I'm getting ready to blanch and freeze a bunch of green beans this
morning. Actually the beans are purple but they turn green when cooked.
Also have a 3-gallon bucket of sweet chiles (peppers to Yanqui's) to
deseed, chop, and freeze. Most of these are Longhorns from plants I
started on January 15, 2003, they slightly froze back during our mild
winter and I pruned and fed them in February and they are really producing.

The Tatume and trombocino squash are loaded with blooms and small
squash, looks like another bumper year around here. The sweet kumquat is
loaded with blooms so it won't be long before I feed it and spray it
with 80% sulphur to keep the citrus rust mites in check. We've already
put up several trays of lemon juice cubes and the Ponderosa lemon is
loaded with both fruit and blooms. Figs are coming on like gang busters
and the Fuyu persimmon is loaded with fruit, I've been combating white
scale on that tree and seem to be winning.

Noticed the first eggplant of the season this morning, about six inches
long, may have some broiled eggplant and squash to go with the grilled
steaks on Memorial Day.

Life is good.

George

George Shirley > wrote:

>I'm getting ready to blanch and freeze a bunch of green beans this
>morning. Actually the beans are purple but they turn green when cooked.
>Also have a 3-gallon bucket of sweet chiles (peppers to Yanqui's) to
>deseed, chop, and freeze. Most of these are Longhorns from plants I
>started on January 15, 2003, they slightly froze back during our mild
>winter and I pruned and fed them in February and they are really producing.
>
>The Tatume and trombocino squash are loaded with blooms and small
>squash, looks like another bumper year around here. The sweet kumquat is
>loaded with blooms so it won't be long before I feed it and spray it
>with 80% sulphur to keep the citrus rust mites in check. We've already
>put up several trays of lemon juice cubes and the Ponderosa lemon is
>loaded with both fruit and blooms. Figs are coming on like gang busters
>and the Fuyu persimmon is loaded with fruit, I've been combating white
>scale on that tree and seem to be winning.
>
>Noticed the first eggplant of the season this morning, about six inches
>long, may have some broiled eggplant and squash to go with the grilled
>steaks on Memorial Day.
>
>Life is good.
>
>George

You sure know how to rub it in George ;-).
Weatherman was calling for frost last night so we moved everything we
could back inside, covered what couldn't be moved. Apparently no frost
but the Min/Max thermometer showed 37º as the overnight low. Frost is
forecast again for tonight. We'll see.
One thing we do have though is rhubarb, do we have rhubarb!! And, the
garlic is doing great.
Ross,
Ontario, Canada.
New AgCanada Zone 5b
43º19' North
80º16' West

George Shirley wrote:

> I'm getting ready to blanch and freeze a bunch of green beans this
> morning. Actually the beans are purple but they turn green when cooked.
> Also have a 3-gallon bucket of sweet chiles (peppers to Yanqui's) to
> deseed, chop, and freeze. Most of these are Longhorns from plants I
> started on January 15, 2003, they slightly froze back during our mild
> winter and I pruned and fed them in February and they are really producing.
> The Tatume and trombocino squash are loaded with blooms and small
> squash, looks like another bumper year around here. The sweet kumquat is
> loaded with blooms so it won't be long before I feed it and spray it
> with 80% sulphur to keep the citrus rust mites in check. We've already
> put up several trays of lemon juice cubes and the Ponderosa lemon is
> loaded with both fruit and blooms. Figs are coming on like gang busters
> and the Fuyu persimmon is loaded with fruit, I've been combating white
> scale on that tree and seem to be winning.
> Noticed the first eggplant of the season this morning, about six inches
> long, may have some broiled eggplant and squash to go with the grilled
> steaks on Memorial Day.
> Life is good.

I tried pickling figs last year. It was interesting, but very very cloying
sweet. Would rather have them dried. The dried fig jam, very highly spiced,
came out tasting a little like mincemeat and was purely addictive - something
about the cinnamon & cloves I think.
Snatched 1 batch of California beets from the store to make as samples.
Read in newspaper favorite farmer had his beets ready and wanted samples for
his table at Farmers' Market this a.m. Sold whole case of half-pints red wine
pickled beets before 9 am. Sold all of fresh dried bay leaf by 10. I don't
make a lot of money, but it's fun. Learned why also that traditionally dressed
Muslim lady did not want to sample my world famous *red wine* flavored beets.
Learn somthin new every day don't I?
We'll be having grilled pattypans, asparagus, and cole slaw, all from the
Farmer market produce. That honking big pork roast is from someplace else.
Edrena

George Shirley wrote:

> I'm getting ready to blanch and freeze a bunch of green beans this
> morning. Actually the beans are purple but they turn green when cooked.
> Also have a 3-gallon bucket of sweet chiles (peppers to Yanqui's) to
> deseed, chop, and freeze. Most of these are Longhorns from plants I
> started on January 15, 2003, they slightly froze back during our mild
> winter and I pruned and fed them in February and they are really producing.
>
> The Tatume and trombocino squash are loaded with blooms and small
> squash, looks like another bumper year around here. The sweet kumquat is
> loaded with blooms so it won't be long before I feed it and spray it
> with 80% sulphur to keep the citrus rust mites in check. We've already
> put up several trays of lemon juice cubes and the Ponderosa lemon is
> loaded with both fruit and blooms. Figs are coming on like gang busters
> and the Fuyu persimmon is loaded with fruit, I've been combating white
> scale on that tree and seem to be winning.
>
> Noticed the first eggplant of the season this morning, about six inches
> long, may have some broiled eggplant and squash to go with the grilled
> steaks on Memorial Day.
>
> Life is good.
>
> George
>


I'm supposed to be out weeding and planting the garden, but it's cool
and raining again. (great weather to have planted the garden
*yesterday*.)

I made tofu for the first time this morning. It's easy to make (with
Wife's soymilk maker), but I still managed to mess up the whole kitchen
doing it. I figured out a really good coagulator -- I dissolved 1 tsp
of pickling lime in a half cup of vinegar and let it rest a spell while
I boiled and cooled the soy milk. The hot soymilk clotted immediately
when I added it -- I probably could have used less than half as much
coagulant.

I haven't figured out what to do with the leftover soybean pulp ("okara".)

I have a 20 pound frozen turkey in the electric roaster; it should be
done about 9:00 tonight. If the weather sucks tomorrow, I might make a
*bunch* of turkey soup from the drippings and the picked carcass and put
up a cannerful of quart jars.

It has stopped raining for a bit, so I think I'll try pulling weeds in
the mud. I'd really like to get the peppers and tomatoes in the ground
today. The tomatilloes have been "heeled in" in the compost pile for a
few days, hardening off. They look a little ragged from the wind, but
they are blooming now.

Best regards,
Bob

zxcvbob wrote:
> George Shirley wrote:
>
>>
>> a bunch of stuff everyone has already read.
>>
>
>
> I'm supposed to be out weeding and planting the garden, but it's cool
> and raining again. (great weather to have planted the garden *yesterday*.)
>
> I made tofu for the first time this morning. It's easy to make (with
> Wife's soymilk maker), but I still managed to mess up the whole kitchen
> doing it. I figured out a really good coagulator -- I dissolved 1 tsp
> of pickling lime in a half cup of vinegar and let it rest a spell while
> I boiled and cooled the soy milk. The hot soymilk clotted immediately
> when I added it -- I probably could have used less than half as much
> coagulant.

What is the fascination with tofu? I've eaten it, cooked with it, but
never made it. It's a good source of protein if you're a true vegan but
I would rather have a nice steak myself.

>
> I haven't figured out what to do with the leftover soybean pulp ("okara".)
>
> I have a 20 pound frozen turkey in the electric roaster; it should be
> done about 9:00 tonight. If the weather sucks tomorrow, I might make a
> *bunch* of turkey soup from the drippings and the picked carcass and put
> up a cannerful of quart jars.

I've never owned or used an electric roaster but it seems that one would
be handy for a number of things, mostly I wouldn't have to heat up the
kitchen with my stove's oven or the microwave/convection oven. Usually I
do turkeys in the Sharp microwave/convection oven as it requires less
energy and produces less heat in the kitchen than the electric stove.
Give me your advice, do I really need a big ol' electric roaster? I know
where I can get one at a hefty discount.

>
> It has stopped raining for a bit, so I think I'll try pulling weeds in
> the mud. I'd really like to get the peppers and tomatoes in the ground
> today. The tomatilloes have been "heeled in" in the compost pile for a
> few days, hardening off. They look a little ragged from the wind, but
> they are blooming now.
>
> Best regards,
> Bob

The wind has been blowing hard here for at least two weeks. The soaker
hoses are still running and hardly making a dent in the dry soil.
Hopefully we will get a good, soaking rain in the next week and that
will help. It's 95F outside right now and I'm about to head for the
supermarket and the library, not necessarily in that order.

Put up 9 packages of chopped sweet peppers, and 4 packages of green
beans. This the first time I've grown purple Trionfo Viletto beans but
they are right tasty so I'll probably grow them again. Purple flowers,
purple vines and leaves, purple beans, make a good show on the south
trellis in the garden. The beans turn green when cooked and the
blanching water is turned a deep green, might make a natural dye but
haven't tried it yet. Beans taste good and have a slight nutty flavor,
much different from Kentucky Wonder, Challenger, or Blue Lake. The seeds
came from Pinetree Seeds and they say they came from Italy. Very
cosmopolitan garden, Mexican and Italian squash varieties, Italian
beans, Swiss chard, French radishes, and plain ol' 'Murican corn.

George

zxcvbob > wrote:

> I haven't figured out what to do with the leftover soybean pulp ("okara".)

If you bake much bread, you can use it instead of cornmeal for dusting
the peel, or breadpan, or baking pan, or whatever.

wrote:

> Tofu - compared to steak - also has no cholesterol and very
> low calories and fat content. This is especially important
> to me since I have had to stop taking a statin drug because
> it was beginning to cause muscle problems (which can become
> very serious).

Very serious. I wound up in the ICU in April and then a variety of
stepdown units before I escpaed for 12 days because of it. Couldn't
even turn over without somebody doing it for me. I'm quite lucky there
was no permeant organ damage. They *mention* it (last) in the tv ads
but sort of skid through it
"notifyyourdoctorifyouexperiencemusclepainorweakne ssthiscouldbeppotentiallyaseriouscondition."

wrote:
> On Thu, 03 Jun 2004 12:38:56 -0700, Brian Mailman
> > wrote:
>
>
wrote:
>>
>>
>>>Tofu - compared to steak - also has no cholesterol and very
>>>low calories and fat content. This is especially important
>>>to me since I have had to stop taking a statin drug because
>>>it was beginning to cause muscle problems (which can become
>>>very serious).
>>
>>Very serious. I wound up in the ICU in April and then a variety of
>>stepdown units before I escpaed for 12 days because of it. Couldn't
>>even turn over without somebody doing it for me. I'm quite lucky there
>>was no permeant organ damage. They *mention* it (last) in the tv ads
>>but sort of skid through it
>>"notifyyourdoctorifyouexperiencemusclepainorweak nessthiscouldbeppotentiallyaseriouscondition."
>
>
> I know, I read your earlier post (for which I thank you, as
> it alerted me to the possibility).
>
> I'd been taking the statin for about five years ...
>
> What happened to me is that I had gradually increasing
> muscle pain. OK, didn't know what it was. Then I had to
> stop taking the statin drug because I was on an antibiotic
> for quite a while - six weeks - and the particular
> antibiotic I was taking has a bad interaction with the
> statin drug.
>
> After I stopped taking the antibiotic, I resumed the statin
> drug. With my first (first!) dose of it, I could barely
> walk the next day, my leg muscles wouldn't hold me. All
> that night, I had really serious muscle pain. I knew enough
> not to take any more of the statin drug and to go to the
> doctor post haste, which I did.
>
> No more statin drug for me, which leaves me with a bit of a
> problem cholesterol. The doctor has me trying another
> (non-statin) medication called Zetia - this works in a
> different way than the statins. It remains to be seen
> whether this will control my cholesterol level and whether
> it will have bad effects on me. I'm waiting for the results
> of the blood test now.
>
> It also remains to be seen whether the manufacturer will
> give it to me free (on a Patient Assistance Program) because
> otherwise I cannot have it at all - we cannot afford to buy
> it ourselves.
>
> I'm willing to be not only a vegetarian but a vegan (no
> animal foods) to control my cholesterol if need be, but the
> problem is that this doesn't work for me - I've done it in
> the past for as long as six months (NO consumption of
> cholesterol at all for six months) and my cholesterol did
> not budge. I have, I am told, an hereditary condition.
>
> Great. My grandmother died of heart disease at 62. I am 60
> now. I don't intend to check out for a long, long time.
>
> Pat
>
>
> --
> To email me, remove the trap and type my first
> name in its place.
>
> "Rats and roaches live by competition under the laws of
> supply and demand. It is the privilege of human beings to
> live under the laws of justice and mercy." - Wendell Berry

I also have inherited high chloesterol and have done well for more than
ten years on simvastin (generic Zocor). My total C reading is down
around 135 and my triglycerides are normally around 130-135. I still
have the heart disease but not all the high readings anymore. I get a
liver profile every 6 months and so far so good.

George

wrote:

> On Sat, 29 May 2004 23:42:08 GMT, Blanche Nonken
> > wrote:
>
> >zxcvbob > wrote:
> >
> >> I haven't figured out what to do with the leftover soybean pulp ("okara".)
> >
> >If you bake much bread, you can use it instead of cornmeal for dusting
> >the peel, or breadpan, or baking pan, or whatever.
>
> Okara is damp, about like used coffee grounds. It doesn't
> resemble cornmeal at all. You'd have to dry it first,
> surely? Even dried, I don't think it would be anything like
> cornmeal (I could be wrong about this).

The last time I tried making tofu, the okara I had left was, while damp,
still not that muddy. Letting it dry a bit spread out on a towel got it
so I could use it that way.

(I had a hard time finding soy beans fresh enough to keep that rancid
taste out of the tofu, so I just stopped.)

>
> There are recipes that use okara. I've used it in muffins,
> for instance, and quick breads. I generally just feed it to
> my dogs, though. They love it.

It doesn't leave them gassy?

wrote:
...
>
> What happened to me is that I had gradually increasing
> muscle pain. OK, didn't know what it was.

Same here, and fatigue. I chalked it up to busy holiday prep, AND my
mother being in the hospital with some serious conditions AND being
removed summarily from her retirement complex w/o much notice and having
to: 1) find her another residence; and 2) reduce her worldly belongings
yet again AND running back and forth (and even if it's only 100 miles,
still 4-5 hours on the Grayhound each way because it's a milk run) AND
having a dinner for 12 the Monday following yet another weekend like
that... figured I had a reason to be not in the best of shape.

> Then I had to
> stop taking the statin drug because I was on an antibiotic
> for quite a while - six weeks - and the particular
> antibiotic I was taking has a bad interaction with the
> statin drug.

Got it. Same here, but it wasn't stopped because a different doc than
my primary at Kaiser prescribed it and didn't check my chart.

> After I stopped taking the antibiotic, I resumed the statin
> drug. With my first (first!) dose of it, I could barely
> walk the next day, my leg muscles wouldn't hold me. All
> that night, I had really serious muscle pain. I knew enough
> not to take any more of the statin drug and to go to the
> doctor post haste, which I did.

Good. I wasn't aware that there was a problem, and when I was I wasn't
aware it was the statin so I kept on taking it.

> No more statin drug for me, which leaves me with a bit of a
> problem cholesterol. The doctor has me trying another
> (non-statin) medication called Zetia - this works in a
> different way than the statins.

As soon as some other metabolic disorders stabilize mine wants to begin
again with Pravacol. While it's a statin also, its profile is different
from the "-tor/-cor" ones and there's a much reduced chance of this
("rhabdomyolysis") happening.

B/

Brian Mailman wrote:
> wrote:
> ..
>
>>What happened to me is that I had gradually increasing
>>muscle pain. OK, didn't know what it was.
>
>
> Same here, and fatigue. I chalked it up to busy holiday prep, AND my
> mother being in the hospital with some serious conditions AND being
> removed summarily from her retirement complex w/o much notice and having
> to: 1) find her another residence; and 2) reduce her worldly belongings
> yet again AND running back and forth (and even if it's only 100 miles,
> still 4-5 hours on the Grayhound each way because it's a milk run) AND
> having a dinner for 12 the Monday following yet another weekend like
> that... figured I had a reason to be not in the best of shape.
>
>
>>Then I had to
>>stop taking the statin drug because I was on an antibiotic
>>for quite a while - six weeks - and the particular
>>antibiotic I was taking has a bad interaction with the
>>statin drug.
>
>
> Got it. Same here, but it wasn't stopped because a different doc than
> my primary at Kaiser prescribed it and didn't check my chart.
>
>
>>After I stopped taking the antibiotic, I resumed the statin
>>drug. With my first (first!) dose of it, I could barely
>>walk the next day, my leg muscles wouldn't hold me. All
>>that night, I had really serious muscle pain. I knew enough
>>not to take any more of the statin drug and to go to the
>>doctor post haste, which I did.
>
>
> Good. I wasn't aware that there was a problem, and when I was I wasn't
> aware it was the statin so I kept on taking it.
>
>
>>No more statin drug for me, which leaves me with a bit of a
>>problem cholesterol. The doctor has me trying another
>>(non-statin) medication called Zetia - this works in a
>>different way than the statins.
>
>
> As soon as some other metabolic disorders stabilize mine wants to begin
> again with Pravacol. While it's a statin also, its profile is different
> from the "-tor/-cor" ones and there's a much reduced chance of this
> ("rhabdomyolysis") happening.
>
> B/

Reading what y'all have to say about statins and the fatigue has got me
to thinking. As I said in an earlier post I have been on Zocor for a
long time. In the last few months I have been bothered by chronic
fatigue, get up in the morning and within an hour I have to lie down and
take a nap, again in the afternoon. I seem to be always tired, and some
part of me is always aching and hurting. I think I'll see my doctor,
have an appointment soon anyway and see what he says. He is from
Colombia originally and isn't much on writing prescriptions if there's
another way to do it. So far has taken me off of insulin and a couple of
diuretics and I'm doing better than ever on less meds. Yup, think I'll
give him a call and set up some blood tests and see what he has to say.
Thanks for the tips.

George

George Shirley wrote:

> Reading what y'all have to say about statins and the fatigue has got me
> to thinking. As I said in an earlier post I have been on Zocor for a
> long time. In the last few months I have been bothered by chronic
> fatigue, get up in the morning and within an hour I have to lie down and
> take a nap, again in the afternoon. I seem to be always tired, and some
> part of me is always aching and hurting.

If it's *increasing* fatigue/weakness and pain, absolutely get checked.
What is happening is that your liver is somehow tricked into thinking
your body is starving/malnourished and starts taking apart muscle fibers
for protein to make energy from. Do a search on "rhabdomyolysis" for
more complete, not to mention accurate, descriptions.

> I think I'll see my doctor, have an appointment soon anyway and see what he says. He is from
> Colombia originally and isn't much on writing prescriptions if there's
> another way to do it. So far has taken me off of insulin and a couple of
> diuretics and I'm doing better than ever on less meds.

Sensible. No reason to poison yerself more than you have to.

> Yup, think I'll
> give him a call and set up some blood tests and see what he has to say.

More than likely it's something else, unless the schtuff you're
describing is increasing--and calling it "fatigue" is a bit misleading,
it's more like you can't move, not that you don't want to.

Be sure to have a liver panel and a test for an enzyme called "ck" or
"cpk" (it's released when muscles are damaged; it's usually used for
cardiac events but in this case can tell you rather quickly if there's
something else).

B/