Tuborg Gold! Cracked me up.

repost from the last boodle, but only the important bit:

The volunteer fire department raised a lot of money and the school's new Robotics program made enough to pay the registration fees for one team to participate in the FIRST Lego League.

If anyone here has either coached a FLL team, or parented a member, speak up with tips to avert disaster.

Thanks dbg for the fetching dog tip.

A friend of mine likes to tell the story of a teacher in our old high school who used to rant about how far away from self sufficiency we had moved. The last line from the old grump was, "And those dames on Commonwealth Avenue don't even know how to make their own soap!" (Even back then, as one got closer to Boston College, this particular street was lined with large, stately old 'mansions' and I bet even their maids didn't know how to make soap.)

"S" has fond memories of his dad working in their large garden and of all the vegetables they 'put up' for the winter. I never grew anything but flowers until I was close to 30. I've learned not to be too ambitious in the Spring with my vegetable garden because by the second or third heat wave in July, the weeds are thriving and the tomatoes have outgrown my attempts to tie them up. And don't ask me what happens to them if I see a hornworm.

It's unfortunate for Joel that he wasn't more successful in his little business. But we are not sorry cuz we get to read his many great articles.

I have had a veggie garden since I moved to WV,8 years now,some years are good,some bad.

I seem to have the best luck with Green beans,zuchinni,and tomatoes.

I usually try Peppers,egg plant,brocoli,and try something different every year.Last year was my favorite(Lima Beans) I got two servings.This year I think I may try Beets again.

Early spring is mostly prep work,more dirt,mulch,manure.I will till it a couple times before I am ready to plant.I put in seeds around May 1,then I put in plants after the 15th.If I am lucky I will have produce up to Christmas.

Our soil here is very shaley and it needs to be treated every year.

It is a Great pleasure to have and enjoy a garden,sometime it is frustrating with weeds,lack of rain etc.....but all in all it is a lot of fun.Plus I get Free produce.

I like sitting in a chair and watering the garden in the late evening,just watching all that goes on around me.It is a very nice place to sit and unwind.

I am not a Master Gardener and never expect to be,just a novice who likes to get dirty from time to time.

When Frostdaddy retired from the army the rents bought 80 acres and started producing almost all their own food. I was only there for the backbreaking post hole digging, by hand in a land where holes need to be 4 feet deep, and was in college by the time the horses and cows were installed in the pastoral views created after 36 junk cars and 112 car hoods were hauled away. Ma Frostbitten demanded a return to city life in tidewater VA and the farm was sold.

In the intervening years I turned into my mother and married my father. The husband can't decide between dairy sheep and pygmy goats when he retires and I am doomed. I can make soap from scratch though, and if you aren't too picky about the ph I'll start with ashes from the fire instead of store bought lye. My rancher father-in-law lives somewhere to the right of Rush. I think the only reason he tolerates me is because of my mad frontier skills. He knows I could shoot a deer, tan the hide, and make everything from jerky to tenderloins with a jalapeno chutney with the venison. Wanting to is quite another matter. I do hold out hope that this is just the husband's way of making an RV look like a good place to live.

frostbitten, if it's not a feint, think of the hysterically funny book you can write about it, recipes included.

I had a friend when I lived in Ohio. She'd grown up in Hawaii and somehow ended up marrying an OH farm boy. Her lunchtime descriptions of their day-to-day life on the family farm, the first time she realized they canned meat and how, why they had to plant 100+ tomato plants yearly to can, all great stuff.

I tried hide tanning once. I might be farmer born and bred, but there are just some things...Nuff said.

On the farm we did have a huge garden and we did not buy vegetables except for lettuce and tomatoes, maybe celery in the winter. The rest was from the garden. I'd have loved to have chickens and turkeys, and a sheep or two (for the yarn, always go for the yarn), but our well was not good enough, or so I was told. I miss the independance of it. What I don't miss is the back breaking hard work, the weeding, the picking of 10 - 50 foot rows of peas, the hilling and potatoe bug picking of miles of rows of potatoes. Or thinning carrots. I could go on.

Tuborg beer. There was a fad in the 70's where people used to treasure Tuborg for its shapely bottles. You'd cut off the neck and a little more, and attach it to the bottom of the bottle to make a swanky glass. My in-laws had a set.

dr-Weren't bottle cutting devices featured in TV's first infomercials?

Did you ever cut beer cans apart to make hats? The basic technique: cut front of can into rectangular panel, use hole punch to make evenly spaced holes all around. Crochet panels together with cooridnating yarn. Crochet round piece to fit top of head, attach to side panels. To make it more feminine you can crochet a frilly brim, otherwise it looks rather fez like.

dbg-it's a thought. Bailey White wrote what I think is the quintessentially funny piece on the making of a white themed English country garden, then enjoying it in linen dress and wide brimmed hat.

Here in MN the tomato and basil seeds started, along with far too many flowers to be considered a practical. I am sure to be the object of some ridicule this summer for my gardening priorities.

In FL our main goal is to keep the pot grown tomato plants productive enough for salads, though that is a tall order in the summer when heat and humidity weaken and the bugs finish them off.

My mother was the first in seven generations to move to town, and she converted a 50 foot by 150 foot lot of heavy clay into a place of beauty. Now that I am retired, I hope I can emulate her success. I will say that the spouse and I have made progress in turning our lot from a completely weedy mess into something that is above average for the neighborhood.

My mother went back from town to the country, specifically to the 17 acres she inherited from my grandparents. This was land deeded to the family in 1791, and she wept when she sold in in 1999. She had the ultimate vegetable garden, complete with weeds. One of the first years, she planted cherry tomatoes. We were hauling water from town, the well being unusable, and, unknown to her, my nephews were spiking the water with dried manure - cow mature tea, it was. We had cherry tomatoes by the hundred pounds! No canning, we froze them and used them in vegetable soup, a winter speciality.

I play with having a few vegetables and have already bought two tomato plants and a green pepper. I've also bought bean and squash seed. We'll see how it goes this summer.

Joel writes:
We branched out: Somehow we found free sources of sawdust, wood chips, horse manure. Often it would be just a pile of stuff out in the piney woods. We'd shovel it into the back of the pickup and sell it to someone as mulch for 25 bucks a load.

At last Monday's meeting in Helotes, a woman who represents the engineering department of the county said something that I thought was interesting--that there was no relationship between the Helotes brush fire and the fecal coliform bacteria found very recently in several nearby wells. Truth be told I hadn't paid much attention to the woman's name or her title (but I shall tomorrow), but for two meeting she had spoken authoritatively on the nuts and bolts of wells and septic systems.

You can imagine my surprise, on the morning of Tuesday, March 13, when reporter Jerry Needham, in a story on page A-1 in the San Antonio Express-News titled, "Bacteria Found in Debris Runoff," informed readers in the second graf that test results last Monday confirmed that the fecal coliform bacteria in the five private wells was coming from the debris pile. (There are many sources of bad information, no?)

In Tuesday's article, Greg Flores, vice president of communications for the San Antonio Water System, said that the agency had samples of water from the sluice pit and quenching pit--both pits used to douse or treat the burning debris from the pile, that tested positive for fecal coliform.

There is some "dirt" in the mulch pile, as has been acknowledged now for several months. At last Monday's meeting, a retired Texas firefighter gave a demonstration of how a foam surfactant or fire retardant could work to rapidly extinguish a hot fire composed of debris, but Kelly Cook, spokesman for the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, said that he had reviewed the data sheet of the materials in the foam that the retired firefighter had proposed be used shortly after the fire broke out and Cook said that the chemicals were not safe for use over an aquifer recharge zone.

So how did human or animal waste get into the towering inferno of the mulch pile? The retired fire fighter suggested that for years the pile had probably been home to all manner of rabbit and rodent. I suspect with the number of cows and horses in the area, that perhaps the dirt in the burning pile isn't 100 percent dirt. I believe Joel knows his mulch, generally speaking.

It was only last week that Mrs. Zumwalt, co-owner with her husband of the mountainous pile that caught fire on Dec. 25, actually apologized during what have become the now-weekly Helotes forums for the "discomfort" that they, the Zumwalts, have caused residents as a result of the almost three-month-old blaze.

Cook estimated last Monday hat may be anywhere from two to, worst-case-scenario, four more weeks before the local fire is completely out.

Robert Seltzer, assistant op-ed page editor of the Express-News, conducts a Q&A with Helotes Mayor Jon Allan in today's paper. Seltzer and I grew up only several miles apart in Bakersfield, where his liberal father worked for the very conservative Bakersfield Californian for a handful of years. When I knew several years ago that Seltzer was new to his job and Alamo City, I invited him for a meetng over a beer or two and a plate of quesidillas, and we ended up on the pleasant outdoor patio of the excellent and small Mexican restarurant El Chaparral--in Helotes! So, yes, you could say that I introduced Seltzer to Helotes.

Here's the link, below, to the interview. I like Allan's last answer best: "This is a Vonnegut-like story, isn't it? You couldn't make this up. The reality is crazier than the fiction."

Allan and the "anti-Wal-Mart Gang" (as I call them) of the Helotes City Council all submitted paperwork by last Monday's deadline to run again for second terms.

http://www.mysanantonio.com/opinion/stories/MYSA031807.2H.allanQA.2658773.html

When I lived in Key West I had a good friend who grew sprouts and sold them to local restaurants. He also made and sold handicraft items and was involved in local politics--he and I worked on some of the same issues, although we didn't always see eye-to-eye on tactics. His crafts and horticultural activities notwithstanding, the way he actually supported himself and saved money for the future was by selling marijuana. Today, he owns his own profitable, legitimate business and a home in the Caribbean.

One of my Favorite Little Feat songs

They all asked about you
Down on the farm
The cows asked, the pigs asked
The horses asked, too
All wanna know why to the city
You moved, changed your name to Kitty
What's come over you?

It ain't true; it ain't true, Linda Lou
Say it ain't true, Linda Lou
It ain't true; it ain't true, Linda Lou
Say it ain't true, Linda Lou

They's all bawling 'bout you
Down on the farm
The cows bawl, the pigs bawl
The horses bawl, too
Miss you so much that crying's
All we can do
Weeping and wailing, praying
You'll come home soon

It ain't true; it ain't true, Linda Lou
Say it ain't true, Linda Lou
It ain't true; it ain't true, Linda Lou
Say it ain't true, Linda Lou

I hear you're working in a saloon
I hear ya work from midnight 'til noon
I might be from the woods
But them hours don't sound so good
What do you do in here barroom?

It ain't true; it ain't true, Linda Lou
Say it ain't true, Linda Lou
It ain't true; it ain't true, Linda Lou
Say it ain't true, Linda Lou

You can't dance so I assume
In a bag you couldn't carry a tune
I might be from the woods
But these hours don't sound so good
What you doin' in here barroom?
It ain't true; it ain't true, Linda Lou
Say it ain't true, Linda Lou
It ain't true; it ain't true, Linda Lou
Say it ain't true, Linda Lou

I know the BPH is on the 21st.These guys are playing two shows at Ram's Head.
They are still incredible in concert.I was fortunate enough to see them quite a few times when Front man Lowell George was still alive.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lowell_George

A little song
A little dance

Get down tonight.
Get down tonight.

The French writer, Collette, writes rapturous descriptions of the countryside where she grew up. I remember her recounting of the way the dirt smelled and how she would put her face right down to the ground to smell it and experience it. After I read Colette, I started to see a pattern with other authors and developed a theory that growing up in the country is conducive to the kind of mind needed to be a creative writer. Maybe the slower pace, the lack of provided entertainment, the long hours working outside or rambling through the woods and fields provide the metaphorical soil that grows a mind capable of keen observation. It's an old theory, and I don't remember all the evidence I had to support it, so I'll just toss it out there--this article just reminded me of it.

Without getting too "adult" here, I've been fortunate enough to become closely acquainted with some very "earthy" country gals. (Sound, sensible, and fine writers, all!)

kbert - Only ever so slightly more seriously:

I don't know, or know of, any good writers (or any good readers, for that matter) who don't have some lengthy periods of solitude in their lives.

Loomis, thanks for the Helotes update. I strongly suspect they will find that some of the fecal coliform runoff is human waste. I can't believe Helotes has to put up with that thing for four more weeks.

(*checks home compost pile*) ('s'ok so far)

I play with a garden on days I feel up to it, but the erratic attention it gets precludes anything delicate or needy (or edible, for the most part). The ground here is historically rich in nutrients, plus I add in the finished compost at intervals. My exertion consists of (1) poking hole in ground and (2) dropping seed into hole in ground. If the seeds grow into a plant, it's on its own until harvest, although I'll come by and speak encouragingly to it now and then, especially if it has flowers. The first time I tried this, I lost all of the package labels and had no clue what was actually growing (pumpkin and chard eventually revealed themselves, but the tomatoes died young). Now I plant whatever interesting seeds I find on sale at the grocery, and wait and see what comes up. Makes a nice surprise to see whatever survives and starts fruiting. Some weeds always ninja in and fool me into nurturing them for awhile, but I'm getting better.

(yes, I've been warned about zucchini)

I have a similar meditation on the nature/literature nexus when I read and reread the marvelous scenes in Anna Karenina where Levin works with his tenants on the estate, and during the hunt. For me those are some of the richest part of the book.

Have you read the new translation of AK, kbertocci or anybody? Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky, which I consider superior to the standard Dunnigan? Published in 2000, I think.

As part of my culinary explorations, I took on canning some 15 years ago. Chutney, chili sauce, pickles of one sort or another. About 2 years in, Himself's male cousin married into a very large farming family in Eastern Ontario. At the wedding, my MIL and I were sitting with some of the farming women, and MIL (trying to break the ice between the urban DIL and the bride's family, I think) suggested we talk about my experience of canning. The farmers just rolled their eyes and said, "thank goodness we can just buy the stuff now!" Hahahaha.

My grandfather grew up on a farm and hated it. He ran away from home at about 16 and went to work for the railroad. He only had to work 10 hours a day for 6 days a week. Later, in the Depression he had to start a family patch of about an acre to feed his family. My mother tells of how her assigned chore was to hold the chicken while my grandfather cut its head off! She cried until he told her she would not be required to do that anymore. He also had a cow he milked. "Ol' Bossy." He also had a hound named "Blue." He was not an exceptionally creative sort of man, but he was a fair provider.

My own father loved growing food and did so all his life. Before gardening was "cool" he converted our suburban near-Chicago yard to food production, and coaxed fantastic strawberries, grapes, and even a bearing peach tree, as well as lettuce, tomatoes, squash, wonderful corn, and I can't remember what else. My mother made jelly from crabapples. The Depression generation were, and are, made of strong stuff.

I read a theory a few years ago that resonated with me, which claimed much of the counterculture was in fact a reactionary movement to reclaim the past. This is at odds with many other explanations and so, I think, needs a closer look. I see lots of evidence to support it. The long hair? Look to images from the past: Jefferson, Franklin, Washington, and fictional characters like Tarzan - Rousseau's image of man - and our culture's images of primeval Indians. "Granny glasses." That slight Luddite streak that pervaded the counterculture. The entire back-to-the-land movement, in fact.

I was privileged to visit Joel's home many years ago, and the plethora of homegrown food his family produced and his mother served was one of the standout meals of my life. It is simply not obtainable in restaurants, and difficult enough to assemble from the grocery store.

Now I must go plant that blueberry bush that has wintered in a pot.

My grandfather raised tomatoes and cruciferous vegetables in a garden so large that small boys would frequently become lost it in. He raised chickens in an abandoned railroad car. He once raised a steer called Joe, but found the need to slaughter it too traumatic to do so again.

My own father's garden was more modest, but, in addition to the mandatory tomatoes, contained the most delicious snow peas I have ever known. He tried to raise chickens once, but we refused to eat them.

My own garden is smaller still. (And the idea of raising livestock is right out.) Yet what my garden lacks in area it makes up for in emotional intensity. For I am reasonably sure that my grandfather never assigned his tomato plants individual names.

Although I imagine that this trend to smaller gardens will continue, I am optimistic that my offspring will not abandon gardening entirely. For that would be wrong. Be it only in a patio basket or a hydroponic bath, I hope my descendants will always grow a few mighty fine 'mater plants.

Whether they choose to name their produce is entirely up to them.

Frostbabysister, aka "Birdie," raised ducks one year named Tasty, Succulent, and Toughnstringy. She would walk under horses' bellies, bring the cow in for milking, and slop hogs with reckless abandon but was terrorized by poultry. By kindergarten she'd had enough of the free range chickens who "greeted" her whenever she went outside to play. One afternoon she went out of her way to catch them and was doing something I couldn't quite figure out from the kitchen window. She later showed me how a permanent marker worked to number them in the order she wanted them dispatched.

I remain fairly clueless in the art of raising things for food. Not that I'm not interested, but there's no place to plug anything in and I can't find the LEDs that indicate status.

However, I take some comfort in knowing I probably have enough space to be self-sufficient in the case of total societal breakdown, as long as I can figure out how to convince the deer and turkeys to commit suicide and dress themselves into a nice roast.

Possibly a project for retirement.

Jumper, that's an interesting theory. Having been part of that time, I'd say it was more a rebellion against established dress codes, materialism, etc. A lot of the "style" came from Britain, after all - the Beatles, to being with. But I think there was also a desire to regain the knowledge of the past, to become more self-sufficient. So, yes, maybe on an unconscious level, that's what folks were doing.

My parents both came from farming backgrounds. My dad wanted to go back - he wound up building a small house on my mom's property, miles from any town or services, when he was 65. My mom had passed away before that happened. We used to joke that at least she hadn't lived long enough to have to go through that. I'm afraid my husband and I will do that too!

Here we are in our postage stamp-sized city lot, trying to live the country life. My heating mat and grow light setup is working well. I have sprouts of tomatoes, peppers, hummingbird sage coming up. A few gourds are growing - I only need a few. I had almost given up on the basil and sweet peas, but they're coming up too. I keep buying seeds, mostly flower seeds, even though I have a shoebox full of seeds, some of which I save myself. Gardening is a solace for me, and a connection to my family, and to the past. Nothing better than growing plants that Thomas Jefferson grew - not that I'm sure why that is!

SCC - to *begin* with. Sigh.

As a guy who'd spent the first twenty or so years of his working career as a service provider (grocery store lackey, warehouse guy, A.F. electronics technician, bartender, several other jobs), I'll never forget my delight, after being talked into joining a buddy as his house-painting apprentice, at seeing the results of my handiwork. There's something special about being able to see, taste, feel the results of one's effort.

I took up model rocketry a couple of years ago for the same reason. Pointless as it is (and it's very pointless indeed!), it's kinda cool to start with a bit of cardboard and balsa wood, and end up with a device that shoots (well!) over a thousand feet into the sky.

JA, what a wonderful kit. And here I thought you were a city boy, and there's that country charm all wrapped in you.

My mother, bless her heart, raised hogs, and always had a garden. That's how she fed us. And she bought live chickens and killed them herself. We didn't buy much from the grocery story, and that was good because we didn't have much money. We picked berries and my mother made jams and jellies, and also those great preserves. I picked peaches, beans, and everything else, and my mother canned and froze that she couldn't put in jars. The food tasted better, and bread was out the question. When we were small, the only bread we ate was biscuits. I didn't know anything about store bought bread until I was almost in high school. My grandmother made bread everyday. My grandfather took it as a personal insult if he was given store bought bread.

I sometimes think about how each of you sound, you know when you talk. How your voice sounds. In writing, one has to imagine how the person might sound. Sometimes I believe we get hints about the tone, but not really the voice. Is your voice shrill or is it bland? Do you sound squeaky or does your voice sound like boom? Is your voice soft and pleasant or is it hard and short? My own voice sounds terrible to me, there isn't any melody to it. It sounds chopped off. From reading your comments sometimes, I picture many of you as having nice voices, but some I picture as sarcastic or hard. I guess all of this includes tone. Gentle voices and nice soothing sounds is what I tend to think of when talking to you. Just curious. I wonder would the voice match the person or would it seem odd and an ill fit. I've heard Joel's voice in an interview here on the computer, but could not make out the exact sound.

I've been to church, had my lunch, and now I think I'll have a nap. Enjoy the rest of your day.

God loves us so much more than we can imagine through Him that died for all, Jesus Christ.

I agree, Cassandra, that this is a great kit. It seems like we all have some nice stories to share.

My voice is composed of magical frequencies that teenagers are unable to hear.

Oh, and by the way, I have a beautiful grape arbor in my back yard. I built it myself using flying buttresses inspired by the Cathedral of Notre Dame. Surprisingly, very few people have ever commented on this fact.

Anyway, anyone who wishes to drop by and do some serious pondering beneath it is welcome.

But you'll have to bring your own beer.

Let me throw in a plug for the Seed Savers Exchange:
http://www.seedsavers.org/

They have been working to save heirloom seeds for a long time now. They have a beautiful catalog with lots of varieties, many with wonderful names. No Mr Stripey, though. Someday I'd like to visit their center in Iowa.

Thanks for the book tips too. I have to get books for my plane trip - have added Anna Karenina (new translation) and Colette to the list, along with Jane Austen.

Frostbitten: I remember those beer can hats. My mom made them for us when we were kids. Of course, she used cans from Seven-Up.

So I have 64 square feet of garden. Not a lot. Obviously, I will devote part to Son of Mr. Stripey, but what about the rest? I'm thinking peanuts, or maybe heirloom potatoes. Any suggestions? What interesting crops can one grow in a small plot in Northern Virginia?

That won't get me arrested.

I only try my hand at tomatoes and dill. If there's something better than that first BLT with homegrown T's, I can't think of it.

Why do "flying buttresses" always remind me of 60's-era airline commercials?

(Sigh... I'm a very, very sad individual.)

RD- Mel Bartholemew, who has written some great books called Square Foot Gardening, has a web site that drives me crazy with its wild claims of "NO Effort!" and "NO Weeding!" but I do recommend the concept as a great way to get a lot of variety and yield in your little space. I used an early edition of his book to get my start in NoVA. My first year I bordered my two 4X6 ft. plots with basil. We ate pesto a couple times a week all summer and I froze some for winter use. The strawberries ran amok and spread quite vigorously beyond their alotted space, but the squirrels were better at determining ripeness than I. They invariably picked me clean the night before I had planned to harvest.

I still garden quite intensively in a smaller space than I have available. It really is easier, but it is not effortless.

Cassandra, since I do this voice characterization game as well, I admit I'd visualize you as slightly raspy or wheezy, expressive, soft, slow (that southern accent, don't you know), and your sentences punctated more often with some laughter, sighs, and comfortable silences, than you'd probably believe ;).

If you actually talk like a New Yorker on nonstop fast-forward, please, please don't tell me ;).

As for me, my voice has no control to it and I don't use it for saying much. I think Pat described my laughter more than any other utterances.

Only two things that money can't buy,
true love and home grown tomatoes.

frosty - The nice thing about true love is that money doesn't actually drive it away. Home-grown tomatoes, on the other hand, can become rather difficult to find in the presence of large amounts of swag.

This article, while wonderful in its way, is also quite mean to all those would-be gardeners who have lived in apartments so long that they don't even have a square foot they can call their own to plant, weed, or tamper with.

Is it really time to plant tomatoes and basil in Minnesota, Frostbitten?

Wilbrod - I've got a little experience with this! A single bucket of dirt and a window with occasional exposure to sunlight is sufficient to grow some herbs, tomatoes (hint - miniature varieties), peppers (see previous hint)... Maybe not ideal conditions, but stuff can be grown.

I remeber those hats! but I am more familiar with bags, made from the same materials. You know, that reminds me, up to about the 80's, it was almost impossible to get canned beverages in Saskatchewan. bottles only. Somewhere along the way it changed, but I have no idea when.

Wilbrod-I'm starting mine from seed, indoors of course. My goal is to have ripe cherry tomatoes by the 4th of July and full size beauties a few weeks later. This is going to take the maniacal devotion to tomato cultivation exhibited by Lake Woebegone's own Irene Bunsen. Frostdaddy has suggested a hydroponic like system of growing the plants in straw bales and I'm looking at a variety of low cost, high labor, soil warming systems.

I do not suggest this for anyone who did not receive a parochial school education. Being well practiced in tedium and devotion to seemingly meaningless tasks goes a lot farther than visualizing tomato nirvana. Did anyone see the SNL send up of Oprah and "The Secret" last night?

My parents were the Master gardeners in my family,my dad could get anything to grow anywhere.They had so much yeild from their garden they would barter with roadside stands for things they didn't grow,like corn and melons and such.

I can remember coming home from work in the 19**'s, well it was a long time ago.They would be sitting on the couch,stone faced with blankets in their hands and i knew immediately that they were expecting a frost that night and my job was to go cover the delicate plants wherever their garden was that year.

Fun times!!

As a child, I was the professional weedpuller, arbiterer of planthood, tree whacker, part-lawn mower, and all-around live-in gardener.

I wasn't much good, but everybody else was worse. Except in mowing lawns and over a garden I had tried to start. Those budding watermelon vines got mowed to death by a sibling who apparently thought dirt was mowable, and I gave up on having a truck garden.

Anybody have advice on how to help big dogs and gardens coexist together, by the way?

I put up an extra (removable) fence, Wilbrod.

Anybody with an informed opinion (!) on using shredded paper as mulch, probably around shrubs and trees?

Wilbrod, dmddog would instantly dig up any freshly planted plants, however, he did leave the existing ones alone. Except for the plants he liked to sleep on the gardens managed pretty well, I would recommend hardy plants that don't mind a dog roaming on them.

Mulching seemed to help he would dig the most when the soil was fresh, we also had a sandbox where he was allowed and encouraged to dig.

Potted plants seemed to be a toy and I have since learned to put them in big heavy pots or up high.

Hope that helps, Wilbrodog I am sure would be much better as from what you have said she/he actually listens to commands :-).

Cassandra your voice to me will always be linked with a good friend of mine, like you she has the kindest of souls and just a hint of a Jamacian accent, and is always tinged with laughter. I try to remember that many of you would have southern accents but I often forget.

When my girls were small I went through a homemade bread making phase. I would slice it to make their sandwiches for school and always included homemade cookies as well. Years later my daughters told me how they used to trade their lunches for ones with Oreos and Wonderbread.

I used to sew a lot of their clothes too. That was back when it was actually cheaper to do that. I am now committed (and will be ready to be committed when it's finished) to making my granddaughter's First Communion dress. We picked out the pattern, which is quite complex, and fabric a few weeks ago. At the time, I was a bit skeptical about the fabric yardage, the woman who cut it assured me it was enough (this particular fabric was an odd width). This morning I decided to cut out the pieces and sure enough, I was short, way, way short. So tomorrow night's journey home will include a trip to a different fabric store that I just found out about and want to explore anyway. Just one more example of me knowing better but trusting some stranger's advice. Will I ever learn to speak up when I know I'm right?

Just as long as nobody plants catnip and attracts rascally cats to MY turf, I'll listen, I'm sure.

dbG-what is it that you desire of this shredded paper mulch? I have used layers of newspapers as both weed barrier under pine bark mulch, and grass killer for future planting beds. Both uses require that the paper be weighed down with something so that it doesn't become litter in the wind. As a weed barrier newspaper is far superior to both fabrics and plastic products sold for this purpose.

I have quite a bit of unshredded newspaper in my current compost pile, but that is just a byproduct of changing the guinea pig cage. I'm going to have to keep an eye on that lest I be the second boodler to experience a Helotes moment at home.

I own Mel Bartholemew's book, but like many zealots, I think he overstates his case a bit.

This thing about my garden is that it is pretty much just for fun. Nobody in my house, except me and the rabbits, much cares for veggies. And we visit Amish country regularly, where the roadside produce will break a gardener's heart.

Although I always put in a tomato plant or two, I strive to do something, well, interesting with the rest of the garden.

One year I grew super-sweet "Kandy Corn." Then there was the memorable year when I grew nothing but Habaneros (a.k.a. "the garden of pain.") Then there were the sunflowers, which attracted so many bees that they became a neighborhood hazard.

Has anybody out there grown peanuts? Will I just be feeding the voles? I am intrigued with the idea, especially since I have it on good authority that boiled peanuts are an epicurean delight.

Hi, everybody.

Speaking of raising things, I've been flying as solo Dad this weekend, so I haven't had much time to Boodle.

Besides, with MD losing to Butler yesterday, I've been in a bit of a funk. I'll blame the Thin Mints. Which are completely gone.

bc

Crosscut shredded paper from credit card offers, bank statements, courtesy checks. I usually just recycle it, but was wondering if I could actually put it to use when I plant shrubs this Spring.

I don't know where it would be safe to use, if at all. I was envisioning underneath more substantial mulch.

frostbitten - you have guinea pigs? As long-time boodlers know, I keep two rabbits in a ridiculously extravagant cage in our basement. When I boodle in the evening I usually do so with the two of them hopping around me. Which explains a lot of things to you, I'm sure.

dbG -- I have had several layers of newspaper in a garden bed for about four months. Wanted to stop weeds (and nasturtiums, which reseed like crazy here) in an area where I was putting in a new young tree. I put potting soil over the paper, just enough to cover it. For esthetics, more than anything.

It all worked well. No weeds, no nasturtiums, and blossoms on the new apple tree. I would think chipped paper would work just the same. Just do your paper mulching on a calm, non-windy day!

RDP-boiled peanuts are an acquired taste I'd say, one I haven't acquired. But like you I think peanuts would be fun to try to grow. Have you ever grown miniature pumpkins on a teepee? I used to push the envelope with our HOA by growing such things in our front border among the shrubs and perennials. You could put a teepee on the north end of your bed and not shade your peanuts. I've also had some success with melons grown vertically. Tie the growing vines onto the nets or poles then as the melons form put them inside the toe of a leg cut from panty hose and tie it to the pole to support the weight of the growing melon.

RDP-"ridiculously extravagant cage" I understand completely.

Sweet cheeses! just looked out the window and it's now snowing horizontally at about 30mph. This time next week I'll be Tampa, which will insure above average temps in MN for about 10 days.

I was looking for mice in Niki's garden when she saw me and said NO!
Nuff said.

SCC ...she saw me and said,"NO!"
I'm so ashamed. Darn dogs. You tell them and tell them.

RDP -- Rhubarb is a challenge here, but that is what I would grow in my imaginary garden. What about growing gourds that you can make into rattles, baskets, etc? They could hang down from your buttressed pergolia structure. Love green color, sometimes mottled. I grew them over an arch one year to greet success.

But, you could be very extravangent and grow a backdrop of easy but luscious flowers: cosmos, verbena-on-a-stick, bee balm......tomatos in front love this floral scrim as a stage. Or so they tell me.

I've tried and like boiled peanuts-- they taste (and feel) more bean-like and less peanutty, though.

Since I like the taste of beans, this is completely fine by me and I've since wished I could buy raw or boiled peanuts more easily.

They're not as peanutty as roasted peanuts, but probably less fatty and allergenic, but on the downside they're still very salty and they don't last.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boiled_peanuts

That reminds me...I sometimes cook canned chickpeas with peanuts, diced onions, and garam masala or apple pie spices as a fall vegan dish. It is usually a hit with peanut-loving vegetarians.

Maybe I should try and make it again and then try and list what I do exactly for Yoki's Panboodle cookbook, it's a pretty quick dish, frying the onions is what takes up the most time.

CP-Have you tried rhubarb in MD? I never set myself up for the heartbreak in NoVA. When we lived in Carlisle PA the farmer's market always had plenty and we weren't there long enough to put in a garden.

BC, the husband feels your pain. With him, it was an entire bag of Grandma Utz hand cooked potato chips. A few McSorley's only deepened his blues last night, but he seems to have rallied today. He looks a little puffy today, though. He can't decide who to root for now.

I was going to suggest gourds too. The Seed Savers catalog has some nice pictures. Nichols Garden Nursery in OR has a large selection of gourds, but no pictures. I'm growing Speckled Swan from them. Getting actual gourds for me is tough - practically have to put them under a sun lamp. But I keep trying.

Popcorn or Indian corn for decoration would be fun too. Seems like peanuts would take a lot of room, but I could be wrong.

Here's some info about straw bale gardening from Nichols:
http://www.nicholsgardennursery.com/strawbales.htm

My condolences, bc. I know it was tough. I ignored the Carolina game till 1:28 left and then watched to the end. That's about all the excitement I can stand.

I love using straw as mulch, it decomposts within weeks and it smells so MUCH better (and less) than the horrid wood mulch in popular use in the DC area. That actually tends to give me allergic reactions when fresh, too.

I mean... why? That mulch was nearly not in use 20 years ago, now it seems like everybody is mulch-crazy in the DC area; I'm surprised the trees haven't had their roots rot off from all the mulch that gets laded on during the summer.

Frosty -- broke my heart twice with rhubarb plants here. TOO DAMN HOT for TOO DAMN long in July, August and into September. For a while, two of us in the neighborhood knew about a patch in an alley of dappled shade. Somehow the roots were deep enough and perhaps there was an aquifer underground, like the one near my basement....we harvested from it secretly for about five years. Community improvements being what they are, the city poured new asphalt for the alley way and the plant is toast.

I like to buy beautiful tomatoes through my CSA share -- occasionally we are graced with Mr. Stripeys.

Ah, that would explain why growing rhubarb is easy here, and in PA. I don't like it though.

Info on growing peanuts:
http://www.aboutpeanuts.com/infougro.html
I like that there's a National Peanut Board! And where has peanutgallerymember gotten to?

All this gardening and nature writing reminds me of one of my favorite books: Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard. So achingly beautiful.

And to stretch the Irish thingie just one more day, here is a letter to the editor in today's NYT.

"The Irish, Scots, and Welsh are suspicious that the pronouncement from the University of Oxford that they are genetically related to the English is a thinly veiled attempt at social climbing by the English."
-- James M. Farrell

mostlylurking-thanks for that Nichols nursery link. Basic technique with a few suggestions was all I was looking for!

CP-I'm so sorry for your loss.

By the way, Joel, the column was really good. I think you can tell when a kit or column is on the very high plus side, because more people stay on topic.

Sorry to hear you can't grow rhubarb down there, my parents always had a spot of rhubarb, (it may in fact be a weed up here). On hot summer days I would go out to the end of the yard where there was a small stand of pine trees and at the very back was the rhubrab, I would pick some and bring it in, rinse it off and then proceed to dunk the stalk in sugar and enjoy it.

Mom made wonderful strawberry rhubarb pie and crumble from fresh berries.

Can you grow red currents there, mom also made great red current jelly.

As you can tell we always had some sort of garden, very limited when I was growing up but when they moved to my grandfathers old house they inherited his vegetable and fruit garden, full of raspberries, strawberries, rhubarb, potatoes, tomatoes, beans and whatever experiment Dad decided to try that year. I remember the Basil year very well, three long rows of burgundy coloured basil.

Like my grandfather, dad included a pumpkin patch in the compost pile so the kids could pick a pumpkin for halloween.

I wish I could fax one of you poor gardenless people my 20'x40'x12" raised garden. It's wasted in my killing hands. I'm not sure whether I should tear it up and use the soil (primo stuff) in front of the house or leave as is. Trying to delve into the minds of prospective buyers is tricky though someone who would buy in the country might appreciate it.
Rhubarb and chives grow like weeds here. Even I can't kill them.

Maggie, thanks for posting that quote, I will have to try to remember it for the next time I see my dad.

Vonnegut, Annie Dillard added to airplane book list.

"Bluestilton" reminded me so of Nani. I do miss her voice.

Perhaps rhubarb should be treated like herbs. Find a shady spot plant 'em and forget 'em. Like the Sopranos.

My ridiculously extravagant cages are for the tomatoes or anything that climbs. Get a 50' roll of 6"x6" reinforcing wire (like what's in your driveway concrete) 5 feet wide, cut it into 6 or 7 lengths, and form them into cylinders. Sometimes the non-determinate tomatoes climb over the top and back down again to reach the ground. I planted 4 today, plus 4 peppers, an eggplant and a zucchini, and still have room in the 2 raised beds for another six or eight of whatever takes my fancy at the nursery in a few weeks. It'll probably be more peppers, really hot ones, and more herbs.

NYT article today on worms, mulch and forests:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/15/garden/15nature.html

Responsible worm disposal is an issue in our small MN town which relies very heavily on the sport fishing industry. I am going to have to take action in our yard as the grand parents ran a resort here and the worms have lived on long after the cabins were torn down.

"Currants", darn it, "currants"!

Is RD Pad seriously considering the idea of growing peanuts, just to boil them, without ever having tried boiled peanuts before? Wow, THAT is committment to a recipe!

(As a Georgia boy myself, I've grown them once in the yard just to prove that I could [they stop working somewhere around southern Virginia, I think], and I genuinely LOVE boiled peanuts. But you can buy raw [green] peanuts pretty widely nationwide, and once boiled, it probably won't make too much difference whether they were fresh, as long as they're not ancient.)

I'm still chuckling about various images of "responsible worm disposal"!

Oh, yeah, I forgot to mention: Guinea pig, a tasty treat (especially around the holidays)!

If you don't already know, I won't further bum you out.

Thanks for the great ideas everyone.

Bob S. - Joel has stated his fondness for boiled peanuts so I figured they were worth a mention. But you highlight a frustration with gardening in general. There are so many ways to get high-quality produce, especially when you visit Amish Country as frequently as we do, that growing your own seems almost pointless except as a means of recreation.

Bob S-We have seen that guinea pig is still raised for food in South America, and we are not amused. Well maybe a little, one of our pigs is named Beauregarde Bacon Bottom.

RD, gardening with me is only for recreation, most of the plants I tend to plant are marginally hardy here, I consider it a game me vs the plant. So far I am batting about 75%, but one good long winter and I may be toast.

Plus I like playing in the dirt.

We grew rhubarb in the Pacific Northwest. This basically involved putting a plant in the ground and then jumping back.

Thanks mostlylurking for that link on peanuts.

We interrupt this frighteningly on topic boodle to point out that the brackets for the Frozen Four have been announced. My own University of North Dakota is seeded # 3 in the West and has a chance of meeting Scottynuke's Northeast #1 seed New Hampshire.

Sentimentality will destroy my hockey bracket early. I always pick North Dakota to win.

SCC "a chance of meeting...New Hampshire in the semifinals."

OK, OK, I gotta admit that I'm just a little creeped out by the (apparently serious) remark, "I always pick North Dakota to win."

Zealot!!

My dad gardened for as long as I can remember. When it got too shady in the back yard, he moved it up to the front yard. His yearly favorites were of course, tomatoes, zucchini, yellow squash, green peppers, eggplant, oregano and basil.

He also grew grapes--but only for the leaves. And with the garden's fresh onions and mint, every spring Mom would make the best Dolmades (stuffed grape leaves) on the planet.

Every year we visit the nursery and my kids taste the leaves on every mint plant until they find the exact kind Papou had. That's the only kind they'll let me buy (we grow it in pots to avoid losing the yard to it).

"Zealot!!" most certainly, though not of the southern football idolatry variety. It's more of a quiet, pick UND as #1 and take my lumps kind of thing.

Hey Joel... why isn't Gatorborn listed with the Celebs?

TBG - You say Dolmades, I'll say dolmas! (You say "Poorly executed omelette, I'll say frittata!")

Stupid question frostbitten and Scotty but is the "frozen four" really only four teams?

frostbitten love the name of that guinea pig - we had guinea pigs when I was young (as pets).

Frostbitten - yeah, trust me, I get it. The patient resignation of the quiet (but ever-hopeful) true fan.

Frostbitten, I haven't heard about worms being a problem around here, but it does make sense. I just wonder if pine and birch do require acidic soil.

I notice a major culprit indicated in suburban areas is overmulching and thus encouraging the worms.

Back in old Virginny, we had lots of azaleas and yes, even purple or pink hydrageas, and an oak tree or two, indicating the soil was quite acid. We never mulched, and the soil was thin topsoil with lots of red clay deep down.

I always wondered why it was so hard to find worms when we dug for them for fishing. After rains we'd maybe find 1-3 worms gasping or dying on the asphalt from the flooding, but that was the extent of worms I'd find in an average year.

It was all because we didn't mulch for worms instead of oaks and azaleas. I learn something new daily. Now with the endless mulching out there, I'm sure the worm has turned.

Wilbrod, I wouldn't think pine and birch need acid soil, they predominate around here in alkaline soil. My hydrangeas were mostly pink unless I added a lot of additives to make the soil more acidic. Azaleas and rhododendren need additives to do well in the alkaline soil.

It may depend on the types of pine as well.

dmd-The Frozen Four actually starts with 16. Six spots automatically go to conference champions. They are:
Atlantic Hockey Association - Air Force
Central Collegiate Hockey Association - Notre Dame
College Hockey America - Alabama-Huntsville
Eastern College Athletic Conference Hockey League - Clarkson
Hockey East Association - Boston College
Western Collegiate Hockey Association - Minnesota

North Dakota plays in the WCHA.

Thanks frostbitten, that must be a great tournament to see. Is there one for women as well?

dmd-There is a women's tournament. In Division I Wisconsin beat the University of Minnesota-Duluth to win the championship. You can read all about it at:

http://www.ncaasports.com/icehockey/womens/recaps/d1_0318_536764/2007/2007

Worms are only to be used for fishing or for bracelets!!!

Thanks frostbitten, with the girls playing hockey I have really begun to appreciate how well they do at it (not necessarily my girls!), it is so much fun to watch.

RD, have you checked out Whitley's Peanuts for boiled peanuts? I have had some of their other versions of peanuts and, while expensive, are really, really good.

http://www.whitleyspeanut.com/

We had a neighbor who somehow was able to grow rhubarb in Northern Virginia. I'm not sure what his secret was. I can also vouch for rhubarb in Oregon. Years ago I had a rhubarb/strawberry pie with homegrown rhubarb. It was absolutely delicious. As with many things in that part of Oregon, you stick it in the ground and it grows.

frostbitten, I'm not much of a hockey fan, but somehow Alabama-Huntsville in a NCAA hockey tournament just seems wrong. Do they take ice out of everyone's mint juleps to form the rink? I realize that Huntsville's in *Northern* Alabama but that just doesn't seem the same as Minnesota or North Dakota or Boston University. Regardless, good luck to all the teams and I hope you enjoy the tournament.

Next month, the Florida Native Plant Society (FNPS) will have its annual conference, this time at the big new convention hotel across 34th Street from the Natural History Museum and its butterflies and mastodons. And within walking distance of an Asian grocery that sells neat Black Rice from China.

There will be some contributions from the UF faculty, including "Ditch of Dreams -History of the Cross Florida Barge
Canal" by Steve Noll, Department of History. That's one I can't miss. My first job, after getting my M.S., was do a vegetation survey of the canal route. Headquarters was in Gainesville. My colleague on the job had, if I remember correctly, a grandfather who had worked on digging the Cross-Florida SHIP Canal, a crazy New Deal project to build a sea level canal across the peninsula. Go to Google Earth, and you can probably spot the diggings. Follow I-75 sough from Ocala to where it crosses an east-west undeveloped swath that turns toward the northeeast on the east side of I-75. US 301 splits where it crosses the diggings. Hidden in the wide median, there may still be a concrete support for a tall bridge that was never finished.

The FNPS will have plant sales, featuring a whole bunch of growers. Fortunately no one uses old cans any more (Joel should know why that's a good thing). One of the newer inventions is to grow plants in fabric bags. Root systems are evidently better, and plants don't blow over so easily. But the bags are wasteful of potting soil, which is expensive.

At last year's FNPS meeting, I bought several coonties and kept them in my hotel room.

By the way, if anyone wants some nice 100% natural rabbit fertilizer just let me know. These two bunnies produce prodigious amounts.

Think I will take a stab at the peanuts. After all, this is Virginia. And it will give me an excuse to do some serious digging so as to get proper drainage.

dmd - you're not the only one who likes playing in the dirt.

Course I'll still grow a tomato or two. I mean, traditions must be upheld.

Whew! I'm glad that I re-read greenwithenvy's comment of 8:35 PM. At first, I thought that I'd read, "Women are only to be used for fishing or for bracelets!!!"

While I found it to be bizarrely amusing, my follow-up comment would have been sorely misplaced, I think.

Hey pj - thanks for that link! I see they include a section on home gardening too.

As I recall, you are quite wise in the ways of gardening. I hope you are not laughing too much at my plan to grow peanuts.

Yes, I suspect so, Bob S.

Now, WHY a man would want to use a woman *just* to get a bracelet baffles me, unless he prefers men.

Even so, that'd be one seriously weird episode of "Will and Grace."

Oh, we're supposed to stay on topic as per the conspiracy to keep Joel feeling good. My bad.

Wilbrod - Perhaps bracelets are useful for the eventual goal of catching fish?

Go for it, RD. I think southern Virginia is about as far north as peanuts grow as a commercial crop. If you make it work for your own purposes, that's great. Best of luck.

My dad tried to grow any number of things here. He finally settled in for leaf lettuce, beans, and tomatoes. Radishes, sometimes. We tried carrots a couple of times but we needed a deeper bed, like 12 to 16 inches. Virginia clay isn't conducive to digging that deep. ;-) We also had a lot of trees on our lot so getting direct sunlight was hard. That really limited what we could try to grow. We all enjoyed the products of the garden, though. I remember visiting cousins in New Jersey. That's where we learned the best way to enjoy corn: You put the water on to boil and then go out back to pick and shuck the corn and then put it in the pot. That is as good as it gets. :-)

When I was hauling logs in N. Ontario I was told that pine trees caused the acidic soil.
http://www.ontariowildflower.com/forest.htm

Coniferous forest:
The soil in a coniferous forest contains variable amounts of humus derived from leaf and needle litter. The "pine" needles decay to produce an acidic soil. Also, the "pine" needles do not decay as rapidly compared to deciduous leaves. Because coniferous trees retain their leaves all year, the coniferous forest floor does not receive the same amount of warm sunlight in the early spring. Because of all the conditions, there are different and fewer wildflowers and plants that grow on the coniferous forest floor.

RDP,

Daughter Two's first and our favorite boyfriend used to bring over huge bags of "punnyboo" that was most excellent.

(He is no longer the boyfriend, :( , and college tends to interfere with bunnies.)

We used punnyboo to assist Son of CP in an amazing science fair project that involved night crawlers, a set of plastic tunnels, and powdered mustard. But, apparently, we were not cleared to use living subjects and boy earned an E. E = F. Ironic note: The learning was great; no worms were harmed; the punnyboo was part of the holding medium.

Disclaimer:
Later, some of the wormies were eaten by fishies, which is part of the great circle of life.

Boy has recovered from earning an E in science fair. Descendants of the wormies live in the yard still.

But, I am wondering, ala a certain biomass pile in Texas: can your pile ignite?

pj - I hear you about the corn. I remember the first time I had fresh white corn after I moved out here. My wife's father grew Silver Queen in his back yard, and did exactly that same trick with the boiling water. I couldn't believe this was the same vegetable as the old yellow stuff I was used to.

CP - I am terrified to find out. There are just some questions Science was never meant to answer.

Unless they are Gummi worms,then you could probably eat a few too!!

If anybody's concerned about the petfood recall, a complete list can be found through this article:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17650075/

Thankfully, I feed kibble, and allow Wilbrodog to pick out the bag he wants, but have the final say on whether the dogfood has the ingredient list I want.

Last time he picked an "healthy weight" turkey-based dogfood. Guess being told he was "borderline chubby" by the vet has gotten to his sensitive ego.

pj, Dad grew corn as well, and at family gatherings it was quite the procedure to get the fresh corn into the boiling water and then out again (under 3 minutes) and to the table. I never liked the old yellow corn, but peaches & cream or white corn is heavenly - no salt,no butter just the sweet taste of the corn.

Boko, my hazy memory is not always accurate, perhaps I am mixing the pines we have with our acidic soil. This would also explain why my attempts to get blue hydrangeas never quite worked out, managed purple on half of one bush.

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/achenblog/2006/12/achenbach_annual_performance_e.html

Oh, oh, oh, the topic... (What was that again?)... Got it, get it, done!
---
A long time ago, when the earth was green,
(that was somewhere between grade school and my later teens!)
There was more kinds of miscreants
Than you've ever seen!
But the sneakiest of all was the Homecoming Queen!
.
There was....
Serious math students and kids who didn't care,
There was guys with big muscles, and girls with big hair.
There was freaks and geeks and ath-e-letes and folks in between,
But the scariest of all was the Homecoming Queen!

----

Oh, oh, hang on! Wasn't the topic about when the earth was green?

oops... The link at the top of my last comment was intended for those who enjoy Charlie Pierce. I think that the (long aforementioned) story about Hagel was great, and that link to the previous Kit & 'boodle had some other suggestions about his scribblings.

Through the kindness of NASA-y neighbors, I am about to start an experiment with Linux on a ^%$#@ Milleniumn Machine. So far, so good. I am astounded. The new move of MS to Vista and the MSWord ext .docx motivates me mightily.

Am thinking about the sunflower seeds I am about to start, that and cosmos, cleome, and zinnia. You can never go wrong with a riot of vulgar, upstart color in the front yard.

I think we cooked the corn for six minutes in the boiling water. We put butter and salt and pepper on it back then. Now I just put a small amount of butter on it sometimes. Part of me thinks that we took the time to season the corn was to keep from biting into it too quickly and burning our mouths. Now that I'm older I know to wait. If the corn is nice and fresh, eating it straight out of the pot is just fine.

I should have added that I was the only family member who shunned both salt and butter. It is just personal preference.

pj - If yu'v got the bowels for it, and you're in the right part of the world, and it's the right kinda corn gathered at just the right (miserably hot) time of year, it can be pretty good directly from the stalk.

My wife thinks I'm an idiot for wanting to grow peanuts. She points out that we have such heavy clay soil that the amount of work needed to prepare it would be insane. Just like that women to go spoiling my good idea with even better facts. She thinks I should stick with 'maters.

CP - I grew sunflowers last year. They are such fun - except for the bees.

I loathe school science fairs where all students must participate as part of their grade.

In 8th grade Frostdaughter had the exact opposite of Son of CP's experience. After being dragged by the husband and myself through a worthless project, much like a camel through the eye of a needle, she learned nothing about the weighty topic of shampoo's affect on hair. Despite being late on every deadline set by her teacher she was allowed to enter the project in the school fair and was a first prize winner and went on to the regional competition.

I fear science fairs these days are set up to see how well students can document a contrived form of "the scientific process" and hit some "problem solving" standards and benchmarks in the curriculum. Science appears to be a minor sideline. Too bad for the kids who are excited by doing real science experiments.

RD - Hmmm... Georgia -- Peanuts -- Red Clay-- hmmm...

Nah, don't get too discouraged!

We recently just rented/watched "Cars" (one of those amazing CGI creations from (I think) Pixar -- and I have to admit to being extremely dense regarding one of the characters:

A tow truck named "Tow Mater".

I didn't get it until the movie was almost over. "Tow Mater", "Tomater", "Tomato".

Duh.

Somebody please put a fork in me. I think I'm toast.

As for growing your own, I've had mixed luck with veggies but have had great success with certain plants that put you in a vegetative state. And that was grown in a pot on a second floor balcony.

If it weren't for helicopters and nosy neighbors, I'd be rich.

Good WaPo stuff about shampoo:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/horizon/dec98/shampoo.htm

//Somebody please put a fork in me. I think I'm toast.//

I don't think you're done, yet.

Pleeeeeese look after yourself.

Sorry for another Lit. 101 reference but the discussion today reminds me of the following:

Pangloss: "There is a concatenation of all events in the best of possible worlds; for, in short, had you not been kicked out of a fine castle for the love of Miss Cunegund; had you not been put into the Inquisition; had you not traveled over America on foot; had you not run the Baron through the body; and had you not lost all your sheep, which you brought from the good country of El Dorado, you would not have been here to eat preserved citrons and pistachio nuts."

"Excellently observed," answered Candide; "but let us cultivate our garden."

I'm lucky enough to drive through FL, SC, and GA a couple of times a year and enjoy some nice roadside boiled peanuts. Mmmm.

RD, to Bob S' point, don't be afraid of the clay. You might even consider importing some of the really red Georgia stuff, though I'll warn you that once you get it on a pair of pants, you can forget about ever wearing them again for anything other than gardening.

Scotty, enjoy your Frozen Four.

martooni, to Yoki's point, please take it easy big guy.

bc

Hang in there, Martooni. I'm ashamed to say how many times I heard the lines from Firesign's "Giant Rat of Sumatra" record that "the Mobius Dick was a low dive with continuous entertainment. They whale all night." I was so busy concentrating on the Mobius strip puns that I missed the whale altogether. Arrgh. It must be nice to be smart.

Martooni,

We need more music from you, like what you posted last summer. Get back to that and remember, as in golf, with BAC, the goal is to have a low score. Do your best, there is a way out.

Lastly, Torqueberto under orders to fall on the sword so it goes through the torso:

http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/03/18/gonzales.apology/index.html

He won't make it through the week.

I hear Candide in my head. Bernstein! Perhaps the best and most American composer ever.

When I think about Candide, and the most American composer ever, I also think of Henry James, the (possibly) most American author ever.

This is very good. I admire you, Americans!

Yoki - So, I guess my "Homecoming Queen" composition hasn't put me in the running for greatest American lyricist?

(grumble, grumble) Oh, well, I'll keep plugging away!

: )

I adore "Homecoming Queen." But really, for poet-ical-ness, you'd be pressed to rival Bernstein, don't you think?

"dancing queen....
Only seventeen!"

I'm pretty sure that "Dancing Queen" was by Bernsteinsson (or Bernsteinssen).

Or Bernsteinsdottir.

Ha! I wanted to rename myself Patricia Margaret Miller McIlveen Sallisdottir. My Mum wasn't so sure about that.

I thought Voltaire wrote "Dancing Queen?"

I rather like the -dottir suffix to names. It feels so Valkyrie (they're all Hellsdottirs).

bill everything, you made me laugh out loud. do you really believe he will be out of there by the end of the week? i just cannot believe that people aren't taking this more seriously. there just simply seems to be more to these stories. libby has been found guilty of lying, and now the attorney general, and all of it leads to the white house, but i don't hear any outrage or upset-ness, just indifference. no one seems to care, no one talks about how this administration was going to bring morality back to the office of the president. no one seems to care anymore. maybe it's just me. i clearly need some studies on political science or history. and Lord, there is not a day that i don't think about our soldiers in iraq and afghanistan. it's like a nightmare that doesn't end. if we're going to stay in iraq do we have a new plan? i have so many questions, and don't have any idea where to get answers. my grandsons have about six more years in school, will they go to iraq?

wilbrod, i certainly have the southern drawl, some call it a twang if you will, but i don't think the wheezy voice is mine, although it is possible. my voice tends to be slightly heavy, not like a man, but in choir i was never a soprano.

rd, my grandfather used to try his hand at growing peanuts. we lived in a part of the carolinas called the sandhills. i hated those peanuts. he made us go out there and pull them, and they never amounted to much, but if memory serves me, they were prickly or something of that nature. boiled peanuts has to be an acquired taste, yuck.

i can't sleep, and i so want to. i think my medications are causing the problem. the g-girl is knocked out. her mother is still here, but out for the evening. my grandsons are in philadelphia or they were for the weekend. i hope they got some rest over the weekend.

the cinderella team got sent home early. i could barely watch that. i'm glad they enjoyed it at least, not the loss, but the chance to play. i don't usually watch basketball but was visiting a sick friend and they were watching it.

i'm off to bed, have a good night folks.

Here's a sweet story about rabbits:
[actually, bittersweet]

"An Ohio University study of heart disease in the 1970s was conducted by feeding quite toxic, high-cholesterol diets to rabbits in order to block their arteries, duplicating the effects that such a diet has on human arteries. Consistent results began to appear in all the rabbit groups except for one, which strangely displayed 60 percent fewer symptoms. Nothing in the rabbits' physiology could account for their high tolerance to the diet, until it was discovered by accident that the student who was in charge of feeding these particular rabbits liked to fondle and pet them. He would hold each rabbit lovingly for a few minutes before feeding it; astonishingly, this alone seemed to enable the animals to overcome the toxic diet. Repeat experiments, in which one group of rabbits was treated neutrally while the others were loved, came up with similar results. Once again, the mechanism that causes such immunity is quite unknown -- it is baffling to think that evolution has built into the rabbit mind an immune response that needs to be triggered by human cuddling."

-- from "Quantum Healing: Exploring the Frontiers of Mind/Body Medicine," by Deepak Chopra

Cassandra - I gotta funny feelin' that you're underestimating just how seriously LOT'S of folks are taking this.

ixnay on the apostre-phay in "LOTS"!

Me too, Wilbrod. I like being a thorn in the side of the patriarchy.

On the other hand, I can easily understand why it's not the biggest story at the forefront of the minds of people who are dealing with other inconveniences like, say, their livelihoods going down the tubes because of job losses, crime, crappy schools, and other pesky stuff.

Sometimes, a few U.S. attorneys just seem like small 'taters!

Does Deepak cite the exact paper's title? Humans get low blood pressure benefits from petting pets, again probably not something humans evolved for.

It's probably down to release of various hormones (vasopressions, oxytocin) that promote learning, social recognition, trust, and incidentally has a diuretic effect on your kidney and also affects your blood vessels

But this is just an educated guess without reading the paper cited.

Sorry, Joel. Paleeeze. I don't feel sorry for you one little bit. You have a great job and you know it. You worked hard towards the existance you have with words and columns as did your mom and step-dad with dirt and plants. So what if you sit near a photocopier, you poor thing. And you aren't exactly chained to your flourescent laden desk with all your traveling and carbucking. Get a plant. Maybe a cactus.

We all have our gifts. Your article was too syrupy for me. But on target with gardening season right around the corner. Probably one reason for all the boodlers "on-topic" comments. Which I did like.

Dreamer - I gotta tell you, a Google search for "rabbits healthier fondle" leads down some very strange pathways, including a few references to the study to which you alluded.

I couldn't nail down a study title or date, though one book review said that it was published in "Science" in 1980.

Very good story about knots (really):
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/18/AR2007031801483.html

At the end, it talks about the Lorenz manifold, and the crocheting thereof, with a link to a pdf file full of equations and the crochet pattern. What made me laugh (rather than just be stunned) was when they said:
"From a crocheting point of view, crocheting a model of hyperbolic space is quite simple, as it involves the same crochet stitch and counting to N. Crocheting the Lorenz manifold, on the other hand, requires continuous attention to the instructions in order not to miss when to add or indeed remove
an extra crochet stitch."

Ha - wonder how many skeins I need to crochet hyperbolic space?!?

Good analysis by Howard Kurtz on the attorney story - why it took so long to become big:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/18/AR2007031801146.html

He talks about the Walter Reed story too.

I am outraged - and glad that the Democrats took over Congress, because otherwise, Bush would have gotten away with this too (not that he still won't). Republicans are even turning against the administration because they're so incompetent and corrupt. Not sure what can be done, short of impeaching Bush and then Cheney!

It's hot, hot, hot (about 90 F) here near the equator. Yes, I know, it should be hot near the equator but I don't expect to get toasted in March. Middle of the year, maybe. I could use some of your snow but you probably don't have any anymore. I'm being baked medium to well done just going to the bank and restaurant and back to the office. Must be the deforestation on this island and the guilty parties would be Indonesia and Malaysia.

In this area, we can't plant any vegetables and expect to have a good harvest without using insecticide. Some farmers use nettings. I planted some basil last year. I was able to harvest the first batch but not the subsequent ones. Before the leaves were mature enough to be picked the bugs got to it. It was the same with cilantro.

Patricia Margaret Miller McIlveen Sallisdottir. That sounds like royalty. Royalties have very long names, don't they?

Nice kit, Joel. I assume you will give it the full "Angela's Ashes" treatment someday? Flesh it out a bit.

Angela's Bean Sprouts?

Just thinking out loud here.

Consarn it all!!! A Frozen Four discussion and I wasn't here!!! *stompin feets*

:-)

*Grover waves* Morning all!!

And I coulda beena contendah in the garden discussion, too. *SIGH*

For the NCAA men's hockey tourney, UNH is the "host" school for its regional games, with the teams playing in Manchester, NH.

:-)

Good morning, all--

Scotty, by all means, share your comments. If you think this is a discussion I'm afraid you are suffering from a slight delusion. It's actually just a collection of comments which sometimes refer to other comments. Oh, yeah, and there's also that "kit" thing and occasionally a comment that refers to it. We're definitely outside the space-time continuum; if you don't believe me just check the time-stamps. Feel free to put your own time-stamps on your comments so that they can be sorted later into the order you wish they had occurred.

My grandfather was an officer in the army before and during World War II. After the war, he mustered out and tried his hand as a farmer in south Florida. My dad has several favorite stories from that ill-fated foray into agriculture.

Once he was sent to kill a chicken for dinner. He didn't know to hold the body of the chicken down. After it was beheaded, the headless chicken body ran into the cornfield and his mom had to come out and hunt it down.

They also had a cow named Hamburger. I don't remember its fate. My grandfather eventually rejoined the army and retired a light colonel.

In my childhood, my mom kept a vegetable garden. Our yard had a split rail fence around it with a chicken wire inner layer in a vain attempt to keep our beagle from jumping out. We would plant green beans around the fence poles and they would grow weaved through the chicken wire. One of my jobs was to go out and pick green beans for dinner.

My current townhouse has covenents prohibiting gardens. I assume to prevent the feeding of vermin although there is no shortage of lagomorphs around anyways. We could grow potted tomatos or basil if we cared to, but we don't have a deck to keep them safe from said lagomorphs.

My wife's mother used to grow herbs and vegetables she couldn't buy in US back in the 70s. My wife points them out at the Asian grocery stores where she learns their name for the first time.

Morning all. Running for the flight to DC! Boodle to you on Friday.

I have a sneaking suspicion Yoki will be seen on the Boodle before Friday. :-)

kbert, I'm ALWAYS delusional...

And we had plenty of yard and garden chores growing up. Dad had a good-sized vegetable garden, at least a 1/4 acre. Always had fresh corn, squash, peas, green beans... *SIGH* The strawberries never seemed to make it to the house, however. And the semi-wild raspberry bush eventually took over about half the garden. I can't recall a single time I could mow the lawn near the garden without taking a raspberry break.

:-)

:-)

I will NOT SCC the double smile, demmit.

And hey, the server finally caught up!

:-)

Good morning, friends. It is so cold here. What happened to the heat, the warmth, the sunny days of spring? Did someone ripped them off? If that is the case, please, please, I beg, bring them back! I need coffee. Bad.

Hey, what did you folks do over the weekend, and I mean other than looking at that March madness on television? I mean did you have a life or what? Can it be told in mix company and the Internet of all things? Did you have a great time or was it just, so, so? Was it a time to remember or thinking about it now, are you ashamed? I mean was it just something that was so great you want to do it again or was this weekend more like trying to live through something awful?

Personally, my weekend was what I usually do. I went to church, came home, had dinner with my daughter and the g-girl. Went out for awhile to visit a sick friend. Came back and watched television, and talk to you guys awhile. Called it a night, and back here this morning. I know, I know, sounds boring to tears, but for me, not so. Compared to some weekends in my life, it is gold.

I've never heard one of JA's kits described as "syrupy(sp)". Personally, I think it's a pretty good kit, although with this cold weather maybe a tad early to talk about gardens.

Have much to do this week. New stuff along with the stuff I'm already doing. Busy, busy.

I hope your weekend was good. I am off. Have a good day, folks. I know it's Monday, but try.

God loves us so much more than we can imagine through Him that died for all, Jesus Christ.

Morning, Scotty, Slyness, Mudge, and everyone *waving*.

Morning all, my little just got up and while I was answering her question I happened to look out the window, the sky on the eastern horizon is a brilliant red, my little one thought the world "was on fire". It is now softening to a bright pinkish orange - so beautiful.

The first colour reminded me of the raspberries I used to sneak from the neighbours plants when I was a kid.

Someone knew of a successful rhubarb plant in NoVA. Oh, how I fantasize on how to do this. Sneak into PA with a forklift. Take a granddaddy-sized rhubarb plant. Zip down 270 back to MD. Plant in the culture that suits most clematis vines: face in the sun, but roots cool by shading branches and perhaps mulch.

I would even lay ice on it, during the high days of August. Oh, the gentle madness of gardeners.....but rhubarb pie, topped with vanilla ice cream from the Terp Creamery. Now we can die and go to heaven.

College Parkian... You WILL share!

Good morning Casandra and all.

Since you asked about my weekend, I spent it driving between Ellicott City and College Park. My son had a two day seminar on botball. He is taking an engineering class where they enter two different competitions. Since the Mars Rover walker competition got cancelled at the Baltimore Museum of Industry, that freed him up for both days of the botball training. It seems this year, the bots have to be able to recognize color.

After Saturday's session, we took him to Charlie Palmer's in DC as a good grade reward. Since my wife had the surf and turf, I'm not sure who was reaping the benefit. For dessert I got talked into the Grand Marnier flight. It is a shot each of Grand Marnier Classic, 100 year old, and 150 year old versions. I figured when else will have a chance to drink something that was fermented before Lincoln was elected.

I let my son drive home since three shots of GM on top of a glass of Pinot Noir and a snifter of amaretto was not a good example.