I love the outdoors.

It’s the reason I got into this line of work in the first place some fifteen plus years ago now.

But in conjunction with working outdoors all day, every day, there are some real risks.  And one of those risks that is quite real and scary is Lyme Disease.

A landscape designer I know through an online forum recently disclosed that he has been somewhat grounded this summer because of Lyme Disease. Fortunately it sounds like he caught it early, and the prognosis for recovery appears to be positive in his case. But not everybody is so lucky.

Lyme disease is the most common tick-borne illness in North America and Europe. Lyme disease is caused by the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi. Deer ticks, which feed on the blood of animals and humans, can harbor the bacteria and spread it when feeding. 
 
For those of us who work in heavily wooded or grassy areas, the potential for getting bit by a tick is quite real.  Fortunately, not all ticks are carriers of the bacterium, so just because you’ve been bit or found a few ticks on your body doesn’t mean you’ll get the disease.  But the potential is there.

Deer ticks are no bigger than the size of a pin head. They live in brushy areas outdoors during the summer months, and feed on the blood of warm blooded mammals.  That means field mice, raccoons, skunks, your pets Fido and Fluffy, deer, and oh yeah – people!  That means when little Timmy Tick finally gets around to imbedding himself on your neck, he’s sharing all those fun bacteria that he's already picked up from all those other wild critters with you.  Fun stuff, eh?

So what can you do to prevent getting Lyme Disease?  Well for starters, wear long pants, long sleeves and hats. I know this isn’t always everybody’s favorite choice during the summer months, but if you can keep those ticks off you then you’re a step ahead of the game.  Bug spray can also help to keep the little parasites away.  Regardless of your apparel choice, be sure to check yourself for ticks at the end of each and every day.  Even though those ticks are quite small, they can balloon up to nearly bean-size once they start feasting on your blood.  Popular spots include your head, neck, groin, and armpits, although they’ll hunker down just about anywhere they can get blood.

Once you do find them, remove them carefully with tweezers trying to remove the whole critter.  If the head breaks off under your skin it could lead to a possible infection.

Keep an eye open for a rash or skin discoloration for a few days after removing the ticks.  One of the first signs of Lyme disease is often a “bullseye” ring around the spot where the tick landed.  As the bacteria spreads through your blood, other “bullseye” rashes could develop on other parts of your body, so keep an eye out for circle rashes even on other parts of your body.

As the disease progresses, other signs and symptoms may include fever and flu-like symptoms, fatigue, body aches, joint pain, neurological problems, bells palsy, impaired muscle movement, meningitis, and in extreme cases irregular heartbeats.

As scary as this all sounds, fortunately the prognosis for a complete recovery is quite high if the disease and symptoms are caught early.  If you have any suspicions or thoughts that you may be experiencing symptoms, see a doctor quickly.  The normal treatment includes antibiotics, usually in an oral form, but if the disease has progressed
a longer IV treatment may be prescribed.

Left undiagnosed or untreated, Lyme Disease can cause chronic joint pain, severe neurological symptoms, irregular heartbeat, and in severe cases cognitive defects.  It is certainly something to be taken seriously.

For more information on Lyme Disease and how to prevent it, visit the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website at http://www.cdc.gov/lyme/.

And if you're reading this, get well soon pc!!

I have to admit, I’m swimming in tomatoes right now.

Well almost.  As tempting as it sounds to replicate the annual Spanish Tomatina Festival, where revelers take over the city to enjoy a city-wide tomato fight in Bunol, Spain, I usually like to find a slightly more productive use for the fruits.  Although we certainly have enough ammo to participate, and it does sound fun.
 
No, we like to eat our tomatoes.  And there is nothing that compares to fresh home-grown tomatoes. The mass-produced grocery store varieties don’t even compare.


Every May, I put about 30 tomato plants in our garden, consisting of about 8 to 10 various varieties.  And every July, as the plants start to fill out the garden I begin to think that maybe I went a little overboard.  And every August my concerns are validated as we harvest bowl after bowl of the juicy fruits on a daily basis.  That’s where we are now.

So what to do with these juicy little fruits?

Our entire diet from the beginning of August through about the mid to end of September is basically a vehicle for tomato consumption.  Salads, burgers, sandwiches, morning bagels, omelettes – you name it.  Tomato me up.

About half of the crop ends up getting cooked down and frozen – the base for mid-winter pasta sauces and chili cook-offs (If you’re lucky I just may share my award-winning chili recipe come this winter).

Sheila and I are both afficianados of good bar food.  I’m not talking about the frozen breaded fried stuff, but rather good simple recipes using fresh ingredients.  Two recipes in particular that are staples in our house during tomato season are our home-made nachos, and bacon bruschetta.  
 
Lucky for you, I’m in a sharing mood, so here’s our recipes:


 Nachos
1 onion
15-20 whole garlic cloves
5 large bell peppers (it’s also the heart of pepper season right now, so feel free to play around with other pepper types too!)
10-15 jalapenos (depending on your taste for spice)
2 lbs of ground beef
2 cups of black beans
Tortilla Chips (Our local market makes homemade chips -- Nothing compares!!)
Shredded Cheese
Tomatoes, tomatoes, tomatoes
Avocado

Chop up the onions, peppers and garlic and sauté in olive oil.  Add ground beef and black beans, and continue to cook until meat is cooked.

On a large cookie sheet, place an ample of amount of chips atop a piece of foil. Layer with cheese, the cooked “slop” (We love this term for a lot of dishes, as unattractive as it may sound), more chips, cheese, slop, etc.

Cook at a low temperature in the oven for about 5 minutes – just enough to melt the cheese.  Slide the whole aluminum foil sheet, chips, slop and all, right onto a large serving plate. Once it’s on the plate, dump a boatload of sliced tomatoes and the sliced avocado on top.  MMmmmmm.  Yummy nacho-y goodness.  Enjoy! 
 
** This recipe feeds a lot!  You’re going to have leftover slop most likely. The more the merrier.  That means you get to have more nacho dinners (and use up more tomatoes) in the days to come.

Bacon Bruschetta
1 lb bacon
Olive Oil
Diced garlic
Basil (Oh yeah, it’s basil season too!)
Tomatoes, tomatoes, tomatoes.

This recipe is so easy it’s ridiculous.  Definitely our go-to dish for picnics and get-togethers.  And if you happen to be a vegetarian, just omit the bacon – still awesomely delicious.

Cook up the bacon and let cool.  Slice and chop up an ample amount of tomatoes and put in a serving bowl.  Take about two large stalks of basil and cut up the leaves into the bowl with the tomatoes.  Cut up your bacon into small 1” pieces and then add a spoonful or two of the diced garlic.  Pour about ¼ cup of olive oil over the whole bowl, and toss thoroughly.  Serve on some toast points, and you’re good to go!

So those are just two of the many uses for tomatoes we enjoy during this bountiful time of year.  If anybody else has any good suggestions, I’m all ears.

"One day there were three tomatoes walking down the street, a mama tomato, a daddy tomato and a baby tomato. Baby tomato is walking too slowly, so the daddy tomato goes back, steps on him and says 'ketchup!' "
 
– Uma Thurman, Pulp Fiction


 

There’s an old adage that states that in order to get a job done properly, you need the right tool for the right job.  For a landscape construction contractor, that means we need to have a lot of tools.  Carpentry tools, Stone mason tools, concrete finishing tools gardening tools, basic electric and plumbing tools, hand tools, power tools, small engine tools – I won’t bore you with the complete list – you get the idea.

And indeed, my arsenal of tools has grown considerably over the years.  Some of my tools are the bread and butter of what we do, they get used on a near daily basis and we couldn’t even begin to think about starting a job without them.  Things like shovels, wheelbarrows, mattocks, and digging bars to name a few.

Other tools may have been purchased at one point to complete a specific job, but now sit idly in my garage waiting for their next opportunity.

As you may imagine, I have a sizeable amount invested in my fleet of tools. It’s a necessary cost of doing business, and quite frankly I have no problem whatsoever investing in tools that will help me get the job done right and my business grow.

What I do have a problem with however is when tools get misused for the wrong job or not taken care of properly.

Let’s take the shovel for instance.  I’ve had shovels that have lasted me 10 years plus, getting used on an almost daily basis. I had one square shovel in fact that I finally had to replace only because the metal “scoop” part had worn down so much that I was left with just about 4” between the end of the shaft and tip of the blade. 

A shovel is meant to be used for digging.  Not chopping roots, not prying up large boulders, and not as a hammer. I don’t care how high-end your shovel is, a $30 shovel will break just as quickly as a $10 shovel if you don’t use it properly.  If you’re digging and come across a large stone, go get your digging bar and pry it out using the right tool.  If you come across a large root, go get your mattock.  A few basic handtools can expedite any job and last for a long time as long as you’re using each one for the correct application.

A screwdriver is not a chisel.  A pipe wrench is not a hammer.  A level is not a concrete screed.  You’re not going to be able to make clean successful finishing cuts with a sawzall. Not only is using the incorrect tool a potential safety hazard, the job probably won’t get done as well using the wrong tool, and the risk of damaging the tool is quite real.

And yes, sometimes when you’re in the throws of completing a job, it can be a pain to stop what you’re doing to walk over and grab the correct tool, and certainly tempting to use that shovel as a pry-bar.  Until it breaks.  And now not only do you still have to get your pry-bar, you also have to grab another shovel, or worse yet leave the site altogether and go spend money that shouldn’t be being spent on a new shovel.  Time and money out the door.  Use the right tool for the right job.

And speaking of time, keep your tools organized.  There is nothing more infuriating than being on a jobsite, identifying the correct tool for a project, knowing you have the tool, and then spending 15 minutes looking for it.  I like to keep all my tools organized by task.  I have a toolbox with all the basic everyday tools we need – hammers, screwdrivers, wrenches, pliers, etc.  I have a bucket specifically for concrete finishing tools.  Another one for chisels and stone hammers.  Another one for levels and string lines.  And a few other buckets and boxes for other various specialties.

When we’re done with the tools, they go back in the correct box or bucket. That way we’ll know where they are come the next time we need them.  Larger handtools like shovels and rakes get stored together, in a neat and orderly fashion, so when we need them the next time they’re easily accessible without disturbing a pick-up-sticks-style pile just to get that bow rake on the bottom of the pile.

Hoses, extension cords, and ropes should be coiled or reeled up neatly when not in use.  There’s nothing worse than spending 15 minutes or more of your valuable time trying to make sense of a rat’s nest mess of tangled up cords or ropes.  Or plugging in a 100’ extension cord only to realize that it’s now about 60’because of all the tangles and knots.

Tools that are used for concrete or mortar work should be rinsed and cleaned thoroughly following each job.  A $100 concrete bullfloat can be easily ruined simply by not wiping the float clean. One little concrete bump, one little knick in the surface, and you’ll never achieve a smooth finish.  Trowels, floats, finishing tools, levels and any other tools that may get a little“mucky” during the course of a concrete or mortar job should all be thoroughly cleaned following each job.  That way they’ll be ready and functional the next time we need them.

Follow these basic precautions, take a few extra minutes to grab the right tool for each job, take the time to keep tools organized and cleaned properly, and you too might just get 10 years’ plus service out of a shovel.

So I’m fresh off my mid-summer vacation to the beach, mildly refreshed, yet frantically dealing with what we like to call “re-entry” – that post-vacation state when all of the things that I probably should have been dealing with over the past week seem to be coming to a head simultaneously.

To be honest, mid-summer is probably the absolute WORST time of year for a landscape construction contractor to be taking vacation.  The sales pump needs to be fed as the spring leads and contracts start to run out, and we’re still at least a few weeks away from the early fall rush.  Plus the current summer projects need supervision, and the clock is ticking before my summer workers go their separate ways for the fall.  Thankfully, our current project is for an absolutely awesome client who totally understands that I’m entitled to a little family time, and had no problem at all letting me go play for a week while their project was nearing completion.

In the Philadelphia-area, most people don’t go to the beach – they go “down the shore”, ie the Jersey Shore.  And if your only impression of the Jersey Shore is the TV show, well unfortunately you’re not that far off.

So we skip Jersey altogether and head just a bit further south to Delaware. And our beach trip isn’t quite the same as many other vacationers.  We spend a week camping at Cape Henlopen State Park, on the Northern tip of the Delmarva peninsula where the Delaware Bay meets the Atlantic.  
 
The camping itself isn’t the most rustic camping I’ve enjoyed.  It’s car-camping on a pre-reserved spot, with public bathhouses and cars and campers from all over North America.  But we spent a week sleeping in a tent and cooking dinner over a fire and enjoying each others’ company around the campfire. The precious times you just can’t get enough of.

And what really seals the deal for me is the beach.  It’s about a half-mile walk from the campsite to the beach, a walk that includes a brief history tour through an old World War II fort used to guard the Delaware Bay from off-shore German submarines and ships.  Our walk typically includes a quick trip up the 80’ high observation tower, and numerous stops at each of the display cannons so the kids can feel like they’re really protecting something.

And once we get to the beach?  Unlike the Jersey Shore it’s not wall-to-wall beachtowels and umbrellas.  Most of the other people on our little slice of unguarded beach are also campers, and the nearest party to our little cabana is usually about 50’ away or so.  Throw in a few Frisbee-chasing dogs, surf-fishermen, kite-flyers, surfers and shell-collectors, and you have a pretty good picture of our vacation.  And there’s still plenty of room that we don’t all get in each others’ way

Oh yeah.  There’s dolphins.  Real dolphins swimming just off shore outside the surf zone.  It almost feels like you could easily swim out and join the pod.

Throw in a little bit of fishing, a nice boat ride out on the open bay, and a short but well-appreciated day excursion to Rehoboth Beach to let the kids get their boardwalk fix (and let me get my DogFish Head Ale Brewpub fix on) and you have a pretty good picture of our trip.

If you’re looking for a rustic beach spot on the east coast, Cape Henlopen State Park in Delaware is definitely worth checking out.

Now it’s back to patios, walkways, fences and decks for me.  But the beach will still be lingering somewhere in the back of my head…