Food, History & Culture

I was perusing the NY Times today while at work and came across an interesting article about a book that combines a couple of my favorite subjects - Food, history & culture! I've been familar with the Seed Savers Exchange for a few years now (it's usually where I order most of the Victory Garden) they've been selling seeds and plants that have been entered into the Ark of Taste the past few seasons. My two cents.. all things being equal, why not grow something spiced with true American cultural history as opposed to just the same old home center six pack o' plants or cardboard display stand of seeds. I just might have to buy this one, oh and save $11 by pre-ordering the book on Amazon.com by May 15th!


Later.....

After checking out the Slow Food webpage (the organization that runs the Ark of Taste) my interest has been piqued.... The membership price is a little steep but the work that they do is certainly justified. There's also a chapter in Columbia! Check out Slow Food USA!! This book is a definite buy now!

Mmmmmead......

I making some mead this morning. Yummy! The last time I made some (about 4 years ago) it was a bit sweet but very good. I bottled it in flip top Grolsch bottles, I think I might use champagne bottles this time. The alcohol was a bit high and combined with the sweetness, a 16 oz. bottle was more than one serving. I'm hoping to make it a bit drier this time. I'm using 10.5 pounds of honey (12 pounds last time) and adding some cloves, cinnamon & orange zest. I'm using some dry champagne yeast for fermentation. It takes a while to fully ferment so it will be ready for the holidays (hopefully!). I'll keep the progress posted here..... I've been in a brewing mood lately but I think I may try some hard cider next. If anyone has any recipes, feel free to pass them along.

reboot... reboot... reboot...

Campaign analysis in the guise of my favorite commercials! I don't know how I missed this when these columns were first written but here you go... here & here!

BTW... I love macs!

Personal values and economic choices

One of my favorite money blogs has a great post about the values we hold and what we buy. The book he reviews seems interesting and may need to be a library pick the next time we visit. My green philosophy has always been two-fold. First, green from a sustainability point of view but also green from a wallet aspect. I need to keep as much green as I can in my wallet! As unproven and anecdotal as it is, I certainly believe that there's a markup on many products just because the words organic or environmentally friendly are on the label. Although there are exceptions everywhere. Just buying less stuff is green, sustainable & environmentally friendly. And don't forget about the extra cash left over to pad that 401(k) and the magic of compound interest!

Any comments?

Victory Garden 2008 - Spring

Okay, we're well into spring here in South Carolina so I figured I would add a bit of an update to show how the Victory Garden 2008 is progressing. This winter I did a lot of thinking of how to make the garden better and more successful. After contemplating the two previous plantings I came up with to 2 areas on which I need to improve on.

The first is watering. This is a little tricky. Since starting this garden 2 springs ago I've used soaker hoses to do most of the watering. I think they've done an OK job but I've always been a little concerned that there are dry spots in the bed that don't get enough water. So I usually do a little hand watering also to make sure everything gets enough water. This usually works out great for the first month or so when my enthusiasm is high but soon I get lazy and then just use the soaker hose. And then I sometimes forget to do that regularly. April & May are always great but by June & July when the really hot and dry weather gets here and we're off doing summer vacation stuff, many of my plants just don't get enough water to produce a great harvest. Resolution #1 keep everything well watered!! All season long!

Second is plant selection. Since moving into the house in 2005 I've always had ideas and fantasies of what I wanted my vegetable garden to be. Three years into this space, about 1/3 of the plants always seem to grow slow or unsuccessfully. Lots of these plants are ones that, looking back, were set up to fail. High maintenance, low tolerance to heat and drought (see #1 also). So when planning what I wanted to plant this year, I made a conscience effort to choose plants that I've had success with in the past and also choose plants that do well here in the southeast regardless of whether they're on my fantasy plant list.

So keep these two thoughts in mind when I describe what I planted this year.

As you can see in the first picture, I added a 4th raised bed. I filled it with compost from the county composting facility (at $20/yd3 it's a bargain and very healthy for the plants). In the new 4th bed I stuck with some old successful favorites and some new stuff. Last year I planted Black Beauty zucchini and it did gangbusters! We had baseball bat sized fruits and ate zucchini bread all summer long. I've never had big success with winter squash, which is disappointing because I love them so much (see rule #2). With the zucchini having done so well I decided to plant some more summer squash. Along with the Black Beauty I planted some pattypan type. I also changed things a bit with my beans. The past few years I've been growing bush type beans with limited success. After reading a bit about pole type beans I made a trellis and gave them a shot. The Kentucky Wonder variety is an old heirloom type that is supposed to be very productive and tolerate heat well. Everyday it seems as though they grow at least 3 inches. I also planted some petunia seeds in a small row in the front that will hopefully save us some money when Kimberly plants her flower boxes this summer.

I have some themes in the other 3 beds. One bed consists entirely of onions and garlic. I planted the garlic last November. When I was up in Ithaca, NY for Dave & Arjean's wedding we spent some time at the Ithaca farmer's market. It really puts the Columbia one to shame but I was able to buy lots of cool stuff including some organic garlic grown locally around Ithaca. They seem to be doing well but I just hope the weather isn't too hot and they get enough water to be successful. If everything goes well, I'll save a few heads and replant an entire bed again this fall. I also have some red onions growing in this bed. About 5 years ago I grew some onions and they were the best onions I've ever tasted. I bought the seedlings about as thick as a pencil and planted them about early March. I hope they do as well as before.

In another bed I have my cole crops. Brussel sprouts and cauliflower. I tried to grow some cauliflower over the winter but in January we had a hard freeze and that did it for them. They were doing well until the freeze. As for the brussel sprouts, that was another thing I brought home from the Ithaca farmer's market. Fresh brussel sprouts right off the stem are amazing just pan fried with a little olive oil.

My last bed has a bit of a hodgepodge. I have two Hungarian Heart tomato plants, two Alma Paprika pepper pants & two Aunt Molly's ground cherry plants. these run down the center and I have a row of German Giant radishes on one side and a row of Bull's Blood beets on the other side. I'm looking forward to eating the beet greens as well as the roots. We LOVE beets in our house, especially pickled! Peppers grow great here. The plants grow slowly at first but as soon as the hot hot July summer hits, we'll have peppers well into October! I've never been a very successful tomato farmer but hopefully increased watering will help that.

I'm also growing some butterhead lettuce in a galvanized tub. I sowed the seeds close together and hope to feed on the seedlings as I thin them out.

That sums up the Victory Garden 2008 status so far. Probably in a little more detail than needed but I think of this as my garden journal too. As always, let me know what you're growing this year and if you're interested in saving any seeds and swapping for next year. Happy gardening!

Consumerism, big box stores or what really annoyed me today.

Okay, just a little rant today. So I've been working on Colonel Mustard a bit lately. Last month I added a real car radio (no more portable one on the floor) and added speakers behind the seat. In the process of all of this, I took off the door panels to check out the door speakers (they fell apart like you would expect 35 year old speakers). I thought I had everything organized but when putting it all back together I found I had lost the screw that holds the window roller handle on (you remember those things right? when you actually had to roll down windows!). Not a big deal, I'll just get another for like 7 cents right? Wrong.

After about 2 weeks suffering with a window handle that falls off when I close the driver's side door, I said enough was enough. I went down to Lowe's to get the much needed screw. I took the screw out of the passenger's side door to match what I needed and headed to the hardware section. Here's the catch. I couldn't buy just the one screw I had to buy a package of five. FIVE!! Colonel Mustard only has two doors! The one screw (and four extras I have no use for) cost me $1.01 with tax. Then I had to listen to a rude cashier say in disbelief "What!? you don't have a penny?" followed by her making a 'quite put out' face, when I gave her 4 quarters and a nickel.

While driving home (I didn't make this trip just for 1 screw, it was just one stop on my afternoon errand run) the crux of the problem really annoyed me. What bothered me wasn't the $1.01 or the cashier (well the cashier did annoy me, it's not like I gave her a $100 bill, she only had to part with 4 pennies from her drawer) but that I was forced to buy 4 extra screws and a plastic bag that they came in and I didn't have a choice in the matter. Somewhere at Lowe's HQ someone is laughing because I was forced to buy more product than I needed. The four screws will end up in my odd screw/nail/thingamajig box, probably never to get used again. Very wasteful. How is packaging the screws in bags of 5 serving me better. It doesn't, it just sells more. Instead of 4 extra screws on the shelf at the store, they're now at my house. And the plastic bag is in the trash.

This doesn't only happen at Lowe's. Think about it, everywhere you go, stores and salesmen are trying to package their wares to get you to buy more than you need. Buy this get that free. Then you're made to feel bad that you passed on the stuff you don't need. I've actually had people look incredulous at me when ordering at a fast food places. The conversation usually goes like this..

Me: I'd like a hamburger with only lettuce, onions and tomatoes & a large coke.
Server : Do you want cheese on that?
Me: No, only lettuce, onions and tomatoes please.
I love having to repeat my order over because the server wasn't paying attention
Server: Do you want fries with that?
Me: No.
Server: But for only $0.45 more you can get a meal with fries.
Me: But I don't want a meal package. I'm not going to eat the fries, they'll just end up in the trash.
Server: really put off like I just offended her or I'm the stupidest person in the world Okay but it's only $0.45?!
Me: But I won't eat them, they'll be thrown out.

It's really tough not to just shake someone and scream "LISTEN TO WHAT I'M SAYING!!!"

This post probably sounds a bit disjointed but I needed to vent. So, do you think I'm some curmudgeon weirdo or does this bother you too?