Pete and I went slacklining last week and I brought along the camera for a quick timelapse.

Watch in HD at Vimeo.

Let’s start with the camera. I’m using my 20D and I purchased an intervalometer from Amazon that allows me to shoot at virtually any interval and not have to haul my laptop with. You can also tether via USB to Canon software on Windows or use gPhoto on Linux. You can find many tutorials about shutter speeds, intervals, and more by searching.

Once you have a series of photos, you need to assemble them into a movie. I am using VirtualDub 1.9.9 on Windows for this task, because it also gives me a few extra features I appreciate: resizing and deflickering, which smooths out any exposure differences from frame to frame. I shoot JPEGs that need to be resized a bit and so I resize them to 1080×720 or 1920×1080 in VirtualDub. Another free program for this is ffmpeg on Linux which I’ve used successfully; I prefer VirtualDub for the two filters above.

Next comes editing which is where I splice together different clips and add background music. You can do this with a variety of elaborate and expensive tools, but this post is about free so I’ll emphasize Windows Movie Maker (on Windows XP and Vista) which has been superseded by Windows Live Movie Maker which I have not used. On Linux I recommend Pitivi, which ships with Ubuntu 10.4 by default. I’ve used it once and it seems perfectly sufficient for basic splicing, fading, audio, etc and is very easy to use.

If you are interested in some free music to back your timelapse, a few resources are jamendo and a general directory of resources. This is something I’m just learning more about, so you’re on your own here.

Finally, upload to vimeo or YouTube.

Last year, we rented a plot of land from the city ($11 each) with two other couples and had a much bigger garden-that was my first attempt at vegetable gardening. The plot was 20′ x 16′. It was not as successful as we would have hoped for the following reasons: the summer was much cooler than normal, so our tomatoes didn’t do as well; the plot was located 15-20 minutes away from our house, so we weren’t able to get out there as frequently as we would have liked; we had a 7-month old who got bored quickly in the pack ‘n play and wanted to crawl around in the dirt; and I didn’t feel comfortable going to the plot, which was located in the middle of nowhere, alone with a baby (not to mention I couldn’t accomplish much!). We had a lot of fun with the two couples we gardened with, and we did reap some produce, but not as much as we would have liked! So, this summer we reduced our square footage from 320 square feet to 16 square feet.

Our 320 square foot garden in 2009.

Emma liked going to the garden much more when Owen would come and play as well.

About a month ago, we bought the wood (a total cost of $20) and I put it together myself with Ben’s guidance. I then painted it bright red (it took three coats of paint). The soil we used was a mixture of three ingredients-compost (organic and manure), peat moss, and Vermiculite (a total cost of $25). This mixture of soil helps to hold in moisture, which requires less watering, and also has less weeds.

I was much more deliberate in choosing what we would plant this year than last! Last year, if it sounded good to us, we planted it! This year, with only 16 squares, we planted only what we really enjoy eating. Two weeks ago, I planted four different assortments of lettuce–buttercrunch, romaine, gourmet blend, and spring mix–and all of them began sprouting within 5 days. About a week ago, I planted snap peas (Ben’s favorite), but they have yet to come up. I also received two cherry tomatoes from my best friend, Julie, who is also planting a Square Foot Garden. On Mother’s Day, we went to a local nursery and picked up the rest of our produce–grape tomatoes, pear tomatoes, merlot peppers, banana peppers, belle peppers, a big beef tomato plant, and basil (a total cost of $21). While at the nursery, one worker told us not to plant the peppers, tomatoes or basil until the low temperatures for the evening were at least 45-50 degrees.

This is the garden with only the lettuce and peas planted.

It’s been hard waiting, but today we checked the forecast and from here on out, the weather looks to be warmer than 45 degrees. During Emma’s nap, I went out and planted. Everything fit in the garden except for the big beef tomato plant, the basil and two grape tomato plants. I would also like to plant some cilantro from seed as well. Already it has been so nice having the garden right outside on our deck! I love being able to work on it during Emma’s naps and also with her (she really enjoys watering it and putting leaves and all the tree seeds that I pull out of it back in). There is a gate on our deck, so Emma is able to play with her car and toys while I work. I’m sure she’ll enjoy eating the tomatoes especially in a couple of months!

Completely planted!

Additional plants that didn't fit in the Square Foot Garden.

Now we just have to wait patiently for it to yield fruit. We do have two tomatoes on the Big Beef plant, so it won’t be too long!

» Coulee Rock Community Church - La Crosse, Wisconsin & Onalaska, Wisconsin

Ben driving the moving truck. He had a blast!

Emma and Grandpa Jay in the moving truck.

Emma and Nona walking on the truck ramp.

Posing with Grandma Debra in the truck.

Our moving crew!

Emma was exhausted by the time the truck was loaded and ready to go.

Arriving at our new place with a beautiful bouquet of tulips from the "Welcoming Committee".

PLAYING ON THE DECK:

Emma watches as Daddy begins making shelves on his lunch break.

Emma loves giving Daddy kisses!

Emma loved putting leaves into this bucket. Once she was done, the bucket became a fun hat!

CHALK TIME:

This was Emma's first time using chalk.

EASTER EGG HUNT:

We decided to go to a local Egg Hunt. As you can see, Emma wasn't very thrilled with the amount of time we had to wait!

Look at how close the eggs are together! Emma really had to look hard to find some!

Emma loved picking up the eggs and putting them in her basket.

Emma's friend, Owen, and his parents went to the Easter Egg Hunt with us.

THE CHILDREN’S MUSEUM:

We were able to visit the Children's Museum with Owen and his mommy today. There was a cute little Kwik Trip the kids were able to shop at!

Emma loved playing in the "dirt" at the Children's Museum.

Kit contents - American Pale Ale from Brewer's Best

Grains in a cheesecloth bag

Steeping the grains to make wort

Adding liquid malt extract

Bittering hops

Lots of boiling and hoppy smells

Finished wort. Delicious.

Transferring the wort to the fermenter via siphon

Pitching the yeast

Installing the airlock

Shazam! Fermentation!

CO2 bubbling through airlock

Fermentation Station - CO2 bubbles on top of beer

Done fermenting - about 1 gallon of trub rests on the bottom of the fermenter.

Time to bottle.

We used two types of bottles: capped, and flip top.

Filling the bottles one by one. Everything is sanitized before the beer touches it.

Capping the bottles

All capped up

The fruit: 4.5 gallons or 2.25 gallons each. Time to let it carbonate in the bottle.

Two weeks later & time to enjoy my American Pale Ale.

Timeline of the process:

November 22: brewing
November 23: fermentation is rocking
November 29: transferred beer to secondary container to avoid some sediment (trub)
December 2: bottling
December 9: Mr. Eager opens a bottle, and it’s definitely not ready yet.
December 17: respectably carbonated and tasty
January 4: only one pint left, time for a new batch of homebrew!

Just one of our designs

I’m pleased to announce the launch of my second online business, Mistle Mail. This new service allows you to customize your own Christmas e-mail with your own photos, text, and Christmas letter, while we worry about delivering it to your friends and family. It’s an economical and eco-friendly approach to sending your holiday greetings this year! You can send an unlimited number of emails for one low price.

Megan and I would love to hear some feedback on the service! Please check it out and let us know what you think.

]]> http://www.benholmen.com/blog/2009/09/fall-portraits/feed/ http://www.benholmen.com/blog/2009/04/family/ http://www.benholmen.com/blog/2009/04/family/#comments Fri, 24 Apr 2009 22:14:14 +0000 Megan http://www.benholmen.com/blog/?p=318

Emma is so lucky to have the family she does, that we thought we’d post some of her favorites from the last month! Enjoy!

At the Baseball Halfmoon Handout

Our Easter Picture

Emma with Mommy and Nona on Easter Sunday

Emma and Oompa

Emma and Noah at Easter

Emma with Grandma Debra and Grandpa Jay

Emma and Uncle Dan on Easter

Emma and the Holmen cousins