Dirtyhip

Yes. Just something that has no value for me. The restaurant industry isn't making much money from our family.

You should smile more and shave more. Thanks for the text, RG. We haven't been at a coffee shop in months. We shared a nice cup back in January. Our pals had to have fancy coffee so we played along. One cup is the cost of an entire bag, so we rarely do this.

Hello.

You nailed it. People mask mean comments veiled as humor. Just because something was meant as a joke, doesn't excuse the fact that it could be mean spirited and cruel.

Thanks for the video. My thoughts: A very doable project with the right species. The trick here will be establishing these things without abundant water. He should be bringing out organic matter every time he goes out there to help establish trees for initial plantings of desert trees. It's a cool project. My little forest is doing well. I have had some failures. There were some species that don't do well. I have learned what trees do well and have learned how to plant them where they will thrive. I use the natural drainage to help them and it is super important to mulch them each year. I add plenty of wood chips around them to keep water in and prevent too much weed growth around the crowns. We have lost 8 store bought trees. Our forest is at 50 living trees and shrubs at the moment. This doesn't include all of the shrubs that I have planted. I have also planted over 1000 bulbs and a bunch of seeds. Many of the seeds were lost due to predation, but many have survived. Our success is mostly due to having an abundant well. I think as long as our lake doens't go dry, we should have water. Our well is below the lake level. We get 60 gpm out of it. It is a strong source it seems. <fingers crossed> We have diverted all of our roof water to part of our forest and we also divert our water softener purge water. Its salt free so that water is not going to kill the plants. Some people say to cut down the junipers that grow here but we don't. We allow them to grow freely. Yes, they are a weed tree, but so are mant other species. They provide good habitat. We love maples. They grow easily and are beautiful trees. Our checkbook has bled thousands into the process. Our place is becoming so beautiful though. Bue spruce seems to be a hardy tree that is hard to kill. It should provide great habitat too. He should see if they have free biosolid compost from the local facility. That stuff is great for spreading around trees. Plants grow well in it and it helps for that to be used. The poo needs to stay in the loop. I feel so lucky that we found this property and the soil is great. I can dig with my fingers it is so ful lof organic matter. It isn't so heavy with clay and the rocks are not boulders. Our drainage is excellent.

Sounds great. We are making tacos for a guys birthday. At first he wanted hamburgers but then he switched it up to tacos and he demanded a carrot cake for his birthday. Haha. So I obliged. He also made sure I wasn’t making many vegetables and he made sure to say NO VEGETARIAN! He also said make plenty of food cause he will be hungry. So two packs of beef. 🙂 we are gonna watch his Eagle Scout celebration on VHS. It will be interesting

Sounds interesting. I like a half grapefruit with an orange, some olive oil, touch of garlic and salt and pepper. Simple but pretty good. Just a touch of Dijon to help it emulsify. for pre made I have been enjoying the Olive Garden signature dressing. It is pretty good for something quick.

Never. I do dump the bottom bits in, so that is as close as it gets to cut pieces.

Ouch. I like this cut better:

Everything looks good. I have been cooking a lot too. Today, chicken soup too. It will be our dinner for the next few days Tomorrow falafel. I am doing so well with that recipe. I found I like the cast iron trick better than the air fryer. I can cook it in a cast iron with very little oil. On my homemade naan bread it's like a falafel soft taco. Shredded carrot, avocado, and shredded lettuce is great with this. Some creamy tzatziki finishes the dish. I am home for a week and I have been making alll kinds of good food. Chicken was a bogo deal so I butchered a couple up, saved the meat for the freezer and cooked down the rest for soup. Bulbs are coming up here. All the effort I have put in is now paying off. I found a bumblebee nest on the property and mason bees or leaf cutters have encased themselves in my mason bee house. It is really a bee haven here. There are so many flowers. I hope for the best for them. Hope you and the family are well.

Carrots are just a part of a healthy garden rotation here. They sure are cheap, but nothing in the store compares to the taste of what I can produce. Baby carrots in the store are terrible. The babies I get from thinning. Garlic is just too easy. I never buy it anymore. Even green onions can be super easy. I replant the butts if I do buy them. They eventually turn to bulb onions and the bees dig the blooms and then I get seeds for yet more green onions. Nothing gets wasted. Pickled beets last so long and they are so tasty and good for you. Tomatoes here are hard. We have stopped planting them so much. There are other fruits that will be good in that valuable space, like sweet potaoes, cucumbers, tomatillo, squash etc. Really, this is just a fun hobby and I am not fooling myslf that I save much money doing this. It's mostly just for the bees and the smiles.

Hi Dr. Mick. We grow carrots in a raised bed outside. We harvest little by little by thinning and leave some of them in the ground until well after first frost. We have never tried growing them indoors to harvest. Carrots and beets seemed very easy to grow but you have to really keep the soil wet here to germinate. It gets so dry here that seeding can be difficult. It’s really windy on the hill where my house sits so that doesn’t help. we did start a bunch of warm veggies inside to transplant after last frost but little knots from the soil drove us bonkers. I was happy to get them all out of the house. Those little bugs sometimes come from soil matter. We don’t bother with much indoor plants except for a few house plants. I have a bonsai lemon tree that I really love. It produces lemons for us. It almost died last year when I left it for too long. I had to cut it way back and it seems happy again. Whew!

Thank you for the nice comments, all. Note: I merely joke about just stapling and filling the copier. I don't really post about how I manage a program that is hundreds of thousands of dollars. Budgets, reporting, travel and a host of other things. It's more fun to post about my babysitting deets though. I still have problems with people that don't understand the 3 hole punch and jam the heavy duty stapler. It isn't that I don't like you all. I don't like the deliberately devisive and hurtful comments. I just don't have time or energy for that. On a happy note, I am doing fantastic. I am doing my best to embrace the heart of DH. I am very inspired and working out a ton. I have dropped 25 pounds and it is staying off. I entered my first MTB XC race in a very long while. We fixed up the van suspension and I look forward to my next trip in it. Maybe this month. I am not cheating on you, @Ralphie. Just spending time on healthy things that make me feel good. @jsharr, I am glad we are friends over there. @12string, I am not dead yet. Not ready at all for the cart. I was bench pressing yesterday. Oh, i really hope I can get up to my body weight. 50# so far. I hired this gal to train me up, and it is so fun. She is very affordable. She sort of gives me homework and vids and I do that. She is training me up for mountaineering and I am training myself for bike racing again. 50+ class, oof, here we go. Hi, Dr. Mick. We raced in 91? This pic on the momo, was around 1991. I am sure I was faster on this bike. <Much jest> I am making falafel with my air fryer today. I am going to share the recipe with you. I make homemade pita and do falafel in a healthy way. Still gardening when I can get out there. It is cold and muddy right now. Peas go in next month or so. spinach is suprisingly resilient. It's a warm winter here, but plenty wet. It will be so fantastic with flowers soon. Investing thousands of dollars in plants, trees, seeds and bulbs seem to have been a happy investment for me. Soe of these little trees are so big already. I put in a goji berry tree. It LIVED. I am thrilled for what it is gonna do. ----- Gotta jet now, I have a meeting with a senator, then shopping for my camp stove that I have been saving up for. I am going with the mini mo. I am loving my bikes. I look forward to racing Brutus in June. My new e-bike is rad and it isn't a crime, nor should I be punched over it. @Square Wheels

Stay safe, all. It's a whopper out here. TIme to shovel and work clearing.

I don't bring them in. They go right in the ground. If I feel festive, I put them on a log by a window and toss presents in front of it. Nice tree, @2Far