Dry times and mince meat

64 thoughts on “Dry times and mince meat”

1. Hi Chris,

   Apologies for being missing in action.Oh my, I have been busy the past month. No doubt you were concerned for my whereabouts 🙂

   I hear you about the warm august, the locals tell me it is unlikely we will get snow on the ground this year. August is usually when it happens, but here we are on the 13th and buds are sprouting, birds are singing and there is a decidedly spring feel to the air. Mrs Damo and I planted some garlic yesterday. Over a month late I know, but I am sure they will do fine.

   No doubt you and Lew already discussed this in my rude absence, but Picard will be coming back to TV in a sequel to TNG. I love Picard and look forward to more TNG stories – but I have no faith in the current crop of writers and producers behind Star Trek. Still, Patrick Stewart is pretty much good in everything so /shrug 🙂

   Cheers,
   Damo

2. Hi Inge,

   Fair enough. Details surrounding infrastructure are not as readily available as one would expect given they are usually paid for out of the public purse! Interestingly I have read recently that the electricity sub stations (they’re devices which convert the much higher mains electricity which gets transmitted around the countryside, into more usable household mains) put into new housing sub divisions are now far smaller than they used to be in the not too distant past. It interests me that water is piped over to your island from the mainland. I assume that the island is now more populated than what it was when first you moved there? Or do you get a great influx of visitors during the summer months? Huge influxes of visitors can temporarily strain infrastructure.

   I’d imagine that living on the Isle of Scilly would be an interesting existence! I’m amazed at the extent of agriculture on that series of islands – it is quite extensive.

   No doubts you’d be surprised at the sheer extent of the forests here. If a kangaroo decided to head to the south west from here, it would have to survive crossing a few major roads, but it could basically stick to forest cover for a large percentage of the way.

   Cheers

   Chris

3. Hi Lewis,

   Well our concerns about Damo have must reached his ears and set them on fire because I see that he posted a comment earlier this afternoon! Damo is a good bloke. And he arrives with fascinating Star Trek news.

   Nagging is not a technique that I (or the editor for that matter) grew up with, and so it annoys the stuffing out of me. It feels to me like you can build a brick wall, and then someone comes along and tries to take the brick wall down, one brick at an annoying time with their nagging. Some cultures are really good at it too – and they have years of learned defences against such a technique. I’m not a fan. Actually on some occasions I have rudely suggested to people using that technique that: “Asking me a second time does not endear you to me, and no you won’t get a different answer”. Of course, such an entreaty often falls upon deaf ears. What do you do? How do you deal with such techniques?

   Yeah, I’m the same too. I have this belief, and who knows where I got this idea from, but God helps those who help themselves. Well it is a good excuse for me anyway. Our time and energy are severely limited and so you just pick and choose, for it is an unwise strategy to try to please everyone. That is the way of the dark path… But neither is it good to please nobody, for that too is the way of the dark path. There is middle ground in there somewhere, and maybe it fluctuates and wobbles around a bit. We all need to go to the pub (or temperance hotel) every now and then and take some time out!

   Dried cranberries are almost unheard of down here. No seriously, they’re really expensive and I reckon that situation has occurred because there are so few suitable parts of the country to grow the berries. I grew cranberries here one year and they did really well during the damp spring, but the hot and dry conditions over summer wiped them out. Black and red currants do much better in our conditions and honestly they taste pretty much, but not quite, the same to me.

   It is funny you mention that about using preserving agents as part of the drying process, but I have noticed some rather odd tastes with dried fruit of late. There is an undertone of sulphur to the flavour and it is not pleasant to my palate. Other than sultana’s (which are dried table grapes) I avoid dried fruit as much as possible. We’ve still got weeks and weeks of preserved apricots from the last harvest and I tell ya, they’re good, but then I know what is in the mix.

   Fortunately the water tank has a ten year warranty, so only a few days after pick up should be no problem at all. And even if it is a problem I do have a plan B for the water tank should all else fail. I’ll have another look at the problem in a couple of days time. I really do need the water tank there, and I suspect that next year I’ll add another one to the mix in that location.

   I have seven of the manufacturers water tanks and so this problem is a first. Of course business may be slow for them, although with the drought going on up north, I can’t imagine how that would be the case. The stupid thing is that people tend to want to install water tanks during a drought, and getting them filled from the sky becomes a serious problem at that point in time. I guess they’d be nice to look at and imagine that one day they’d fill up again. Better to install them when there is that wet stuff falling from the sky. 🙂

   Mind you, that reaction is a bit like people being prepared for worst case events. How many people actually take action in advance of something horrid happening? Not many from my point of view. What do you reckon about that?

   I reckon you may have a long autumn, so you never know with your corn. Also, it might be worthwhile trying a different variety next season. Do you recall where your seeds (or seedlings) came from? They’re not all the same by a long shot. One of the benefits that I get from the local gardening club is that they collect seeds from varieties that are grown in a similar environment to here (although I suspect it is a bit cooler here).

   What are the notables suggesting about your corn? Hopefully they’re being nice?

   Cheers

   Chris

4. Hi Damo,

   No worries at all. However, your absence was noted and discussed, so perhaps your ears were burning! Hehe! 😉 I just finished reading ‘Into the Ruins’ book nine and I did rather enjoy your story ‘The Last Farang’. I really liked how the protagonist began his place on the ship distantly at first and then ever so slowly immersed himself into the culture of the ship.

   Hopefully you’re not too busy? One needs to remember to go to the pub every now and then! How’s that boat coming along? Have you had much opportunity for writing recently? There was talk of a second instalment of the Cuppertinians?

   I reckon you are right about the early spring. It sure feels that way to me here too. With that in mind I’m planning to get my summer seeds in the ground early this year and that means sometime in the early to mid September. But we’ll see, like you boat building, other things are distracting me. Are you planning another summer edible garden?

   Not at all! We were oblivious (although I can only really speak for myself here) about the return of Patrick Stewart. He made a great Captain, and I reckon he’ll do well in a new series. Are any of the other old crew members signing along for the journey?

   Did you end up watching all of the first season of Discovery? I haven’t gotten around to that yet. So many things to do (as you probably realise)!

   Cheers

   Chris

5. Hi, Chris!

   I think that there may possibly be no harder job on this planet than that of a farmer, bless them. Thank you for all the drought links. How terrible is that? It makes me think of dust bowls and the Great Depression.

   That is a beautiful jackhammer. So tempting! The terraces are so wide, and so flat – and so steep! What a lovely and graceful fire screen. Aren’t you glad that somebody gave it up?

   I don’t see how that dirt rat pulls such heavy things, especially uphill. Perhaps it is actually a dirt donkey?

   That unknown plant with the white flowers looks like our wild bittercress, which is edible. I have also grown a cultivated version called creasy greens that was a staple in the old times around here, but I like the wild one better. Creasy greens have a very, very strong brassica-family flavor.

   https://www.juliasedibleweeds.com/general/bittercress-a-warming-winter-weed/

   Pam

6. Hello Chris
   I liked the photos a lot, they gave such a clear impression of some of your setup.
   I also admire farmers, their job must be utterly heart breaking on many occasions; not a job that I would want.
   Explain the fire screen; it is a gorgeous piece of ironwork but I fail to see how it can be effective as a screen.
   Yes the Island population has increased massively since I first came here. Just as well because they were seriously inbred at one time. Holiday makers do indeed swell the population during the summer. Most noticeable when the traffic simply comes to a halt due to congestion.

   Inge

7. Yo, Chris – It occurred to me, looking at the first photo on the blog (Fern Glade Farm – Overview) that I really quit like that you’ve got a bit of seating, scattered about. Nothing is quit as inviting as a nice bench.

   I really should avoid graphs before I’ve had my first cuppa, in the morning. I was looking at the graph and thinking, “What’s Chris banging on about. The rainfall trends are CLEARLY up.” Then, after the caffeine hits my system, I realize that the bottom bars on the graph are for more recent years. What I call a “Duh!” moment. :-).

   Drought is … “Just awful,” doesn’t cover it. Stories are coming in from all over the world of drought. Unless one just “doesn’t want to think about it,” you wonder if it will happen to you. One of the low level, unsubstantiated rumors, running around The Home, right now, is that gardening may be cut back, due to the lavish amounts of water we use. “Expense” is the projected reason. I suppose about all I can do is keep building up my soil for water retention.

   Definition of a rock gabion. A place to store rocks in a neat and tidy manner :-). They are one of those things that are not only useful, but, to me, also very decorative. Not a bad “two-for.”

   Is that the first daffodil of the year?

   Naggers are best avoided. Not so easy when you’ve got one in the house. Often falls under the classification of “justifiable homicide.” Many a mystery has been launched by The Nag. I often wonder, if they’re reflective at all, if they sit around and wonder why people don’t like them or they don’t have any friends? Cont.

8. Cont. When I was working for the library, one of the building heads I worked for, on occasion, married into a cranberry raising family. But they were in the process of cutting back the business, as foreign imports were cutting into the profit margin. But, every Christmas, I’d buy a ten pound box from her, at cost. We still get cranberries, here, from our coast. But, they can be pricey. Hmmm. Wonder if they’ll slap a tariff on the foreign ones?

   I quit gave up on any imported grapes (and, most of the ones from the US). They look so tempting, but had such a strong after taste of petro, that I couldn’t eat them.

   As far as water tank timing goes, there’s an old saying about closing the barn door after the (horses? cows? goats?) have escaped. But humans, in general, often only consider the threat right in front of them. In space, and time. And then there’s the whole “Why spend good money when (what ever) threat never appears?”

   I ran across that old concept, just last night. We’re kind of hardwired for it. Is that rustle in the grass the wind? Or, a saber toothed tiger? Choose wrong and you win this year’s Darwin Award.

   Oh, there’s not too much ribbing about the corn. I’m just getting tired of it being brought up. Let’s talk about my bumper crop of squash and tomatoes, instead. :-). I’m going to buy some potassium to throw at it, tomorrow. I did dig in a bit of wood ash, early on. Apparently (maybe) not enough. Lew

9. @ Damo – Good to hear from you. So. Is Captain Picard going to be commanding the Starship Geriatric? :-).

   I breathlessly waiting for “Rampage,” “Ready Player One” and “How to Talk to Girls at Parties” to pop up in the library catalog. “2036 Origin Unknown” looks interesting. But, rather obscure. So, I don’t know if the library will spring for it. Lew

10. Hi Pam (and greetings from the fluffies!),

    Oh yeah, we’d be completely up the creek without a paddle without broad acre farmers and possibly very hungry too. I think about the effort that would be required to replace the half acre of mixed grains that someone else grows, somewhere else for the chickens – every time I visit the local feed store. I’m slowly ramping production up here, but conditions are sub-fluffy optimal due to the slope of the land. However, on the upside things get done on a human scale and pace and that is a good thing. No need to go too fast with the projects, don’t you reckon? I could see how folks who attempted to do too much could be at risk of being overwhelmed. The human pace ensures such an outcome is not even a remote possibility. Machines carry risks on that front.

    It is really hard to get a handle on what the people in that part of the country are having to confront with the drought every single day. I’ve read that feed is being trucked in from Western Australia and Tasmania now because closer sources have apparently been exhausted. How’s that for a distance? It would be like carting feed from San Francisco to New York, it is just that sort of distance.

    Haha! Beware the lure of the jackhammer. As a hint, it’s good! 🙂 We use a clay spade bit as well as a rock chisel bit. You need both. I use both tools to break the clay and rocks, but use hand tools to break the clay lumps up further and hand tools to move the stuff. The jackhammer stops me breaking my back on the very hard clay. It is nice when digging to see that the rains have penetrated deep into the soil – where it should be. We accidentally uncovered a spring which bubbles out fresh clear water every time it rains. Fancy that huh? I thought that it was a hole that the rats had made into the soil. It doesn’t run for long, but I have noticed a few springs about the place and I get more water into the ground every year.

    Dirt Donkey!!! Yeah, maybe! 🙂 It has both low range and high range gearing and 5 speed stick shift, so it ain’t no drama at all!

    Well done with the plant identification. It looks identical, flowers, leaves and everything. Imagine that plant ending up down here. It is amazing how plants spread about with the movement of humans around the landscape.

    Cheers

    Chris

11. Hi Inge,

    Yeah thanks for noticing, I was trying with those photos to provide some context because otherwise the project could just sit off to the side somewhere on the farm if seen in isolation, and then the question becomes: why there? We’re actually trying to use the land closest to the house for a lot of these projects because it keeps the infrastructure, like water and power, and food, much closer to where it gets used. It seems obvious, but when I look at the layout of the old hill station gardens up this way, the orchards, milking paddocks, chicken runs, vegetable, and berry patches are all tucked way down out of sight. Heaven forbid that the owners had to be reminded where their breakfast came from! I assume that similar things occur in your part of the world with some of the older gardens of the well to do?

    It’s a tough and uncertain job for sure. Most people take their regular pay cheques in whatever form that takes, for granted! Agriculture is a very uncertain enterprise.

    Ah! It is hard to see in the photo, but the firescreen has a thick and strong steel flywire mesh attached to one side of it. It lets the radiant heat from the fire through the mesh, but catches all of the embers and sparks that may otherwise get through. Hope that makes sense?

    Surely you jest? Hehe! Mind you, there is something to be said about getting new bloodlines into an area. We caused quite the stir when we first arrived on the scene and managed to get a permit to build – and then followed through with the process of building the house ourselves. People believed then (and still do) that it was an impossibility. Not so. I suspect the old timers don’t know what to make of us! Good fun! Did you cause a stir when you first arrived in your area?

    Cheers

    Chris

12. Hi Lewis,

    Thanks, and believe it or not someone threw that seat out. I picked it up at the tip shop. I couldn’t believe it, I mean it is not as if there is anything at all wrong with it – which is probably why it was in the tip shop. There are a number of seats located around the farm. It ain’t all work here! 🙂

    It is quite a random process picking the, err, what does the system call it, maybe it’s the ‘Featured Image’ each week. I reckon the new blogging platform works better than the old freebie blogger. Far out that thing gave me some headaches towards the end, and the robot that turned up one day out of the blue was really quite frightening. I think it may have been called plagscan, and that sounds innocuous enough, but it wasn’t there for my benefit for sure…

    Speaking of robots, I just heard a radio news story about some dude that got sacked at his job by a robot which acted erroneously (or was it erroneous?) The Machine Fired Me. I can’t vouch for the reality of the story, but far out, it’s a goodie!

    cont…

13. You look very fetching in your fisherman´s sweater!

    Those are the neatest, tidiest fence post holes, I´ve ever seen. Mine always seem to get as wide as they are deep.

    I admire the fact that you feel compensated for all that terrace work by the number of rocks you dig up. That´s the spirit!

    @Inge, isn´t the Isle of Scilly famous for daffodils?

14. Hi Chris,

    I am glad you enjoyed the story – it was fun to write. Although Mrs Damo insisted that nothing happened in it and thought the plot would revolve around the mysterious container ship they passed in the night. But I reckon sometimes odd things happen and there is no reason for it!

    I have not proceeded any further on the next part of the Cupertinians (although I have a pretty good idea on who Gibbon meets and what he gets up to) as I got distracted with starting another story 🙂 Hopefully I will get a bit more time now, over the past few weeks I have started to clamp down on the work hours I was doing – I am getting to grips with the concept of leaving things for tomorrow etc!

    Spring is indeed coming, and this means the boat needs to get a move along – I posted some photos the other day. I now have two intact hulls and will get started on fibre-glassing the bottom soon, then they will be watertight! Mrs Damo and I will indeed plant some more edibles this year, and this time a lot less zucchinis I can tell you 🙂 Any suggestions for what we should try this year?

    Cheers,
    Damo

15. Hi Lew,

    Captain Picard is getting on a bit isn’t he? But for some reason he doesn’t look like he has aged much – lucky genes I guess! I want to see Rampage as well – who doesn’t love The Rock? I haven’t seen Ready Player One yet, it is on my hard drive but just not got around to it. By all accounts it is acceptably Ok :-p Is your library getting Star Trek Discovery or The Orville in at some point?

    Cheers,
    Damo

16. Hi Lewis (cont…)

    Fortunately WordPress allows me to bang on for so long that these days there only seems to be the more ordinary (cont) rather than the previous (double secret cont) that blogger was prone too.

    What were we talking about again? Oh, that’s right – robots. Now at this juncture I feel it necessary to point out in my most dry voice that perhaps the guy that was terminated by the robot was the first victim of the terminator? Sorry for that one, it’s bad yes I know, but the joke was asking to be told! You know, I recall watching the original terminator film and thinking to myself that clearly this robot business isn’t all that it was cracked up to be. I mean they may have their own opinions? And I do note that there are inordinate amounts of words spoken about the ethics of self driving cars, but given the singularly focused nature of robots and artificial intelligence, isn’t the problem really that we are perhaps coming to terms with enabling a psychopathic entity?

    Anyway, I was interrupted from replying due to work issues – what a story there that can never be told, far out!

    Exactly, the graph is all over the shop. Some years there is a lot of rain, and other years, not so much. This year it is middling. Your suggestion about getting more water into the soil organic matter is really the only game in town. That is how they used to do things, if only because they had little other choice in the matter.

    Well it is always a possibility, and anyway most people water gardens too much – plants rarely need it – unless you are growing water loving plants like wasabi. The PNW has a mildly Mediterranean climate given you get such dry summers. I get away with 10 minutes per day for edible plants and that keeps plants alive during multiple 104’F+ days. It is possible. The orchard gets nothing at all unless I reckon the trees will keel over, and then I chuck a bucket of water on each fruit tree (that is a lot of water when you consider there are 300 of them) and that just helps them limp through until it gets cooler. They’re slow growing as a result, but they put down deeper roots every year. It is a bit like investing in infrastructure in that the costs are painful up front, but the returns are in the future.

    Haha! I loved that definition of a rock gabion. Both the editor and I are laughing about your description and it is so true. 🙂 You know us well my friend!

    It was the first daffodil of the year. I expect that the flower will have opened before the next blog. Hey, in Melbourne this week I noticed that many of the flowering trees are in full blossom. People do not understand that this is several weeks early. They could probably grow coffee shrubs if they could keep up the water to them. It is still too cold here for them. I should check the tea camellia…

    A nagger in the house. Ouch! That doesn’t sound like it is a situation that could be avoided. You know, one aspect of maturity is that we round off the worst personality aspects of those around us. It is a bit like using a file to smooth out the rough edges of cut steel. Otherwise if you don’t file the steel down, you get splinters and cuts and we may well have our own. Much easier to file the edges down so that that eventuality doesn’t come to pass. You know, tonight I’m tired because I spent most of today giving simple good advice to a lot of different people. It is nice to get paid for doing that, but it is an emotional drain sometimes, but you know, I prefer to get things on a playing field that may still not be good, but at least it is workable. What else do you do? I dunno.

    It all comes back to Star Trek. One of the six feet under episodes, which always began with a death, had the actor who was also the doctor from Star Trek Enterprise. He was sitting in the kitchen just talking at his wife. She bopped him on the head with a frying pan, and clearly she was in a bit of a need for some quiet time (who doesn’t like quiet time, although that fatal method was a bit extreme). Anyway, later in the show the characters mention that the character (who was also the doctor in Star Trek Enterprise) was killed because he was boring. To cut a very long story short, no I don’t believe they are reflective at all! 🙂

    What fun we have here.

    It is funny that you mention the cranberry family, but in less than six degrees of separation, I knew indirectly about a family that was in the spice trade. The supermarkets cliffed them, and nobody wants to be cliffed by their major customer. It is an unsavoury business.

    The dried apricots that I purchased were equally disgusting. No thank you.

    Ah yes, the horse has sailed and the ship has bolted. Once either of those events has occurred it is too late. But try telling people that. Mr Greer provided a link to a graphic novel which explained Buckminster Fuller’s understanding of energy. He’s a smart bloke that Buckminster, and I agree with his assessment of renewable energy. It surprises me that people consistently tell me that I’m wrong about that stuff despite them having no skin in the game. Mate, It has taken me over a decade of adjustment to learn to live with this stuff. It ain’t easy being green. Did I just quote Kermit the Frog?

    Well, there is always next year with the corn. You’ve just reminded me that I’ve got trepidation because I’m going to try out replanting the saved corn seeds from last year. So who knows how that will work out? Probably not good. The seeds for the varieties sold are too inbred, I should add some white corn and also the painted mountain variety just to inject some fresh genetics, but that may have to wait until the following summer when there is more space on the next terrace up.

    Congrats with the squash and tomatoes. Have you begun eating any of them yet? Our growing seasons are remarkably similar to yours.

    Thanks for the tip about the wood ash. Now may be the time to dig deep. I’m planning to add in a layer of composted woody mulch, fine mulch, and mushroom compost, but the soil in the new enclosure is so new that it may be to no avail. Maybe I should transplant some soil in there? That might be a good idea. What do you reckon?

    Cheers

    Chris

17. Hi Coco,

    Thanks (and blush). 🙂 I love that dirty old oversized woollen jumper. The editor tells me that it is not to be worn off the property because the wool has pulled through on a few of the stitches (courtesy of Ollie – it is a long story) and appearances must be maintained.

    On the other hand, I wear that jumper whenever I’m heading out to get a quote for materials. It’s like a lucky jumper for me because people inevitably give me better prices! 😉

    There is always a story in there, and believe it or not I originally bought the wrong size jumper and it was too large for me. Then I began wearing it, and now I’m not sure who is wearing whom? It is good stuff. The other jumpers don’t feel the same.

    Sorry I digress as usual. Yeah, I dug those post holes using the hand auger and it leaves really neat and tidy circles in the clay. We do neat here! 😉 I can well understand how that happens to your post holes. Years ago I read about an agricultural course and the people running the course complained that the attendees didn’t even know how to go about digging a hole for a fruit tree? You’re miles ahead of the competition. Incidentally, your garden is looking as beautiful as it is productive!

    Hehe! Yes, Peak Rocks is a dread time, and to put it off with further exploratory excavation work is an outstanding outcome. All of the larger rocks were used on substantial paths. The place is getting very organised!

    Cheers

    Chris

18. Hi Damo,

    Ah well, it may surprise you that I don’t generally discuss story ideas with the editor before writing them out. I’m deliberately vague and evasive, unless it is her idea and then we can flesh it out before I put the story to text. The discussion process in some ways stifles a bit of the creativity of the process. It is hard to explain. Sometimes the journey itself becomes the story, and as you rightly noted in the story, the pace of life can be a bit too fast to be enjoyable – although I may be reading more into your story than you intended?

    Haha! Well, the new story needs to be told, and who are we to stand in front of that freight train of creativity? 🙂

    Long work hours, you know all I can say is: Been there, done that, got the t-shirt. Nobody thanks you for the hours, and you’re rarely remunerated for it. Good luck. Actually how it is thought of is: Tick, that’s one problem solved, onto the next one. And it is very hard to do less, once you’ve shown your hand. It is like playing poker, you have to keep your cards close to your chest. I knew a bloke who used to be able to say with all sincerity: Mate, I’d love to help, but I’m really busy at the moment, maybe next time. It is a good line to remember for the future.

    Ah thanks for the reminder and I noticed your new blog entry. The boat looks like it is coming along well. Nice work.

    Cheers

    Chris

19. Chris:

    “(double secret cont) ” I thought you and Lew had a secret code.

    Pam

20. Chris:

    I couldn’t tear my eyes away from “The Machine That Fired Me” – a great science fiction story in itself, though true. But I did note that the situation was eventually resolved, and in favor of the fellow “terminated”. Some chaos, lost pay, a great deal of human stress all around, but it was fixed. And there never really has been anything such as real “job security”. It all depends on the whim and will of the master (ie employer) and circumstances beyond his or her control. There is an analogy lurking in the back of my mind for this, but I can’t find it.

    Pam

21. Yo, Chris – Glad to hear you got the bench from the tip. It did cross my mind that you might have paid a late night visit to the local city park. :-).

    That was a rather frightening story about “The Machine Fired Me.” On several levels. I can’t imagine working for a company like that. Vast cubicle farms. And, it reminds me of some of those stories where computers take over the world and just decide we’re all too tiresome to deal with.

    But we all hear about computer snafus, that seem unfixable as there is no living person to talk to about the problem, or, if you find someone to talk to, they don’t have the power (or skill) to fix the problem.

    I haven’t mentioned it (breath held and fingers crossed) but a week ago, I was rummaging around in the innards of my computer and noticed an odd File That Will Not Be Named. I dumped it in my garbage and … haven’t seen a pop up ad or the brown screen of death, since. All these months of agony and it was that simple? I still don’t know if I trust it enough to do financial stuff on it. We’ll see.

    I use the Cont. to a.) break up my long screeds a bit and b.) I always had the paranoid feeling that the brown screen of death was going to drop at any moment and wipe out everything that had been put down. Cont.

22. Cont. LOL. Yes. You quoted that Great Twentieth Century sage, Kermit. :-).

    I’m off to the Big Box Store this morning to pick up a couple of kinds of fertilizer in an effort to try a last ditch effort to save the corn. Which fries my grits, a bit, as I feel like I should be able to work enough free stuff into the soil to avoid those expenses. Then, again, I’ve only been working on that soil for a year. My expectations and impatience are misplaced. Luckily, I’m in the part of my growing season where I can hit the organic gardening books and start plotting for next year.

    But since you had a successful test plot of the corn, I’d do whatever you did, with your soil. It worked? But I’d repeat what the Master Gardener told me. Corn is a heavy feeder. At least you’ve got the chicken poo out of your hen fortress. Keeping in mind it might be a bit “hot.”

    The squash is only the size of tennis balls, so far. Last night, I gently disintangled one from the corn as it was growing in thin air and I wanted it on the ground. I noticed one of (of two) pumpkins is turning orange. Two of my four potato plants appear to be dying back, so, I’ll be digging those, soon.

    My friend Julia gifted me with a really nice acorn squash and a dozen eggs. I’ll probably eat half the squash with just butter and brown sugar. The other half … well, I found a recipe that sounds good. Apple / squash muffins! Lew

23. Hello again
    Thanks for explaining the fire screen, I’ll have another look at it. I’ll also have to have another look at your graph; Lew is way brighter than me, I gave up on it.
    I was not jesting. However inbreeding is fine if there are no genetic flaws. There was interest in the fact that the Island had a particularly large number of women living past the age of 100.
    There was no problem or particular interest when my husband and a brother and brother-in-law bought the land here. It was 1949 and I think that there were only 2 other families living near.
    We are having a fantastic blackberry year and I made blackberry icecream today. Son wants 8lbs of blackberries to make wine; I shall consider having a go at picking them for him.

    @Coco
    There are 5 inhabited Scilly islands and they do indeed grow daffodils. I am on the Isle of Wight which is further north and east and doesn’t grow daffodils commercially.

    Inge

24. Hi Chris,

    I’m feeling a sense of accomplishment because I got the autumn greens and roots seeds planted today. Supposedly we are to get some rain tomorrow and again toward the weekend and early next week, but I will believe it when it happens. For the moment, I have watered the newly planted area from the tank of water that has stored rain from the shed roof. There is plenty in there to get the seeds up and growing if nature cannot provide rain.

    While we are nowhere near the kind of drought that other parts of Missouri are dealing with (some parts of the state are under extreme drought similar to that being experienced farther west), it is abnormally dry. The lawn has stopped growing, now that I have the new lawnmower. Not that it breaks my heart to not need to use it, for there is a good deal of clean-up work that I plan to get to over the next few weeks, like cleaning the weedy shrubs, trees, and vines out of the bamboo patch and removing dead bamboo poles. But I do need to watch the vegetable garden and do supplemental watering when necessary. I also need to get some water on the American persimmon trees I received and planted in the spring if we don’t get a good rain in the next day or two.

    It’s quite sobering how many fires are ongoing in the US already, well before the worst of the fire season in California. Smoke from the fires causes the sky to be somewhat hazy here on clear days. The ongoing drought across most of the Plains and western US suggests that it will get worse before it gets better. I’ve noticed that once drought gets established it is hard to break, because the water cycle is disrupted. Trees cannot transpire as much water as the soil dries out, so fewer clouds form and less rain can fall, increasing soil dryness, and around the cycle. The best way to break a late summer drought here is for a tropical storm to come up from the Gulf of Mexico in the right direction to rain on us. So far none of those are in the offing.

    While I don’t think the mega-agriculture being practiced in the US Midwest is at all sustainable, it’s still providing us with most of our calories indirectly, through its use as livestock feed, and directly in some processed foods (and in the case of wheat, all of the things made from it). Few farmers, small, large, or in-between, can farm full-time unless a spouse brings in enough money for the family to live on. The average age of farmers in the US is 60 – not good at all.

    Claire

25. Hi Pam, Lewis, Inge, and Claire,

    Thanks for the lovely comments, and I promise to reply to you tomorrow evening.

    Lewis – In an act of utter spontaneity, the editor and I decided to go to the films tonight. But what to see. We settled on a quirky New Zealand film, The Breaker Upperers. It was very amusing and silly film, and was largely a film about the friendship between the two lead characters who ran a business which was paid to break up couples. Yes, that was the premise, and we enjoyed the fun nature of the film.

    Then hamburgers and chips… Yum! Mustard and Pickles. Now if only they could work beetroot in there somewhere it would be perfect, but alas it is not bad to be left reaching for perfection don’t you reckon? If ever it was achieved, I have the sneaking suspicion that the standards would merely be lifted to some new definition of perfection. Best probably not to try to reach for the stars and settle for merely good. Well, that’s my excuse anyway. They put rock salt and dried rosemary on the chips, and I reckon that’s pretty good.

    I’m going to have a bash at fixing the leak in the water tank valve tomorrow. Fingers crossed.

    Cheers

    Chris

26. Yo, Chris – Well, a silly movie now and again is a nice break. And a good excuse for a fine meal :-).

    On islands and inbreeding (or, I suppose more politely, genetic problems). Martha’s Vineyard, an island off the US east coast, was known in the early days for the high level of deafness among the inhabitants. Some kind of inherited condition, as I remember. The island even developed it’s own variety of sign language.

    Still quit smokey, here. Enough to bother my eyes, a bit. The sun and moon are quit red.

    I harvested my first two San Mariano tomatoes, last night. Sliced them up and and tried all kinds of variations. Everything from plain to slightly cooked with olive oil, salt and pepper. Quit good, if mild.

    Much to my surprise, they were hollow, like bell peppers. An excursion to the Internet rabbit hole reveals that this condition is called “puffiness.” Can be caused by a number of factors. Cool temperatures, poor pollination or high nitrogen / low potassium. We’ll see if it persists as the crop comes along.

    But, maybe not a bad thing. Wouldn’t get much paste out of them, but they’d probably dry nicely. I was also thinking I could stuff them with tomatillo salsa and pop them under the broiler. I did save seed, as they were the earliest. But that might not be such a good thing. The cool nights, early on, may have been the problem.

    The Bank of America branch is pulling out of Centralia. I don’t know. Just another example of big corporations pulling out of small places. In my more paranoid moments, a move to run us all into larger and larger cities.

    I thought the media person was so … cagey. For no good reason. As in the question about number of employees affected. Can’t say. Like it’s a State Secret. Very few I’d guess as they’ve been reducing staff for several years. And, I’d guess the management (as with so many other organizations, here) already lives “up north” and are probably celebrating that they won’t “have” to commute anymore.

    http://www.chronline.com/news/bank-of-america-in-centralia-to-close-permanently-this-november/article_5fd9307a-9d0d-11e8-9048-a787fa4c699f.html

    Much to my horror, yesterday morning, I took the daily trip to my library catalog. To my horror as we had an entire new catalog. The New Items, DVDs and Nonfiction had gone missing. I stopped by my local branch, and asked the head librarian, “Teach me how to love the new catalog.” Turns out those functions didn’t “migrate” and will have to be tinkered back into existence. But they are working on it. Don’t know why we needed a new catalog. The old one was just getting to the place where it was functioning pretty well. But then, as I read recently, “If a program is working, it’s obsolete.”

    I started reading “Tomatoland: How Modern Industrial Agriculture Destroyed Our Most Alluring Fruit.” (Estabrook, 2011.) One of those books I never would have known I wanted to take a look at, had it not appeared on the New Item / Nonfiction list.

    Interesting. Tomatoes have their roots (pun intended) in South America but were domesticated in Mexico. Oddly, I was watching a Great Courses / National Geographic lecture series, last night, and it was talking about tomatoes (and other crops) and how they spread worldwide. The course is called “Food, Science, and the Human Body.” The series is by Professor Alyssa Crittenden, who is an anthropologist. Lew

27. Hi Pam,

    The new blog format put an end to the double secret cont. No seriously. No need for it! The old blogger had a limit of 4,096 characters in a reply, and “walls of text” rarely fit with such limits. The second comment reply was a ‘cont’ and the third was a ‘double secret cont’. 🙂

    What a story. I had no idea that such systems even existed. And the fact that things can go so wrong without human oversight is a bit, terminator, really. And he got terminated! 🙂

    When I was a kid people used to talk about ‘job for life’ as if it was a thing. I guess it really was a thing back then, but job security is not so good nowadays. I do know of people who have worked in the same company for almost four decades. I reckon the whole situation is just another example of how we are in decline. And under employment is a problem.

    Cheers

    Chris

28. Hi Inge,

    The fire screen is quite sturdy. I have to keep the resolution of the images lower than the old blogger platform because I pay for the storage of the pictures. Not to worry, some details get lost in the images.

    Thanks for the clarification. Well, these things happened from time to time and there are some examples about why it can be a bad idea. I reckon we’re a nomadic animal and that is good for the gene pool.

    Wow! How things must have changed around you since those days? I read an historical account about the mountain range here after WWII, and apparently there was only a single person living up in this end of the mountain range. It sure would have been quiet, and it is not like there weren’t empty houses around. I often wonder what the area will look like if ever there is a shortage of fossil fuels. Most are unprepared for that eventuality. No doubts it will be quiet up here again one day!

    Yeah, the blackberries love the summer heat and they’re real givers when all else has shrivelled on the bush. I feel that the plant is a bit maligned down here and an awful lot of energy and chemicals gets chucked at it, only for the plant to regrow and produce berries. Such a plant should be celebrated! The wine is worth the effort! 😉

    Cheers

    Chris

29. Hi Lewis,

    Your suggestion about the park bench is very naughty! I didn’t do it, if only because I hadn’t thought of it myself! Hehe! 🙂 Actually the tip shop is really good and it is well stocked. I’m amazed at the things that people throw out.

    I can’t imagine working for a company like that either, and there was an undertone of smugness of being in, versus being out. And who gets to set the goals and objectives for a robot? So many unasked questions there. It is a possibility, who knows what ideas artificial intelligence would have, and if the range of concerns was limited enough, then it would be a bit psychopathic. Car makers are coming to terms with that in the ‘who do I kill’ self driving car program.

    Did I mention the local telephone company appears to have installed a chat bot for calls, and also Telstra slashing 8,000 jobs to cut costs, but shares still slammed. I was stuck in an endless loop with that chat bot recently and it drove me bananas. Probably explains a thing or two. Interestingly, that job cut is the biggest ever down here.

    Yes, naming the Odd file will probably bring misery down on all of us. However did the file get there? It makes you wonder… I try to keep a very tight reign on the files coming and going from this computer, but inevitably I’ll slip up sooner or later.

    I enjoy the ‘walls of text’! Although on the other hand I have lost walls of text to the blue screen of death and well, there was lots of wailing and gnashing of teeth. Who wants that? Not I.

    I couldn’t fix the water tank leak today so I initiated a warranty claim. It should be an easy fix for them, but I just don’t want to take that option myself in case in voids the warranty. Best to let them sort it out and/or give me the OK to do the work.

    Kermit is da man! 🙂 I used to enjoy the Muppets, it was good fun. I can still hear the ear worm theme song… Talk about programming.

    You’ve got me worried about the corn for here. I was out with the chickens earlier this evening thinking about your corn, and it may be that your soil critters haven’t gotten their act together yet. With that in mind, I’m planning on transplanting some good soil from elsewhere about the farm into the new corn enclosure. If the weather holds I may put down the compost for the corn over the next few days. It is an early spring here and I note that some of the fruit trees have broken their dormancy. Over the next day or so, I’m going to look back at the photos of prior years and determine if this is an ordinary situation or not.

    Elsewhere there are bushfires in the far east of this state and also in New South Wales which is the state to the north of here. Is this a normal winter? Perhaps not. Victoria warned to brace for worst fire season in a decade. Not good. The rainfall has been normal here, but elsewhere… It often rains here when it does not rain elsewhere due to the mountain range sticking like a sore thumb out of elevated plains.

    cont…

30. Anyway, the corn problem will be sorted out one way or another. That’s my way of saying that if it all fails this year, then hopefully I do better next year. Still, the area I planted them in last year was only a few months old, but it was adjacent to the existing tomato enclosure and so the soil may have been inoculated a bit quicker than otherwise. It really does take about three years to get soil back to life. That is one of my worries for the future, but one can only do so much.

    Squash grow really fast and if you get a bit of rain and a lot of hot days, they’ll be like zucchini’s… Don’t turn your back on the squash as they may show their triffid like qualities.

    Speaking of which (and silly films), and I know you have a dark enjoyment of the Sharknado franchise, well, they’re going one better: The Meg! Personally, I blame Jaws…

    How did the squash/apple muffins turn out? Apple muffins are a favourite of mine. Yum!

    We were speaking about inbreeding with island populations, a tough gig that. In a bizarre twist to the story the editor and I were discussing the same problem with dogs. Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. I read that that breed got down to six specimens at one stage and the current lot are all related to those. I’d call that a recipe for genetic disaster, and I have doubts that they’d make it as a member of the fluffy collective.

    Cliff Mass posted about your smoke. It was an impressive achievement. Not good.

    Hey, I’m going to head to the pub. 🙂 Happy days, pint and feed. What more does one need?

    Cheers

    Chris

31. @Damo (if I may)
    Bennings Green Scallop Squash are a good alternative to zucchinis. They also bear heavily but I found they don’t germinate all that well so plant a good few seeds and keep the best plant (or two). The yellow patty-pan scallop squash variety are tasteless and bland, don’t plant those. This variety is good. https://www.rareseeds.com/bennings-green-tint-scallop-squash/
    Regards Elbows

32. Yo, Chris – That’s pretty awful about the Telstra lay offs. I see it will be over a three year period, so that “may” take a bit of the edge off. A lot of those people will find employment again, but it won’t be at their previous wage or, probably, have the benefits.

    Their current way of living will slide. They’ll either adapt, and find a different kind of happiness. Or, not.

    My Dad and brother managed to pull off that “job for life” gig. Nabisco. I could have probably done the same, but I think it was that pesky D4 receptor that made me so … restless. :-).

    The file appeared due to me being stupid. It stealthed in as a request for an Adobe graphics upgrade request. Which popped up at various intervals for years, with no problems. I didn’t get the memo that I was supposed to go to the official website and do it from there. Of course, there’s the problem of knowing if you actually ARE at the official website, or, something that just looks like it.

    Well. We got an onshore flow overnight, and the smoke appears to be mostly gone. I can actually see the distant hills. I don’t envy my friends further east.

    Yup. I’ve seen a bit of the media on “Meg.” I may have read the original book years ago. But somehow, it does not appeal.

    Nope. Haven’t made the apple/squash muffins, yet. Don’t want to rush into anything :-). Squash keeps so well, so no worries on that front. Actually, it’s the apples that are taking up my time, right now. Freezing. Re-organizing the freezer. Lew

33. Hi Chris,

    At our old place there were plenty of rocks but here not so much. As two sides of the property border farm land Doug was looking for some rocks at the edges where farmers usually pile them. No luck though. He looking for a large one to put under the pigs waterer as they are digging a big hole underneath it. Yes, the pigs are here so only the bees left. It looks like a bumper crop of honey as well – maybe 500 lbs.

    On a sad note, my brother, Michael passed away Tuesday night. There was not much quality time for him during his 15 days in the hospital. Four times he seemed like he was making progress only to have another set back. We finally decided on Sunday that he receive palliative care. He was pretty agitated that day but they gave him Ativan which calmed him down, lifted his dietary restrictions and he enjoyed his burger and fries while watching a Cubs game. That day there were ten family members there. Things just got worse and he was finally given morphine with the Ativan to sedate him. We transferred him to the care center where my mother-in-law lived on Tuesday morning and he passed peacefully late Tuesday night of acute respiratory failure. All through this difficult time he had wonderful care from the nurses and respiratory therapists in particular and there was never a time without at least one of his sisters. Strangely both he and Patrick were the same age, 53, when they died. This has hit all of us quite hard but he had been in failing health for some time and most likely would have just gone from one medical crisis to the next.

    Margaret

34. Hi Lewis,

    Have you had any further thoughts about your hollow tomatoes? Purchased tomatoes can occasionally be quite dry and powdery inside, although I’ve never experienced that with the home-grown variety. I have heard of a school of thought that suggests that the outcome may be due to over watering. I deliberately keep the tomato plants – as does every other plant suffer – on water rations. San Mariano are a slightly larger variety than what I grow, so I just don’t have the experience with that variety. I have grown them, but I just don’t recall how the experiment went. The short growing season here means that I have to grow slightly smaller tomatoes than that variety.

    I managed to cement in all of the treated pine timber posts for the corn enclosure today. And I even had a chance to prepare the first step for the next future terrace higher up (I’m already dreaming about the rocks that I’ll excavate in the process). One has to start somewhere! I was looking at the weather forecast earlier this evening and heavy rain is predicted for 3am, so hopefully all of the cement works are OK. I placed a cover over the cement step whilst it is drying. Did I mention that Ollie jumped onto the step and left a huge paw print? He knew it was wrong too. We had to remonstrate with the naughty cattle dog and then repair the step surface. Who knows how that will turn out?

    Hopefully the rain holds off a bit tomorrow morning too because I’ll place a load of mulch onto the area. Plus with your corn growing issues in mind, I’ll transplant some soil into that area plus some coffee grounds and coffee bean husks. It is a complex problem and I reckon there is not enough time to get the soil started before the seeds have to be planted, but what the heck, let’s see how it goes and maybe things will be easier there next year!

    Yes, drying tomatoes is a great way to preserve them. It also concentrates the sugars (and taste) and we’re still enjoying last seasons crop as additions to most meals. Incidentally, I’m still enjoying last years bumper crop of apricots most days in my breakfast. The citrus is a little out of control though and I may have to consider what to do with them all. The chickens enjoy six lemons a day and they eat all of them. I cut the lemons up into tiny little pieces for them. Most of the lemons go as gifts.

    Yup, I’ve heard that threat of banks pulling out of small towns down here too. I’d have to suggest that they may have forgotten that they need customers in order to make a profit. The Royal Commission into the banking sector has been interesting to say the least.

    I don’t get that software change story either. The editor was making a similar complaint to me earlier in the week. The rate of change can be overwhelming from time to time, and I guess that is the point of it in the first place. Perhaps the programmers were bored and facing redundancy, so they decided to completely redo the software because it seemed like a good idea at the time and kept them all in a job?

    Exactly too, South America and Australia were once connected and the nightshade family of plants are represented down here too, although not many of them have ever found their way onto western plates. Selection would be an interesting task.

    There has been some quiet background talk about layoffs being undertaken so that pension benefits get downgraded. Some very long term employees have very lucrative pensions which are usually converted to less lucrative pensions in a process sometimes known as ‘spilling’. I have known one or two people who were paid more during their retirement than they ever were when they worked. It happens, but I do wonder about the equity and longevity of such a situation. There was a bit of an industrial dispute about that recently. Ah, here goes: ‘Morale at rock bottom’: Super row as Qantas food fight gets ugly. There is a bit of jargon in the article, but basically defined benefit is effectively pension benefits paid at a percentage of a persons final salary until they keel over. Accumulation on the other hand is like a bank account and a persons pension consists of whatever they’ve managed to put in there as savings plus interest. Of course there are considerable differences in the two outcomes.

    I have no benefits whatsoever in my own small business and well, I keep my fingers crossed I don’t get sick.

    But your point stands and things that can’t be maintained, usually won’t be maintained – and that applies to bridges as well as financial instruments. There is truth in there too that money doesn’t buy happiness. I’ve known some folks with access to large resources and they didn’t seem much happier to me, in fact it looked as though they had complicated burdens. I’m much happier digging the soil. 🙂

    Haha! Mate, I hear you about the D4 receptor. It takes one to know one! Hehe! Thanks for the laugh. I met a lady I knew from a small community group a week or two back. We had a good chat, but I said, you know, I’m not much good with politics because I often share candid opinions showing people in a poor light, and then everyone gets upset, and so perhaps it was best if I was elsewhere! 🙂 Funny stuff. Anyway, that group imploded without me adding any fuel at all to the fire. It was a bit sad really.

    Ouch. I struggle a bit with the Adobe Flash update too because every time the program requests to install some other unrelated security software, perhaps of uncertain parentage. 😉

    Glad to hear that the smoke has headed further east, but unfortunate for your friends in Idaho.

    Fair enough about the film. I wouldn’t go and see it either, although there is a market for such films.

    Enjoy your freezer reorganisation, and I hope that no foodstuffs get spilled in the process!

    Cheers

    Chris

35. Hi Claire,

    Your timing with the autumnal seed planting sounds pretty good to me, and you are in an enviable position of having water left in the water tank at this stage of the cycle of the year. 🙂 Did you end up getting the rain? Do your autumn greens include many Brassica varieties? It may sound a bit weird to you, but now that the UV here is medium, the many Brassica species are now starting to grow and it is a real pleasure to be able to walk around and pick mustard’s and rocket.

    Yup, the drought is pretty bad in both countries. You might be interested to see the extent of the drought here on a neat little map provided by our Bureau of Meteorology: Rainfall deficit for the year to date. Strangely enough, the farm and mountain range is in a tiny little green area which means that it is an average year for rainfall – but not anywhere around here… There are bushfires going on in winter in this state…

    Oh yeah, definitely water your American persimmons if they’re in their first year. Hey, I planted the seeds today for the American paw paw (which is of the custard apple family) and I’m really excited to see whether anything comes of those. The seeds were huge and I’ve stratified them in the refrigerator for most of winter (not that that was technically necessary). The seeds were exceptionally hard to track down.

    Did you know that the flip side of all of those fires is that particulate matter ends up in the atmosphere, and that has a latter cooling and cloud forming effect. The year following the dreadful 2009 Black Saturday bushfires which burned through something crazy like 450,000ha (1.125m acres) and killed 173 people, were the wettest in recorded history. There is a case that there is more than a minor causal relationship there.

    The exact same situation applies here for farmers. It is not a policy with any long term legs.

    Cheers

    Chris

36. @ Elbows:

    The Bennings Green Tint Squash is the one that we have grown for years along with our zucchini. It is much hardier where I am (Virginia USA) than zucchini. We grow zucchini, too, but this year most of the zucchini failed, but the Bennings is still growing strong. I have find that the Bennings stay fresh much longer than zucchinis after being picked.

    As a side note, a Bennings crossed with a zucchini this summer and we had a few hardy white zucchini squashes before a groundhog ate the plant. I did manage to save seeds.

    Pam

37. @ Margaret:

    I was so afraid that this had happened since we hadn’t heard from you. I am so sorry that Michael is gone. You are a blessed family for having loved and cared for him so well. My prayers are with you all.

    Pam

38. Chris:

    My son has baby paw paw trees growing in pots from seeds saved from a neighbors’ tree. He says that it is crucial that the young trees be in at least partial shade (they can take quite a bit) their first few years because when they grow in the wild here they all have come up as understory trees under the forest trees here. Then they like a lot more sun as they reach fruiting age. We have one wild one that has fruited for the first time this year. It only appears to have fruit because several of the large forest trees were cut down to enlarge the garden, letting in more sun. In fact, that is how we discovered it, just before it got cut down. Whew!

    It seems to me that I remember the neighbors’ paw paw fruits ripening in September and October.

    Pam

39. Hi Margaret,

    Did you just write that you too have now passed Peak Rocks in your new property? It is horrific as rocks are very useful items. We sewed up the rock gabion today that was filled with rocks from the recent excavations. I’m chomping at the bit to get back into digging so as to unearth new rocks, but that will have to wait until next year… So much to do before then.

    Yes I can see that the piggies would do that, and total respect for Doug’s hall of so much honey. I’m genuinely impressed!

    I extend my sympathies to you and your family for the loss of Michael on Tuesday. I have been told that fluid on the lungs is a peaceful way to go, and at one time in history it was described as the old man’s friend. It warms my heart to read that he enjoyed a burger and fries whilst watching a Cub’s game on Sunday. I’ll bet he enjoyed that meal with gusto! It is really nice too that he was surrounded by the warmth of his family in his final days.

    With sympathy.

    Chris

40. Hi Pam,

    Oooo! Thanks for the tips about the American paw paw tree. The seeds were extraordinarily hard to find down under. Unfortunately, I placed the seeds in a raised garden bed that will get regular summer watering. I may have to change that given what you just wrote.

    Hey, I got the treated pine posts cemented into the ground today for the new corn enclosure. I’m starting to feel that I may have cut things a bit too fine though because I’ll only get the soil started tomorrow morning… Oh well, fingers crossed, expect the worst, hope for the best, and then there is always next year… 😉

    Cheers

    Chris

41. @ Margaret
    I am so sorry to hear of Michael’s death but glad to hear that it was peaceful and that his care has been very good.

    Inge

42. @ Margaret – Michael has been in my nightly prayers, and I’m sorry to hear he’s passed on. But, quality of life is important. He was well taken care of, and loved. Lew

43. @ Chris – It got down to 48F (8.88C) last night. When I went out to take Princess for her walk, there was a bit of a breeze ripping and it was pretty nippy. I can’t say it’s feeling (or smelling) like fall, but the weather is changing.

    We did have a cool, wet spring, when the tomatoes were developing. But, maybe as they cycle, as the later tomatoes developed in hotter weather, I may see some that fill out a bit. I had another ripe one, last night, and it was also hollow. I an see that it would be upsetting if I were expecting to get a lot of paste out of them.

    Future archaeologists will thank Ollie. :-). Future people will think, “Oh, they were kind of like us. They liked dogs, too.”

    You may not have a pension, but you won’t have to worry about health care costs. Imagine that in the mix. Just out of curiosity, do you also have national dental and eye care? Here, those kinds of insurance just about don’t exist.

    Pensions are complicated and come in all kinds of flavors. Promises were made, but as the economy of the world winds down, become more and more tenuous. The funds that are more “protected”, well, Wall Street salivates to get it’s hands on that money.

    But, I think, more and more people are getting hip to the fact that ANYTHING tied to the stock market is pretty “iffy.” No matter if it’s loans, or, returns on investments.

    There is a government program to cover pension losses, but I think it’s pretty weak and I don’t know much about it.

    Well, I’m going on an adventure this morning. I’m making my first trip to a Dollar Store. I’m looking for tooth paste and vinegar, within reason. And, someone suggested I try the Dollar Store. Those are one of the most rapidly expanding sectors of the US retail economy, at this time.

    Of course, way back when, there was the “five and dime.” Those hung on into my childhood. Here and there. Especially in small towns. I remember, later, there were the “88 cent” stores. Now, it’s dollar stores. That’s inflation, I guess :-). Lew

    PS: I’m sure you heard Aretha Franklin passed away. That made me a bit sad. Part of the sound track of my youth. I’m pretty sure I have her gospel album. I may throw it on, this afternoon, and wallow around in the gospel, for awhile.

44. @ Margaret: my deepest sympathies to you and your family on Michael’s death. It is sad that he had to die so young, but I am glad to hear that as death goes, it was relatively easy and that he was able to enjoy a favorite activity and foods with his family before he died. My heart goes out to your and your family; may your love for each other be a comfort at this time.

    Claire

45. Hi Chris,

    It did indeed rain on my newly planted seeds, and some seedlings have already appeared, even a few lettuce seedlings which are notoriously difficult for me to get growing during late summer when I must sow it for autumn crops. We’ll see how many seedlings survive the gauntlet of hazards awaiting them, not least the occasional rabbit that sneaks in under the fence so it can sleep in the shade of beans or corn. At least that’s what I think it’s doing in there. It doesn’t seem to be eating anything, not even the carrot tops which are a known favorite of the local rabbits.

    I planted three rows of lettuce (these are all short rows, 4 feet/1ish meter long) but everything else, the majority of what I planted, is in the brassica family. The lineup for this autumn is daikon radish; ‘Red Meat’, an exceptionally beautiful and delicious winter radish; turnips; mustard greens; bok choy; arugula; kale; and Chinese cabbage. Maybe next year I’ll trial some of the other brassicas as well. There are quite a few different ones available.

    I wouldn’t worry about regular rain on the pawpaw seeds; they tend to like growing in locations close to but a little way up from ponds and streams, where the soil is a little moister than farther upland but isn’t wet. As Pam says, the more crucial condition is to keep some shade on them when young. It doesn’t have to be deep shade all day in my experience, but shading them during the hours when the sun is strongest is helpful.

    SLClaire

46. Hi Lewis,

    To quote someone who is touring down under – and in relation to your weather – the times they’re a changing! Your night time weather was the same as the daytime weather here today. Today has been cold. Princess has a double coat of fur and so has probably never felt cold in her life! Sir Poopy being of a similar breed also had a double coat of fur and he only felt the cold in his final few days. I knew he was a goner when I found him huddling in front of the wood fire late one afternoon.

    Despite the cold weather (and intermittent rain) we put down the lasagne, which is the soil ingredients in the corn enclosure. 🙂 It was a strange mix of organic matter which was basically whatever I had readily to hand and thought would be a good idea to chuck in. Will it work? Who knows? The seeds have to be planted next month…

    Hey, you started me wondering about the tomatoes and I had a look back at how the seasons go here and if the seasons were turned upside down, I’d only be getting ripe tomatoes about now and then well into September. So your tomatoes now might be just the early ones, and the earliest ones here usually have little flavour? Dunno.

    It is really hard to remember all of the little details and so it is nice to keep the photos which work for me like a garden diary. I now know that this season has been colder than previous seasons, and in prior years the fruit trees have begun budding earlier. Go figure that out as I believed that it was the other way around. The winter began later but appears to have been more intense, but without the snow. I saw a bit of sleet today, but again it was too warm for snow.

    Hehe! Ollie was practicing the gentle Roman art of graffiti as seen in some of the walls at Vindoland, except that what he wrote with the paw print in the wet cement was: “Fluffy contingent 2018 are the best”. He knew what he was doing was wrong too, and he worked in league with Toothy…

    Not to worry on that score because we are slowly catching up to you, although admittedly the gap is still very wide: Rising out-of-pocket medical costs force more than 1m Australians to put off doctor visits: report. I believe eye care is covered in medicare (although consultations and not for products), but dental, well you are on your own there down here. I go to the dentist for check ups on a regular basis, but only because I have no desire to go for anything worse than those. 😉 The dentists still try to push x-rays on me, but I politely decline. It is a bit ‘do you want fries with that?’

    Oh yeah, before the Royal Commission into the banking sector, there were repeated calls from industry sources to shut down the small time self managed pension funds (being an accountant I can run one on the cheap). They were clearly looking to get in on that action. And for good reasons too. I believe that it is standard practice to absorb something around 2% of a funds balance regardless of performance. Then there are intermittent calls to change to a cashless society. Few people realise that if every transaction went to a cashless transaction, then whoever administers that transactional system scores big time, I dunno, maybe 1.5% on every single transaction in the economy. It is like the premise of the old superman movie, or in less favourable terms, it looks like a tax on every single transaction, but not collected by the usual tax folks. Clever stuff.

    I do wonder whether folks on cushy pension income streams are putting any of those funds aside for a rainy day? It could get very damp in the near future, at a guess.

    Ponzi schemes usually involve bringing in more funds in order to prop up prices. It is such an old game, and it is also a good way to ‘disappear’ excess money supply, whilst benefiting people who already own those assets. It is an ingenious strategy really.

    Oh no! Really? Wow, we have no such thing down here for lost retirement funds, but I believe government pensions are funded from general revenue. There has been a considerable push for immigration in recent years so as to reduce the average age of the average person down under. Nobody is really having the conversation with the public as to which Faustian choice they’d like to go with. It is a bit sad really, because I feel that the population might be up for the discussion. Nobody talks about winners and losers in policy discussions these days, and in fact, I note that policies are often introduced and the concept for them hasn’t even been sold to the population. It all seems a bit bubble like to me. Politicians are a bit bubble girl and bubble boy like, if only because they appear to live in a bubble.

    Toothpaste is an interesting item and some people down here have gone on a zero waste bender and I’ve heard them on the radio talking about homemade toothpaste. The usual ingredients seem to be baking soda, coconut oil, and mint, but I’ve never tested any of those items. Did you discover any cheap vinegar? You have me wondering about the process of making white vinegar, but my brain is too full of other stuff to contemplate the subject at the moment.

    I’ve only heard the term ‘five and dime’ before in a Bryan Adams song about the summer of ’69, and I wasn’t sure whether it was a widely used term. Interesting! You’ll get a chuckle out of this: Down here we call them $2 shops! Hehe! Take that inflation! 🙂 And plenty of items in them are well beyond $2…

    Aretha has a beautiful voice. Enjoy your album and indulge upon the wallow. It is good for the soul. 🙂 Who doesn’t enjoy a strong female vocalist? I’m quite the fan of Florence Welch, of Florence and the Machine. Spell binding stuff.

    Cheers

    Chris

47. Hi Claire,

    Lucky you having both rain and soil warmth! No wonder the lettuce seeds took off. Hey, I struggle with those too at your time of year because they readily bolt to seed at the merest hint of a hot day. Hehe! I loved your description: ‘gauntlet of hazards’. So true.

    Do you have eagles, falcons, and/or hawks? The rabbits may be taking a break from the relentless fear of those birds in the shade of your beans and corn. Dunno, really, I’m just guessing. Rabbits here live a nervous life!

    Thanks for the descriptions of your Brassica family of plantings. It is a good selection.

    Thanks too for the advice regarding the paw paws and I will keep that advice in mind when they germinate. They’re in a good spot for regular watering.

    I’m planning to write tonight, so I’d better get on with it! 🙂

    Cheers

    Chris

48. Hi Lewis,

    Just before I forget, this is the strangest food fad that I have yet encountered: Is WOOD the latest super-food? High-fibre fat substitute with no calories made from trees is being added to everything from ready meals to mayo.

    I am aware that Beech trees can be processed into a form of bread.

    Cheers

    Chris

49. Thanks to everyone for your kind thoughts. It’s been a difficult few weeks but Michael is in a better place now and hopefully he and Patrick are back to teasing each other.

    Margaret

50. Hi Chris,

    Doug was pretty surprised at the amount of honey. We’ve been listening to the sound of acorns dropping which is new experience for us. We only had a few oak trees at the old place and they were not near the house and mostly pretty young. Here we are surrounded by oak and hickory trees. We gathered up some for the pigs yesterday and one in particular really dove into them.

    It remains oppressively humid here but at least the temperatures are not too bad. I got some of the flower beds weeded around the house and there are enough empty spots to throw in a few seeds for lettuce and other greens. It’s pretty shady so we’ll see how it goes.

    Margaret

51. @ Margaret:

    ” and hopefully he and Patrick are back to teasing each other” – now there is a joyful picture!

    That amount of honey is wonderful. Doug is some bee meister. We are oppressively humid, too; sometimes I feel like I can hardly breathe. Our acorns are coming down, also, but I wonder: Are they actually ripe?

    Pam

52. @ Claire:

    I am glad that someone else knows about paw paws. I had read that about the shade for the baby trees and that seemed to be my observation of the wild ones, but this is a new experiment for us.

    I wonder if your wild bunny comes into your yard to avoid neighbors’ cats or dogs, or maybe even a fox? It doesn’t seem to me that the rabbits do much in the way of digging burrows. They always seem to be hiding under stuff. I wonder what will move into Arnie the groundhog’s vacant burrow? It is very large and is suppose to have been filled in . . .

    Aren’t the cabbage worms after your brassicas? The newly planted ones that we didn’t put “mosquito” netting over are looking like skeletons.

    Pam

53. @ Lew:

    We had lots of hollow tomatoes last year, which was unusual for us. It did not seem to be related to variety or to the amount of watering. I think it might have been a mineral deficiency. This year we added lots of wood ash to the soil before planting (we had not done that before) and none of them are hollow. A lucky coincidence?

    Pam

54. Chris:

    Re homemade tooth paste: “The usual ingredients seem to be baking soda, coconut oil, and mint”. I make up that recipe every now and then to brush my teeth with. I like it. I use a drop of peppermint oil for the mint. One could easily use tea tree oil. In fact, it would be more antiseptic.

    Pam

55. Yo, Chris – So, how did the castor oil / eczema trials go? I’d like to know before I go running out and buy a jug of castor oil :-).

    I’ll see how the ongoing tomato harvest, goes. The first to ripen were the first to develop, way back when the nights were really cool. I’m getting a bit concerned about the tomitillas. Tons of blossoms, lots of pollinators. Not many seem to be forming the “little lanterns.” Not like last year.

    The Romans did like their graffiti. Pompeii was like a snapshot in time and preserved a lot of wall scratchings. Some were pretty rank. Some clever. A lot were just advertising. So Toothy was the look-out, and Ollie did the deed? They’re ganging up on you.

    Up selling. I was asked if I wanted a pack of Oreo biscuits with my toothpaste and scrubby sponges. Seems logical … No vinegar, but toothpaste for a buck a tube. That’s more like it! And, I found things I didn’t even know I needed! :-). Managed to get in and out at only $7.

    If I make toothpaste, I used baking soda, hydro peroxide and a drop of whatever extract it in the spice cupboard. Hydro peroxide also seems to be getting a bit expensive. Or, I should say, the large economy sizes have all disappeared. I looked into the making of white vinegar, and it’s pretty complicated and highly industrial.

    Cashless societies “sound” good, but most people realize that the Government will then have privy to your every little financial transaction. It’s swapping convieniance for privacy. Oh, it will come, unless collapse comes first. Cont.

56. Cont. Here, most jobs (all our lives) pays into the Social Security Retirement system. A certain percentage is paid by the employee, and the same percentage by the employer. It’s kept in a “lock box”. Though the government has been trying to jimmy the lock for quit awhile. And, in an effort to scare people to death, some sectors (Wall Street) are always banging on about how it’s about to run out of money. Like, tomorrow. Well, no.

    They used to execute bakers for adulterating bread with sawdust. :-). It must be cheap and lowers the coast of processed foods. And they’ll sell it by pushing the fibre angle. Speaking of processed foods, the Dollar store was full of the stuff. Lew

57. @ Chris – Whoa! Whoa! My corn is tasseling! (And now, back to our regularly scheduled programing.) Lew

58. @ Pam – My corn is tasseling! Is it because of all the fertilizer I threw at it last week? Or, would it have tasseled in the natural order of things? I had worked in a couple a’ three coffee cans of wood ash, before I planted the tomatoes.

    Wow. Good idea. Cover my sprouts with netting instead of spending so much on Bt. But, I think I should use some on my corn cobs (if I get corn cobs) to keep the worms off. Those would be a bit hard to net. And, might have a problem with pollination. Lew

59. Hi Margaret,

    It is such a lovely thought to think of Patrick and Michael now being able to tease each other again.

    Doug has done amazingly well to be rewarded with such a haul of honey. I am genuinely impressed. The European honey bees here are most likely complete sluggards!

    It snowed today, so no doubts the bees are shivering away in their hives.

    I’ve read before that pigs enjoy acorns. That’s free feed for your lot. 🙂 And I continue to plant more oaks every year. They’re surprisingly hardy and versatile plants and clearly they happily select for a particular location. Sometimes when I want to annoy environmentalist I tell them that the best thing we could do is thin the entire forest, mulch everything that gets thinned, and then plant out the areas with broad-leafed trees such as oaks and other more diverse varieties. Such talk usually gets them hopping mad, but they generally forget that their houses were built over forests and the constructions usually contain a lot of forest products. Oh well.

    How is the new house coping with those sorts of warm and humid temperatures? Believe it or not, lettuces and mustard’s self seed here and they tend to favour the more shady areas. They really don’t enjoy the summer sun combined with heat because inevitably they bolt to seed.

    The weather is feral outside right now.

    Cheers

    Chris

60. Hi Pam,

    It’s snowing here today! Yay!

    We had plans to work outside today, but who wants to work in the snow if they don’t have too? Better to be inside in front of the wood heater.

    Thanks for the correction with the toothpaste recipe with the mint versus the mint oil, and glad to read that you have road tested the mix. When I was a kid, toothpaste used to have baking soda in it, and I have no idea what chemicals are in the stuff now. It makes me shudder to consider the matter.

    Way, way back in the day, they used to chew on charcoal and that does an amazing job of whitening teeth.

    As a fun fact, I read recently that the plaque that builds up on the rear of peoples lower front teeth is due to the fact that our saliva contains calcium. Who’d have thunk it? The editor is reading ‘The Gut’ book, and it is very good and strangely entertaining.

    Oops! The tea tree oil option is probably not too good for your health, on the off chance that the toothpaste is accidentally swallowed. These things happen. I tell ya, I once burned my skin with eucalyptus oil – I didn’t dilute the stuff well enough. Far out that hurt, it was like a chemical burn. Ouch!

    Cheers

    Chris

61. Hi Lewis,

    The castor oil trials worked very well for Ollie’s wart. It has disappeared and the skin is no longer raised. With the eczema, the castor oil certainly eliminated the itchiness and dryness. I just didn’t see a lot of improvement in the size of the eczema patch – but at least it didn’t get larger which is what it possibly may do without any treatment. What I find works for me with eczema is either Vitamin E cream, or Sorbolene (with Vitamin E) as they eliminate the itchiness and the skin condition disappears within a couple of weeks. I am very uncomfortable with prolonged use of steroids as I have read that there are consequences to prolonged use. Does the stuff work? You betcha, but as I wrote, I’m really uncomfortable with prolonged usage.

    It finally snowed here today! I posted a brief 20 second video, which was remarkably out of focus. Just shows how much I use the movie function on the camera! Oh well. Anyway, the weather is feral outside right now, and that means that it is no day to work outside! We headed out to a nearby town to pick up timber supplies from the hardware store for the yet-to-be-constructed shed. And a lamington too from a nearby bakery. They do really good lamington’s at that nearby bakery. I sort of felt sorry for the bloke who helped me in the timber yard, due to the feralness of the weather. He went back inside the office after we were loaded up and on our way.

    Your tomatillas are almost like our cape gooseberries and they ripen much later in the season here (if things were upside down). I seem to recall you getting a crop of them last year? I tell ya, and in all seriousness, this plant stuff is really complex.

    Hey, we had a really warm and prolonged autumn. There have already been several consequences from that. An unexpected consequence is that the hellebore flowers are almost non existent this winter. The daffodils are also very late. And the fruit trees have begun the slow process of leafing out even later than in the past couple of years. I do hope that fruit set is not adversely affected…

    Roman advertising? No way. I would never have guessed that they’d do that. Well that was a surprising interweb rabbit hole: The Phoenix bar in Pompeii apparently made the claim that: “The phoenix is happy and so can you be. This bar is owned by Euxinus, ‘Mr Hospitality’.” Of course that particular website may have made that up claim as a bit of a lark.

    The fluffies work as a pack, and on that particular occasion, Toothy distracted us and during that moment, Ollie did the dastardly deed. He knew full well what he was doing. And I guess it proves that a win for one is a win for all in the world of dog!

    Hehe! Your trip to the dollar shop was a great example of a fine hunt and gather! 🙂 I loved that line: “I found things I didn’t even know I needed!” Good stuff. I too was caught out by impulse shopping the other day. In the big hardware shop closer to the city, I walked past a set of vice grips being sold on the cheap and I thought to myself, what a bargain – and then indulged. Stay strong, Lewis! You may have to make up for our softness in such matters. 🙂

    White vinegar probably needs to go through the distillation process, but other than that vinegars are really easy to make. We make our own batches of apple cider vinegar and it is not hard at all. One day I may have to purchase a still (when there is nothing else going on) as they’re quite OK legally down here as long as you don’t sell the end product.

    I don’t want to sound paranoid, but Mr Greer once said to me that if it’s on the interweb, it sure ain’t private. I reckon he’s got a point there. There have been a few hacks of government agencies down here and there are reports that some of those records are now offered for sale on the dark web. In a strange twist of fate, some of those agencies bring the problem on themselves because they publicly declare how safe the data is. Some of the hacks are noticed, but not spoken about, and there was a big one about a year or so back. I feel it does no good to sweep the stories under the carpet.

    I don’t frankly understand your social security retirement system. Without going into too much detail, down here employees pay 9.5% (or more) of their earnings into a retirement investment account. The funds in those accounts are generally invested in investment assets (equities, real estate, bonds, cash etc.) for the benefit of fund holders. The funds are generally managed by businesses (mostly ultimately owned by the banks) that look after that sort of thing. The effects of that system appears to have certainly buoyed those markets for sure. It has been a wild ride.

    I recall reading that bit of information about bakers and sawdust. What a thing to do. Did you notice how the article avoided talking about sawdust by making the apparent claim that it was some other product derived from timber. What that product would be is beyond understanding because I am no chemist. However I do know that it is hardly likely to be maple sugar or syrup given the claims about low calorie this and that!

    What a strange world we live in. I better get on and do some writing!

    Cheers

    Chris

62. Chris:

    One can buy commercial toothpaste with tea tree oil in it, which is why I made the suggestion, but the amount in it must be miniscule. It’s funny, but I use eucalyptus oil on my skin over my sinuses quite often and it has never burned me. I am thinking that the eucalyptus oil is way more diluted than what you get there. Like our over-the-counter hydrogen peroxide is a 3% solution here in the States, but when my son lived in London the OTC was 6%. I think our Food & Drug Administration goes overboard in being cautious about some of these things.

    My son has occasionally brushed his teeth with charcoal and the effect is so hideous that it would be ideal for Halloween. It gets the teeth clean just fine, but one’s mouth foams a pure black mess while doing so.

    I saw your snow!

    Pam

63. @ Lew:

    The Dollar Store is my downfall. I can hardly ever resist going into one on my once-weekly trip into town. Oh, the treasures I find! And there is no other place like it for finding greeting cards at $.50 each; they have some really lovely ones. And all sorts of envelopes and masking tape and buckets . . . Ooh – tomorrow is my day in town!

    Congratulations on your tassels (hmm . . . I was going to say something about a lady dancing on a tabletop . . . oops, I did). So, you’ve made it this far – now for the pollination; that’s a toughie. I remember one year putting paper bags over the ears once they had been pollinated. Can’t remember how it turned out. We have always had trouble with corn worms and weevils and such. I was too pooped to try to deal with corn this year.

    Pam

64. Yo, Chris – Your snow footage was really cool. You even caught some of the gusts … the billows of snow. I had to laugh at your “…work in the snow.” As if you’re up to your … knees in the stuff. :-). Well, it looks like enough to give yourself a Snow Day. Wonder if we’ll have snow, this year? It’s so pretty, coming down.

    The smoke is coming back for the next three days. With temps in the 90s. Then, Wednesday, back to clear and cooler.

    Here’s a couple of short film clips of fire tornados, down in California. A couple of years ago there was a tornado movie and one of the minor characters (crewman number three) was sucked up into it. Not a nice way to go.

    http://www.npr.org/2018/08/17/639530730/watch-massive-fire-tornado-revealed-in-footage-released-by-officials

    Yup. I had a lot of tomatillas, last year. I had two plants, last year. Only one, this year. I wonder if that has anything to do with the lack of fruit? I’ll have to look into that. I read more of the book on climate change and chili growing, last night. Besides warmer temperatures (and, in some places, more cold snaps. Global weirding) and storms that carry more water and tend to stall, the farmers are also fighting strange new bugs, virus and weeds.

    I made a big bowl of popcorn and watched “Coco”, last night. Disney, animated. I quit liked it. But then, I like all things “Day of the Dead.” After a long DVD dry spell, from the library, I picked up quit a clutch of movies, yesterday. Luck of the draw. Reports to follow as I get around to watching them. Lew

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