Celebrating the Solstice
Chuck Rhode
foisted into my mailbox for just such a drizzly and dismal
(drizzmal) Day as This.
o http://www.TotallyTomato.com
... and I look forward to receiving more, too!
How nice is it that I have been granted access to such diverse
marketing approaches! These catalogs use different folio sizes,
layout formats, product descriptions, and illustrative techniques to
put their point across. I have been in transports of rapture to a
summer land of bounty and carefree harvests. R. H. Schumway's in
particular has a nostalgic patina as all its illustrations are line
drawings set under a fabulous, mythopoeic poster font of dubious and
questionable memory. Is it just me, or does anyone else find it
peculiar that all those companies have a Randolph, WI, mailing
address?
I've been searching for:
o Footies -- These are nylon socks provided to women for temporary
in-store use while trying on shoes. They come in nubbins that are
stretched to fit. Apparently, they can be placed over apples as soon
as the fruit sets and left on all summer to ward off maggots and
coddling moths.
o Tensiometers -- These are ceramic filters driven into the ground at
the ends of various lengths of tubing. They work like artificial
roots. A vacuum meter on the above-ground ends shows how hard a plant
needs to work to support transpiration in dry soil. Thus, a
tensiometer can be used to measure the effectiveness of (and imminent
need for) irrigation.
o Honeysuckle Substitute -- Though their use as ornamentals is nearly
universal, oriental flavors of honeysuckle are frowned upon in the
U.S. because the buggers are invasive after they escape cultivation.
Birds like the fruit and carry the seed everywhere. I need something
to tide my oriental bees over for a couple of weeks after apple
petal-fall. Horticulturalists in Washington and Idaho, who don't
allow onions into their states, are evidently ambivalent about
honeysuckle because that's what they recommend for horn-faced bees.
However, that won't play in Peoria. The bees did well on lilacs and
chestnuts last year until they (the bees) hit dormancy about the
middle of June. I opened the nest box a couple of weeks ago and
cleaned the cocoons and put them in the refrigerator. If I've handled
them well, I should have a respectable increase in pollinators next
spring so I need to be thinking about what they need to eat.
--
.. Be Seeing You,
.. Chuck Rhode, Sheboygan, WI, USA
.. Weather: http://LacusVeris.com/WX
.. 39° — Wind ESE 15 mph — Sky overcast.
Sean_Q_
> I've been poring over seed catalogs
Also celebrating that we're past the Winter Solstice,
meaning that the days are getting longer and more solar rays
are coming our way to drive the cold winter away. Spring is
just around the corner!
> I need something to tide my oriental bees over
Do "oriental bees" have tine epicanthal folds over their compound eyes?
SQ
Chuck Rhode
> Do "oriental bees" have tiny epicanthal folds over their compound
> eyes?
Actually they do, but you need a magnifying glass to see for sure, and
they are put off by the close attention.
o http://www.pollinatorparadise.com/Solitary_Bees/Hornface.htm
My so-called oriental bees are from Washington State. Orchardists out
there culture them as pollinators in the fashion of Japanese
pomologists who pioneered the technique about 70 years ago.
Horn-faced bees (Osmia cornifrons) are not yet well domesticated, and
many females abscond upon hatching rather than accommodate themselves
to artificial nesting materials, so the population increase is somewhat
stochastic and self-limiting.
Horn-faced bees are solitary. They do not make honey. Instead each
female stocks her nests with pollen, which makes her a good pollinator
and worth keeping around on that basis. Although gregarious, females
do not cooperate in defense. In fact a female will abandon a nest
before defending it unless her own life is at stake.
Horn-faced bees are one of several species of solitary bees. There is
a species native to the Midwest -- the blue orchard bee (orchard mason
bee, O. lignaria), but it has not yet been exploited although its
cousin (same name, different strain) from the Pacific Northwest has
been.
Native strains differ according to their cold tolerance. Adults die
off in late spring, leaving the larvae to pupate in the nests. These
metamorphose into adults just as the weather begins to get miserable,
and they don't emerge until the next spring. The trick is not to
spend too much time in the adult phase. Midwest bees metamorphose too
early in the PNW and burn up too much fat before the weather cools.
PNW bees may not achieve metamorphosis after being transplanted to the
Midwest. The oriental varieties seem to do well in both places,
although they are tender and have to be held under refrigeration
during the winter because they can't handle extreme ambient
temperatures.
--
.. Be Seeing You,
.. Chuck Rhode, Sheboygan, WI, USA
.. Weather: http://LacusVeris.com/WX
.. 23° — Wind SSW 21 mph — Sky overcast. Light snow; mist.
S'mee
> ohttp://www.TotallyTomato.com
<Garth>
Wanker
I'm a zone 4...it isn't easy deciding on an heirloom to plant in the
front yard tuh-mater patch. 8^\ Oh well at least it stays green
there. I mean, I have MAYBE a 45-60 growing season for the 'maters and
that's it. We've had snow in every month of the year...in every part
of this frozen state.
p.s. be glad you were here during summer...it's only one day long and
usually stretched out over a weeks worth of afternoons.
S'mee
Oh almost forgot...I have USEFUL plants. Double useful becuase they
need no care!
http://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/m/mulgre63.html
lots of bumble girls and other smaller bees, some flutterbys but I
suspecet the hummingbirds ONLY come to my mullein when I'm not
looking.
Chuck Rhode
> lots of bumble girls and other smaller bees, some flutterbys but I
> suspecet the hummingbirds ONLY come to my mullein when I'm not
> looking.
Mullein is a poisonous plant, so I was surprised to see it come up in
my backyard last summer. In the interest of diversity and in a fit of
nostalgia (It used to grow all over where I grew up in Indiana.) I let
it go even though it is not a North American native. Later I noticed
a patch in front of a fancy house up the street. Perhaps they culture
it for ornamental flowers. Bees were not so interested in it as they
were in what I imagine is come kind of fleabane, which is also
volunteer in my lawn.
However, doing a little online browsing, I discover this from
Wikipedia. Who knew?
"Mullein is also the active ingredient in many alternative smoking
blends."
--
.. Be Seeing You,
.. Chuck Rhode, Sheboygan, WI, USA
.. Weather: http://LacusVeris.com/WX
.. 19° — Wind Calm — Sky overcast. Light snow.
Chuck Rhode
> I'm a zone 4...it isn't easy deciding on an heirloom to plant in the
> front yard tuh-mater patch.
Oh, dry up. I'm Zone 5, and, as far as I can tell, raising decent
tomatoes anywhere north of Zone 6 is a lost cause. Now for a fact my
folks raised tomatoes in Zone 5, but they were nearly three hundred
miles south of me and thus had a couple extra weeks (of sun) to bring
in a crop. That, my friend, *is* the secret that makes all the
difference. Plus in spring they looked forward to late freezes and
were not bashful about including the cost and bother of replanting as
part of their tomato-utility calculations. Also they could let the
snow cover bushels of green tomatoes at the end of the season without
batting an eye and still recollect those as good years -- this with a
basement full of baskets of semi-ripe fruit that had to be canned or
rendered down for juice and ketchup before it spoiled. They always
essayed the heirloom varieties which were esteemed for having superior
flavor even though they had a tendency to split, took too long to get
started, set fruit and ripen, and were insanely susceptible to bugs.
Occasionally my folks were rewarded with a taste. Usually though most
of what we had to eat were the "Purdue" hybrids that would set
earlier, smaller, better colored fruit inside a Naugahyde rind.
> p.s. be glad you were here during summer...it's only one day long
> and usually stretched out over a weeks worth of afternoons.
The only really crummy weather I've seen in Montana was a day of rain
while hiking in Glacier Park once upon a time, but it *was* crummy.
Our guides served oatmeal for breakfast in bed, which was manipulative
I thought. Then there was the virga between Great Falls and the
Little Belt Mountains. It was touching the ground in places other
than where Geraldine and I were running along, but there was a
fragrance in the breeze compounded of rain, wind, sage, hay, cattle,
and incense that was unforgettable.
--
.. Be Seeing You,
.. Chuck Rhode, Sheboygan, WI, USA
.. Weather: http://LacusVeris.com/WX
S'mee
> On Sat, 26 Dec 2009 06:42:38 -0800, S'mee wrote:
> > I'm a zone 4...it isn't easy deciding on an heirloom to plant in the
> > front yard tuh-mater patch.
>
> Oh, dry up. I'm Zone 5, and, as far as I can tell, raising decent
> tomatoes anywhere north of Zone 6 is a lost cause. Now for a fact my
> folks raised tomatoes in Zone 5, but they were nearly three hundred
> miles south of me and thus had a couple extra weeks (of sun) to bring
> in a crop. That, my friend, *is* the secret that makes all the
> difference.
Heh, your parents were HARDCORE 'mater lovers. 8^) To be fair my roma
plant did "okay" and the cherry 'mater I put in one of those upside
down pots...not a crop per se BUT I had constant grazing until
october. 8^) Light is limited in the front BUT somehow I get things to
work...must be all the picture windows in the neighborhood.
> > p.s. be glad you were here during summer...it's only one day long
> > and usually stretched out over a weeks worth of afternoons.
>
> The only really crummy weather I've seen in Montana was a day of rain
> while hiking in Glacier Park once upon a time,
You were lucky! Then again I don't consider any breeze here UNDER
25mph as windy. 8^) 30 is getting windy and 40+ NOW we've got wind! No
wind days creep me out at bit...you know like that part in a horror
movie when it gets real quiet and even the music stops?
> It was touching the ground in places other
> than where Geraldine and I were running along, but there was a
> fragrance in the breeze compounded of rain, wind, sage, hay, cattle,
> and incense that was unforgettable.
Yep and contrary to what most people think it smells pretty
good...unless the cows you are smelling are in a feed lot. OBTW
managed to ride by and say high to the herd of camels...two humpers
(bacitrains) they live out by a big malting plant that Budweiser has
south and east of here.
Outback Jon
> Also celebrating that we're past the Winter Solstice,
> meaning that the days are getting longer and more solar rays
> are coming our way to drive the cold winter away. Spring is
> just around the corner!
AAAHHH! The northern hemisphere is going to start getting warmer due to
increased solar radiation!
--
"Outback" Jon - KC2BNE
outba...@g.no.sp.am.mail.com
http://folding.stanford.edu - got folding? Team 32
2006 ZG1000A Concours "Blueline" COG# 7385 CDA# 0157
S'mee
> Sean_Q_ wrote:
>
> > Also celebrating that we're past the Winter Solstice,
>
> > meaning that the days are getting longer and more solar rays
> > are coming our way to drive the cold winter away. Spring is
> > just around the corner!
>
> AAAHHH! The northern hemisphere is going to start getting warmer due to
> increased solar radiation!
Yeah, the fuck it will. Low was -7F the high a measely 20F. Increased
temps? Increased sunlight? HA! What a load of shit and lies! hmmph you
southern wimps don't know what COLD means... When the coffee in your
travel mug is COLD before you get from the front door to the car then
it's cold. When it FREEZES before you get to the car then it's damned
cold and you really ought call in sick/dead to work. Stay home indoors
adn do something useful, like using your body mass to push the couch
to the centre of the earth.
8^)
Chuck Rhode
> No wind days creep me out at bit...you know like that part in a
> horror movie when it gets real quiet and even the music stops?
Me, too!
> An' little Orphant Annie says when the blaze is blue,
> An' the lamp-wick sputters, an' the wind goes _woo-oo!_
> An' you hear the crickets quit, an' the moon is gray,
> An' the lightnin'-bugs in dew is all squenched away,--
> You better mind yer parents, an' yer teachers fond an' dear,
> An' churish them 'at loves you, an' dry the orphant's tear,
> An' he'p the pore an' needy ones 'at clusters all about,
> Er the Gobble-uns'll git you
> Ef you
> Don't
> Watch
> Out!
o Riley, James Whitcomb. "Little Orphant Annie." 1885. _Riley
Child-Rhymes_. 1890. Jan. 2006. Project Gutenberg. 26 Dec. 2009
<http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext06/chrly10.txt>.
--
.. Be Seeing You,
.. Chuck Rhode, Sheboygan, WI, USA
.. Weather: http://LacusVeris.com/WX
.. 7° — Wind Calm — Sky mostly cloudy. Freezing fog.
climber
Keith, the only seeds you will get near are the ones popping on to
your
polyester suit from that low-grade weed you snowbound 'tards smoke.
climber
S'mee
> Keith, the only seeds you will get near are the ones popping on to
> your
> polyester suit from that low-grade weed you snowbound 'tards smoke.
Really? I haven't SEEN a plyester suit IRL since the early 80's when I
helped a church drop off donations at a goodwill store...never wore
one either. As for weed up here low grade...two things.
1) I don't touch it as I am allergic to the resin and the pollen,
learned that decades ago when I guard unit pulled and destroyed
$7million usd (mid 80's wholesale price) out of a field. Nice
beautiful plants, real healthy. No stems just bud and leaf...we got
that as the male plants were polinating.
2) being as BC is just around the corner (and you meth smokers ought
to know it) BC bud is some of the MOST potent and best smoking weed on
the planet or so I'm told by the med weeders I know.
Oh and BTW. You are a pussy.
S'mee
> On Sat, 26 Dec 2009 07:22:42 -0800, S'mee wrote:
> > lots of bumble girls and other smaller bees, some flutterbys but I
> > suspecet the hummingbirds ONLY come to my mullein when I'm not
> > looking.
>
> Mullein is a poisonous plant, so I was surprised to see it come up in
> my backyard last summer. In the interest of diversity and in a fit of
> nostalgia (It used to grow all over where I grew up in Indiana.) I let
> it go even though it is not a North American native. Later I noticed
> a patch in front of a fancy house up the street. Perhaps they culture
> it for ornamental flowers. Bees were not so interested in it as they
> were in what I imagine is come kind of fleabane, which is also
> volunteer in my lawn.
>
> However, doing a little online browsing, I discover this from
> Wikipedia. Who knew?
>
> "Mullein is also the active ingredient in many alternative smoking
> blends."
Odd the stuff I was reading. Also wiki is marginal for reliable
info. ;^) I mean they don't even have a page about geraldine or Og!
Sheesh, not even Raddak for that matter.
S'mee
> On Sat, 26 Dec 2009 09:32:18 -0800, S'mee wrote:
> > No wind days creep me out at bit...you know like that part in a
> > horror movie when it gets real quiet and even the music stops?
>
> Me, too!
>
> > An' little Orphant Annie says when the blaze is blue,
> > An' the lamp-wick sputters, an' the wind goes _woo-oo!_
> > An' you hear the crickets quit, an' the moon is gray,
> > An' the lightnin'-bugs in dew is all squenched away,--
> > You better mind yer parents, an' yer teachers fond an' dear,
> > An' churish them 'at loves you, an' dry the orphant's tear,
> > An' he'p the pore an' needy ones 'at clusters all about,
> > Er the Gobble-uns'll git you
> > Ef you
> > Don't
> > Watch
> > Out!
>
> o Riley, James Whitcomb. "Little Orphant Annie." 1885. _Riley
> Child-Rhymes_. 1890. Jan. 2006. Project Gutenberg. 26 Dec. 2009
> <http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext06/chrly10.txt>.
>
COOL!
Chuck Rhode
> I'm a zone 4...it isn't easy deciding on an heirloom to plant in the
> front yard tuh-mater patch. 8^\ Oh well at least it stays green
> there. I mean, I have MAYBE a 45-60 growing season for the 'maters
> and that's it.
I just received another catalog from a seed company located at nine
thousand feet in OR. They have a slightly different selection of
tomatoes. If I were working up the gumption to make a concerted
effort at raising tomatoes this summer, I'd seriously consider a
couple of the varieties they offer.
o http://www.territorialseed.com
Here's how the growing seasons of their ultra-early and early season
varieties are distributed:
> 55 60 65 70 75 80 Days
> x x x x x x
> x x x
> x
Here's how main-season are distributed:
> 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95 100 105 110 115 120 Days
> x x x x x x
> x x
> x
Here's how their heirloom varieties are distributed:
> 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95 100 105 110 115 120 Days
> x x x x x x x
> x x x x
> x x
> x
> x
> x
> x
> x
As an odious comparison, here's how the varieties offered by Gurney's
in Greendale, IN (Cincinnati, OH) are distributed:
> 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95 100 105 110 115 120 Days
> x x x x x x x x
> x x x
> x x
> x x
> x
> x
> x
--
.. Be Seeing You,
.. Chuck Rhode, Sheboygan, WI, USA
.. Weather: http://LacusVeris.com/WX
.. 19° — Wind SSW 9 mph
S'mee
> On Sat, 26 Dec 2009 06:42:38 -0800, S'mee wrote:
> > I'm a zone 4...it isn't easy deciding on an heirloom to plant in the
> > front yard tuh-mater patch. 8^\ Oh well at least it stays green
> > there. I mean, I have MAYBE a 45-60 growing season for the 'maters
> > and that's it.
>
> I just received another catalog from a seed company located at nine
> thousand feet in OR. They have a slightly different selection of
> tomatoes. If I were working up the gumption to make a concerted
> effort at raising tomatoes this summer, I'd seriously consider a
> couple of the varieties they offer.
>
> ohttp://www.territorialseed.com
>
I'll have to look into them...