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chromedome

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  1. Not one of my garden plants, but this was probably the most appropriate spot for it (I think?). Spotted alongside one of my compost piles, this is... red clover. I've never noticed it before, but having scrutinized several other plants apparently the leaves take this shape immediately beneath the blossom (so...bracts, I guess?). 

     

    Anyway, it's amazing the beautiful things you see when you take a moment to actually look. 

     

    20250713_173612.thumb.jpg.5752c040375f706bd6b411f81176ccad.jpg   20250713_173618.thumb.jpg.813082b01345e65080ee223c9f770db5.jpg   20250713_173623.thumb.jpg.d08d0303fe6049eed3e3862784e47f6e.jpg

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  2. A brief update, because I haven't been keeping up on this as well as I might have. 

     

    All of the little "princess" bunnies shown above have now been sold. Four of them went to Nova Scotia with me at the end of June, to buyers there, and the fifth was taken home by a local family this past week. One of the princess' brothers has also been spoken for, and will travel to NS with me at the end of this month. Since then we've weaned Hazel's litter, so we have a dozen new 4-week weanlings now in their own cage. They're a cuddly bunch as well, and terribly cute (I think they're at their most engaging at 4-6 weeks). 
     

    Yesterday both Hester and Ivy gave us new litters, which we'll count this afternoon. Ivy's last litter gave us 7 kits, IIRC, and Hester's ill-fated first litter was 15 kits (of which none survived). This time she seems to have a better grip on how things are supposed to go, and of course in July the risk of the kits becoming hypothermic is much lower than it was in February or March. :P

     

    We've just moved a third batch of young chicks out to the main chicken run, where we have them sequestered inside their own little cage until they're big enough to not need the brooder any more (it's a heating plate that serves mama hen's role of giving them a warm place to sleep). We also have one hen (Miss Prissy, a Leghorn) who's broody and sitting on a clutch of eggs, which we're permitting just 'cause it appeals to my GF to see if she can successfully hatch them for us. There's also a clutch of quail eggs in our incubator, which are due to start hatching out today (we're seeing some of the eggs wiggle, but nobody's poked their little beak out yet to have a look around). 

     

    On the other side of the whole "circle of life" scenario, our older white hen Flossie just...died one day, of old age as far as we can tell. We'd deliberately taken an older hen (her) to socialize the younger pullets, so this is not entirely a surprise. She'd served her purpose well, and was "boss hen" of our little flock in its early days, and we have a steady progression of ages so the socialization will continue. 

     

    We've also harvested one of the surplus roosters, just last night. It was originally going to be both of the Wyandotte roosters, but one of them wasn't buying my "nonchalant" act for a second and wouldn't let me get within 10 feet of him. I'll get him in the next day or two with either a hook or a net. The hook is a sort of long, skinny shepherd's-crook arrangement of wire (I've improvised mine from a coat hanger) that slips around the chicken's leg, but which won't let the foot slip through. 

    We're still going back and forth on the fate of our hybrid rooster, Chico. I posted upthread that we'd likely be keeping him, but my GF's been going back and forth on it. My stepdaughter is very fond of him, because he's attached to her and comes to her hand. They'll sit on the back deck sometimes, and she'll chat with him and he'll chuckle and cluck back at her. I rather like him myself (chickens do have personalities, though it takes a while to get a feel for them). Here you can see him following me to the rabbit pen an hour ago, rather like a dog (screencap from our security system): 

     

    image.png.cac5fd547a22562db2a9574d02802099.png

     

    I think stepdaughter and I will probably carry the day. As for the two Wyandotte roosters I won't miss them at all, they're both just jerks. One of them (I think, but don't know for sure, it's the one who's already plucked and in my fridge) attacked my GF pretty regularly. It's probably her red hair, which I suspect made her look like a REALLY BIG WYANDOTTE in his eyes. 

    We also have a cage of surplus male quail to be dealt with in the next few days, and a handful of bunnies from the first couple of litters. So it's going to be a busy week, above and beyond my actual "work, work" (ie, my writing workload). 

     

    GF found a farm not terribly far from here where they slaughter and clean rabbits, chickens etc for a fairly reasonable $5/ea, which is not worth the drive for small quantities but absolutely will be late this summer/early autumn when we have 60-ish chickens to be dispatched. Still figuring out the logistics of getting 5 dozen chickens into the back of my Subaru, mind you...

    • Like 5
  3. Just now, TdeV said:

     

    This is not obvious to me in the farmers' market:

     

    Are the garlic scapes cut from young plants only? Does cutting off the scape kill the rest of the garlic plant?

     

     

    You get scapes only from hard-neck garlic varieties, the kind that have that woody stem in the middle. 

    In my part of the world it's planted in the autumn for a mid-summer harvest, usually toward the end of July or beginning of August (it depends on the local microclimate). Garlic scapes are a seed stem put out by the plant about 4-5 weeks before it's due to harvest. So they're always young plants, in that they aren't yet fully mature. I usually try to grab the scapes just as they get large enough to curl properly, when they're less likely to be woody (bear in mind, these grow from the relatively woody stem, so they do have a fairly stiff texture). 

     

    Cutting off the scape doesn't kill the plant, just prevents it from diverting any energy away from the production of large bulbs. I've seen varying opinions as to how much letting the seedpod mature affects the bulbs' growth, but on the whole Mother Nature is a frugal ol' gal and not big on the whole "belt and suspenders" thing. So I err on the side of caution and harvest my scapes, to maximize bulb size (just in case it matters). But no, it doesn't kill or otherwise damage the plant itself. 

     

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  4. 19 hours ago, ElsieD said:

    Does anyone use garlic scapes?  If yes, how to you use them?  I have a bunch and don't know what to do with them.  They came from a joint garden we have with my SIL.

    I use them stir-fried, in risotto, in frittatas, etc, but the low-effort option is just to puree them with a bit of oil (I blanch mine first, because I find the color and flavor hold up better). I pack mine flat in ziploc bags with the air squeezed out, and then whenever I want the garlic flavor and a bit of color in what I'm cooking, I just break off a piece and return the rest to the freezer. 

    I grow a fair-sized patch of garlic, enough to more or less do us for the full year, so I also get enough scapes to last us from one summer to the next when treated this way. 

    • Like 3
  5. I look at those grotesqueries and wonder to myself "Why even bother having a patty hiding under there?"

     

    My GF went through a stage of watching Guy Fieri's DDD and similar shows, and I got to the point where my eyelid would start to twitch at the phrase "...this OVER THE TOP burger..."

     

    ETA: Those of us of a certain age (ie, most of us) may remember a vintage Doonesbury cartoon from the mid-70s, with a small Vietnamese orphan being adopted by an American family. They sit her down to her first American meal, cooing fondly "Look how excited she is!" 

    The little one, for her part, is raging in a thought bubble "This is obscene! You could feed half of Saigon with this!" (paraphrased from memory, and probably not exact)

    I was bemused, years later, to learn that GBT had revived her character as Mike Doonesbury's whip-smart young programmer GF. 

     

    • Like 4
  6. Huh. Made a point of reading a few followups, since a) I was reminded; and b) am sitting in front of my computer at this very moment. It seems things were not that straightforward, and that the couple never really accepted Ramsay's "take" on how their business should run. In fairness to them, while reviews of the food and service are mixed, it seems that they're genuinely popular and successful in their current pub. 

  7. 1 hour ago, liuzhou said:

    I remember that and had it in mind. The Fenwick Arms. They sold it shortly afterwards.

     

     

    Probably a good call, cashing out while they had the visibility thanks to Ramsay. I've often wondered how they made out, but never thought about it while I was at a computer to look them up. That episode really stood out for me because of the look in Ramsay's eye as he realized that his show had just acquired life-or-death stakes. I can't help but wonder if he gently encouraged the proprietor to sell while the selling was good. 

    I had to explain to many of my friends here about the Campaign For Real Ale, and why I'd laughed so hard over the Real Gravy thing. 

  8. 34 minutes ago, Maison Rustique said:

    That says Pastig for Missouri. I have no idea what they even mean by that!!

    Yeah. 

     

    ...and let's not even start on the bad blood between Minnesota and South Dakota over who makes Chislic the "right" way. :P

    • Like 1
  9. I remember an early episode of Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares (UK edition) in which the proprietor was literally working himself to death: 

    Ramsay: "When did you last take a day off?"
    Proprietor: (looks questioningly at his GF/business partner)

    Girlfriend: "Well, you took three days off after your heart attack last year..."
    Ramsay: (eyes widen in sheer, incredulous panic)

     

    So, with a man's life literally hanging on the outcome, he threw away the run-of-the-mill sauces the restaurant had been using, and ginned up a tongue-in-cheek "Campaign For Real Gravy" to promote the restaurant and give it a way to differentiate itself from competitors in the area. 

    I don't know how well that played out in the long term, but they had fun with it and the diners seemed to enjoy the food (for what that's worth). 

  10. This is "laugh or cry" territory, so I'm putting it here. Some Redditor decided to have AI generate a map of the most popular regional food in each state, and this is what it came up with. It just gets better (for certain values of the term) the more you look. 

    image.thumb.png.fd785a3e9e6b5a1951da5ef23b58593d.png

    • Confused 1
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  11. I've been reading about this for a while, but it's deeply unsettling to hear that these ticks have been found as far north as Maine now. NB is just across the St. Croix river from Maine, so doubtless they'll show up here over the next few years as the climate changes further. 

     

    https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jun/29/lone-star-ticks-increase-climate-crisis

     

    I have to say, though the article as a whole makes for grim reading, the scientist describing this tick as "a cross between a lentil and a velociraptor" all but earned my computer a coffee shower. 

    • Thanks 1
  12. On 5/30/2025 at 9:24 PM, FauxPas said:

    Welcome home! 

     

    Funny, I was just listening to Jimmy Rankin's North Country. I think you might be familiar with The Rankin Family? The song is about a homecoming in the Fall, but somehow I thought it might appeal. The original version:

     

     

    And JImmy:

     

     

    Thought I'd update this, because Heather Rankin (one of the two surviving sisters) has just been named an officer of the Order of Canada.

     

    https://www.thecanadianpressnews.ca/national/reynolds-rankin-among-canada-day-order-of-canada-appointees/article_2f4d8466-b368-5762-b61f-bc4bba131f28.html

    • Like 1
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  13. We always have grapes in the freezer in summertime for the grandkids, and we try to keep frozen blueberries on hand as well just for all-around use (but eating out of hand is one of those uses). Nova Scotia and New Brunswick (where I live) are both big producers of wild blueberries, so I can usually find a good deal on a 5- or 10-lb box of the frozen ones and then just divide it up into serving-sized or recipe-sized portions. 

    • Like 1
  14. Gratuitous cute bunny photos. 

     

    As I've mentioned upthread, we try to ensure that all of our rabbits are comfortable with being petted and handled. Most come to like that (a few remain shy, which is fine), but if you want them to be comfortable with being picked up and held, you have to start early and really keep on it. As it happens, our granddaughter has been madly in love with a couple of the little ones in this litter, so these 7-week does are utterly spoiled (I think of them collectively as "the princesses"). 

     

    Not only do most of them enjoy being held and cuddled, they'll resist being put back in the cage if they don't feel they've had enough loving yet. In fact, they'll throw tiny, adorable, foot-stamping tantrums over it. 

     

    20250621_082416.thumb.jpg.35f0d7c389c5ba834f8371731b66a982.jpg

     

    This gray one (not backward at putting herself forward, as they say) is our granddaughter's favorite, and has been dubbed Rose. She, and the butterscotch-colored one just visible at the rear (Buttercup), are the most princess-y of all.  

    20250621_082419.thumb.jpg.9ae3597a5c8f1d6e27aa4eb0e99a8445.jpg

     


     

    • Like 5
  15. I've mentioned from time to time that we cultivate specialty mushrooms from grow kits. We've had a few flushes in the past couple of weeks, so in the absence of much else going on in my garden at present I'll post a few pics of those. 

     

    Here's a nice batch of blue oysters, which came to almost a pound: 

     

    20250604_191716.thumb.jpg.32065e66c25f6b019dc460f341cde389.jpg   

     

    Oysters aren't one of those mushrooms that simply pop right up after a rain. Here's a time lapse of our elm oysters, taken over three days: 

    20250620_164739.thumb.jpg.05d70eb63d4db123d2f1a789f21d77d1.jpg  20250621_091036.thumb.jpg.9369fd5531b6b6ea89d54a29eff620fb.jpg  20250622_195831.thumb.jpg.be0a538285778e3862611b0b8dbed33f.jpg

     

    ...and the end result (day five). 

     

     

    20250624_085706.thumb.jpg.4f0b553b46dd990b3bd7a152d830d60d.jpg

     

    That's just over a pound, for the non-metric among us. 

    We also had a big flush of winecap mushrooms from our old spot under the apple tree, after a big rain. They didn't come up in the original bed itself, but from the soil under the apple tree. Winecaps grow on hardwood, so this is what we'd hoped/planned for when we situated the bed in that spot. Unfortunately we also had a very large flush of slugs pop up after the same rain, so I was only able to salvage a few.

    Winecaps, unlike oysters, *are* the kind of mushroom that goes from "small button" to "overblown and sporing" in the course of a day, but for mycophiles spore prints have a certain beauty of their own: 

     

    20250609_114927.thumb.jpg.97a59d221e8d15e5d419c62b287d2b16.jpg
     

    They're primarily used as a tool in doubtful identifications (sometimes you can distinguish between two visually-similar mushrooms by comparing spore prints for color, spore shape/size, etc), but I have also seen some very artistic and beautiful spore prints. In those, the photographer chooses a surface (usually paper) with a texture and color that will complement the spores' color, and then lights it and adjusts the white balance to show the spore pattern to best effect. 

     

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