Not everyone liked FDR

I should research this some more one day. I still remember vividly the day I was working at the Brooklyn Library and mentioned something about Roosevelt and got corrected -- very sternly -- by one of the old ladies of the town (I truly wish I could remember who!). It was the first time I heard criticism of FDR.

Poem collected from: http://www.ytmag.com/cgi-bin/viewit.cgi?bd=ttalk&th=637268

A stranger stood at the gate of Hell
And the Devil himself had answered the bell
He looked him over from head to toe
And said "My friend, I’d like to know
What you have done in the line of sin
To entitle you to come within?"
Then Franklin D. with his usual guile
Stepped forth and flashed his toothy smile.
"When I took over in ’33,
A nation’s faith was mine", said he
"I promised this and I promised that,
And I calmed them down with a fireside chat.
I spent their money on fishing trips
And I fished from the decks of their battleships.
I gave them jobs on the WPA
Then raised their taxes and took it away.
I raised their wages, then closed their shops,
I killed their pigs and buried their crops.
I double-crossed both young and old
And still the folks my praises told.
I brought back beer and what do you think?
I taxed it so high they couldn’t drink.
I furnished money with good loans
When they missed a payment I took their homes.
When I wanted to punish people, you know,
I put my wife on the radio.
I paid them to let their farms lie still
And imported foodstuffs from Brazil.
And curtailed crops when I felt mean
And shipped in corn from the Argentine.
When they started to worry, stew and fret,
I’d get them to chanting the alphabet.
With the AAA and the NLB
The WPA and the CCC.
With these many units I got their goats
And still I crammed it down their throats
While the taxpayers chewed their fingernails.
When the organizers needed dough
I signed up plants for the CIO.
I ruined their jobs and I ruined their health
And I put the screws on the rich man’s wealth.
And some who couldn’t stand the gaff
Would call me up and how I’d laugh!
When they got too hot on certain things
I’d pack up and head for Warm Springs.
I ruined their country, their homes, and then
Laid the blame on the ‘nine old men’."
Now Franklin talked both long and loud
And the Devil stood with his head bowed.
At last he said "Let’s make it clear,
You’ll have to move, you can’t stay here.
For once you’ve mingled with this mob
I’ll have to hunt myself a job."

Hog Killing

Nice write up of old fashion community hog killing:

http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/martin/hogkilling

Nice fall day...

First heavy frost of the year -- at 10:30 am there was still frost on the ground.

The air is still, but quite a few leaves are falling spontaneously from the trees in the woods -- makes an odd crackling sound. One doesn't hear dry, crisp leaves hitting the ground on a breezeless afternoon too often.

Saw three deer in the lower yard, with their darker "winter" coats on.

Cleaning up....

Catching Up...

Been busy with work, with the garden, with the fire company, and with following politics since Palin's nomination :)

So I haven't had time to blog much. Be prepared for some catch up.

Garden Totals:
Weighed: 361#
Donated to Food Pantry: 170#

Rain:
4.65" June
5.7" July
2.6" August
9.75" September (T.S. Hannah accounted for 4" of that)

Frost hit on 10/7, killing the summer squash & tomatoes. I had picked the remaining good green tomatoes the afternoon before the frost.

Lost a lot of tomatoes in September to "exploding" thanks to the frequent, heavy rains later in the month.

Also lost a lot of potatoes from the 2nd planting. Not sure if that was because I was using left over storage potatoes from last year, or if it was due to not picking them soon enough. A lot were rotted, or half-eaten, or green. The half-eaten and green ones at least could be salvaged by cutting off the offending parts.

Made some beef stew this week, using my own taters and celery. Had to buy the rest -- carrots, onions, garlic, sweet peppers, corn, peas, and cortland apples. Hopefully all but the apples will be from my garden next year :)

Having weighed my harvest this year, I'm convinced of the economy to buy a freezer next year!

Farming with Dynamite

Dear God, this is me Dog...

FROM: THE DOG

Dear God: Is it on purpose our names are the same, only reversed?

Dear God: Why do humans smell the flowers, but seldom, if ever, smell one another?

Dear God: When we get to heaven, can we sit on your couch? Or is it still the same old story?

Dear God: Why are there cars named after the jaguar, the cougar, the mustang, the colt, the stingray, and the rabbit, but not one named for a dog? How often do you see a cougar riding around? We do love a nice ride! Would it be so hard to rename the 'Chrysler Eagle' the 'Chrysler Beagle'?

Dear God: If a dog barks his head off in the forest and no human hears him, is he still a bad dog?

Dear God: We dogs can understand human verbal instructions, hand signals, whistles, horns, clickers, beepers, scent ID's, electromagnetic energy fields, and Frisbee flight paths. What do humans understand?

Dear God: More meatballs, less spaghetti, please.

Dear God: Are there mailmen in heaven? If there are, will I have to apologize?

Dear God: Let me give you a list of just some of the things I must remember to be a good dog.

1. I will not eat the cats' food before they eat it or after they throw it up.

2. I will not roll on dead seagulls, fish, crabs, etc., just because I like the way they smell.

3. The litter box is not a cookie jar.

4. The sofa is not a face towel; neither are mom and dad's laps.

5. The garbage collector is not stealing our stuff.

6. I will not play tug-of-war with Dad's underwear when he's on the toilet.

7. Sticking my nose into some one's crotch is an unacceptable way of saying hello.

8. I don't need to suddenly stand straight up when I'm under the coffee table .

9. I must shake the rainwater out of my fur before entering the house, not after.

10. I will not come in from outside and immediately drag my butt across the carpet.

11. I will not sit in the middle of the living room and lick my crotch when we have company.

12. The cat is not a 'squeaky toy' so when I play with him and he makes that noise, it's usually not a good thing.

13. I will not bite the officer's hand when he reaches in for Mom's driver's license and registration.

14. My head does not belong in the refrigerator.

P.S. Dear God: When I get to heaven may I have my testicles back?

Blerg!

Had my xD memory card for my camera crash....again.

Cost me $39.95, but this was able to recover them: http://www.cardrecovery.com/

Hmmm, should enter the fair next year...

http://www.brooklynfair.org/vegetables.html

http://www.woodstockfair.com/images/Premium%20Book/2008%20Vegetables.pdf

Tuesday evening harvest

22# of produce. The crookneck yellow squash was from a volunteer from last year's variety. I have no clue what's up with the crookneck zucchini! That grew from store bought seed, so it's just a freak. The straight yellow squash is Goldbar Hybrid -- fairly expensive seed ($2.49/packet, about $1 more then most other seeds), but I've been really happy with it.
Larger tomatoes are Beefsteak, finally getting over their blossom end rot issues although we still have lots of blemishes. Smaller ones are Celebrities.

Garden Stuff...

8/16 Planted some "Slicemaster Hybrid" cucumbers, under the north end of the trellis. 58 Day Maturity, 10/14. Yes, I'm being way optimistic on the last frost date :)



I also made a planting stick to help make my seeding more uniform. The long lines are 1/2" apart, while the hashes are 1" increments.

The taters, the one good size onion I got this year, and a red onion I found while preparing the bed for the beets. (Oh, and turnips to be planted south of the beets).

As of 8/17, we have 163# picked ytd and are up to 2.6" of rain in August. Tomatoes are starting to come in, the blossom end rot problems are decreasing but a large number of the tomatoes are blemished from it (Beefsteak and Celebrities).

Beet Notes...

Gonna try and find some Beet seeds this week...plant them in the onion / potatoe patch for a fall harvest.

http://gardening.yardener.com/PlantingBeets.html

8/16 Got them planted!

10 Rows x 4' of Detroit Dark Red, maturity 65 Days = 10/21
7 Rows x 4' of Early Wonder G.T., maturity 57 Days = 10/13



8/17 Filled in a spot under the trellis with Detroit Dark Reds, by hand, not board.

NJ Barn History

(And also barn disassembly & rebuilding)

Onion Notes

Onions from my garden: Spectacular!

Unfortunately, I planted too shallow and only had one that attained full size. Plus several smaller ones I've been eating that really make a meal.

Would be interesting to spread around some maybe for that onion / flea beetle effect from OSV notes?

Next year's plan:

Plant around April 15th.

From Univ. of Minnesota:

Plant onion sets, pointy end up, 1½ to 2" below soil. If you're planting
big sets for green onions, space them close, almost touching. If you're planting
them for full size onions, space them 3 to 4" apart. Firm the soil around the
bulbs.

Cucumber Notes

Planted on 5/21:

Straight Eights did wonderful, until succumbing (I believe) to bacterial wilt. Flavor was good, although I thought a tad bitter.

Pioneer Hybrids failed to sprout.

Cucumbers have about a 60 day maturity window.

Assuming a Last Frost Date of 5/14. Since my Straight 8s came up from 5/21, they're probably safe to plant that early.

Assuming a First Frost Date of 9/24, last planting should be in on 7/24. The OSV interpreter did mention they typically harvest cukes after the first frost, so that may be an interesting experiment. The old New Englanders tended to prefer size over taste, particularly since items like cucumbers would just get pickled.

So let's aim in 2009 for a series of plantings, starting with the Straight 8s and maybe trying some bush and/or pickling varieties towards the end. Marketmore 76 recommended as a variety that is disease resistant, plant after frost danger is past.
5/17
5/31
6/14
6/28
7/12
7/26

ALSO, let's try companion plantings of marigolds & radishes with them to see if it repels the cucumber beetles from the young plants!

If I'm not successful otherwise controlling the wilt (see post below), I'm thinking that will help control bacterial wilt issues indirectly. As some cukes die, others will be coming into production.

A visit to OSV

Some garden pics from yesterday's visit to Old Sturbridge Village:

http://www.d90.us/fire/Garden_2008/OSV_August_10/index.html

Rhubarb Tea

Rhubarb's talents extend beyond pies and cakes. In fact, scientists have
discovered that the oxalic acid in rhubarb stems (the same stuff that makes
your lips pucker) can be used to scour cooking pots.
If aphids are pest in your garden, rhubarb can help. In her book, "Slug Bread &
Beheaded Thistles," author Ellen Sandbeck describes a unique use for
rhubarb leaves--as an aphid spray. Here's the recipe:1) Chop 3 to 5 rhubarb leaves
and add to a quart of water. 2) Boil for 30 minutes.3) Strain and add a dash of liquid, non-detergent, soap.4) Fill spray bottle with liquid and use it on aphids.

Note: Because rhubarb leaves are poisonous, don't use this spray on edible plants

From http://www.plantea.com/rhubarb.htm

Tomatoe Notes

Planted 5 varieties this year:
Sweet 100 Cherry -- doing fine
Beefsteak -- having problems with Blossom End Rot (I believe that's the culprit).
Celebrity -- having problems with Blossom End Rot
Big Boy -- doing fine
Early Girl -- low yielding, but doing fine.

Going to get a soil sample kit from the extension office tomorrow. The BER may have been excerbated by a dry spell we had of 3/10" of rain in the 10 days preceeding the deluge of July 23-25 when we had 3" of rain. I suspect that brought a shock of water uptake into the plants.

Next year I want to try a variation on farmhound's post-and-twine method, similiar to the little boxes seen at OSV (see post above). If I do three fence posts wide, short ones in the middle to support the younger plants, then tall ones (6'?) on the outside corners to run twine around to support the larger, mature plants...I think that would work wonderfully.

Interesting article about determinate v. indeterminate; and the different determinates especially for getting early season yields: http://tomclothier.hort.net/page35.html

Statistics so far...

Rain measured in my garden guage...
June -- 4.65" (Htfd avg. is 3.75")
July -- 5.7" (Htfd avg. is 3.19")
August (to date) -- 1" (Htfd avg. is 3.65")

Total weight harvested (and measured) YTD: 101#

Cash basis accounting y-t-d is estimated at $250, half of which is "extraordinary" (manure, netting, etc) that will provide benefit over many years.

So we're talking $2.50/pound so far (and going down each harvest).

Squash Rot #2

This time a Zucchini. Not sure if it's the same as the Blue Hubbard or not...

Also, according to my peeps, consistent with Squash Vine Borer.

Squash Rot #1

This is a Blue Hubbard squash. Leaves started turning yellow a couple weeks back.
The crown just came apart with very little force, and other parts of the vine that were "rooted" seem to be similiarly rotting. The closer to the original crown, the more rotted.

After checking with the folks at my organic gardening board this has been ruled damage from Squash Vine Borer. Guess I'll add that to my list of things to work on next year!