First week back to University was a success!

 uhhh this might be too many tomato plants lol...better read my canning information

 Went to a local bakery (Superior Bakery) and got some marbled rye bread

 Evan got some soft pretzels

 And i got baker's yeast! 6 pounds for just under $14. Apparently this is what you feed to sea lamprey larvae. I also get to keep some and try making my own bread with it!

 Poor things are already leaning towards the sun, but I think they're too young to put outisde for a few hours?

I might try sitting them on the step for a bit and see if they straighten up

My evening is going to be spent cleaning out my computer and organizing its documents, as well as planting some pepper seeds and cilantro seeds and moving some more furniture around to accomodate more pots

I was reading this site and it was very helpful! I won't separate my tomato plants until they get a little bigger.

stress bomb day!

 whole wheat pasta salad, before i added the pasta

 I saw a movie set yesterday!I haven't seen one of those since I lived in Vancouver, but recently Northern Ontario has become a hotspot for cheap filming. It was exciting but i also feel bad when I'm in the way of one. They let the mall where my husband works stay open during filming though. Didn't see any actors but the Director of photography apparently worked on Deer Hunter and Close Encounters of the Third Kind! oooooooo! When I find out the name of the movie that was shot here I will post.

 Waaay over there was a set made to look like a local food market. Apparently Heather Graham was shooting in it all day before I showed up.

 All of their stuff. Not much actually.

 I have about 6 herb plants sprouted now. The little seedlings are so cute. Not sure what is what. Will have to google what my seedlings look like later.

 Theres teeny tiny round leaved ones and then larger thin leaved ones. And theres one growing in my peppers pot, not sure how the seed made its way in there!

Today was stressful and long and isn't over yet. Still have to go to my evening Statistics class ewwwww! Paying 6 bucks for parking as well because the lines were so long to buy a parking pass I had no time to get one!

But I see this face and remember what I'm doing it all for!

stuff is happening!

 My day began with a lovely coffee from a generous coworker. Just what I needed after a 6 hour sleep and being awakened several times by a discontent cat scratching at my bedroom door with dull, loud, freshly trimmed nails

 they gave him juice in a Starbucks cup, i thought that was funny

 he considered his take out container a noise maker

 despite being knocked over and the soil spilling out all over the floor and counter there is still ONE herb plant growing. I don't know which container this was so it is a mystery herb as of now. It was so exciting to see the little guy.

 My basil seeds are sprouting! Perhaps that is the first herb in the soil as well. I should transplant these tomorrow.

None of the other herbs on the plate are showing signs of sprouting yet.

I was contacted by my professor who was assigned to guide me through my thesis experiment and he informed me that I will be starting as soon as Monday on preparations for the experiment because the sea lamprey larvae that we will be studying have already come in. I'm excited and nervous and will probably spend the rest of the weekend just reading about sea lamprey. I 'm nervous but also feel like my time in college doing more hands on stuff has given me the confidence I needed to do this. Money well spent.

My experiment will consist of observing whether or not sea lamprey larvae have a behavioural response to chemoreceptor chemicals (an alarm signal) released by other sea lamprey when they are attacked by a predator. This will consist of placing some sea lamprey flesh and fluid in a tank that contains a larva burrowed in a substrate of clear glass beads. The tank will have lines on it that will measure the depth in the substrate that the larva is at initially. If they move, I will have a way to measure how far. If they don't move, then we will know that these chemosensory chemicals are not effective in controlling larval behaviour. Because larval sea lmaprey are sedentary and buried in sediment in a river bottom, not many studies have been done on them and most sea lmaprey control is done on adults. This research will contribute to the growing body of knowledge about invasive sea lamprey control. Exciting!

the sun is coming out!

 woops that was me this time. no cardio in the livingroom when the plants are on the top shelf. hahahaha. plus, the herbs weren't falling because of the cats. as i was sitting here the other ones just fell off the window sill on their own....sigh

 then i watched The Secret Garden for some inspiration

 ugh...it's so beautiful it disgusts me. the ending still makes me misty eyed every time.

 coffee before my meeting, this christmas cup is chronic ..never gets put away...

 So I planted some perennials last fall to see what would come up in the spring...I will have to wait until these flower to know what they are..there are two types...that ONE star shaped spiky one with the two round leaves at the base surrounded by...

all of these three leaved dudes. i must have planted 6 different kinds, and i got two...so far anyway.

Seeds have shipped! Still waiting...

 Checking out what we did

 Upgraded these with a few drainage holes on the bottom and some plates underneath

 Breakfast. Back on the workouts today..guuhh

 

We bought this at Home Depot for 30 bucks. Has a section on composting, which I've started but need to get better at. It also has detailed pictures of how to harvest, plant, and care for different vegetables.

 It also has a canning section! My next big learning experience IF i get some shit to grow