Tuesday. Cool again this morning. We should get rain later today which I won't mind because I might not have to water anything.
I hadn't planned any gardening yesterday but got a good bit done anyway. Transplanted the summer savory into its place. Found a volunteer hyssop in the wrong place and transplanted it to where it should be. My new seed starts of melon are doing nicely and growing quickly. I only got one of six of the original starts but the replacement five are coming up well.
Cut stevia, sage and spearmint and got it all dried. I used the molcajete we picked up last fall from a little Mexican grocer that, sadly, is no longer operating. For those who aren't familiar with the molcajete take a look here. Over the last few years I have tried several grinders to grind my dried herbs and haven't been happy with any of them. We have two small mortars and pestles but they don't do the job as well as I would like. The molcajete however did a beautiful job of reducing whole dried leaves to consistent crumbles in very quick order.
Trimmed the tomatoes also and got the bean vines twined around the lower trellis crosspieces. They are doing very nicely. So are the peppers which, along with the tomatoes, need staking soon.
I still have a couple of bare spots that I would like to fill. Should get one taken care of with transplants of yellow crook-neck squash, if I can find them while we are out today. I might find something interesting for the other spots. If not, I have some possible seedlings in the little greenhouse. The lavender, shiso, bee balm, and wonderberry are coming along nicely. First time I have succeeded in getting this far with either the lavender and wonderberry. The epazote however is still not showing anything at all. But I won't reseed it just yet because it is a slow germinator. Also this inconsistent weather might be a problem. Epazote like it warm and we have had some cool days and cooler nights.
Tuesday, June 10, 2014
Monday, June 9, 2014
Monday. Cool today but sunny--though it is now about five minutes after sunrise so not much sun just yet. Just some puttering planned for the gardens today. The tomato plants need some slight pruning and some weeds need pulling. We love watching the birds that come to visit our feeder but they are so messy. I moved the feeder to a new area where fewer seeds will fall on my containers but I have to deal with the weeds in the area below where the feeder used to be. My new starts of shiso and bee balm are doing nicely and a couple of lavender, chamomile and wonderberry seeds actually decided to sprout. They are much too small to move into the gardens yet but I have a summer savory, an acquired transplant, that is ready. The Arctic Flame rose is blooming but the Abraham Darby is still deciding if it wants to live or not. Two of the Angle's Fragrance begonias are doing really well but the third is trying to come back from a difficult shipping. It looked like it had been tossed and fell back into the pot askew. But I see new leaves so I think it has made up its mind to live.
Major irritation this morning: the first 4th of July commercial!!! The holiday is three damned weeks away. Once upon a time it commemorated the signing of the Declaration of Independence; now, the freedom to shop ourselves into a zombified stupor.
In case you thought slavery was dead... . Isn't globalization wonderful!! (and, yeah, that is sarcasm.)
Another major irritation from last night's TV news: the story of the helicopter escape from a Canadian jail. The morning stories said that the escapees had been recaptured. Not true. More and more often those guys can't get the facts straight and rush to tell a story that is inaccurate (and that is putting the case mildly.) At least the evening news was more accurate. However, after the intro sentence or two the slewed off into a sequence of a film about a helicopter escape from a prison and then to "Hollywood" style escapes that had nothing at all to do with the original story--not even a damned helicopter. If I were grading this as an assignment for a college level class, I would give it a D for more than half of the content being irrelevant.
Found this on two sites I always visit. As usual the FDA has decided to enforce rules that were made by idiots who have no real understanding of what they are regulating and ascribe to the notion that all bacteria and other microbes are bad. They also haven't read any of the research that show wood surfaces are actually better than plastics or other surfaces that can be sanitized. Worse, the only cheeses I have seen recalled recently were produced by large food manufacturing companies not small artisanal outfits. I am sure they do not have wood surfaces so please tell me why they produce contaminated product.
There are times when the unplanned is a timeless gift as Robert Brady at PureLandMountain reminds us.
Major irritation this morning: the first 4th of July commercial!!! The holiday is three damned weeks away. Once upon a time it commemorated the signing of the Declaration of Independence; now, the freedom to shop ourselves into a zombified stupor.
In case you thought slavery was dead... . Isn't globalization wonderful!! (and, yeah, that is sarcasm.)
Another major irritation from last night's TV news: the story of the helicopter escape from a Canadian jail. The morning stories said that the escapees had been recaptured. Not true. More and more often those guys can't get the facts straight and rush to tell a story that is inaccurate (and that is putting the case mildly.) At least the evening news was more accurate. However, after the intro sentence or two the slewed off into a sequence of a film about a helicopter escape from a prison and then to "Hollywood" style escapes that had nothing at all to do with the original story--not even a damned helicopter. If I were grading this as an assignment for a college level class, I would give it a D for more than half of the content being irrelevant.
Found this on two sites I always visit. As usual the FDA has decided to enforce rules that were made by idiots who have no real understanding of what they are regulating and ascribe to the notion that all bacteria and other microbes are bad. They also haven't read any of the research that show wood surfaces are actually better than plastics or other surfaces that can be sanitized. Worse, the only cheeses I have seen recalled recently were produced by large food manufacturing companies not small artisanal outfits. I am sure they do not have wood surfaces so please tell me why they produce contaminated product.
There are times when the unplanned is a timeless gift as Robert Brady at PureLandMountain reminds us.
Sunday, June 8, 2014
Saturday. Should be warm and clear at least till late in the afternoon. Some rain should come overnight. But our meteorologists are using two dueling models: one showing almost no rain and one showing much more tonight through tomorrow and on Tuesday through Wednesday.We'll see which, if either, is right. We have a busy morning on the schedule--two farm markets and grocery shopping for what ever we can't find at the markets. Summer and fall are the seasons when we split our shopping errands into two trips to coincide with the days the farm markets are open. During the winter those errands are consolidated to once every week, or depending on the weather, every two or three weeks.
Sunday. Wet and cool to start out. Should stay cool but dry out over the morning. We didn't get anything at the farm markets. I didn't see any plants I wanted to add to the garden and the only produce stand that had veggies we would have liked was jammed. That is the bad thing about the northern market--it is bigger with a lot more sellers but they attract a lot more sellers. We really didn't want to spend the time going through the lines when we had two more stops to make. The southern market (the one set up in our town) is smaller with fewer sellers but at this time of the season they have less in the way of veggies for sale. All of the plants they had that intrigued me were, unfortunately, peppers and tomatoes. I already have all of those plants we need and can eat or process for winter storage. We won't go north again this year. It isn't worth our gas or time.
George Washington provides details on one very big reason why infrastructure projects are so expensive: the financing. Although the notion wasn't all that surprising the numbers are breath-taking. I had seen similar calculation on the effect of interest on mortgages on other time-payment plans. By the time the note has been paid off the item costs double or more what the original sticker price.
Why should we expect our "system" of higher education to be any different from any other part of our profit driven society/economy? I remember a fellow grad student who was looking for adjunct teaching positions near her family while she finished writing her dissertation describing what she expected if to experience as "genteel poverty." Well, there is nothing genteel about poverty. I hope she made it out and into the academic career she was preparing for.
I am always fascinated by technology stories that question just whether and by how much technology improves what we do. Many, many years ago I saw the beginnings of laptop computers being used by students to take notes in lectures. I had a laptop but I never was tempted to open the contraption in class and take notes on it. I often wondered how well those students did and how effective their note-taking was. My classes were all in the humanities so the idea of specialized notations were not a problem. I agree with the conclusion toward the end of the piece: we need to think about the technology and critically evaluate its place in our lives. Lower tech might be as (or more) effective and much less expensive. This assessment is worth a couple of laughs. Have you been zombified yet??
I have been reading about the heatwave in India for some time now. I guess the situation is getting serious.
Sunday. Wet and cool to start out. Should stay cool but dry out over the morning. We didn't get anything at the farm markets. I didn't see any plants I wanted to add to the garden and the only produce stand that had veggies we would have liked was jammed. That is the bad thing about the northern market--it is bigger with a lot more sellers but they attract a lot more sellers. We really didn't want to spend the time going through the lines when we had two more stops to make. The southern market (the one set up in our town) is smaller with fewer sellers but at this time of the season they have less in the way of veggies for sale. All of the plants they had that intrigued me were, unfortunately, peppers and tomatoes. I already have all of those plants we need and can eat or process for winter storage. We won't go north again this year. It isn't worth our gas or time.
George Washington provides details on one very big reason why infrastructure projects are so expensive: the financing. Although the notion wasn't all that surprising the numbers are breath-taking. I had seen similar calculation on the effect of interest on mortgages on other time-payment plans. By the time the note has been paid off the item costs double or more what the original sticker price.
Why should we expect our "system" of higher education to be any different from any other part of our profit driven society/economy? I remember a fellow grad student who was looking for adjunct teaching positions near her family while she finished writing her dissertation describing what she expected if to experience as "genteel poverty." Well, there is nothing genteel about poverty. I hope she made it out and into the academic career she was preparing for.
I am always fascinated by technology stories that question just whether and by how much technology improves what we do. Many, many years ago I saw the beginnings of laptop computers being used by students to take notes in lectures. I had a laptop but I never was tempted to open the contraption in class and take notes on it. I often wondered how well those students did and how effective their note-taking was. My classes were all in the humanities so the idea of specialized notations were not a problem. I agree with the conclusion toward the end of the piece: we need to think about the technology and critically evaluate its place in our lives. Lower tech might be as (or more) effective and much less expensive. This assessment is worth a couple of laughs. Have you been zombified yet??
I have been reading about the heatwave in India for some time now. I guess the situation is getting serious.
Friday, June 6, 2014
Friday. Coooool today. Temperature is in the mid 50s. But should warm up and we should have nice sun. Don't have much planned for work in the gardens. Everything is perking along nicely. I found three ripe strawberries yesterday. We ate them as a treat as soon as I brought them in. Most of the plants are blooming profusely so we should get many more. Yum!!
For a while now, whenever we listened to or read a story about the increasing rates of allergies and asthma, we commented that perhaps the emphasis our culture places on extreme cleanliness--antiseptic cleanliness--might be the cause. Over the last couple of years I have seen news reports of scientific studies that seem to back up that notion. Here is the latest.
As most of you know, I am a medical minimalist. I see a doctor when I have a problem and I choose the treatment that solves the problem with the fewest side effects. I have refused medications that address don't address the problem or that I have found to be ineffective for me. Evidently some doctors are now questioning our current medical system which seems to be set up to find something, anything, to treat.
I wasn't at all surprised by this story. It seems a logical development of the science. But just because it is logical doesn't mean it is at all comfortable or desirable.
Moon of Alabama has an interesting post that paralleled my own thoughts listening to the TV news last night about the 70th Anniversary of D-Day observances and the delicate dance around Russia's Vladimir Putin. The tone of the stories seemed to be both a bit miffed at his attendance at the ceremonies. I just commented "What the hell?? Doesn't anyone remember the the Soviet Union fought that war and at the time of D-Day was our ally??" Evidently not. But then we have all been taught history only from our own country's perspective. Much of what Moon of Alabama described was new to me and I have read more history than most. But most of that history was written from an American point of view. It reminds me somewhat of a controversy over a TV series from way, way back called The Desert Rats. The original Desert Rats were a British unit involved in the battles for Tobruk. The 1953 move maintained that but in the translation to American TV all the characters became American. The British were just a bit miffed.
So some of our junk has now received geological classifications.
For a while now, whenever we listened to or read a story about the increasing rates of allergies and asthma, we commented that perhaps the emphasis our culture places on extreme cleanliness--antiseptic cleanliness--might be the cause. Over the last couple of years I have seen news reports of scientific studies that seem to back up that notion. Here is the latest.
As most of you know, I am a medical minimalist. I see a doctor when I have a problem and I choose the treatment that solves the problem with the fewest side effects. I have refused medications that address don't address the problem or that I have found to be ineffective for me. Evidently some doctors are now questioning our current medical system which seems to be set up to find something, anything, to treat.
I wasn't at all surprised by this story. It seems a logical development of the science. But just because it is logical doesn't mean it is at all comfortable or desirable.
Moon of Alabama has an interesting post that paralleled my own thoughts listening to the TV news last night about the 70th Anniversary of D-Day observances and the delicate dance around Russia's Vladimir Putin. The tone of the stories seemed to be both a bit miffed at his attendance at the ceremonies. I just commented "What the hell?? Doesn't anyone remember the the Soviet Union fought that war and at the time of D-Day was our ally??" Evidently not. But then we have all been taught history only from our own country's perspective. Much of what Moon of Alabama described was new to me and I have read more history than most. But most of that history was written from an American point of view. It reminds me somewhat of a controversy over a TV series from way, way back called The Desert Rats. The original Desert Rats were a British unit involved in the battles for Tobruk. The 1953 move maintained that but in the translation to American TV all the characters became American. The British were just a bit miffed.
So some of our junk has now received geological classifications.
Thursday, June 5, 2014
Wednesday. Supposed to be cool and wet today. We shouldn't get some of that severe weather they showed on the news last night, thankfully. It looked dry right now but then it is still dark so can't see much. Well, I can see outside now and it is wet. So, nothing outside.
I love Tom Englehardt's blog tomdispatch. He has another good one by Peter Van Buren: A Rising Tide Lift All Yachts.
Thursday. Real cool this morning--low 50s. But should be sunny today and no rain till Saturday night. We had a good day of rain yesterday with a couple of hard downpours. I won't have to water anything for a day or two except for the sees I have started in the greenhouse. I found three ripe strawberries which we enjoyed fresh out of the gardens. All the plants look happy to have a break from the heat we had early over last weekend.
I guess "domestic outsourcing" sounds better than "privatization." Whatever you call it the losers are workers who lose wages and benefits. I keep thinking of the argument I have seen for months now on economics posts on whether we can expect inflation or deflation in the near future. Well, I guess we have both: price inflation (though not recognized by the government agencies that measure inflation) and wage deflation.
I missed this article on Dow Chemical's effort to get a pesticide that combines 2,4-D (of Agent Orange infamy) and glyphosate (a.k.a. Roundup when made by Monsanto). The EPA has opened up comments from the public on the possible (probably?) approval since (supposedly) the new formulation makes drift less likely reducing the danger to nearby fields from "accidental" exposure.
I love Tom Englehardt's blog tomdispatch. He has another good one by Peter Van Buren: A Rising Tide Lift All Yachts.
Thursday. Real cool this morning--low 50s. But should be sunny today and no rain till Saturday night. We had a good day of rain yesterday with a couple of hard downpours. I won't have to water anything for a day or two except for the sees I have started in the greenhouse. I found three ripe strawberries which we enjoyed fresh out of the gardens. All the plants look happy to have a break from the heat we had early over last weekend.
I guess "domestic outsourcing" sounds better than "privatization." Whatever you call it the losers are workers who lose wages and benefits. I keep thinking of the argument I have seen for months now on economics posts on whether we can expect inflation or deflation in the near future. Well, I guess we have both: price inflation (though not recognized by the government agencies that measure inflation) and wage deflation.
I missed this article on Dow Chemical's effort to get a pesticide that combines 2,4-D (of Agent Orange infamy) and glyphosate (a.k.a. Roundup when made by Monsanto). The EPA has opened up comments from the public on the possible (probably?) approval since (supposedly) the new formulation makes drift less likely reducing the danger to nearby fields from "accidental" exposure.
Tuesday, June 3, 2014
Monday. The temperature hit 90F yesterday. It was hot enough on the patio that I didn't do anything outside after noon. Thankfully, we had rain in the evening and overnight so I didn't have to water anything. We may get some scattered moisture today. We'll see. I did get some seeds started during the morning: chamomile, shiso, epazote, wonder berry, lavender and a couple of others. Although my shiso in the gardens is doing nicely it hasn't turned purple. I did plant, according to the package, the purple variety but it is staying stubbornly green. The blue lake beans are starting to twine up the trellis. I just wish we had had more spring before the summer slammed us.
Yippee!! Found blossoms forming on the Biltmore and the Martio's Roma tomatoes.
Saw a little hummingbird seriously examining every part of our patio. I am sure he is wondering when all that green stuff will bloom and if any of it will be edible. Well, I can assure him that he will have a lot to pick from: bee balm, hyssop, cypress vine and hibiscus. But it will be a while so he will just have to make do with what I can put in the feeder.
Tuesday. Cooler today. Thank goodness. Took my usual little walk through the gardens. The geraniums are blooming profusely and they are pretty. I need to cut some more off the stevia and I think, this time, I will dry them. I have spearmint I need to cut and dry as well so I should have a nearly full dehydrator. I do need to get it out.
Our local farm market should open its season today. We have been looking forward to it. I will tell you about it later since I won't actually be posting this until much later today. (Right now the time is a little before 6am.)
Our local news is featuring a story that was on the national news last night: another round of stealth price increases as manufacturers reduce the size of their packages without changing the price. But Mom asked as reporters warned viewers to "watch what they buy closely" what we are expected to do about it. The problem is that watching what we buy won't really do much for us except make us aware that we are being shorted. Our only real options are to 1) do without, 2) substitute another manufacturer's product if a similar product is available, or 3) prepare it ourselves at home from scratch if possible.
Update on farm market opening: they had a nice number of venders. This market has grown considerably over the last few years. I found a nice summer savory to augment the one I started inside and Mom bought almost three pounds of early asparagus. We haven't bought asparagus from the supermarkets because none of it looks very good by the time it gets on the shelf. We stopped buying canned and frozen because of the amount of inedible woody stems we found. She is going to blanch and freeze most of it.
Yippee!! Found blossoms forming on the Biltmore and the Martio's Roma tomatoes.
Saw a little hummingbird seriously examining every part of our patio. I am sure he is wondering when all that green stuff will bloom and if any of it will be edible. Well, I can assure him that he will have a lot to pick from: bee balm, hyssop, cypress vine and hibiscus. But it will be a while so he will just have to make do with what I can put in the feeder.
Tuesday. Cooler today. Thank goodness. Took my usual little walk through the gardens. The geraniums are blooming profusely and they are pretty. I need to cut some more off the stevia and I think, this time, I will dry them. I have spearmint I need to cut and dry as well so I should have a nearly full dehydrator. I do need to get it out.
Our local farm market should open its season today. We have been looking forward to it. I will tell you about it later since I won't actually be posting this until much later today. (Right now the time is a little before 6am.)
Our local news is featuring a story that was on the national news last night: another round of stealth price increases as manufacturers reduce the size of their packages without changing the price. But Mom asked as reporters warned viewers to "watch what they buy closely" what we are expected to do about it. The problem is that watching what we buy won't really do much for us except make us aware that we are being shorted. Our only real options are to 1) do without, 2) substitute another manufacturer's product if a similar product is available, or 3) prepare it ourselves at home from scratch if possible.
Update on farm market opening: they had a nice number of venders. This market has grown considerably over the last few years. I found a nice summer savory to augment the one I started inside and Mom bought almost three pounds of early asparagus. We haven't bought asparagus from the supermarkets because none of it looks very good by the time it gets on the shelf. We stopped buying canned and frozen because of the amount of inedible woody stems we found. She is going to blanch and freeze most of it.
Sunday, June 1, 2014
Sunday. Welcome to June. I can relate with considerable sympathy to one blogger I read regularly. She wrote that the weather had gone from "too cold for my tomatoes to too hot to work in the garden within two days." I try to get all of the work done early and in small bits throughout the mornings. All I plan to do today is putter--maybe start some seeds that didn't sprout earlier, maybe plant some directly in the gardens. I already have the stevia syrup boiling down and heating the water for a new batch of iced tea.
Update: Stevia done and tea done. And the stevia syrup is very sweet. I don't think we will need much for our dinner glasses of iced tea.
You know this had to come. Too many stories about sick and dying pets resulting from, often still unidentified, ingredients in commercially prepared pet foods impelling pet owners to start preparing their pets' foods themselves from scratch. I wouldn't be interested. It looks like a nice bit of slight of hand, an illusion. The companies give pet owners the illusion of preparing their pets' food themselves but the constituents are still prepared for them and the supply chain is still just as long and just as opaque as with the fully prepared foods. It is rather like giving your kids a Hamburger Helper meal and claiming you made it entirely with your own hands.
Yeah, this is Caracas. But how long before something similar happens in some of our drought stricken areas? I have read about areas of Brazil and Argentina that are rationed to power and water only every third day. How would you function in a similar circumstance?
Also from Venezuela. I take these kinds of stories with a grain of salt. The major problem though is that the past actions of the U.S. government in Latin America and elsewhere make the scenario entirely plausible. However, plausibility doesn't necessarily mean fact.
This should add gasoline to the fire of the anti-vaccination movement. And we really don't have any good basis for forming an opinion on the issue. What are the chances of death or severe disability from getting a disease you might not get with vaccination versus the chances of getting some kind of long term disease (diabetes, obesity, autism) which requires long term (often expensive) medical treatment? I haven't see any such data. And what part of the vaccine may be responsible? No one really knows that either.
Update: Stevia done and tea done. And the stevia syrup is very sweet. I don't think we will need much for our dinner glasses of iced tea.
You know this had to come. Too many stories about sick and dying pets resulting from, often still unidentified, ingredients in commercially prepared pet foods impelling pet owners to start preparing their pets' foods themselves from scratch. I wouldn't be interested. It looks like a nice bit of slight of hand, an illusion. The companies give pet owners the illusion of preparing their pets' food themselves but the constituents are still prepared for them and the supply chain is still just as long and just as opaque as with the fully prepared foods. It is rather like giving your kids a Hamburger Helper meal and claiming you made it entirely with your own hands.
Yeah, this is Caracas. But how long before something similar happens in some of our drought stricken areas? I have read about areas of Brazil and Argentina that are rationed to power and water only every third day. How would you function in a similar circumstance?
Also from Venezuela. I take these kinds of stories with a grain of salt. The major problem though is that the past actions of the U.S. government in Latin America and elsewhere make the scenario entirely plausible. However, plausibility doesn't necessarily mean fact.
This should add gasoline to the fire of the anti-vaccination movement. And we really don't have any good basis for forming an opinion on the issue. What are the chances of death or severe disability from getting a disease you might not get with vaccination versus the chances of getting some kind of long term disease (diabetes, obesity, autism) which requires long term (often expensive) medical treatment? I haven't see any such data. And what part of the vaccine may be responsible? No one really knows that either.
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