Clogged Drains, New Pipes
Once upon a time we had a tub drain which was missing the hair trap. The tub was very finicky. Some days it would drain quickly, other days it would take 30 minutes to drain after the boys took a bath. One day (today) someone (not me) pooped in the tub…and the tub wouldn’t drain at all. Luckily, someone (me) had just gotten a drain snake from his Grandpa. Several large globs of hair came out, so I put the snake back in. This time, it got stuck. I twisted, I tugged, I twisted it the other way. It wouldn’t…Read the Rest
The Fridley Farmer : Blueberry and Lingonberry Ground Prep
Blueberries have long been my favorite berries. When I was a boy, I would go to Bluff View Park in Bessemer, Michigan. If you hiked to the top of the bluff, then skirted around the edges of the bare rock you would find loads of wild blueberries. They were small but so sweet and tasty. It made the climb and the occasional bee encounter worth it. The Problem Once I started researching blueberries to find out what kind to grow I found out that they won’t do well if they don’t have acidic soil. They will grow poorly, have yellow…Read the Rest
Fridley Farmer : First Sprouts!
The first sprouts of the year are here! At least the lettuce, cauliflower and broccoli have sprouted. I don’t see any tomatoes, peppers or eggplants yet. Outside the apple trees are putting out leaves too.
The Fridley Farmer : UMN Extension Website
If you are a Minnesota Gardener, you owe it to yourself to visit the University of Minnesota’s Extension website. They have almost everything you need to know about growing anything in Minnesota. For example, did you know you can grow kiwi in Minnesota? It’s true! They look different from the ones you buy in stores, but they supposedly taste similar. I grew up in Northern Michigan, the UP. We had a nice family garden at our home for many years. Our dirt was good enough that we rarely used fertilizer. Our harvests were modest, but delicious. Unless my mom did…Read the Rest
How to dissassemble and Clean a Hohner Super 64 Chromonica
The Hohner Super 64 Chromonica is a nice chromatic harmonica. I inherited one from a dear relative. A dear old relative who could really croon, but whose slobber and old food bits I don’t care to inhale or smell while playing. So I set about learning how to clean it. Some instructions recommended soaking in water, mineral oil, bees wax, or other materials. Really there weren’t very thorough instructions. Still, the slobber wasn’t going away, so I got started. It turns out that cleaning the harmonica is really easy if you’re willing to take it all apart. If you’re looking…Read the Rest
Fridley Farmer : First Planting and building a light stand
There’s a lot going on in the garden still. We finished loading 8 cubic yards of dirt into our garden areas, I’m building a rabbit proof fence, we need to acidify the blueberry patch so they’ll grow, and we planted some seeds last night. Also, we are having a baby today. With the last average frost date a mere 6 weeks off and with this year being exceptionally warm, we planted our Broccoli, Cauliflower, Eggplant, Peppers, Lettuce and some tomatoes last night. Tomatoes shouldn’t really be planted for another three weeks, but I’m hoping that the weather will continue to…Read the Rest
The Fridley Farmer : Landscaping Rocks are the Bane of My Existence
I am quite sure that landscaping rocks have a purpose somewhere. Somewhere where there is no water (Arizona!). Somewhere where there is no love (Walmart parking lots!). Somewhere where plants can’t grow (Mars!). Landscaping rocks in a Minnesota yard though don’t have a purpose. I’m not talking about good looking boulders or stone fences. I’m talking about the pea gravel to baseball sized chunks of pumice, quarts, dirty gravel and other ugly rocks. See, who wants to look at this? Even if it was spread out along both sides of your driveway it still wouldn’t look good (trust me!). My…Read the Rest
Segmenting Drupal Users By Role in Google Analytics
We use Google Analytics and Drupal at work. We have been tracking our website usage for quite a while now, but we had no idea what percentage of our visitors were staff. We have 13 main locations, so IP filtering could’ve gotten us most of the way, but staff members do work from home and on the road quite a bit too. In the end I decided that the best route would be to use Google Analytics _setCustomVar funcitons to record the data we wanted. Staff members at work have the role “staff”, so that’s what I wanted to select…Read the Rest
The Fridley Farmer : Fridley Community Gardens
I just found out that Fridley has garden plots available for rent. If you’re in Fridley they’re just $28/year, and the till them for you! They also include easy water access, trash bins and porta-pottys. Garden plots are available to request starting two days ago (March 23) and I assume till they run out. http://www.ci.fridley.mn.us/community-gardens From description on the community gardens page, looks like this is the place.