How To Build A Raised Garden - Chapter Two

As a building material cedar is naturally rot-resistant.  I switched to cedar for bird box construction and properly sealed have had excellent results for something that is subject to the elements 24/7, year-in and year-out.  The only exception is a half-dozen pine-constructed boxes that I literally (and liberally) soaked in Thompson's Waterseal wood preservative decades ago.  They're persisting despite being held-together with galvanized nails because as a preservative Thompson's mummifies your wood.  But I digress.

For my raised beds I thought best to treat the cedar before assembly and some research on the interweb let me to the choice of this product.

It is technically a deck stain, but is labeled as nontoxic when used for growing foodstuffs.  You can have it tinted in any number of colors, but I chose to go with clear untinted and the result was a mat (non-glossy) finish that really enhanced the natural elements of the cedar while hopefully extending the life expectancy of the planter.

It dries fast and earlier this month as the weather began to warm I dragged a couple of ancient sawbucks over to the granary lean-to and set-up  to stain/seal the boards and corner assemblies with two to three coats of product.  

It took three to four days and just about the time I was more than half-way thru the can this happened.

I wouldn't ordinarily cry over spilled stain but at $78 a gallon this was a near disaster.

Fortunately, and with the help of the missus, the spilled product on the surface of the boards was scraped back into the can and anything on the lean-to floor was sopped-up with a brush and applied to the boards.  Dirt and all.  I'd like to think it adds character; besides, it's a planter after all.  Disaster averted.

After the sealant was dry assembly followed.

 

And after assembly I touched-up any scrapes, scuffs and edges with more the sealant/stain.

I added handles on each end to facilitate moving the boxes to their final resting spot so as to not stress any of the fittings.

It occurred to me that with the addition of two additional handles on the long sides of the box I would be half-way to a coffin.  All that would be needed would be a bottom and a lid.  This notion has morbid possibilities so I'll leave it at the raised box planter stage of the discussion.

Tomorrow I'll share installation and planting material tips.   

How To Build A Raised Garden - Chapter One

I'm an old man and after more than three decades of working crappy Door County dirt I am done gardening on my hands and knees.  

At the close of last season we tilled and sowed the garden adjacent to the machine shed into pollinator plants and for us anyway permanently put it to pasture.  My plan was to install two to three raised beds in the front yard above the rock wall.  That way I could still scratch my gardening itch, give my back and knees a break and if I wanted to freeze or can a large quantity of anything there's plenty of ways to source vegetables from a local grower or farm market.

After researching designs and availability of material locally I decided-upon a box roughly three by six feet and sixteen inches in height.  Western red cedar deck boards closely resembling the material used in fashioning bird boxes.  Whilst bird box boards are planed smooth on one side and rough-sawn on the opposite surface the deck boards are planed smooth on all surfaces with rounded edges.  They're also thicker (one inch), closer-grained and seemingly have more knots.  More character I like to say.  

Sure, I could have simply used green-treated lumber but I figured on something easier on the eyes yet durable.  Oddly-enough, materials were cheaper sourced from Amazon Prime than anywhere else locally.

Last week, and just in-time, I installed two of them and on Wednesday planted the first with various vegetable seeds and some potted sugar snap peas and a trellis.  Two days ago the tomatoes, peppers and herbs were plugged-in.  After 48 hours all the plants are looking happier to be freed of their pots.

There's room for one more box, or a half-sized box, if needed.  I figure I'll give it a go for one growing season at a minimum before engaging in further expansion.

Raised bed gardening like this is new to me and likely has a learning curve.  Stay-tuned for a couple of further installments on the build and installation and harvest as the season progresses. 

 

 

   

First Monarch

Considering how long it has taken for spring to manifest itself around here even seemingly small events are a big deal.

I has outside yesterday planting potted vegetables and herbs in my two new raised garden beds and this happened.

First monarch I've seen this year and I was lucky to snare a video to prove it....

  

Memorial Day

It is, in a way an odd thing to honor those who died in defense of our country....in wars far away.  The imagination plays a trick.  We see these soldiers in our mind as old and wise.  We see them as something like the Founding Fathers, grave and gray haired.

But most of them were boys when they died, and they gave up two lives - the one they were living and one they would have lived...

- Ronald Reagan

Originally called Decoration Day - Memorial Day is a day of remembrance for those who have died in service to our country.

There is an American Cemetery and Memorial located in Colleville-sur-Mer on the bluff overlooking Omaha Beach in Normandy, France.  Dedicated in 1956 the Cemetery and Memorial is situated closely to the site of the temporary American St. Laurent Cemetery, established by the U.S. First Army on June 8, 1944 - the first American cemetery on European soil in World War II.  

This is the final resting place of 9,388 of our military dead - most of whom lost their lives in the D-Day landings and ensuing operations.  If you were to visit this place you will note that upon the walls of the Garden of the Missing are inscribed an additional 1,557 names.  And because old battlefields continue to yield their dead - rosettes mark the names of those since recovered and identified.

In Plot E Row 26 Grave 37 rests James D. Johnston - Lieutenant Colonel, U.S. Army, 47th Infantry Regiment, 9th Infantry Division.  Jill and I walked this sacred place on a typical rainy Norman morning and while I have no direct connection to James Johnston, his life before the war, or his survivors following the war what you can discern from the marker is that Johnston was from North Carolina and was a commander in the same division and infantry regiment my dad served.  

Some of you know that my father landed at Utah Beach as an infantry replacement.  He was a machine gunner in a heavy weapons platoon.  Dad fought in the battle of the hedgerows, the breakout at Saint-Lô and Patton's mad dash across northern France.  His participation in the liberation of Belgium was interrupted by wounds incurred in combat.  Following his recovery in England he served for a brief period in the US Army of Occupation in Germany.

Dad returned home from the war and lived a full and rewarding life. He worked quietly in a public school system and never spoke about his war experiences in any great detail until I was in college. I am alive today to muse about this subject because he survived.  James Johnston never had the opportunity to sit on the stoop and share closely-guarded feelings about the war with a son.  

This is why Memorial Day is personal to me.

A bit of reading reveals that Johnston died from wounds suffered from the detonation of a German 88mm shell at the blood-stained Crossroads 114 near Acqueville just outside of Cherbourg.*  Death in combat was fickle in the skirmishes and battle for mere meters in the uneven and mixed woodlands and pastures of the Bocage.  PFC Gaertner survived - Lt Col Johnston did not.

When it came time for a permanent burial, the families of the dead were asked if they wanted their loved ones repatriated for permanent burial in the U.S. or interred overseas.  Lieutenant Colonel Johnston's remains lie here with approximately 461 graves belonging to 9th Infantry Division G.I.s.

Today it is useful to remember and honor the lives that brave men and women sacrificed.  

Both of those lives.
 

click on images for a closer look

 

 

_{*Eight Stars to Victory - Mittelman, The Battery Press}

Talk'n Turkey

While working on a gardening project a few days ago I could hear a big male turkey gobbling-away.  I couldn't see him, yet within earshot I knew precisely what he was up to.  

It was making my dog nuts, but delightful to know someone was strutting their stuff likely across the road or on one of the trails closer to the house.

Like this dude....  

Return of the Timberdoodle

While out walking the dog recently she flushed several doodle birds.  I have mixed feelings about this; on one hand I do not care to discourage a flusher retriever’s natural instincts. On the other hand it is nesting season for all birds and I’m loath to allow a dog to trample or otherwise molest an active nest.  So I try to keep her close at all times. 

About those doodle birds, they’re common around here because of the remnant alder and willow thickets in the lowlands and younger reforested uplands.  Nevertheless, outside of the local situation this curious bird is becoming less common every year.

The American woodcock - Scolopax minor - also known as the timberdoodle - is a ground-dwelling shoreland bird species found in young forest and shrublands. Woodcock breed across eastern North America with Wisconsin part of its western range.  This migratory bird winters in lowlands from the Mid-Atlantic south to the Gulf Coast states. 

Like other shorebirds, American woodcocks, also known as timberdoodles, are well adapted to life on the ground. The location of their eyes allow them to be able to look skyward for predators while probing the earth with their beaks.

 

Earth worms are their meal of choice. Their long, flexible ~3 inch beak is great for digging through soft, moist soil. Their beaks function like forceps allowing them to eat their body weight in worms daily.

 Like other ground birds, woodcocks are precocial when they hatch. Meaning they hatch in a more advanced stage of development compared to other nesting birds and are able to leave the nest a few hours after hatching.

Historically, woodcock were found in much larger numbers.  This was a consequence of a landscape that included larger amounts of early successional habitat - the technical nomenclature for younger forest.  Not surprisingly those younger forest have evolved and grown to mature forest where woodcock do not live. Fire is suppressed and logging is in decline so the extent of younger woodland habitat continues to shrink.  Urban development also destroys former habitat and because of all of these factors the woodcock population has fallen by about 1 percent each year since the 1960s. 

Aldo Leopold’s - A Sand County Almanac - describes the courtship display of the male Woodcock.  This is one of the true harbingers of spring around here and a delight to observe before sun-up.  From the chapter titled Sky Dance in this excerpt.

I'm tickled to listen to the courtship ritual.  It is another sure sign of the arrival of spring.

Porch Beer

Now that spring has decidedly arrived it is seasonably conducive to sitting on the porch to have a cold one after quitting time.  

Not every day - but most days.

Doggo approved...

 

The Oriole Ranch

 

 

Made with real fruit juice.

No artificial colors, flavors or preservatives.

Gluten free.

32 oz bird food.

$1.99 at Econo Foods.

Jar number 5 so far for the 2026 season. 

Friday Music

Distinguished as possibly the only father and son rock band duo Tom and Ian Spanic had a moment in the sun in the mid 1980s thru the early 1990s.  They gained national attention in 1990 after they filled-in on Saturday Night Live  as a last-minute replacement for Sinead O'Connor.  This was followed-on by  appearances on Letterman, Conan O'Brien, MTV, Entertainment Tonight, World Cafe, Morning Edition and more.

Known for solid performance on their Fender Telecasters their rockabilly vocals were eerily evocative of the Everly Brothers and Buddy Holly.  After an album on Permanent Records in 1988 they signed-on with Rounder and the rest was history for a couple of local boys previously known only around Milwaukee and Waukesha.   

The group remained active until Tom's death in 2016. 

The Spanic Boys - Face The Facts..... 

Sunrise

Yesterday evening I posted a couple of photos of a peninsula sunset.

This afternoon I bring you a video of a peninsula sunrise.

And you though trail cameras were only for wildlife....

 

All Wound-Up

I can remember this from my childhood.  We didn't have one as it was a luxury feature on your typical suburban lawnmower.  A neighbor had one however; and come to think of it, this was a technological marvel of the time.

The Briggs & Stratton wind-up starter, technically an impulse starter, was a mechanical alternative to the more common rope-pull recoil starters that persist to this day.  (My cursed rototiller has a rope-pull).  

Anyway, in the 1960's this breakthrough allowed a user to start a lawn mower without yanking on a rope multiple times.

The technology relied-upon a spring that stored energy as it was wound with a crank. Flipping a release lever allowed the spring to snap back, spinning the crankshaft much faster than a yanking on a rope and starting the engine.  The Briggs Easy Spin version incorporated a patented camshaft feature that kept the intake valve open slightly longer on the compression stroke thereby reducing the force needed to turn the engine over.  Spiffy.

A victim of their own complexity and as electric starters became more affordable this technology fell out of favor.  It persists - although you won't find it in your garage.  In situations where there is no electricity (lifeboats, military applications, generators, disaster relief) impulse starters are used for diesel engines.  

Speaking for myself, rope pull starters suck.... 

Sunset

From tonight there was this...

View to the northwest

And the reflection in the view to the southeast  

 

Lord Of The Flies

I read this book as a youngster. 

Written in the midst of the Cold War the power struggle on the island was an allegorical microcosm of the ideological divide between liberal democracy and the totalitarianism of communism.  

I suppose nowadays if parents allowed a preteen access to such literature they’d be turned-in to county social services.   Or it might already have been banned in your community as it has in others. 

Anyway, this is a riveting redo of a very dark tale of stranded schoolboys attempt to build a democratic society on a deserted island. 

Order quickly dissolves into tribal savagery and murder as they succumb to their primal instincts and a terrifying imaginary beast.

We got hooked after the first of four episodes.  Like I said; it’s dark.  View it at your own peril. 

British novelist William Golding’s Lord of the Flies….

 

May Astronomy

 

click on image to enlarge

A clear dark night, 11:16 PM, last potty call for doggo and me.  This is a time-lapse photo using the iPhone 14 Pro stabilization feature and Snapseed filters to enhance the exposure.  View is directly at the heart of the spring triangle featuring three constellations.

View south from the porch.  Because camera filters pick-up a lot of faint stars that the naked eye filters out finding the shapes can be a bit of a connect the dots puzzle.  

Leo the Lion, high in the southwest (upper right quadrant of the image) is easily identified by the sickle asterism that appears like a reversed question mark.  The anchor stars include Regulus the period at the bottom of the shape and Denebola to the left.

Virgo the Maiden, located lower and to the left of Leo is the second-largest constellation in the sky and the largest constellation of the Zodiac. It also contains the bright star Spica.  Look for a lazy, sprawling "Y" shape of stars lying horizontally just above Spica which is situated in the lower right center of the image. 

Boötes the Herdsman, is situated upper left quadrant high in the southern sky and resembles a kite shape.  The very bright star is Arcturus; the brightest star in the northern celestial hemisphere.  Extending up and slightly left of Arcturus you can trace an elongated kite of ice cream cone shape.

The Spring Triangle is a large asterism (an equilateral triangle) formed by the three bright stars from the preceding constellations: Arcturus (top left), Spica (bottom right) and Denebola (upper right). 

You can be sure..

  ...if it's Westinghouse!

This vintage commercial for the Westinghouse Food File Refrigerator highlights the product's design solutions for growing families who now find their post-war models too cramped.

Storage capacity offered more than twelve feet of storage space - considered cavernous in the mid-1950s.  Westinghouse's Food File organizer with a place for everything and everything in its place; included patented roll-out shelves, a Meat Keeper, Humidrawers for produce, in-door storage sections for fruit, cheese butter and eggs and a full-width freezer overhead. 

Naturally, the commercial concludes with the brand's long-standing slogan:  "You can be sure if it's Westinghouse"

Other brands of that era included Frigidaire, GE and Kelvinator.  I cannot recall seeing full size Westinghouse fridges on a showroom floor when we were looking a few years ago.  The US market for this brand is mostly compact, beverage and specialty models.  Nevertheless, kitchen models continue to be manufactured and sold globally.  The interweb tells me they're the top choice for Australians.  How 'bout that, mate!

Before the tariff regime hit we replaced all of our major kitchen appliances and our three-door GE Profile fridge sports many of the same features 70 years later.  Except it has 27 cubic feet of storage space and manufactures ice faster than a thirsty deer camp can consume it. 

Grilling Tip

It's raining today; consequently, it's an indoor day.  A far cry from the glorious sunshine and warmth of the latter half of the week. 

I’m going to let you in on a secret to making something we call a California Burger.  Although, it has nothing remotely associated with California.  Let me explain.

Start with a 1/3 pound ground chuck patty and bakery Kaiser roll from Marchant’s in Brussels and light a fire in your Smokey Joe.

Anoint your beef with Penzey’s English prime rib rub and a spritz of EVO. Sear over hot coals taking care to turn 90 degrees for grill marks and flip only one time. Medium to medium rare. Remove to rest.

Meanwhile, toast your sliced rolls on the grill. Butter is optional (but recommended).

Assemble as follows from bottom-up.   Roll, Duke’s mayo, raw Vidalia onion, burger, two slices of tomato, lettuce, mayo and bun top.  Wavy chips on the side.

Cheese, ketchup, mustard, sautéed onions, pickles, jalapeños, etc. all optional. Make your burger your own.

The last coupla days have nearly felt almost like summer. Grilling completes the circle.

Real men grill with fire; not with electricity…. 

 

The Gift Of Fungus

Last week some neighbors of ours gave us a couple of bags of mushrooms sourced from local Brussels growers - Wild Eastons.  Oyster and Lion's Mane shrooms to be exact.  They had travel plans so we scored a gift of two big packages of beautiful fungi.  

For a couple of days I pondered what to do with them.  Pizza came to mind first.  A pasta dish next. And then a light came on; how about soup?  Homemade mushroom soup.  Consulting with the missus she agreed.  And suggested that there was a good mushroom soup recipe in the older of her two Moosewood cookbooks; the 1974 edition.  She shared that she used to make it for herself back in the day.

So I looked it-up; Mollie Katzen's Hungarian Mushroom Soup. And I had everything needed on hand to bring this recipe to life.

Upon serving, Jill declared, This is the soup I remember!  And it was fantastic; a rich and hearty mix of two mushrooms in a chicken stock accented with three kinds of dairy and a couple types of Hungarian paprika.  The only substitution I made to the recipe (linked above) was heavy cream instead of milk.  Because I could.

I'd make it again.   Come to think of it, Until now I don't ever recall knowingly eating a Lion's Mane mushroom before. Fantastic!

 

The Oriole Ranch

They're back; among the last to arrive and the first to depart. 

Some of the most colorful birds that visit Wisconsin backyards and birdfeeders during the warmer months put in serious migration miles.

Baltimore orioles, rose-breasted grosbeaks and indigo buntings all migrate far south. Birds may travel as far as 3,000 miles – sometimes over long expanses of ocean to return to their breeding habitat.

When you live halfway between the equator and the North Pole these birds have only begun to arrive in the last week.

To help migrating birds, turn off outdoor lights and close curtains at night and reduce window collisions with external screens and marker decals on the glass.

And be sure to check back for periodic updates; and the appearance of other migratory species... 

Male Baltimore oriole

Orchard oriole sparring with a Baltimore

A couple of female Baltimores

Indigo bunting

Male orchard (left) female orchard (right) 

Red-bellied woodpecker - female is characterized by a gray crown and red nape 

The help... 

 

 

Slammin' Salmon

From the other day there was this. 

 

Pan-seared Norwegian salmon teriyaki finished in a deglaze of maple syrup and honey.

Organic brown rice and peas and corn.

Pretty good chow if you can get it....

 

Friday Morning Taste Test

Professional chefs Frank Proto, Dan Richer, and Giorgia Caporuscio share their unfiltered, honest reviews of some prominent tomato sauce brands found on supermarket shelves. Which marinara packs the most bang for your buck, and which should you avoid at all costs? 

It is heartening to see a value-priced product punch above its weight.  Although, I think that once you're over five bucks for a jar of marinara sauce it's worth it to make your own from scratch.