(ETA: Reading Rembrandt's Portrait by Charles L. Mee, Jr., an excellent biography that also paints a vivid picture of the seventeenth-century Amsterdam art world. Recommended.)
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txtriffidranch! Look! I have a pitcher!
There are some small gnat-type insects floating around in the bottom, so it is hunting.
Thanks again! The Medusa's Head is doing fine too, though still small. Tiny toads are living in its catch pot.
I just finished tearing out the periwinkles I planted around my big mint bed last spring. I chose them because I thought they were one of the few flowers that might be able to hold their own amongst the rampant mint. They did more than hold their own; they nearly choked my poor mint to death, making it necessary for me to plant three small supplementary patches in order to keep supplying the Green Goddess. When I pulled up the periwinkles just now, they had gone from innocent-looking little plants in 4" pots to great rambling octopi. They do make wonderful container plants if you keep them well watered, but beware them in the ground!
As the seasons pass, we are increasingly able to eat from the garden as well as having it supply The Green Goddess with herbs. Food I'm currently growing includes eggplants, okra, lemongrass, five kinds of basil, four kinds of mint, tepin peppers, pumpkins, chives, parsley, thyme, dill, and curry leaves. There may be some oregano tucked in there too. Tonight I'm making a pizza with roasted eggplant, sun-dried tomatoes, and pesto.
chefcdb, The Green Goddess made the front page of Gourmet.com! (The story's no longer on the front page, but still on the site.) Pretty amazing for a restaurant that's only been open three months, but I truly thought Chris could do it if he had a chance to buckle down and do it just the way he wanted. I think this same story will be in Gourmet's print magazine next month.Pain has been bad, though, so I'm creeping around like a little old crippled man trying to clean up the house for my mom's visit next week, and what problems there are in the garden I'm letting the ladybugs and assassin bugs handle. Harvested three lovely eggplants today. When I'm not doing these things, I'm reading the Dark Tower. Again. Do it please ya. Or not.
Someone waved his osmeterium at me today, and it smelled just awful.
Before you start thinking Chris is a pervert with freaky anatomy, I should explain that an osmeterium is a fleshy, retractable organ above the heads of swallowtail caterpillars, which gives off a pungent odor when everted. I had only read about it until today, when I noticed that one of my black swallowtail cats was perched precariously on a half-broken branch of fennel, in danger of plummeting three or four feet to the ground (the fennel is HUGE). I gently broke off the branch and went to put him on a safer area of the plant. As I did so, two bright orange horns came out of his head and waved around, and an odor like rotten cheese filled the air. Osmeterium! I must say it was effective; had I been planning to eat him, I'd very likely have changed my mind at that point.
Some of the insects in my garden have broken my heart (the stinkbugs that ruined my tomato crop) or grossed me out (the swarms of milkweed aphids) or even made me feel guilty (the tomato hornworms; I knew I had to kill them, but they were adorable). Overall, though, gardening has given me an interest in bugs unparalleled since I was 7 or so. I'm especially fond of my assassin bugs even though I suspect they eat a tiny monarch caterpillar now and then.
cxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I find that a bit excessive.
In the Dangerous Plants Dept.: Received from
txtriffidranch via marrus, one Nepethes pitcher plant in a lovely pot and one baby Medusa's Head euphorbia. Thank you! According to my web search, the pitcher plant needs "bright shade" (a seeming oxymoron that I think I've finally figured out) and moist soil, while the Medusa's Head should be treated much like the pencil cacti I'm already growing. Please correct me if I'm wrong.That's all for now. I've got to do something about this office. It could be the prettiest room in the house, yet I fear and loathe it. I'd love to get rid of the horrible, rusty old filing cabinets, just do away with them and keep my paperwork in nice, clean, rust-proof plastic boxes. Maybe I just will.
I HAVE A MONARCH CATERPILLAR ON MY MILKWEED!!!
He's tiny-tiny, less than a quarter-inch long, but you can see his little black, orange, and white bands as clear as anything.
txtriffidranch?
They're also said to make excellent bait, should I ever wish to take up my short-lived fishing habit again, but that seems pretty cold-blooded: "Here, turn my kitchen and garden waste into compost. Thanks! Now I'm going to reward you by sticking a hook through your body and feeding you to a speckled trout!" Ah well; specks probably wouldn't hit them anyway, and ain't nuttin worth eatin but trout.
[ETA: The adult soldier fly is a predator and gardener's ally, so this is an excellent bug all around.]
The only frustrating thing is that this all happened too fast. I got the idea a few weeks ago and figured I could begin implementing it gradually and lazily, as befits summer gardening. Then I realized I had better go ahead and get those banana trees and gingers in the ground if I wanted them to get a really good head start before winter. I had a burst of energy this week despite pretty bad sciatica, and now, before I know it, the project is practically done. Of course I can keep adding details forever -- I have a broken granite pot that begs for some creeping herb or other, and an empty bracket for a hanging basket, and lots of fence space for art, and eventually I dream of having a stone bench -- but overall it was not the leisurely project I thought it would be. I've always had trouble not throwing myself into things.
[Please note: Because my Assbook is still out of commission and I've kinda gotten used to the witty repartee we enjoyed there, I have temporarily opened this journal to comments from friends. Sorry, I know I have a lot of friends reading who aren't LJ "friends," but I don't feel like dealing with trolls and anyway you can still comment on
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prime_liquor or one of my other groups. I don't have e-mail notification for comments, so don't go commenting on old entries and expect me to see it. Caveat emptor. Quid pro quo. My name has been Kevin; please enjoy your meal.]faustfatale and I were destined to be BFF before, I realized it when I found out we had both enthusiastically bought and read the wonderful book Washed Up: The Curious History of Flotsam and Jetsam by Skye Moody, though others scoffed at our "goofy" reading. But right now I use the phrase because I have many little skritty bits of subjects to write about, nothing worth a full entry. Chris and I have booked our 20th anniversary trip to Amsterdam, our second-favorite city in the world, which makes me very happy. We'll be there for our actual anniversary (November 5, Guy Fawkes' Day) and for Museumnacht, a wonderful event we stumbled across on our last trip in 2000. Gardening goes well; as you know if you read me on Facebook (hey, don't be shy; I'll friend anybody except ex-stalkers), the milkweed I planted attracted a monarch butterfly, the first I've ever seen in my garden! Actually, I made a whole little butterfly garden with purple and white coneflowers, black-eyed Susans, and Queen Anne's lace as well as lots of milkweed, a Golden Trumpet esperanza, & three kinds of salvia nearby. I also have a big passionflower vine for the Gulf fritillaries and plenty of parsley and fennel for the black swallowtails. I found a caterpillar on each one, and I'm betting our black swallowtails from this spring came back and laid their eggs here. We got grandworms!
Later this week I must return to my doctor and discuss whether the
Overall -- increased use of -pams; intermittent twitch in eyelids (though this is something I've had off and on for years)
6/21 -- bug crawling sensations (I did spend a lot of time in the garden that day and once there really was a bug on me)
6/22 -- a weird euphoria in the AM but it went away
6/25 -- could not concentrate on reading; jumped from one book to another unable to settle on one (this virtually never happens to me -- I finally gave up and read some Carson McCullers, as it's almost impossible not to become absorbed in "The Ballad of the Sad Cafe")
6/26 -- major mood crash; feeling of utter futility & hopelessness -- lasted about 12 hours
6/27 -- still no appetite; price of meds is actually raising my stress level
6/27 (11:30 pm) -- sudden dizziness & extreme nausea -- lasted 20-30 minutes (?), then headache
And that is my flotsam and jetsam for today.
txtriffidranch growing these days?" or "What Cthulhoid horror has greygirlbeast photographed on the beach lately?" My dad gave me a nice, new, comfy, not-yet-clawed-to-death desk chair, so I really have no excuse not to just sit here and catch up once in a while. Well, except for this damn catch in my back that still won't let go, but I'm trying to move around some and work it out.Oh, and I think I hate growing tomatoes. More on that later.
All together now:
SUCKS TO BE YOU, DOC!!!
PZB: I had to tell them it wasn't my first day at the rodeo.
CdB: It wasn't even your second day at the rodeo.
PZB: Actually, I was on my way out the door of the arena where the rodeo was being held.
CdB: Elvis has left the building.
[pause]
PZB: I don't have a megacolon.
And that seems like a good note upon which to mention that it is now My Official Birthday Month, and that on May 25 I will be 42 and will have the answer to life, the universe, and everything, and that I do have a wish list if anyone should care to glance at it. I told Chris I wanted a hose reel and storage box, but he said that wasn't very romantic. I beg to differ. Good ones aren't cheap, it will make my life easier, and I will think of him each time I use it, which will be almost every day.
My current favorite
In other news, Siegfried the Big Sweet Dummy passed an uncomfortable weekend, but is now at the vet's office having his teeth fixed; the cucumber plants are so big that I am getting scared of them; I have seen The Green Goddess with its new decor and it is going to be absolutely gorgeous; I have downloaded a couple of stupid little game apps onto my iPhone and I'm sorry to say that I can see, for the first time ever, why people get so hooked on computer games. Also, since we're too poor and I tire too easily these days for Jazzfest, this past weekend Chris and I went out to the Our Lady of Prompt Succor Tomato Festival in Chalmette, where we passed a good time and rode the Tilt-A-Whirl and ate ourselves half-sick. I shot cups with a cork gun to win two penguins and a giant pink plush rose, and Chris said I shot like a cop. "What do you expect?" I said. "I learned how to shoot from a cop!"
chefcdb: [Huitlacoche is] one of the most common foods for ignorant ass food bloggers who think they're the person "who will try anything" to go and say a bunch of stupid blather about how it looks and tastes, invariably from canned product (which has usefulness in sauces and mashing up) and get self-righteous about how brave they were in the face of such disgusting goo. Those people crack me up as they never have a clue how to cook anything nor bothered to glean a little cultural info about how the disgusting ingredient actually functions as food in its society. This is only one of the many, many reasons why I love the guy. I like his description of the flavor, too; it is nothing like truffles, more like hominy in texture, with tones of wild mushroom and corn. The first time I ever had it was at Marisol's Fungus Feast, where I also drank seven or eight kinds of wine and Wild Turkey and tequila. It ended up being an unfortunate night, but that wasn't the huitlacoche's fault.
I feel better today than I did yesterday, but still tired and sore. Last night I happened to recall that I accidentally inhaled a small amount of malathion vapor on Tuesday, and wondered if that could have made me suddenly sick. I avoid pesticides as much as possible, but my pepper seedlings were getting devoured despite applications of diatomaceous earth and habanero oil/soap spray. At any rate, the eggplant seedlings are ready to go into the ground, but I think they're going to have to wait until the weekend.
Oh, and someone (possibly several someones) wanted to know how I managed to get stung on the ass by a buckmoth caterpillar. Well, I was removing the flat tire from my wheelbarrow, and it came off more easily than I expected, and I tipped over backward and my left buttock landed square on the nasty, spiny thing. They are the only creatures I regularly kill in my garden, because they damage the oaks as well as stinging.
Speaking of plant matters, thanks to
txtriffidranch for the cool propaganda! Your sticker will be the first one on my new computer.Profile
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