Baby Belle Peppers

Late Bloomer

Basil and Tomato

 Soon-to-be Pesto

Cinnamon Basil in the sun

This tomato plant is happy

Peppers

I have more pepper plants than I can manage. But the fruit yield is low.

Rainy Day

Scholarly study of Jell-o Salads

http://digest.champlain.edu/article1_2.html

Digest! The publication of the Foodways Section of the American Folklore Society

From Rosy to Regrettable
Mixed Nostalgia and the Meanings of Jell-O Salad
By: Clare Forstie

Regular visits to my Midwestern grandparents’ home have provided ample opportunity to sample both a revered and maligned American food-like substance: the Jell-O salad. My immediate reaction (like that of many of my generational peers) when seeing olives suspended in lime-green Jell-O, has been: “ew, gross!” On the other hand, when discussing the subject of this paper, friends and family have offered heart-warming reminiscences about the presence of Jell-O salad at family and community events. It seems that this once-ubiquitous dish provokes responses that run the gamut from horror to adoration. These responses have prompted me to ask: why is there such an extreme range of reaction to the food? Why do Jell-O salad proponents, consumers, and detractors recognize this dish as a distinctly “American” food? What makes it American, and why do many care about it now? Exploring the ways in which proponents and detractors understand Jell-O salad as an American and regional dish tells us something about how “Americanness” is created and why everyday foods matter.

Scholarly studies of cornbread and other food geography markers

ABSTRACT. This article explores the regional identity of the Great Plains through its foodways using 744 responses from a mailed survey that asked participants to plan a representative menu for their locale. The strongest association is with beef--not surprising in an area known for cattle ranching. Other commonalities include potatoes, beans, and corn. Differentiation within the region is marked by preparation methods for beef as well as emphases on cornbread and peach cobbler in the south, rhubarb pie in the north, tortillas and sopapillas in the southwest, and pickles in two separate clusterings

.

…Finally, the fourth research question posed the possibility of using particular foods to set culture boundaries. Probably the most noticeable examples are the separate regions of cornbread and tortilla selections. A similarly distinct line between preferences for apple pie and peach cobbler divides the northern and southern Plains along approximately the same boundary as that established by settlement geographies.

Shortridge, Barbara G. "A Food Geography Of The Great Plains." Geographical Review 93.4 (2003): 507-529. America: History and Life with Full Text. Web. 22 June 2013..

Basil Cornbread

Basil Cornbread

1 ½ C buttermilk

3 eggs

1/3 C chopped fresh basil

2 C cornmeal

1 C flour

½ C sugar

4 t baking powder

1 t salt

½ C butter

1 ½ - 2 C fresh corn kernels

Whisk buttermilk, eggs, and basil. Blend cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder, salt.

Melt butter. Mix butter and dry ingredients. Combine liquid mixture, dry mixture and corn. Pour batter into buttered 9 by 9 baking pan. Bake at 375 for 45 minutes. Surface should be golden brown and cake tester inserted into center should be dry.

Wildlife in the garden, sweetpeas, flowering tomato

 Ben likes to eat pansies

 Sweetpeas

Most accomplished tomato

Cinnamon Basil

Basil, Marigold, Tomatoes

These plants seem to be thriving in the too-small pot

Mr. Majestic Marigold

Group Hug

Tomato, Coleus

Tomato Plant in the Sun

The extra sunshine available to the leftmost plant has given it an advantage

Micro-climates on the patio

 These get morning sun

These get afternoon sun

Basil, Pansies, Pepper

 Pinching helped this basil to perk up

 It's especially pretty to see the pansies fluttering in the breeze.

This pepper is about two inches tall.

Pink on the porch

Two peppers

I'll leave these two on the plant in hopes they will ripen to red.

Tomatoes in a Forest and a Happy Basil

Fruit ripening nicely 

This Basil likes its pot

Basil and Tomato

Cinnamon Basil about to flower.

I'll have to pinch it right away.

Tomato flowers in background, to the right.

Lysopersicon esculentum 'Tumbling Tom Yellow'

Fruity Pastel Cookies

Fruity Pastel Cookies

1 ½ C butter, softened

1 C sugar

1 6 oz package raspberry gelatin

2 eggs

1 t raspberry extract

3 ½ C flour

1 t baking powder

Cream butter, sugar and gelatin powder. Beat in egg and raspberry extract. Combine flour and baking powder, gradually add to the creamed mixture and mix well. Using a cookie press fitted with the disk of your choice, press dough 2 inches apart onto ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 350 for 6 minutes.

You could do the same recipe with lemon gelatin and lemon extract or orange gelatin and orange extract, etc.

Impatiens and Tomato

 What color will it be?

This pink impatiens likes its location

This is one of the particularly healthy tomato plants

Thyme in bloom; Cinnamon basil likes its pot

Why are thymes not more widely grown? For one thing, most are not showy; for another, they are perennials that need two years from seed to reach usable size, and a similar time from cuttings. They don't give quick color. They are quiet plants, best appreciated by the touching, sniffing, strolling and sitting sort of gardener.

The two main sorts of thymes are the common or garden thyme (Thymus vulgaris in its many varieties) -- generally upright growing; and creeping or mother-of-thyme (Thymus serpyllum or praecox), a type that tends to creep. Many other species also exist. Within the two main groups are many distinct varietal forms, leading all in all to widespread confusion about names, and what kind belongs in which category. Even nursery-folk disagree. As a result, for one example, the lemon thyme you order from one nursery may not be the same as a lemon thyme ordered from another.

Source: Lee, Rand B. "You'll have a wonderful thyme." Flower & Garden Magazine June-July 1985: 16+. Gardening, Landscape and Horticulture. Web. 1 June 2013.

 

I'll have to transplant these soon. Sometimes these small pots are just right. Last year they worked out well for individual pansy plants.