I frequently respond, “Oh . . . good, bad, and ugly”.
My answer varies from
“As good as could be expected”,
to
“You don/t really want to know”
or may be
“How long have you got?”
Richard
Yesterday I responded, “Not sure – I’ll have to appoint a committee to study the matter”.
Have not been out hiking at much. Been working lots of 12 and 14 hour days. But since I enjoy cooking and plants are part of creation. Plus I think it’s good to showcase general health.
These are more veggie tacos. This is my root version which is not just “roots” but I use several in it . It’s red beets, sweet potatoes / yams, turnips for the roots then added in jalapeños, sweet peppers, broccoli and since it’s Friday I used beyond meat too. 4/5 of the time I don’t just the whole veggies . I seasoned it with ms dash southwest chipotle, squirt of lemon juice, liquid smoke and ginger powder. After it cooled down a bit I used four table spoons of rice vinegar.
I typically do the “in place” compost method since it’s raw seasonless vegetables. I always give some to the ants in my yard lol.
For dessert made a smoothie with frozen berries (sweet and tart cherries, blueberries and strawberries ) and added a teaspoon of rice vinegar since I ran out of my chocolate vinegar, tablespoon of cacao powder, tablespoon of grounded flax seed, a small cap of vanilla extract and plant based milk.
Finally able to begin watching the horror tv show “the stand” . The book , by Stephen King is so good. Read the newer expanded uncuct version which is 1140 pages long. Really highlights a lot of Stephen King’s Christian faith. Lots of his work does. Eating a few pieces of ginger candy too.
Also reading through a planting for wildlife book. Wanting to learn more about creating overwintering homes. They have some nice pics of various things to do.
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So I found the Zebra Swallowtail caterpillar finally. Been looking for it for 6 years now. Maybe even closer to 8.
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I wonder if you like golden beets as roots too? One of my favorites.
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Yeah I like them. I just never seen them here at the markets. I’ve thought about growing some but it’s hard to even find decent red beets throughout most of the year here. I use to like to peel golden beets and wrap them in foil and bake them. Them use them like a baked potato with seasoning. I’m going to start trying to fit in 25-30 different fruits and vegetables a month and then next month change out 10 of them.
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I miss visits to my grandmother’s house when I was a kid; we gave veggie scraps to the bunnies.
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The red insect looks likely to be a juvenile true bug, though that doesn’t narrow it down much. Boxelder bug might be worth considering as an id.
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Yeah that was basically how close I got was that it seemed to be in the Pentatomomoroh infraorder. Kind of made me think of the first stage in star nymph stage of the large milkweed bug. But the head was red too and I think the large milkweed typically had a blackhead at the early stages too. Could definitely be the box elder nymph. I’m less certain of many of the nymph and larvae stage insects versus their adult forms. The exception is when moths and caterpillars. I often know a butterfly or moth only by their caterpillar stage.
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Gasp!
That’s gorgeous!
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Cut leafed tooth wort, common serviceberry tree, trout lillies, crocuses, Dutchman’s breeches, trillium are just starting.
When do you all plant your gardens? Our first frost free date is usually about May 15, but it even varies a lot in Michigan.
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Here, the spring has been early, natural flowers are three weeks before the ‘normal’ schedule, cherry trees are in the peak flowering, agricultural fields have been sown in many places,…
When these facts were told and shown in the news yesterday, a weatherman reminded that the country is long - the description about the advanced spring is true in the south but in the northernmost parts of the country, there is still 140cm of snow.
Although we have quite advanced spring, botanists remind people that frost nights can be expected until early June. No reason to hurry in bringing sensitive plants to the garden.
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I gave up on anything but perennials years ago. I’ve got two types of trillium and bleeding heart plus one wildflower I can’t remember the name of all looking good right now.
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My native plants are maybe two weeks early, non-natives not quite so much.
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I recently watched a drama of a notable person that lived in the 19th century and acted as a benefactor during the years when there was hunger. The descriptions of that time reminded me how large the variation between the years have been during the last 200 years.
Normally, frost nights end by early June. During those years (around 1860’s), snow and ice lasted until midsummer, barley could not be sown before late June and frost nights and rains during July destroyed much of the crop.
In contrast to those years, 60-70 years later (late 1920’s) there was such a warm winter that people here planted potatoes in the end of January and sowed grain crops during February. The weathers stayed relatively warm and the people got decent potato and grain crops from the early sowing.
Although there has been such huge natural variation, all the record warm summers and years have occurred since the year 2010. Climate change is ongoing, mean temperatures have risen here from 2-4 degrees C.
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Our last frost here in the Austin area is historically around March 18th, but lately has often been nearer March 1st. I got my tomatoes in early, and have one plant about 3 feet tall with quite a few tomatoes growing. The downside is that by June 15, it is so hot and dry, gardening is over except for okra and cowpeas.
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