Recent Activity

Crops were much smaller this year .Bugs and weather. Even the town of Hatch cancelled their usual huge roasting event. They smelled so good. I am definitely getting them every year from now on. You can buy already frozen shipped overnight from Hatch chile Store

These folks answer their phone and are awesome people. c

The flavor in dried is stronger (if it's appropriately "fresh" for dried). Fresh fresh is more complex and pungent. The issue with thyme is the young shoots they sell in the little boxes in the supermarket are just so tender! You can use them whole or chop lightly. The green stems usually taste much like the leaves. Or grow a pot of your own and pick the older, stronger stems. Those, you just hold the tip, pinch the top of the stem with your other hand's thumb and finger, and pull down to the base. Most of the little leaves come right off like pulling a zipper. Even moreso if you wash and let dry first.
Same with oregano, but it's easier to begin with on the tender stems. I grow both oregano and thyme, as well as teragon, sage, Mexican oregano (not the same plant as the European oreganos) and a few others. I use fresh from the garden for throw in a frond of this or that, as whole leaves, etc., but I like dried for sauces and sprinkling, as well as mixed. Fresh in the egg salad. Dried in the spaghetti sauce.

What a woman. What a life.
Recently many of the achievements of her and others have been undone. Personally, I am enraged by the misogyny, bigotry and cruelty displayed by the current regime.
We all must push back to restore the societal and civil rights gains ruthlessly overturned. Younger members of our society must pay attention, get informed, join forces and mount serious and strong efforts to regain and maintain what has just has been gutted.
She was an inspiration. It is incumbent of us all, and especially younger generations to stay inspired and carry on.

RIP Gloria , and thank you for 'Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions' which was so inspirational to me in my early 20s ! I remember the essay 'I was a playboy bunny' , so bold !
She was on cherry bomb podcast last year and they re-aired it today... she was so good! You've gotta hear her story about Marlene Dietrich if you don't know it already :)

This one sprung to mind immediately... RIP, Dolly

I found this very interesting. (Like his accent as well.)

Went to "dragon park" yesterday. That's not its name. There's a giant, concrete dragon covered in mosaic's, and each is a dedication to something or someone. I think I know who this is, but the kids didn't agree. Today, my girlfriend just looked at the picture and said "Aww" in a sad tone. Don't you agree?


Oh my, he's kind of scary-looking! Ours are mostly yellowjackets but I've been noticing some black ones too - I could up my identification game,

You are right @ruth_mi I do like ASK. My largest and oldest I 'broke up' a couple of years ago. It is crazy hard to dig up or divide this plant and so I only got "bit and pieces" but so many rooted just fine. Here are two of the division.



See that sad thing back in the corner? That's my ASK after being underwater for a few days in Indiana's recent floods. I'm hoping some small root might have survived, but we'll have to wait and see. Not promising right now. On the other hand, Hosta, Japanese painted ferns and Tiarella didn't seem to care.


I really came to dislike that Myers Briggs personality assessment that was so popular for a time. It was over used IMO. For a few years it came up at every managers retreat or training I attended. It sometimes worked as an ice breaker when most of the attendees were unknown to each other. It also was a handy way to break a large group into teams. It was pretty obvious that one’s answers were largely affected by the mood the person was in at the time of testing.

One question I never forgot regarding choose 'mercy or justice' and I chose justice because I thought if we really had justice there'd be no need for mercy...
Lat, great minds think alike.
INTJ too, but who knows on a different day when my mood changes.

I've never done one of these tests and have no idea what all those letters mean. No job I've done has required one. And I'm quite glad about that.

RIP Dolly.
And yet Willie Nelson keeps on kicking it at 93.

Heartbreakers -
Heartbreaker - Pat Benatar
Heartbreaker - Led Zeppelin
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers - Breakdown


Take another little piece of my heart now, baby (whoa, break it)
Break another little bit of my heart now, darling, yeah, yeah, yeah
Mike Drop

I always think of this one...
Always breaks my heart in two

Of course it wasn't meant that way! I've changed it to your words, but I don't get the difference. When I was vegetarian mostly because vegetables and milk were subsidized where I was and I couldn't afford meat, my indulgence every couple of weeks was to use any leftover cash from the grocery kitty to buy a new spice or herb. We had a very limited kitchen, and not much variety of food we could afford. Being able to make different "cuisines" with the same foods and different spices was a boon! It's hard eating the same old stuff daily. But even so something like the Italian Herb blend, or Ras al Hanout would have seemed a gift. I certainly didn't have all the components of either, and made what I did have work overtime. If I'd had to buy fresh (subsidized) milk for kids, I could never have afforded any of those spices. Perhaps extending my own experience to people who shop in food pantries (in addition to the people I've known since who do, but are too busy working and acquiring food to put a lot of attention into cooking) was inaccurate but I think your reaction to it is far beyond what I said.

I would get the saffron, if they had it, or the cardomon. If I was donating, I would consider something with broad usage besides the blends (adding poultry seasoning and garam masala) including thyme, rosemary, paprika (smoked or hot), tumeric, or chili powder. Although the former two may be too common or too easy to grow at home.

Okay, this one is controversial. Please scroll on by if you are easily offended. I'll check back later and delete it if people find it too offensive to see the humor in it.


So I just saw this:
American academic behind Jason Arday plagiarism allegations is suspended
“They will almost certainly fire me,” Nathan Cofnas wrote on his X account after he was suspended by Belgium’s Ghent University.





Iochroma cyaneum with Dahlia Mystic Enchantment.
I fully get that some people don't like pink flowers but it's hard to hate on the almost surreal, vivid intensity of Amaryllis belladonna. Easy to see from across the garden, and up close, they sparkle as if dusted with ground diamonds.
They are marginal here, and might not survive the worst winters, but I've had luck on south facing, well drained slopes like this area. This has been here for about 5 years so it survived the recent two colder winters. [The polar vortex winters of 2013-2015 had snow on the ground for so long, well over a month, coupled with intense cold, that these might not get the solar warming that kept them alive more recently.]
Art I am jealous of your Iochroma cyaneum. I've tried them in pots here and they slowly decline - I think our summers are a little too muggy.
A couple more. A. belladonna's somewhat easier to grow half-sister, Amarine 'Belladiva'
And what's left of my pampas grass. This 'Andes Silver' clone seems very hardy, but the plumes don't hold up as well in rain as var. pumila. This is of course not invasive here.
Took this photo today front of house....I mainly plant flowers etc that bloom from May/June until late in season...