yesterday i spent the day with my seventeen daughter which is something i 've been doing less and less of since she turned about thirteen. and it's not because i haven't wanted or tried to do to, it's just that she'd rather be hanging out with her friends instead of dear old dad.
my daughter and i would hang out all the time when she was younger. we'd go to little five points, atlanta's bohemian hippie neighborhood and just people watch for a whole afternoon. we would hang out at bookstores where i would read to her for hours, but some of the best times were spent in my apartment where we would make up games. one was called 'fix it shop' where one of us would be the fix it guy in the shop and the other would bring things in to the shop, my closet, to be fixed. each customer would wear a different costume, my clothes, and have a different accent from all parts of the world.
we also traveled a lot too. three overnight trains trips, one to new york city, one to d.c and one to new orleans. once there was a deal for a $39 round trip flight to indianapolis. i had no idea what there was to do there but it was inexpensive and more importantly, an adventure to an unknown place. we stayed at a little b and b owned by a very nice young couple who made great breakfasts. we paddle boated in a little lake in the center of the city and had a very nice dinner at a jazz restaurant where the musicians came to our table and played a special song for my daughter.
well yesterday we took an hour ride to a 'you pick it' farm where we picked 8 1/2 pounds of blueberries in about two hours. then we went to the blue willow inn in social circle, georgia for lunch. the blue willow is a buffet style restaurant serving classic southern food. the fried green tomatoes are my favorite and all the vegetables are cooked with pork, ham of fatback. i'm a vegetarian and the cook was nice enough to make me a special plate.
sorry, back to the subject. so most people go to 'you pick it' farms to save money and i did too, kind of. 8 1/2 lbs. of luscious blueberries for $11.60. ok, so i drove my 20 mpg suv and used about 1/4 of a tank of gas, these days about $18 worth. but in the winter in atlanta you can pay $4 or more for 1/2 pint of tastless berries shipped from who knows where. but that's not really the point. the point is, i got to spend a day with my favorite person one on one and to me, that is priceless.
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Monday, May 5, 2008
give it a shot
my friend pattie over at foodshedplanet.com asked an interesting question on her blog last week. what are 10 things kids need to know to become independent and confident adults?
my answer has come courtesy of ronnie, my best friend as a young teen. ronnie and i tried out for the football team in the 7th grade. we were both pretty small for our age, in fact my girlfriend wendy was 1" taller than me. ronnie and i were really excited to check out the 'cut list' posted in the gym the next day to see if we got cut, or were still on the team. ronnie got cut, but i didn't. it never occured to me to return to practice that day.. i just quit because ronnie didn't make it.
about 35 years later i thought about the day i quit. i wondered how my teen years might have been different if i had made the team. would i have different friends? different girlfriends? maybe i could have been a really good ball player and gotten written up in the wiley jr. high wigwam, our school newspaper, with a picture of me scoring the game winning touchdown. what if...
my mind was taken back to wiley jr high because i wanted to be an actor for years but had always found an excuse why i couldn't pursue it. when i declared my major at ohio state as theatre, my dad said i'd never make a living and that i should be a cpa. in my heart, i was afraid of acting anyway so i always said it was his fault for not supporting me. not true, i had zero confidence. then i auditioned for a role in cleveland, ohio and actually got a part. that scared me so much i told the director i had to move to atlanta the next week. yes, i was moving but it could have waited until after the shows run. then i had a child and couldn't take time away from my little girl. that might have been my only real excuse. then she grew up and i ran out of excuses at age 48.
i didn't want to look back like i had with ronnie and 7th grade football and wonder, what if...so i made a plan. i would take one year of acting classes and then start auditioning. i thought, if i got a part, great and if i didn't, at least i tried. as it turns out i got the part of clarence the angel in 'it's a wonderful life' as my first play which lead me to another and another and another, and i looove it! sometimes even after a good rehearsal, i'm so pumped that i can't sleep that night.
i've made many mistakes along the way but i've learned from all of them. now i sit here waiting for a call from my agent regarding a call back for a national tv commercial.
so my advise for kids to become confident adults is to never wonder what would have happened if...if you have a passion for something, go for it, get out there and make mistakes because you won't learn unless you do.
as my main man, todd rundgren once said in a song..."if i didn't try, how would i know?
check out the lyrics to todd's 'if i didn't try". great song.
so what's this post doing on my gardening blog? i'm not sure but, thanks ronnie.
my answer has come courtesy of ronnie, my best friend as a young teen. ronnie and i tried out for the football team in the 7th grade. we were both pretty small for our age, in fact my girlfriend wendy was 1" taller than me. ronnie and i were really excited to check out the 'cut list' posted in the gym the next day to see if we got cut, or were still on the team. ronnie got cut, but i didn't. it never occured to me to return to practice that day.. i just quit because ronnie didn't make it.
about 35 years later i thought about the day i quit. i wondered how my teen years might have been different if i had made the team. would i have different friends? different girlfriends? maybe i could have been a really good ball player and gotten written up in the wiley jr. high wigwam, our school newspaper, with a picture of me scoring the game winning touchdown. what if...
my mind was taken back to wiley jr high because i wanted to be an actor for years but had always found an excuse why i couldn't pursue it. when i declared my major at ohio state as theatre, my dad said i'd never make a living and that i should be a cpa. in my heart, i was afraid of acting anyway so i always said it was his fault for not supporting me. not true, i had zero confidence. then i auditioned for a role in cleveland, ohio and actually got a part. that scared me so much i told the director i had to move to atlanta the next week. yes, i was moving but it could have waited until after the shows run. then i had a child and couldn't take time away from my little girl. that might have been my only real excuse. then she grew up and i ran out of excuses at age 48.
i didn't want to look back like i had with ronnie and 7th grade football and wonder, what if...so i made a plan. i would take one year of acting classes and then start auditioning. i thought, if i got a part, great and if i didn't, at least i tried. as it turns out i got the part of clarence the angel in 'it's a wonderful life' as my first play which lead me to another and another and another, and i looove it! sometimes even after a good rehearsal, i'm so pumped that i can't sleep that night.
i've made many mistakes along the way but i've learned from all of them. now i sit here waiting for a call from my agent regarding a call back for a national tv commercial.
so my advise for kids to become confident adults is to never wonder what would have happened if...if you have a passion for something, go for it, get out there and make mistakes because you won't learn unless you do.
as my main man, todd rundgren once said in a song..."if i didn't try, how would i know?
check out the lyrics to todd's 'if i didn't try". great song.
so what's this post doing on my gardening blog? i'm not sure but, thanks ronnie.
Monday, April 28, 2008
catching you up
ok, so i let the dogs know who is boss. that was six weeks ago and no more damage. they have even been here to sniff around, but no longer bother my garden. it you want to call it that.
the veggies looked pretty much the same as the day i planted them for those same six weeks. zero growth. that is until a couple weeks ago when i saw a sign offering
FREE MULCH. wow, how could i pass that offer? i didn't. i lined my truck with tarp, drove to the mulch pile, looking very dark rich and fertile and loaded up. i spread it about two inches deep on my front yard beds and on my lame looking garden plot. whew, tiring but it looked great and...the next day there was visible growth in my garden. shoot, i got this gardening thing down!
until i emailed pattie at www.foodshedplanet.com. i got an immediate response saying
"DO NOT USE DEKALB COUNTY'S FREE MULCH" in caps yet,"IT'S NOT ORGANIC". so what else is new? i think the name of this blog should have been whatnottodotogrowanorganicgarden.com.
i guess there could have been pesticides sprayed on it, or possibly wood from diseased trees or bug infested, but i ate my first salad from my very own, kind of organic, garden for luch just an hour ago and i feel great! kind of. i'm actually starting to feel a little light headed. maybe even a little shakey, but hey i'm tough. cough cough...i'm ummm... cough...it's a...got
ta go.
the veggies looked pretty much the same as the day i planted them for those same six weeks. zero growth. that is until a couple weeks ago when i saw a sign offering
FREE MULCH. wow, how could i pass that offer? i didn't. i lined my truck with tarp, drove to the mulch pile, looking very dark rich and fertile and loaded up. i spread it about two inches deep on my front yard beds and on my lame looking garden plot. whew, tiring but it looked great and...the next day there was visible growth in my garden. shoot, i got this gardening thing down!
until i emailed pattie at www.foodshedplanet.com. i got an immediate response saying
"DO NOT USE DEKALB COUNTY'S FREE MULCH" in caps yet,"IT'S NOT ORGANIC". so what else is new? i think the name of this blog should have been whatnottodotogrowanorganicgarden.com.
i guess there could have been pesticides sprayed on it, or possibly wood from diseased trees or bug infested, but i ate my first salad from my very own, kind of organic, garden for luch just an hour ago and i feel great! kind of. i'm actually starting to feel a little light headed. maybe even a little shakey, but hey i'm tough. cough cough...i'm ummm... cough...it's a...got
ta go.
Sunday, April 27, 2008
here goes...
it's not that i'm that so much reluctant about reaping,(my personal definition for gardening, but reluctantgardener was already taken. drat!) but more reluctant to be a blogger. after being asked to blog three or four times by my friend pattie who writes the blog, www.foodshedplanet.com, i thought i'd give it a try.
a little about me...my name is david skoke from atlanta, ga. i'm a father, actor, stock trader, vegetarian, community volunteer, big brother, avid music listener/collector, lousy (but i love it) musician and now a participant in the worldwide victory garden movement , taking control of our food, health and future of our planet with my first organic garden.
i live on a tree lined street with lots of shade. great to look at but not ideal for gardening, so after watching the sun on my yard one day, i found the only spot that gets direct sun for about five hours. it's a 4'x10' plot in my front yard next to the driveway. after a few hours of digging up sod, adding fertilizer, soil and manure and turning and turning, i was ready to go. that is until my neighbor told me a garden bed should be about 8" deep. mine was about 3". bummer. finally, a few days later and after a few more hours of digging, sweating and a whole lot more manure and the rest, the bed was ready. hip hip hurray! time to plant. i'm psyched.
i thought i'd start by planting plants rather than seeds because i needed some immediate gratification. so there it was, beautiful rows of a few varieties of early spring veggies. i sat on my front porch that evening, glass of wine in hand, admiring my garden and imagined my future bounty. ok, so i made a mistake but i'm a beginner. what did i expect? no bid deal.
that is until the next morning when i discovered a couple of my neighborhood's stray dogs had dug up all my work. i mean all of the veggies and deep holes everywhere. bigger bummer. but not to be deterred and reenergized after another few days, i got to work again. this time i planted onions around the perimeter of my bed, to keep out pests and sprinkled pepper(couldn't hurt i thought) on the bed. on the porch again, more admination, and more wine, all was well.
yea, right. the next morning i discovered the return of the dogs. this time i caught them red handed. make that, red pawed digging in my garden. again, big holes plants dug up and scattered all over the place. i ran out to the yard and gave them a stern talking to.
to be continued...
a little about me...my name is david skoke from atlanta, ga. i'm a father, actor, stock trader, vegetarian, community volunteer, big brother, avid music listener/collector, lousy (but i love it) musician and now a participant in the worldwide victory garden movement , taking control of our food, health and future of our planet with my first organic garden.
i live on a tree lined street with lots of shade. great to look at but not ideal for gardening, so after watching the sun on my yard one day, i found the only spot that gets direct sun for about five hours. it's a 4'x10' plot in my front yard next to the driveway. after a few hours of digging up sod, adding fertilizer, soil and manure and turning and turning, i was ready to go. that is until my neighbor told me a garden bed should be about 8" deep. mine was about 3". bummer. finally, a few days later and after a few more hours of digging, sweating and a whole lot more manure and the rest, the bed was ready. hip hip hurray! time to plant. i'm psyched.
i thought i'd start by planting plants rather than seeds because i needed some immediate gratification. so there it was, beautiful rows of a few varieties of early spring veggies. i sat on my front porch that evening, glass of wine in hand, admiring my garden and imagined my future bounty. ok, so i made a mistake but i'm a beginner. what did i expect? no bid deal.
that is until the next morning when i discovered a couple of my neighborhood's stray dogs had dug up all my work. i mean all of the veggies and deep holes everywhere. bigger bummer. but not to be deterred and reenergized after another few days, i got to work again. this time i planted onions around the perimeter of my bed, to keep out pests and sprinkled pepper(couldn't hurt i thought) on the bed. on the porch again, more admination, and more wine, all was well.
yea, right. the next morning i discovered the return of the dogs. this time i caught them red handed. make that, red pawed digging in my garden. again, big holes plants dug up and scattered all over the place. i ran out to the yard and gave them a stern talking to.
to be continued...
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