A little while ago I built a small ‘greenhouse shelf’ thing. My idea was that I could be growing some veg there, mostly tomatoes and chilies. Just before I built the thing, my colleagues Monika and Sonja gave me a variety of their homegrown tomato and chili starter plants, and my mother-in-law also donated aContinue reading “Some garden Zen”
Monthly Archives: July 2021
Will nine lives be enough?
I have had two cats for a very long time. My oldest I have had for almost 15 years. Her daughter is two years younger, and via about five or six subsequent owners, ended up back with me. Aside from a pretty intense flea infestation (which is a fun story in and of itself), andContinue reading “Will nine lives be enough?”
A slap in the face
I had a good conversation today with one of my colleagues. He gave me a bit of a slap in the face. Metaphorically speaking, of course. He wouldn’t hurt a fly. (I think.) He had noticed that I had been more stressed than usual lately, and that I was defending my personal boundaries a bitContinue reading “A slap in the face”
My love-hate relationship with rain
Over the past weeks, I have mentioned quite a couple of times the tansy plants that were still growing in our greenhouses, after we had established our field experiment in Jena. First of all, there were the original 120 ‘mother plants’ that were the source for the 18 selection lines that I created and cloned.Continue reading “My love-hate relationship with rain”
The power of team work
After a sleepless night, filled with anxious thought about failing experiments, this morning my team and I met up to ‘start aphid treatments’. They had not yet heard the latest news. They were quite surprised when I said that instead of adding aphids today, we would be removing aphids. Naturally colonizing aphids were the mainContinue reading “The power of team work”
Emergency protocol activated
Aiaiai. Today was a rough day at work, that ended even worse than it started. I was preparing an aphid treatment for the experiment that we have had running for the last couple of weeks. Now some things have happened in the experiment without my knowledge (and with the best intentions). Sadly, this meant thatContinue reading “Emergency protocol activated”
Life-changing experiences: the aftermath
I recently wrote about my experience of losing an internship that was planned in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – after I arrived on-site. I ended that blog by saying that this was a life-changing experience for me. Admittedly, this was a bit of an empty statement without an appropriate follow-up. So here it is. Upon myContinue reading “Life-changing experiences: the aftermath”
I would make the worst orchid tour guide (but I can talk about snakes…)
Before returning home from our trip to the Chiemgauer Alpen, we decided to take a short walk in the Achental, from Marquartstein to a viewpoint called Windeck (probably because it is always windy as fuck – which it was today). The hike was short enough for our son to almost walk all of it twoContinue reading “I would make the worst orchid tour guide (but I can talk about snakes…)”
The very odd-looking stag beetle…
I’ve been lucky enough to find a couple of lesser stag beetles (Dorcus parallelipipedus) in my garden lately. About two weeks ago I found a female, and two days ago my wife found a male, approximately two meters away from the place I found the female, on the same wall. I hope they managed toContinue reading “The very odd-looking stag beetle…”
A special visitor
As I was thinking about what to write for this post, a helicopter flew over our campsite really low. The helicopter blades produced an intense noise. These things surprise me every time. I would love to fly in one some day. However much I like flying machines, I was also trying to get my sonContinue reading “A special visitor”
Robin Heinen 