Freyr in Sinbladnir

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2008-10-20T17:21:00.000-07:00

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2008-10-19T12:38:00.000-07:00

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2008-10-18T10:35:00.001-07:00

mdoolitt is a rankmaniac

The End

2007-11-19T19:00:00.000-08:00

If I were a farmer, I have a feeling that this would be a pretty lean thanksgiving. All in all I produced 8 sad small pitiful looking beans, which I wouldn't want anywhere near my mouth. I think I could conclude that I failed in my expectations of bean growing. It required a lot more care than I thought it would, and who knew that leaving beans out in the below freezing nights, and not watering them for a week would harm them. They were weak.
But alas I am thankful that I didn't have to depend on my beans for food, income, or even a grade. I think the hardest part was giving them sunlight when the colder times approached. They are now withered stalks of browness hiding behind our trashcan.

Okay, they're definitely dead now

2007-10-28T11:50:00.000-07:00

Ummm, they grew some beans, I picked them, cause I'm pretty sure my plants aren't going to grow no more, one of them might, but the rest... Practically all they're leaves have fallen off, it's too cold for them to go outside nowadays, and well they're dead now.
I convinced one of my roommates who has a big shiny camera to take pictures of my beans, even though it was only a couple days ago, they look a lot more dead now. I can't seem to get a direct link, so here is the website:

http://picasaweb.google.com/blorbx/07OctoberMisc

2007-10-21T10:34:00.000-07:00

I finally got around to putting my beans on posts. I just stuck a stick of wood in the ground, and loosely tied each plant with blue embroidery thread. They seem much more stable now, and don't blow away in the wind. Though before I got around to doing this a couple of leaves had snapped off, and some flowers look like they're dying.

Here is a slightly older picture of one of the flowers.

I also have beans! I have about four or five right now, some are bigger than this one, because it is one of the smaller beans. It's exciting.

I don't think they like me anymore

2007-10-17T17:36:00.000-07:00

I've left the beans outside at night lately. However, since we are going against nature in this class, and starting to grow beans on the cusp of winter, it frosts outside, so I have to bring them in at night. I haven't been bringing them in. I've barely been watering them. One plant has kind of fallen over (Balder), and the other two are kind of turning brown and don't look so good. I have so many other things on my mind (read os kernel), that I often forget about my beans. I'm not being good to them. I wonder if I was a farmer I'd still have this problem, would I have a job on the side? Would I work in a factory during the winter? I think at least, I'd be a lot more careful about my beans because they'd be part of my livelihood, like how much my family would eat and how much money I could bring home. I wonder too if I would have just a small garden of green been plants to harvest for familial consumption, or if I'd have lots and lots of beans, say an acre or more, and perhaps market them. I wonder how marketable green beans would be back then. When I think of market activities of a farmer if I'm thinking food, I think mainly in terms of wheat, perhaps corn, but never general fruits and vegetables. Oh well, hopefully my beans will flower soon.

Flower time...

2007-10-10T17:46:00.000-07:00

Too busy to take/post pictures, but just thought I'd mention that Sinbladnir's family has started to bud. Looks like they will be pink, but it's just 'not green' really small tear drops right now in the center of the leaves. I didn't think bean flowers were pink, guess I'll find out soon, I suppose I could look it up, but this way is more fun/real.
Oh, and it was windy and cold today, I don't think my plants appreciated it, one got blown over, I think I might have to invest in something for them to crawl up. I think it's okay though.

...

2007-10-07T16:18:00.000-07:00

I've been bad. I've been so busy this whole weekend, I've hardly thought of my plants at all. I put them outside Friday morning, and just now (Sunday night) let them inside. It doesn't seem to have had any detrimental effects. The soil looks a bit too dry, I should probably water them. Also, I apparently fail at making dvd's, who knew you couldn't just use a plain old cdr, though as a cs major, I suppose I should've known, perhaps, at the end I'll invest in a dvd and make a slideshow then of all my pictures, for now, this blog will have to suffice, as unlike a farmer, or I guess that's incorrect as we were told that farmers had other side jobs, but I also cannot spend 24/7 on my poor beans. On the plus side, the beans don't seem to take that much care, and seem to be able to thrive on their own, at least at this stage. Other homework, on the other hand, seems to take constant input, I wonder if there is a way to make all homework grow like beans.

Movie time

2007-10-01T12:57:00.000-07:00

I made a dvd of my beans, I have to go into the mac cluster to burn it though. I plants are doing better now I think, no pictures for now, it seems that a batteries life is finite. I've realised that watering them less has seemed to make them happy. If I had a whole field of bean plants, I probably wouldn't have this overwatering problem as I wouldn't be doting on them so much like spoiled child is when he's an only child. I also don't know if I'd be as diligent on taking pictures of every stage of life, as growing bean plants would probably be less of a novelty and more of something done every year. I used to have a small garden with all kinds of vegetables and herbs and some fruits like strawberries and once a watermellon. Than my mom moved to a condo, with no land of her own, and I lived in dorms, now I live in a house with land, but I'm always gone over the summer, which is the best time for growing things. While it doesn't have to do with my plants specifically, but we had to read the Sloane book for tomorrow and I found it incredibly depressing how he described the state of modern food, like hormones in the meat and not leaving the vegetables and fruit on the plant to ripen, and how much lower in nutrients they are nowadays. Made me want to run out to the woods, and start being self-sufficient, even though none of this was really a surprise, it made me really want to have at least my own garden again.

More Jungle

2007-09-27T15:51:00.001-07:00

A couple days after transplantation and they still seem to be growing/surviving. Balder's still the shortest, and Freyr the tallest. Freyr is growing a multitude of little leaves, it's actually pretty cool.

This is Freya, her leaf is perhaps the most withered and ugly, though the other two were also affected, Andrew says I'm watering them too much, perhaps I am, I shall cut down on their supply and see if that helps.
oh! and I almost forgot, my beans got a new neighbor, he hasn't introduced himself yet, but at least he came out of hiding, he had his antennae pulled inside his body when I first met him, since my beans go inside at night, and I wasn't sure if this was the been plant eating type of slug, I had to tell him to go away. But he's still kind of cute.

Transplantation Surgery

2007-09-23T13:55:00.000-07:00

Freyr's got huge new leaves! Though all in all, the bean family's not looking so great. The soil is moist, but yet there big leaves are withering, on all of them. I think it started out with Balder, but now all 3 have got the withering leave disease. Though admittedly Freyr is the least affected. I thought maybe it had something to do with them all crowding into the center. So I decided to transplant them.
Before:

After transplantation of Freyr and Freya (Balder stayed, at least I think it was Balder, him and Freya look so much alike, it's often hard to tell)

They look so whithery and sad, I really really hope I didn't kill them by transplantation. That's pretty much why I didn't transplant Balder, just to have one that's still alive if that killed them. I guess we'll find out soon if they're dead or not.

Thoughts

2007-09-20T17:56:00.000-07:00

Been pondering lately about whether to transplant Freyr from the middle of the pot to the edge, where there's a lot more room, so that the plants are spread more evenly. They're all kind of clustered, and Freyr looks like he's reaching for more room or something.
Freyr's little leaves have grown a lot bigger! They're like multiplying of something. The weather's been hot, and I guess he likes that.
Freya's got her own little leaves growing too.
Balder's still growing little leaves, much like Freya, but his one leaf is still limp and dead looking, I think Balder might have to just live with the fact and become an amputee.

A bit of growth

2007-09-19T11:11:00.001-07:00

After the massive growth of the first week, the bean family started to calm down a lot. A fourth one sprouted, but I killed her. It was kind of accidental, and I kind of feel bad. She was really ugly and sickly looking compared to the others, and there wasn't really much room left in the pot, what with three bean plants already up and thriving, so I just kind of yanked on her and well, part of her came up, and the rest was in the dirt. So I killed Balda (kind of like Balder's sister).

Freyr, Freya, and Balder have pretty big leaves now, and are almost equal in height, though it is still pretty obvious who started when and in what order. I don't think I watered them enough today. Balder was looking kind of limp and wilted, so I gave them more water. I've noticed an interesting and surprising (which when reflected upon really shouldn't be all that surprising) action of my plants. At day time in the full sun the leaves are perky and point skyward, like in the following picture. However at night, the leaves droop and point defiantly downward, it's really quite drastic.

Freyr's hardly grown, though he's started to grow a couple of new leaves.

Leaves

2007-09-12T14:41:00.000-07:00

They all have leaves now, and Freya and Balder are starting to look very similar. Freyr is still dominating.

Growth

2007-09-11T16:46:00.000-07:00

By now my friends are getting tired of hearing about my beans. It's not my fault they keep growing! Still only 3, and Balder is quick to catch up with Freya. I didn't put them out again today, I hope tomorrow is good sun. I think they need it. I need to invest in one of those fluorescent bulbs.

It's a forest out there

2007-09-10T14:34:00.000-07:00

Freyr just keeps on exploding, I think Freya will open up soon. Balder is coming out of the ground more and is now really visible. No sign yet of the two unborns.
Today was not a good day for growing. Overcast all day, and not very warm either.

The third one

2007-09-09T17:13:00.000-07:00

I swear Freyr and Freya have grown again, especially Freyr. And a third one is coming, he's small, in the lower left hand corner if you look.
Small one is named Balder, a lesser god who I haven't bothered to figure out what he does yet, I'll find out when he gets big enough to be named.

Freyr's sister

2007-09-09T16:43:00.000-07:00

Freyr grew even more! And he now has a sister, which I named Freya after Freyr the god's sister.

A spot of green

2007-09-08T15:18:00.000-07:00

It grew!

Well, a very small minuscule part of it did. The middle bean sprouted last night. This afternoon it had grown noticeably bigger.

Waiting for the others to grow, but good to know I'm not a complete failure.

Dirt, dirt, everywhere dirt!

2007-09-07T11:18:00.000-07:00

Nothing! Nothing has happened yet. It's been three days. Every morning I take Freyr outside put him in the sun and give him water. I even put him in a different spot every day so he doesn't get bored of the same old sun-angles. At night I put him inside where it's warmer, and watch it carefully so the dog doesn't try to 'play' with him. Still Nothing! A girl in class put her beans on a paper towel until they sprouted. I feel like I should have done that, instead of diving right in. I feel like I'll never see green come out of the ground.
It's frustrating. I check on them constantly hoping for some change. I also find it hard to tell how much water to give them. I've been going with a glass a day, and the soil seems moist. I don't want to over water them, but I know not enough is just as bad.
I wish this could be like that Jack and the beanstock fairytale where the boy plants his beans and 'boom'! a huge massive plant grows. I want magic beans.

Planting woes

2007-09-04T21:02:00.000-07:00

Hi, today I got a pot, and many many pounds of dirt and was told I had to grow a bean plant in it. In typical fashion I had to name the future plant. At first I named it Marvin #9, I have nine or so things already named Marvin. My roommate, fortunately since I was beginning to lose track of all my Marvins, convinced me not to name it that. I'm part Norwegian, well some very very small part, so I decided to name it Freyr, after the Norse god of fertility, who is said to rule over rain, sun, and field production. I want it to grow into a nice strong plant and produce lots of green beans, though if it does, I know it will be hard to resist eating them since green beans are tasty, if this works out, I think I'll keep it even after this project is over, and keep the green beans all to myself this time. Keeping with the norse mythology, I named the pot Sinbladnir after the god Freyr's collapsible ship.
After I planted and fertilized Freyr today, I watered him. Well, over-watered is more like it, according to my roommate. I don't have much experience with this kind of thing. When I was little I used to have a vegetable and fruit garden, but I only ever remember harvesting and growing them, though I know I did. Later on Sidbladnir was almost overturned by my roommate's seven pound toy poodle. Thankfully I caught him before any damage was done.