Pot Luck

Got my greenhouse pieces home yesterday, and a lot of shelves and what not (4.00 / 3)

today we went and got almost a whole pickup load of 1 gallon pots, I figure $300-$400 worth, they said just take 'em. I love salvage!

I was looking at the goats and Deva is baggin up, which means she'll be ready to kid in a few weeks. Still no bunnies though. The other day the doe was pulling hair like crazy so I locked her in her den box, and now she seems to have stopped. Oh well, she'll have 'em when she has 'em....

Big, big rest of the week for me, whatcha'll up to?

Normal people scare me.... But not as much as I scare them.

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by: JoanneRigutto @ Thu Mar 04, 2010 at 03:08:37 AM UTC

Eatin'... (4.00 / 2)

Kiwi for dinner, because I'm historically lazy.  Okay, I'll probably make an omelet in a bit, too.  Kiwi isn't exactly a balanced dinner, heh...

"The essence of the independent mind lies not in what it thinks, but in how it thinks." - Christopher Hitchens

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by: JayinPortland @ Thu Mar 04, 2010 at 03:19:22 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

I bought a few kiwi (4.00 / 2)

tonight, to see what the fuss is about. I had some at a hotel breakfast bar in Banff a few years ago, but I've never bought any to eat at home.

Haven't sliced into them yet.

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by: count @ Thu Mar 04, 2010 at 03:43:53 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

I said fuss, (4.00 / 2)

not fuzz.

I am supposed to peel these things, right?

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by: count @ Thu Mar 04, 2010 at 04:08:34 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Yeah... (4.00 / 2)

I've heard the skin is actually edible, but you'd want to clean it really good before eating it.

What I do is just cut it in half and scoop the innards out with a spoon.  It comes out easily.

"The essence of the independent mind lies not in what it thinks, but in how it thinks." - Christopher Hitchens

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by: JayinPortland @ Thu Mar 04, 2010 at 04:16:18 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Let us know how it goes! (4.00 / 2)

I had always associated kiwi with bad drinks or kids' candy, although I'm sure I've had kiwi a few times before over the years.  But surely never farm fresh, like the ones I can pick up at the farmers' markets right now.  

It was almost a life changing event (okay, exaggerating slightly, heh) realizing how great fresh, local kiwi is, though!  I'm not even generally much of a fruit fan, cantaloupe and marionberries are pretty much the only other fruits I really enjoy.  But kiwi has since topped them all, by a mile or three!

"The essence of the independent mind lies not in what it thinks, but in how it thinks." - Christopher Hitchens

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by: JayinPortland @ Thu Mar 04, 2010 at 04:12:11 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

High praise indeed! (4.00 / 2)

Buuuuuuttttt...these are "product of Italy." Who knows when they were picked? Were they picked green? Yada yada.

Have you ever had the kind of huckleberries that are found in the northern Rockies? I don't know where else those are found, the provenance of huckleberries are a great mystery to me. The New Jersey Pine Barrens are home to something called huckleberries, but I've not the chance to try them. Things called huckleberries also are found in the South, but my impression is that, away from the northern Rockies, "things called huckleberries" are not very distinct from blueberries.

I love northern Rocky Mountain huckleberries.

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by: count @ Thu Mar 04, 2010 at 04:38:35 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Wild huckleberries... (4.00 / 2)

...are native to Oregon and Washington, but I don't know how those would compare to Northern Rocky huckleberries, which I've never tried.  

Interesting about New Jersey, I'd never heard of them.  Then again, the Pine Barrens and South Jersey in general are for all intents and purposes a different state (or planet!) for those of us from North Jersey.  Heh...

"The essence of the independent mind lies not in what it thinks, but in how it thinks." - Christopher Hitchens

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by: JayinPortland @ Thu Mar 04, 2010 at 04:57:01 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Have you eaten PNW huckleberries? (4.00 / 2)

I'm interested in reading your comments about them, if you have.

Very unfortunately, the experience most people have had of the northern Rockies huckleberry probably is in the form of a jam or jelly, or a chocolate candy with a sugarfied "huckleberry" filling, none of which does justice to the real thing. The real thing is, of course, handfuls of the purple fruit eaten while picking, or scooped from the bucket, back at the car at the end of a long day of sweat-suffused back-breaking labor spent dodging semi-auto rifle fire from people who think you are trespassing on their private patch, even though you are on National Forest or State Forest land.

Ah, those were the days. Don't ever let anybody tell you that logging is not an educational occupation.

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by: count @ Thu Mar 04, 2010 at 05:27:43 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

I seem to recall... (4.00 / 2)

...having some once, two years ago or so, but I can't remember much or even if it even was huckleberries.  I'll have to look for them this year, if I can remember...

"The essence of the independent mind lies not in what it thinks, but in how it thinks." - Christopher Hitchens

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by: JayinPortland @ Thu Mar 04, 2010 at 07:42:14 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

When I was a kid (4.00 / 2)

my uncle Pete had a cabbin on the Oregon coast near Cape Kiwanda in a little area called Tierra del Mar. We would spend every weekend down there from around March to September or October. We always picked coastal huckleberries. There were big ones and small ones. I think it depended on how many started out on the plant, as opposed to being different subspecies.

We'd also pick salal berries, which to me are sweet but otherwise flavorless. My mom would make them and the huckleberries into a freezer pie, which a graham cracker crust. Oh. God. Heaven.....

We used to pick a lot of salmon berries too. They're like a big pale, mild flavored raspberry.

There are huckleberries that grow in the mountains in Oregon, but I've never had those.  

Normal people scare me.... But not as much as I scare them.

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by: JoanneRigutto @ Thu Mar 04, 2010 at 17:23:24 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

coastal huckleberries (4.00 / 1)

What are the coastal berries like? Do they grow on low bushes? Are they bursting with flavor?

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by: count @ Thu Mar 04, 2010 at 17:42:02 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Some are big, some are small (4.00 / 2)

I think it had to do with how many the bush was maturing more than anything else. And they are bursting with flavor. Big and black and shiny. Yum!

Normal people scare me.... But not as much as I scare them.

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by: JoanneRigutto @ Fri Mar 05, 2010 at 03:07:39 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Just learned two things! (4.00 / 1)

I never realized there were coastal huckleberries, I thought they were all from the mountains.  The second thing is that I didn't know salmonberries grew here!  I know they're big in Alaska, I'm amazed they grow here.  I have to try to find some of them this year, too...

"The essence of the independent mind lies not in what it thinks, but in how it thinks." - Christopher Hitchens

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by: JayinPortland @ Fri Mar 05, 2010 at 02:12:12 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Funny you not knowing about coastal huckleberries. (4.00 / 2)

Until I met Harold, I didn't know that huckleberries grew any where but the coast.

Count - Forgot to answer your question about the height of the bushes. They're around shoulder high, but can get taller.

Are mountain huckleberries short bushes?

When Harold went hunting up in Alaska, he picked some low bush cranberries. I didn't like them, having grown up on bog type cranberries.

Normal people scare me.... But not as much as I scare them.

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by: JoanneRigutto @ Fri Mar 05, 2010 at 03:10:42 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

low bushes (4.00 / 1)

yes, but that might just be an artifact of high altitude, short growing season, etc. What you describe sounds like the real deal.

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by: count @ Fri Mar 05, 2010 at 09:08:12 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Utah Apple Beer... (4.00 / 2)

Anybody ever try it?  Sounds interesting...

Apple Beer is a non-alcoholic American variant of the German drink fassbrause

I wonder how it differs from, say, apple cider or apple juice?  And now that I'm on this topic, bah!  I really missed out on apple and pear cider this year.  I love that stuff.  I have to hit the Sunday Hillsdale Farmers' Market this weekend and see if Draper Girls has any pear cider left...

"The essence of the independent mind lies not in what it thinks, but in how it thinks." - Christopher Hitchens

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by: JayinPortland @ Thu Mar 04, 2010 at 03:28:41 AM UTC

gha! (4.00 / 2)

i love pear cider!

come firefly-dreaming with me....

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by: RiaD @ Thu Mar 04, 2010 at 14:50:55 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Whole Foods Market produce from China (4.00 / 4)

More reasons to shop local and sustainable.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...

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by: victoriaquinn @ Thu Mar 04, 2010 at 04:26:47 AM UTC

organics from China (4.00 / 2)

The concept of certified organic food from China is bizarre, but it is a useful fiction. North American ranchers and dairymen find it nearly impossible to buy North American organic feed because of GMO contamination, so they buy feed from Chinese producers. The feed they buy might be free of GE contamination, but is it really organic?

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by: count @ Thu Mar 04, 2010 at 05:35:16 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

organics from China (4.00 / 2)

The concept of certified organic food from China is bizarre, but it is a useful fiction. North American ranchers and dairymen find it nearly impossible to buy North American organic feed because of GMO contamination, so they buy feed from Chinese producers. The feed they buy might be free of GE contamination, but is it really organic?

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by: count @ Thu Mar 04, 2010 at 05:35:16 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Yum! Night-soil fertilized! (4.00 / 2)

I don't even think there's a Chinese government organic certification regimen. I also don't think the 'organic' tea in the bulk bins at my local health-food co-op is really organic either.

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by: Crider @ Thu Mar 04, 2010 at 16:13:02 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Country of Origin Labeling (4.00 / 2)

for ingredients in processed and prepared foods --organic or otherwise-- doesn't even exist. Also, any large purveyor of 'organic' foods can afford to create their own third-party certification company to fake any needed records.

So the UDSA doesn't inspect imported foods for meeting organic standards? That just makes it harder for domestic farmers to compete.

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by: Crider @ Thu Mar 04, 2010 at 16:26:30 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

That's why, in my opinion (4.00 / 4)

if you want to buy organic, it's better to buy from a local farm. That way, you can certify them yourself, or at least check and verify what ever third party certification they have.

Know your farmer, know your food....

Normal people scare me.... But not as much as I scare them.

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by: JoanneRigutto @ Thu Mar 04, 2010 at 17:26:03 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Public option tally (4.00 / 3)

Maria Cantwell is on board.

Weakly.

The administration's efforts notwithstanding, Cantwell said that if the parliamentarian determines that the public option can be voted on under the rules of reconciliation, which require only 50 votes, she's on board.

"If the parliamentarian says you can and it can all work, yes," she told HuffPost when asked if she'd vote for it. "If it works, fine."

She hasn't actually signed Bennet's letter requesting "a public option," and her statement of support is weak, in my opinion. Most recent additions to the list have used similar weasel words. Nevertheless, the infernal optimists who are tracking this number Cantwell as the 35th supporter. That's 70% of the needed 50 votes, and 59% of the Senate Dem caucus.

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by: count @ Thu Mar 04, 2010 at 17:48:49 PM UTC

Relying on the Parliamentarian (4.00 / 3)

looks to me like the tepid leadership is going to be constructing an 'out' where they can claim support for the PO, but then they'll write it up in such a way that it won't get approved. Then they can escape the wrath of the base who didn't see it coming.

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by: Crider @ Fri Mar 05, 2010 at 00:19:37 AM UTC

[ Parent ]