Open Thread for Saturday

Submitted by randtntx on Sat, 08/08/2020 - 9:51am

I don't know where smiley's OT 'Welcome to Saturday' essay is, hope he is OK.

I'm cooking and transplanting seedlings today so will just put this up.

On the menu today;
humus, (garbanzo beans have been soaking) flatbread, Caesar salad, (I know, does not go together but is what we have in the fridge), cabbage salad (to be made for tomorrow), and whatever else we can scare up...is a work in progress.

If anyone knows about smiley please chime in.

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Submitted by enhydra lutris on Sat, 08/08/2020 - 10:23am

Thanks rand, late rising here and just making sure

I couldn't find the OT before throwing something together. Like you hoping smiley is ok.
Have to run down to farmers' market soon. Have 2 green onion re-grows ready to plant and 2 more ready to start, but no planting in mind unless a few carrots just to keep some carrots in the ground at all times. Maybe I'll try one Portuguese kale from old, old seeds in a 1 foot cube bag. Have a ton of deferred small chores to do around here, but my wife takes over the cooking tomorrow, so that's one thing off my list for a week.

—

That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

Submitted by randtntx on Sat, 08/08/2020 - 3:46pm

Hi

@enhydra lutris , we won't be planting onions here until October or thereabouts. Carrots in the ground at all times?...To keep rabbits distracted I suppose.
I jumped the gun with planting today because I had a bunch of seedlings who just didn't seem to be happy In their little pots. Several of them died and I have been babying them for way too long. So I will see if they survive the heat here. They are in a location that only gets morning sun so that helps and since they are hot peppers they may just be ok as they like the heat. Shade cloth is in order though.

Don't know about Portuguese kale ...will have to look that up. For us kale is a fall garden crop.

Hear you about the chores, always a ton.

Submitted by enhydra lutris on Sun, 08/09/2020 - 9:49am

Portuguese kale is really some sort of collard, but better

@randtntx
tasting and with really huge leaves. I throw a little (shredded) in red sauces and use it for curtido for fish tacos and as a sort of all purpose green.

—

That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

Submitted by randtntx on Mon, 08/10/2020 - 8:36am

I'll have to try those

@enhydra lutris I like greens very much my favorites being Swiss chard and beet greens but there is so much you can do with all of them. I'm not such a fan of fish tacos but several in my family are, so will try that as well, thank you.

Submitted by enhydra lutris on Sun, 08/09/2020 - 10:31am

Didn't reply as to the onions and carrots. Carrots seem to

@randtntx
grow yer round here, though we've never fully tested the idea. I've decided to try to keep some here and here at all times as much to see as anything else. My wife once planted them very densely in a particular planter box to get rid of several packets of seriously aged seeds. Tons of them came up and we didn't really thin them either. We did find a lot of uses for miniature carrots, from a couple as a garnish in certain dishes, or in some salads, or throwing them in soups and stir frys by the handful.

I (re)plant green onions solely for the purpose of getting more green onions, and not in an attempt to grow onions. (Even knowing, let alone finding just the right onion starts for our area is more of a task than I wish to undertake so we just buy bulb onions at the farmers' market.) I have a few dedicated planters in which I regrow green onions, harvesting them as green onions, or, if I let them go longer or replant them many times they begin to bulb out a little like a spring onion or Mexican onion and I've had a couple I left in the ground for maybe a full year or so that eventually bulbed out into smallish regular onions. Partly it's an experiment in vertical gardening, I have two smallish planters hanging one above the other in an east facing exposure that are my primary "onion garden".

—

That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

Submitted by randtntx on Mon, 08/10/2020 - 8:44am

An accidental bumper crop of carrots.

@enhydra lutris Sounds like a nice surprise. I can't remember the last time we planted carrots, I'm sure we must have...but it escapes me. We don't really eat them much anymore but onions on the other hand are essential. Onions do well here and I like your idea of vertical gardening the green onions.

Vertical garden structures are my big project for this winter. I'm really looking forward to setting it all up.
cheers and thanks for all the garden tid-bits.

Submitted by Lookout on Sat, 08/08/2020 - 10:31am

good morning...

Thanks for filing in randtntx. All I know is smiley is facing some health challenges as well as trying to sell his recently departed Mom's house and belongings. Like you I wish him the best and hope all is well and he's just busy.

I went to town for non-ethanol gas for my 56 YO tractor, avocados at Trade Day, and a quick grocery run. I found some wild caught salmon on sale, so that's on our dinner menu this evening.

I forgot this is the weekend on the big yard sale...

The COVID-19 pandemic killed public events of all shapes and sizes this year, but the "World’s Longest Yard Sale" will not be one of its victims.

The annual August event officially kicks off Thursday and continues through Sunday. It draws vendors and vintage goods/art and crafts fans to roam the roadsides looking for treasure.

The yard sale’s 690-mile path starts in Gadsden, at Noccalula Falls, and winds its way along the Lookout Mountain Parkway and U.S. 127 through Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Ohio, to its end point in Hudson, Michigan.

https://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/story/news/2020/08/04/coronavirus-p...

I didn't see a single mask along the sale on my way to town and back. And to think of the mingling of people from all over...you know it will be a spreader event. Consumerism run amok.

Well take care everyone!

—

“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

Submitted by doh1304 on Sat, 08/08/2020 - 11:14am

I have a friend in New York who has to go to Ohio

@Lookout
to sell his father's house. (he's in a nursing home, and they finally convinced him he won't be going back) There's a sick pun, but I'll refrain.

—

On to Biden since 1973

Submitted by randtntx on Sat, 08/08/2020 - 3:32pm

Big yard sale

@Lookout with no masks...I don't want to be there.
At least at our Farmers market everyone has a mask on (with the exception of one vendor?! I did not stand in that line)

I'm sure smiley is very busy, hope he is completing all those tasks without undue stress.

Dinner sounds good at your house, enjoy the salmon.

Submitted by snoopydawg on Sat, 08/08/2020 - 4:17pm

It’s also Sturgis time

@Lookout

Maybe 250,000 people with their Harley’s will go there this week and from the pictures not many are wearing masks. It’ll be interesting to see what happens in 2 weeks or so.

—

The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists.
~Hannah Arendt

Submitted by Dr. John Carpenter on Sat, 08/08/2020 - 9:47pm

H-D is going to wish they’d worn masks.

@snoopydawg I don’t follow this super closely but I’ve read H-D has been struggling for a while because their customer base is aging out and they’re not attracting younger riders because Harleys are seen as old man MAGA bikes. They’ve started to do a little damage control on the image but I don’t see a large meet with people not wearing masks helping that much. (Not that they can force the issue. But slap a H-D logo on a mask and maybe help a bunch of your customers not infect themselves with Covid. Heh.)

—

Idolizing a politician is like believing the stripper really likes you.

Submitted by randtntx on Sat, 08/08/2020 - 10:40pm

If only

@snoopydawg we did contact tracing. We might be able to get some useful data about big gatherings and giant yard sales not to mention masks vs no masks.

Submitted by Granma on Sat, 08/08/2020 - 10:44am

Your menu for today sounds delicious to me

Today is the farmer's market. One of my neighbors gets things for me. I love going myself but can't walk enough to do so. The fresh fruits and vegetables from the market always taste so much better than the ones from the grocery store. And they have things the stores do not have. At this time of year, I especially enjoy the heirloom tomatoes and the summer squashes.

There are not nearly as many vendors as in previous years. Covid changed that. Some of the farmers make their products available via an app. One orders by Thursday night and then drives by the pick up station at the market on Saturday and your food is loaded into the trunk of your car. The whole market was drive through until our state opened a little. It was a clever solution for continuing the market during shut down, but it is not nearly as enjoyable as going to the market in previous years.

I wonder how other places have handled their farmer's markets.

Submitted by randtntx on Sat, 08/08/2020 - 2:41pm

Thanks

@Granma . We'll have a glass of wine with it and it will be a feast.
Hope your neighbor picks up some good veggies for you at the farmer's market. I think our farmer's market was smaller as well this summer. We did get some good Okra, zucchini, and tomatoes but the peach season was sort of a bust and so the peaches were not very plentiful. I think the Farmer's Markets are adapting to covid and will continue to do so.

Submitted by Granma on Sat, 08/08/2020 - 6:48pm

The markets are adapting. Thank goodness.

@randtntx I should have mentioned everyone is wearing masks at the market here. They are mandatory now inside, and outside where distancing Is not possible. The good part is that people are wearing them, and mostly were before it was mandatory, in my part of the state. I think mandatory makes it easier on the merchants and their employees.

Submitted by jakkalbessie on Sat, 08/08/2020 - 10:58am

Thanks for stepping in randtntx

Wishing Smiley the best as he faces his challenges.

Am back in ny place outside Austin and did an early morning bike ride. Was 50/50 on masks I saw. Came back and cooled down with breeze off river.

The heat is climbing so inside I go to continue plowing through 48 years of accumulation, some worth saving but sure a lot that is not.

Sure miss the Farmers Market in Santa Fe.

—

Life is what you make it, so make it something worthwhile.

This ain't no dress rehearsal!

Submitted by enhydra lutris on Sat, 08/08/2020 - 12:51pm

Good morning jb. It's nice to get in an early morning ride,

@jakkalbessie
especially if you're in a rideable area. Gets you and the day moving before the heat and traffic sets in.

be well and have a good one.

—

That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

Submitted by randtntx on Sat, 08/08/2020 - 2:23pm

You're just up the road from me

@jakkalbessie and we have pretty much the same weather. The early mornings are very nice for bike-riding etc. The evenings can be good as well but mid-day is best to take cover.
Hang in there with the task of plowing through the accumulated stuff, a step at a time.

Submitted by Shahryar on Sat, 08/08/2020 - 12:22pm

a group of people kind of marched close to our house last night

someone needs to explain to me the benefits of "direct action", i.e. confrontation with the authorities, whether it's the feds or the Portland police.

I perceive it this way. Angry people at the BLM protests, the feds got called in, the feds left, the angry people got told to stop rattling the fence, to stop throwing bottles at the fed building, to stop lighting fires, to stop throwing firecrackers, because all of that was overwhelming the BLM message. For 3 days all was peaceful until those who were told to stop acting like that decided to just leave the downtown protests and conduct their own.

And now the downtown protests, the ones I consider the real BLM protests, are not covered anymore. Instead the press has moved to follow the confrontations. So I need someone to explain why this confrontation is useful.

Anyway, it was weird to hear the police loudspeaker last night in the neighborhood, followed by flash bangs.

Submitted by randtntx on Sat, 08/08/2020 - 2:06pm

I don't know the answer.

@Shahryar but I don't like spinning my wheels or making things worse so I require good reasons before participating in such a thing. I'm not sure what the reasoning is behind those particular actions you are talking about.

Submitted by MrWebster on Sat, 08/08/2020 - 5:39pm

BLM hijacked in Portland

@Shahryar There have been a number of local black leaders who have decried how the violence has taken away the focus on the origin purpose of movement.

https://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/protests/naacp-leader-talks-about...

There was a big rift between the original Wall of Moms leader and local black women leaders who said some very harsh things about them.

Portland’s Wall of Moms crumbles amid online allegations by former partner, Don’t Shoot PDX

Unless there are some agent provocateurs, the night time violence is only creating a slow counter-reaction to the BLM movement. Hell even Wheeler called the attack on the East Side police station attempted murder.

Submitted by QMS on Sat, 08/08/2020 - 12:47pm

Giving away tons of 'maters and japanese eggplant

6 varieties of the tomato family
plenty squash and green beans
the sweet peas have run their course
may try to do a new planting
training the cukes to grow up the
bamboo stalks along with morning glory
hoping the carrots survive the thinning
will have beets aplenty come fall
onions, not so much

thanks rand for filling in
wishing smiley well

—

question everything

Submitted by randtntx on Sat, 08/08/2020 - 1:47pm

It's fun

@QMS to have a whole variety of tomatoes, different colors and shapes make for a nice tomato salad. It sounds as if you have a productive garden. Ours was kind of paltry this summer and is shutting down in the heat except for a few things; Malabar spinach, Armenian cucumbers, basil, a few Roma tomatoes, sunflowers, hot peppers, and a variety of herbs. New planting starts for us in south TX in September.

Submitted by enhydra lutris on Sat, 08/08/2020 - 2:43pm

What types of things do you do with malabar spinach?

@randtntx

—

That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

Submitted by randtntx on Sat, 08/08/2020 - 4:04pm

Ha

@enhydra lutris that is a good question. This is our first time to plant it. At the very least it is incredibly cute. I have it climbing up a trellis and it has a proliferation of small white flowers. So you have the dark green leaves, the purple stems, and a halo of little flowers. Adorable.

I have heard it is kind of slimy like okra when cooked. But the guy who I watch on youtube who is the reason I planted this, eats most of his veggies raw (I think). So I make a point of eating a few leaves and flowers of this plant every time I water it. I like it...it's good. The flowers taste good too and they attract pollinators. (so they say)

We made a middle eastern egg dish of braised eggs with leek and za'atar (from Ottolenghi's Simple and put the Malabar spinach in although it called for baby spinach. It was good, we didn't notice any extra slime.

I found a recipe for a curried red lentil soup with spinach which is our next Malabar spinach experiment. Will let you know.

Submitted by Lookout on Sat, 08/08/2020 - 5:57pm

Malabar spinach...

@randtntx

is summer fave. Saute in butter for an almost spinach experience. Hell throw in a few onions ...garlic....whatever your faves. We clip leaves as it vines out and matures.

—

“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

Submitted by randtntx on Sat, 08/08/2020 - 10:51pm

Will try that

@Lookout I was thinking I had to dress it up with spices and sauces to minimize the slimy factor but now I'm more inclined to try your method. Thanks.

Submitted by janis b on Sat, 08/08/2020 - 5:09pm

Hi rand and friends of smiley,

I trust that smiley is doing okay. I spoke with him briefly last Sunday on his way down to the family home, where I know he has no internet connection. He was going down to prepare the house for sale, and meet with a few agents. He didn’t know how long the process would take, so I assume it’s still ongoing. I hope It’s progressing as smoothly as possible, and not more overwhelming or stressful than these dealings already are naturally. If he hasn’t lost track of the days he’s probably enjoying the comfort knowing it’s saturday and his friends are thinking of him.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend all.

Submitted by QMS on Sat, 08/08/2020 - 8:45pm