#heatdome — Public Fediverse posts

Heat index of 105 deg F today with dew points in the 80's. It's 8:30pm and the heat index is still 94 deg F. Very challenging. #ilwx #heatdome #northernillinois #summer #september

Heat index of 105 deg F today with dew points in the 80's. It's 8:30pm and the heat index is still 94 deg F. Very challenging. #ilwx #heatdome #northernillinois #summer #september

Heat index of 105 deg F today with dew points in the 80's. It's 8:30pm and the heat index is still 94 deg F. Very challenging. #ilwx #heatdome #northernillinois #summer #september

Heat index of 105 deg F today with dew points in the 80's. It's 8:30pm and the heat index is still 94 deg F. Very challenging. #ilwx #heatdome #northernillinois #summer #september

Cicada Season

Hello Friends! 

Having reached Lughnasadh and Lammas, halfway between the Summer Solstice and the Autumn Equinox, we are moving into late summer and fair and sweet corn season. I’m not much of a fair goer, I like the concept, but the crowds are too much for me. If I go to the State Fair in St Paul—The Great Minnesota Get Together—I have to really pump myself up for it. And I somehow inevitably end up going on what turns out to be the hottest day of the fair. As a result, I have not been in years and years. I kind of want to go, and maybe I will—next year. That way I will have time to prepare myself.

We do have a little Lammas celebration at my house though since the local sweet corn shows up here around August first. James has not had time to cook the sweet corn we bought Saturday, but he did make cornbread-blueberry waffles for breakfast this morning. Soon we will have some proper corn dish. I have a recipe for corn fritters I want him to try out this year. I really wish I could grow my own corn (I have tried many times!) but the forking squirrels make it impossible.

It is also cicada season here. We don’t get those big hatchings like they do in other parts of the United States, we just have the run-of-the-mill annual cicadas buzzing in the trees and bushes. I love their noise even if seeing them alive freaks me out every time because they are so huge and I don’t immediately recognize what the big bug is because they don’t make it habit to leave the shrubbery. Once I realize who the critter is, I relax and greet them joyfully. Maybe one of these days my initial eek! reflex will go away because it must be quite a blow to the insect’s self-esteem to have me eeking at them before apologizing and saying hello.

I heard the first cicada a little over a week ago, and then everything went silent during our last brutal heat dome (Last Sunday it was 99F/37C and then Monday it was 100F/38C. The dew point that morning was 81F/27C, which tied for second highest dew point on record. Thankfully the dew point had dropped several degrees before the temperature shot up.) from cicadas to crickets to birds and people, silently enduring. Even the raccoons left us alone (The little effers have since returned and now I have to bring my culinary ginger I am growing in a pot on the deck indoors at night so they don’t dig it up again).

The poor chickens, who don’t have sweat glands, dug themselves deep wallows in the dirt beneath the elderberry and splooted in their holes, panting and moving as little as possible.

The garden suffered greatly. Everything drooped. We were so hot and dry (Friday it rained 1.5 inches/3.8 cm!) and I couldn’t water everyone enough. We tried and most everyone managed to pull through except the skunk, scarlet runner and Hidasta pole beans. They died before barely producing any beans. And the butternut this year is puny and sad and at this point is not likely to produce a single squash. The volunteer pumpkin managed to pull through and the long pie pumpkin, which has a small pumpkin the size of a softball, is not quite dead. The green striped cushaw however, reveled in the heat; a surprise because the dinner plate-sized leaves drooped alarmingly. There are three vines and between them four or five squashes. One of them is as large as a child’s head!

This is the first year I have grown green striped cushaw. They are a winter squash that can reach up to 20 pounds/9 kg. They are resistant to squash vine borer and powdery mildew and, unlike most other squashes, appreciate warmer weather. Their origins seem to be disputed. Monticello says they are from the West Indies while Wikipedia says they originated in southern Mexico. I have also seen some say they originated with Native Americans in the southeast United States. Maybe it is all true because the squash has been grown for around 8,000 years and plants and people move around and change. Cushaws are a versatile squash and can substitute for pumpkin. If we end up liking their flavor, I’m thinking I might give up growing pumpkin and go all in on cushaws.

And if summers continue to be like this one, I might need to find a butternut substitute as well. I am saddened by that thought because I love butternut squash. However, if you know of a good butternut substitute I could try that is heat tolerant, please let me know!

There is not much to do in the garden this time of year besides keep things weeded and watered and harvest the fruits of my labor from earlier in the season. I am almost done pruning out the raspberry canes that fruited this year so the canes that will fruit next year have plenty of room to grow. And I did plant kale, turnips, Swiss chard, winter radish, cabbage and kohlrabi for fall harvesting. I’ve not had much success in the past with fall harvests, but I keep trying and maybe will get it figured out through trial and error. With fall lasting well into the end of October these days late season vegetables have more of a chance to make it to maturity.

But really, it’s the part of the growing season where I’m kind of tired and find motivating myself to do any large garden projects a challenge. The days are noticeably shorter and the energy of spring and early summer is waning. There will be plenty to do in the weeks to come—the aronia is starting to purple and the elderberries will soon follow, the Kentucky wonder beans are covered in flowers, the tomatoes are tomatoing, the lemon cucumbers are almost ready to start picking, and the lima beans and black-eyed peas are both lush and covered in flowers. But for now, it is good to be able to sit back and take a few breaths, relax for a week or two, and gather my energy before the mad rush to the end of the growing season begins.

Cicada Season

Hello Friends! 

Having reached Lughnasadh and Lammas, halfway between the Summer Solstice and the Autumn Equinox, we are moving into late summer and fair and sweet corn season. I’m not much of a fair goer, I like the concept, but the crowds are too much for me. If I go to the State Fair in St Paul—The Great Minnesota Get Together—I have to really pump myself up for it. And I somehow inevitably end up going on what turns out to be the hottest day of the fair. As a result, I have not been in years and years. I kind of want to go, and maybe I will—next year. That way I will have time to prepare myself.

We do have a little Lammas celebration at my house though since the local sweet corn shows up here around August first. James has not had time to cook the sweet corn we bought Saturday, but he did make cornbread-blueberry waffles for breakfast this morning. Soon we will have some proper corn dish. I have a recipe for corn fritters I want him to try out this year. I really wish I could grow my own corn (I have tried many times!) but the forking squirrels make it impossible.

It is also cicada season here. We don’t get those big hatchings like they do in other parts of the United States, we just have the run-of-the-mill annual cicadas buzzing in the trees and bushes. I love their noise even if seeing them alive freaks me out every time because they are so huge and I don’t immediately recognize what the big bug is because they don’t make it habit to leave the shrubbery. Once I realize who the critter is, I relax and greet them joyfully. Maybe one of these days my initial eek! reflex will go away because it must be quite a blow to the insect’s self-esteem to have me eeking at them before apologizing and saying hello.

I heard the first cicada a little over a week ago, and then everything went silent during our last brutal heat dome (Last Sunday it was 99F/37C and then Monday it was 100F/38C. The dew point that morning was 81F/27C, which tied for second highest dew point on record. Thankfully the dew point had dropped several degrees before the temperature shot up.) from cicadas to crickets to birds and people, silently enduring. Even the raccoons left us alone (The little effers have since returned and now I have to bring my culinary ginger I am growing in a pot on the deck indoors at night so they don’t dig it up again).

The poor chickens, who don’t have sweat glands, dug themselves deep wallows in the dirt beneath the elderberry and splooted in their holes, panting and moving as little as possible.

The garden suffered greatly. Everything drooped. We were so hot and dry (Friday it rained 1.5 inches/3.8 cm!) and I couldn’t water everyone enough. We tried and most everyone managed to pull through except the skunk, scarlet runner and Hidasta pole beans. They died before barely producing any beans. And the butternut this year is puny and sad and at this point is not likely to produce a single squash. The volunteer pumpkin managed to pull through and the long pie pumpkin, which has a small pumpkin the size of a softball, is not quite dead. The green striped cushaw however, reveled in the heat; a surprise because the dinner plate-sized leaves drooped alarmingly. There are three vines and between them four or five squashes. One of them is as large as a child’s head!

This is the first year I have grown green striped cushaw. They are a winter squash that can reach up to 20 pounds/9 kg. They are resistant to squash vine borer and powdery mildew and, unlike most other squashes, appreciate warmer weather. Their origins seem to be disputed. Monticello says they are from the West Indies while Wikipedia says they originated in southern Mexico. I have also seen some say they originated with Native Americans in the southeast United States. Maybe it is all true because the squash has been grown for around 8,000 years and plants and people move around and change. Cushaws are a versatile squash and can substitute for pumpkin. If we end up liking their flavor, I’m thinking I might give up growing pumpkin and go all in on cushaws.

And if summers continue to be like this one, I might need to find a butternut substitute as well. I am saddened by that thought because I love butternut squash. However, if you know of a good butternut substitute I could try that is heat tolerant, please let me know!

There is not much to do in the garden this time of year besides keep things weeded and watered and harvest the fruits of my labor from earlier in the season. I am almost done pruning out the raspberry canes that fruited this year so the canes that will fruit next year have plenty of room to grow. And I did plant kale, turnips, Swiss chard, winter radish, cabbage and kohlrabi for fall harvesting. I’ve not had much success in the past with fall harvests, but I keep trying and maybe will get it figured out through trial and error. With fall lasting well into the end of October these days late season vegetables have more of a chance to make it to maturity.

But really, it’s the part of the growing season where I’m kind of tired and find motivating myself to do any large garden projects a challenge. The days are noticeably shorter and the energy of spring and early summer is waning. There will be plenty to do in the weeks to come—the aronia is starting to purple and the elderberries will soon follow, the Kentucky wonder beans are covered in flowers, the tomatoes are tomatoing, the lemon cucumbers are almost ready to start picking, and the lima beans and black-eyed peas are both lush and covered in flowers. But for now, it is good to be able to sit back and take a few breaths, relax for a week or two, and gather my energy before the mad rush to the end of the growing season begins.

Cicada Season

Hello Friends! 

Having reached Lughnasadh and Lammas, halfway between the Summer Solstice and the Autumn Equinox, we are moving into late summer and fair and sweet corn season. I’m not much of a fair goer, I like the concept, but the crowds are too much for me. If I go to the State Fair in St Paul—The Great Minnesota Get Together—I have to really pump myself up for it. And I somehow inevitably end up going on what turns out to be the hottest day of the fair. As a result, I have not been in years and years. I kind of want to go, and maybe I will—next year. That way I will have time to prepare myself.

We do have a little Lammas celebration at my house though since the local sweet corn shows up here around August first. James has not had time to cook the sweet corn we bought Saturday, but he did make cornbread-blueberry waffles for breakfast this morning. Soon we will have some proper corn dish. I have a recipe for corn fritters I want him to try out this year. I really wish I could grow my own corn (I have tried many times!) but the forking squirrels make it impossible.

It is also cicada season here. We don’t get those big hatchings like they do in other parts of the United States, we just have the run-of-the-mill annual cicadas buzzing in the trees and bushes. I love their noise even if seeing them alive freaks me out every time because they are so huge and I don’t immediately recognize what the big bug is because they don’t make it habit to leave the shrubbery. Once I realize who the critter is, I relax and greet them joyfully. Maybe one of these days my initial eek! reflex will go away because it must be quite a blow to the insect’s self-esteem to have me eeking at them before apologizing and saying hello.

I heard the first cicada a little over a week ago, and then everything went silent during our last brutal heat dome (Last Sunday it was 99F/37C and then Monday it was 100F/38C. The dew point that morning was 81F/27C, which tied for second highest dew point on record. Thankfully the dew point had dropped several degrees before the temperature shot up.) from cicadas to crickets to birds and people, silently enduring. Even the raccoons left us alone (The little effers have since returned and now I have to bring my culinary ginger I am growing in a pot on the deck indoors at night so they don’t dig it up again).

The poor chickens, who don’t have sweat glands, dug themselves deep wallows in the dirt beneath the elderberry and splooted in their holes, panting and moving as little as possible.

The garden suffered greatly. Everything drooped. We were so hot and dry (Friday it rained 1.5 inches/3.8 cm!) and I couldn’t water everyone enough. We tried and most everyone managed to pull through except the skunk, scarlet runner and Hidasta pole beans. They died before barely producing any beans. And the butternut this year is puny and sad and at this point is not likely to produce a single squash. The volunteer pumpkin managed to pull through and the long pie pumpkin, which has a small pumpkin the size of a softball, is not quite dead. The green striped cushaw however, reveled in the heat; a surprise because the dinner plate-sized leaves drooped alarmingly. There are three vines and between them four or five squashes. One of them is as large as a child’s head!

This is the first year I have grown green striped cushaw. They are a winter squash that can reach up to 20 pounds/9 kg. They are resistant to squash vine borer and powdery mildew and, unlike most other squashes, appreciate warmer weather. Their origins seem to be disputed. Monticello says they are from the West Indies while Wikipedia says they originated in southern Mexico. I have also seen some say they originated with Native Americans in the southeast United States. Maybe it is all true because the squash has been grown for around 8,000 years and plants and people move around and change. Cushaws are a versatile squash and can substitute for pumpkin. If we end up liking their flavor, I’m thinking I might give up growing pumpkin and go all in on cushaws.

And if summers continue to be like this one, I might need to find a butternut substitute as well. I am saddened by that thought because I love butternut squash. However, if you know of a good butternut substitute I could try that is heat tolerant, please let me know!

There is not much to do in the garden this time of year besides keep things weeded and watered and harvest the fruits of my labor from earlier in the season. I am almost done pruning out the raspberry canes that fruited this year so the canes that will fruit next year have plenty of room to grow. And I did plant kale, turnips, Swiss chard, winter radish, cabbage and kohlrabi for fall harvesting. I’ve not had much success in the past with fall harvests, but I keep trying and maybe will get it figured out through trial and error. With fall lasting well into the end of October these days late season vegetables have more of a chance to make it to maturity.

But really, it’s the part of the growing season where I’m kind of tired and find motivating myself to do any large garden projects a challenge. The days are noticeably shorter and the energy of spring and early summer is waning. There will be plenty to do in the weeks to come—the aronia is starting to purple and the elderberries will soon follow, the Kentucky wonder beans are covered in flowers, the tomatoes are tomatoing, the lemon cucumbers are almost ready to start picking, and the lima beans and black-eyed peas are both lush and covered in flowers. But for now, it is good to be able to sit back and take a few breaths, relax for a week or two, and gather my energy before the mad rush to the end of the growing season begins.

Cicada Season

Hello Friends! 

Having reached Lughnasadh and Lammas, halfway between the Summer Solstice and the Autumn Equinox, we are moving into late summer and fair and sweet corn season. I’m not much of a fair goer, I like the concept, but the crowds are too much for me. If I go to the State Fair in St Paul—The Great Minnesota Get Together—I have to really pump myself up for it. And I somehow inevitably end up going on what turns out to be the hottest day of the fair. As a result, I have not been in years and years. I kind of want to go, and maybe I will—next year. That way I will have time to prepare myself.

We do have a little Lammas celebration at my house though since the local sweet corn shows up here around August first. James has not had time to cook the sweet corn we bought Saturday, but he did make cornbread-blueberry waffles for breakfast this morning. Soon we will have some proper corn dish. I have a recipe for corn fritters I want him to try out this year. I really wish I could grow my own corn (I have tried many times!) but the forking squirrels make it impossible.

It is also cicada season here. We don’t get those big hatchings like they do in other parts of the United States, we just have the run-of-the-mill annual cicadas buzzing in the trees and bushes. I love their noise even if seeing them alive freaks me out every time because they are so huge and I don’t immediately recognize what the big bug is because they don’t make it habit to leave the shrubbery. Once I realize who the critter is, I relax and greet them joyfully. Maybe one of these days my initial eek! reflex will go away because it must be quite a blow to the insect’s self-esteem to have me eeking at them before apologizing and saying hello.

I heard the first cicada a little over a week ago, and then everything went silent during our last brutal heat dome (Last Sunday it was 99F/37C and then Monday it was 100F/38C. The dew point that morning was 81F/27C, which tied for second highest dew point on record. Thankfully the dew point had dropped several degrees before the temperature shot up.) from cicadas to crickets to birds and people, silently enduring. Even the raccoons left us alone (The little effers have since returned and now I have to bring my culinary ginger I am growing in a pot on the deck indoors at night so they don’t dig it up again).

The poor chickens, who don’t have sweat glands, dug themselves deep wallows in the dirt beneath the elderberry and splooted in their holes, panting and moving as little as possible.

The garden suffered greatly. Everything drooped. We were so hot and dry (Friday it rained 1.5 inches/3.8 cm!) and I couldn’t water everyone enough. We tried and most everyone managed to pull through except the skunk, scarlet runner and Hidasta pole beans. They died before barely producing any beans. And the butternut this year is puny and sad and at this point is not likely to produce a single squash. The volunteer pumpkin managed to pull through and the long pie pumpkin, which has a small pumpkin the size of a softball, is not quite dead. The green striped cushaw however, reveled in the heat; a surprise because the dinner plate-sized leaves drooped alarmingly. There are three vines and between them four or five squashes. One of them is as large as a child’s head!

This is the first year I have grown green striped cushaw. They are a winter squash that can reach up to 20 pounds/9 kg. They are resistant to squash vine borer and powdery mildew and, unlike most other squashes, appreciate warmer weather. Their origins seem to be disputed. Monticello says they are from the West Indies while Wikipedia says they originated in southern Mexico. I have also seen some say they originated with Native Americans in the southeast United States. Maybe it is all true because the squash has been grown for around 8,000 years and plants and people move around and change. Cushaws are a versatile squash and can substitute for pumpkin. If we end up liking their flavor, I’m thinking I might give up growing pumpkin and go all in on cushaws.

And if summers continue to be like this one, I might need to find a butternut substitute as well. I am saddened by that thought because I love butternut squash. However, if you know of a good butternut substitute I could try that is heat tolerant, please let me know!

There is not much to do in the garden this time of year besides keep things weeded and watered and harvest the fruits of my labor from earlier in the season. I am almost done pruning out the raspberry canes that fruited this year so the canes that will fruit next year have plenty of room to grow. And I did plant kale, turnips, Swiss chard, winter radish, cabbage and kohlrabi for fall harvesting. I’ve not had much success in the past with fall harvests, but I keep trying and maybe will get it figured out through trial and error. With fall lasting well into the end of October these days late season vegetables have more of a chance to make it to maturity.

But really, it’s the part of the growing season where I’m kind of tired and find motivating myself to do any large garden projects a challenge. The days are noticeably shorter and the energy of spring and early summer is waning. There will be plenty to do in the weeks to come—the aronia is starting to purple and the elderberries will soon follow, the Kentucky wonder beans are covered in flowers, the tomatoes are tomatoing, the lemon cucumbers are almost ready to start picking, and the lima beans and black-eyed peas are both lush and covered in flowers. But for now, it is good to be able to sit back and take a few breaths, relax for a week or two, and gather my energy before the mad rush to the end of the growing season begins.

Cicada Season

Hello Friends! 

Having reached Lughnasadh and Lammas, halfway between the Summer Solstice and the Autumn Equinox, we are moving into late summer and fair and sweet corn season. I’m not much of a fair goer, I like the concept, but the crowds are too much for me. If I go to the State Fair in St Paul—The Great Minnesota Get Together—I have to really pump myself up for it. And I somehow inevitably end up going on what turns out to be the hottest day of the fair. As a result, I have not been in years and years. I kind of want to go, and maybe I will—next year. That way I will have time to prepare myself.

We do have a little Lammas celebration at my house though since the local sweet corn shows up here around August first. James has not had time to cook the sweet corn we bought Saturday, but he did make cornbread-blueberry waffles for breakfast this morning. Soon we will have some proper corn dish. I have a recipe for corn fritters I want him to try out this year. I really wish I could grow my own corn (I have tried many times!) but the forking squirrels make it impossible.

It is also cicada season here. We don’t get those big hatchings like they do in other parts of the United States, we just have the run-of-the-mill annual cicadas buzzing in the trees and bushes. I love their noise even if seeing them alive freaks me out every time because they are so huge and I don’t immediately recognize what the big bug is because they don’t make it habit to leave the shrubbery. Once I realize who the critter is, I relax and greet them joyfully. Maybe one of these days my initial eek! reflex will go away because it must be quite a blow to the insect’s self-esteem to have me eeking at them before apologizing and saying hello.

I heard the first cicada a little over a week ago, and then everything went silent during our last brutal heat dome (Last Sunday it was 99F/37C and then Monday it was 100F/38C. The dew point that morning was 81F/27C, which tied for second highest dew point on record. Thankfully the dew point had dropped several degrees before the temperature shot up.) from cicadas to crickets to birds and people, silently enduring. Even the raccoons left us alone (The little effers have since returned and now I have to bring my culinary ginger I am growing in a pot on the deck indoors at night so they don’t dig it up again).

The poor chickens, who don’t have sweat glands, dug themselves deep wallows in the dirt beneath the elderberry and splooted in their holes, panting and moving as little as possible.

The garden suffered greatly. Everything drooped. We were so hot and dry (Friday it rained 1.5 inches/3.8 cm!) and I couldn’t water everyone enough. We tried and most everyone managed to pull through except the skunk, scarlet runner and Hidasta pole beans. They died before barely producing any beans. And the butternut this year is puny and sad and at this point is not likely to produce a single squash. The volunteer pumpkin managed to pull through and the long pie pumpkin, which has a small pumpkin the size of a softball, is not quite dead. The green striped cushaw however, reveled in the heat; a surprise because the dinner plate-sized leaves drooped alarmingly. There are three vines and between them four or five squashes. One of them is as large as a child’s head!

This is the first year I have grown green striped cushaw. They are a winter squash that can reach up to 20 pounds/9 kg. They are resistant to squash vine borer and powdery mildew and, unlike most other squashes, appreciate warmer weather. Their origins seem to be disputed. Monticello says they are from the West Indies while Wikipedia says they originated in southern Mexico. I have also seen some say they originated with Native Americans in the southeast United States. Maybe it is all true because the squash has been grown for around 8,000 years and plants and people move around and change. Cushaws are a versatile squash and can substitute for pumpkin. If we end up liking their flavor, I’m thinking I might give up growing pumpkin and go all in on cushaws.

And if summers continue to be like this one, I might need to find a butternut substitute as well. I am saddened by that thought because I love butternut squash. However, if you know of a good butternut substitute I could try that is heat tolerant, please let me know!

There is not much to do in the garden this time of year besides keep things weeded and watered and harvest the fruits of my labor from earlier in the season. I am almost done pruning out the raspberry canes that fruited this year so the canes that will fruit next year have plenty of room to grow. And I did plant kale, turnips, Swiss chard, winter radish, cabbage and kohlrabi for fall harvesting. I’ve not had much success in the past with fall harvests, but I keep trying and maybe will get it figured out through trial and error. With fall lasting well into the end of October these days late season vegetables have more of a chance to make it to maturity.

But really, it’s the part of the growing season where I’m kind of tired and find motivating myself to do any large garden projects a challenge. The days are noticeably shorter and the energy of spring and early summer is waning. There will be plenty to do in the weeks to come—the aronia is starting to purple and the elderberries will soon follow, the Kentucky wonder beans are covered in flowers, the tomatoes are tomatoing, the lemon cucumbers are almost ready to start picking, and the lima beans and black-eyed peas are both lush and covered in flowers. But for now, it is good to be able to sit back and take a few breaths, relax for a week or two, and gather my energy before the mad rush to the end of the growing season begins.

Under the Dome

No, not the Stephen King book, or the three seasons of the series based on the book that James and I hate watched every single episode of and then laughed ourselves silly at the snarky commentary at Reactor Magazine (then Tor). No, this was a week-long heat dome.

The heat dome moved away Friday night, but it is still blazing hot. We are on day nine of 90F/32C or above temperatures and it hasn’t rained in a week. We’ve had to water the garden from the rain barrels which went dry Friday and forced used to use water from the tap. There is a cold front moving in sometime tomorrow, Monday, that has a good chance of bringing some rain. Please think cool and liquid thoughts for us!

Along with the heat the wildfire smoke arrived Wednesday afternoon and by Thursday the air quality was hazardous and breaking records. The wind changed briefly Friday and we were able to breathe outdoors without masks into the early hours of this morning. But the wind changed again and within an hour I watched my AQ app go from low yellow (moderate) to orange (unhealthy for sensitive groups) to red (unhealthy for everyone). I’m not technically a sensitive group, but anything orange or above I wear an N95 mask while outdoors because I value my health and my lungs. So many people don’t, and I was astonished how few wore masks Thursday when the air was visibly thick with smoke. 

Other than keeping the garden watered, it has not been a week for being amongst the plants.

We have a baby rabbit we keep evicting and who keeps finding their way back in. They have demolished the green beans. Friday we evicted them once and for all, but nope, I saw them this morning when I was briefly out masked and tying up tomatoes to their stakes. 

We also have a couple of raccoons that have taken to visiting our roof at 3 in the morning. They especially enjoy pulling apples from the tree and—thump, thump, thump, thump down it rolls. The apples are not ripe, so we aren’t sure if they just enjoy watching them roll down the roof, or maybe they are having apple fights and throwing them at each other like a couple of teen boys. Either way, sleep is impossible. James has gone out and banged on a metal bowl to scare them off more than once. I’m sure the neighbors love that.

In chicken news, one of the witches laid an egg! It is a tiny “starter egg.”

A surprise because they are only 3 1/2 months old and I wouldn’t expect an egg until maybe the end of September or October. We think the precocious one is Baba because of her size, but looking up breed information and their egg color, the egg is pale enough it could be Nanny. All that to say who laid it is unknown, the chickens aren’t saying, and we can merely speculate.

My latest sourdough adventure is a mixed flour bread—semolina, rye, whole wheat, and bread flour—and instead of plain water I used a strong brew of Earl Grey. The smell is divine.

We sliced it up and tried it out as part of a grilled tofu sandwich that included homemade zucchini relish (zucchini from the farmers market because I prefer to grow winter squash and since I save seeds, I don’t want the zucchini to cross-pollinate with the winter squash. Yes the winter squash might cross-pollinate, but that’s a different story.), a slice of grilled eggplant from the garden, arugula from the garden, and a little dijon mustard.

Does it taste as good as it looks? Oh yes, yes it does. The Earl Grey adds a subtle flavor note that compliments the flour combination. Will definitely make this one again sometime.

If it is hot where you are, take care in the heat. And if you too are blanketed with wildfire smoke, please take care of your lungs.

Under the Dome

No, not the Stephen King book, or the three seasons of the series based on the book that James and I hate watched every single episode of and then laughed ourselves silly at the snarky commentary at Reactor Magazine (then Tor). No, this was a week-long heat dome.

The heat dome moved away Friday night, but it is still blazing hot. We are on day nine of 90F/32C or above temperatures and it hasn’t rained in a week. We’ve had to water the garden from the rain barrels which went dry Friday and forced used to use water from the tap. There is a cold front moving in sometime tomorrow, Monday, that has a good chance of bringing some rain. Please think cool and liquid thoughts for us!

Along with the heat the wildfire smoke arrived Wednesday afternoon and by Thursday the air quality was hazardous and breaking records. The wind changed briefly Friday and we were able to breathe outdoors without masks into the early hours of this morning. But the wind changed again and within an hour I watched my AQ app go from low yellow (moderate) to orange (unhealthy for sensitive groups) to red (unhealthy for everyone). I’m not technically a sensitive group, but anything orange or above I wear an N95 mask while outdoors because I value my health and my lungs. So many people don’t, and I was astonished how few wore masks Thursday when the air was visibly thick with smoke. 

Other than keeping the garden watered, it has not been a week for being amongst the plants.

We have a baby rabbit we keep evicting and who keeps finding their way back in. They have demolished the green beans. Friday we evicted them once and for all, but nope, I saw them this morning when I was briefly out masked and tying up tomatoes to their stakes. 

We also have a couple of raccoons that have taken to visiting our roof at 3 in the morning. They especially enjoy pulling apples from the tree and—thump, thump, thump, thump down it rolls. The apples are not ripe, so we aren’t sure if they just enjoy watching them roll down the roof, or maybe they are having apple fights and throwing them at each other like a couple of teen boys. Either way, sleep is impossible. James has gone out and banged on a metal bowl to scare them off more than once. I’m sure the neighbors love that.

In chicken news, one of the witches laid an egg! It is a tiny “starter egg.”

A surprise because they are only 3 1/2 months old and I wouldn’t expect an egg until maybe the end of September or October. We think the precocious one is Baba because of her size, but looking up breed information and their egg color, the egg is pale enough it could be Nanny. All that to say who laid it is unknown, the chickens aren’t saying, and we can merely speculate.

My latest sourdough adventure is a mixed flour bread—semolina, rye, whole wheat, and bread flour—and instead of plain water I used a strong brew of Earl Grey. The smell is divine.

We sliced it up and tried it out as part of a grilled tofu sandwich that included homemade zucchini relish (zucchini from the farmers market because I prefer to grow winter squash and since I save seeds, I don’t want the zucchini to cross-pollinate with the winter squash. Yes the winter squash might cross-pollinate, but that’s a different story.), a slice of grilled eggplant from the garden, arugula from the garden, and a little dijon mustard.

Does it taste as good as it looks? Oh yes, yes it does. The Earl Grey adds a subtle flavor note that compliments the flour combination. Will definitely make this one again sometime.

If it is hot where you are, take care in the heat. And if you too are blanketed with wildfire smoke, please take care of your lungs.

Under the Dome

No, not the Stephen King book, or the three seasons of the series based on the book that James and I hate watched every single episode of and then laughed ourselves silly at the snarky commentary at Reactor Magazine (then Tor). No, this was a week-long heat dome.

The heat dome moved away Friday night, but it is still blazing hot. We are on day nine of 90F/32C or above temperatures and it hasn’t rained in a week. We’ve had to water the garden from the rain barrels which went dry Friday and forced used to use water from the tap. There is a cold front moving in sometime tomorrow, Monday, that has a good chance of bringing some rain. Please think cool and liquid thoughts for us!

Along with the heat the wildfire smoke arrived Wednesday afternoon and by Thursday the air quality was hazardous and breaking records. The wind changed briefly Friday and we were able to breathe outdoors without masks into the early hours of this morning. But the wind changed again and within an hour I watched my AQ app go from low yellow (moderate) to orange (unhealthy for sensitive groups) to red (unhealthy for everyone). I’m not technically a sensitive group, but anything orange or above I wear an N95 mask while outdoors because I value my health and my lungs. So many people don’t, and I was astonished how few wore masks Thursday when the air was visibly thick with smoke. 

Other than keeping the garden watered, it has not been a week for being amongst the plants.

We have a baby rabbit we keep evicting and who keeps finding their way back in. They have demolished the green beans. Friday we evicted them once and for all, but nope, I saw them this morning when I was briefly out masked and tying up tomatoes to their stakes. 

We also have a couple of raccoons that have taken to visiting our roof at 3 in the morning. They especially enjoy pulling apples from the tree and—thump, thump, thump, thump down it rolls. The apples are not ripe, so we aren’t sure if they just enjoy watching them roll down the roof, or maybe they are having apple fights and throwing them at each other like a couple of teen boys. Either way, sleep is impossible. James has gone out and banged on a metal bowl to scare them off more than once. I’m sure the neighbors love that.

In chicken news, one of the witches laid an egg! It is a tiny “starter egg.”

A surprise because they are only 3 1/2 months old and I wouldn’t expect an egg until maybe the end of September or October. We think the precocious one is Baba because of her size, but looking up breed information and their egg color, the egg is pale enough it could be Nanny. All that to say who laid it is unknown, the chickens aren’t saying, and we can merely speculate.

My latest sourdough adventure is a mixed flour bread—semolina, rye, whole wheat, and bread flour—and instead of plain water I used a strong brew of Earl Grey. The smell is divine.

We sliced it up and tried it out as part of a grilled tofu sandwich that included homemade zucchini relish (zucchini from the farmers market because I prefer to grow winter squash and since I save seeds, I don’t want the zucchini to cross-pollinate with the winter squash. Yes the winter squash might cross-pollinate, but that’s a different story.), a slice of grilled eggplant from the garden, arugula from the garden, and a little dijon mustard.

Does it taste as good as it looks? Oh yes, yes it does. The Earl Grey adds a subtle flavor note that compliments the flour combination. Will definitely make this one again sometime.

If it is hot where you are, take care in the heat. And if you too are blanketed with wildfire smoke, please take care of your lungs.

Under the Dome

No, not the Stephen King book, or the three seasons of the series based on the book that James and I hate watched every single episode of and then laughed ourselves silly at the snarky commentary at Reactor Magazine (then Tor). No, this was a week-long heat dome.

The heat dome moved away Friday night, but it is still blazing hot. We are on day nine of 90F/32C or above temperatures and it hasn’t rained in a week. We’ve had to water the garden from the rain barrels which went dry Friday and forced used to use water from the tap. There is a cold front moving in sometime tomorrow, Monday, that has a good chance of bringing some rain. Please think cool and liquid thoughts for us!

Along with the heat the wildfire smoke arrived Wednesday afternoon and by Thursday the air quality was hazardous and breaking records. The wind changed briefly Friday and we were able to breathe outdoors without masks into the early hours of this morning. But the wind changed again and within an hour I watched my AQ app go from low yellow (moderate) to orange (unhealthy for sensitive groups) to red (unhealthy for everyone). I’m not technically a sensitive group, but anything orange or above I wear an N95 mask while outdoors because I value my health and my lungs. So many people don’t, and I was astonished how few wore masks Thursday when the air was visibly thick with smoke. 

Other than keeping the garden watered, it has not been a week for being amongst the plants.

We have a baby rabbit we keep evicting and who keeps finding their way back in. They have demolished the green beans. Friday we evicted them once and for all, but nope, I saw them this morning when I was briefly out masked and tying up tomatoes to their stakes. 

We also have a couple of raccoons that have taken to visiting our roof at 3 in the morning. They especially enjoy pulling apples from the tree and—thump, thump, thump, thump down it rolls. The apples are not ripe, so we aren’t sure if they just enjoy watching them roll down the roof, or maybe they are having apple fights and throwing them at each other like a couple of teen boys. Either way, sleep is impossible. James has gone out and banged on a metal bowl to scare them off more than once. I’m sure the neighbors love that.

In chicken news, one of the witches laid an egg! It is a tiny “starter egg.”

A surprise because they are only 3 1/2 months old and I wouldn’t expect an egg until maybe the end of September or October. We think the precocious one is Baba because of her size, but looking up breed information and their egg color, the egg is pale enough it could be Nanny. All that to say who laid it is unknown, the chickens aren’t saying, and we can merely speculate.

My latest sourdough adventure is a mixed flour bread—semolina, rye, whole wheat, and bread flour—and instead of plain water I used a strong brew of Earl Grey. The smell is divine.

We sliced it up and tried it out as part of a grilled tofu sandwich that included homemade zucchini relish (zucchini from the farmers market because I prefer to grow winter squash and since I save seeds, I don’t want the zucchini to cross-pollinate with the winter squash. Yes the winter squash might cross-pollinate, but that’s a different story.), a slice of grilled eggplant from the garden, arugula from the garden, and a little dijon mustard.

Does it taste as good as it looks? Oh yes, yes it does. The Earl Grey adds a subtle flavor note that compliments the flour combination. Will definitely make this one again sometime.

If it is hot where you are, take care in the heat. And if you too are blanketed with wildfire smoke, please take care of your lungs.

Under the Dome

No, not the Stephen King book, or the three seasons of the series based on the book that James and I hate watched every single episode of and then laughed ourselves silly at the snarky commentary at Reactor Magazine (then Tor). No, this was a week-long heat dome.

The heat dome moved away Friday night, but it is still blazing hot. We are on day nine of 90F/32C or above temperatures and it hasn’t rained in a week. We’ve had to water the garden from the rain barrels which went dry Friday and forced used to use water from the tap. There is a cold front moving in sometime tomorrow, Monday, that has a good chance of bringing some rain. Please think cool and liquid thoughts for us!

Along with the heat the wildfire smoke arrived Wednesday afternoon and by Thursday the air quality was hazardous and breaking records. The wind changed briefly Friday and we were able to breathe outdoors without masks into the early hours of this morning. But the wind changed again and within an hour I watched my AQ app go from low yellow (moderate) to orange (unhealthy for sensitive groups) to red (unhealthy for everyone). I’m not technically a sensitive group, but anything orange or above I wear an N95 mask while outdoors because I value my health and my lungs. So many people don’t, and I was astonished how few wore masks Thursday when the air was visibly thick with smoke. 

Other than keeping the garden watered, it has not been a week for being amongst the plants.

We have a baby rabbit we keep evicting and who keeps finding their way back in. They have demolished the green beans. Friday we evicted them once and for all, but nope, I saw them this morning when I was briefly out masked and tying up tomatoes to their stakes. 

We also have a couple of raccoons that have taken to visiting our roof at 3 in the morning. They especially enjoy pulling apples from the tree and—thump, thump, thump, thump down it rolls. The apples are not ripe, so we aren’t sure if they just enjoy watching them roll down the roof, or maybe they are having apple fights and throwing them at each other like a couple of teen boys. Either way, sleep is impossible. James has gone out and banged on a metal bowl to scare them off more than once. I’m sure the neighbors love that.

In chicken news, one of the witches laid an egg! It is a tiny “starter egg.”

A surprise because they are only 3 1/2 months old and I wouldn’t expect an egg until maybe the end of September or October. We think the precocious one is Baba because of her size, but looking up breed information and their egg color, the egg is pale enough it could be Nanny. All that to say who laid it is unknown, the chickens aren’t saying, and we can merely speculate.

My latest sourdough adventure is a mixed flour bread—semolina, rye, whole wheat, and bread flour—and instead of plain water I used a strong brew of Earl Grey. The smell is divine.

We sliced it up and tried it out as part of a grilled tofu sandwich that included homemade zucchini relish (zucchini from the farmers market because I prefer to grow winter squash and since I save seeds, I don’t want the zucchini to cross-pollinate with the winter squash. Yes the winter squash might cross-pollinate, but that’s a different story.), a slice of grilled eggplant from the garden, arugula from the garden, and a little dijon mustard.

Does it taste as good as it looks? Oh yes, yes it does. The Earl Grey adds a subtle flavor note that compliments the flour combination. Will definitely make this one again sometime.

If it is hot where you are, take care in the heat. And if you too are blanketed with wildfire smoke, please take care of your lungs.

Abundant

Hello Friends!

These past two weeks have seen me spending all of my free time picking raspberries or working on a dharma talk for my sangha this last Thursday. Now I am busy in the garden and catching up with all the things I let slide.

A heat dome arrived today and we are under an excessive heat warning through at least July 14th. High heat and high humidity. I remember the good old days when I first moved to Minnesota in 1994. Summers then were so much cooler. More than five or six days of 90F/32C or higher heat was rare. Now I’m looking at 90F/32C or hotter for this entire week, and it isn’t even the first string of excessive heat days we’ve had. The climate is thoroughly broken.

There is no rain in the forecast, the heat dome is keeping the rain away, so I will need to hand water the garden from the rain barrels. That promises to be a sweaty affair.

The garden has thus far been abundant. Those raspberries:

We’ve had so many this year! We’re putting them in our morning porridge, smoothies, making small batch jam, and I donated some to my neighborhood food shelf (Have also donated a lot of arugula, some herbs and onions). And still the freezer is packed with them. The freezer is also packed with rhubarb. James is going to be doing some canning, but we are also considering a small chest freezer for the basement.

The peas were doing great this year until the first heat wave rolled through at the end of June and the peas decided it was too hot for them. The heat followed by rain nearly every day for over a week, kick started the rest of the garden though.

All the squashes are vining and flowering, the cucumbers are vining and starting to flower, the citron melons are vining but I haven’t seen flowers yet. And the beans! The pole beans have all reached the top of their trellises and are reaching for the sky. I’m picking a cereal bowl full of yellow wax beans nearly every day. All the cherry tomatoes are covered in fruit and I look at them daily, anticipating when they will be ripe. The other tomato plants have tiny fruit that will take a while yet because they are all paste and slicing tomatoes. I can hardly wait for the first bite of sandwich with a fresh from the garden slice of tomato on it. Mmmmm.

Tired of poles falling over during big thunderstorms, James and I built two sturdy arches this spring. I’ve got pole beans climbing up one side and winter squash climbing the other side:

I am pleased with them and I think I will add a third next spring. I took this photo a week ago. The beans and the squash are at the top of the arch today. The beans here are brown resilient beans. They began life four years ago as bush beans and last year they decided to revert to pole beans. The squash is green striped cushaw. I have not grown it before. The leaves are gigantic and so are the vines. Here’s some flowers and bees on the vine this morning:

The garden has also gifted me with a volunteer pumpkin. Last year I planted saved seeds from Naked Bear pumpkin I had grown the previous year, not realizing this variety of pepita pumpkin is a hybrid. I got one small pumpkin last summer whose seeds were regular seeds, not pepita seeds. It cooked up as a nice, not sweet, pumpkin. The vine also had a giant elongated pumpkin that a squirrel ripped apart just before it was ripe. The squirrel scattered some of the seeds, and one of them sprouted. The vine is vigorous and I have to keep redirecting it out of the garden path and away from a tomato plant. So far it has two pumpkins and I spied a third tiny one this morning:

I am strategizing on how I can protect them later in the season. I have no idea how big they will get, whether the seeds inside will be shell-free, or how sweet the flesh will be, but I look forward to finding out!

Here’s a couple big view photos of the garden this year I took about two weeks ago:

This year we’ve made milkweed flower jelly and daylily flower jelly. Both are delicate floral flavors that are lovely on toast made from, for example, this medjool date-sunflower-orange tea sourdough bread I baked:

Instead of using plain water in the recipe I made sweet orange tea and used the tea. So delicious! And now I am wondering what other teas might go good in various sourdough loaves. Whole wheat chai spice? Multigrain green tea? Cinnamon-raisin chamomile? It would be fun to try mint but I am not certain what bread I would pair it with, maybe a seedy Danish rye?

The chickens are doing great. Baba and Nanny are now three months old:

They have their big girl voices now, no more peeping. They are friendly and curious and will eat from my hand, which meant Baba got the huge grasshopper I caught this morning much to Sia’s chagrin. Sia is head chicken, for now. I suspect once the witches are full size, Baba will challenge Sia for top of the pecking order.

And there you have it. If it is hot where you are, stay safe and find somewhere cool to be. Take care everyone!

Statt im #kulturkampf der #cdu mit #merz und #reiche das #heizungsgesetz aufzuweichen, muss zum #schutz der Bevölkerung langsam (?) darüber nachgedacht werden, ob wir neben dem #heizen jetzt in #europa auch das #kühlen mit #klima Anlage in #wohnungen als selbstverständlich angesehen werden muss!! Aber das ist der aktuellen #politik subjektiv zu komplex und den VermieterInnen zu teuer🫰 …
Dann halt #krankschreiben bis die #wirtschaft kracht - und sterben.
#klimawandel #klimakatastrophe #hitze #heatdome #Katastrophenschutz #amoc #elnino

Statt im #kulturkampf der #cdu mit #merz und #reiche das #heizungsgesetz aufzuweichen, muss zum #schutz der Bevölkerung langsam (?) darüber nachgedacht werden, ob wir neben dem #heizen jetzt in #europa auch das #kühlen mit #klima Anlage in #wohnungen als selbstverständlich angesehen werden muss!! Aber das ist der aktuellen #politik subjektiv zu komplex und den VermieterInnen zu teuer🫰 …
Dann halt #krankschreiben bis die #wirtschaft kracht - und sterben.
#klimawandel #klimakatastrophe #hitze #heatdome #Katastrophenschutz #amoc #elnino

Statt im #kulturkampf der #cdu mit #merz und #reiche das #heizungsgesetz aufzuweichen, muss zum #schutz der Bevölkerung langsam (?) darüber nachgedacht werden, ob wir neben dem #heizen jetzt in #europa auch das #kühlen mit #klima Anlage in #wohnungen als selbstverständlich angesehen werden muss!! Aber das ist der aktuellen #politik subjektiv zu komplex und den VermieterInnen zu teuer🫰 …
Dann halt #krankschreiben bis die #wirtschaft kracht - und sterben.
#klimawandel #klimakatastrophe #hitze #heatdome #Katastrophenschutz #amoc #elnino

Statt im #kulturkampf der #cdu mit #merz und #reiche das #heizungsgesetz aufzuweichen, muss zum #schutz der Bevölkerung langsam (?) darüber nachgedacht werden, ob wir neben dem #heizen jetzt in #europa auch das #kühlen mit #klima Anlage in #wohnungen als selbstverständlich angesehen werden muss!! Aber das ist der aktuellen #politik subjektiv zu komplex und den VermieterInnen zu teuer🫰 …
Dann halt #krankschreiben bis die #wirtschaft kracht - und sterben.
#klimawandel #klimakatastrophe #hitze #heatdome #Katastrophenschutz #amoc #elnino

Statt im #kulturkampf der #cdu mit #merz und #reiche das #heizungsgesetz aufzuweichen, muss zum #schutz der Bevölkerung langsam (?) darüber nachgedacht werden, ob wir neben dem #heizen jetzt in #europa auch das #kühlen mit #klima Anlage in #wohnungen als selbstverständlich angesehen werden muss!! Aber das ist der aktuellen #politik subjektiv zu komplex und den VermieterInnen zu teuer🫰 …
Dann halt #krankschreiben bis die #wirtschaft kracht - und sterben.
#klimawandel #klimakatastrophe #hitze #heatdome #Katastrophenschutz #amoc #elnino

@SBartsch wir werden zum #wasser sparen angehalten, während #merz und co ihre startrampen kühlen?!
#taxtherich #privilegien #menschenrechte #hitze #fff #fridaysforfuture #Flugverbot #klimawandel #heatdome #gletscherschmelze #atac

@SBartsch wir werden zum #wasser sparen angehalten, während #merz und co ihre startrampen kühlen?!
#taxtherich #privilegien #menschenrechte #hitze #fff #fridaysforfuture #Flugverbot #klimawandel #heatdome #gletscherschmelze #atac

@SBartsch wir werden zum #wasser sparen angehalten, während #merz und co ihre startrampen kühlen?!
#taxtherich #privilegien #menschenrechte #hitze #fff #fridaysforfuture #Flugverbot #klimawandel #heatdome #gletscherschmelze #atac

@SBartsch wir werden zum #wasser sparen angehalten, während #merz und co ihre startrampen kühlen?!
#taxtherich #privilegien #menschenrechte #hitze #fff #fridaysforfuture #Flugverbot #klimawandel #heatdome #gletscherschmelze #atac

Hab beim @BR24 einen neuen Begriff kennengelernt: #HeatDome. Erinnert mich an #TheDome….

/Edit: https://www.br.de/nachrichten/bayern/wetter-in-bayern-heat-dome-bringt-teils-an-die-40-grad-hitze,VNHEDx2

#WhiskerWednesday is happening under a horrid #HeatDome. I can't be outside in 100° plus weather so I'm doing this instead 👇#TuxieGirl #Betty #Catting #CatsOfMastodon

#WhiskerWednesday is happening under a horrid #HeatDome. I can't be outside in 100° plus weather so I'm doing this instead 👇#TuxieGirl #Betty #Catting #CatsOfMastodon

#WhiskerWednesday is happening under a horrid #HeatDome. I can't be outside in 100° plus weather so I'm doing this instead 👇#TuxieGirl #Betty #Catting #CatsOfMastodon

#WhiskerWednesday is happening under a horrid #HeatDome. I can't be outside in 100° plus weather so I'm doing this instead 👇#TuxieGirl #Betty #Catting #CatsOfMastodon

#WhiskerWednesday is happening under a horrid #HeatDome. I can't be outside in 100° plus weather so I'm doing this instead 👇#TuxieGirl #Betty #Catting #CatsOfMastodon