Man-titty and gardening

First, the man-titty. I feel better now. How about you?

I'm busy writing this weekend — I threw out everything I had for Natalie’s story and went in a completely different direction — but I thought I could share this with you. It’s a bit of inspiration for the day. My muse and I both say, “Yummy!”

So what is this new direction, you ask? I don’t think I’m going to say anything yet, except that Zach MacBride is still a deputy U.S. Marshal and the story still begins in Cd. Juárez, Mexico, with Natalie being kidnapped off a bus full of journalists.

I spent yesterday thinking through this new direction on her story while spreading compost over our vegetable garden. And I have to say that being able to spread compost that my son and I made — through both thermophilic composting and vermiculture (i.e, worm composting) — was very exciting. I’m serious! With our little worm buddies, we turned all kinds of kitchen scraps, garden waste and coffee grounds into rich, black dirt.



Yes, this is the dirt in my garden. The lighter patch in the center is the unamended soil, while the darkest patch is the compost. The other areas show where I had raked it in to the topsoil.

I hope to plant spring greens today or tomorrow — if I can reach a lull in my writing when it isn’t snowing.

Last year, Benjy, my younger son and I, began the process of transforming our yard — or at least the part of it that isn’t a rose garden — into an urban homestead. Eventually, we plan to grow most of our own fruits and veggies. We already have raspberry bushes, herbs and a huge vegetable garden area. Last year we used only 1/3 of it and grew green beans, broccoli, zucchini, butternut squash, cucumbers and tomatoes, together with herbs. This year we're going to cultivate 2/3 of it, adding more of the stuff we eat a lot of, but also adding the greens and kitchen veggies like carrots and radishes, as well as turnips, beets and chard.

We plan to add fruit trees soon, as well as chickens for fresh eggs and a beehive for honey. It's legal here to have hens and bees in your backyard, and we mean to take full advantage of that.

It's lots of work but it’s the best kind of work, far better than being in an office. And the reward is huge. Not only do we save money on food, but we don’t have to worry about getting e-coli or pesticides with our dinner.

Do any of you garden? Are there any other urban homesteaders out there?

Coming on Monday: Hop over to Cecile's blog for an interview with the I-Team heroes. Reece, Julian, Marc and Gabe will all be there, and Julian has some news to share with the guys.

The night you were saved by an I-Team hero

OK, so, I have gotten precisely zero questions for the I-Team heroes. This either means everyone is really busy, or no one has anything to ask Marc, Julian, Reece and Gabe. Given that school has just started, I'm betting it's the former. Believe me, I understand. The stress at the paper was extreme enough today to leave me — a journalism veteran of more than 15 years — ready to scream.

Being a woman, I know that women like to be seduced. They like the mood to be just right. So let me set the stage a bit better...

You're in a strange town (maybe Denver — it's plenty strange) walking down the street at night. From behind you hear approaching footsteps. You look over your shoulder and see two men in hoodies following you down the street.

You walk a bit faster.

So do they.

You turn a corner, hoping they won't follow you, but they do.

They're laughing now, calling out to you, leaving no doubt in your mind that if they get their hands on you, it will become the worst night of your life. Your pulse races. Your mouth goes dry.

You start to run.

They run, too, and they're so much faster than you are.

They're right behind you now, laughing at your fear, and you can hear that they're excited. They're excited at the prospect of hurting you.

A hand grabs the collar of your shirt.

You scream, feel yourself jerked backward, and fall. You know what's going to happen now, and you're at a place so far beyond fear that your mind is nothing but buzzing panic, white noise that races to the frantic rhythm of your heartbeat.

Out of an alley you didn't even notice, a dark figure appears. You can't see his face because he's moving too fast and you're so scared. In a heartbeat, one of the men who was chasing you is on the ground, writhing in pain.

You crawl as fast as you can out of the way and watch as the tall, dark figure takes down your other would-be attacker.

Then the dark figure turns to you, kneels down. "Are you okay?"

His voice is soothing, deep.

You're breathing hard, shaking from head to foot, and it takes you a moment to answer. "Y-yes."

He helps you to stand, and you get your first look at his face. "Let's get you out of here."

Twenty minutes later, you're back at your hotel. He walks you to your room, offers to stay until the police arrive. You're grateful, because the thought of being alone right now is too terrifying. But you're finally in a calm enough frame of mind to thank him, and while you wait for the police, you have a chance to ask him anything you want.

You start with the basics. "Y-you may have saved my life. Wh-what's your name?"

Now... Who is it — Marc, Julian, Reece, or perhaps even Gabe? If you could ask him anything, what would it be?

Harvest time

Sorry to have vanished. Work has been extremely busy. While most newspapers are going belly up, we're growing and doing better and better. Although I'd like to take the credit, it's actually the result of lots of hard work on everyone's part and the fact that we do a kind of journalism that fewer places are doing. But the bottom line is that between ghostwriting and working at the paper, I've been putting in very long days and getting very little sleep.

This weekend, I'm putting the ghostwriting down for a few days and spending my Labor Day putting the final polish on Naked Edge, which I will ship off to New York on Tuesday morning. Then next week, I'll go back to the ghostwriting, which will probably take me another month to finish. And then I start my next book...

In the meantime, it somehow became September. And the veggie garden that my son Benjamin planted this past spring is feeding me quite nicely. We planted a variety of tomatoes, zucchini, butternut squash, bush beans, cucumbers, green peppers, Anaheim peppers, celery and broccoli. The weather here has been a bit funky — June was unnaturally chilly — but I have been getting lots of cukes, tomatoes (particularly romas and cherry tomatoes), and green beans, as well as some Anaheims and a green pepper or two. And I'm about to get a bunch of broccoli.

Too bad Benjy's not here to share the yummy results of his hard work.



Next year, we're going to go all out and plant the entire south side of the house, in addition to putting some beds in the shade for greens and herbs. I want to add a lot of things to what we're growing, including acorn squash, cantaloupe, more beans and more broccoli. The next step will be to plant a small orchard — apples, sweet cherries, plums and pears — and then we'll be supplying the lion's share of our own fruits and veggies.




I'm very drawn to the idea of "urban homesteading," i.e., using your yard to have a mini-farm that sustains your household. Where I live, I can have up to six hens in my backyard for eggs, as well as a hive of honey bees. Imagine how much my garden would love its own bee supply.

Of course, all of this means learning a lot about growing things, as well as learning to can. But the benefit is an enormous savings year to year in fruits, veggies and, eventually, eggs and honey. Plus I never have to wonder where the plants grew or what was sprayed on them. And if Y2K actually ever hits — remember the hype around that? — I'll have food to each.

Though we'll probably spend more than we save at first, long-term it will enable us to be more self-sufficient. And who doesn't get excited about the idea of being a beekeeper?

Did anyone else plant a veggie garden this year? If so, how is it going?

Coming soon: Interview the I-Team heroes

Reece, Julian, and Marc will make themselves available to answer your most penetrating questions. Please send the questions to me via email, Facebook message or by posting them below so that I can get the questions to them. What have you always wanted to ask them. Indulge yourself!

And a happy Labor Day to everyone!