Sweet, merciful lull

 Whatever the reason, the rain or the cold front moving through, we've had a lull in the harvest. Whew. With Tom out of town and me being of only one belly, this is a most welcome development. 



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Reality and the “AI” Hype Machine

Image
  Toho's Mechagodzilla While the cluster of technologies captured under the marketing term “ artificial intelligence ” has positive, legitimate uses, it is vitally important that we also consider its limitations and the - in many cases - unacceptable consequences of its proliferation into every aspect of our lives. Today, “AI” is in desperate need of regulation to contain its toxic effects on the environment - including energy use, carbon emissions and water use - the spread of misinformation, its vulnerability to censorship, and the ways in which it damages human intelligence (which are just now coming to light). This is not a Luddite tract claiming that the technology needs to be completely eliminated. It is an argument for getting beyond the hype about its supposed capabilities, and for creating reasonable rules around its use. Terminology: “Artificial Intelligence” is an umbrella term for a series of technologies that automate decision making, classification, recommendation, t...
Read more

Deploy the Nematodes. Livin' off the Fat of the Land

Image
It is harvest time. One thing the illustration above does not show is the large number of football-sized zucchini that are making their appearance. While I love a purple pole bean, I won't exactly be heartbroken when they slow down. This week's harvest newcomers are tomatoes. We've just pulled in the first few. The vines are laden with many more to come.  This has necessitated some innovations on the "how will we eat all of this" front. Made a double batch of zucchini bread yesterday. Made more refrigerator pickles. Gave away more cucumbers. Vacuum-sealed more pole beans and tossed them in the freezer. It is time consuming. But this is what it is all about. All that work raising the seedlings, the planting, the weeding. Time to reap what was sown. And we are getting some delicious stuff. The weather has been wet, hot, and humid. Over the past few days we've had about three inches of rain, and more storms are on their way tonight. It doesn't really rain, so...
Read more

Garden Planning 2025, and My Favorite Axe

Image
  Princess Poppyseed Watson and her Magnificent Tail It is never too early to start planning. This is the indoor part of it. You can do it with your cats. In fact, I think that planning is half the fun. It is part of the process. It might be argued that too much planning removes one from the moment. As Allen Saunders put it in the January 1957 issue of Reader's Digest , and later John Lennon put it, "Life is what happens to us while we are making other plans." But the answer to this half-baked argument is that the making of plans is in fact part of the process of life, and it is worthwhile in itself, because it is more than just a mental exercise, it has practical repercussions on your future. My future involves a summer of gardening. Here are some of the things that we're going to be growing: Fresno peppers (Tasty! Just had one. We've tasted blood, and we want more !) Snow peas Pole beans Bush beans Hubbard squash Pumpkins (They can share the trellis with the bea...
Read more