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Pot Luck

by: JayinPhiladelphia

Wed Jun 22, 2011 at 19:00:00 PM PDT


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Pot Luck | 69 comments
Slaughter of the Nubans... (4.00 / 2)
PARIENG, Sudan -- Underneath the wisp of shade he now calls home, Hamed El Bardi is a leader of a lost community. With more than 100 of his fellow Nubans huddled in the backyard of a county office in this southern Sudanese village, Mr. El Bardi tabulates newcomers and tries to figure out what to do next.

"I will be going back," insists Mr. El Bardi, 42. But fear persists.

"If you take my picture, when I go back," the northern government "will try to find me and kill me," he said.

Over the last two weeks, northern Sudanese forces have led an unbridled assault in the volatile Nuba Mountains region of southern Kordofan. Witnesses describe execution-style killings of ethnic Nubans. In surrounding areas, the Sudanese government has acknowledged carrying out an aerial bombardment, forcing tens of thousands to flee.

The north says it is fighting rebels, but survivors have described the bombing campaign as crude and indiscriminate.

Where are the flotillas heading to Sudan?

Humanitarian officials say thousands of civilians have gathered here in the thatch-roofed villages of Panyang and Parieng, just within the cusp of southern Sudan. Many of them are Nubans, but officials warned that because Sudan is still one country (southern Sudan is due to formally separate from the north on July 9), they would not qualify for refugee status.

Nubans fought alongside southerners against the north during Sudan's civil war, but they are a distinct society. Many are Muslim, like northerners, and the belongings they have carried to Parieng are an iconography of lives left behind. A hookah pipe. Worry beads.


Haiti cholera (4.00 / 1)
Cholera in Haiti surges in areas hit by storm

Trenton Daniel
Associated Press
June 10, 2011

The storm came only a few days after international aid group Oxfam said its staff saw a spike in the number of cases in Carrefour, a densely populated area west of downtown Port-au-Prince. Oxfam said its aid workers were treating more than 300 new cases a day, which was more than three times what they saw back when the disease peaked in the fall.
...

The first two days of this week, two Doctors Without Border clinics treated 444 cases in Port-au-Prince.

The week before, the aid group treated more than 2,500 patients in the capital, compared to the lowest number of cases in one week -- 302 cases, in April. Doctors Without Borders treated 4,645 people in one week at the height of the epidemic in November.

Cholera, a bacteria transmitted by water, has sickened more than 330,000 people and killed nearly 5,400 people since the Haiti outbreak began in October.


Congo cholera (4.00 / 1)
Congo cholera outbreak spreads to populous capital

Jun 22, 2011

KINSHASA (Reuters) - A cholera epidemic that has already killed 32 people in Democratic Republic of Congo has spread to the capital Kinshasa, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Wednesday.
...

Traders traveling by boat down the Congo River are bringing the disease from Bandundu province, he said, near an area where an outbreak has infected more than 680 people and killed 32 this month.


I have Fava Beans growing (4.00 / 2)
They were planted in April. Climate is changing here. I don't know if micro climates constitute change, but I have 3 perennials flowering "Out of season" And two of them are usually the last two to flower before the frost!
We're in a big deep trough (4.00 / 1)
in the sunspot cycle. This has a pretty significant impact on climate and weather patterns.

You can read about the cycles here - NASA sunspot information.  Here's another good article explaining how sunspot activity most likely influences climate and weather patterns - Small Fluctuations In Solar Activity, Large Influence On Climate.

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

[ Parent ]
thanks (4.00 / 2)
I'll read..

How do these changes affect how and what you plant?

[ Parent ]
It has everything to do with what I plant (4.00 / 1)
There are just two factors that determine what I plant.

1 - What will my customers want?
2 - What's the weather going to be like.

The first determines what I'd like to plant, the second determines what I actually will plant.

I try to not get too dependant on any one crop. For instance, I'm not growning sweet corn this year. I've got a lot of tomato plants in the ground and a lot still in pots, some of which have already set fruit, but I'm not completely dependant on ripe tomatoes. Oh, I'll get some, but I'm afraid that this year's going to be a lot like last year. I had 500 tomato plants in the ground last year and harvested maybe 150# of ripe tomatoes. That totally sucked. This year I am loaning money to a friend who's setting up a commercial kitchen. We're going to make things to sell. I'm seeing lots of pickled green tomatoes, green tomato relish, etc. in my future. I'm also going to see if I can do something like a salsa verde using green tomatoes instead of tomatillos.

On the other hand, I'm able to grow peas way later in the year than I would in a year with normal temps. Same with the lettuce and other cooler weather crops.

And then for things that I feel I absolutely have to have, or to grow in hot or cool environments when the weather's not cooperative I have the tunnels. Put greenhouse film on 'em in cool times and you've got spring in winter. Put shade cloth or cover fabric over 'em and you've got spring in summer. I can't completely alter an interior microclimate like the tunnels, but I can shift thing's quite a bit..

After last year's weather debacle, I decided I wasn't going to be vulnerable like that anymore. So over the winter, and all this year so far, I've been a student of climate, and a student of weather. I have live doppler radar on my laptop, I have a computer program that shows live sattelite coverage of the planet and has layers for cloud cover, doppler radar, etc. I use another live weather website that shows live sattelite imagery of cloud cover with animation, so I can watch out over Hawaii, up in the Aleutians, or anywhere else to see what's coming at me. I'm also a nut for the 7 day forecasts, etc.

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

[ Parent ]
green tomatoes (4.00 / 2)
Last weekend we ate at a restaurant that offered green tomato salad, but did not offer fried green tomatoes as a vegetable. I thought that was odd.
[ Parent ]
renewable energy (4.00 / 1)
Fuel theft hits Iraq power grid

Anwar Faruqi
1 hr 10 mins ago

BAGHDAD (AFP) - Large volumes of diesel fuel destined for Iraq's power stations are stolen each month by transportation contractors in cahoots with electricity ministry officials, an inspector said on Thursday.

Such theft is exacerbating life in Iraq where ordinary citizens receive no more than six hours of state-supplied electricity a day in winter and fewer than four hours in the summer.
...

The official cited one example where 120 tankers carrying fuel in the north from the Baiji refinery to the city of Samarra had been diverted, and the fuel stolen.
In another case the same month, inspectors had found that fuel from 260 tankers had gone missing en route in Baghdad.

Doesn't this seem like an excellent reason Iraq should invest in solar and wind? Can't steal a truckload of wind energy.

"We tried to put a strict inspection process in place to control the theft, but faced harassment from groups inside the electricity ministry and from contractors," Mohieddin said.

Woo Hoo! (4.00 / 2)
Just got my first order for my microgreens from a restaurant. I'm working with a distributor in Portland.

I love my job!!! It's so cool!!!

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

good for you. (4.00 / 2)
fyi...

my Uncle Sidney's recipe for pickles makes great sour tomatoes. Whats the name of the sustainable deli in Portland? They might be interested in real pickles and sour tomatoes?

What kinds of tomatoes are u growing?

[ Parent ]
I'm growing a variety (4.00 / 1)
of reds, black, purple and yellow. Mostly slicing tomatoes, but I've got chocolate cherry (my personal favorite) and some grape tomatoes too.

Black Krim, Black Prince, Mortgage Lifter, Anas Noire, Wapsapinicon Peach, and a few others.

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

[ Parent ]
Kenny & Zuke's n/t. (4.00 / 1)
!
[ Parent ]
thanks..Jay (4.00 / 1)
Joanne or Jay

have either of you eaten there?

Lee
whose mouth is watering thinking about biting into a pastrimi sandwich. BUT I am off to a friends who is smoking a pork shoulder bought this morning at Whole Foods.

[ Parent ]
Too much. :) (4.00 / 2)
It's been an at least three-times-a-month habit since I ended my vegetarianism two years or so ago.

I could live off of the chopped liver.  Plus, the Montreal-style bagels with whitefish spread!  My favorite sandwich is the Ken's Special.  Hand-cut pastrami, chopped liver, cole slaw and Russian dressing on rye.  Everything house-made, of course.  The slaw's a great vinegary 'Old Eastern Europe' style.  Just had the pastrami on rye (a la carte, $2 off!) last week.

No, I don't have any financial stake in the place at all.  Just my favorite place to eat ever, and if it were to go away I would have the Majorest Sad of Major Sads.  Heh.  So I talk it up whenever I can, as well as make sure that it's the one place I suggest to anybody from out-of-town to eat first.  Pretty family-friendly place (and of course, they have a very quick takeout counter), and they're not Kosher so they also do things like cheeseburgers and whatnot.  I've heard very good things about their burger, in fact, but I've never had it.  When in The Deli, eat pastrami.  That's my motto!  Corned beef and tongue are okay, too.  Of course.  Theirs are excellent, btw.  Hand-cut tongue!

Any time family, friends or just someone I know from Teh Blogs comes into town, we always have lunch there. :)

And this sucks, because I'm broke this weekend but now I want a sandwich!  Oh, well.  Something to look forward to in a week or so, I guess...

Will you be saving me some of that pork shoulder?

:-D

[ Parent ]
ironic coming from the woman that writes vegan recipes (4.00 / 3)
:) talking about pork shoulder.But I don't eat big box meat. The pork shoulder was smoked and shredded and we had it with slaw and rolls.Yummy...

I just made inedible vegan biscuits but I have Italian bread rising .


[ Parent ]
Nice... (4.00 / 2)
I could go for a pulled pork sandwich one of these days again myself.  One of those at a food cart downtown was what led me to discover the goodness of Alabama White Sauce!  That recipe's missing horseradish, and though I obviously don't know how traditional that component is in "the real stuff," it's what gave the version I tried its kick.
[ Parent ]
can you (4.00 / 2)
put that on while your ribs are cooking (like i do red sauce)?
we love beef ribs, but i'm getting tired of the honey-bbq sauce mrD makes...this sounds like a nice change.  

come firefly-dreaming with me....
[ Parent ]
basting (4.00 / 3)
From a comment in that thread:

I use it for dipping but other folks here have said they use it for marinating and basting as well.

And why not, after all?

I'm glad Jay reminded us of this. The owner of a small storefront in my neighborhood sells made-to-order Mojo potato wedges hot out of the deep frier. These are her version of what other stores in town call western fries, and what westerners call Jojo potatoes. I'll try the Alabama White Sauce (with and without horseradish) with them instead of honey mustard sauce or plain mayonnaise.

Also, I think it's time for me to try making jojos. Lots of recipes for them on line, either baked or deep fried.

[ Parent ]
jojos (4.00 / 2)
Hmm. For later in the year, I wonder if a hard squash like butternut couldn't be cooked like jojo potatoes. Pieces might tend to fall apart, but they'd probably taste good.
[ Parent ]
i've done (4.00 / 2)
sweet potatoes & they are good.
i'll bet butternuts would be scrumpdillyicious!

come firefly-dreaming with me....
[ Parent ]
& (4.00 / 2)
how much horseradish would you add to that recipe?

come firefly-dreaming with me....
[ Parent ]
Honestly, I have no idea... (4.00 / 2)
I haven't tried to make it yet, but since I've developed an addiction to Mexican and Thai foods, I'd probably use a lot myself.  Need heat!  Spice!

:-D

Yeah, I'd cheat and just use prepared horseradish, btw.  Not the actual stuff, which now that I think of it I don't believe I've ever used for anything.  I should get a hold of a root or three one of these years.  Just did some quick research and read that the greens are edible, too.  Nice!

Re: your question above - yeah, what count said.

[ Parent ]
horseradish (4.00 / 2)
I wonder what happens to the horseradish taste when it is cooked. Does it disappear? I have no idea what the answer is.
[ Parent ]
I've been looking for horseradish roots (4.00 / 3)
I love the taste but I also have a spot here that's on a hill and I want to plant edibles that spread.
[ Parent ]
OT (4.00 / 2)
next wed is the first in the month.
are you on still?
(if not it's ok)

come firefly-dreaming with me....
[ Parent ]
Yeah, shouldn't be a problem... (4.00 / 2)
Thanks, I remembered. :)

Will try to stop by over there again tonight or later this week sometime, btw...

[ Parent ]
Workouts (4.00 / 1)
OMG! Michelle Obama does push-ups with Archbishop Desmond Tutu?

I dunno, guys, the Archbishop might have cheated. I want to see the video.

Don't know about Desmond (4.00 / 1)
but from what I've seen of her, I like Michelle.

Normal people scare me.... But not as much as I scare them.
[ Parent ]
GMO crop up in smoke (4.00 / 2)
GM marijuana problem growing in Colombia

Luis Robayo
36 mins ago

CALI, Colombia (AFP)

Local authorities said the arrival of genetically modified seeds, which are imported from Europe and the United States have allowed "a bigger production and better quality at the same time".
...

"La Cominera's" higher value is due to its increased concentration of THC, the plant's principal active ingredient, and the modified plant verges on an 18 percent concentration level, compared to a normal marijuana plant's two to seven percent, said the researcher.

No word yet on the availability of GMO coca.

Amazing (4.00 / 1)
I remember an article in OMNI magazine (shows how old I am), about some organization getting farmers down in Columbia to grow mullberry for silk production. The bottom had sort of dropped out of the cocaine market and silk was very high at the time.

A lot of farmers switched over as the market for silk was way better than that for coca and the two plants can grow in the same conditions. Also the plants were being given to the farmers for free. The drug dealers were pretty pissed and tried to intimidate the farmers back into growing coca, but it didn't work. The all mighty buck won out in the end.

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

[ Parent ]
as an aside... (4.00 / 1)
i vaguely recall the original name of that magazine was "nova". albeit shortlived,.. i think i even subscribed.. great for its time. middle 70s??

www.wiserearth.org   go, join, act
[ Parent ]
I never heard of it being called Nova (4.00 / 1)
it was always OMNI when I was getting it. Yup, it started up in the middle 70s, and I think it finally went under in the late 80s or early 90s? I remember the last magazine edition, but I don't remember what year it was. I was sure sad to see it go. It was a great magazine.

Normal people scare me.... But not as much as I scare them.
[ Parent ]
charter members (4.00 / 3)
saw issues called "nova"; it changed shortly after.. i loved it.     unless i was hallucinating during this whole period..   ha..

www.wiserearth.org   go, join, act
[ Parent ]
Oy (4.00 / 1)
Just got back from the bank. Spent 2 hours over there setting up business accounts and getting the info together for a merchant account. My business is actually getting big enough I really needed the business accounts and a merchant account so I can take credit cards and, if I ever get around to filling out the paperwork, WIC and SNAP recipients.

Normal people scare me.... But not as much as I scare them.
Dumb weather (4.00 / 2)
Yesterday, 104° with 4% humidity.
Today, hotter.
Some folks are saying this is the driest
year in 115 years.
Even the "native" plants are dying.
Between the wind and the dry I am losing
interest in the South West.  

Next month my dear wife has a job
interview in SD.
But we both hate the cold!

Peace, Bob

And up my way... (4.00 / 1)
...February just ended this week!
[ Parent ]
Bob Edwards boohoo (4.00 / 1)
Fired up my iPod, first words from the Bob Edwards podcast were that the last podcast would be at the end of July. I don't know what economic or political factors led to this, but it's a bummer.

Do I really need to begin listening to public radio just to hear Bob Edwards? Any complaint wouldn't be sincere, though. It's been several years of great podcasts.

Retirement? (4.00 / 1)
Maybe?  I just checked, he's 64.  It'd be early for those in his field, but not unheard of I'd guess...

Me, I'm dropping whatever I'm doing and goin' fishin' as early as possible.  Or maybe even earlier, if I can swing it.

;)

[ Parent ]
bloodletting at the Des Moines Register (4.00 / 2)
They laid off another bunch of good people, including food/ag correspondent Philip Brasher, who reported from their Washington bureau (now being shuttered).

The sustainable ag/food community is concerned about Brasher getting the ax just as the next Farm Bill is being drafted. See this post by Paula Crossfield at Civil Eats.

garlic scapes (4.00 / 1)
Hooboy, today's CSA haul includes garlic scapes! These are much more mature than last year's. Stems are a lot taller and the blossom pods are about to pop open. It looks to me as if the tendrils above the blossom pods have been snipped off, I don't know why. Maybe they had turned dry and brown?

Raw, the bottom half of the stalks seem "woody", although they are tasty. I don't know how they'll cook up. I think I'll cook them by themselves. If they don't go tender, I can puree them with other ingredients for saag.

Learning to make saag is how I'm keeping up with the leafy greens this year. Anything goes - mustard leaves, collard greens, arugula, kale, lettuce, chard. Today I have some young (but not baby) spinach. I need to give that some attention to see if I can cook it without the bitter (oxalic acid) taste.

fancy pants (4.00 / 2)
Usher wants Pippa Middleton to be face of lingerie line

R&B star Usher is eager to give his upcoming lingerie line a royal connection by hiring Pippa Middleton to help launch the brand.
...

Usher is set to release his first underwear line this summer, and he thinks Middleton is the perfect candidate to model the pieces for his company.

Does anyone besides me think the Middleton women are alarmingly thin?

agree they are thin (4.00 / 3)
and getting thinner
[ Parent ]
Get your free money from Big Ag (4.00 / 2)
The settlement resolves a lawsuit over whether Kellogg Company falsely advertised that Rice Krispies cereal and Cocoa Krispies cereal supported a person's immunity system despite not having competent clinical evidence to support the claim. Kellogg stands by its advertising and denies it did anything wrong. The Court did not decide who was right.

Instead, both sides agreed to a settlement. By agreeing to a settlement, the Parties avoid the costs and risk of a trial and the Class will get compensation. The Class Representatives and their attorneys believe that the settlement is in the best interests of the Class Members.

http://cerealadvertisingsettle...

File the claim online and receive up to $15. Woohoo! Great for the immune system.

No water (4.00 / 2)
The city just said no outside watering.
The next four days:  100, 100, 98, 94
Humidity 15% now but will be under 10%
by this time tomorrow.

Peace, Bob

and people wonder (4.00 / 1)
why the southwest is burning!

The latest report is that the Wallow fire is about 89% contained. That's good news.

[ Parent ]
Harold used to tell me about times in LA County, California (4.00 / 1)
when he'd be out when the heat was high and the humidity very, very low like that and you could watch brush spontaneously combust.

With the kind of humidity we have here in my part of the country, I can't imagine what 10% would be like.

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

[ Parent ]
not a joke (4.00 / 1)
I think Harold is a reliable witness. The LA County situation is aggravated by a number of things, not least of which is that the vegetation on those mountains is very resinous. When the temperature is high the resin gives off vapors, and if the air is hot and dry enough the vapors can spontaneously ignite.
[ Parent ]
Yup (4.00 / 1)
that's pretty much how he explained it to me. Until I met Harold I had no idea that it's the vapors that come off of anything that's on fire that are burning, not the actual thing itself. That was quite a concept for me to wrap my head around and it opened up a whole new way of looking at the world.

He also used to tell me stories of fighting fires in avacado groves. The vapors and smoke coming off the trees was so toxic it'd drop you if you inhaled one breath. So they used to have to crawl on the ground under the smoke to fight the fire. He said that they'd eat fire roasted avacados while they were fighting the fire. That was way before they had fancy air masks and tanks, back in the 50s.

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

[ Parent ]
random tax thought (4.00 / 1)
Beginning decades ago, states and cities avoided tax increases by implementing a ferocious campaign to foist a pernicious scam on their citizens known as state-run gambling.

I wonder if anyone bothers to think about that now. Sure, tax revenue fell when the economy went to hell, but I'd bet gambling revenue fell even more precipitously.

I think gambling revenue in Oregon (4.00 / 1)
fell a fair ammount.

I've always found it ammusing that my own state of Oregon would prosecute people for gambling privately, but go out and promote their own state run games. Just goes to show that old saying's so true - Don't Steal, the government hates competition.

I usually don't play the games because they're all rigged. The machines are set to pay out on a certain percentage. Harold had a system to play those machines. He won so much money at the Moose Lodge in Molalla, that a tech from the lottery commission came out and removed the machine.

When Harold and I lived in Milwaukie, OR, we used to hang out at the Wichita Pub. We'd buy all of the pull tabs for one game in the machine. You could tell how many tickets were in the machine, and because they posted the winning tickets for each game on a cork board, you could see how much had been paid out. If there was more payout left in the stack than it would cost to buy the remainder of the game, we'd go get the manager and buy out the game. Then he'd bring us a waste basket and we'd sit there drinking beer and opening tickets. When we were done we'd give him back the waste basket and turn in our tickets.

We always made more money than we spent on the tickets. So, we'd always make money, and the state would always make money because no matter what, there were more 50 cent tickets in an unopened box than there were payouts. So if it took $150 to buy all the tickets in the box, there would be tickets paying out a total of say $100 or $125. No matter what, the state was still selling the same number of tickets. The only person who lost money was the poor schmuck who was buying one or two tickets at a time.


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

[ Parent ]
Blah. (4.00 / 1)
The Hood strawberries are just... meh this year.  At best.  I don't know, is it just too early?  I've bought two pints from two different growers this week and sampled one or two others as well, but ehhhh.  Flavorless, almost.

Was it the weather?  I don't know.  Anybody have any luck with strawberries this year, in the garden or from the market?  I'm looking forward to blackberries, if the Marionberries disappoint this year I'm going to climb to the top of Mount Hood, shake my fist and angrily scream down at everyone.  Just you watch, I'll do it!

Saw Washington apricots in the grocery store (New Seasons) yesterday.  Haven't seen any in the farmers' markets yet, though.  Hmm, I don't think I've had an apricot in at least a couple of years.

One Straw Farm (4.00 / 1)
CSA strawberries were great, but we received them only one week.

Right now wild red raspberries are at peak here, bountiful season, I'm having difficulty keeping up.

[ Parent ]
Berry bounty... (4.00 / 2)
Was at the Pioneer Courthouse Square farmers' market downtown on Monday morning.  Had no cash on me though (nor anywhere to keep the berries for the hours until I would be home), and I was only browsing for a couple minutes while waiting for a train.  But I saw all kinds of berries and cherries.  I was hoping for a similar bounty at the smaller market (Moreland) I hit this afternoon on the way home, but no such luck.  Only available berries were strawberries.  Bah, I definitely could have gone for some rasps.  

Why don't we call them rasps, btw?  I'm going to start calling them rasps.  Saves a syllable or two, so there's the conservation thing going for it.  Plus, I like the way it sounds.

[ Parent ]
Razzberries (4.00 / 2)
We have good strawberries here, but they are late. There's an organic grower around here who got a job last winter and doesn't have time to pick his raspberries so he made a deal with a friend of mine. They pick the berries and repay him with some jam. I hopefully will get a chance to learn how to make real razzberry sherbet.
[ Parent ]
Probably the cool wet weather (4.00 / 2)
I remember years when I was a kid when we'd go pick and the berries would be mediocre at best. Those were always the wet cool years.

Normal people scare me.... But not as much as I scare them.
[ Parent ]
Thanks, that's what I figured... (4.00 / 1)
Will they get better in the coming weeks, maybe?  Or has the weather already consigned them to their fate for this year, so to speak?
[ Parent ]
I'm not sure (4.00 / 2)
I supose it depends on how far along in the season they are, and how many green berries are still on the plants. I think over in Canby they've only started to pick last week. When I drove by the berry fields on my way to the store this morning, I noticed that there wasn't anyone in the berry fields, there were still lots of red berries (at least what I could see of them driving by), but there should be plenty of green berries left to ripen.

It's supposed to be getting hot here over the weekend, that should kick the sugar content up on the berries that are ripening. As long as the warm weather stays for a bit instead of doing a hit and run like it did last week.

There's a U-pick strawberry field a couple miles from me, I'm going to go over there next week and see how the berries are.

I tell ya, this weather has been wonderful for a lot of leafy greens and my microgreens, but my tomato, eggplant and pepper plants are just idling waiting for the warm weather to get here.

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

[ Parent ]
Gha! (4.00 / 1)
Please don't tell me eggplants won't be doing well this year!!!

:(

[ Parent ]
Oh I'm sure someone will have eggplants (4.00 / 2)
as many farmers as there are at the market, and from as many different areas and micro climates, someone will have 'em.

I'd put plastic over mine but with the weather the way it is it's too warm for the plastic and too cool for the plants to really take off. I may just put the row cover fabric on one of the tunnels to see what happens. The way it's supposed to warm up for the weekend I'll have to put shade cloth over the tunnel growing the microgreens.

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

[ Parent ]
amd on the OTHER side of the country (4.00 / 2)
tomatoes are doing really well. I'll get Brandywine Pink first. Dani and I are still eating chard and this is the first year I am still eating lettuce in June.
[ Parent ]
I give up on strawberries (4.00 / 2)
don't have the right kind of soil.

Now blackberries I will be flooded in about a week.And this will be the first year for rasberries. And blueberries just started coming.Birds go crazy for the blueberries but leave the blackberries and rasberries alone

[ Parent ]
To keep birds out of the blue berries (4.00 / 2)
flash tape works really well. When Harold and I had blueberries, I tried netting, which worked but was a disaster when I had to take it back off the bushes, and it made picking kind of difficult.

Then I discovered the joys of flash tape. I just put it up a bit above the bushes, strung from posts I set on either side of the row of bushes. Birds got almost no berries and when the plants were done I was able to roll my tape pack up and store for the next year.

In the end, though, it wasn't the birds that done in the blue berry bushes. The gophers dug some of them up and ate the roots off the rest of them.

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

[ Parent ]
wow never heard of it..but I will buy (4.00 / 2)
the netting is a disaster this year I didn't keep at the false grape and that invasive ivy so they found their way up through the netting. PLUS I have some unknown plant thats around the last bush into the netting also.Last year I spent endless hours around the blueberrries pulling up the ivy. A real fools errand :)

Next year I will buy the tape.

[ Parent ]
Yup (4.00 / 2)
It's really good stuff. It's a mylar tape, silver on one side, reflective red on the other. It's pretty inexpensive, especially if you gather it in when the plants are done producing, and store it inside til next year. All the garden centers and feed stores carry it around here. I'm sure it's as common in your neck o' the woods.

Normal people scare me.... But not as much as I scare them.
[ Parent ]
I have woodchucks in the back. (4.00 / 2)
they ate my coneflowers and my helianthus gigantus. Whats really amazing is my 16 bucks work of netting and 6 dollars of bamboo poles is keeping all the critters out of my veggie garden.  
[ Parent ]
Old garlic scapes (4.00 / 1)
I worked with mature or "old" garlic scapes, hoping to get something edible. Not much luck. I boiled the bottom halves, cut in small pieces, for 15 minutes, they were woody. Boiled 15 more minutes, they still were woody. Sliced the pieces to see if anything edible was inside - not really.

I peeled the green skin off the top sections with a sharp paring knife, cut them in pieces about 3/4-inch long, and boiled 15 minutes. A piece I ate raw was good and a couple of pieces I ate after boiling were good, but selection of those good pieces was accidental. When I ate the dish (beets and turnips with scapes), I picked a lot of woody pieces out of my mouth.

The blossom pods (outer layer removed) cooked up OK.

Moral of the story: don't buy garlic scapes if they are quite tall and mostly straight, or if the pointy tips have dried off or have been removed from the blossom pod. Last year's intact, curly, fairly short scapes were tender and yummy.


peeled = scraped nt (4.00 / 1)

[ Parent ]
Yup (4.00 / 2)
Scapes have a VERY short harvest window. Basically, when they're up and fully curled, but before the 'seed' head begins to swell, say, a week maybe 10 days, is your harvest window. Although, as you say, the 'seeds' (actually bulbils) are wonderful to eat. There have been times when I've had garlic that produced scapes and when they go a bit long, I always pick one or two and take a bite to test for tenderness. They're usually too hot for me to actually eat them raw, I just chew a bit and then spit them out. If they're getting woody raw, then cooking ain't gonna do ya no good.

Woody scapes can still be used in cooking in place of garlic cloves, but you have to not eat them. Kind of like those little red landmines (Thai chili peppers, Kung Pao chilis, etc.). Great for flavoring, but I don't eat them.

Even green garlic can have a relatively short window, not as short as the scapes, but fairly short. I was amazed at how long my harvest window was for the green garlic this year. Due to the tunnels, I harvested green garlic from mid February until mid April. The first was in one of the tunnels, the second harvest was after the tunnel garlic was all gone over.

I did the same with the calcots. Began harvesting end of February or the first week in March. Had a two week break, then began the harvest of the calcots from the onion bulbs I had planted outside.

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

[ Parent ]
Pot Luck | 69 comments
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