read through our local weekly newspaper makes me realize that biking is far from benign, at least when it comes to discussing addition of bike lanes.

Connie from Thousand Oaks:

"Every day, I observe bicyclists violating both rules for vehicles and pedestrians as they seem to want the rights of both simultaneously and the responsibilities of neither."

"If Thousand Oaks insists on continuing to add bicycle lanes, then they must also enforce traditional rules of the road for bicyclists and ticket them for: riding on sidewalks, riding in pedestrian walkways, riding against the light, failing to stop, riding the wrong direction in bike lanes, etc., etc.

All actions I see bicyclists do on a daily basis throughout Thousand Oaks.

No one wants an accident, and I have had enough heartstopping near misses that I drive in terror of bicyclists in this town."

"Daily basis"? "Drive in terror"?  Really? 

Rick from Thousand Oaks

"Look at the other bike lanes that already exist within the city, where many times these bike riders are four to five abreast riding on the auto section of the road (outside the path) and causing cars to swerve to miss them.

Also, many are not stopping at stop signs or red lights. Many think they do not have to abide by the traffic laws.

I have had several near collisions with some of these riders because they were not paying any attention to the other traffic around them."

Although I'm glad Rick isn't terrified of cyclists like Connie, I am wondering how he is having so many near collisions in a town where only .9% of commute trips are being made by cyclists (I discuss the dearth of bike commuters in a previous blog post.)

There are more letters objecting to bike lanes, but just one more from Michael from Thousand Oaks

"It’s my guess that this push for a bike lane on Lynn Road is being spurred on by elitists in the cycling community who are putting their own selfish interests ahead of public safety and/or have politicians and commissioners in their pockets."

Whew...that's me, the selfish elitist with politicians in my pocket.

All of this is being generated by the City's recent initiatives to take state and federal money to build additional bike lanes.  Something that is not only objectionable to readers, but is actually objectionable to the newspaper itself:

"But some critics see the indiscriminate creation of bike lanes as increasing the likelihood of an accident by encouraging cyclists to ride next to traffic on fast-moving streets rather than off-road or in more residential areas.

There are studies that support this opinion as well.

We think the key here is for the city to create bike lanes in moderation—where they’re really needed—not on every stretch of road that becomes available or every time funding is offered.

Similar to solar panels, bike lanes look great on paper and are popular among politicians looking to add “environmentally conscious” to their resume, but in practice they aren’t always the best option. For solar, the problem is often cost; for bike lanes, it’s the stress they cause drivers."

If anything is indiscriminate, it's this newspapers' inclusion of unnamed studies and a solar panel comparison in an article about transportation planning.

I did respond to the editorial, incidentally:

(One final note, the paper actually shortened and, I believe, dumbed down my response...I hate how the first paragraph, in particular, reads.)

I guess it wasn't all...more harvest!

I posted last week that harvests were over, yet I was very pleasantly surprised that I was still able to get quite a few veggies out of the garden yesterday, and make three helpings of soup (one for Saturday, two for upcoming work week).

The onions have been a real source of delight for me.  I picked up dried cuttings (I guess that is what they would be called) from Home Depot, planted them back in April, and they produced bountifully.  I believe that this is the last of them.

I'm Especially Proud of the Onions

Last of the Zucchini, I Think

Supplemental Harvest 

Farewell, 2011 summer, I'll miss you

Well...that's all folks...summer 2011 is pretty much a wrap.  


Harvests actually started in early August, but I posted some of the pics already, and even, I think, posted the first picture below.  I started with that picture to show the recent progression of picked vegetables, however.


I don't know what I was doing on September 03, so that picture is missing, but the pics I did take tell a nice story of how the zucchini production peaked in late August, tomatoes and onions in mid September, peppers in October, and my pathetic pumpkins in October.


Since I started really tracking production in August, I ate 15 meals from the garden.  Figuring three meals per day for 60 days = 180 meals, I ate 8.3% of meals from the garden. Add that to the plum smoothies that I have every morning (from July's huge plum harvest), I can say that I had my own personal produce in 1/3 of my meals over the last two months.


At the bottom I demonstrate my most common meal, just a simple blended soup featuring pretty much whatever is picked that week.  I also demonstrate what was my favorite way of consuming 64 ounces of processed garden tomatoes.

August 20 

August 27 

September 10

September 17

September 24

October 01

October 08

Soup Making

Sometimes I Peel the Tomatoes, but Not this Time

This was Last Week's Soup...had Saturday Lunch + Two Meals at Work

Greet Stuff for 1st Week of NFL Play!

Bike Commuting, Portland vs. My City

As posted two weeks ago, I was in Portland on university business.  While there, I dabbled in research towards my hobby of bicycle-commuting advocacy by taking a few pictures and observations, and by using a bike to commute to a couple of destinations (as described in that last blog posting).

My experience was consistent with Portland's reputation...Portland is clearly succeeding in getting people out of cars and onto bikes.  Biking to work is clearly part of the transportation fabric of the city.

I contrast that to my on-going experience in my hometown of Thousand Oaks, CA, where during my bike commute I will typically see maybe four or five bike commuters on my five mile commute.  Moreover, of that handful, I'd split them into two categories:

1. The service worker -- Latino male, lunch in a plastic grocery bag dangling from handlebars, tires probably poorly inflated, riding a cheap mountain bike.
2. The BIKER! commuter -- White male, spandex clad, riding a bike made for commuting.

I rarely see a sort of casual biker biking to work.

A few pictures from my Portland trip:

Downtown

More Downtown

Constant Traffic on Hawthorne Bridge

Women are a Common Sight

 I compare this with some (bad) shots from my own commute:

Picture Perfect Day for Riding Home from Work on  a Bike

Beautiful Day, Shady Bike Path

But Where are the Bikers

OK, There's One

The Rare Female

 As evidenced by the pictures, there's good (but not great) biking infrastructure, there's great weather, the traffic is not intimidating, yet it's a biking ghost town.

(As a side note, on the day I was taking the Thousand Oaks pictures I was riding from my place of work to my daughter's high school for college night.  The high school was a mess of parking, with cars overflowing the HS lot into the surrounding neighborhoods...in other words, it was a perfect day to bike to the high school, avoid the congestion, and bike past all the drivers that were hiking from their distant parking spaces.  However, as far as I could see, I was the sole biker.)

So...what's the deal?

To answer that question, I turn to every lazy blogger's aid Wikipedia, and also download Thousand Oaks' and Portland's Biking Master Plan documents.  From those sources, I put together the following table:

	Portland	Thousand Oaks
Population	583,776	128,584
Area (Sq M)	145	54
Density (Pop./Sq M)	4,026	2,381
Median Income	$40,146	$96,120
% with 4 yr Degree	32.6%	42.2%
Miles of Bikeways	630	74
Miles Bikeways/Sq. Mile	4.34	1.37
% of Commuting by Bike	6.0%	0.9%
% of School Trips by Bike	40%	15%
Precipitation Days	152	35
Snow Days	4	-
Sunshine Hours	2,348	3,000+
Portland Advantages
Density
Bike Infrastructure
Thousand Oaks Advantages
Income
Higher Education*
Weather

*I considered higher education an advantage because of the preponderance of biotech workers in Thousand Oaks, and my knowledge that those employers have very bike-friendly stances towards commuting.

Looking at the table, it seems to me that with roughly one-half of the density, one-quarter of the bike trails per sq. mile, Thousand Oaks' weather, workplace, and income advantages should easily result in at least those proportions as applied to Portland's bike commuting percentage.  However, my anecdotal observations (made over 11 years) and the actual statistics are that Thousand Oaks' has just one-eighth the percentage of bike commuters that Portland has.  Quite simply, in my home town of great weather and high incomes, even though a fair amount of bike infrastructure has been installed, bike commuting is pretty insignificant.

When I went to Portland, I went with the assumption that the answer was going to be about the infrastructure.  Green bike identification areas (one of which I photographed) are common.  I also went through a couple of intersections that had stop light configurations designed specifically for the biker, one of which (if I recall correctly) stopped traffic in both directions for the bikers merging from a bike trail onto the streets.

However, I also observed many bikers biking in areas where there were no bike lanes, and certainly no fancy signals.  At those locations, I came to the conclusion that Portlanders were biking because they've achieved a kind of critical mass in biking so that biking is an accepted part of transportation.

Meanwhile back here in Thousand Oaks, I recall all the conversations with individuals that I know that I happen to encounter either at work or at a nearby Trader Joe's that I quite often frequent on the way home from work.  In those conversations, I hear genuine concern for my safety, with nearly every conversation concluding with, "be careful".  It seems that my well-meaning coworkers and friends are genuinely concerned with the inherent safety of biking, which, to me, explains why few people are biking.

So, where to go from here?  I think we do need more bike lanes and some fancy bike traffic signals in Thousand Oaks, and I think that biking planning cannot be an afterthought in transportation planning.  However, I think (as kind of a cop out) that there are no easy answers, and that I just need to keep riding and speaking up when I can.

My Portland Biking Misadventures

I consider myself a biking advocate.  In my advocacy, I actually participate a bit politically, but mostly, I just try to be an example, and now, I write this blog.

I traveled to Portland this past week on university business; three days sitting (and shivering) in hotel conference rooms followed by visits to Reed College and University of Portland.

Portland is one of America's true success stories regarding biking commuting.  According to Wikipedia, 8% of work commuting takes place by bicycle in Portland.  So, I decide to make my trips to Reed and U of Portland (from the downtown Marriot) via bicycle.  My plan (outside of my work responsibilities) is to make some observations, take some pictures, and write about the differences between my city of Thousand Oaks, CA, and Portland.  My planned route would have taken me 20-25 miles.

I arrive on Sunday, and already excited about the bike trip, take a little look around.  I find a bike rental place near the hotel, but find out they do not open until the time I'm to be at Reed.

I turn to Reddit (on-line community posting original content and interesting articles), which is also by far the biggest source of my fledgling blog traffic, and ask for advice on the page dedicated to Portland.  Two very helpful individuals, finiteautomata and _McAngryPants_ provide me helpful information regarding appropriate places to rent bikes and ride, respectively.

Finiteautomata clearly knows bike rental places, and offers a number places and links to other sites regarding bike rental in Portland.  One of the sites starts with, "Many visitors to Portland do as the Romans do, and rent bicycles to get around".  So much for my idea being original.

One of the suggested places is called Portland Bike Station, which has hours that work for me.  Finiteautomata mentions that the selection is "wonky", however.

Conference wraps up Wednesday afternoon, and I follow advice from _McAngryPants_ (who doesn't seem very angry, actually) and inquire if the Marriot will store a bike overnight.  They answer yes, and armed with that information, I leave the hotel room (feeling pretty dorky).

I find Portland Bike Station easily, and learn immediately what the "wonky" description was about.  The Portland Bike Station bikes look to be all abandoned bikes that have been refurbished and are now available for rent.

They have about four bikes with XL frames, however, and I select a Trek Mountain Bike conversion to street bike.

Portland Bike Station

I ride around a bit, and even cross one of the nearby bridges as I enjoy my biking freedom.  I get off the bike at the other side, and delight in watching the dynamic bike commuting environment.

Hawthorne Bridge

From there, I head back to the hotel, and relish in checking my bike in at the bell station (thanks again,  _McAngryPants_.)

Bell Desk, Downtown Marriot

7:15 AM the next morning, Thursday, I embark on my journey.  I start with a stop at Voodoo Doughnuts Too.  I'm not actually a big doughnut eater, but, my boss had told me that it was part of the Portland experience, so I think it goes nicely with my Portland biking experience.

Blueberry and chocolate doughnuts from Voodoo Doughnuts Too

 From there, I find my way easily to Reed College, although during the ride (caution, foreshadowing ahead) I'm a little uncomfortable navigating with my Droid GPS in my pocket where I cannot see it, and a little uncomfortable riding without tire repair stuff.  I arrive a good half-hour prior to my appointment.

Reed College 

Reed College Bridge

Bike Parking at the cafeteria demonstrated just for fun. My rental bike is at a nearby fence.

Everything goes swimmingly at Reed College, and by 10:30 I'm all wrapped up.  I am cautious about running my Droid out of batteries, (more foreshadowing) however, so I stop at a campus coffee shop, have a smoothie, and charge the Droid a bit.

At about 11:00 AM, I head out to University of Portland.  I find my way relatively easily, working with a scrap of paper that I can pull out of my front pocket and hold in my hand.  I do get disoriented around the Rose Garden, however, and end up on a street called Greeley, a street which  _McAngryPants_ recommended be avoided because of fast truck traffic.  As I ride along Greeley, I never feel unsafe, however, I do wish that I was on a calmer street.

As I close in on University of Portland, it sprinkles a bit, I have a new worry to add to navigation and lack of tire changing, but it quickly subsides and I'm at my destination.

Unscathed at University of Portland

I work as a university planner, and most of favorite campuses are catholic schools.

As with Reed, my visit completes without incident, and I'm soon ready to return after a late lunch and after again charging the Droid, this time to about 75%.

I head out with my scratched out directions hopefully leading me away from the aforementioned Greeley, and onto a calmer bike route.  Very soon, I see a sign for a bike route to downtown, and I already plotting the peaceful conclusion to my story.

I do not go with the sign, however, in what turned out to be a boneheaded decision, as I think it's actually pushing me back onto Greeley and I think Portland's grid of streets and numerical avenues are straightforward enough that I can manage an alternative route.  At this point I'm going north on Interstate, but I think I'm going east and heading towards the street I want to be on, which is called Vancouver.

I ride along way long enough that I should have figured out what was going on, as I do not hit Vancouver and I'm covering a lot of distance.  However, I'm moving easily and suppose that I'm kind of tuned into the rhythm of cycling.

Soon, however, I'm completely jolted back to reality because, I realize I've maneuvered myself onto the on ramp, and even onto the actual 5 Freeway.  Indeed, I'm now breaking a fundamental rule of cycling in SoCal, anyway, which is never ride a bike on the freeway.

So, I ride along a bit, contemplating whether to walk off the side of the freeway to a nearby road or to take the off ramp, and almost immediately the situation goes from bad to worse, as I begin to feel my back tire flatting out.

Now I have no choice but to get off the bike.

Don't fail me now!

I pull out the Droid to figure out where I am, and am quite surprised that after maybe 45 minutes of riding I'm actually over six miles from my hotel, and I'm farther than when I started.

( My ride of disorientation is here, incidentally)

My first thought is to find a bike shop within biking distance, but according to my Droid the closest shop is three miles in the wrong direction.

My second plan is to find a mass transit station, and according to my Droid there is one about a mile away.  I crawl over the barricade pictured above, cut across a grassy clearing, and am on a regular street on my way to a bus station.

I walk the mile to the bus stop, and as bad things always come in threes, I cannot find anything that looks like a bus stop even though my Droid tells me I'm right on top of it. Now I'm only five miles away from downtown, so I decide to just keep walking, as worse case, I can cover the five miles in an hour and a half.  (Incidentally, I know I could have called a cab, but that seemed like it would be cheating.)

Soon, however, I have a brand new worry as I know my Droid's battery is starting to get low.  I figure I need to locate myself on a map (which I did bring, fortunately) for when the Droid's battery does run out.  By this time I'm in a somewhat ramshackle residential neighborhood, and am definitely not in the dynamic community of bikers that I enjoyed so much previously.

So, I'm hunched over my map, and I notice out of my peripheral vision a car drive past me slowly, stop, and back up.  I look over, and just like in the movies, I meet my guardian angel who of course is an older black man driving a polished white Ford Thunderbird from I suppose the mid-80's.  He smiles at me, and asks if I need help.

I manage to resist the urge to shout hallelujah, toss the bike to the ground, and beg on my knees for ride, and merely ask for directions to a bus stop.  He points down the street, and tells me that a bus going directly to downtown is only a half block away.

I thank him profusely, and, this time, find the bus stop easily (at this point I turn off the GPS program from the link above.)

From there, after struggling and needing help from a somewhat annoyed bus driver in securing the bike to the rack, ride to the stop in downtown Portland, and find my way to the Portland Bike Station.  At the Portland Bike Station, they are very graceful, and inform me that they would have sent a car to my rescue.  I talk to them a bit more, and will write more about them and what they are trying to do in a later Blog post.

At the hotel room, I figure out my navigational error, and reflect on the day.

At the beginning of my post, I say I'm a bike advocate (and I am), but even more than that I like to think that I advocate against pervasive thought in today's society that things like biking and strange neighborhoods and being in an unfamiliar city are inherently unsafe and that life should be conducted in the cocoons of cars and gated communities and guarded places of work.

The reality is that I biked and got lost and had to walk my bike a lot further than I would have liked (29 miles between the two), but I never felt even a bit unsafe. In fact, I even did something pretty stupid in not paying attention and ending up on the 5 Freeway, but, I obviously survived.  (Of course, however, I guess there was that guardian angel guy looking out for me.)