chromedome

There are a LOT of alerts on the list for undeclared allergens. I generally only post the ones that involve food safety in the classic sense (pathogens, foreign matter, etc), but the allergen ones come up a lot more frequently.

On a gardening page I follow on FB, someone commented yesterday that "Buying seeds is a whole other hobby apart from gardening, I swear!"

The sides of the shelter extend out a couple of feet, and the intent is that you bury them under a heavy load of soil or gravel to prevent the wind getting underneath and picking them up. There are also auger-type stakes (the kind you see used for staking out dogs in the yard) at all four corners, with guy ropes. Consensus is that you'll want to have at least double that number, with a sturdy rope crossing your greenhouse's roof from the stake on one side to the stake on the other. This, plus physical/weight-based anchoring of the structure itself, seems to do the job pretty adequately by all accounts.

I have this one: https://www.aosom.ca/item/outsunny-20x10x7ft-heavy-duty-tunnel-walk-in-greenhouse-outdoor-backyard-seed-plant-vegetables-grow-warm-house-white~845-233WT.html?recv=eyJwYWdldHlwZSI6ImN0ZyIsInBhZ2VpZCI6Ik91dGRvb3IgPiBMYXduICYgR2FyZGVuID4gR3JlZW5ob3VzZXMgPiBUdW5uZWwgR3JlZW5ob3VzZXMifQ==&_ac=Category-Tunnel Greenhouses It's still in the box, so I have no direct feedback on it yet, but the consensus online is that it's a fairly typical example of the genre. They need to be well-anchored against wind, so I plan to screw the bottom rail of mine to 2X8 or 2X10 boards and take advantage of my plentiful supply of stone to weigh down the perimeter. If you only plan seasonal use you don't need to worry about snow load, but if you want to leave it up into early winter it's good to reinforce the hoops in one way or another. If you look around YouTube you'll find lots of videos where people show what has and hasn't worked for them. Some go to the extent of putting in a Sonotube full of concrete with rebar set into it, as an anchor point. I probably won't go that far, because the spot I've selected will be sheltered from the worst winds by woods on the north and northwest sides (the direction of my prevailing winds). I don't remember which part of Cape Breton you're in, but if it's a gusty spot you can't go wrong using more/better anchoring options. I'm going to put in probably a meter-wide raised bed along the south side of the greenhouse for heat-loving plants (okra, peppers, maybe some melons. The north side will initially contain three tables' worth of seedlings and some water barrels for passive solar heat, but the tables will come out and be replaced by planters once May rolls around and I plant things out into my main garden. I opted for this because it was cheap and gave me a relatively large enclosure, but it's not really built for long-term use. The poly's generally good for 3-5 years, apparently, before it needs replacing. If you have the budget for something that uses polycarbonate panels instead of a plastic skin, that will certainly last longer. I have the frame of a friend's old shed, and a number of old windows hoarded for the purpose by my stepdaughter and now-deceased son in law, and plan to build a sturdier greenhouse out of those as the summer progresses. We have a "retired" woodstove out in the barn that might conceivably end up in there if I get really ambitious. I also have a couple of smaller collapsible frames, one from a now-defunct tent and one that used to be my father in law's ice-fishing hut, which I'll cover with 6mm poly during the spring and fall for that little bit of extra protection for some plants (probably tomatoes).

First seeds planted in my little indoor greenhouse. This one's reserved for stuff that needs warmth, so currently it contains tomatoes, tomatillos, cucumelons (I first encountered those as "mouse melons," and I still prefer that name), basil and ground cherries. Melons and a few other things will follow as soon as I can get my hands on the seeds. Heading to NS for my monthly visit with my mom and daughter, then when I get home I'll set up my 10' X 20' greenhouse and start my brassicas and other cold-tolerant seeds in that. Less than 2 months until the Victoria Day weekend (traditional planting-out time in my neck of the woods) so I have a lot of prep work to do. On a side note my daughter will be starting the horticulture program at the NS Community College in September, which would have thrilled her grandfather. My dad was a masterful gardener, and his copies of Mother Earth News and Organic Gardening were literally some of my earliest reading.

Seeing it caused me to realize that I have a perfectly good hatchet, which in fact was in my office (long story) at the time I saw that post. Should I need to chop bones at any point, I think I'll probably just give my hatchet a good wash and use that.

Yes, very much so. Mine was second-hand, purchased when the previous one failed, which in turn had been purchased used for my restaurant. My current one is smaller, but it does the job. I'd love to get something like the FreezerMax system for my own chest freezer, but apparently it's not on Amazon Canada. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B9J4W3L1

My massive Samsung (36" wide, and 28 cubic feet IIRC) is just barely big enough for my household, which - in fairness - includes my stepdaughter's family plus us, so 6 in total. Like Darienne I'd be fine with less freezer space and more refrigerator space, though I have a standup freezer, a full-sized chest freezer and a smaller chest freezer so I'm admittedly something of an outlier. Many manufacturers now make models that split the lower compartment to give you a "flex" option: at your discretion you can set either half (sometimes both) to be refrigerator space rather than freezer space. I got mine used in like-new condition for only $150, though, so I'm not complaining (and the look on the guy's face when I showed up to in a minivan to collect it was worth the price of admission, all on its own).

I mostly use tongs, but I drain the pasta first. I'm notably clumsy - see my "I shall never again" post about cutting myself on sugar - and so far, the worst that's happened is a few pieces falling to the counter or floor (and we have dogs, so I don't even need to clean it up).

I have the plastic equivalent. I find it only moderately useful for spaghetti, so it currently lives on my desk (inches away as I type) where it does yeoman duty as a back scratcher.

(Ducks, runs...)

They're always the second greens out of my garden each spring, behind only the dandelions I pick while digging and planting.

It's not like it's a venerable tradition up here, either. I'd never heard of it until the early 90s (when I moved back from BC to NS), and IIRC its invention only dates to the late 1950s in Quebec. I'm not sure how long it took to catch on anywhere else, but presumably it crossed the border first into Ontario. I'd certainly never seen it in BC before moving home, and I think it was still fairly new in NS at the time.

https://newlinesmag.com/essays/medieval-arabic-culinary-literature-offers-lessons-for-the-present/

Think of them as "granola with an unusually refined presentation."

This is a bit niche, but Nuba brand carob drink is being recalled for botulism. At present, it's only known to have been sold in Ontario, Quebec and NS. https://recalls-rappels.canada.ca/en/alert-recall/nuba-brand-carob-drink-recalled-due-potential-presence-dangerous-bacteria?utm_source=gc-notify&utm_medium=email&utm_content=en&utm_campaign=hc-sc-rsa-22-23&

That's my "daily bread," right there, right down to the method. My late wife sent me the recipe from an old DAK bread machine manual, which turned out to be identical to my grandmother's honey-whole wheat sandwich bread. I actually just made a batch today, in fact, which - now that you've reminded me - is cool and must be bagged and frozen ASAP. I should go do that now, before I forget yet again...

I recognize the catalogue and have the same one, but I wasn't previously familiar with Incredible Seed (I've ordered in the past from Hope Seeds, Annapolis Seeds and Revival Seeds, all up in the Valley, but Incredible would certainly be more local to you). For pepper seeds specifically, if you aren't already familiar with them, check out Atlantic Pepper Seeds here in New Brunswick. They've got 2400-ish varieties, all grown here in Atlantic Canada (with varying degrees of encouragement) and their site has lots of useful information on it.

I wasn't aware that beans and savory are a "thing." It's popular here in Atlantic Canada for multiple uses; my mother used to put a smidge into her chowders, and her chicken stuffing was primarily flavored with savory and onions.

It's a hard habit to break, isn't it?

It's because acidity helps preserve the color. I make similar preparations with green cabbage all the time, just because I have it on hand more often.

A classic case of "to each his own." I can't quibble with the first half of your statement because it's the plain truth, just as it's easier to microwave something from the supermarket's frozen section than to cook from scratch. But many of us take pleasure in preparing meals, and do so whenever we can. Similarly, many of us garden because it's deeply satisfying (and in my case, a compulsion: I had a grow light and a planter of lettuces on my windowsill in a third-floor walkup). As for the second half of your statement, well...clearly we don't see eye to eye on that one. But gardening still leaves me plenty of time for books and research and everything else I take pleasure in - less so at planting and harvest time, I'll grant - so I hardly feel that I'm missing out. In any case, welcome to eG and enjoy the goings-on! Whatever your culinary (and culinary-adjacent) interests, there's almost certain to be good stuff awaiting you in the various threads and forums here.