I've got to start us off with Waylon Jennings' classic. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kxll2-th4Gc Deb and I went down to our cabin in the mountains for the Memorial weekend. More exactly we went down to our tiny RV on the property next to the cabin. The cabin floor is close to finished and thus the bed and all are stuffed in the bathroom awaiting warm weather and the final coat of shellac. A 20' RV two adults and two dogs makes for close quarters, especially when it starts raining. That said there is something quite wonderful about playing rummy 500 by lantern light with Deb. It's way too easy in a marriage to get to plinking along in your little path and forget how nice it is to have a wife you love. I suggested to Deb that although the RV is getting on 40 years old we could probably get a pretty penny for it if we marketed it as a marital therapy tool. (therapy dogs extra!)
Being a gardener I have sprinkled some seeds as the cabin has started coming together. I'm hopeful that a little experiment I started last year will be successful. I'm trying to begin a veggie garden in the drip line from the cabin's metal roof. We don't have the well in yet and even when we do outside watering isn't allowed. (They say whiskey is for drinkin' water is for fightin'. In normally dry Colorado water is a private property right and you own what you own.) Thus the thought is the morning dew can condense on the roof and drip down to water some plants. The cabin is at about 9000' and elk and deer (and the occasional bear!) are frequent visitors thus water is only one challenge in growing anything. Years ago I had read a garden book about a similar situation by a woman who blogged under the name 'Garden Girl'. I'd offer a link but my efforts at googling it are well... bringing up some interesting results. One suggestion she had was Green Wave Mustard. The deer avoid it as it's too bitter but a quick cooking leaves a tasty green. The free section on Craigslist got me some Jerusalem Artichoke tubers last year. Jerusalem Artichokes I've always heard once planted will take over a garden. I figure that sounded like a fair fight deer, elk, chipmunks vs the indestructible yet tasty tuber. Too early to tell if anything will come up this year but we'll see! Any thoughts you might have would of course be more than welcome.
Oddly I didn't see any mushrooms while we were there. The weather has certainly been wet enough but with it still freezing at nights it must just be too early. Unlike the mushrooms that I planted (is that the term for mushrooms?) at our house I'm leery about picking the 'wild' ones. I've got a stack of books on the subject but I really need someone to point and say yeah these are good ones. I'm not sure what that says about my learning style perhaps I'm not as bold as my self image would have me think. I am however going to try a bit of foraging this year with Scottish thistle. I've heard the stalk can be peeled and eaten with the flavor of cucumbers.
I recall reading a few years back about a group of chefs that were trying to invent recipes to encourage the eating of invasive species. There was a lot of 'tastes just like chicken' and 'just like cucumber' in the article. I believe the head chef threw his hands up with carp as the bones made it impossible. If you'd like to come over to my yard and pick some of my bindweed I raise a special variety that tastes just like cucumber. I'm thinking of that phrase today as I just sprinkled some borage seeds around our yard. I've always meant to try it and had heard it leaves and flowers taste like cucumber. Perhaps that is the meme of today's ramble that will drag me over to a small government thread....
Nope cucumber and Russians don't rhyme or have a damn thing in common. Must be a fake thread!
YouTube has kept me on Waylon. (admittedly he has a deep playbook) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_ohONd6NkI Now Waylon does dip over into some Libertarian themes perhaps that was the draw when I first heard him while working construction down in Texas many moons ago. 'course when you're in the only bar in town trying to drink your paycheck and maybe meet a girl the jukebox had little else to offer besides Willie, Waylon, & Hank Williams Jr. And as if to finish the sentence YouTube pulled this up.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHjaW9sXl7s Hard part about growing older as a Libertarian is recognizing just because I gave up everything but the outlaw music not everyone did. Not everyone did and for some well... they should have. It's hard not to get preachy on lifestyle choices and it's especially easy to see to mistakes others are making. It's the nature of choices that "our's" are understandable due to the unique circumstances that have created us "yours" are just stupid.
I write as a boomer and we are an opinionated and self focused lot. As a generation we've rule the roost for a few years now. I like most of the seeds that we sprouted as a Whole Earth Catalog/Apple generation but I don't think we've honored ourselves with our politics. I won't go down the litany but simple skip to the end. Are Donald Trump and Hilary Clinton really the purified essence, the ultimate expression of the soul of our generation?
While at the cabin a young lone elk was barking across the meadow. At first Deb and I sat with the dogs trying to spot him but couldn't. The dogs while patient barked back and this drew him out. I can only assume that he was quite lonely and interpreted the dogs bark as close enough to his species. It seems during the spring the young males are kicked away from their mothers as the new young are arriving. This poor guy was stuck in a tough time of life, no Mom and no Harem.
I mention this elk 'cause it is the nature of things. Different species pass the torch in different ways. The old book The Fourth Turning http://www.fourthturning.com/ says our generation won't step quietly aside but will leave the young bucks to fight a war as we fade to irrelevance. Wouldn't it be nice if politics and government was so impotent as to barely make the evening news perhaps as a segment after the gardening news. "In today's news... Monsanto was accused of colluding with Russian agents to .............
Jamey Johnson just came on gotta go. Doug A. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GpEOmZTYA4A
Being a gardener I have sprinkled some seeds as the cabin has started coming together. I'm hopeful that a little experiment I started last year will be successful. I'm trying to begin a veggie garden in the drip line from the cabin's metal roof. We don't have the well in yet and even when we do outside watering isn't allowed. (They say whiskey is for drinkin' water is for fightin'. In normally dry Colorado water is a private property right and you own what you own.) Thus the thought is the morning dew can condense on the roof and drip down to water some plants. The cabin is at about 9000' and elk and deer (and the occasional bear!) are frequent visitors thus water is only one challenge in growing anything. Years ago I had read a garden book about a similar situation by a woman who blogged under the name 'Garden Girl'. I'd offer a link but my efforts at googling it are well... bringing up some interesting results. One suggestion she had was Green Wave Mustard. The deer avoid it as it's too bitter but a quick cooking leaves a tasty green. The free section on Craigslist got me some Jerusalem Artichoke tubers last year. Jerusalem Artichokes I've always heard once planted will take over a garden. I figure that sounded like a fair fight deer, elk, chipmunks vs the indestructible yet tasty tuber. Too early to tell if anything will come up this year but we'll see! Any thoughts you might have would of course be more than welcome.
Oddly I didn't see any mushrooms while we were there. The weather has certainly been wet enough but with it still freezing at nights it must just be too early. Unlike the mushrooms that I planted (is that the term for mushrooms?) at our house I'm leery about picking the 'wild' ones. I've got a stack of books on the subject but I really need someone to point and say yeah these are good ones. I'm not sure what that says about my learning style perhaps I'm not as bold as my self image would have me think. I am however going to try a bit of foraging this year with Scottish thistle. I've heard the stalk can be peeled and eaten with the flavor of cucumbers.
I recall reading a few years back about a group of chefs that were trying to invent recipes to encourage the eating of invasive species. There was a lot of 'tastes just like chicken' and 'just like cucumber' in the article. I believe the head chef threw his hands up with carp as the bones made it impossible. If you'd like to come over to my yard and pick some of my bindweed I raise a special variety that tastes just like cucumber. I'm thinking of that phrase today as I just sprinkled some borage seeds around our yard. I've always meant to try it and had heard it leaves and flowers taste like cucumber. Perhaps that is the meme of today's ramble that will drag me over to a small government thread....
Nope cucumber and Russians don't rhyme or have a damn thing in common. Must be a fake thread!
YouTube has kept me on Waylon. (admittedly he has a deep playbook) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_ohONd6NkI Now Waylon does dip over into some Libertarian themes perhaps that was the draw when I first heard him while working construction down in Texas many moons ago. 'course when you're in the only bar in town trying to drink your paycheck and maybe meet a girl the jukebox had little else to offer besides Willie, Waylon, & Hank Williams Jr. And as if to finish the sentence YouTube pulled this up.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHjaW9sXl7s Hard part about growing older as a Libertarian is recognizing just because I gave up everything but the outlaw music not everyone did. Not everyone did and for some well... they should have. It's hard not to get preachy on lifestyle choices and it's especially easy to see to mistakes others are making. It's the nature of choices that "our's" are understandable due to the unique circumstances that have created us "yours" are just stupid.
I write as a boomer and we are an opinionated and self focused lot. As a generation we've rule the roost for a few years now. I like most of the seeds that we sprouted as a Whole Earth Catalog/Apple generation but I don't think we've honored ourselves with our politics. I won't go down the litany but simple skip to the end. Are Donald Trump and Hilary Clinton really the purified essence, the ultimate expression of the soul of our generation?
While at the cabin a young lone elk was barking across the meadow. At first Deb and I sat with the dogs trying to spot him but couldn't. The dogs while patient barked back and this drew him out. I can only assume that he was quite lonely and interpreted the dogs bark as close enough to his species. It seems during the spring the young males are kicked away from their mothers as the new young are arriving. This poor guy was stuck in a tough time of life, no Mom and no Harem.
I mention this elk 'cause it is the nature of things. Different species pass the torch in different ways. The old book The Fourth Turning http://www.fourthturning.com/ says our generation won't step quietly aside but will leave the young bucks to fight a war as we fade to irrelevance. Wouldn't it be nice if politics and government was so impotent as to barely make the evening news perhaps as a segment after the gardening news. "In today's news... Monsanto was accused of colluding with Russian agents to .............
Jamey Johnson just came on gotta go. Doug A. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GpEOmZTYA4A
Always interesting reading Doug - when life affords me time to read for pleasure that is... look at that, a Wednesday morning and I'm ignoring the stack of work e-mails and reading about cucumber flavored weeds... Anyway, two things; first, please do send me any info that you have on eating thistle... given the fact that it's the only thing growing in my garden, maybe it could save me on herbicide. And second, I can say as of several years ago, it was still illegal to capture the water from your roof for future use in the state of Colorado. Yes, I know how stupid that sounds (mainly because it IS stupid, and only a lawyer could argue that the water hitting your lawn is your own, but that which hits your roof or sidewalk is not. The argument goes that if you did not capture and store it, then it would enter the water table and flow downstream. By capturing the water you are denying the downstream person of his rights to that water. Remember, I never said that I agree with this, only that this was the argument explaining the law). With that said, I know that there was a bill a couple years ago to overturn this, I have no idea if it passed or not, as you know I have not been these recent years, the uberactivist that I once was.
ReplyDeletePS, if your borage seeds take over, and you start harvesting the seeds to press into oil, let me know, I'll buy the first bottle.
Hey Joe, weeds and e-mails have a lot in common! Perhaps you should just read your cucumber flavored work e-mails. (good luck explaining that to the boss). Regarding thistle I understand it is 'tastiest' before the flower blooms and should be peeled like a cuke to avoid the spikes.
DeleteThe water law I believe has been changed but I also am not sure. I believe rain barrels are allowed but graywater systems are still not. That said I'll quickly bow to anyone who chimes in with actual knowledge. Doesn't really matter with the cabin as I'm not looking to divert in any way the water. I'm simply planting where the water drips. Because the roof is metal and the temperatures fluctuate between day and night it creates quite a good morning drip of condensate.
I'm not familiar with borage oil is it medicinal or cooking oil? It might be awhile before harvest let alone pressing will you consider a futures contract?
Thanks for linking the Waylon Jennings! Listened to about 30 minutes worth.
ReplyDeleteDavid Aitken
"Garden Girl" with safe search enabled isn't a problem...
ReplyDeleteI have eaten peeled thistle a few different times. I never thought it tasted like cucumbers, though. I have always described the taste to others as celery.
ReplyDelete