From faithful garden correspondent Marvel:
Over this-away, we’re up to the third verse of that old gardener’s refrain, What Were We Thinking When We Planted All That.
We’ve started picking pears and are happy that they can spend a little time without our help (or processing!) ripening up. They make a pretty still life, but it’s an oxymoronic tableau — there’s NOTHING still in August around here!
The lettuce, parsley and spinach we planted a few months ago are still going strong. While we’ve had a few blistering hot days in their short & fragile lives, quick rigging of umbrellas and shade cloth has been sufficient to prevent their bolting…so far.
We’ve been canning and freezing tomatoes like crazy. I usually put in 12-14 varieties, assuming I’ll lose a certain amount to bugs, slugs or BER. This year, after defending them against some critter(s) that gobbled the first few ripe fruit, we find ourselves awash in hale/hearty/productive plants. I’ve taken to going door-to-door to my neighbors with big trays of tomatoes for their taking (kind of a reverse Halloween thing, sans costume). Sometimes they make me bring a zuke or two home in return (we harvested & pulled up our zukes a few weeks ago) — it’s only fair.
We’re on our third flight of string beans — the plants are looking pretty tired with a crispy bough here and there, but they’ve put up one more generation of blossoms so I’ll be happy to pluck a few off whenever they’re ready to hand ’em over.
The Fall & Winter plantings (peas, kale, cabbage, brocolli and cauliflower) are all getting big and strong — I bet we end up eating some of each before the first serious leaf drop of Autumn.
***********
Here in New England, an unusually clement summer gave way to a week-and-counting of “oppressive” humidity… just as all the various blights went into overdrive. I sprayed Serenade on all my tomatoes but it looks like a losing battle, the leaves are wilting on the vines and the ripe fruit are rotting before I can pick them.
At least I’ve established for future seasons that giving each plant more root room definitely improved productivity. There’s plenty of fat green fruits hanging on the blasted vines, and if I can bear to spend a couple hours this afternoon cutting away the dead leaves I’m hoping the cherry tomatoes at least will revive once this steam bath dissipates.
I made the mistake of showing the Spousal Unit this Lifehacker post on freezing whole tomatoes for sauce, and now he’s getting predatory about the nicest ripe specimens. Anybody tried this method, maybe have some advice?
What’s going on in your garden(s) this week?
SiubhanDuinne
That Still Life With Pears is exquisite! As an apartment-dwelling non-gardener myself, I hardly ever comment on the Sunday morning threads, but I read them avidly and always admire the photos of other people’s gardens — not to mention the dedication, imagination, and sheer hard work that goes into them. Very nice, Marvel.
raven
Very nice! We’ve had a good bit of rain again and all of the sudden the maters taste good for the first time this summer! Our construction continues at a slow pace and we’re entering 5 weeks with no kitchen so they are welcome in our many salads!
satby
Marvel, so nice! You’ve had a great garden year!
I finally had one Hillbilly Potato Leaf tomato ripening nicely on the vine when I lost it to a critter. So I pulled the other mostly green ones off to ripen inside. One plant has already given up the ghost, two more are so spindly I should just pull them, and another two are healthy enough but not really producing anything. It’s a good apple year though, so I’m going to go pick some off my trees today for jelly and Apple butter. That’ll be my harvest for this year.
Rugosa
I’m a community gardener in Boston and yes, it is a great tomato year. July was moderate, which allowed for a terrific fruit set. Usually we get a stretch of this hot-hazy-humid weather in July, and the tomatoes take a break from setting fruit. Freezing tomatoes works very well. My plan is to freeze them as they ripen and then have a sauce-making and canning weekend in September. Earlier this summer, I found a bag of tomatoes that I froze last fall. They made a delicious sauce.
Eric S.
I picked a few tomatoes this week from the deck garden. The Girl and I had BLTS for dinner. Yummy!
The pepper plants are doing fairly well. I’ve many, many serranos to harvest. Plus the poblano has 2nd life. It sit up two stalks over the past couple of weeks and now reaches near 5’tall. New fruits are coming in.
OzarkHillbilly
Marvel? I hate you and your perfect weed, bug, blight free garden. People like you make me sick. ;-)
Meh. For me it all comes down to laziness. Me? I’m very lazy. If I don’t make it into sauce now, I sure as hell won’t then. So over the summer I take the time to make and can all my sauces.
Speaking of which, my tomatoes are all but done this year. The blight has pretty well wiped them out. They never had a chance with no straw this spring for mulch and the incessant torrential rains. I had planted 2 types of paste this year, Orange Icicle and Amish Paste, 5 of each, and both produced very well, nice big tomas and plenty of them. Between those 10 plants, I got 14 pints of salsa, 7 pints of fire roasted tomatoes, 7 pints diced, 9 half pints of “paste” (really just super super thick sauce), and IIRC 15 pints of Italian sauce. That last one had some Green Zebras in it too. I had to do something with them.
Meanwhile everything else is poking along slow and steady. Finally got some sweet peppers despite the TBM. The eggplants are still producing tho a couple plants have succumbed to the flea beetles. My hot peppers are doing well and I need to smoke some chipotles today.
Trying to get the Fall garden in but with all the rain it isn’t easy. Did get my Brussels Sprouts in finally. They look good so far. Was going to do some more broccoli but never got them started. Oh well. I’ll get all my lettuces and spinach planted soon, as well as some kale and Chinese Cabbage. Maybe tomorrow, Dog willing and the creeks don’t rise.
Bought app 18 lbs of peaches at a road side stand yesterday. So it’s peach preserves for me today.
satby
@OzarkHillbilly: That reminds me that I need to run down the road to the orchard stand and see if they’ve got any peaches too. Peach preserves AND peach pie!
JPL
My neighbors are going to let me use their dehydrator for my habaneros. They grind their peppers into a powder to use for seasoning. That sounds interesting, so I might try that.
The heat and humidity did a number on the garden this year. I’m still hoping for a nice crop of sweet potatoes but it’s still a few weeks before, I dig them up.
Botsplainer
I’m watching a mockumentary that is the funniest thing I’ve seen in ages.
VERY nicely none. Exploits every traditional vampire trope.
OzarkHillbilly
@JPL: I use an old coffee grinder to grind my dried hot peppers. Works great but I have to use it outside if I want to be able to see any more that day.
debbie
Boy, those pears could be turned into a really nice pear crisp with cardamom and toasted hazelnuts!
JPL
@OzarkHillbilly: Thanks. I have one. My stove will dehydrate but I don’t want to dry them in the kitchen. My neighbors use their porch.
currants
@Rugosa: Yes–this is the first year since living here I have so many tomatoes I can’t keep up (partly a result of not having time to roast/cook them, not having AC and so not willing to turn oven on). It’s great. And my beans love this weather (pole green and black), as do the ever-bearing strawberries. Me, not so much. Damp and sticky and feels like nothing will ever really be clean or dry again.
Planted potatoes for the first time this year: I can probably look it up somewhere, but can one of you tell me when to dig them? The tops are mostly dead/dying back now (dry summer until the past 10 days when we’ve had 6″ of rain).
Schlemazel
@JPL:
Learn from my experience – DO NOT dry peppers in the house, do it outside!
.
What a marvelous garden, I admire your work greatly, marvel at it actually.
Tommy
@JPL: Let us know how that works. I’ve had my eye on one of them for a long time but I really wonder how well they work.
Oh I should just say thanks for all the people here that have answered all my gardening questions over the years. The four years I’ve had a garden I always had some epic fails. But I learned from them and this year the garden worked so well I can’t even give away all I have. Cucumbers are one of my favorite thing and I never thought I’d ever say this, but I am sick of eating cucumbers.
OzarkHillbilly
@JPL:Make sure you clean it well after using it. most people like their coffee hot, but I’m not sure they like it that hot. For drying, I put my peppers on some trays and set them on top of my wall cabinets. Takes some time but works just fine. For chipotles, I get a low fire in the Weber, throw some soaked wood chips on the coals and forget about them. If they don’t dry completely I just put them up with the others and let time finish the job. I do the same for my smoked paprika.
satby
@currants: If the vines flowered and died back you can dig the potatoes up now.
satby
@OzarkHillbilly: I’d dedicate a grinder just for that. You can usually pick up used working ones really cheap at resale or thrift stores like Goodwill.
Tommy
@OzarkHillbilly: Maybe this is “old school” but I just went with a needle and thread and hang them in the kitchen. Then last year I got a vacuum sealer. One of those kitchen items I wasn’t sure how well it would work, but I have to admit I am surprised that it actually works as advertised. I am now in the process of like vacuum sealing just about everything these days.
OzarkHillbilly
@currants: You can dig up your potatoes any time you want. Once the tops die back, they won’t grow anymore.
Tommy
I have a question about squash. This was the first time I attempted to grow them and they were my only fail this year. They grew at first by leaps and bounds and almost took over that side of the garden. Flowers everywhere. I don’t know what other words or phrase to use but both of the plants kind of imploded on themselves. They were there one day and then just gone.
OzarkHillbilly
@satby: I use mine for herbs too. Just not enuf of a coffee snob to bother grinding my own beans anymore.
Tommy
Oh another question, I got lots of questions this morning :). Anybody know of a place online where they have gotten wildflower seeds. I’d need something that would grow in moderate light.
The people that lived in my house before me put in a ton of rocks on the side of the house. I’ve picked up tons of them but nothing I attempt to grow there lives. Just weeds and it is a total eyesore. I build another raised bed, next year will make my own soil for it and I’d like to have some wild flowers.
I’d love to have fresh cut flowers in my house but anybody that hasbought flowers at a store know they are kind of expensive. Figure I might as well grow my own but I don’t know where to look for them. I tried a packet I got at Lowe’s a few years ago and I got nothing. I assume there is a better option than Lowe’s.
I used to get my veggies from Lowe’s but started getting them from my local True Value, where they get their plants from a local greenhouse. I still had some stuff from Lowes and kept notes and it was kind of stunning how much better the locally grown stuff did. Been to the ladies place but she doesn’t do flowers.
Punchy
Put an exotic fruit in that first photo and call it “The Last Mango in Pears”…
OzarkHillbilly
@Tommy: sounds like squash bugs. Only way I know to control them is to get in and squash the little buggers flat and spray them directly with Neem oil. Also look for egg masses on the leaves, tops and undersides, I just tear that part of the leaf off and then burn it. Best if you can get the eggs first but inevitably, if you grow enuf squash, you miss some. I fought them for about 2 months before surrendering. Did OK anyway.
Mary G
I just wash the tomatoes and cut them into quarters and throw them in the freezer.
Gorgeous garden as ever, Marvel. I can relate to “why did I plant all this” right now!
OzarkHillbilly
@Tommy: Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds has all kinds of flowering seeds.
MomSense
Wow Marvel, you have a glorious garden. I admire the work and skill that you have put into your garden.
I’m exhausted from cleaning yesterday and it’s raining out so I will continue to neglect my garden and make some soup instead.
Last time I made stock, I delivered some in jars to my elderly neighbors who were under the weather. Instead of making soup with it, they were drinking it warm for breakfast. They have been hinting lately so I’ll bring some over this afternoon. It really is tasty and full of nutrients with almost no salt.
Tommy
@OzarkHillbilly: I don’t think it was bugs but honestly I didn’t check them that closely. A few years ago bugs savaged my tomato plants. I grow my herbs in another raised bed but went to YouTube to figure out how to prune my basil plants. The lady said to plant it around tomato plants and it will keep bugs away. I was kind of skeptical of this, but wanted to try and make some Basil butter this year so I figure why not give it a try and plant a shitload of it. Sure seems to have worked. And that Basil butter, so stupid simple and one of the better things I’ve done in a long, long time.
Tommy
@MomSense: Good for you and wonder why I didn’t think of taking some of my food to the few elderly people that live around me, other than I don’t really know them that well. I just have so much food from my garden that as a single dude I just can’t keep up. I have like ten bell peppers I picked yesterday. I make a pretty mean stuffed bell pepper. Might have to make up some and see if the lady down the block might want a few.
OzarkHillbilly
“Squash bugs are the bane of a gardeners’ existance! They are very difficult to kill and cause havoc. These bugs inject a toxin into the plant and suck the sap right out of it.”
Your plants will look a little stressed but OK one day, and go into complete collapse the next. I hate SBs with a venom usually reserved for paper wasps.
But as always, it could have been something else.
Tommy
@OzarkHillbilly: Now I have read your Wikipedia link I think you are correct. The integrity of the plants just imploded. Or maybe a better phrase is they collapsed on themselves. One day they appeared to be by far the most healthy plant in my garden, a day or so later gone.
Tommy
I am sorry to ask so many questions today but has anybody tried to grow cucumbers vertically? Call me a novice but this was the first year I put in ONE cucumber plant and I had no idea how it would take over my garden and attach itself to other plants. I kind of thought they needed to “crawl” the ground but as I saw it trying to climb up a tomato plant I did some searches and found many have them grow vertical.
What I don’t see working is my cucumbers grew to the size of my bicep. Won’t they fall off if they were not on the ground and hanging in the air?
Schlemazel
@Tommy:
I have been trying to convince the Mrs to let me by a vacuum sealer but she does not see the value, can you give me any examples I could use to help make the case?
@OzarkHillbilly:
We broke down & bought a burr grinder so we have the old one for spices. I’ve been a “coffee snob” for ever, got my fist espresso maker 40 years ago,
satby
@Tommy: that would be nice,I bet they’d appreciate that.
satby
@Schlemazel: I love my vacuum sealer, though I don’t use it as much as I used to. Great for veggies you’ve blanched to freeze, and you can boil or steam the bags in the microwave. Super for leftovers too. When I get a bit carried away in the fall with all the harvest, especially fresh pumpkin, which I adore, I roast, peel and seal it, freeze it, and can make soup, bread, or curried pumpkin deep in the winter. The frozen bags take up less space than containers in the freezer.
All that any help?
Tommy
@Schlemazel: Buy in bulk and freeze. That is the main thing I use it for. The second and third is making soups and fried rice in large amounts and freezing them as individual meals.
Also the bags, well they are not really bags, it is a roll. Both sides open. You cut it to the size you want. I thought it would be pretty expensive but you can make the exact size of the bag you want. I also assumed there would be a lot of waste but really none after you get used to the process.
Outside of getting some really high-end knives and an Aeropress (because I am a coffee snob) it is the best thing I got for my kitchen in the last decade.
OzarkHillbilly
@Schlemazel: I use our vacuum sealer for damn near anything and everything. I put up about 25 lbs of frozen blue berries, 10-15 lbs each of frozen black berries and strawberries, tomatoes (not this year), and especially meat if I get a really good deal on something and will store it for awhile (recently a couple 10-12# pork loins for $1.29 per #). just since June. I’m on the hook for a whole (or half, can’t remember for sure) pig this fall from a buddy of mine who is trying his hand at raising pastured organic pigs.
Be sure to freeze the product first, then bag it. Anything not frozen will just get the juice squeezed out of it and then it won’t properly seal.
currants
@satby: Great–thanks! I’ll put it on my list for tomorrow, then. Opens up a new bed for hmmm….what next?
Schlemazel
@Tommy: @satby: @OzarkHillbilly: THANKS GUYS!
areopress – I have gone to a simple french press or Italian moka & given up on espresso makers. The one we bought 40 years ago died some time back & I have bought a couple since but they are crap & make crap coffee. From what I have read it appears I would have to spend 4 or 5 hundred to get one that makes good espresso and I am not willing to do that. I keep looking at the areopress but am OK with the other pots so have not pulled the trigger
currants
@OzarkHillbilly: Thanks!
Also noticed your drying technique: requires a pretty low humidity level, pretty consistently, to not end up with mold.
We used to make a great cured duck breast, pack seasoning around it and let it sit on a rack on top of cabinets–but we could only do that when we lived in France. We tried it back here in New England and … gross.
ThresherK
@OzarkHillbilly: “Marvel? I hate you and your perfect weed, bug, blight free garden. People like you make me sick. ;-) ”
A bit of that envy here, too.
Hey, as far as peaches, has anyone triedAlton Brown’s method?
Scout211
@Tommy:
I use trellises for my cucumbers and also for all of my melons. It is more angled than vertical, though. I have only raised beds in my garden so there is limited ground space for meandering vines. The trellises work great for all vines. And no, the large cucumbers don’t fall off. The vines are very strong. The melons will pop off when they ripen, though. I try to pick them just before they pop off. I also try to position my trellises next to a fence so that the vines continue from the trellis to the fence. That works great, too.
currants
@Tommy:
I tried doing that and had no luck–not sure why. Then again, had no luck with tomatoes before this year either. This year I planted it around my peppers, and it’s doing better than the peppers! By that, I mean the basil is taller than some of the pepper plants (shishitos especially).
Scout211
Marvel, your garden is just amazing.
Tommy
@Schlemazel: You don’t think the Aeropress could work the way people rave about it. I am a HUGE coffee snob and it makes the best cup of coffee I’ve ever had. Plus it only cost between $28-$32 online so if you don’t like it (you WILL) it isn’t like you are out hundreds of dollars.
gelfling545
I have frozen tomatoes in the past & found that I didn’t like them as much for making sauce. The sauce from the frozen tomatoes always seemed a bit watery & less flavorful. They were ok for dishes calling for a few chopped tomatoes, but not when tomato-y goodness was the point. YMMV. Exquisite garden, so tidy & well groomed. I’ve had disappointing results with vegetables this season, though the flower garden was amazing.
Tommy
@Scout211: I use raised beds as well and I just didn’t have the space for how the cucumbers grew. I had these round steal things, kind of V shaped, I bought for tomatoes a few years ago and they never worked. I put them in and draped the cucumbers vines over them and they seemed to work well. Next year I think I can put in a little more of an “elegant” solution because I love me some cucumbers.
Tommy
@currants: I wonder if the peppers are because of the temp where you live. I have had so many epic fails in my garden. But I grow five type of peppers. Never have they not done well, but it is often dry and a 100 here. The bell peppers and jalapeno almost four feet tall. The habaneros always seem to grow the best and I will get 50 or more from each plant.
Joy
Gorgeous still life and I’m so jealous. We have a great pear tree that yields quite a bit every other year. This year the squirrels have been feasting on it them so that we hardly have any left! It’s disappointing to us but also to our friends, coworkers and the local food pantry.
Tommy
@gelfling545: I am with you. I just can’t freeze tomatoes. As a kid growing up tomatoes were the only thing my father grew. We’d have slabs of them every meal. It was just the way life was. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve cooked for people and they look at an entire plate of tomatoes and wonder what they are supposed to do with them. I am like eat them darn it!
currants
@ThresherK: No, but when he’s freezing tuna, my son in law fills a bowl with water and puts the ziplock bag in, submerging all but top until all air is out before closing. Pretty effective with most things, but probably trickier with peaches/slipperier things.
currants
@Tommy:
Me too. Family in Sweden have one and use it for EVERYTHING: mushrooms they forage (huge tins every year), apples from the back yard, herbs, you name it. Yet a friend of mine here had one that was a complete waste of resources, so it seems to matter which one you get.
Schlemazel
@Tommy:
I have heard that it does a good job . . . maybe I’ll give it another think. Thanks
currants
@Tommy: Wildflower seeds: two solid options (IMO) are Seed Saver’s Exchange and Botanical Interests. I’ve had especially good luck with the latter for flowers and the former for veg, but that’s probably just because of what I happened to be looking for.
Schlemazel
@Tommy:
A great fresh tomato does not need anything to make it better, I even eat them like an apple. If guests can’t handle a slab of fresh I put a basil leaf, olive oil & a bit of feta & pretend its a salad.
Tommy
@currants: That is my concern. I have noted somewhat today about my vacuum sealer. I have a Ziploc brand and I use their rolls. It is wonderful. But if you get something else, no clue if it will work. I figure it might not. Same concern for me about a dehydrator. I assume a few work well, most not so much.
Schlemazel
@currants:
Alton suggests using furnace filters bungeed to a box fan. I have never tried it & am dubious but in theory it should work
Germy Shoemangler
@Tommy:
Pickle them!
Tommy
@Schlemazel: LOL. You are nicer than myself. I say here is some sea salt and some good pepper. Have at it. I’ve done the Basil, olive oil and feta cheese. I don’t dislike it. Enjoyable actually. But I prefer a good fresh, garden grown tomato.
Tommy
@Germy Shoemangler: That is what I am going to do. Got two dozen mason jars Friday. I’ve eaten them raw (how I like them the most). Made a cucumber yogurt soup. I juiced the darn things and I can’t keep up with them :).
geg6
I don’t know what happened to our garden this year, but it has not been the smashing success of past years. It’s not bugs or animals, so I blame the weather. Weird summer here in a Western PA.
Tomatoes weren’t a complete bust but we don’t really have enough to do canning this year. The ones we do have are just delicious and juicy, if smaller in size and number than we are used to. Sweet peppers were a total loss but we have a few varieties of hot peppers doing well. Beans and peas never worked out beyond just a few. The real shocker was the zucchini. We have lots of yellow squash but only got two (!!!!!) zucchini this year. Weird as all hell.
In good news, raspberries, blackberries and asparagus were super successful. In fact, we have a late bunch of raspberries ready right now that I’m planning on picking for dessert with ice cream tonight. Also, the peach trees we planted three years ago produced a pretty decent crop this year, enough to make grilled peaches for several meals and a couple of peach pies. So delicious!
Tommy
I am sorry, know this is a thread about gardens. I am watching Trump interviewed on CBS Face the Nation. BTW first you are in NYC. Why a phone interview? Your helicopter doesn’t fly to DC?
The second is when he is asked about immigrants CBS shows video of people crossing the border, I assume illegally. Getting out of the trunk of a car as Tumps rants on immigrants. I am not sure if I put together a campaign commercial for Trump I could have done a better job then CBS.
Cervantes
@Punchy:
You are just impossible.
(Impossibly clever, that is!)
Schlemazel
@Tommy:
Just another reason to never ever watch Deface the Nation
MomSense
@Tommy:
I’ve found it is a great way to get to know neighbors. It works really well if you are making a big pot of soup, marinara sauce, or a large pan of lasagna or shepherd’s pie. I’m a vegetarian so when I share pea soup or lentil soup, my neighbors buy a small ham steak and that gives them several meals.
My favorite way to make stock is just to save all the cuttings/scraps from veggies, even apple peels. I put them in a big storage bag in the freezer. When it looks like enough I pull it out and empty the contents in a huge pot with lots of water. Then simmer forever, strain, and use. It’s an easy way to get the flavor from the tough parts of leeks, herb stems, etc.
Mike J
Hey AL, you gonna have a post about the Hugos? Nice to see that the puppies got stomped.
Schlemazel
@Mike J:
I’ll be honest & admit I don’t know who was in the pile of puppy shit so I have no idea how the Hugos turned out. A quick google search turned up nothing useful but a Dimbart headline suggesting the shit pile had a big night.
Schlemazel
@Schlemazel:
NM – found a wired article. The dog dumps got ZERO!!! where there were only puppy choices the majority voted “no award”. I suppose for Dimbart believers that is a big night.
I can hardly wait to hear how this is evidence of a giant liberal SJW conspiracy and proof Scalzi runs it all
Gvg
For wildflower seeds I have had good luck from Wildseeds in Texas. I think Tommy is in Ohio? the wildflower growing trend started in Wisconsin to restore prairies and there a couple of good sources up that way. can’t recall the names but maybe prairie moon and something else also with prairie in it’s name. Local seed sources are most likely to do well. I garden in Florida so I haven’t even tried them but their catalogs and websites are very good with correct info. as for Lowes and such sources, their staff lack of knowledge is a problem. many seeds start better fresher and if they are stored in hot places or even too cold or too moist like out in the garden centers, the seeds lose viability. The seed companies themselves are mostly good but the sellers don’t know what they are doing. If you see a seed rack that is full and looks like the stock just came in, if you buy then you will have better luck than latter. next if you start seeds in trays you need to use good quality potting soil and what they sell is bad. it isn’t sterile and gets mold that kills the seeds often before you see the sprouts. Buy the real professional soil. Good nurseries will carry some but I get the best selection and price at my local feed store. Most seeds have a better success rate if you start them in trays and transplant but other species need to be in place on soil. Sites like prairie moon and Wildseeds will tell you which is which.
For wildflower so, I have had the best success sowing them when they would naturally fall on the ground. In other words a month or two after they flower here.
JMT
@Schlemazel: According to the Hugo website, no awards were made for 5 categories and according to a live blog of the ceremonies, non-puppy nominees won many of the other awards.
Joel
I put a housefly trap in my backyard and three weeks later, it’s about four inches deep in fly carcasses.
Another Holocene Human
Can somebody explain what this latest iteration of “Anti-SJW, Anti-Scalzi” is about in the SF world?
I kind of burned out of SF books a while ago (Bujold is okay, though, I guess) but since it seems like the internet is abuzz … And Scalzi’s post about it wasn’t too enlightening (back in April).
Is Vox Day (Theo Beale the Worst) pushing this crap this time or somebody even more toad-like?
currants
@Tommy: WOW. Nice. Except for the temps which I wouldn’t like at all. :-)
currants
@Germy Shoemangler: PICKLING!
Anybody know where to get high acidity vinegar? In Sweden you can get –I think it’s 24%?–which they use to make a brine for pickles that don’t get any cooking.
Schlemazel
@Another Holocene Human:
It is a couple of RWNJ authors (who have some talent, both have been nominated but never won a Hugo) who are deeply angry that women and people of color are writing stories whose main component is not blowing shit up and doing manly things. I think they may very well have thought they could use other RWNJs to vote them a rocket. Vox Douche (Vox Day BTW – stands for “voice of god” just to let you know) is much lower than pond scum & he felt the other 2 didn’t go far enough to ensure only white, English-speaking men won Hugos.
They target Scalzi mostly because he has been very up front about how things like welfare and public education made his success possible & how we still need. He also has written beautifully about white male privilege & how it works. Since he won a Hugo for best novel with a book that is light-hearted and fun this just enraged the shit puppies and made him a huge target. A role he appears to take with some relish and for which he is well equipped to smack them with a rolled up newspaper.
Mike J
@Another Holocene Human: Day manipulated the nominations for the Hugos. He claimed it was because he hated science fiction that was about anything more than how cool rocket ships and ray guns are, but everything on his slate came from the same publishing house, so he may have had baser motives.
Of course he blames women and “political correctness” for people writing stories abut today set in the world of tomorrow. Never mind that as far back as you care to go science fiction has more often than not been allegory.
In categories dominated by his slate, people voted “no award”. The puppies say this proves their point that the (wo)man is keeping them down. More likely, it demonstrates that the voters didn’t like having the process corrupted.
Mike J
@currants:
Start with low acidity vinegar and boil off the correct amount of water?
Mike J
@Schlemazel: I think that one of the things that infuriates the puppies about Scalzi is that his breakthrough novel was about space marines blowing shit up and he still turned out to be a liberal.
NotMax
@Tommy
A different kind of gazpacho which uses a goodly amount of cuke.
WereBear
@Mike J: And I like that. The Hugos, working from popular votes, need to shut that crap down.
Iowa Old Lady
Wesley Chu won the Campbell Award, which is non-Hugo but given at the same time. That was well deserved, and he gave a speech about important it is to have a wide range of characters. So good for Chu on both fronts.
Another Holocene Human
Never mind, I followed that IO link and it explained most of it. (Still looking for Beale’s role in all of this. I know you’re in it somehow. BEALE!)
This is what “Vox Day” tried to do by getting his minions to ballot stuff his stupid Christ story. I can’t help but think this is round two, bigger, badder, more butthurt.
Another Holocene Human
@Mike J: I feel like there was more than one liberal mole in the war porn segment of scifi, but it is full of keyboard commando RWNJ culture warriors which is one more reason I’ve edged away from it. Or just plain delusional people. I wanted to like those Honor Harrington books so much. I mean, right up my fucking alley, okay? And I tried. If you read them cover to cover, they’re so insufferable. I didn’t ragequit, I just gave up.
Another Holocene Human
@currants: You can get solid acetic acid and also buy a magnetic stirrer and just dilute to the desired amount.
I think you just buy through chemical supply.
My geek friends do this for their business. They were tired of paying someone to ship them water.
ETA: my friends switched to solid citric acid. no smell. very useful around the house, too
Another Holocene Human
@Mike J: Why is like every nomination for John C. Wright? I don’t even know who that is.
Mike J
@Another Holocene Human: http://failfandomanonwiki.pbworks.com/w/page/94780361/John%20C%20Wright
currants
@Mike J: @Another Holocene Human:
to you, and note to self: Or you can buy some online. It will only cost you twice as much to get it here!
Marvel
@currants: You can make “refrigerator” dills without cooking, using regular, low-acid vinegar:
3.5 lbs small pickling cucumbers
1.25 C white vinegar (5% acidity)
2 C water
2 T pickling salt
4 heads fresh dill or 4 tsp dill seeds
4 small cloves garlic (optional)
Stuff jars with cukes and dill (& optional garlic); combine remaining ingrediants and bring to a boil; pour liquid into jars; can (water bath for 15 minutes) or refrigerate (for up to six months).
Easy-peasy.
Another Holocene Human
@Mike J: Thank you. Wow. Also he is an Inconsistent Catholic. Apparently he has an intermittent hearing problem when the Vatican is talking (going by that long quote of his up top). Not that that’s unusually or surprising or anything. The Pope (even JPII) is pro wealth, anti environment, and pro death penalty? Who knew.
Gin & Tonic
@Tommy: Try half-sours. No vinegar, just cukes, garlic, dill and a teaspoon of whole pepper per quart jar. Pack the cukes in so they don’t float up. Fill with a 3.5% brine, leave loosely covered in a dark place (maybe your basement) for 5 days. You can thank me later.
After they are done fermenting, you’ll have to refrigerate them.
Another Holocene Human
Oh my god, John C Wright is horrible rabbit hole. I think this guy is a sociopath. I need brain bleach–stat! He keeps fantasizing about killing people he hates and fantasizing that other people will rise up and join him in a mob to kill people he hates or who frustrate him for two seconds.
Oh, and a chat with the wife reveals one of her author friends wrote to him to start a “dialogue” and, well, that did not exactly go well.
WTF, Correia and Beale and their horrible minions really showed their ass promoting that dingleberry’s oeuvre this year.
Oh, and every comment he makes is just unreadably over the top. It’s hard for me to imagine his published fic is any better.
ETA: Aaaaaaand here’s the grift:
(Vox Day is the nom de troll of Theodore Beale.)
Steeplejack
Word comes that crossword guru Merl Reagle died yesterday. RIP.
currants
@Marvel: great recipe, thanks! Kind of limits volume if using the refrig method, but I’m the only one who likes pickles anyway.
Also, gorgeous garden. I don’t know how you do it all, or have time to do it all. I am always in awe of (marvel at!) your photos and descriptions. I’ve lost now almost my entire summer to writing a paper for a September conference; won’t be doing THAT again.
I think you can grow a lot of things we can’t here in New England (and that I can’t specifically–have never succeeded in getting zucchinis or pumpkins or any curcubits at all).* And I think your photos were the first I ever saw of quinoa, which I had not heard of before and now have with steel cut oats for breakfast in the winter.
*ETA doesn’t mean I won’t be making pickles this week from cukes a friend just dropped off….
So thank you, again!
Tommy
@currants: My garden outside of weeding it takes almost no time. Kind of scary how hands off it is. I spend tens times more time mowing my lawn they I do with my garden.
Another Holocene Human
Okay, Scalzi finally woke up and posted a VERY appropriate clip:
http://whatever.scalzi.com/2015/08/23/a-brief-comment-on-the-hugos/
Peale
@Another Holocene Human: yep. The proof of the SJW conspiracy was that after listening to the puppies for awhile, SF voters said “screw you.” Thank you Hugo voters. Unfortunately, it means that next year’s awards will be worse, I fear.
jeffreyw
This catnip has gone to seed, but Ms Bea still finds it interesting.
Tommy
@jeffreyw: Oh I so wanted that for my pootie. The first year I put in my garden I planted cat nip. Thought I would be this “cool” cat owner. She could have cared less about it.
Joel
@Mike J: acetic acid has a lower boiling point than water. Referencing another post, like most acids, acetic acid is liquid, not solid. Boric acid, oxalic acid, those are solid.
House vinegar is 5% acetic acid. You can buy glacial acetic acid (100%) from a chemical supply company. Sigma-Aldrich, JT Baker, Thermo/Pierce, plenty of others. It will cost you.
Mike J
@Joel: Use a still?
Rugosa
@currants:
Potatoes are ready when the tops die back. Hint: don’t wait until they disappear! Dig when you can still tell where the potatoes are by the stalks. And you can count on spearing your biggest, best potato with your fork or spade!
jeffreyw
@Tommy: We had some volunteer in the garden this year. The plant in the pot was dug from that clump.
rikyrah
learned a lot about gardening and what to do with leftover harvests from this thread.
currants
@Rugosa: :-) Glad they’re in a raised bed and the weeds only got started last week, then!
tybee
@Schlemazel:
you can freeze stuff for long periods of time with no frost burn. i have frozen shrimp with the vacuum sealer and defrosted them 2 years later. the tails still had that teal color to them, the legs were still red…and they tasted fine.
i don’t normally let them sit in the freezer that long but a pack had ducked down into a corner and we didn’t find it until the next freezer churn. our foodsavers (and we’ve been through a couple) have saved us more than enough money storing seafood, venison and other items to pay for themselves many times over.
Gin & Tonic
@tybee: Any particular brand/model you like? I recall reading something about how some require proprietary bags, and like razors/blades or printers/ink they soak you on those.
SWMBO
@Tommy: A friend from high school sent his grandmother’s pickle recipe out:
a quart jar
a couple of firm cukes with dark green skins (note; if there is a yellow stripe on the cuke it means it has sat on the ground so pass on it.)
Heinz Distilled White Vinegar (another note; Apple Cider Vinegar is trendy but it eliminates the flavor of the cukes. white vinegar is more neutral.)
sea salt* (one level teaspoon)
Splenda* or sugar (one packet of Splenda or a level teaspoon of sugar)
ground white pepper (one half level teaspoon)
whole black peppercorns* (one level teaspoon)
Polaner or Spice World Fresh Minced Garlic* (one half level teaspoon)
Real Lemon* (a dash or two to taste)
Directions…
using a sharp knife slice off the ends of the cukes. then using a paring tool, pare the cukes vertically with a three quarter inch wide path leaving a quarter of an inch stripe of skin as you go. this adds to the flavor but if you leave the skin on the cukes they will be too bitter. this gives them just that perfect bit of flavor. then slice the cukes one quarter of an inch thick. any thinner and they will be flimsy and mushy. you want them to be all crisp! fill the jar with the sliced cukes then fill two thirds full with vinegar. add all the aforementioned ingredients and fill to the jar top with water. seal the jar, shake to blend then let set up in the fridge for 24 hours and by dinner time the next day they will be ready! enjoy this classic treat!!!
Also, you live near STL. Go to the Botanical Gardens!! http://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/
My family has bought rooted cuttings, seeds and potted plants there. They will know what grows best in the area. The plants/seeds they sell are fundraisers. They KNOW plants in your area.
tybee
@Gin & Tonic:
i’ve mostly used foodsaver brand. had a black and decker, cheap but didn’t work well, just well enough to invest in a better device. bags can be bought in a number of places on-line. haven’t noticed much difference in quality.