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Post by mskrieger on Jun 2, 2016 11:35:05 GMT -5
I've a copy of that in the pump-house for hammock-fare. Enkidu and Gilgamesh; the prototypes of Laurel and Hardy. Knowing you, I can only imagine it's in the original Cuneiform, too. |
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Post by steev on Jun 2, 2016 12:34:04 GMT -5
Not only that, it's the original clay tablets; they popped up on Ebay shortly after the sack of Bagdad's national museum.
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Post by mskrieger on Jun 2, 2016 14:49:40 GMT -5
Not only that, it's the original clay tablets; they popped up on Ebay shortly after the sack of Bagdad's national museum. Amazing what you can buy on Ebay. Sumerian or Akkadian version? |
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Post by steev on Jun 2, 2016 17:28:07 GMT -5
Not sure which; would the stamp "Made in China" help determine?
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Post by reed on Jun 3, 2016 5:46:26 GMT -5
Finally got a little more corn planted yesterday. Filled in the empty spot in the first patch with, Aunt Mary's, Spring Snow and some of the F2 generation if PM x multiple sweet. On the PM I just planted kernels that had segregated shrunken. I need to find a little semi isolated spot for the rest of that just to see what comes out of it in F3. The kernels are small and I din't like that but it is the strain that I was able to get two generations in one season last year. Probably won't happen this year cause of getting it in too late. This replanting is small enough that pollination may spotty unless, as I hope, it coincides with some of the longer season stuff planted earlier.
In the other patch the outside rows are about 3/4 Delectable RM and 1/4 Silver Choice and Ruby Queen. The middle row is ear to row planting of some of my favorite ears from last year, including my favorite AD ears and my favorite SE ears. A little bit of Anasazi and AD from the original packages is in there too. Hopefully I'll get some nice seed ears from the middle row, will probably detasssel some of it just to insure more diversity for next year.
The time when I can stop keeping track and just save from the best is getting closer, I hope.
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Post by reed on Jun 6, 2016 5:46:09 GMT -5
toomanyirons, the stalky little tomatoes have almost doubled in size since the last pictures and if ya look close they are starting to get buds. Shouldn't be too much longer till we know what type of fruit they will make. Most most other tomatoes are also getting buds with several already bloomed. Some of your Ox Heart mix have open flowers as do some of Joseph's. Surprisingly a hybrid called Red Rose (Brandywine x Rutgers) also has open flowers. 
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Post by reed on Jun 6, 2016 19:53:09 GMT -5
I'm a little concerned about the early flowering too, probably 3/4 of my plants of all types are doing so with a lot more advanced than that. It went from cold & wet to hot & dry almost overnight, can't blame the poor things if they don't know how to act.
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Post by mskrieger on Jun 8, 2016 14:47:08 GMT -5
Glad to hear you're still planting corn, reed. I've never grown corn successfully because some critter there is that likes to bite it off and then leave the whole plant laying in the garden. Decided to plant a small patch near the front door this year, thinking the cat and the foot traffic would deter the critter. So far we've had only a few casualties...I replanted in those spots yesterday. Seems late for it but the plants grow so fast and this is a short season flint variety. Hope the weather settles soon and the plants can get down to business. |
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Post by reed on Jun 9, 2016 5:29:47 GMT -5
I'm having some critter problems on new corn sprouts this year too. Top suspects are chipmunks and crows. Crows especially, in the borrowed garden across the road.
I'm thinking of not using the borrowed garden next year or if so making it much smaller. The big Ash trees off the south end of my oldest garden died from the borer beetle making an an area about 1/2 as big as the borrowed garden prime for development. I'll cut them down this fall for firewood and think I might just bring my fencing home and expand there.
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Post by mskrieger on Jun 9, 2016 10:18:02 GMT -5
Infuriating, indeed! Sorry to hear about your brown thrashers, toomanyirons. I am leaning toward reed's suggestion of chipmunks as the culprits in my yard. They seem most likely to gnaw at things and then not eat them (bunnies would eat the corn stalks, birds don't gnaw.) My cat can and does catch chipmunks but we've had a bumper crop of them this year. Strange how booms and busts happen like that. The hawks are numerous due to last year's bunny boom--I hope they find the chipmunks as delicious. Sorry to hear about the ash trees, reed. But firewood and more garden space closer to home would seem a decent trade. |
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Post by steev on Jun 9, 2016 20:07:03 GMT -5
Not at all strange, those booms and busts. The rule is that if there is an abundance of some resource (species A), whatever (species B) is able to harvest it will turn it into as many of their kind as possible; if there lacks enough of something else (species C) to harvest those booming Bs, then C will increase until it can accommodate the abundance of B, causing an end to the B-boom and eventually over-harvest it, leading to a B-bust, leading to dire consequences for the (now) over-abundance of C, etc.
Think sine-waves; B follows A, C follows B, causing B to bust, allowing resurgence of A, whereupon C busts, allowing resurgence of B, and so it goes, except there are so many other factors also having their influences and interests, which is what leads to the greatest equilibrium; the fewer species active in the ecosystem, the less stable it becomes, as the potential boom or bust of any species becomes more likely and significant. This is the fundamental flaw in monoculture: that it's a bust just waiting to happen, being staved off by artificial fertilizer, herbicides, and pesticides, meanwhile reducing the diversity, and therefore stability, of the ecosystem.
From your avatar, I would surmise that you are in process of producing a gardener/gardeneress?
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Post by mskrieger on Jun 10, 2016 11:40:45 GMT -5
True, steev--I ought've said that I don't perceive the reasons for my local bunny and chipmunk population explosions, not that it's strange they happen at all. And yes, I am in the process of growing another gardener. My household is fully employed, there's abundant food and habitat in my little corner of the world at the moment...ecology applies to us all, eh. |
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Post by steev on Jun 10, 2016 19:24:10 GMT -5
I would suppose that your bun/munk booms are related to relative abundance of food, perhaps resulting from recent weather trends.
Ecology does indeed apply to us all, though that idea is seemingly beyond the grasp of so many.
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Post by reed on Jun 11, 2016 15:48:32 GMT -5
The ..... ..... ............ ... . HOT and DRY is back with a vengeance and looks to be settling in. I have a spot big enough for maybe fifty corn plants and was going through selecting some of my favorites sweet seeds to plant in it. I have enough for pretty much each plant to be from a different ear and or kind but with it looking like the hot dry is setting in I might plant half or more of it from just this ear.  It is F2 generation Oaxacan Green Dent x sweet. Well I guess the F2 isn't really accurate cause it is really (Oaxacan Green dent x multiple sweets - F1) x Ruby queen and Silver Choice. The RQ and SC were planted and watered. This plant came up volunteer and grew except for when it first sprouted without a single drop of rain. It made three ears but two aborted. Anyway under the circumstances maybe I should plant it along with some other (Oaxacan Green dent x multiple sweets - F1). Maybe mix in some PM X sweet too. Drought tolerance is a big part of what I want in my crops. I can plant some others too for pollen and water them if necessary I guess. |
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Post by mskrieger on Jun 13, 2016 10:06:54 GMT -5
That sounds like some serious survival corn. You don't mind the mix of sweet/dent qualities in the eating? How do you cook/prepare your corn, generally?
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