An experiment in work and life integration
We take pictures of each other a lot but we have very few pictures of us together. Thank you Leslie Liu for these photos. Capturing us in these unguarded moments, when we are most natural. 我們很少有兩人出現在同一個鏡頭的照片。好喜歡這兩張照片，都不知道被拍所以這麼自然。
Photo credit : Leslie Liu 劉芳
I planted three kinds of seeds. Snow peas, green beans and red snake beans. The local seeds have germinated but the other two imported seeds showed no action so far. 
There are various theories to this whodunit happening every day in my edible garden. Could it be the larvae of a type of moth? Snails? Birds? I think it might be birds because the plants were devoured from the top.
Day 4 morning 
Day 3 morning 
Day 2 morning
Day 1
2018/10/28 Update
Last night we decided to play detective. With the torch light of our iPhones, we found the culprit. Not a bird. Not a moth. Not a rat. It is the most common creature in the garden, the snails!
Turns out the cure is really simple. These pellets are called 苦茶粕, the pulp of Camelia tea seeds after the oil is pressed. Snails hate them.
After a hectic spring and summer this year, I finally have some time to tend to our edible garden, getting it ready for the autumn planting season. There are four raised planters in the garden.
I got some help this morning making the trellis for the tomatoes. A bunch of bamboo sticks cost NT100. We use a total of two bunches, including the old ones from last year.
Building a trellis is not as difficult as I imagined. The trick is to soften the soil by watering it first before drilling the holes for the bamboo poles.
Papa Liu has a green thumb and he brought spring onions (scallions) from his own garden.
Spring onions love the sun but not when they have just been transplanted. They need to be shaded.
Papa Liu came up with this shading system using material we have in the garden. It is easy, adjustable and does the job!
The arugula and cabbage transplanted yesterday were wilting in the hot direct sun so we built another shading system for Planter 1.
Planter 2. These tomatoes were planted on September 25 and it’s been two weeks. They are growing though not as fast as I expected. 
I soaked these beans for 24 hours before planting them. They are beans, snow peas and snake beans (our own crop from earlier this year).
Planter 3 are okra, eggplant, broccoli and broccolini.
Not quite full moon but the moonlit clouds are mesmerising. The air is so clear I could see the lights of Green Island which is 37km away. 月光 雲海 漁船 綠島
This is the aerial view of Dulan Mountain arriving in Taitung from the south approach.
When the bananas are popping out of their skin, it is time to bake banana cake. This is a simple recipe that is really easy to make.
Ingredients• 125 g butter
• 1/2 cup caster sugar (or 80g palm sugar)
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 2 eggs
• 3 bananas mashed ripe
• 1 1/2 cups self-raising flour
• 1/4 cup milk
( Self raising flour = I cup all purpose + 2 teaspoon baking powder + 0.25 teaspoon fine salt )
1 . Melt the butter, sugar and vanilla in a medium sized saucepan.
2 . Remove from heat.
3 . Add mashed bananas and stir through until just blended.
4 . Add eggs and mix in well. Stir in flour, add milk and mix lightly.
5 . Bake at 170C for approximately 40 minutes.
