Hot times on the August Homestead

We came from here;

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1193694/#new

I had a cherry tomatoe and a jalapeno pepper in a big washtub out back. I went to dump the duck's water pans on them and 3 hornworms had eaten every leaf off of the tomatoe and were working on the jalapeno. I tossed the worms to Cogburn the rooster who made short work of them, but it really irritated me. I haven't seen any in the garden, thank the good Lord.

I picked my first tomato yesterday, not fully ripe by a couple of days but drooping onto the ground and in danger of damage. I have a few indeterminates scattered about the flower beds that are passing 6 feet tall and reaching!

Since July was so hot and dry across much of the US, I wonder what the "Dog Days of August" will be like?

August already, with nothing but incredible heat and humidity on the horizon. Oh well, I'm nursing a broken toe so won't be too busy. I hope to bushhog the weeds today. Watched (and I've never seen this in the 32 years we've lived here) 6 deer at the pond yesterday. Four were nice bucks and one, a spike buck, all in velvet. It is dry for them to come out while I'm watching. They drank water and browsed and drank more. Amazing to see!

NikB ~ thanks for the new thread. I am sorry it has been a poor year in the garden after all your effort. I know I could not feed my family from the garden like my folks did or like Cocoa is doing. All I can say is be vigilant on those tomato hornworms. They can do the damage quickly.

Darius ~ does it look like a good tomato crop for your jungle? I am interested in following your 'volunteer' garden.

Cricket ~ glad you shipped that nasty bull. The new livestock you are taking on will be better suited.

I agree on the banana melon. I bought one from a flea market vendor after hearing all the banana melon discussion. I am a melon fan and was disappointed. It wasn't green (as in not ripe) it was green in color and almost identical in taste to a honeydew melon. I saved seed but don't think I'll grow any so if anyone wants seed for next season?

I had trashed all my mater plants and yesterday planted a dozen fall tomatoes in the lasagna bed. I'm doing as a man said his mother used to do, Stake every other one. The ones on ground will provide green mulch to keep the roots cooler. His comment was that she said some years the ones on ground did well, other years the staked were better. We'll see...

I am either impatient or something but I have small pumpkins, small canteloupe and they don't seem to grow, nor do they fall off. Maybe they'll do like the cucumbers and be tiny today and full grown tomorrow.

Cajun ~ I hope you will keep us posted on your hybrid squash. It may be tasty and worth saving seed from.

Ouch, Pod! Maybe you should quit kicking big rocks!

Too early to tell about the vol. tomatoes since so many of them are/were covered over (and not staked) by vol. winter squash foliage which is now slowly dying off... I can't even tell how many plants are really in that jungle!

Ouchy Podster= I know how that feels. hope you feel better soon. I broke my pinky toe a few months ago and tore the toenail completely off. (sandles). Then 3 weeks later I stubbed my big toe into a landscape timber and ended up with a Log in my toenail cuticle sideways that took everyone an hour to get it out cause I wouldn't hold still. My big toe had a brain of its own. Everytime hubby would come near it it would move and wiggle in all different directions and for some reason I could not control myself. Finally had to put my foot flat on the ground and LOOK far away. I was laughing at myself. I was horrible. Anyway= your aches remind me of min
As for pumpkins= from my experience= they grow fast at first then their growth slows down while they are ripening. I didn't grow any this year. I love growing giant pumpkins. (Howard Dills Atlantic Giant) I like to eat the early culls like you would crookneck squash. Very tasty. Slice, batter, fry. And I absolutely love the aroma of a pumpkin plant. I will surely grow some next year. I was just toooooo busy this year.
Been building Chicken coops for 2 days now. They might be finished by the end of the week.
So much to do in so little time. Building those Table Top Gardens and got to fill them with soil...gotta build some nesting boxes for chickens. Gotta till the new garden plot again. Gotta transplant 2500 cold crop seedlings. Gotta fertilize new tomato plants. Gotta clean out other raised garden beds and get those ready for more carrot seeds.
HOuse chores= always last... :D

Cricket, I wish I had one tenth of your energy!

rofl, I don't know where it comes from. Maybe from my turnip greens. I do always say that I beg for boredom but when that time actually gets here I always drag in a new project which normally ends up being some type of farming, gardening or construction.......love construction... etc.....

I so wish I still had energy and strength. I am always plugging away at things but it takes me so long to get anything done anymore. But I won't quit until they throw dirt in my face. :)

We got a new baby goat. It's 2 weeks old like our youngest 2. She came from a friend. Her momma died and he did not have time to bottle feed her. I think he actually couldn't get her to take the bottle and he was worried she would die. She is drinking a couple ounces at a time every 4 hours or so and she is nibbling hay and feed pellets. I think she will do fine. I have named her Bobbie. I don't know that i will keep her. I have a sale for a buck and a doe so i may let her go in that deal. Or I may keep her and let one of my other doe goatlings go. I'll see how they grow over the next couple of weeks.

I bought the tetnus injection for the little buckling I am selling as a pet. I need to band him today. I have a feeling he ain't gonna like it. The other one will stay a buck per the request of the person buying him. Each kid I sell will buy feed for the rest of the herd for nearly a month. That will really help.

I have had a bad headache for 3 days now. I am finally feeling better today but taking it easy. Had lots I wanted to do but I don't want to overdo it. I want to shift some chickens tomorrow. I am going to start putting laying hens in the freezer as soon as I get the freezer cleaned out. That is something else I wanted to start today. I want to cook up most of what is in there and freeze it all in individual servings. I think it would be used much easier that way. We are hoping to go camping and trail riding one weekend this fall and it would be nice to have the food already cooked.

I need to do some reading on that squash and cook it. There are 3 more on the vine. I will let you know how it turns out. If it's good I will surely save seed and see if it will breed true.

My yellow scallop is putting on some more fruit. I love those. I think the cocozelle and straightneck can both be pulled. They didn't do much at all. I have a trombocino that needs to be picked. I have one in the kitchen to cook also. I have never grown them before. How should they be cooked?

Cricket, I hope you get time to put on some pics of your new critters. I have been thinking of getting a few rabbits. I love to eat them and their fertilizer is great.

I really like the idea of those tabletop gardens. I may give that a try sometime. I think I am going to reconfigure my SFG yet again. *sigh* The 3' wide beds are just a bit too wide for me. Reaching out is too hard on my weakening muscles so I need to get the beds down to 2'. I don't know how that will affect the growing but I need to try it. Then I could get 3 beds about 2' X 10 -12' in the same spot and cover it all with a hoop house like Robyn builds. I could get started sooner in spring and go later in fall. It may all be a pipe dream but it doesn't cost anything to dream.

I went scrounging at the local dumpster and found everything I need to make my milking stand. That will sure help things. I am milking now but it's not very comfortable. Really feels good that the milking stand won't cost anything but the nails!!! I love it when a plan comes together. LOL

I'd better get off here and get busy. Still got a lot to do.

Take care of that toe!!

hes pretty Cajun.
sounds like you are very busy too.

the pygmy goat. She is sitting on her mini house inside the barn. She wanted to be right there so I put some hay up there.

Each coop is 6x9 ft for now. Later each coop will have the same space outside for running.

Building 3 coops right now. They only have dog wire on them right now but will also have chicken wire
on them later.

this pic= Ameraucanas. The rooster is much older than the hens. Hens are young. Rooster has molted.
He is missing many feathers.

The turkeys are young too. Burban Red ?spelling.

What do you call the females and the male turkeys----are they hens and roos too?

Buff Rock
2 hens, one roo

doe rabbit

The goat is very pretty. Did you say she was bred? You will really enjoy having goats. I love mine.

Your roo is a handsome gent. I had to beat both mine down today. They will end up in the pot if they did not learn a lesson. Homey dont play dat!

Your rabbit looks like a New Zealand White. They are a good all around breed. Have you raised rabbits before?

Turkey chicks are poults. The females are hens, the males are Toms. The amish here call the males Jakes, and in the British Isles they are called stags. I delivered 800 Broad Breasted White poults to a turkey farm in southern Ohio yesterday. It was one of those small world moments as it was the same place my Mother used to buy the thanksgiving and christmas turkey every year. About 1 1/2 miles from the house. I was able to have dinner with my sister and her family before heading back. It was great. I like this job.

I got almost 1 3/4 inches of rain last night, and more is expected today. This has been one of the screwiest summers weatherwise. Supposed to be in the 90s again today and muggy. I am supposed to get my own new chicks today. 50 pullets and 10 cockerels. These are Barred Rocks. Good layers and good sellers. Life goes on.....

Cajun treat the trombocino like zucchini. I think it is a bit drier but love the flavor when cooked with sweet onions and other vegies.

When the trombocinos get large and a hard shell, they can be stored like a winter squash. The thick neck can be sliced and fried and taste like fried green tomatoes. Tasty!

Nik, cool aspect to the job! BTW, did your mulberries ever root?

Cajun, yes the goat is bred. Will most likely be twins.
I have never raised rabbits. My sister, grandfather, and uncle did. I would help every now and then. And we had rabbits when I was a child...I am familiar with it but no expert.

Nik, I bet that was a fun trip all around. Thanks for reminding me what was what. (oh yeah, thats right, I had forgotten)

We need some rain. Not as bad as TX . But it is so hot the grass is having a heat stroke and my niece said it was so hot at her house that when she went out to check on the pumpkin patch, she found two pies and the chickens were in the creek skinny dipping.

I had plans to shift 4 pens of chickens today but it's raining. Guess I will have to work inside as bad as I hate it. I may get my cheese made today if I get everything else done.

I milked the girls before it started to rain this morning. Got 20oz from each one. Could have gotten a bit more but both my bottles were full.

I need to band the little buckling I am selling and give him his tetnus shot.

The little doe we are feeding on the bottle is doing well. Up to 4oz at a drinking. She is also nibbling hay and feed a lot. She is very lively. I have her out in the goat house in a crate so she can be with the others but they can't hurt her. I will bring her back up to the house to feed her. I am giving her milk from my does in her bottle instead of the replacer. She would drink the replacer but not as much of it as the milk. I figure if I have the milk why not raise her on it?

Nik, that sounds like a great job. If your job is something you enjoy you never have to work at working. Does that make sense? LOL

Thanks for the tips on the trombocino. We had blackened fish last night smothered with veggies. Mmmm

I need to get my onions and garlic planted. My eggplants are just now blooming and one has a small fruit on it.

Cricket, do you plan on raising the rabbits to eat? I did for several years and they are delicious.

I got 2 white mulberries to root. They are in a big cup right now but I need to pot them up to a pot. They look very healthy. The red and black ones were a bust. I grew them from seed I swapped for from the Netherlands. Same person the strange squash seed came from. I traded pawpaw seeds for them.

Yes, I love Rabbit. Yum Yum!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thats a great idea===real goat milk for the orphan babe.===
Speaking of goats.......This goat is really skiddish. I don't know how to make her trust me.
She was always skiddish at her home farm too. I didn't know that until I asked about it later.
I did get her to feed from my hand many times but she would move if she saw my other hand try to touch her.
I know animals can feel our frustrations and mine got the best of me and i just reached out there and grabbed her horns and made her hold still while I petted her..........was that a bad thing? I gently let her go and she just walked away.
She didn't run.

Table Top Garden thread
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1205112/

Caj, what breed of goat is your new kid? She's pretty!

Cricket ~ tell your niece it is so hot in TX the birds are using pot holders to pull the worms from the ground.

Monday 108°, Tuesday 109°, Wednesday 110° ~ living on the edge waiting to see what Thursday will bring.

Toes are on the mend ~ thanks. My own bo~bo. I have large feet and used to go barefoot always. The fire ants and sticker grass have discouraged me so I buy a quantity of $1 flipflops at the dollar store. When wore out, I toss and reach for another pair. Well, I have been watching our pond for the needy wildlife and caught my exposed toes on the A frame for a swing. Yeowch! Hobbled on concrete at work for the past two days but it will get better.

How long does poison ivy take to surface? I got into it Sunday and broke out this morning. Feels like full moon, I'm thinking our brains are fried.

Great score on the critters Cricket and on the interesting seeds Cajun. Be sure and save seed for what you like...

If you can, find some 'Touch-me-Not' (Jewel weed) which ALWAYS grows somewhere near poison ivy... crush a stem and rub it on any possibly exposed places. Failing that, scrub with some real homemade lye soap when you get back home.

However at this stage, I don't know if jewel weed will help or not. Lye soap has helped me, but that could be iffy.

A one time application of bleach on the affected area will dry up PI rash. Burns like the dickens but it works.

The goat is an African Pygmy like mine. She has really taken to the bottle. Reaches out and gets a hold on it now. I was having to open her mouth and put it in.

Your doe may never get as tame as you'd like. I think it goes back to handling them early. My doe, Molly, was a bottle baby and she is super tame. Dusty was raised by her momma and she is skittish even though she is handled an milked every day. She does like to have her face rubbed.

I'll let you all know how the squash tatses and you can all have seeds if you like.

Didn't get my cheese made today. I need some green onion to flavor it.

My Ladyfriend killed the fox that has been vexing the farm since May!!!! She comes over in the mornings after I go to work and takes care of the chickens and ducks. She has seen or chased off this fox a dozen times, at least. I thought I had killed it a while back, but I didn't. 2 weeks ago, Deb was sitting on the porch and ms. Fox came out and snagged a 1/2 grown hen and was gone with it before she could react. Yesterday, she heard Cogburn (king rooster) kicking up a fuss, and grabbed the rifle. The fox saw her and left Cogburn alone and took off. Since the fox always ran around the barn she didn't chase it, just set up an ambush and nailed it!! She even cleaned my rifle afterwards. I may have to keep this one!!

Does she own a fishing boat?

Can't even get her into MY fishing boat, but she can clean catfish like nobody's business.
I killed a big boar coon this morning. He was sniffing around the Serama cage so he was terminated with extreme prejudice. He's too big and rank for the stewpot, and this time of year his coat isn't worth the salt. But he won't be messing with my chickens anymore. You know what they say, the only good coon was on Davy Crokett's head. Now if I can get that deer that has been getting my greenbeans. That's right, Bambi makes a cute roast....

Nik, while I don't really like killing animals except for food, I do think it's good you got the predator 'coon!

ps... I've gone out on a limb and "contracted" for a Nubian doe and a companion wether next spring! Now I just have to find the money for some fencing... ^_^

Great news about the goats. I know you've been wanting one pretty bad.

I made my cheese and I must have done something wrong. It is not creamy like the cows milk cheese I made. I was really disappointed with it.

Congrats Darius on the goats. I bet you can't wait. Wish I could help on fencing....sigh

I thought chickens ate less during the summer???? just a question in the top of my head cause these chickens eat a lot more than the books say they should eat.

I bought more chickens. I surely hope I can afford the expense. You never know how the future will turn out.
I feel over whelmed , excited, and scared at the same time. And kinda= What have I done now!!!!!

I bought 2 more turkeys. 4 light brahma hens, 2 Ameraucana hens, 2 Rhode island red hens, 2 mixed RIR with Ameraucana hens, Some type of game rooster and two hens to go with him, 2 wylandotes?, and I think a gold colored brahma, A traditional pure bred RIR rooster. A Light Brahma rooster all for $65. and most all the hens are a year old and three hens are teens.

Just making room in the coops and organizing coops and building coops.
I now have a total of 44 birds to feed....................eeeeeeeeekkkkk

It's cold this morning. It's all the way down to 47°F!! It never made it out of the 70s yesterday, and it's not supposed to today either. I love it when the weather is like this!!

I have ducks hatching in my incubator. 4 of them so far, and 3 more have pipped. Another egg is wiggling a bit, so it should pip soon. I'll have 8-10 baby ducks when I get home from work today. I am also moving the barred rocks into the hatcher today. They should start to pip on Saturday. There are 24 of those.I think 2 of the serama eggs go into the hatcher this afternoon also,but my GF takes care of those puppies.

My sister is bringing me the mandolin slicer today, so I can get started making my saurkraut this weekend. I have lots of cabbages. And I think I have a line on some old tractor tires, so I can use them to raise spuds in next year.

Life is good, God is great

Darius, since Nubians are big goats you should be able to keep them in the electric fencing like I use. The posts are made of fiberglass and are pointed and push into the ground with your foot. They have 4 slots on them to clip the wire into. They cost a little over $2 each at TSC. The wire I use is nylon and stainless woven together and costs about $16 for a great big roll.

Cricket, my chickens are pigs no matter what the weather. I saved on feed today because I gave them the peels and cores of all the apples and pears I cleaned and I cleaned out the freezer today and they gor all the rejects except the shrimp and fish. The turtles in the river will get those. I had gumbo in there from '05. Stuff got lost in the back of the shelf but I have put in some plastic bins to act like drawers so I can see it all now.

Nik, it was cold here yesterday too. I had on a jacket while I was out in the yard peeling apples and pears. But it was hot today. How many ducks do you have now and did you get your kraut made? I have a head of cabbage I want to amke into kraut too. I got a good recipe from a friend. The only kraut I have ever liked is hers.

Worked on my goat fencing today for just a bit. I have decided I am going to refence the whole lot around the goat house for winter. I need to get the more expensive posts with closer wire clips for my pygmy goats. Especailly those nasty little kids who are wallering down the fence. Grrr. 3 of the 5 will be leaving as soon as they are weaned and I will use the money to buy fencing supplies. I have plenty wire, just need posts and a few handles.

I have not been feeling too well lately. Got a headache most days. I think it is sinus but the meds really aggravate my arythmia and it has been getting a bit worse so I don't want to chance it. I hate to think of winter coming. I HAVE to get a new chicken pen built down the hill or I will just have to turn the chickens out. I cannot go up that hill again in snow and ice. I have the chickens moved around now so I can get rid of the extras even if I have to send them to freezer camp. A man called last Friday and said he was coming out Saturday to get 4 hens and a roo but he never showed. When I do get shut of these extra hens I am going to tear down the pen they are in and build a nice, new pen in it's place. I want to use the deep litter method so they will stay up out of the mud this winter. I also want to build it to where I can cover it with a tarp but uncover it easy if it's a nice day. I am working on a plan now.

Ouch, Pod! I hope your toe is on the mend now. All ten of mine curled up when I read that.

I woke to rain this morning! Looks like a 1/4 inch, the first in over a month. The next two weeks are more of the same triple digits. We average 7 days out of the summer for 100 plus temps...this year we are going see over 60 days. The old record is 20. I'm sure some people think living in Texas is hell. This year you'd have a hard time finding a Texan not agree.

We are tearing thu the house and purging stuff. Plan on having an estate sale at the end of the month, then considering putting our house on the market. Our goals have changed since we moved here. We bought this place as an investment with plans to turn it into a B and B when the kids were grown. We've entertained guests so much over the years, it no longer appeals to us.lol
If it's going to sell, I'd like it to be before the youngest get into high school. If it doesn't, then we'll stick it out another 6 years. It's always been hard for me to think of leaving this house, because I couldn't imagine leaving my garden behind. This years drought has killed about half of it anyway. So I'm in a good frame of mind to let it go!

Darius, sorry I've been neglecting my e-mail. Boys out number the girls around here... If acv could determine the sex of offspring. I would say it was the opposite of getting females! lol

Cocoa ~ hooray for the rain at your home. I am sorry you are having to rethink your desires but glad that you can be decisive when necessary. We knew you were missing and I worried about the hot weather. Are you considering a cooler climate?

Drought and heat continue here and I've been nursing the lasagna bed along. Ripped up the first batch of cucumber plants as they had quit delivering. More are starting to produce and a third planting are germinating. I planted only a few Charentais canteloupe and the vines are loaded with small fruits.

NikB 47° ??? What the heck is that? lol We are following closely on Cocoas' 100°+ temps ~ over 50 days here.

Lynea, maybe selling and relocating may not be a bummer after all. (Frankly, I expect things will get worse even though I'm generally optimistic by nature.) My relocation to VA hasn't turned out as I had hoped and imagined, but Boy have I learned (and grown) a lot! What had seemed like a step down now seems to be a step up (or at least angled up) in the right direction.

Pod, my 2 surviving Charentais melon plants have long meandering vines and lots of blooms, but only 2-3 fruits between them. Weather!

Hopefully having too many fruits will not keep them from growing to their normal size. I've wondered if I should remove some. I'm fascinated to see how the various pollinators love those particular blooms.

Cocoa- I had no idea that you were planning on moving..... Moving is such a hard thing to do. I really hope your plans work out the way you need them to.

Cajun- You have a busy Fall ahead of you. I am currently rethinking my decision to raise goats. I have wanted goats for years and years but I am unsure what i want to do at the moment. I don't want to throw money into the wind. I need income and don't want to throw it away on wishful thinking. This goat wont let me touch her. I went shopping for a goat that I could milk and I was sold a skidish goat and they knew she would be hard to milk. So disappointed. I have never met an unfriendly goat until now. Good luck on moving your chicken coop. I wouldn't want to walk up an icy hill everyday either even if I was young and in great health. I also had a headache for a long while lately but I normally have sinus problems anyway. It ended up being infection so I started taking Olive Leaf. Hope your sinus headaches get better soon.

I have picked the last of our melons and been cleaning out the garden beds here and there. The only thing I have a hard time pulling up is the red and purple Zinnias. They are so pretty but they are taking up fall veggie space. The other flower I hate to pull up is the Vinca. They are really heat tolerant. The hotter it is the more they bloom.

It was actually cool this morning compared to all the other summer mornings. It was/is a hot humid summer but not as hot as Tx. I don't know how anybody can get any work done outside over there. Even though we are not as hot, we try to do a lot of work around home in the mornings or late evenings. My husband was putting shingles on the roof until after midnight last night. (have a big bright night light on the power pole)

I had this little chick that I been raising since a day old. It was the smallest of them all and was having a problem standing up when it was a chick. I watered it and made sure it got food. I babied it. I named HER Midget. Now this chick is 13 to 14 weeks old. . It comes to me when it is feeding time and it flies up on my arm like a parakeet. It follows me around in the coop like a dog would and waits and watches for me to find crickets under the boards. Here recently it's waddles have been growing bigger and I think its a rooster. LOL.......roosters go in the cooking pot and I don't think I have the heart to do that with this one. I was so sure it was a hen.....I thought she could give me eggs and be my friend til the day she dies..........fooey.!!

Pod, Ha...If it's 47 at night. I'm moving next door to Nik! As much as I've been complaining about the weather, I wouldn't know what to do with myself in a another state. Most of our family is here and I don't think we'll move too far from where we are right now.I love East Texas's sandy soil :0)

Darius, I don't feel like it's a bummer. I feel good, having some clarity about our future. This house is too much square footage not to be turned into a business. I'm confident that I can continue with far less acreage as well. I don't know if it makes sense but, I feel like we have too much for our needs and it seem wasteful and disrespectful. I hope someone else can finish what we envisioned, or can make more out of it. I'm curios tho, If you don't mind me asking. How did you decide on VA when you moved?

Cricket, sorry to hear about the goat. Milk sure comes in handy cutting chicken feed costs. I think good milkers are hard to find. No one really wants to get rid of their 'good' animals. It takes time to find the right one. I hope the right one comes along for you!

Everyone here is trying to get rid of their animals, because of the hay shortage. They said on the news that the SPCA is getting more calls about horses, then dogs and cats.

We are loading a third trailer full of scrap metal today. I don't think dh has ever gotten rid of anything in his life. I was surprised he has this much junk hidden from me.lol

Why SW Virginia? Kind of a long story... When I was about 20 (in Miami), an aunt and uncle with more money than the rest of us bought a summer cabin in Boone, NC. We'd all go and stay a few days during our vacations; summers are very cool in the mountains! I saw snowflakes (once) when drinking morning coffee on the porch with my uncle on the Fourth of July!

Eventually another aunt/uncle, and my mother/step-father bought there too, living year around as they retired. When I was 40 and bailed from the corporate world in 1980, I bought 21 acres there and moved. Didn't stay but 4 years, no work back then except the university or McD's. (I was raising show-quality Egyptian Arabians and went bankrupt.)

Mother was the last of our family living there, and she died 8 years ago. When my half-sister and I decided to pool our meager resources, we wanted to go back to Boone... but it had become SO expensive. Run-down single-wide trailers on 1/4 acre went for $250K! So we started looking in ever-widening circles in the general mountain areas nearby. I guess we are about 60-70 miles away by the roads, closer as the crow flies. We found a decent livable structure here on a creek, with a root cellar, spring house, tool shed and a falling down barn on 19 wooded (and mostly steep) acres for under $100K in 2006.

Compared to real estate prices elsewhere, it sounded good... and here we are. Our elevation is not as high as Boone (2200' vs 3300'), so our summers are warmer, and our winters not as severe. We usually get snowfall 3-5 times a winter, and seldom more than 4-6", whereas Boone has several ski resorts (and a dozen summer golf courses). Our "views" are not as spectacular as Boone, though :( , and the locals are not an interesting mixed bag like a college/resort town.