Cauble Farms, Day 1

This year the Cauble's, Sowers', Osborne's, Stearn's (I think), and Danielle & I are going to be farming an area of the Cauble's property which we've all named "Cauble Farms". Today was the first major work day on the farm. Ryan and I built boxes for the square foot garden boxes while the ladies roped of and began working the farm rows. Then we all worked to compost, double-dig, and recompost the row areas. Virtually all afternoon we worked to the jams of Mike Stearns & Nate Pina, which helped time fly by. We put in about 6 hours today, and I think we were all impressed with what we got accomplished. The row areas are looking really good and ready for soil.

Next week we're planning on prepping the box garden areas, spreading soil (which may get done mid-week) and get some plant starts and seeds in the ground.

The full photo collection is on my facebook, but here are the highlights:

My car overloaded with compost.

Yeah, it's a lot of compost

The ladies laying out the rows
Building the square foot boxes

Lora spreading compost.

Mike & Nate providing the tunes.

Finished rows & boxes

Jy hanging out when the Sower's stopped by to check out the progress.


Becuase we care

RPM Challenge 2009

During the month of February, I'm planning on participating in the RPM Challenge, www.rpmchallenge.com. The goal of the challenge is to write and record an album worth of music (10 songs or 35 minutes), all during the February.

I've been trying to work on my songwriting over the last few months, after writing my first 'real' song last February. My writing has been extremely sporadic with very few songs being completed.

It's my hope that by forcing myself into a deadline that I'll be more efficient and productive in my writing/recording and get myself into a 'habit' of songwriting. Not sure how effective this will be, but certainly by doing a lot more writing the material should improve.

quick question

Yes, I know that I've been really bad about posting to the blog lately. Hopefully I'll be better in the coming weeks.

One thought for the day...

Can anyone rock better or more consistently than Billy F. Gibbons?

Answer: A resounding NO!

Maine Man Song

Maine Man Song

I can happily say I'm proud to be a "Down Easterner".

On the return of Phish...

As referenced in my post on Wednesday, Phish is reuniting this March: nearly 5 years after the 'breakup', 11 years after my first show, and over 25 years since the band's first performance.

I have to admit that after the breakup, I took a bit of a break from Phish myself. Some shows, particularly high points of ones I attended and lots of the final weekend were actually tough to listen too. Ok, so the Coventry "Velvet Sea" still gets me.

After "broadening out" my musical tastes over the couple years, I've come back to Phish more and more over the last several months and rediscovering just how amazing the interplay is between these 4 guys is. I've enjoyed their solo projects a lot, but there's a certain something that only seems to happy when the 4 are together.

Danielle and I have always said, after sitting in traffic and not getting into Coventry, that we would do whatever we had to to be at the first show when the band got back together. Therefore, we're currently in the lottery for Hampton, VA tickets in March, and if we miss out there we'll go nuts on the phone & internet on the general on-sale date!

For the uninitiated, some of my phavorites that I was able to find on youtube
Punch You In The Eye (part of the Gamehenge saga)
Possum
Waste (this is actually the encore from my first show!)
You Enjoy Myself (part I -- part II

really? really? you're not kidding right?

www.phish.com

The "new" Kerby Lane Cafe

Next week will mark 3 years since Danielle & I moved to Austin, so I am in no way authorized to pine for "the good old days", but I can say that I'm really bummed about the "new" Kerby Lane Cafe location in North Austin.

The thing I've loved about Kerby Lane is the food, but the atmosphere is also great; relaxed, easy-going, really just feeling lived in. Two weeks ago the location on 183 moved north a couple of exits and to the other side of the highway, out of the old house-style building and into a big plaza location. I've been to the new location twice since opening, and while the food has remained the same (great!), the vibe is just different. While before the space felt like walking into someone's home: a little rough around the edges, picked up enough for company, but you could still tell they'd been there for years; the new location feels too slick and polished. Everything is fresh and new, a big tv in the waiting area, host & wait staff (while still the same personnel) being dressed a little nicer than normal, and new art on the freshly painted walls.

Don't get me wrong, the migas and french toast were still GREAT. But, I was actually somewhat contented this morning when I realized by plate had a chip taken out of the bottom of it. Hopefully the new, bigger location will alleviate some of the wait times, and that after it's open a few months it will start to acquire that good old Kerby Lane feel.