Monday (07-February-2022) — New Jersey

Wintertime Nature in New Jersey.

Birds of the day viewed in the backyard, at the birdfeeder and on the patio: Mourning Dove, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Downy Woodpecker, Black-capped Chickadee, Dark-eyed Junco, Song Sparrow. A few birds returned.


Birds of the day. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.

AeroGarden Hydroponic Updates. The Bok Choi in AeroGarden Bounty-01 at Day 22 continues grow fast. I’ve started harvesting the largest leaves. The plants are drinking lots of water and going through the liquid fertilizer. In Bounty-02 the Rouge d’Hiver and Black-seeded Simpson lettuce are growing well, along with the Genovese Basil and Dill. One Thai Basil is growing, the other one remains small. In Bounty-03 the two transplanted 22-day Genovese Basil and Dill are doing well. The other 13-day herbs only the Parsley and Chives have sprouted. Bounty-04 with the seed sprouting tray at day 13 has more seedlings: Swiss Chard (4/5); Kale (5/5); Collard Greens (5/5); Spinach (1/5); Mustard Greens (5/5); Oregano (5/5); Rosemary (2/5); Tarragon (4/5); Thyme (5/5); Sage (5/5). After taking an image of the seedlings, they were transplanted to Farm-03 and Farm-04 in the basement.



Bounty-01, Bounty-02, Bounty Elite-03, Bounty Elite-04. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.



Farm-01L, Farm-01R, Farm-02L, Farm-2R, Farm-08L, Farm-08R, Farm-09L, Farm-09R. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.

Daily Electric Energy Used (94.6 kWh) from Sense. Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (9.2 kWh) from Sense and SolSystems. Clouds and rain. Deficit of 85.4 kWh.

Saturday (05-May-2018) — New Jersey

Springtime in New Jersey.

An eerie view of moonlight through the fog and tree branches. Seedlings after 2 days — the lettuce has already started to sprout. Weekly bread making.

Moonlight Through Fog. Image taken with a Fuji X-T2 camera and 100-400 mm OIS telephoto zoom lens (David J Mathre)
Moonlight Through Fog. Image taken with a Fuji X-T2 camera and 100-400 mm OIS telephoto zoom lens (David J Mathre)
Seedling Tray Day. Composite of two image taken with a Leica CL camera and 23 mm f/2 lens (David J Mathre)
Seedling Tray Day. Composite of two image taken with a Leica CL camera and 23 mm f/2 lens (David J Mathre)


Hearty Whole Wheat, Rye, and Muesli Bread Recipe: Whole Wheat Flour (1 cup); Sprouted Wheat Flour (1 cup); Rye Flour (1/2 cup); Muesli (1 cup); caraway seed (1 tbs); fennel seed (1 tbs); anise seed (1 tbs), dill seed (1 tbs); dry milk (1/4 cup); salt (1 tsp); instant coffee (1 tbs); cocoa powder (1 tbs); egg (1 large); flax oil (2 tbs); water (1 1/4 cup); maple syrup (1/3 cup). Above ingredients minus the maple syrup added to Panasonic Bread Bakery. Yeast (2 tsp) added to yeast hopper and the unit set for Whole Wheat Bread (Rapid) and started. Once the unit started mixing the ingredients the molasses was slowly added. Three hours later, the loaf of bread was removed and allowed to cool.