A followup to my July 27th post.

GOP senators declare 'Meat Monday' in slap to USDA
By Elise Viebeck, thehill.com
Good for them for sticking it to the USDA and reminding them that they're supposed to be shill for the meat, dairy, and agriculture industries.

Sens. John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa)will soon be paying more for their meat due to the drought though. Consumers in their districts will be paying more as well.
USDA says drought will push up food prices in 2013
By Steve Karnowski, AP/Businessweek.com

The constituents in their districts will also be paying the costs in other ways.
Livestock impacts on the environment
http://www.fao.org

'Meatless Monday' too hot a potato for USDA
By Ben Grossman-Cohen, Special to CNN

I'm starting to think that my tomato plant is a cherry tomato. If you recall from a previous post, the plant's origin was in question. Given how close some of the tomatoes appear to be, and the fact that the older tomatoes on the plant don't seem to be growing very big, it looks to me like they'll be cherry tomatoes.

I did have to pinch the top branches to stop the plant from growing well beyond it's cage.  I'm hoping it will fill out more on the bottom now.  In the picture below, the tomato plant is in the big pot, with sage growing in the smaller pot, and a small rosemary plant growing in the ground in front of the sage.  The herbs were tenacious transplants from the condo and survived last winter outside.

The tomato plant is hard to see in the reduced size of the picture due to the green of the bushes behind it.  Recent rains are having a noticeable effect on the yard.  I'm probably going to go mow it tomorrow or Monday. 

DC took the opportunity to survey the patio area from the back door before I came back inside.

USDA newsletter encourages Meatless Monday participation, then retracts it amid opposition from livestock producers and at least one member of Congress.
by Amy Harmon, NYTimes.com

Not heard of meatless monday? Click HERE.

That last round of rain we had didn't last long. We've gone back to days upon days of hot temperatures and blue skies. At least we're getting a break from the high temperatures this week. It's taking its toll on our River Birch trees out back. The former owners of this house left us a note, which included the advice that the trees needed to be watered or else all the leaves would fall off. We've watered them a few times before, and I guess the recent rain wasn't enough for them. It looks like fall outside.

This morning I set up the sprinkler again to water the River Birches and shrubs around the patio. I'll likely have to do it again soon.

While I was out there, I took a look at the tomato plant. It started flowering, and I even have my first tomato growing.

The tomato plant now rises a foot above it's cage. I'm going to have to start considering new caging options if it continues to grow like this, or else chop off the top branches. Maybe that playground in the back yard will come in handy after all. I'm already picturing rigging up the other(larger) cage I have on top of the existing one. . . maybe hanging from the beam that has the swings attached?

Got Milk? You Don’t Need It
By Mark Bittman, The Opinion Pages, NYTimes.com

Friday after I posted about the tomato, I got the camera battery charged and did this brief video of the tomato through one of the back windows.The little bird had been in the shade of the pot for about twenty minutes.  I can't blame it for taking shelter from the heat of the sun.  At this point it had been around two weeks since we had seen any rain.  The River Birches that grow around our patio do better in a swampy wet environment.   Apparently they're used by landscaping crews because the bark is decorative or something.  They need water, and all the leaves fall off if they don't get it.  Our yard is not swampy, and due to the lack of rain and temperatures consistently in the upper 90s, just about all the grass has gone brown.  We set up the sprinkler last weekend to at least give them some water.  I'm not into watering grass, but I didn't want the trees to die on us, so the sprinkler was strategically placed to favor the bushes and trees around the patio, while not wasting any water on the crispy grass.  I did the same thing Friday morning while I was typing up that last blog post.  I was all set to write another blog post about how badly we need some rain, but later that evening the skies darkened.Some nasty storms rolled through the area, and did a lot of damage.  Now power is still out in many places around town, and it seems like just about everyone we know has trees down or some sort of damage to their homes.  The airport a few miles to the North of us recorded a wind gust of 81 mph.  We were fortunate.  No damage to our new home, no trees down, and we still have power.  News reports discussed how so many trees were felled due to the recent lack of rain.  They had all dried up and become brittle.  I felt kind of dumb watering trees, but now I wonder if maybe they're still standing because of that meager amount of water we provided them with.

Our move into the new house is complete, and it looks like there will be something to write about after all.  A couple weekends ago the parents came to visit, and my Dad brought an orphan tomato plant with him. The plant grew on it's own from a seed that came from one of the tomato plants he grew last year. At some point a tomato must have fallen and was left on the ground rather than being eaten. He had already planted other store bought tomato plants, and didn't have room for the unexpected orphan which grew on it's own. We're not sure what kind of tomato plant it is, so it will be a surprise when it starts producing some.  It's maybe a little bit late to be starting, but I went ahead and planted it in the self-watering pot that I used last year. It's seen here in this picture I took last Sunday.

When I planted it the weekend before, it was a little more than half the size it is in the picture, and since the camera battery is presently dead, you'll just have to trust me when I say it's now slightly taller than the tomato cage.  It's growing fast. Maybe I have the worms to thank for that. I harvested some worm castings from the worm bin, and mixed them into the soil in the pot. Good fertilizer.

In addition to the tomato, there is also a marigold which grew from a seed fallen from a plant we had in a pot last year. A little bit of color to an otherwise dull patio area.

I'm not planning to plant any other veggies this year. There's enough to do inside that we feel like we're already having problems keeping up with. I'm eying spots in the yard and considering a raised bed garden for next year.