Catie George

I also love these.

My mom has formal kitchen certifications, and worked in test kitchens.

I think in rebellion, all of her cooking "recipes" are heavily comprised of approximations. Drives people absolutely bonkers when they ask for her "recipe" for something. To be honest, even our baking is often, umm, a bit improvised.
.
My mom's famous caesar salad recipe:
2 egg yolks
A pinch of salt
A few twists of the pepper grinder
A couple cloves of minced garlic
15 shakes of tobasco sauce
10 splashes of worchestershire sauce
A squirt of dijon mustard.

Pour in vegetable oil, slowly, while whisking enthusiastically in bottom of a big bowl, until it thickens and reaches thin mayonnaise consisency but does not break.  

Whisk in

A glug or two of lemon juice. (about half a lemon)
Very optional- a smashed anchovy

Adjust seasoning to taste.

Immediately before plating:

Toss a large cut up romaine head in the sauce

Then a generous amount of parmesan...

Croutons, if desired.


Other commonly used ones in my life: a dollup. A capful. A palmful. A "goodly _____" (larger than normal ______). A heaping spoonful. A "thumb" (-sized portion - think, thumb of butter, thumb of ginger), a titch.

I have fiskars. I like them better than some cheap loppers i have used, but am not thrilled with them - they feel far less sturdy than the set i grew up with, and have dulled more quickly. I used them almost every day for several months last winter clearing brush from a fenceline. I find the handles are so light weight compared to the blade  that i don't love the balance of them when i have them overhead.

I do use my loppers a TON and have gotten them into some situations i feel like  risk breaking them, and have already broken the tip of the blade, no idea how. I've only owned them a year, and the ones i grew up with are about 60 years old and in perfect shape despite also being used for a lot of fenceline type cutting.  Pros to the fiskars - light weight, and i like the ratcheting  feature although it does occasionally mean i find it difficult to catch a branch overhead, particularly thinner branches.

I want to treat myself to a trip to Lee Valley tools this winter to try and find sturdier loppers for the winter "knock back the grapevines, lilacs, and buckthorn" season. I'd keep the fiskars, but probably mostly use them for larger branches rather than most of what i cut, which is <1".

Ra Kenworth wrote:[


Dumb question but are they dying from powdery mildew but meanwhile your acorn squash are resistant or the soil where you have them is better?

Granted I just ate my first immature 2" diameter scallop zucchini (yellow spaceship) off the vine and it's mid August, but I am growing on compost and on non insecticide hay bales beside a compost infill and both are working for me, the squash on the nettle hill topped with nettle stems and a bit of soil are doing best and of course full sun. Those plants were seeded outdoors and transplanted into clumps into flats to protect them from wildlife then planted once secondary leaves were established

Another possibility to consider would be mosaic virus
I'm the past I did Lebanese cucumbers where I had contaminated soil in a community garden.

You may know all about these scourges of the squash and cucumber family but I figured since others are reading as well I would ask the obvious question since your aunt can grow them but you can't and she will have a different location so maybe it's the soil (so straw bales may help you, but will need lots of watering)

PS
I have had problems with imported soil from purchased seedlings and powdery mildew in that soil in the past, but with caution in advance and elimination I am powdery mildew free!! (Pot into really old brittle buckets and keep them downwind then watch them; break the buckets and plant on hills if by the time they are outgrowing their buckets they are free of problems)
Now I won't buy any seedlings and of course you're planting from seed so not bringing in contaminants.

And I have been struggling with potatoes

It was the (many) black walnut trees nearby I think. And the leaves we used on the garden where from my neighbourhood, which is also full of walnuts.  Somehow acorns seem to be more resistant.

I also had an issue with tomatos dying mid season - realized this year, as my mom continues to work in that garfen and bought 4 pack starts instead of my solo-cup sized starts, that the reason was, when they ran out of "good" soil they died. Mine died after a reasonable yield, hers before producing.  Only thing that produced for her was the few solo cup grown tomatos i gave her. Also a juglone issue, i suspect.

I've moved and this year am swimming in zucchini, maxima squash (another species i struggled to grow previously). Also in pattypan/scalloped squash - i've picked as many as  4(!)  from one hill in a single day. I do have a black walnut tree, but only one, and it's further away. I've really been watching how plants like basil are impacted by juglone in my new garden. I may take down the black walnut, though i'd rather not. Next year, i plan to zone my garden to plant only juglone tolerant plants on the west side.

I also grew a really good crop of potatoes here - potatoes were another thing that died in that garden.

Last time i looked into this, i found someone in Canada made sofas with latex and or down filling, and your choice of natural fabrics and natural-er leather, and hardwood frames. Not perfect, but much better, and also likely much $$$. In the "we don't post prices" range of pricing but probably excellent quality.

I've considered getting a latex futon as an environmentally friendi-er choice, without quite so high of a price tag.

Right now though, my soft furnishings are still all hand-me-downs, which have their own type of environmentally friendly ness (even if i'm not thrilled with the idea of microplastics and offgassing).

Leather has my vote as a seating material for both durability and allergen-friendliness, but I admit chrome tanning is problematic.

I recommend mindat.org for aspiring rockhounds

They collect information about old mines and places people have listed finding cool minerals at, and publish them for the public. There's a map view that can be very useful.

Mindat can be a great source for finding minerals of interest, although be warned, much of what they list is on private property and might not be accessible. There are sometimes even notes from the people who submitted the mineral reports about access, as well.

Also useful in Ontario is the Crown Land use atlas which can help find publically owned land. Most jurisdictions now have something similar

EDIT: click the big blue button on the following page.

https://www.ontario.ca/page/crown-land-use-policy-atlas

I've never used this website so can't verify the accuracy,  but it seems this map shows crown land in BC.

https://www.crownlandmap.ca/#bc

Most dish detergents (especially dawn!) Leave me with a rash on my hands. And yes many of them leave a residue i can taste and smell on "clean" dishes.

If you use the gentler "environmentally friendly" dish soaps and have hard water, add a healthy splash of white vinegar to your sink full of hot, soapy water.

I find i can use half as much detergent if i do this, and things come out feeling cleaner, particularly plastics which are IMO difficult to clean well.

My issue with hoses is leaks at the ends - 1 year old expensive hoses will leak where the hose fittings attach to the hose itself.

My well pump/pressure tank doesn't even have that much pressure!

No idea where you live, but i just started a second round of zucchini/cucumber (first round are just about to produce). I also started more lettuce, cauliflower,  and am trying brussel sprouts. Some cabbage might work. Lettuce will be planted out in part shade.

If i had space, i'd start more carrots,  using the board trick to germinate them. I might also consider bush beans or beets.

I started my stuff in plug trays outside in part shade because keeping my garden wet enough to germinate seeds this time of year is a losing battle and not great for disease pressure on my other plants. I'll aim to transplant in a cool or wet or at least cloudy spell if I can.

In geology, the classic is a rock hammer, with the point left touching the item of interest. Talk about things the average person doesn't carry! I've seen photos where even with an actual scale, the geologist throws in a rock hammer, too.

A coin (or several coins), a clip board, a water bottle, a hard hat, a pen, a pencil, a cell phone, a standard sized field book, business cards, credit card sized cards (like say, a library card), and a compass are all items i've seen used. Standard field books and compasses often have a scale on the cover for this purpose.

I've beeen known to use my index finger or my hand in a pinch, and have seen photos labelled with "and a [person in X profession] for scale".

Very creatively, sometimes people use an actual ruler too.

May Lotito wrote:So you have ruled out the possibility of seeds not being viable. Could it be the soil fertility? What have you planted in that spot last year and were the residues removed? Anything to put back for this season? Are there weeds growing and are there anything abnormal about them?

Weeds are growing vigorously - it's a new garden bed this year made from weedy grass. I germinate tested the corn seeds this spring at 18/20.  The corn that is growing is growing vigorously without signs of deficiencies (i did fertilize). Transplants are also growing really well. It's a rototilled bed, so weeds are very healthy.  

I truly suspect the issue is a combo of me not being around to keep seeds watered in establishment phase, but also possibly some sort of bug. A couple weeks after the last round of seeding, i excavated one of the corn mounds and found zero corn seeds in it, despite having planted around 20. I planted several types of beans scattered on stick trellises the same day, and had 100% germination on one variety, and 0% germination on the others. Similar with my direct seeded squash and cucumbers- will have 100% germination in one hill, 0% of the same variety one hill over.

I haven't seen any sign of bird damage or burrowing so far, but wouldn't be surprised by it, i have a lot of birds. Garden is fenced to exclude animals.