New England ~ January 2014

camprn wrote: (snip)

...Bad news, I left the faucet wand in the cold  water position so there is currently no hot water in the kitchen.   The good news is I had this section of copper pipe replaced a few years ago to the pex tubing and most likely I have a small section of ice in the tube that will hopefully resolve as we warm up a bit.

(/snip)

Ah, DANG! Do you have a hot water tank heater or is your hot water indirectly heated by the furnace (no tank)? Are your pipes exposed in the basement? Can you feel where the ice spot is?

mollyhespra wrote:
Jessica!  Welcome back!!!  

NHGardener wrote: (snip)

Any plans for new additions to your gardens? I may cut out the broccoli this year due to cabbage worms, BUT I just came across this:  http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/536919 "Not only are they harmless, They are absolutley delectable.I harvested a bunch of them this morning and steamed them with a small broccoli floret. With the broccoli you cant even tell that your eating them. Alone they are like eating little broccoli flavored shrimp. When steemed they firm right up and have a nice snap to them." LOLOL That's a new perspective.

   (Thanks, I needed the bellylaugh!)

Maybe CC would be up for a little steamed cabbage worms with her aphid smoothie...

(You probably missed those posts about CC's indoor aphid problem.  Suffice it to say her smoothies were particularly...interesting...earlier this week.)

*ROFLMAO*  OMG, that the best laugh I've had in ages...  

Haven't read the article yet but I'll bet it's do-able...I like shrimp!
   Hey...I wonder if they contain B12???  I need a source and this may be it!  I'll have to look into that.

All's well here.  The ocean is steaming as the water is 40 and the air is 0, so I haven't tried to dig out yet. Lilly is SO BORED that, even tho she knows it's a no-no, she's sitting in front of my monitor, walking ON my keyboard - just being a real pest. So I broke out the catnip, which only happens once or twice a year, and was sparingly sprinkling it onto her roller ball toys in the living room. Meanwhile, she quietly jumps onto the kitchen counter (another no-no), knocks down the whole open bag of catnip (stupid me), then rolled around in it and ate it. She's now in a stupor with a happy grin on her face, and hasn't moved for the past hour.  If cats had eye whites I'm sure her would be beet red.

Off to read about the shrimp.
CC

PS  That article is SO FUNNY!  If I miss them when cleaning and then blanch my leafies they float to the top.  Now I'll have a delemma about whether to throw them out or use them as a side dish.  Crud.
  

cc wrote: She's now in a stupor with a happy grin on her face, and hasn't moved for the past hour.  If cats had eye whites I'm sure her would be beet red.

  I hope that's medical catnip you're giving her.
( ^ That icon oughta wake everyone up)
(didn't quite get the hang of the quoting technique) 

Heating via woodstove here, doing midnight feedings like a baby. Electric blankets are probably the single most important invention in history. Hope the bees & chickens are surviving this.

I'm continuing the snow in FL thing in Senseless Banter before we get in trouble.   

Check it out!

CC

CapeCoddess wrote:I'm continuing the snow in FL thing in Senseless Banter before we get in trouble.   

Check it out!

CC

No worries CC, this is a general free style regional forum. The conversation at this time of year flows differently than the Florida or Southern Cali regional forums. But it was a good thing to put into the senseless banter thread.   

Can't find anything on vit B12 content- Google actually froze up when I tried   - but did find this:

Some caterpillars can actually contain more protein and fat gram for gram than a turkey leg, but that fat comes from healthier monounsaturated sources.
Protein: 25-53 grams
Fat: 20 grams
Carbohydrates: N/A

Turkey leg, cooked
Protein: 27.87 grams
Fat: 9.82 grams
Carbohydrates: 0.13 grams

I can see it now, CC's Cricket Farm. More protein per gram that you could ever want.  

camprn wrote:I can see it now, CC's Cricket Farm. More protein per gram that you could ever want.  

 

But seriously...who needs crickets when we can raise cabbage loopers by the gobs!  With a "YOU PICK EM" sign.

Besides, I'm sure that crickets can get stuck in your hair...just like
PALMETTO BUGS!     

(there I go again with the FL thang...I gotta git outside...I'm going crazy)

 
CC

CC and Camp,

No, not $3 for 10 gallons! However, how much do you use per load?

NHGardner.....I started a separate thread about Ray's free seeds this year, even posted his video if anyone needed verification.  I've sent in my SASE already.

In the olden days, when I was a kid (1940s and 50s) we lived in cold-water flats (no central heating).  We left the water tap running very slowly all nite long on those cold winter nites so the pipes didn't freeze.  I'm happy to report we never lost a pipe.
In those days the wood-burning or oil-burning kitchen stove made the kitchen the warmest room in the house, a thick Army blanket would be hung over the kitchen doorway to keep any heat in the kitchen, and we slept under heavy comforters and blankets because the stove was allowed to go completely out at nite.
When we kids woke in the morning, it was a race across cold floors to the warmth of the kitchen where Mom would have started the fires even before the sun came up.
I'm so grateful for central heating and modern appliances and no more winter-long colds.

donnainzone10 wrote:There are other environmentally-friendly options.

Yes please post a recipe for your laundry soap here.

donnainzone10 wrote:CC and Camp,

No, not $3 for 10 gallons!  However, how much do you use per load?

I use between 1/4 and 1/3 cup per full load in a HE front loader washing machine.

CapeCoddess wrote:

(snip)...I'm sure that crickets can get stuck in your hair...just like
PALMETTO BUGS!     

(there I go again with the FL thang...I gotta git outside...I'm going crazy)


CC

NOOOOOOOOO!!!  NO PALMETTO BUGS ALLOWED IN NEW ENGLAND!!!!

For anyone who hasn't experienced them, here are some descriptions of Palmetto Bug behaviour.

For those of you fortunate enough to never have encountered one, here's a typical story.

I tried to find a video that captures THAT sound they make, that raspy, spine-tingling sound that makes your skin crawl and every little hair stand on end because you know, you just KNOW that you're about to get dive-bombed and you're just praying that they don't get in your hair or grab on to your skin with their spiny grappling-hooks disguised as legs...but I couldn't find one.  

Just as well, I'm all skeeved out just remembering.  Come to think of it, I thought ticks were gross, but PB's are MUCH worse...the only thing they have on ticks is that they don't carry Lyme.

Camp.

I don't think anything can beat the cost per use you quote.

mollyhespra wrote:

CapeCoddess wrote:

(snip)...I'm sure that crickets can get stuck in your hair...just like
PALMETTO BUGS!     

(there I go again with the FL thang...I gotta git outside...I'm going crazy)


CC

NOOOOOOOOO!!!  NO PALMETTO BUGS ALLOWED IN NEW ENGLAND!!!!

For anyone who hasn't experienced them, here are some descriptions of Palmetto Bug behaviour.

For those of you fortunate enough to never have encountered one, here's a typical story.

I tried to find a video that captures THAT sound they make, that raspy, spine-tingling sound that makes your skin crawl and every little hair stand on end because you know, you just KNOW that you're about to get dive-bombed and you're just praying that they don't get in your hair or grab on to your skin with their spiny grappling-hooks disguised as legs...but I couldn't find one.  

Just as well, I'm all skeeved out just remembering.  Come to think of it, I thought ticks were gross, but PB's are MUCH worse...the only thing they have on ticks is that they don't carry Lyme.

Shoot....came in for a   break and now I need a shower just from reading all this.  Why do they do that dive bomb thing...how can they be so bold???
  
 
And hiding in cowboy boots & under the toilet seat...oh please...where's the 'retching' emoticon???

Back to shoveling...at least it's safe out there.
CC

It looks like a very large oriental cockroach, which also prefer rich warmer outdoor environments.  Of course we could have this giant Madagascar hissing cockroach.

http://images.nationalgeographic.com/wpf/media-live/photos/000/005/cache/hissing-cockroach_574_600x450.jpg

Here comes another sanderson story.  When I worked as a health inspector, I was with City building inspectors (all males) inspecting a German cockroach-infested apartment.  It was so bad that they were on the walls and ceilings and one fell in my then permed shoulder-length hair.  Had to control my female instincts     and calmly let one of the guys pick it out of my hair.  Wasn't easy in all those curls!

Then there was the time the fleas at a cat lady's home covered my white bell bottoms until they were grey . . .

Sanderson, bleck!

SO, my vermin count is up to 4. This is good.

Aphids, Cabbage Worms, Cockroaches & Ticks?

mollyhespra wrote:Aphids, Cabbage Worms, Cockroaches & Ticks?

Maybe we could get Plantoid to smoke them all for us!   

GG

As I sit here with the fan blowing on me because it is too hot to be without, I'm   at this whole thread. But then I checked the weather at home (see below) and decide I'm ok.

Kay

Goosegirl wrote:

mollyhespra wrote:Aphids, Cabbage Worms, Cockroaches & Ticks?

Maybe we could get Plantoid to smoke them all for us!    

GG

  
If they're from our SFGs, at least we'll know they're free range & organic. 

GG, I was reading your post in 2014 N&C Midwest about not doing corn anymore and my first thought was, I wonder if the corn worms are edible...?

We really gotta get past our squeamishness, folks.  There's a bounty of organics out there and other parts of the world are taking advantage of it! 
    
(there he is again...taunting me from the vinegar..."I dare ya to cook us up" he says) 

CC

CapeCoddess wrote:...We really gotta get past our squeamishness, folks.  There's a bounty of organics out there and other parts of the world are taking advantage of it!...

You first!      

Maybe you can start a trend in the U.S. and become rich and famous!

boffer wrote:

CapeCoddess wrote:...We really gotta get past our squeamishness, folks.  There's a bounty of organics out there and other parts of the world are taking advantage of it!...

You first!      

Maybe you can start a trend in the U.S. and become rich and famous!

Chocolate covered ants are quite tasty. And I've heard toasted, roasted grasshoppers are too. Maybe with a little garlic?

Kay

Chapulines with chili (and often lead) in Mexico!  You could start an organic, lead-free chili coated line of roasted insects!!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chapulines

Crickets!

If bees were not getting so scarce, I would have also mentioned toasted, chocolate covered bumblebees.  Very rice crispyish.

Kay

I had a very unusual high school Biology teacher who brought in the ants and bees.