Bad News/Good News

It's spring (in the northern hemisphere)--so that means about a billion different things. One thing it means to me is garlic mustard is sprouting again; soon to stretch to adult heights. So, on Thursday, 4 April, we trekked off to the Martin Hollow to survey that damned plant. The bad news? It's still around. The good news is, thanks to two years of intensive pulling there is a heck of a lot less on our property this year. In fact, we weren't very diligent, but we only pulled about a half pound or so of that stinking weed. One of my areas of concern only had about 20 plants in it--that's good considering each adult can contain about 900-3,000 seeds depending on whom you consult.
Now, we make forays on to the neighbor's land--the person is absentee, so you can grumble about trespassing all you want, but he or she is NOT stewarding the property, and if I don't do it, it'll only be back on my land soon enough.


public domain photo

This summer, we're going to try to make a serious dent in the spotted knapweed population. Here's to just a bag or two filled with garlic mustard. Check your yards--identify and destroy!

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Mystery Meat indeed!

During my grocery shopping today I was asked to pick up some hot dogs for some meal or other. Now I am not an aficianado of the 'ot dog, but will usually have a corn dog or BBQed version of one or two during the summer. If my children like them, so be it. The trouble came when trying to find a package that didn't arrive from a chemistry lab. Nitrates and nitrites, sugars (including HFCS), the preservative sodium benzoate, and other fun substances littered every package I picked up. Even Hebrew National which "Answers to a Higher Standard" was doped. Apparently Kosher doesn't mean it can't be injected with a chemical cocktail. So-called "Natural Casings" were prominently displayed to catch my eye. As if sheep or pig intestine somehow offsets Agricorps tinkering. I ended up buying the brand "sold at Tiger Stadium" not because it was chemical-free, Hell no! It was merely the brand with the least additives. Why does a hot dog need su...

Good reads of 2009

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Shutting Down the Shop

It's been a good run, sort of. I don't see much traffic here these days, partly because I only post occasionally. But I think in some ways, blogs as they are, have become quasi-obsolete. I'm not, however, giving up writing. I'm moving. To a Substack. This one : Pilgrim of the Sweetwater Seas. So, if you're inclined. Check it out. Subscribe--it's free until I get a certain number of subscribers (and I'm not even close to that number yet). Anyway, thanks Blogspot for the opportunity way back in the Oughts to do this. Maybe I'll see you, reader, over at the Pilgrim site?

I Am Not Hamlet

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