Mid-Summer

Saturday evening Joel and I met up with our friends, Will and Naashom, at Devou Park in Covington, KY for a World Choir Games concert that performed in tandem with the Kentucky Symphony Orchestra. Both a Norwegian youth choir and a more classical Ukrainian choir sang, partially with the KSO and partially a capella. We sat behind some of the parents & family members of the Norwegian choir.

Naashom & Will brought cheese, crackers & wine, for a super classy evening.

The following day was my birthday and we celebrated by going to brunch at Honey in Northside. It was very delicious and lovely to spend the morning with friends. I was also really impressed with the interior design and decorating, it's pretty much exactly how I would make a café if I had the opportunity to do so (warm woods, grey walls, natural lighting, botanical illustration prints).

We were planning on going to a street fair downtown but it was so hot that we stayed home. It was a pretty uneventful birthday aside from the morning brunch. On tuesday at work Sam showed us around what he does at some of the school gardens (John P. Parker & Pleasant Ridge schools) and his aquaponics/aquqculture venture. We started at the John P. Parker school. Sam mentioned that this is his best growing school garden but the least school-involved garden, which is a shame because it's a really fantastic garden.

Then Sam (the first photo is Sam) showed us how to make an A-frame level to determine ground contours, this is to figure out what the water flow pattern is. You would then make berms and swales accordingly (water catchment).

Our second stop was at the Pleasant Ridge Montessori school. There was a lot more school involvement at this garden. In addition to the school garden there is also a community garden on the same premises.

Then we headed to Norwood to check out Sam and Dan's aquaponics garden. They have tilapia in this tank (that's food floating on top), that were too shy to come to top aside from a couple splashes when a handful came up for food.

The tank is connected to the greenhouse outside that is growing tomatoes, basil, mint and tomatillos so far.

Tomorrow we'll be going to another garden that I haven't been to yet, Spring Grove Village Community Garden. I spied this garden when Joel and I were driving around SGV and have been wanting to check it out. In two weeks we'll be having the community garden tours which is a pretty big thing, so Peter is trying to get a lot done by then. A lot of gardens need attention to get to the glamorous stage that Peter would like, I think, but no matter what state they're in, they're fantastic.