The Escargot Wars - Strategic Retreat

Time management this winter has devolved into weighing the dozens of stories DEMANDING to be written against the hordes of gastropods determined to devour everything that doesn't eat them first in the garden.

Fortunately, the perennial herbs I depend on the most (thyme, sage, rosemary) are holding their own. In other words, they're largely unpalatable to the blasted snails and slugs. However, except for some wintering-over peppers and a couple of cherry tomato and basil plants that didn't get the "annuals" message, the rest of the garden is turned under and "resting" until spring planting season. No lettuce. No radishes. None of the usual Zone 10 (no frost) winter crops.

I have declared a strategic retreat in the escargot wars. I'm ensconced in the office with the dog, a cat sleeping on the printer, a wall full of "inspirational" pictures, and 2417 words that are almost ready for submission. The closest I'm getting to the garden tonight is a story about a man, a woman, and a hothouse full of creamy pink cymbidium orchids.

Green Thumbs 'R' Us

This year, for the first time, we put in a raised "square foot" garden. The idea is to make a grid on a raised bed of deeply dug, loose, enriched soil, then to put different plants within each grid square. Most plants get one square. Things like beans get nine to a square, while really big plants like watermelons get two squares.

The plants fit deceptively well when they were first sprouting. Then they grew. And grew and grew! Now that it's mid-summer, every bit of available space is crammed full of (fortunately, thriving) plants. With the beds being raised, there are minimal weeds and the plants (which purely love the lack of weeds!) are easy to tend.

All of a sudden, the garden is producing enough food to impact the budget. Woohoo! The tomatoes are ripening with a vengeance, we have basil galore, and for the first time ever, I have successfully grown zucchini! (Yeah, yeah, everyone can grow zucchini. NOT! I've killed more zucchini plants than I can count! But this year, finally, I'm getting 2-3 fingerling zucchini each day.) I'm getting eggplant, several kinds of peppers, heat-resistant strawberries, and a huge variety of herbs. The stuff in the other parts of the garden is growing as well: fennel, grapes, butternut squash, and more tomatoes and peppers.

Because our watering is restricted here (Zone 10 -- re-claimed desert), it's taken me a while to work out a schedule that lets me keep the garden sufficiently hydrated. I can't do my usual "ignore the housework during writing hours" pattern because unlike the laundry, sometimes the garden can't wait. I've had to reschuffle things so I have enough time to tend The Crops, cook from scratch (without heating the house to sweltering), and still have enough time to write. Some days, the schedule works better than others. I'm working on getting the balance right.

In the meanwhile, for some reason, a lot of the stories I'm writing are centered around gardening. And cooking. Olive oil is a very versatile ingredient.

Harvesting--with Help from the Dog

Unseasonably cool day here in the Los Angeles basin. Last week's triple digit baking-in-the-sun temps have given way to an overcast, comfortable 70's. Whatever the reason, the garden is loving it.



Belle and I harvested fennel and mustard seeds this morning. Usually, she's really good about not bothering the plants. (Well, except for green "bell" peppers. All bets are off when those are ripe!) But apparently, when I start snipping off fruit or pulling up veggies, that means it's time for us to be bopping or digging up the plants.



A couple of firm "no" commands had her pouting next to me (until she got distracted by a lizard). So I got about a tablespoon of mustard seeds from the one plant that survived the snails, probably an equal amount from the fennel stalk I allowed to go to seed. Broadcast a few of each kind into their respective pots and brought the rest in for cooking.



Harvesting and the cool weather, and this being the first post-Labor Day weekday, has me really feeling like autumn has arrived. I have no illusions that the heat and Santa Anas are done for the year. But for today, I'm going to start a nice chicken rice soup, throw some Italian spices in with the breadmaker ingredients, and enjoy the California-style "change of season."



Deadline coming up for a romantic erotica story. Maybe I'll write about a homemaker cook?

The Scheherazade Plan

I have two "day jobs": home-based writer of steamy love stories and housewife making a whole lot of expenses not happen. I've had 300 short stories published, so I still have a ways to go to reach Scheherazade's 1001 Arabian Nights. Fortunately, my husband is a great guy, and I have a computer. I also have a garden, pets, dishes and laundry.

Sometimes I wonder, would Scheherazade have been such a prolific storyteller without servants—and without the incentive of having to come up with a cliffhanger each night so her psychotic (albeit “the king”) husband wouldn’t kill her in the morning?

Scheherazade told stories to save her life. I tell them because being a writer is a fundamental part of my life. So I’m going to see how hard it is to be as prolific a storyteller as she was in a nonlethal setting. I’m going to write 1001+ love stories while happily married and while wrangling the blasted housework.