Five-Years Ago (13-October-2019) — New Jersey

Backyard Autumn Nature in New Jersey.

Cloudy autumn 180 degree panorama view of my backyard five-years ago. This was before the siding was replaced and the deck removed and replaced with a patio. Thirty-six images were taken using an Astro programmable rotating head on my tripod. Thirteen of the images were used to create the composite panorama (14006 x 4044 pixels). In a separate set 120 were taken and used to create a rotating time-lapse video.

Backyard Panorama. Composite of 13 images taken with a Nikon D700 camera and 28 mm f/1.8 lens (ISO 200, 28 mm, f/8, 1/100 sec). Raw images processed with Capture One Pro and AutoPano Giga Pro. (David J Mathre)
Backyard Panorama. Composite of 13 images taken with a Nikon D700 camera and 28 mm f/1.8 lens (ISO 200, 28 mm, f/8, 1/100 sec). Raw images processed with Capture One Pro and AutoPano Giga Pro. (David J Mathre)

Saturday (12-October-2019) — New Jersey

Autumn Outdoor Yard Projects.

Day two with the DR Field and Brush mower. Cleared the south-east wildflower meadow in the backyard. Ordered new V-belts for the roto-tiller. Need to repair fence poles the deer broke, and put down some cover crop seed. Some of these activities were recorded on a Garmin VIRB-360 camera for a Time-lapse video.

Daily Electric Energy Used (56.8 kWh) from Sense and Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (38.8 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. More sun than yesterday.  Overall a net deficit of 18.0 kWh.

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Thursday (10-October-2019) — New Jersey

Autumn Indoor Gardening in New Jersey

After the deer ate my strawberry plants in the canvas pots on my patio, I tried to get some strawberry plants started indoors in the hydroponic gardens. I cut some of the runners from the Garden Towers. After 2 weeks only a small percentage started growing roots. Most were dead. Later, I read that the runners are better started still connected to the mother plant. I then ordered some strawberry plugs (Sweet Charlie and Chandler) from ISONS in Georgia. These are delivered in October for fall planting. I decided to try some indoors in the hydroponic gardens, and the others outside in the canvas pots (replacing the ones the deer ate). Time-lapse video of the indoor planting.

Daily Electric Energy Used (51.1 kWh) from Sense and Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (30.9 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. The sun came out in the afternoon.  Overall a net deficit of 20.2 kWh.

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Wednesday (09-October-2019) — New Jersey

Home Cooking: Bread and Salsa Verde.

It must be autumn as it is cold and raining outside. Spent the day making Bread and Salsa Verde. I made a Time-lapse video of the time in the kitchen cooking both using a Garmin VIRB-360 camera.

Whole Wheat & Muesli Bread Recipe: Bob’s Red Mill Muesli (1 1/2 cup); Bread Flour (1/2 cup); Whole Wheat Flour (1/2 cup); Sprouted Wheat Flour (1/2 cup); Flax Seed (1/4 cup); sugar (2 tbs); dry milk (1/4 cup); salt (1 tsp); egg (1 large); flax oil (2 tbs); water (1 1/4 cup). Above ingredients added to the Panasonic Bread Bakery. Yeast (2 tsp) added to yeast hopper and the unit set for Whole Wheat Bread (Rapid) and started. Three hours later, the loaf of bread was removed and allowed to cool. This time the bread stuck to the cooker and was hard to get out. Next time reduce the Muesli by 1/2 cup, and increase the bread flour by 1/2 cup. I like this bread since it is not as dense and heavy as the Rye & Whole Wheat loaves.

Salsa Verde Recipe: First I grilled/blackened husked and washed Tomatillos (2.5 lbs), Red Onion (1 quartered), New Mexico Hatch Chile Peppers (4, cut in half and de-seeded) on a broiler pan. These were placed in a 4 quart Instant Pot pan along with garlic cubes (12, Trader Joe’s), salt (1 tsp), Coriander (1 tsp), Cilantro (fresh, 2 oz, washed and chopped), Apple vinegar (1/4 cup), Lime juice (2 medium, squeezed). Then cooked for 10 minutes at high pressure. After relieving the pressure, the mixture was blended with a hand-held immersion blender. Still a bit too sweet. More vinegar and salt?

Daily Electric Energy Used (52.5 kWh) from Sense and Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (12.9 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. Cloudy and rainy all day. One load of laundry and two loads in the dishwasher.  Overall a net deficit of 39.6 kWh. Hope to see more sun this month… But the ground is dry causing the deer to keep getting into the fenced wildflower meadows.

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