It's Saturday the day before Mother's day so I'll start with a little eye candy for the ladies. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8nm_jvE_Xs Jake is essentially the MSNBC (vs say Fox) version of the youtube movie I shared last time "Back to Eden" which emphasizes wood chip based gardening. While the whole video is worth watching I especially liked his gardening philosophy which he touches on around the 10 minute mark.
Got to jump off topic (quelle surprise!) Jimmy Cliff has me boogieing to Let Your Yeah Be Yeah https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDp_7kSli0w
Jake's 'just start making mistakes' philosophy is akin to my own. I can't tell you how many gardening books (Permaculture books are the worst) devote chapter after chapter to 'creating your plan'. Yeah I would have killed a lot fewer plants and my fruit trees would have been planted years ago not to mention a quality watering system. No doubt people with 5 year life plans garden this way. I am not that person. If ever asked the most important thing to know about gardening I would have to offer - "start much smaller than you think you should, add slowly, and enjoy it."
My first ever 'garden' was a packet of radish seeds my Mother gave me and said plant these out back. I scraped a line in some dirt sprinkled the seeds in, stuck two sticks in the ground to mark the row, watered and waited. Miraculously they did grow. Which today I would offer as proof that seeds do try to grow. (Oddly I haven't been able to grow a decent radish since?!) This is dug into my memory because I remember my Mother putting those radishes on a salad and announcing at dinner that I had grown them. To this day I always tell Deb when serving dinner the X is from our garden. I would offer that as another life lesson - parents shape kids with compliments as small as radish seeds - plant lots!
My first real garden was planted in a spot shaded by the neighboring apartment building for most of the day. Most of what I planted was spindly and produced little but I learned, slowly. I remember sharing the garlic with the apartment managers next door and apologizing that they were small. The couple were immigrants from somewhere, I think Poland, and I remember the guy saying 'yeah small but ah the flavor you can tell it's fresh'. Home grown has a quality that surpasses a lot of flaws.
I'm going to double pull that thread - so forgive me.
When you listen to Lucky Dube reggae riffs like https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A30rPX493JA You are listening to a polished and talented professional. I met reggae many years ago on St Croix in the US Virgin Islands. I'll leave other stories of the American Paradise for another day. I'm remembering my walk home from a closing bartending shift on the bay. Christiansted would be deserted except for an old guy who was always playing his guitar next to the food truck. I'd get Johnny cake and red beans and listen for a bit before heading up the hill. He wasn't very good and sometimes he'd be joined by some other not very good musicians passing a bottle of rum and playing. It was barely reggae but you could catch the beat in there.
One night he's not there. A week or two later there is a young kid with a boom box sitting there (apparently music hates a void?) The music is my first real reggae and it's good but I felt like something had been lost. I wouldn't have payed for the old guy's music and I don't think he was playing for money and millions have payed for the latter but....
Now follow me here.
My dirty little secret is I watch a show called Madam Secretary. Madam Secretary is about a mythical but somehow familiar Secretary of State. Madam Secretary was clearly put on TV ('bout three years ago) to offer an alternative narrative to some of Mrs Clinton's more difficult political problems (It was put on after 'The Good Wife' which was used to explain, well who cares...) Me, I voted for Gary Johnson and am no fan of the guy who won. BUT, I think Mrs Clinton is a deeply unethical person (that is the kind version!) but I like the show and that is my shame.
There is a character on the show Daisy. Daisy has a life plan and professes she is behind on that plan. She should by now be married and have children as well as be further in her career. As a matter of fact all the characters are hyper-talented, driven, professionals. The most recent show emphasized this by opening with a 4:30 alarm clock buzzing for a different character (Blake - the Secretary's assistant) followed by jogging, emailing, networking over coffee and planning to the minute the Secretary of State's day all before 8:00 am. Wow I could never. Give me my coffee and leave me the f*** alone. The dogs know I'll get to walking them but life plan, schedule - geez.
So the thread
Are we truly better off if our government is so important that only a very select hyper capable few could possible pull the right levers? I love UB40's Red Red Wine https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-T2MIGuA8p4 ,when I go shopping a blemish gets the tomato put back, and I don't want bad government. Just saying a small homegrown garlic bulb can taste delicious.
What got me thinking reggae was the recent hail storm. Yeah we got nailed or at least my garden did. The garlic, onions, peas, and the rest of the early stuff looked like chopped salad. You always hear about golf ball sized hail and that is what we got. Just north of here it was baseball size and was truly destructive. Human nature is weird I've heard studies that a mathematically impossible number of people genuinely believe they are extra lucky. I've always thought I was lucky. When it came to hail I had pretty much invented a theory that due to some quirk in the mountains or something my little neighborhood really didn't get hail. Nearby sure. I saw a micro-burst nail neighbors 1/4 mile east of us and barely lost a sunflower head. I know lucky. Heck my little pride and joy a triple grafted sweet cherry tree I planted in the fall got hit not at all. Chopped salad all around and it's untouched?!
So I as I stepped out the front door from a mid day nap to get the mail I heard the sound. I've always heard people talk about 'it sounded like a freight train' and that was it exactly. My only thought was ooow this is going to be bad. It started right then so there was no running around just get back in and cringe. As the storm abated and I looked out at my garden the song Three Little Birds started running through my head and I'll leave you with that. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ind7BEZgWJU
Doug A.
Got to jump off topic (quelle surprise!) Jimmy Cliff has me boogieing to Let Your Yeah Be Yeah https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDp_7kSli0w
Jake's 'just start making mistakes' philosophy is akin to my own. I can't tell you how many gardening books (Permaculture books are the worst) devote chapter after chapter to 'creating your plan'. Yeah I would have killed a lot fewer plants and my fruit trees would have been planted years ago not to mention a quality watering system. No doubt people with 5 year life plans garden this way. I am not that person. If ever asked the most important thing to know about gardening I would have to offer - "start much smaller than you think you should, add slowly, and enjoy it."
My first ever 'garden' was a packet of radish seeds my Mother gave me and said plant these out back. I scraped a line in some dirt sprinkled the seeds in, stuck two sticks in the ground to mark the row, watered and waited. Miraculously they did grow. Which today I would offer as proof that seeds do try to grow. (Oddly I haven't been able to grow a decent radish since?!) This is dug into my memory because I remember my Mother putting those radishes on a salad and announcing at dinner that I had grown them. To this day I always tell Deb when serving dinner the X is from our garden. I would offer that as another life lesson - parents shape kids with compliments as small as radish seeds - plant lots!
My first real garden was planted in a spot shaded by the neighboring apartment building for most of the day. Most of what I planted was spindly and produced little but I learned, slowly. I remember sharing the garlic with the apartment managers next door and apologizing that they were small. The couple were immigrants from somewhere, I think Poland, and I remember the guy saying 'yeah small but ah the flavor you can tell it's fresh'. Home grown has a quality that surpasses a lot of flaws.
I'm going to double pull that thread - so forgive me.
When you listen to Lucky Dube reggae riffs like https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A30rPX493JA You are listening to a polished and talented professional. I met reggae many years ago on St Croix in the US Virgin Islands. I'll leave other stories of the American Paradise for another day. I'm remembering my walk home from a closing bartending shift on the bay. Christiansted would be deserted except for an old guy who was always playing his guitar next to the food truck. I'd get Johnny cake and red beans and listen for a bit before heading up the hill. He wasn't very good and sometimes he'd be joined by some other not very good musicians passing a bottle of rum and playing. It was barely reggae but you could catch the beat in there.
One night he's not there. A week or two later there is a young kid with a boom box sitting there (apparently music hates a void?) The music is my first real reggae and it's good but I felt like something had been lost. I wouldn't have payed for the old guy's music and I don't think he was playing for money and millions have payed for the latter but....
Now follow me here.
My dirty little secret is I watch a show called Madam Secretary. Madam Secretary is about a mythical but somehow familiar Secretary of State. Madam Secretary was clearly put on TV ('bout three years ago) to offer an alternative narrative to some of Mrs Clinton's more difficult political problems (It was put on after 'The Good Wife' which was used to explain, well who cares...) Me, I voted for Gary Johnson and am no fan of the guy who won. BUT, I think Mrs Clinton is a deeply unethical person (that is the kind version!) but I like the show and that is my shame.
There is a character on the show Daisy. Daisy has a life plan and professes she is behind on that plan. She should by now be married and have children as well as be further in her career. As a matter of fact all the characters are hyper-talented, driven, professionals. The most recent show emphasized this by opening with a 4:30 alarm clock buzzing for a different character (Blake - the Secretary's assistant) followed by jogging, emailing, networking over coffee and planning to the minute the Secretary of State's day all before 8:00 am. Wow I could never. Give me my coffee and leave me the f*** alone. The dogs know I'll get to walking them but life plan, schedule - geez.
So the thread
Are we truly better off if our government is so important that only a very select hyper capable few could possible pull the right levers? I love UB40's Red Red Wine https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-T2MIGuA8p4 ,when I go shopping a blemish gets the tomato put back, and I don't want bad government. Just saying a small homegrown garlic bulb can taste delicious.
What got me thinking reggae was the recent hail storm. Yeah we got nailed or at least my garden did. The garlic, onions, peas, and the rest of the early stuff looked like chopped salad. You always hear about golf ball sized hail and that is what we got. Just north of here it was baseball size and was truly destructive. Human nature is weird I've heard studies that a mathematically impossible number of people genuinely believe they are extra lucky. I've always thought I was lucky. When it came to hail I had pretty much invented a theory that due to some quirk in the mountains or something my little neighborhood really didn't get hail. Nearby sure. I saw a micro-burst nail neighbors 1/4 mile east of us and barely lost a sunflower head. I know lucky. Heck my little pride and joy a triple grafted sweet cherry tree I planted in the fall got hit not at all. Chopped salad all around and it's untouched?!
So I as I stepped out the front door from a mid day nap to get the mail I heard the sound. I've always heard people talk about 'it sounded like a freight train' and that was it exactly. My only thought was ooow this is going to be bad. It started right then so there was no running around just get back in and cringe. As the storm abated and I looked out at my garden the song Three Little Birds started running through my head and I'll leave you with that. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ind7BEZgWJU
Doug A.
We were at 2nd and Wadsworth when the storm hit. Yes golf ball size hail and nowhere to hide the car. The sound was awful. The only good thing was that most of it was soft hail and broke apart on impact, otherwise there would have been many more destroyed windshields. Unfortunately there was enough hard hail to take out plenty of windows, too. When we got back to my father's house, we saw the shredded leaves caused by the smaller hail but no real damage - at least not at his house. His car, the new 2017 has 50 or 60 hail dents all over it... maybe more. We help a young lady cover her back window opening with plastic food wrap. Not only was her back window destroyed someone hit her from behind doing about 20 miles an hour at a RED light. Crunched in her bumper and wrecked her frame to the point she couldn't open the trunk... and even though her car was a junker and she didn't have insurance, I felt for her.
ReplyDeleteBottom line, we can always find someone worse off then us.
I want giant sunflowers that feed the birds. Any recommendations?
ReplyDeleteHey Mike, I don't have a good suggestion maybe someone reading knows of a good variety. I do have some medium sized ones and would be happy to share some. I would encourage you to avoid hybrids as the birds are messy eaters and will undoubtedly drop and thus plant quite a few and the hybrids will not give you the same characteristics the next year.
Delete