Well two words: corn gluten.
This was our compromise when the EVG was firrst proposed. Would he agree to bugly crabgrass? Nope. Well, we are experimenting with corn gluten this year.
Yes, I know all the stuff about taking the food out of the mouths of babes in order to live a greener lifestyle. But is this real? Does this byproduct have an alternate life as healthy food? I have no idea. I suppose we could guzzle ethanol too...mmm, better than Pinot Noir, no?
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Some second thoughts on Gottfried's Nepenthe...
Ok. I understand we're talking eighty-five years ago. But that eighty-five years is significant. Sure, the players are all dead now and nobody alive today would weep with embarassment becuase their grandparents or great-grandparents had a shipboard romance that ended with debarkation in New York. We are all but immune to flings, tell-alls and tabloid romances and today a relationship like this would be interesting to the parties involved and maybe to their loves waiting on the dock. Nobody else would really care.
In 1926, this might have been a big deal. Women were socially ruined by unsavory romances and these things were kept pretty close to the vest. Aaron Gottfried published this work under his initials only. I assume he did so not to protect himself as Princeton is a pretty small place now and was smaller in 1926, but to protect his romantic partner.
This begs the question "why publish this at all". I doubt it was a best seller even on an all male campus. It has no wild scenes of reckless abandon designed to titillate the undergraddies and its poetic merits are slight. Did Princeton routinely publish little tomes of their students' poetry? Or could Gottfried have been on the university's payroll, perhaps even working for the University Press?
And if the relationship was so private and special, why not keep your poems in a little box under the bed until you are sick of thinking about your loss or until your wife tosses them after your funeral.
Did Aaron publish his poems out of some sort of revenge? The number of young people who were able to afford this sort of cruise in 1926 was probably small and exclusive.
Perhaps the members of the passenger list would be pretty well known to his Princetonian cohort? Maybe there was a desire to embarass the lady's family or to shame her into going public with this romance.
I will never know. But I do know 1926 was not 2011 and a telling book of poems was probably an unusual thing.
In 1926, this might have been a big deal. Women were socially ruined by unsavory romances and these things were kept pretty close to the vest. Aaron Gottfried published this work under his initials only. I assume he did so not to protect himself as Princeton is a pretty small place now and was smaller in 1926, but to protect his romantic partner.
This begs the question "why publish this at all". I doubt it was a best seller even on an all male campus. It has no wild scenes of reckless abandon designed to titillate the undergraddies and its poetic merits are slight. Did Princeton routinely publish little tomes of their students' poetry? Or could Gottfried have been on the university's payroll, perhaps even working for the University Press?
And if the relationship was so private and special, why not keep your poems in a little box under the bed until you are sick of thinking about your loss or until your wife tosses them after your funeral.
Did Aaron publish his poems out of some sort of revenge? The number of young people who were able to afford this sort of cruise in 1926 was probably small and exclusive.
Perhaps the members of the passenger list would be pretty well known to his Princetonian cohort? Maybe there was a desire to embarass the lady's family or to shame her into going public with this romance.
I will never know. But I do know 1926 was not 2011 and a telling book of poems was probably an unusual thing.
Fraud on Etsy update
My credit was indeed processed by m credit card company and the offending store closed. Etsy has given us victims no further info on what they are doing. I suppose Paypal will go after this scumbag as they are probably the ones out the cash. Etsy needs better screening for sellers.
Economic Victory Garden...a bright shiny day!
Perfect for re-spading the garden patch and putting the finishing touches on the soil. Tomorrow I will plant some seeds (peas, squash, peppers) and put my seedlings in for the "early" harvest!
After discussions with fellow gardeners at work, I never knew there were any til this past week, it seems like freezing is the way to go for preservation of the cookable squash and pepper excess. I still have an interest in drying peppers as it seems so safe and independent of power outages, so I will keep researching.
On the storage front, I now consider myself fully stocked up on tomato products, beans and grains (who knew barley pilaf was so fabulous. I have bought a supply of inexpensive pasta products and the beans include canned varieties. Tuna and canned chicken have also been purchased. The freezer is stocked with chicken, cheaply purchased at 0.99 a pound and all is well on that front. I have become SO sale conscious of all my favorite items and have gone generic where possible.
But back to the garden. The main goal is providing my favorites and living the summer without having to choose between peppers and tomatoes or driving to work! Of course, I'd have to drive to work, but I feel very fortunate that I chose to work the weekends only schedule (work 24 get paid for 36)as the price of gas really cuts into the extra I'd make and still have alternate weekends off. This way I maximize time home while having minimal reduction in pay. Always the Maximalist.
Why peppers and tomatoes, except for my preference? Vitamin rich and expensive even in the summer. Notice the price on Ancho peppers? Tomatoes cost as much per pound as chicken! Small space required for relatively large harvest. Not crazy like zucchini as no one uses those basebal bat size squash. As for my squash, winter squash is more nourishing and more storeable.
So it's onward and upward with my garden. I am also considering making it larger!
After discussions with fellow gardeners at work, I never knew there were any til this past week, it seems like freezing is the way to go for preservation of the cookable squash and pepper excess. I still have an interest in drying peppers as it seems so safe and independent of power outages, so I will keep researching.
On the storage front, I now consider myself fully stocked up on tomato products, beans and grains (who knew barley pilaf was so fabulous. I have bought a supply of inexpensive pasta products and the beans include canned varieties. Tuna and canned chicken have also been purchased. The freezer is stocked with chicken, cheaply purchased at 0.99 a pound and all is well on that front. I have become SO sale conscious of all my favorite items and have gone generic where possible.
But back to the garden. The main goal is providing my favorites and living the summer without having to choose between peppers and tomatoes or driving to work! Of course, I'd have to drive to work, but I feel very fortunate that I chose to work the weekends only schedule (work 24 get paid for 36)as the price of gas really cuts into the extra I'd make and still have alternate weekends off. This way I maximize time home while having minimal reduction in pay. Always the Maximalist.
Why peppers and tomatoes, except for my preference? Vitamin rich and expensive even in the summer. Notice the price on Ancho peppers? Tomatoes cost as much per pound as chicken! Small space required for relatively large harvest. Not crazy like zucchini as no one uses those basebal bat size squash. As for my squash, winter squash is more nourishing and more storeable.
So it's onward and upward with my garden. I am also considering making it larger!
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Economic Victory Garden
Turned up my soil today. Threw out the rocks and the old dead wood under the ground. The soil isn't good as it's much lighter than I'd imagined it would be as the soil for the daffodils was dark and good. A few bags of mulch should solve that problem and I'll be able to plant by Friday.
The spaghetti squash plants are a foot tall now as are the peas. The hancho peppers are six inches high and the seeds started last week are but sproutlings, if there is such a word. I'm having a lovely time imagining all those peppers growing and bearing fruits and today I started some long green hot peppers from seeds culled from today's dinner. Everyone who can should have a garden, a small source of food grown by their own hands, even if it's just a few container tomatoes!
The apple tree seems to be budding and several of the rasperries are looking pretty good too. I will order the grapes tomorrow. Providentially, my husband said now that I've killed off the invasive Virginia Creeper that we should plant useful vines to cover the fence. What could be more useful than seedless grapes? And six more raspberry plants! Now that farmer Maximalist is started, it's time to maximalize my efforts.
The spaghetti squash plants are a foot tall now as are the peas. The hancho peppers are six inches high and the seeds started last week are but sproutlings, if there is such a word. I'm having a lovely time imagining all those peppers growing and bearing fruits and today I started some long green hot peppers from seeds culled from today's dinner. Everyone who can should have a garden, a small source of food grown by their own hands, even if it's just a few container tomatoes!
The apple tree seems to be budding and several of the rasperries are looking pretty good too. I will order the grapes tomorrow. Providentially, my husband said now that I've killed off the invasive Virginia Creeper that we should plant useful vines to cover the fence. What could be more useful than seedless grapes? And six more raspberry plants! Now that farmer Maximalist is started, it's time to maximalize my efforts.
Nepenthe by Aaron Gottfried
Old literary find.
I only know this was written by Mr. Gottfried in 1926 because the letters and handwritten verse say so.
This Nepenthe has nothing to do with restaurants in Big Sur or any sort of drug or elixir, unless one considers a bright, burning temporary love an elixir. Perhaps it was to AWG as the Princeton University Press calls him. The book has an air of secrecy and anomymity about it. First the author is "AWG" and the lady love is never named, not even a first name is divulged.
The book is a book of verse describing the love that could never be between a Jewish boy and a grieving (for what, for whom?) southern belle on a European cruise. The boy never tells us if she won't marry him because he's Jewish or if he won't marry her because she's not, but it's clear that religion is the insurmountable obstacle.
The poems are a bit over elaborate, pompous and quite like you'd expect from a Princeton student of this time. Probably what the beautiful belle with the grey eyes would have expected as well. There are a few verses that work well and have a universal appeal, most are very personal. The lad might understand them, but we do not.
Inside each cover of the book was a handwritten page by "Aaron". The front cover contained two of the poems in script and the back cover contains a letter asking how the recipient of the book felt about "my little book" which he had sent her several months earlier. The lady who received the book, who may or may not be his inamorata, is named Madeline. Madeline carefully pasted both sheets of paper into the covers and saved them with the book. Aaron mailed the letter from The Princeton Club in New York. We do not know Madeline's last name or address, or if she ever responded.
Reading this Nepenthe and Aaron Gottfried's notes from 1926 had a very voyeuristic feel. I felt I was privy to a long kept secret. It left me wondering if the two lovers had families from whom they hid this relationship. Did Aaron marry a nice Jewish girl and have a family? Did he ever see his Southern lady again?
The questions make the book rather lovely.
I think I'll write a story based on my find. Maybe
I only know this was written by Mr. Gottfried in 1926 because the letters and handwritten verse say so.
This Nepenthe has nothing to do with restaurants in Big Sur or any sort of drug or elixir, unless one considers a bright, burning temporary love an elixir. Perhaps it was to AWG as the Princeton University Press calls him. The book has an air of secrecy and anomymity about it. First the author is "AWG" and the lady love is never named, not even a first name is divulged.
The book is a book of verse describing the love that could never be between a Jewish boy and a grieving (for what, for whom?) southern belle on a European cruise. The boy never tells us if she won't marry him because he's Jewish or if he won't marry her because she's not, but it's clear that religion is the insurmountable obstacle.
The poems are a bit over elaborate, pompous and quite like you'd expect from a Princeton student of this time. Probably what the beautiful belle with the grey eyes would have expected as well. There are a few verses that work well and have a universal appeal, most are very personal. The lad might understand them, but we do not.
Inside each cover of the book was a handwritten page by "Aaron". The front cover contained two of the poems in script and the back cover contains a letter asking how the recipient of the book felt about "my little book" which he had sent her several months earlier. The lady who received the book, who may or may not be his inamorata, is named Madeline. Madeline carefully pasted both sheets of paper into the covers and saved them with the book. Aaron mailed the letter from The Princeton Club in New York. We do not know Madeline's last name or address, or if she ever responded.
Reading this Nepenthe and Aaron Gottfried's notes from 1926 had a very voyeuristic feel. I felt I was privy to a long kept secret. It left me wondering if the two lovers had families from whom they hid this relationship. Did Aaron marry a nice Jewish girl and have a family? Did he ever see his Southern lady again?
The questions make the book rather lovely.
I think I'll write a story based on my find. Maybe
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Things I love today!
The Maximalist is not exclusively a "hater" although that word has got to go as it unfairly stigmatises everyone who dislikes certain behaviors and brands of politics. Nasty business and deliberately so.
So in no particular order:
1) Burpee seeds! I was always mesmerized by this catalog and the huge variety of fruits and vegetables you can grow and enjoy. I grew up in the 60s and this catalog came every winter much to my delight. Memories of summer abounded and dreams of warm soil.Growing food is cheaper than you imagine. Check them out online!
2) Miller Nurseries. My idea of heaven. I love dreaming of fruit even more than vegetables and Miller has so much in store for you. From antique apples (the source of my 4-in-1 antique apple tree)to hardy nut trees (talk about foods you can store) to more berry varieties than you can shake a stick at. I bought the black raspberries,mmm.
3)Trees of Antiquity. A bit more money and a bit more selection here. But oh, the pictures of those trees and their history. Eat like your great-great-grandfather, even if he came from Europe. I am leaning toward a semi-dwarf tree from 1600, a joy forever.
4) Unrelated to gardening, but with a botanical theme: moss agate. So beautiful in mid-century modern silver. Just wow!
So in no particular order:
1) Burpee seeds! I was always mesmerized by this catalog and the huge variety of fruits and vegetables you can grow and enjoy. I grew up in the 60s and this catalog came every winter much to my delight. Memories of summer abounded and dreams of warm soil.Growing food is cheaper than you imagine. Check them out online!
2) Miller Nurseries. My idea of heaven. I love dreaming of fruit even more than vegetables and Miller has so much in store for you. From antique apples (the source of my 4-in-1 antique apple tree)to hardy nut trees (talk about foods you can store) to more berry varieties than you can shake a stick at. I bought the black raspberries,mmm.
3)Trees of Antiquity. A bit more money and a bit more selection here. But oh, the pictures of those trees and their history. Eat like your great-great-grandfather, even if he came from Europe. I am leaning toward a semi-dwarf tree from 1600, a joy forever.
4) Unrelated to gardening, but with a botanical theme: moss agate. So beautiful in mid-century modern silver. Just wow!
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