No pics and just a short one from me today, as it’s too durn pretty outside to stay on the machine for long. But: in case you don’t know, many vegetable plants only require 30-90 days of growth before harvest. And many are very easy to grow; lettuce and chard and potatoes and even tomatoes. There are many foods that freeze well, or can be stored dry.

Why am I reminding you of this? Because the flooding in the Midwest is going to utterly ruin a lot of our corporate farms, the farms that we still rely upon for our system of cheap and readily available food. No, I don’t predict starvation and food shortages, but yes, I do predict a rise in the price of food starting this fall or sooner, an even more dramatic rise than is already coming due to inflation and energy prices.

Spade up some grass. Fill a couple of pots. Head over to a community plot, or just create one on some unused land in your ’hood. It’s not too late.

Our good friend Bruce D was teasing me about being such a flower-oriented poster, so I’m very happy to finally include some of the early performing veggies in today’s garden post. Lots of pics, slow for dial up, and damn! Just try to make me slide into a bad mood today, nah. gunna. happen. Not with this much blooming and sunshine.

Today’s Mystery Bloom! I’m so sorry I can’t seem to do it photojustice. Seriously, it’s so delicate and lovely, and after waiting all last year with no results, it’s esp satisfying to see it turn on now.  Read more 

Massive post alert, Cross-posted from The Global Sociology Blog, because believe it or not, there is other stuff going on in the world besides tomorrow’s much anticipated coronation.

I read all these articles and reports so you don’t have to.

Weeks after the food riots spread around the world, a flurry of articles have been published all over the place, taking stock of what is happening, providing analysis and critique as well as prospects on global food production and policy. So let’s review.  Read more 

It turns out that if we feed our bodies with the diet we evolved to accommodate, we are healthier and live longer.  Read more 

Holidays are often times when the confluence of family, friends, food and drink bring new things to your table. This year at the Feral household I served my Pear wine with Thanksgiving turkey which went over better than I expected considering my parents and sibilings preference for sweet wine. Of course, I had some Riesling Spatelese as a backup in case the Pear bombed. So how was your holiday experience? Any pleasant (or unpleasant) suprises?  Read more 

Because GWPDA was looking for a pickled onion recipe.  Read more 

Autumn’s coming. Time to be thinking about what / how you want to put up your garden’s harvest (or the last bargains from the farmer’s market) against winter. Ideas?  Read more 

So I’m hosting a garden party on Sat, going shopping for it tomorrow. Got a favorite, showy hors d’oeuvre you’re famous for? The theme here is “garden,” so only true finger food will be served- this isn’t a sit down sort of thing. The weather here is hot and muggy, and I’ll be including some foods I’ve grown myself in the mix. Here’s some flower porn to entice you to share:  Read more 

A very cool site called MandarinTools.com has a page wherein you can find “your Chinese name.” So I put in “Johnny Appleseed” (with my birthdate since it insisted on one) and found that maybe when Loud Obbs has a minute he might want to look into the story of Ai Jian Huan. Since the Philadelphia Inquirer is on the story too:

Farmers have been growing apples here since before the Civil War, and as times have changed, they have changed with them, planting smaller trees to speed up harvests and growing popular new varieties to satisfy changing tastes.

Like farmers in the bigger apple-producing states, they are becoming increasingly anxious about the prospect of China flooding the U.S. market with their fresh apples - an event many believe is inevitable, even if it could be years away.

Why is a country which for thirty years has been imposing a draconian population-control program—presumably at least in part because it has concerns about remaining able to feed its own people—taking over the fresh apple trade?

Well, because with labor policies like this, it can:  Read more 

I’m not even going to quote any excerpts out of this superb piece from the San Jose Mercury News, (oops, originally WaPo) in large part because people’s eating schedules are often irregular on Sundays and you don’t want to read this either before OR after eating anything you didn’t grow yourself or know who did. Well, okay, I’ll just use the least-nausea-inducing graf I can find:

For years, U.S. inspection records show, China has flooded the United States with foods unfit for human consumption. And for years, FDA inspectors have simply returned to Chinese importers the small portion of those products they caught - many of which turned up at U.S. borders again, making a second or third attempt at entry.

Yum! I mean really, wouldn’t you rather eat one of Lambert’s zucchini than this Chinese stuff? Go read the story; the Tale of the Wandering Chickens is enough to send you out into the woods to gather nuts, berries and grubs rather than go to KFC again.  Read more 

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I’m swamped with work today, but I just took a quick lunch break and made some soup. I know it’s wintertime, but even though it’s cold, for me, this recipe is like a quick trip to tropical climes. And it’s fast! All you need is a blender.

One or two avocados
Buttermilk
Chicken or mushroom broth, the strongly flavored kind
Chopped cilantro
Diced ginger
Cumin
Chilies (pick your favorite)
Lemon juice

Blend at the highest speed. Enjoy! If you’re serving it to guests, you can strain it for effect. I like it slightly chunky, myself.

I can’t believe I just drank the whole blenderful, but then again, I never met a glass of buttermilk or avocado I didn’t love. Hat tip to the incomparable Ms. Jaffrey.  Read more 

How does that make you feel? My mind is open on this one, and I can see the arguments from both sides. I didn’t know we were so sure of our cloning technologies and abilities that we could be 100% sure this is a safe development.  Read more 

Amount of avocado in real guacamole: 4, or what I’m guessing is about 80% of the total mass in the dish.

Amount of avocado in Kraft Store-Bought “Convenient” Guacamole: 2%.  Read more 

Be careful out there, boys and girls.
Not everything you buy in the store, nor everything you raise at home, nor especially those things you snag at the drive-thru, is as safe as it probably ought to be.  Read more