Pete Podurgiel

Good question.  This is something that has been weighing on my mind, too few bugs (at least the good ones).  Finally saw my first Monarch just the other day and only one Tiger swallowtail about a week before that.
Would like to see more fireflies, though they seem to be doing a bit better than years past.  Plenty of mosquitos, deerflies & ticks (of course), however slugs have been scarce this year.

I've been using the "windshield factor" as my measuring-stick for insects. When I was a kid, we'd have to clean the bugs off the windshield every fill-up.  I rarely have to clean my windshield at all now.
I also remember not being able to sleep at night due to all the cricket chatter. That's not a problem these days.

 

Funny you mention taking leaves off tomato plants below the fruit ...I just heard that one the other day.  

The video I watched also stated that tomato fruits won't grow (or even ripen) in hot weather and may not set new flowers either. Apparently, the ideal temps for growing tomatoes were low 80s to high 70s.
The advice seemed counter-intuitive to me, as I always hear about "hot-house" tomatoes, but my experience with the hot weather this year seemed to confirm this.  They advised picking the large unripened tomatoes and putting them in a paper bag indoors to ripen them, so I'm giving that a shot.

I'm curious to know, were there any tomatoes in the recipe?   I was adding them to beef stew for a time and noticed they made the beef tough.

If you still have good cuts of venison left, maybe try cutting some into 1/4" to 3/8" medallions, season to taste and pan fry them (about a minute or so, each side), rare or medium-rare, as Joseph mentioned.  That's my personal favorite.

Welcome to permies, Lauren!    I hope you find the community you're looking for.

Cheers!
-Pete

Beck

....a couple of tunes 'From the Basement'

Welcome to permies Martin!

Hope to hear more about your experiences and adventures. )

cheers!
-Pete

I've been enjoying this for flow-state music....

Awww, thanks all ..,I'm honored and happy to become part of the Team!  

Hoping to give back to the community that has given me so much.

Cheers!
-Pete

I've beeen using Opera for probably a decade now and love it.  Solid platform and has a built in Ad blocker & VPN.

Only downside, sometimes certain websites will give me trouble when I need to do video conferencing (probably due to pop-up blocker).
On those rare occasions, I'll use Firefox to get by.