Summer Harvests

Summer’s first harvest is always some type of squash. This year, we didn’t grow the Zucchini Romanesco, which is sad, because it’s such an amazing producer (see last year’s huge fruit that kept growing and growing in our weeks of neglect):

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But, we did grow some yellow summer squash that are producing like mad:

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And, our first tomato harvest was a welcome addition to the kitchen:

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Especially the crazy megabloom sweet horizon (it must have been 2 pounds, at least):

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The next week’s harvest was almost double:

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And, most importantly, we finally had enough ingredients to make the first garden Gazpacho of the summer:

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Yummmm….

Open Source Hardware

One of the main differences between GPL v 2.0 and GPL v 3.0 is the modifications made to address some folks’ concerns that to truly embrace the idea of “Free” or “Open” software, the license must also prohibit restrictions at the hardware level that would prohibit folks from modifying the software.

The natural extension of this concept is the idea that there should be a way to contractually ensure that hardware should also be “Free” or “Open” to modification by its users.

In the software world, we have the Open Source Definition or “OSD,” as a set of community-defined principles to guide the use and development of the term “Open Source Software.”

Now, in the hardware world, a consortium of folks have proposed a draft Open Source Hardware Definition that hopes to establish the same thing for the term “Open Source Hardware.”

Today’s version of the draft indicates that they are drawing from the OSD, as well prior drafts of their proposal and the TAPR Open Hardware License.

I wish them the best in their efforts to converge on an agreed set of principles and look forward to working with the term FOSS/H in the future.

Independence Day Harvest

After closing some end-of-fiscal-quarter transactions for clients, I was very excited to get some quality time in the garden.

First, I harvested all of the leeks and onions that were ready:

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Then, I moved in on the row of shallots:

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And finally, I took out the garlic,

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which I set into a *very* messy braid a few days later (this one is about twice as neat as mine).

I tied up, pruned, and ogled my tomatoes (that just won’t seem to ripen due to the coolest summer I can recall since we moved here…):

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And I checked in on the development of the 5-or-6-bloom megabloom sweet horizon tomato, which did not disappoint:

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At the end of the holiday weekend, the garden looked much more civilized than it had in days prior:

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And, since I accidentally knocked down some green tomatoes in the course of my work, I put them to use in that great southern tradition of fried green tomatoes (but California fusion-style, cooked in a wok, and encrusted with panko):

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Independence

This first American Indepence Day that I am experiencing as a sole proprietor, small business owner — it feels very American.

We are staying home.

I am looking forward to catching up on the sleep that I missed closing transactions at the end of Q2 2010.

Also, I’m looking forward to giving our garden some love. Because right now, it’s a bit of jungle:

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Especially, when compared against the garden immediately post transplants, in May:

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Now that it’s finally warm, everything is growing like crazy, including the Nasturtiums:

And, the leeks and onions we didn’t get a chance to harvest in time are now flowering:

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Most people would abandon the leeks and onions post flowering, but I’ve found that if you act fast, they fare reasonably well in bakes, stews, and other long-heat forgiving food preparations.

As for tomatoes, we don’t have much. Just a few cherries from the Sun Sugar that appears to have given up the ghost:

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and, some promising early turning Heinz tomatoes:

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As for me, I look out every day and see all of the green tomatoes and can’t wait for the heat that will make them ripe. Certainly, I may regret the drying, the canning, the stewing, and other means of preservation. But at the moment, I only know one tomato annoyance — and that is impatience for locally grown ripe tomatoes. So, of course, when the annoyance is no more, I suspect I’ll have a different complaint…. wish me well.

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