Why I Oughta...

We typically have a few plants and flower projects around Christmas and this year is no different.  Most years, we do at least two kinds:  amaryllis and a store-bought poinsettia for the kitchen.  This year, we added a third thing:  Paperwhite bulbs .   We've had the typical poinsetta in most years.  Usually red, sometimes white or more interesting coloring.  But this year, we were at the orange big box store doing one of those kids projects when we wandered out into the nursery.  That's where we saw a rack of something that looked *kinda* like a traditional poinsettia.  But, was a little different.   The 'petals' (which...are really just different colored leaves) were curled under.  And were clustered on the top of the plant.  What is this?  Turns out, it is called a Winter Rose.  It is a poinsettia.  Just tweaked.  Here's a few photos of the red Winter Rose: I pulled out the tag of the plant and it read this:  Poinsettia.  Euphorbia pulcherrima.  So, it is a poin

I'm not *exactly* sure how I recently came across this new (to me) pizza style, but it sure has my attention.  What style is that?  I suppose the widest birth name-wise I can give it is: Sfincione.  It is a version (most often) of something similar to a Sicilian or Grandma pizza.  Tweaked.  Kenji @ Serious Eats has done his thing with it and calls it "New Years Pizza" .  It is characterized by a light, hole-filled dough that is crisp/fried on the bottom.  Sauce on top.  And...finished with the crunch of breadcrumbs.  That recipe is, however, NOT where I started on this pizza journey rabbit hole.  Nope.  It was earlier this year when I read that a pizza pop-up from Nashville (of all places) was coming to town to participate in a Chicago pizza festival.  That place is St. Vito Focacceria.   Well...that's interesting, I thought.   I didn't attend said fest. But, I've been sitting on this Instagram post from subbu arumugam about St. Vito for months as I thought

A few days ago, I posted some photos and an update on my annual firewood consumption and speculated that I was moving faster than I needed to (in terms of burning) and that without some intervention, I would likely consume my entire stockpile of firewood before the end of the burning season - March 1st, 2023.  In that post , I talked about how I might extend my supply by cutting in some of the recently-split Norway Maple firewood from the large tree in our front yard that we took down.   It was just a couple of weeks ago that one of my fresh, just recently-split pieces of Norway Maple was registering 50% on my moisture meter .  Norway Maple has a reputation of being VERY fast drying and gets down to sub-20% moisture very quickly.  But, how quickly?   Here's what the moisture meter is showing on a few different pieces of this same Norway Maple firewood after just 2+ weeks: What the what?  13 and 14 percent?  Anything under 20 is ready to be burned.  So, does that mean I can start t

That appears to be a wrap on composting this growing season.  I have all three spots filled - the tumbler (with partially-processed mixed compost from the bottom of the mixed bin), the mixed bin on the right below (with a blended batch of greens/browns and *some* passive aeration pipes installed) and a (mostly) carbon storage bin on the left.   You can see the two bins in the photo below and how they're filled right up to the top of the railing with the belief that we'll see a little settling and compaction this Winter: The last time I checked in on these bins was in early November when I had rounded up a bunch of leaves and filled both of these bins in a 'heaping' fashion .  In the month since, I've seen a bunch of settling in the left bin and was able to re-fill it up.  And some compaction from the bin on the right with the large mound in the middle compressing down.  I used my mower to collect the leaves in the carbon storage bin this year and as such, I also col

We're now in the thick of things firewood-wise.  The burning will only increase in both frequency and length of sessions as we head towards the heart of Winter and the holiday season when we're hanging around the house more and more.  So, where do we stand?   Today marks the two-month mark.  Our firewood was delivered on September 30th, so that means we've burned through 60 days of wood.  With 90 days to go (that gets us to March 1st).  We had three facecords delivered on September 30th .  And, at that time all of the racks were empty but for the bottom of the porch rack and about 15 pieces on top of that.  What does it look like today?   The porch racks are full (mostly).  See below for the short one, followed by the double.  Note the wood on top of the double.  I'm claiming that's an equivalent amount that was remaining this Spring.   Outside, the smaller of the two racks has been exhausted.  The larger one is about 1/3rd used.  If you look at the photo below, you

We were over at Nat's folks house and (like they do EVERY YEAR), they had some Anchor Brewing Christmas Ale on hand ahead of the Christmas holidays.  I've posted photos and details of this ' Special Ale ' over the years here on the blog where the beer is less interesting to me, but the drawings of the trees are what I'm drawn to when it comes to this annual Christmas beer.  This year's beer is inspired by an Italian liqueur and features a drawing of a famous tree in San Francisco: a Blue Gum Eucalptus tree.  From this post on NewSchoolBeer comes this description of the tree on the label : This year’s hand-drawn label features a Blue Gum Eucalyptus tree, a nod to Mary Ellen Pleasant – a 19th-century San Francisco entrepreneur, financier, abolitionist, and civil rights activist. Pleasant, who is recognized as the “Mother of Civil Rights in California” for her impact during gold-rush San Francisco, planted Blue Gum Eucalyptus trees outside her Pacific Heights mans

Like I've done the past few years, I attempted to lay out a lawn care (feeding and treatment) schedule this year by listing what I was planning to do to the front and back lawns.  This year's schedule was posted in March .  So...how did I do?   I'd call it a mixed grade.  I started out with a synthetic weed and feed in March .  Good.   I skipped adding lime to the backyard to help treat the wild onions.  But, I did, remove a few more emerging clumps.  Not so good.   I also skipped insect and grub treatments.  Ran out of time.  Not good. And skipped fungicide.  Also...not good. I also skipped 4th of July and Labor day feedings in the backyard.   But, what did I do?  I detathed, aerated the backyard.   Good. I also identified and treated Nimblewill in the backyard .  Good.  And, most importantly...I overseeded the entire backyard with a blend of Kentucky Blue Grass and Tall Fescue .   And, I kick-started that process with a pre-germination of the seed in 5-gallon buckets .