Finished building the compost pile before today’s rain hit, so it’s off to explore the wild wacky world of whole grain bread. There’s no good scifi or psychological fiction films due out this summer although F1 will probably be a financial goldmine. Apple does have Foundation Season 3 coming out which has potential, but won’t finish til mid-September so we’ll wait to see how well Asimov does. If you’ve ever read his book series, as a Russian Jew, it seems like a retelling of traditional Jewish myths. Egypt/Rome might be considered the Empire while the Foundation part might be the Queen of Sheba and Seba which in English means Queen of Seven or Queen of Apples. For anyone who hasn’t...
Roughly 2 years ago, our beloved dog, Andre, got bone cancer and suddenly died. It sucked. But in modern times, cancer is common in dogs so at the time thought nothing of it and moved on. A book was recommended, The Invisible Rainbow by Arthur Firstenburg. There's a shorter popular book, Dirty Electricity by Samuel Milham on the same topic that covers modern life. We are all being exposed to radio and electric poisoning from poorly made devices. Parts of the argument go back 100+ years to Telsa vs. Edison DC (direct current) vs. AC (alternating current) so it’s not a new conversation, but the research was new to me. Fair warning, not a medical doctor and don’t play one...
The past few weeks have been a little exciting. Finished the spring garden planting, only to have our huge oak tree drop a major tree sized limb in the driveway. Thankfully, nothing was hurt, but got to say all that chopping and getting rid of it was not on the menu. Well, life happens. So back to the grind and discussing new trends. Seeing a number of edible flowers, especially purple and herbs make some inroads at the local farmers market like lavender scones, but overall winners seems to be sauces. Not sure why. Maybe grilling? Also, tea. A really popular tea shop in Monroe, NC is A Cause for Tea which features lovely British teas, Australian soaps, sweet baked...
It’s a busy few weeks here with Memorial Weekend, a bread festival, and Father’s Day happening one week after another. Sales are brisk and people seem upbeat. Construction projects are happening downtown on almost every corner fixing up Raleigh. It is hopeful to see for 2025. Finished the last of the summer herb garden planting so taking a break to focus on new festivals. Don’t have a good handle on which new events will take off, but positive upward momentum. Especially the new health food stores opening in downtown. Natural fabrics also seem to be having a moment in the sun, especially linen. This isn’t the first time they’ve been a trend, but the popularity of The Invisible Rainbow by...
Last week, Raleigh got 3-4 inches of rain with hailstorms an inch deep in a few hours. Weirdly, no cars or buildings got damaged and the plants bounced back even healthier. The apple trees are having their best year ever thanks to pruning tips from Martin’s Fruit Trees for Every Garden. For anyone who hasn’t tried pruning trees, to get those beautiful big sweet apples organically without spraying pesticides, you need to prune in the winter (February is common in NC) followed up by handplucking the extra blossoms off or pips in early spring to leave 1-2 baby apples per bunch. Wow, it makes a huge difference and isn’t time consuming even on large trees like we have. Figure 30...