Car sharing - how it's working out

It's now mid-August and Tom and I have been sharing a car since May, ever since our son arrived home from college and confiscated our other car. For the most part, it has been surprisingly painless. Of course, a lot of this has to do with the fact that this is summer. Our usual schedule has Tom biking in to Pleasant Ridge every morning (about 40 minutes) to catch the bus downtown. I join him (with the car) after exercise, and we throw the bike in the back of the car for the ride home. So we technically do take a car downtown and back each day, but if you think about it, to keep me on my morning exercise schedule, we would have had to use both cars.

We have a history of being chintzy with cars.....Decades ago we bought a little Civic that our kids used through high school until it was ready for the junk pile, and none of them had cars in college. Part of our history, you should know, also involves living for 3 years in Tokyo, which got us used to public transportation and the most ancient form of transport possible, walking. I tried biking there, but there were way too many people.

So anyway, now that Tom is retired and our schedule is a bit more flexible, we are back to figuring out a way to get around that requires the least amount of expense and carbon output. We have been adapting to the biking lifestyle more and more for the past few years, but this is the first year that we have been on a more scheduled life, with a 9-5 summer at the Green Garage. And so far we're not missing the second car. Now, I'd like to see how this is going to work when winter sets in. As I recall, though, last winter the second car spent quite a bit of time parked in the garage. We're on more of a schedule this year, so we'll have to see.

But for now, today I take the car and Tom may fight the raindrops. Tomorrow Tom will take the car and I, as we are in wedding mode, will bike up a couple of miles for a pedicure, bike back, and then Maureen will pick me up to get to Berkley for a dress fitting. If anything, car sharing is great for family coordination and cooperation!

Let the feasting begin

This is the best time of the year for vegetable gardeners - the stuff is coming in! Tonight we had fresh beans and cherry tomatoes with our dinner. We're picking every day. We moved our vegetable garden close to the house this year, and I'm loving it. It's only a few steps out the door to retrieve something good for dinner.

I've learned another lesson this year. For most of the growing season, I have been discouraged by a succession of problems - deer eating our broccoli, the peas browning up on the vine, our basil deciding it didn't want to be planted with our sage (tempermental). Our tomato plants were also pretty tiny for a long time. A few weeks ago, however, I was excited to see lettuce coming in (yes! in July). And then the beans took over for the peas. And now the tomato plants, still a bit spindly, are beginning to produce. So, as with so many things in life, patience is the rule. It will all come in time.

Biking becoming a lifestyle

I haven't made many updates to the blog this summer because we're not doing much new. But we are accelerating our adaptation to a different lifestyle in some ways, one of which is our use of bikes for transportation. Many people use bicycle riding for recreation, and there's nothing wrong with that, but we are primarily destination riders, and I think that has helped us keep bicycling as part of our daily routines.

By destination riding, I mean that we use our bikes as a substitute for a car when we have to get somewhere. Our most consistent use of destination biking has been getting to the fitness center in the morning, which is about a mile and a half away -- perfect for a short commute and perfect for a great warm-up. We usually start in April and ride until October or November, giving us about 7 or 8 months of riding. It's hard to describe why this has worked for us, but I'll try. First, it's wonderful to get out in that fresh Michigan summer early-morning air. The temps usually range between 50-60 when we're riding (around 7:30 AM - 9 AM) - great biking temperatures. Also, you get to park your bike right up next to the building instead of the parking lot and stroll right in. Nice. In addition, you pay attention to things you wouldn't normally see when driving, such as the neighbors' flowers or the interesting clouds that day. Finally, I guarantee you'll smile at someone somewhere along your ride - it's courtesy if nothing else. Watch people's faces when they're driving. I do when I'm paused at an intersection. They all look grumpy. Bike people usually smile and wave.

This summer Tom has been working at the Green Garage every weekday 9-5, so he has had to adjust his exercise schedule. His solution has been to bike about an hour down to the Pleasant Ridge area and catch the bus to Detroit (he puts his bike on the front of the bus). I'm sure it's no surprise to you that he has lost weight.

Yesterday I was thinking about our daily rides, and considered the fact that so far I haven't been rained on. So I asked Tom if he had encountered rain in all of his commutes, and he has not. Amazing. I don't know why this is, but we were thinking that perhaps it doesn't rain as much as we think it does. Even if you have a rainy day, it usually only rains for a short period before clearing up. We have learned that biking when the skies are threatening is no problem - 99% of the time nothing comes of it. But it takes a change in mind-set to head out on the bike when there is a questionable sky. I would encourage you to try it - you may find that regular biking becomes a habit that's surprisingly hard to break.

Lasagna garden magic

Mitzi Carter sent in these 2 photos. They each show a zucchini plant, and they were planted in the ground at exactly the same time. The one on top was planted in their lasagna garden, the one below into the regular garden bed. Quite a difference!

A new way to get to work

This summer Tom has been working at the Green Garage Monday through Friday, 9-5. Ah, the retirement life! Anyway, he has developed a new way to get there that doesn't require a car. He heads out shortly after 7 AM and bikes down to Royal Oak, where he catches a bus to Detroit. He puts the bike on the front of the bus, and once down there, gets back on the bike for a short ride to the Green Garage. It takes about 45 minutes to get to Royal Oak, so the commute is a little longer than it would have been in a car. Also, because he has an extended work day and has to miss his usual exercise, this provides a good substitute. Some days he repeats the process coming home, but most of the time I'm down there so I bring him and his bike home (yes, you can fit a bike in a Prius). An added benefit: some quality time outdoors. I also bike every day to exercise, and can attest to the great benefits of biking in the cool summer morning air.

North Cass Community Garden

This is a new garden in downtown Detroit. It's called the North Cass Community Garden, located at Willis and Second. There are 60 plots altogether, each about 4x8. They rent for $25 a year, and this original group sold out immediately. The gardens are the work of Sue Mosey of the University Center Cultural Association in Detroit's midtown area. The lot used to be filled with weeds and other invasive plants, not to mention garbage and other assorted items. Now it's a beautiful spot for people to meet and tend their plots. Some members of the Green Garage are taking care of 2 of the plots, but we are not nearly as creative as the people who came up with this Eiffel Tower trellis for their tomato plants!

Vertical lasagna garden

Here is another idea for your lasagna garden. We moved our garden from the farthest corner of the yard recently and decided to place it up against a south wall closer to the house. That way we'll keep a better eye on it. In order to grow our climbing vegetables, Tom constructed this trellis from wood we found in the woods and some wire. It's attached to the house at the top. Right now we're growing peas up the trellis, and later we'll switch over to a later-summer crop.