Catching Up with Wednesday Food

It looks like summer 2012 has had a heated effect on The Weblog. Whatever the future may behold for this beloved blog, I wanted to let those interested know about goings-on comparable with previous postings at Wednesday Food.

I’ve been off full-time, “real” work for about a month and am now throwing any resourcefulness I may possess into freelance writing. Since that is a growing but not-yet prosperous endeavor I wrangle and shuttle toddlers in the Santa Monica vicinity by night.

The daytime hours are comprised of scouring newsfeeds for any material that can be regurgitated, hassling beer business owners for updates and releases, and cold-pitching articles to publications I can only hope to contribute to at some future date. It’s an endeavor riddled with highs and lows: the unbearable self-loathing that marks an unproductive day is countered by an occasional validation (a PR lunch, a beer sample, a compliment from someone you admire.)

Writing for LAWeekly has been great fun with an exponential learning curve. My favorite pieces to date (not that I’m choosing from a vast array, or anything) are coverage of Rogue’s announcement to brew beer with beard yeast, my first interview with an amazing brewery in Torrance, and a round up of places for beer drinkers in the San Fernando Valley. You can also find my writing in print (!) in LA Weekly’s annual Best of LA issue. A complete list of musings on my author page.

Succumbing, oh so inevitably, to the plight of the modern self-publisher, I now have a twitter handle and can be followed @erikabolden. If twitter is for tweeting, joining six years late can only make me a twat. Not knowing what the hell to do with a hashtag is pretty grim, but what are you going to do?

Updates from the garden are in order. Remember when I was dumbfounded by what composting method to embrace? I ended up drilling holes in the bins I used to use for winter clothes and throwing in a package of red worms from a nursery. The dirt in in our yard is almost entirely sand so amendments have been necessary and using our own decomposed kitchen waste and a bag of chicken manure is most satisfying.

Tomato plants are huge and full of green fruit but it feels as though we’ve waited a month and nothing has ripened. The eggplants are days from being full-sized but are being destroyed by caterpillars. Green and yellow squash are doing well and finally producing adjacent to a baby fig tree. A bed dedicated to climbers has become a focal point, with Kentucky Wonder and Purple beans winding up two teepees, and Green Apple and English cucumbers on a tent lattice. Six corn plants went in a little late in the season, but show noticeable growth daily so we’re optimistic for a late summer/ early fall harvest. We’re currently amending soil for a pumpkin patch, late-season beans, potatoes, and kale and chard. It’s a lovely place to experience summer. Flip back to this post for the before pics.

A trip across the pond is in the works for Autumn, so I look forward to reporting back any and all information I may gain at a certain beer festival in Munich, and wherever else the beer may beckon me.