What did you do in the garden today?

[Swiss]

I hope to finish harvesting what needs to be harvested today. I think the potatoes will be fine until I can get to them on Monday, it will give the potatoes time to register that the vines are dead (right?). Of COURSE the frost would hit when I am extremely busy for 3 days. I was lucky to have a bit of time to harvest the tomatoes yesterday. Today, I just need to harvest the pumpkins and butternut squashes. I will leave the corn because I'm letting it dry out, so, the frost shouldn't have done too much damage, right?

 

[BullChick]

I’m so sad that I missed a conversation about coffee. I am about to drink a pot of freshly ground Starbucks. The aroma is heavenly.

 

[Swiss]

Thanks to everyone for the advice! The community aspect of this website is definitely amazing! I love that I can turn to those of you who have more experience than I do, and receive detailed and kind responses!

I didn't know you shouldn't move a hose when it's frozen (even though it makes tons of sense when I stopped to think about it), but it didn't break, so I'll leave it alone next time. I'll need to start remembering to drain it and bring it in every night.

I had been letting my basil go to seed because I am out of basil seeds, but they were the one thing the frost left no doubts about. That made me kind of sad, until I realized I have a branch in a cup of water in the kitchen window. I checked, and, sure enough, it's growing roots!! I might pull out an Aerogarden to see if I can't keep it growing.

I guess it's time to really start planning next year's garden!

 

[Ascholten]

On the hose, not only that but if it's pressurized, or just full of water, ice stretches when it freezes so that will stretch / stress your hose too and greatly reduce it's lifespan as well.

Heat in the summer if you leave them full of water / pressurized, heat of day, cooling at night, that constant stretching while it is not as bad because the thing is very hot and stretchier, is not too good for them either. You don't have to drain the water out of them completely just relieve the pressure off it. In the winter now, if you are getting frost, id drain it every night. An easy way to drain it, get a ladder, step ladder works much better pull the hose up and over the top rung, then back down to the hose reel. Now reel in the hose will travel across the ground slowly, then up the ladder, then back down and onto the hosereel. When it is making it's UP travel, the water is running back down and out the open end. That sure beats walking it over your shoulder which you still then have to back and reel it up anyways.

Aaron

 

[TJAnonymous]

Sbux is actually a classic marketing study. It is about the fact that they are selling an “experience”. That is why it became so popular. That, and there is some history to it too. Original owner to new owner…think that’s who catapulted them into the stratosphere. But, they took a mundane item (coffee) and packaged it up into an experience.

I find their coffee too burnt. I do like their espresso. When I would travel for work, I’d just get a double shot of espresso and drink it black. Then I was ready for the travel and not holding a cup along with luggage, etc. but, I’ve been drinking black coffee since I was young, and prefer black coffee, but occasionally in the mood for some cream/milk addition.

I always felt Starbucks established their brand because they took coffee and did new things with it. They created all kinds of different flavors (coffee drink recipes) - iced, frozen, or hot. Before that you pretty much had black coffee or cream & sugar. Now you have favorite drinks that rotate with the seasons. Starbucks did that... They glammed up coffee for the masses.

 

[Elyrian1]

I've never met a coffee I liked. I'm a iced chai latte person, and I figured out I can make it myself for $.50 a cup instead of $5.00 like Starbucks.

Need to get some work done this weekend. Got EWO to plant and compost to buy and grass to pull.

 

[Ascholten]

I always felt Starbucks established their brand because they took coffee and did new things with it. They created all kinds of different flavors (coffee drink recipes) - iced, frozen, or hot. Before that you pretty much had black coffee or cream & sugar. Now you have favorite drinks that rotate with the seasons. Starbucks did that... They glammed up coffee for the masses.

Thats pretty much what they did, presented it in different ways. Unfortunately the actual quality of their coffee is terrible, BUT, since you are covering it with a pound and a half of sugar and syrups, then that doesn't really matter, because you are tasting mainly the syrups and slops anyways. Burnt coffee, well america has been used to that for years because of Big Red and Big Blue, pumping out their take home version of over roasted coffee. When you consider they are a corporation and their #1 goal, is to make money, by all legal means necessary, they did pretty well in that manner. People are waking up now, to what coffee is supposed to be like, and you are seeing little coffee shops pop up all over the place, with real coffee being sold by real barista's who know how to actually do it properly. I have a feeling that they'll be relegated to the sidelines in a few years here, just another 'coffee stop' to pay for a cup of slop on the way to work. However McDonalds and everyone else has their own version of 'specialty' coffee now... just a hell of a lot cheaper. People ARE pretentious though and will still pay that 3 dollar premium just to show off their mermaid though!! As long as they can keep the people convinced that when they drink their product, somehow they are a little smarter than everyone else, they'll always have a market.

 

[Acre4Me]

I always felt Starbucks established their brand because they took coffee and did new things with it. They created all kinds of different flavors (coffee drink recipes) - iced, frozen, or hot. Before that you pretty much had black coffee or cream & sugar. Now you have favorite drinks that rotate with the seasons. Starbucks did that... They glammed up coffee for the masses.

Not really. They grew exponentially and did it by selling an “experience”. And it really is a marketing strategy studied and analyzed by other industries. Here’s a more recent sampling of this topic, but I know there are older sources of this topic.

Notice, none of these things has anything to do with yummy coffee!

 

[littledog]

that poofter word

Hahaha, this brings back funny memories of my high school and college love of Monty Python!

Sorry to revisit this topic, but it's been awhile since I logged on here, and I think we agree more than we disagree, we just tend to come at things from different angles?

I fully blame the colleges FOR this ridiculous, Im a child until I die nonsense.

I don't blame colleges, even though I totally agree that colleges have their own issues - I think this nonsense comes mostly from helicopter parents who think they need to harrow every road over which their precious children walk.
My parents, back in my dinosaur days in middle and high school, expected nothing more than good report cards every semester and left me alone other than that. They never hung over my shoulder to check my homework or monitor when a test or project happened, my education was my responsibility, to be handled by me and the school. I was mostly a good kid who wanted to get good grades, but when my smart mouth landed me in trouble on occasion and I got detention or some other punishment, my parents kept out of it and let the school handle it.
Too many of today's parents call the school and argue over two points lost on a 6th-grade test, as if this will affect their ability to get into a top college. They even call their children's colleges (hello, they're legally adults now) to question tests, grades, living situations, etc.
This is what creates snowflakedom, not the college. Kids who have grown up with some responsibility and independence, laugh at this.

'college' and realize, no it's NOT necessary to pay these worthless institutions 100's of thousands of dollars... to be 'successful' in life, it's a hustle.

Agree totally! The so-called "top" and "most competitive" colleges are not about getting a good education, because pretty much every state university offers just as good, and usually better education. The "elite" colleges are all about kids from wealthy families getting to network with kids from other wealthy families, and thereby keeping "wealth" sequestered within their "class" of people.

and if I am going to take that route, it is on ME to pick a course that will end up with me doing something USEFUL in life.

"Useful" can mean "valuable in today's economy" but that changes so fast - there's something to be said for knowing the basics of history of various civilizations, languages, math and science, because you'll have a grounding of how and when and why things have changed and adapt when they do. Combined with a practical education in a trade that's always in demand and can't be offshored (like electrician, plumber, and yes, GARDENER) that in my opinion is a good education.

let them take the reigns FROM the boomers,

They will anyway, we won't live forever. So let's make sure they learn from us, instead of hating us for making fun of their avocado toast and gender-bending identities. Because, who does it harm?

Boomers did what they did to bring YOU to this point.

Absolutely right. Every generation made mistakes, but also made things better bit by bit, including us.

You all should check out this documentary about the racket behind college education.

That looks awesome, I can't wait to watch the whole documentary.

I found probably the biggest zucchini I had ever seen in-person. I was (and am) stoked. I would appreciate if anyone has any good recipes for something like this!

My favorite is fritters, I've had good results freezing the batter and frying the fritters when convenient. With the gigantic zucchinis, I've made "Zucchini boats" by slicing them in half the long way, scooping out the innards, making a filling similar to burritos (zucchini filling, rice, black beans, meat) then filling the giant zucchinis and baking them in the oven at 400 for 35-40 minutes. Then slicing them into 3-4 inch helpings, yum.

Good morning, today is luffa harvest day lol. Silly gourds they are. I think I've got 20 so that should do pretty good till next time I can grow them.

I have somewhere around a dozen large loofah

So jealous.

the USDA should not be spending my tax dollars to track my and other people's gardens.

We already pay taxes on the seeds we buy, and the USDA should have better things to do to keep our food safe, like monitoring the meat packing plants that have killed people.

So yeah, I know living off the grid is hard. It's nonstop effort. But it has an honesty and a beauty to it that feeds the soul. It is different than working your guts out to bring home a paycheck and knowing your efforts are really making someone else rich.

Wish I could love this 100 more times.

In spite of no rain for the past 3 months, our garden is surviving. Harvested so many green beans, I plan to pressure-can them. So many tomatoes, I pruned them so cruelly that all that's left is unripe tomatoes on the vine. Harvested potatoes from my grow-boxes, and most are small. Leaving potatoes in the raised bed to see what they do..
Cukes grew great, I still have a lot of cans of pickles from last year so I'll freeze a lot of cuke soup.
Eggplant and basil is still questionable? Plants are growing and looking healthy, but weather is starting to change. Cabbage and leeks are looking good, but butternut squash may or may not mature enough to harvest before frost comes.

Oh well, we'll do our best to process what we have so far. Got a lot done this weekend on the chicken yard, repaired the coop roof and shoveled into their yard the three loads had left of the wood chip pile.

 

[Ascholten]

Oh my parents got involved when I got in trouble in school. No they didn't just let the school handle it, I got my ass whooped. Trouble DID happen, but not very often

Aaron