Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

When we show up, we win.

You’re just a puppy masquerading as an old coot.

She burned that motherfucker down, and I am so here for it. Thank you, Caroline Kennedy.

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

We need to vote them all out and restore sane Democratic government.

… gradually, and then suddenly.

American history and black history cannot be separated.

Weird. Rome has an American Pope and America has a Russian President.

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

Text STOP to opt out of updates on war plans.

Not all heroes wear capes.

Republicans: “Abortion is murder but you can take a bus to get one.” Easy peasy.

The media handbook says “controversial” is the most negative description that can be used for a Republican.

I see no possible difficulties whatsoever with this fool-proof plan.

One way or another, he’s a liar.

’Where will you hide, Roberts, the laws all being flat?’

“But what about the lurkers?”

The rest of the comments were smacking Boebert like she was a piñata.

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

Stop using mental illness to avoid talking about armed white supremacy.

This country desperately needs a functioning fourth estate.

They were going to turn on one another at some point. It was inevitable.

Rupert, come get your orange boy, you petrified old dinosaur turd.

You are here: Home / Garden Chats / Sunday Morning Garden Chat: Spring Is Coming…

Sunday Morning Garden Chat: Spring Is Coming…

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Sunday Morning Garden Chat: Spring Is Coming...

At least in commentor JeffG166‘s neighborhood!

***********
Not nearly as cheerful, but very informative agriculture-related tweets from a longer thread by a crop scientist:

Today the areas most reliant on Ukrainian grain are still the eastern Mediterranean & mideast. That’s not too different from the situation in ancient Greece. Large cities in arid areas have a hard time growing enough grain to feed everybody, & Ukraine is the closest breadbasket.

Some places are already feeling bread shortages: Egypt, Yemen, and Lebanon. All of them already had food security challenges.

As soon as Ukraine’s ports weren’t able to ship grain, these places felt it in their food stocks almost immediately…

So far it looks like most of the grain & oilseed disruptions are loss of shipping ports. It’s about inability to ship crops out of Ukraine, not inability to grow them.

If Russian leaves quickly & ports are ~intact, Ukraine’s grain exports could bounce back quickly…

…

… After spring planting for corn & sunflowers, the next job is harvesting wheat in mid/late summer. The wheat fields are (probably) ok rn. But again the more Russian tanks still running around Ukraine in midsummer, the less will get harvested. And can’t ship it w/out working ports.

I don’t love trying to make long-distance forecasts for a crop region I don’t know very well, during an invasion that keeps catching *the invaders* by surprise

but yeah tl;dr the sooner Russia GTFOs the better.

As far as potential food shortages, the problem is rarely a real food shortage.

The problem is food prices go high enough that a lot of people can’t afford food.

The problem is poverty. Not “there isn’t enough food to go around.”…

Also, if you’re an aficionado of vulture capitalism, search “grain futures” on google or even right here on twitter.

the farmers & grain traders thirst posting about food shortages I MEAN high prices is really something to behold : /

***********
On that cheerful note…

What’s going on in your garden (planning / prep / memories), this week?

Reader Interactions

56Comments

  3. 3.

    Mousebumples

    Beautiful crocuses! I have some green shoots in my gardens so far, but no flowers, as of yesterday.

  4. 4.

    eclare

    Crocuses…so pretty! We got about five inches of snow Friday night in Memphis, but luckily it was a light and fluffy snow, very few power outages.

    High today is 54, so that will take care of it.

  10. 10.

    satby

    @OzarkHillbilly: part of being a perpetual road warrior when I worked for huge IT Corp was the weekly realization that I had a lot to do that wouldn’t get done before I left, and that it really didn’t matter long term as long as the living creatures stuff got done. Have a great trip to see the family, it’ll all still be waiting for you when you get back.

  12. 12.

    Jay

    I’m on opening shift on time change day, so I’m up, if not awake.

    A week of freeze killed T’s weird Gerbera, ( really???? Blooming in December????) and so far, aside from the winter hardy perennials, only the tiger lily is starting to poke up.

  14. 14.

    Benw

    Our crocuses opened two days ago, now it’s 24 degrees and there’s a layer of frost, but those are tough little flowers

  15. 15.

    Mousebumples

    @satby: unrelated, I heard from a family member that I directed to your shop that you’re planning retirement (from soap/lotion making, anyhow). Congrats! And now I’m extra glad I stocked up a few weeks ago, lol! ?

  17. 17.

    Immanentize

    We just had a bomb cyclone (?) effect pass through here near Boston. We were in the 40s+. Now we’re back to 20s with snow/ice on the ground. No sign of crocci, but one of my garlic varieties is poking up — yes it’s “Siberian.”

    Ozark, kiss the kinder and eat gumbo.

  21. 21.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Immanentize: Was up in your neck of the woods the other day (Malden, actually) helping pack medical supplies. God, I hate 93 through the Hub.

  22. 22.

    OzarkHillbilly

    The ONE BIG THING that I absolutely have to get done is setting up the Automatic waterer I bought for all my seedlings. Here’s hoping it doesn’t need too much fine tuning. Computers hate me even more than I hate them.

  23. 23.

    Mary G

    My poor garden has has to fend for itself for almost two weeks now, just when it should be loved and fertilized. We all agree it’s better for the housemates to stay well away. The teen learned from his mother and grandmother to pick up requested pots by pinching the edge with the the tiniest slice of the thumb and two finger, then tilting it as little as possible to check for spiders, seeing them, there or maybe not, and letting go and leaping away, allowing t he pot and its contents to crash and break itself and whatever is below. Gotta go, nursing home ate my charging cord.

  25. 25.

    Jay

    @eclare:

    Law and Corp scheduling says I am required 9 hours between shifts, so, often, I am on close, then on open the next day.

    I spend most of my days off, ( 2 days in a row maybe twice a month, mostly a single day off, and a “long weekend” twice a year, sleeping.

    The scheduling software is designed to keep us too tired and on too erratic a schedule to apply and get other jobs.

    Could be worse, ( ain’t that a modern Capitalism statement), we have a lot of International Students as part time. They can’t work, (with out losing their Student status, and Immigration status), more than 20 hours in a month. The Computer Schedule constantly screws them over, and they have to constantly monitor their schedules, get HR to modify them, at the last moment, which of course, screws the rest of us,

    I really miss 9-5, and of course, 20 years of setting my own schedule.

    Or did you mean the loss of T’s weird December blooming Gerbera freak plant? ?

  26. 26.

    Liminal Owl

    @Gin & Tonic: Hey, if you’re in the neighborhood and want to have coffee with me and the Thin Black Duke, please get in touch. (And we’re on the good side of 93… well, that might be oxymoronic, but at least you don’t have to pass through the city.

  29. 29.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Mary G:

    I somehow missed that you were back (among the Jackals). Great to see your nym, and I hope your health is improving daily!

  31. 31.

    Immanentize

    @Gin & Tonic: 93 sucks. Cuts Medford in two.

    I really would like to have you and your wife and any other G and Ters you might bring over to my house this Spring. I’ll be trying my hand at coloring pysanky starting next weekend? Join the fun/pain of failure?

  32. 32.

    eclare

    @Jay:   A friend of mine who used to work retail talked about the dreaded clopening, where you close the night before, then open the next day.

    Nine hours?  Jeezus.

  33. 33.

    White & Gold Purgatorian

    We had 3” of snow night before last and we’re 20 degrees this morning. Our crocus had a great run but are mostly gone now. It looks like peak daffodil may have been last week but they are still spectacular. Looking forward to azalea season opening soon. In the meantime, getting the veggie garden beds ready for spring planting. This is a nice time of year, full of hope and all that.

  34. 34.

    Immanentize

    @Liminal Owl: I also would love to get you two over to my house for whatevs. And you don’t really even need to get on any highway. Going straight up Mass Ave. gets you soooo close.

  35. 35.

    oldgold

    Back to battling the oven clock!  As I labor away resetting this blinking spawn of Hell, cursing Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and  anyone else responsible for modern technology ( I am looking at you Al Gore), I have dark thoughts about DayLight Savings Time – maybe the dairy farmers were right. I swear (too much), if we had digital clocks and then mechanical clocks were invented, it would have been wildly celebrated as monumental advancement in time keeping.

    Dante’ in his darkest moment describing the Devil’s deepest dungeon could not have imagined this demonic clock, let alone my TV remote with 666 buttons. This guy, who passed into the long goodnight in 1955, relatively speaking, foresaw the future. “    It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity”-Albert Einstein

  36. 36.

    MomSense

    We had a wild storm pass through yesterday.  Still hearing some occasional wind gusts.

    Inside a storm as well.  My mom’s been having some back and leg pain and trouble walking. Yesterday her leg gave out.  She fell and took her tv with her.  After tending to the gash in her forehead, a quick trip to pick up a new Roku and a looooong period of trying to reconstruct log ins and passwords with a very stubborn and bleeding person we got her set up with her news again.
    There will be an angry call with her doctor about why it is not a good idea to tell an 85 year old to wait a month before  being seen when they are having difficulty walking suddenly.

  38. 38.

    Jay

    @eclare:

    yeah, they are “fun”. One hour to get to work, one hour to get home, gives 7 hours between shifts, if you know, I don’t have to wake up, make food, eat, decompress and eat when I get home,

    But it’s perfectly “legal”,

    Might as well live in a run down RV in the store parking lot,

    at least there would be free WiFi.

  39. 39.

    Denali

    @Mary G,

    Welcome back! Great to hear from you

    @Immanentize,

    I had a friend who did pysanky eggs. They were amazing. I am interested in their sources of design-are they to certain patterns or can they be original?

  41. 41.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    @oldgold: I was just reading a tweet about how the writer refused to observe standard time, and just left the clocks set to DST all year. She admitted they had to do a calculation to make sure they got to meetings and appointments on time, but felt it was worth it to have lighter evenings at their house all year.

  43. 43.

    Kattails

    @MomSense: Yikes! Scary stuff, I hope it turns out to be fixable or manageable for your Mom.

    SW New Hampster here, got about 4” of heavy wet snow and a three hour power outage. The garden tractor plow couldn’t handle it and the snowblower would not start b/c no power for the electric starter and the pull cord is designed for a gorilla.
    We haven’t seen enough bare ground here yet to have any idea what might be coming up, and so far no real sugaring season. I always enjoy going over to my friends’ sugar house (the foundations of which go back a couple of centuries), drink beer, and listen to the sap boil while sugary steam drips on my head from the rafters. It’s remarkably soothing.

  46. 46.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Denali: There are many traditional design elements. Books have been written about them. Of course you can do what you like, but most people work within the traditions.

  48. 48.

    Jay

    @Kattails:

    two finger pull, rotates the piston to compression, then starter pull. Saves a big air pull.

    If it’s a big beast with a Honda engine, there will be an automatic compression release in the head. If it’s dead, brutal to start, but a $15 part and a 10mm socket to replace.

  50. 50.

    Immanentize

    @MomSense: i am right there with you my friend — just before Xmas my Mom fell in her apartment and broke her hip. She was having memory issues, but the injury caused her to rapidly deteriorate. If I see her in the morning she may recognize me…. But the good news is she is not bitter or angry, but rather pleased with her life. It is a story she told herself (and us kids) all her life and it is sticking.

    Although she is getting up every morning in her new Assisted Care situation and packing her stuff. Who can blame her?

    I am hoping for the best for you and your Mom. Also, you should come down to visit?

  51. 51.

    Kattails

    @Jay: thanks! But not quite sure what a two finger pull would mean, just a really short pull or light pull? I had my whole body into it. Usually not an issue because I just plug it in. I tinkered with the degree of choke, the priming, let it sit for 20 minutes, nada.
    I’ve done that opening/closing schedule, it’s inhumane. My sister used to work in a group home for mentally challenged people and could be mandated to stay for a double shift, I.e. 16 straight hours. How TF is anyone with a family supposed to manage that??

  52. 52.

    JAM

    My daffodils are just starting to bloom, they don’t seem much bothered by the snow that fell on Friday- we will have highs in the 60s and 70s this week.  They are weirdly short this year, though, about half their usual height.  Could that be caused by moving them around last spring?

  54. 54.

    Jay

    @Kattails:

    two fingers on the pull cord, rotate the piston to top dead center, ( you will feel resistance) , release the pull cord, ( the starter mechanism will recoil the slack), then pull to start.

    otherwise, a big “chunk” of you pulling on the starter cord isn’t going to starting the engine, it’s just loading fuel and getting the piston to the actual “bang” position, so you are basically wasting a bunch of effort.

    No more than 3 pulls with the choke on, otherwise you flood the engine, 5 to 6 pulls with the choke off.

  55. 55.

    satby

    @Mousebumples: Well, that’s the cover story for Etsy, because come April, they’re raising rates AGAIN. So the Etsy store is closing, my email one will be available until the end of May at least.

    (shop name) at gee mail dot com.

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