Posted on 04/01/2025 6:11:07 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
The MONTHLY Gardening Thread is a gathering of folks that love soil, seeds and plants of all kinds. From complete newbies that are looking to start that first potted plant, to gardeners with some acreage, to Master Gardener level and beyond, we would love to hear from you.
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P.S. I love your tag line. I say, ‘The Lords Prayer’ every night. It covers all the bases and if I stray from that ‘script’ God just ends up getting an earful of nonsense from me, LOL!
I try to keep it straight to the point for Him; He’s got more to worry about than me and my INSIGNIFICANT problems. ;)
“The Lord’s Prayer” is a powerful tool to navigate life’s pressures. By focusing on the glory of
God, asking for forgiveness and protection, one can find strength and guidance in difficult times.
Aviation pioneer, Igor Sikorsky, actually wrote a book about
it b/c his view was that it was the key to having a good life
Diana; if you ever had Peking Duck they coat it with honey or malt extract and 5 spice powder and leave it in a cool spot for a few hours to dry and set up before they cook it. I suspect this seals it and keeps it moister than if they just roasted it.
I have a slow cookier. I also use Sous vide which is a good way to keep meat moist if you do not mind cooking in plastic. Never tried bear or raccoon, but it is a good way to make prime rib, ribs, and brisket. (You finish them on the grill or in the oven.)
No, never went to Germany or Sweden but spent summers in Wisconsin. After joining the service my family moved to Wisconsin. Irritated me to no end.
If one is using “just breeze” through a window, to strengthen young tomato plants’ stems, I find I have to “stake” them to not have some blown over in gusts. But, does the plant still get the full benefit of the breeze, if the stems are now stabilized?
Yes, I know a fan on low speed would be better (ie., “controllable”), but, aside from it being an awkward (placement) in this case, the plants are in front of a couple windows and I’d really like to have the windows letting in some fresh air, when practical.
Thanks!
Happy Easter, everyone!!!
God's blessings to all, and especially Diana for providing these great threads!. :-)
I picked up a couple of these yesterday on the way to pick up wifey and head to Good Friday service (my 1st time at one of these at a Catholic church) :
These actually look pretty good for the $$, with decent heat sinking, a long (10 ft.) power cord, and hanging accessories. They are pretty bright, too! Unfortunately, like so many products from China, they’ve “skimped” by (in this case) not even bothering to put any heat sink grease between the back of the LED board and the heat sink! Often the problem is a perfunctory smear of grease that only provides about 10% contact, or is misplaced entirely, but, nope, in this case they didn’t bother with ANY.
Granted that heat sink grease is a bit pricey, but geez!
It’s no wonder so many LED lights fail early.
I still have some heat sink grease, somewhere......
I may Dremel / cut out the front diffusor too, to get a bit more directed light, at the expense of the (likely useless) warranty.
After he “mostly” retired, my Dad went to Germany for a month “tour”. As a Forestry Professor, he loved it!
Interesting.
As a child Mom taught us the, ‘Now I lay me down to sleep...’ prayer, but of course at the end we had to add: God Bless Mom & Dad, our Grandmas & Grandpas (we were lucky enough to have all four growing up) Aunts & Uncles, Cousins, Friends and PETS! ;)
You can always move the clan up here to ‘Sconny! Plenty of room, affordable housing - but bring your ‘big coat’ and extra snow shovels, LOL!
Gotta git me som eof those for Easter lol
Even though Sis and I are now both in our 60’s, Mom still buys them for us!
I only like them when they’re STALE, so I cut open the packaging and let them sit until July, LOL!
They ARE good in coffee or hot chocolate, though. ;)
Definitely your peeps, Diana. Adorable!
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Grilled Italian Eggplant Rollatini
Four-cheese filling, homemade marinara, creamy, delicious rollatini.
Ing Marinara: 2 tbls evo 2 tsp freshly minced garlic 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes 3 tbl minced fresh basil K/s/p Rollatini: 1 c whole milk ricotta 1 c grated mozzarella, divided 1/3 c grated sharp provolone 2/3 c grated Parm 1 lge egg 1/4 c minced fresh basil, plus garnish 2 lge eggplant in 1/4" slices 1/3 c evo K/s/p
Directions Marinara: cook oil, garlic, red pepper flakes on med heat til fragrant, bubbles form around garlic, 30-60 sec. Stir in crushed tomatoes, btb, simmer til slightly thickened, about 20 min. Offheat stir in basil. Season. Set aside. Rollatini: Whisk ricotta, 1/3 c mozzarella, provolone, 1/3 c parm, egg, 1/4 cup basil. Set aside.
Brush eggplant w/ oil; season. Grill browned, 2-3 min per side. Transfer to tray or cutting board. Place heaping tbl ricotta filling on wider end and rollup. Repeat w/ rest. Layer in b/dish thin layer of marinara, eggplant rolls, rest mozzarella and parm. Place on cool side of grill, foil, and cook til cheese melts, 15 min. Remove, garnish w/ basil, and serve.
Notes--starts with eggplant slices tender and browned, then returned to grill as rollatini in covered baking dish, just long enough to melt cheese, marinara is heated through. Eggplant slices 1/4 inch thick are sturdy enough to hold together on the grill yet thin enough to rollup. Mixing provolone into filling adds a nice sharpness that's balanced by the creamy and mellow ricotta. Finishing over indirect fire makes great use of the remaining grill heat.
Been working on the wiring in the tunnel and doing it more properly than last Fall when I was winging it and figuring things out.
Whittled down and reconfigured the drip for the tunnel. The drip stuff will be on it's third configuration this time. Just need a 50' roll of the brown drip emitter tubing to do the 3rd of the three inner beds. Menard's has them for $10/ea. Then later on after I finish the tunnel, two more rolls for the outer beds.
Got the travel trailer cleaned up a little which gives me room to take a bunch of stuff from shed and put in there. Gonna finish organizing the shed today/tomorrow. Guess I'll bring a space heater with me and aim it at me. Gotta tidy up the side that has a wall of shelves but currently has a bunch of stuff on one floor in front of them. Cleaned up the other side yesterday.
The AG research center up the road from me says they got 1.37" of rain so far today. http://agebb.missouri.edu/weather/realtime/cookstation.php. They've had an inch of rain before when I got none though and visa versa.
Need to get my bucket rain gauge set back up. Had it up by the house but it's going down by the tunnel now like all the weather sensors. Post hole for it is already dug(and probably full of water). Will have to dig a little trench from it to the tunnel for the cable. Can't put any weather sensors too close to the tunnel because the wind hitting, going over and coming back down the tunnel will have an effect, whether it's wind direction or speed or even rain.
Wind sensor will have to go further away. Think it's going underneath the guy wire for the electric pole. Ought to be safe there and the pole shouldn't mess with the reading too much as far as blocking wind.
Most of my seeds have sprouted. A few things haven't done anything but some of the seeds were sold for the 2020 season so they're 5 years old. Could still pop up though.
We have a local Italian restaurant in our little town, where the owners were direct from Italy and settled here. Now the daughter and son in law run it. They make eggplant rollatinis that look just like the recipe you’ve posted. It’s one of only a few restaurants that we go to when I don’t feel like cooking, which isn’t often, but even I like a break from it sometimes. We order the rollatini every time as an appetizer. You get 4 of them for $12 now. Used to be less. I’m sure it could be made for less in my own home, but not by much. It’s a delicious way to have eggplant!
Thx so much for the rollatini story.....enjoyed it.
My Mama loved Peeps like nobody else I know. She could eat those every day.
They were never my cup of tea, but I do think they’re cute and fun. I have a stuffed yellow bunny Peep *pillow* that I use as a decoration for one of the chairs in the living room when I decorate for Easter.
Got sick of going back and forth from tunnel to shed to keep grabbing tools and hardware so I set up some VersaStack boxes like this, but in my case, no middle box but I had the tool bag from the same system snapped on top. Everything I could possibly need.
Worked good until I had to drag it back up the slight hill, then I decided it was too much. Thought I was going to rip the handle out going across the gravel. Gonna make up smaller kits today. One for general use and a couple special purpose, like a box with metal tunnel frame parts, a box with electric fence parts etc. That big box built as part of the cart was too tempting to fill with stuff.
Maybe this summer I'll get the DeWalt TSTAK cart that's compatible with the Versastack. Never did like the box/cart as a single unit. Gonna swap to mostly drawer units too so I don't have to do all that unstacking which is the downside of stackable. I don't mind taking the tool bag off but spreading out 3-4 boxes is a pain and takes up room. 
Only thing I need is a single 4" deep drawer as I already have two of the double 2" drawer units.
Single 4" Drawer ------------- Double 2" drawer -------------- clear lid organizer. 
I do have the clear lid organizer which I like, so from bottom to top it will be, one 4"drawer, four 2" drawers(two 2 drawer units), clear lid organizer and tool bag on top. Only unstacking I'd have to do is to take the tool bag off which is no big deal and would probably happen anyway to get to a spot the cart can't. I can get the 4" drawer unit pretty soon for $36 but the $122 cart can wait.
I'll be mismatched like this but oh well, Craftsman/Versastack doesn't make a 4" deep drawer unit, just the two 2" drawer units. Had I known at the time, I would have gone with DeWalt but Craftsman/Versastack is what Lowe's had and it was a heck of a price. 
Between the stackable system and four metal boxes, I've almost got too many tool boxes. Got a couple old plastic stackable boxes on wheels too but they were cheap junk when I got them 30 years ago. It's about time for them to go. Might keep the top boxes and set one up for the trunk of the car and see if one will fit under the back seat of the truck.
Since I bought the newer stackables, I never have rearranged my tools and they've mostly been empty so that will be today's project after getting more stuff out of the shed and into the travel trailer (the next catchall).
Almost 2pm and probably not going to get much warmer so I guess I'll get to it. Can finish tomorrow if need be.
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