Mid Atlantic chit chat October

This is a general thread for what ever is happening or on your mind these days. Let's keep up with each other and check in here.

Good of you to start this....It will be like our own little "Face Book"--which, BTW, I have never been on...
And--I will be able to ramble on w/o worrying about "hijacking" anyone else's Thread...

it is amazing how busy i can get this time of year--even if my lawn and my beds no longer
need watering....Been doing cooking--more than usual. Today, i made my annual batch of
amazing "Cranberry sauce"......filled about 12 jars....Several of them will just be given away...

A woman i work with--Kim-- her father fell SOOO in love with my Cranberry Sauce that he wants it
every year for their Th.-Giv. Dinner....I make sure I always have a good-sized jar to give her....
She no longer has to even ask me....
So--that was what took the better part of my day today.

After i was done with that--I went outside and continued to yank up anything and everything
I could from my beds. Still a bit to go......
Then--raking leaves.....bagging them to compost....cleaning up all the beds.....planting 5 new perennials
I bought--and that have been sitting in their 4"pots for over a month now.....NOT done yet....geez!
Have to clean up the beds b/f I can find a spot to plant them in!

I have come to a decision! YUP!
NOT going to grow any more Daturas or 4 O'Clocks next year. I have enough seed from both to
populate the World.....They are too big--and take up too much space--so--DONE!
This will give me some room to try a few other things. Just hope i will NOT succumb!!!!

I have potted soooo many Brug cuttings! (15) Had to--I just cannot throw them away.
Cut all my Brugs back to "skeletons" so i could store them in my basement.
I hope you all will want some at the Plant Swap! P-L-E-A-S-E!!!!!!!!
Still have one Brug outside......I almost want to just let it die a natural death.

So much to be done this time of year!!!! And--it is NOT fun to work outside in windy, cold weather....
I hear next week will be in the high 60's and 70's....A GIFT to all us gardeners to catch up!

AND---I have 3 trays of Coleus cuttings growing......OK for now--but when seed time comes--
it will be difficult! They have to give up their cozy surrounds under my seed lights.......

Gita

Hoping to get outside and do some clean up. I think it is to be nice outside but cold. Bringing up the big garden cart plenty of seasonal plants to pull up. Think I will start out back with the perilla and castor. Maybe dig the cannas and cut down the ornamental grass. I'll let you know how it goes right now it's 34 and the frost is still on the grass.

Gita--I LOVE fresh-made cranberry sauce!! I'll have to coax the recipe out of you. I've made it before with fresh oranges, cloves, cane sgar and whole fresh cranberries.

I haven't been online much because I needed a break. I spend all my day at work on the PC, so a stretch is in order in the evenings and weekends. The weather has been gorgeous, so I've dvoted some time outside, pruning and weeding and picking up.

I've also rediscovered the joys of reading a book!! Ipicked up a John Grisham paperback in a yard sale and got hooked. Now, I've finished two of his books and am on the third. So Facebook for me is face in a bok. LOL!! So it's been used bookstores, picking up novels for me. And of course, spending some time with my glossies (magazines) and an occasional movie. With winter approaching, I'll probably drift back to my old habits of forums and blogs. I've missed the DG beat, so to speak.

So nice to hear from you agan Foxy. I like the John Grisham books, too. I just got done reading the Girls with the Dragon Tattoo and the Girl that played with Fire by Stieg Larsson. They aren't feel good books but I liked both of them. Once I started I could barely put them down. There is a third one The Girl that Kicked a Hornets Nest that I hope to start reading soon.
I have been pretty busy working on the Mud/utility room while it is warm enough not to have the wood stove running back there and trying to spend some time outside finishing up the yard work. For me a good day is a few hours in the back room and the afternoon outside. Yesterday sure was nice.

Fox---

No coaxing needed......I have posted this on a couple Threads before--but here it is--just for YOU!
Enjoy! Cranberries are on sale everywhere right now...just got 2 more bags--2 for $4.


GITA’S CRANBERRY SAUCE—PLUS
(Measures given are all “ballpark”—this makes several medium jars-full)

Approx. 3lbs. apples (any kind)-peeled, cored and very thinly sliced.
About 3 apples=1 lb.
Three bags fresh Cranberries—washed, picked over and coarsely chopped in a food processor (about 5 seconds) until “broken up”.
3-4 cups sugar and 3 cups of water
***Note: since all items are in three’s, if you want to cut the recipe down, or increase it-- just do it in thirds of everything.

One full teaspoon of whole Cloves. Wrap in a gauze sachet for easy removal.
Zest of one Lemon—finely slivered—NO white pulp—it is bitter!
About 2 regular tsp. finely chopped/diced fresh Ginger root.
1/3 cup Cherry or Blackberry or Cherry Brandy (optional) but it is yummy.

TO DO:
--Using a non-reactive, 6-8 qt. pot, add sliced apples, the water and the cloves sachet. Cook/simmer over low fire until it resembles chunky applesauce—stirring now and then…about 30-40 minutes.

--Add the sugar, and stirring often, simmer until sugar is dissolved—maybe 15 min.
--Add crushed cranberries. Do them in batches and add to pot.
--Bring back to a gentle boil. Lower heat way down and simmer for about one hour--stirring often so it won’t burn. Add the lemon zest and the chopped ginger. And-----**2009 note**--Tasted great!
--Per this size batch—section (in 8th,) and seed, 2 sweet, juicy Temple Oranges. Grind up in food-processor—Rind and pith and all—and add to the Sauce. Stir to mix in.
***At this point, you can taste for sweetness and adjust to your taste. ***
Simmer another half hour or so stirring occasionally.

--When Sauce looks dark red, and all uniform in texture, remove from heat and add the Brandy. Mix in well. Let cool down just a bit.
--Using a ladle, carefully, pour the hot sauce into clean jars and seal them immediately. I find the small Salad Dressing jars work best, but any ones will do. Allow to cool down a bit, label with the year (yes!—se note below!) and then refrigerate.

***Note: I have found that, kept in a refrigerator, this sauce lasts for years and years without losing any flavor! HONEST!!!!!

I posted this on facebook and also in the rock gem mineral threat on dg. My favorite rock: a conglomeration of ocean fossils. I got it from an online auction this year and finally decided to take pix of it. Just love it! There are crinoid (sea lily stem), cephalopods (pretty clam shells), what I think is a trilobite and also corals on it.

This message was edited Dec 5, 2010 10:20 PM

Here's the crinoid stem. (I see a brachiopod: Snail there to the left of the stem, too)

This message was edited Dec 5, 2010 10:22 PM

Nice Rock, there are a lot of fossils on that piece I can see why you like it so much.

Judy, that is so interesting. Thanks for taking pictures and sharing with us. I like finding fossil imprints on rocks that I find sometimes in my own yard.

Holly, glad you enjoyed it. Remind me in January (weather permitting) and I'll bring the rock to the Hobby Greenhouse club. Hugs, Judy

Lady Gardener, do you find your fossils on the beach? Let me show you a pix of a coral one that one of our people in the one gold prospecting club we belong to, found on one of the beaches at erie, pa. This puts me in mind of horn coral.

This message was edited Dec 6, 2010 5:09 PM

That reminds me of some stone fossils that an elderly girl scout leader showed me once, she had a few individual cones that she found in a stream.
We have a lot of shale in the area and we had some to place around my water garden, sometimes the shale will just come apart and there are imprints of shells, (similar to scallops).

Oh Cephalopods. How cool. I heard you have 2 feet of snow now. Brrr.

Buttoneer--

If you look at your last picture without it being full-size, it looks like a icy bluff by the sea.
There is even a boat by it.....that brown sliver....and a hint of a beach.......

I thought it was a beautiful, scenic shot--until I clicked on it to enlarge it.....

I like it better as it is......:o)

Back in the 50's, I went to Calvert Cliffs with my whole Geology class. This was before they built the
Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Plant there and cordoned off any access to the beach all around it.
No one has been allowed there since then.....
There were all these sandy , eroding embankments. like you would expect on an isolated beach.
We had to walk through someone's back yard (with permission) to get to it. It was raining--but we
all plugged along with our Geology pick-axes in hand to do some digging...

These sandy embankments were full of Prehistoric shells and all kinds of things. They were--just--
right there! You did not have to dig much--more like scrape a little. It was hard holding the umbrella
in one hand, trying to balance on a rather steep embankment, and dig with the other hand...

We all came home with a box-full of the neatest shells--just like in your rock. I even walked down to
the water's edge and found a few Shark's teeth. I still have those...
The idea that these were millions of years old was unbelievable--and I was holding them in my hand!!!

I kept these specimens forever--all identified in a box. So neat!
Gave the whole collection away to an old man''s Grandson who was wild about Geology.
I worked with the "Old man"--at "Franks Nursery and Crafts". Why not? Passing it on made me feel good.
Besides--he was also a Master Gardener.....
This was, probably, 15 years ago.

I can tell you that I have NEVER EVER had a class as interesting as that Geology class I took
at the evening College back then. We did endless field trips all over MD. The teacher was a tall, older man-
Dr. Summers. If you could keep up with him on all those hikes--you were lucky.

We would go on a field trip to Western MD--and he would point to a mountain chain in the distance--
all up and down and say: "Who can tell me what happened there X number of million years ago???"
People would guess and say what they thought--but then the Dr. would turn to me and say:
"Miss Ziemelis (my maiden name)--please tell us what happened there. And I would......

Not bragging--but I was his "star" student----Straight "A"'s--all the way through.
We had quizzes in every class--and I always aced them. A good way to learn.

See! I had an inquisitive mind back in the 50's already! Loved the earth Sciences......
Sorry I digressed......
Just your fossil-filled rocks brought back these memories.....I still have my text book. Wonder just how
outdated it would be today?????

Gita

Hi Gita, Bob & I did that with the Central Pa Rock & Mineral Club for the last two years, collecting all over Pennsylvania and a place in Delaware. I plan to go on some more trips in 2011 but only to places we haven't been, yet. Our Christmas party is Friday evening & we are to bring a present (for a man or woman, or both), that is fossil or mineral related. Some lucky woman is going to get a small rack of Amythist crystals from me and some lucky man is going to get a pretty agate pendant with druzy inside it from Bob. Can't wait to go. I guess I am making up for "lost time" on these trips, since I was always curious about fossils & minerals, but never did anything about it until I retired. Glad to hear you are into that neat stuff, too. Thanks. Judy
By the way, the trilobytes in the pix are Crytholithus 443 million yrs old, Ordovician period.

Buttoneer--

Don't forget that Amber would also fall in this category....Especially Baltic Amber,
which is 40 million years old...
Amber in silver jewelery id so beautiful....I have lots....Latvian jewelery is amazing!

Here is a link to one of the oldest Latvian jewelery makers. he has a catalog which is in English.
Prices are quite reasonable.

Take a look------ http://krikisjewelry.com/index.html

Gita

Buttoneer bumped this topic up into a new Thread.....Chit-Chat for December.......

Judy? You want to keep this open? it IS YOUR thread....
I kind of liked all this stuff being talked about here.....

G.

Gita et al,

My hope in starting a general chit chat thread was for us mid Atlantians to have a thread to post to on anything or just to say 'hi' if nothing else where there is no need to stay on topic or necessarily reply to any previous poster.

I like to check in here once or twice a day to see what's up and to keep up with things here.

It is dissappointing to me when there are no new posts or I don't have anything to contribute to an ongoing thread...

I don't feel like a Northeast Forum gardener, but do love that they have so many ongoing threads (weather, pets, food, birds, bugs, photos, etc, etc) that are posted to by any number of posters each day. Great way to get to know our on line neighbors and new visitors.

I'm glad there is now a December chit chat thread and I hope there will be one for each month for 2011!
Judy

Judy, I agree with you about a thread for each month. I check in both threads: October & December, to see what's going on with the mid atlantic buddies.