WEEKLY GARDEN THREAD VOLUME 51 DECEMBER 20, 2013

Free Republic | 12/20/2013 | greeneyes

[greeneyes]

The Weekly Gardening Thread is a weekly 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. This thread is non-political, although you will find that most here are conservative folks. No matter what, you won’t be flamed and the only dumb question is the one that isn’t asked. It is impossible to hijack the Weekly Gardening Thread. There is no telling where it will go and... that is part of the fun and interest. Jump in and join us!

NOTE: This is a once a week ping list. We do post to the thread during the week. Links to related articles and discussions which might be of interest are welcomed, so feel free to post them at any time.

[Nepeta]

I did manage to get a refund from the company, but I'm officially on a watch list now.

More than 30 years ago, I had to haul a couple mares from NY state to Michigan. Going through Ontario province was much shorter. WEEKS prior to my departure, I contacted my veterinarian, who contacted Albany and got the straight word on all the required paperwork to take horses through Ontario (they would never leave the trailer). Paperwork was generated, tests made. Just short of Canada, I stopped at a USDA stop and had the papers checked and the mares inspected. All was fine.

Then I crossed into Canada, and the Canadians DID NOT like my paperwork (and there was a lot of it). It was HOT, HOT, HOT, the kind of weather where you sweat so much much you can hardly keep up drinking fluid. The mares were dehydrating; I pinched the skin on their necks and knew they were not wonderful. Horses WILL NOT drink water in a trailer. I've never seen it. I eventually threw myself onto the trunk of my car (yes, I had a car with a BIG engine in the early 1980s)....

The Canadian vet took pity on me, and sent me through...warning me that the Sarnia crossing would close at 5 PM...I drove across and made it in time, presented my pile of paperwork to the Americans...who didn't want ANY OF IT, and they waved me through without looking at anything!

Weeks later, I got a letter in the mail, an irate one, from the Canadians about ILLEGALLY IMPORTING HORSES INTO CANADA!

I went back to Canada in 2004 to see some plays in Stratford, Ontario, and showed my passport at the crossing (how things have changed!) and glided through. I must not be a wanted woman in Ontario...

[Nepeta]

Chili always tastes better on the second day.

While working at a chemical plant that I came to refer to as "Hell" (everyone expected the place to blow up or burn to the ground any day), one of the production guys shared his secret one night to making chili that tasted done with the flavor nicely mellowed immediately, upon being warmed up!

It's simple--start with Ragu spaghetti sauce as the base! (I suppose any sauce would work)Sly made chili for the whole crew one night (lunch was at 1.30 in the morning!)and it was wonderful stuff.

So, when you cannot wait, break out the spaghetti sauce!

[ApplegateRanch]

Our coriander (we rarely use the cilantro leaves) survived two 25-28 late season frosts. Not sure how it would do before it has set seed it’s trying to ripen.

[ApplegateRanch]

Omas Choice have 5 types, and personally I do not like it smoked.

Ole Style Beef Jerky
Pecan Smoked Regular
Ole Style Peppered Beef Jerky
Pecan Smoked Peppered
Mesquite Smoked Peppered

To me, the mesquite smoked, peppered, sounds vile.

Back in the day, we made it simple, much like bgill’s recipe. So did the ‘mountain men’ that we knew. Can’t compare to the store stuff. Most “jerky” sold today, or even home made, is “flaked & formed”, or even worse, extruded paste!

To make good jerky, you must use good meat; scrap cuts, especially from venison, are too tough & stringy to make good jerky. Also, the simpler the recipe, the better it usually is. (And the pepper was to keep flies off of it while it was hanging from the cabin rafters to dry; not for flavor!)

[ApplegateRanch]

I think I see why none of my attempts worked. We don’t waste that much of the celery stalks!

[ApplegateRanch]

Chili bricks? Come to think of it, I haven't seen any in stores for decades. Mom used to buy chili bricks; and after I was on my own, so did I. IIRC, it came in a small wooden slide-top box, much the same as salted cod did. I know that isn't what you made, but that was the memory it triggered. Those boxes were dovetailed, and had a lot of uses.

From Wikipedia

Brick chili[edit] Another method of marketing commercial chili in the days before widespread home refrigerators was "brick chili." It was produced by pressing out nearly all of the moisture, leaving a solid substance roughly the size and shape of a half-brick. Wolf Brand was originally sold in this form.[12] Commonly available in small towns and rural areas of the American Southwest in the first three-quarters of the 20th century, brick chili has mostly outlived its usefulness but can still be found in some stores.

[metmom]

No. I’m not that tech savvy to be able to figure out how to post one of my own pictures.

I googled *sage images* and found it.

[metmom]

What do you do? Just stick them in water and let them go?

[murrie]

Hi metmom. Yes-that’s what my coworker did. Just stuck them in water. Cool huh. Really is a pick me up for these non gardening months.

[Marcella]

Conroe is in a tornado watch. Got this email from Houston TV station:

The National Weather Service has issued Tornado Watch 580 in
effect until 6 PM CST this evening for the following areas

In southeast Texas this watch includes 23 counties

Austin Brazoria Brazos
Burleson Chambers Colorado
Fort Bend Galveston Grimes
Harris Houston Jackson
Liberty Madison Matagorda
Montgomery Polk San Jacinto
Trinity Walker Waller
Washington Wharton

This includes the cities of... Alvin... Anahuac... Angleton...
Bay City... Bellville... Brenham... Brookshire... Bryan... Caldwell...
Cleveland... Coldspring... College Station... Columbus... Conroe...
Cor rigan... Crockett... Dayton... Eagle Lake... Edna... El Campo...
Freeport... Friendswood... Galveston... Groveton... Hempstead...
Houston... Humble... Huntsville... Katy... Lake Jackson...
Lake Somerville... League City... Liberty... Livingston...
Madisonville... Missouri City... Mont Belvieu... Navasota...
Onalaska... Palacios... Pasadena... Pearland... Pierce...
Prairie View... Richmond... Rosenberg... Sealy... Shepherd...
Sugar Land... Texas City... The Woodlands... Tomball... Trinity...
Weimar... Wharton... Willis and Winnie.

[JRandomFreeper]

Stay safe. You know the drill, and if anyone is prepared, it should be you.

/johnny

[Marcella]

“I use it for soup starter too. A handful of celery, carrot, and onions is the beginning of most all of the soups I make. However, with only 2 people, it takes forever to finish off the soup.”

As you know, I’m not leaving my house since this county appears to be the flu capital of the state right now and there’s H1N1 swine flu here. So, I took a package of Cajun 16 bean soup mix and soaked the beans last night and they and a large cut up onion are in the slow cooker, along with beef broth and Italian diced tomatoes.

I DON’T HAVE ANY CELERY and I always chop celery into that soup but it won’t happen this time. I have some spicy Mrs. Dash that has celery seed in it so put some of that in. There was also a package of Cajun seasoning in the bag of beans so will add that toward the end. I need to get bottled celery seed in case it happens again that I don’t want to leave the house.

I had a half ring of Jalapeno seasoned sausage in the freezer so it has thawed and I’ll add that in an hour or two. This fills a large slow cooker so I will have plenty to freeze and it should feed me at least five/six days eating it once a day.

[metmom]

I’m going to have to give that a try.

There’s certainly nothing to lose.

[TEXOKIE]

LOL! oh yes, the strings! They can be tiresome.

I think the celery, carrot, and onions are the classical mirapoix, aren’t they? What my mom used and now what I use as well is, instead of the carrot, is the green bell pepper. Only recently have I started incorporating more of the carrot.

I have scaled all my soups back to feed at most for 4, so that gives us 2 meals for 2.

[TEXOKIE]

Wow. That’s good to know. Thanks for the alert!

[TEXOKIE]

“I have CPR - Can’t Possibly Remember!”

ROFL!!! Gonna use that one!

[tillacum]

I think a lot of us suffer from CPR. I’ll use that on hubby the next time I forget something he “needs”.

MERRY CHRISTMAS Everyone. Stay Warm, Stay Cool in the South and a HAPPY NEW YEAR.

[Marcella]

When my sister-in-law forgets something and is reminded, she says, “My brain is too highly trained to remember small stuff.”

My 16 bean soup with jalapeno sausage is just about ready and has a nice tang to the soup. I just put a blackberry cobbler to bake in the oven so in an hour I'll have Cajun soup and blackberry cobbler - that isn't bad to be stuck at home due to flu outside.

rightly_dividing isn't worried about this flu but maybe he has had the shot plus he is much younger than I am. He has been very sick and his wife, too, in the last five days or more. The doctor said neither of their illnesses was flu. I don't remember if I put on here that a man has died of H1N1 in Tarrant County (Forth Worth area).

I wrote an article about the origination of flu which is almost always in China. I was there and saw how it could happen and now what I thought, was scientifically proven last year.

I'm staying in my house.

[TEXOKIE]

How cozy that sounds! I like what your sil says. LOL!

The soup sounds wonderful! OHHHHHHH COBBLER!

Wishing all in Texas in vicinity of H1N1 and the other flus well, especially rightly_diving and spouse.

Stay cozy and safe!

[sockmonkey]

It was sunny here today for awhile. Temps in the 60’s. I figured I should go make sure it wasn’t too hot in my little greenhouse. It was 95 degrees in there. I hadn’t had the heat lamp on or anything. It just gets that hot from the sun..

I definitely need to get one of those little automatic vent openers for the window and set it to open the window when the temps in there hit 80 degrees.