Image: trillium in the garden.

As I was telling a friend this morning, I feel like my gardening has a very specific pattern. Every Other year, I'm good at it, the garden cooperates, I end up with an amazing garden, and I feel great about it. This year is the Other Other year, where I look at all the molding leaves that I've probably left too long, despite what every tells me is good for the bees and other bugs, and I just think, "Ah, f*ck. This whole thing sucks." 

I have, in fact, tried to plant things with this in mind. When I was doing a lot of hiking in the State Parks a couple of years ago, I noticed that thing that our former president who shall not be named failed to: no one rakes the forest. Like, it's fully covered in leaf detritus, and things push up in spite of all that. So, I started very carefully looking to see which plants seemed to thrive in this mulch rich, no-one-is-raking environment. I noticed that trillium managed not only to pop up despite heavy leaf cover, but also bloom in a very pretty, very showy way. So, I got some rhizomes in the mail and here we are. The other thing I planted a lot of over the years are ferns. So, right now my gardens might be a mess, but they are blooming. 

The native garden that I spent so much time and money on last years is... doing stuff? It's currently impossible to tell seedling/returning perennials from weeds, so I'm going to let things get taller and more obvious before I decide that all that work was a wash. I do think that I'm going to want to add a few more coneflowers both to that garden and to our fairly sad boulevard garden. 

The thing I'm most excited by is that I finally have some violets established in those gardens and I am praying over them every day that they will do their thing and SPREAD.

What about y'all? How does your garden grow?

I found out today that I have been awarded a grant to make a bee-friendly space in my yard!  I am super excited about this, because one of the big deterrents for me for a project like this is exactly that: COST. Like, native wildflowers are expensive, y'all!  Plus, this program comes with a bunch of help, which I totally need!  Because I love gardening, but I kind of suck at it!!

So, like, just starting to read through everything now, but it seems there are two workshops that I can sign up for, one that will just help me navigate the grant process, and another that will help with planning and design. I can also have a consultation with an expert via phone or video, because they really do want to guarantee not only success starting it, but keeping it going.

Plus, they make it easy to participate on any level of expertise. This money will help cover the costs of one of four project types: pocket habitats, planting bee friendly trees or shrubs, pollinator lawns, or pollinator meadows.  I am kind of a novice, so my plan is to create a pocket habitat. It's actually in the "moderately difficult" zone, because the easiest is just planting a couple of bee-friendly shrubs, but our yard has a lot of shade. I think it might be better to pick one of the sunnier spots and see what I can do with it. 

Anyway, SO MANY RESOURCES! I'm going to probably spend much of the rest of the day dreaming up my pocket habitat!!

I mean, I think it is kind of hilarious that the first grant of my life that I have ever been awarded is to help me pay for a bee-friendly lawn and not, say, my writing career, but I am so very, very excite!

Go, Bees!

Minnesota's weather has been terrible. It snowed today, people! SNOW.

All these consecutive days of gray have not helped lift my mood, which has been in the pits in the latest murder by police. I was able to get outside over the weekend and plant some pansies.  I have a boulevard garden around the street lamp in front of my house and I added a ring of pansies to help give it a dash of color in these early spring months.

There are signs of life elsewhere in the garden:

  
image: Three dwarf irises (and a yellow flower I forget what it's called.)

These dwarf irises popped up all over the yard because some time last November a huge box of over 200 bulbs showed up. I don't remember where I ordered them from, but I remember writing a sternly worded email to the company saying that I appreciated their "fall" bulbs, but November is actually WINTER in Minnesota and I was lucky the ground wasn't entirely frozen when I went out to plant these. They clearly survived the trauma, however.

Likewise, I my Siberian Squill continue to thrive.

Image: Little clusters of bright blue flowers -- squill!

Of course, they are spreading in the wrong direction. You can't see very well in the photo, but they have jumped the garden's brick edging and are moving into the pebble/stone path. I should dig them all up this spring and replant them on the other side of the path, but we'll see what happens to my time now that more people are vaccinated and seem to want to spend time Doing Things Together(tm). (Not sure I approve of this, btw.)

In our back garden we have a o'jizo-sama in the backyard to commemorate our daughter Ella, and in the winter you traditionally make him a red hoodie to say warm. Yesterday, there was a lot a wind and his hood came apart into a kind of Dr. Strange look:


Ojizo-sama in the rock garden.

So, that's me. Waiting on sunshine. You?

On Sunday night, I watched former CONvergence guest Ms. Shannon Paul's live (streaming) "Comedy Through the Chaos: Proud to be About Pride" via YouTube.

Secretly, I have always been a fan of stand-up comedy. I even take an odd sort of pleasure even when the comedy is... not at its peak, let's say, which is why I fell into "The Marvelous Ms. Mavel" very easily. Shawn would be yelling "OMG, she's bombing, fast forward," and I'd be like, "Nah, give me the iPad and I'll plug in earphones and tell you when it's safe!" So, I guess that's my roundabout way of saying that some of the performers Ms. Shannon showcased were awesome and others were... well, let's just say that Shawn would have had to leave the room, if she'd been watching with me. But that's what you get with live comedy? So I thought it was very good, overall.

If you want to catch it in rerun, as it were, it is still available on-line.

I did not know that the episode I signed up to watch was going to be the Pride episode, but that worked out for me.Speaking of Pride,  I also decided to try another OutFront event. The walking tour of Twin Cities gay history go cancelled, so I decided to try a virtual town hall. This discussion about racism in the dating scene and is entitled, "A Spicy Lunch: A Conversation on White Supremacy in Relationships." I don't have a lot to add to this discussion, since I last dated in the late 1980s, but it seems like it will be an interesting discussion, nonetheless.

I spent a huge portion of my day today prepping a few Loft class proposals (which were, OF COURSE, due today.) I knew that it was time to start thinking about getting my ideas together a month ago, but did I do ANYTHING about them then? No. What do you take me for? Someone organized? Ha, I scoff! 

Even so, it wouldn't have taken all day, if I weren't building one of them from scratch. My friend Kate and I are proposing a class for readers (and writers who are readers) about BIPOC and queer science fiction. It should be a ton of fun, if it goes. We've picked some interesting stories to talk about.  The other class I sent a proposal in for was one of my intermediate science fiction/fantasy writing classes that I've taught before. Of course, that one was all pre-researched and prepared, but I am waiting to see how much of both of these classes we will have to convert to on-line. Neither of them would be scheduled until sometime in the middle of September at the earliest, but  I have my doubts if we'll be meeting in-person yet.

That took up a huge portion of my day. Partly, because I need to vet all the stories we're going to use, have sample discussion questions written up, and make sure, when possible, that there were audio versions for accessibility reasons. Also, the Loft has an online form that involves a lot of other little picky bits, like percentages of class time spent on this and that, and other administrative hoops that must be jumped through.

Just now, I went outside and grilled a few brats, even though it kind of feels like it might rain again. While I was out there, I fed the birds and checked in on the various beleaguered plants. After reading up on how various homemade pesticides worked, I decided that the one I wanted to try was garlic spray. Unlike some of the other pest controls, garlic spray is the least invasive. Apparently, how it works is that the garlic actually gives plants a case of "garlic breath" (https://www.savatree.com/garlic-insect-repellent.html) which repels most insects. Apparently, it can actually kill some sap-sucking insects like caterpillars (oh no! I have been carefully not spraying too near the parsley where the parsley worms/black swallowtail caterpillars have been munching, but now I'm worried!!)  It would be just my luck to kill off the caterpillars I want and not harm the four-striped plant bug that I would like to move on. 

Ugh. Gardening is hard.

How does your garden grow?

 When I signed up for the OutFront MN Zoom event called "Drag Queen Cookies with It Gets Batter," I initially thought I would be making cookies WITH drag queens, which, frankly, sounded like the epitome of fabulous.

However, it turns out that I had signed up to learn how to make a five-minute fondant that would be designed to look like drag queens.

Alas!

But, it was still a pretty fun event.  They sent along a recipe for a sugar cookie and asked us to make the "blank faces" ahead of time. I happened to have an egg-shaped cookie cutter (for Easter Egg cookies, I think, though this MAY be the first time I have ever used that particular cutter.) So, I made those Friday afternoon. They were pretty yummy on their own and since I had way more batter than I figured I'd need for a hour long event, I made the rest into the usual assortment of dragonflies, dinosaurs, cows, and chickens.  

At 7 pm, I dialed into the Zoom. The OutFront folks had us use a password, because Zoom bombing is a thing and this was "queer youth" led, so I mean, yeah, safety first.  Even so, we still had one guy who did no cooking, but just watched the event. Creepy or sad? Hard to know.

At any rate, there were probably no more than a dozen of us on the call. Basically we watched our host make fondant and tried to follow along as best we could. It was not the most organized Zoom event I've ever attended? But I'd say my results were fairly fabulous, nonetheless.


Image: cartoonish face with large hair, all of which is easy to do with fondant because it basically functions like sugar-based play dough.

I was also aided in this process by the fact that I happened to own baking markers. Yeah, like magic markers that you can safely eat. I did all of the "eyeliner" with these markers.


Image: windswept-hair and sultry-eyed cookie.

The fondant itself is not especially tasty, I must say. It is made with marshmallows and powdered sugar and two tablespoons of water. So, I mean, it takes like sugar? I feel like you could add something--lemon, peppermint, or even boring vanilla--and make it more tasty. 

If you are a fan of the local drag queen/king scene in Minneapolis/St. Paul, It Gets Batter is doing a fundraiser for out-of-work drag kings and queens in which they make cookies specifically for your favorite performer, which seems like a nifty charity.  I personally wouldn't have a clue, though I did like watching the Gaylaxicon event with Queens of Adventure.

I enjoyed the baking thing enough to sign up for a Gay Twin Cities virtual walking tour (it is also free)  later this month, which is TWO TIMES as many Pride events than I normally attend in June.

I am one of those old queers who grumbles about how commercialized Pride has become. I don't usually complain very loudly, honestly, because I definitely prefer a world where I can buy my Pride gear at Target rather than having to hand make it at home, hide somewhere to change into it, and then be terrified to wear it in public. And, I do remember those days. They were NOT the good old days; I'm just not fond of crowds.

Of course, no crowds this year, regardless. 

One of the things OutFront is sponsoring tonight that I'd really like to go to is a candlelight vigil for black, trans and gender non-conforming voices at Elliot Park.  However, if I am reading Google right, this park is the one near former Augustana nursing home and parking around there is nightmarish. I still have some time to decide, but I will be there in spirit. If nothing else, I may light a candle on my altar at 7:30 pm in solidarity.

Otherwise, the big excitement of this weekend was that on Saturday, a package arrived from Taiwan. jiawen sent along a care package of bits and bobs of stationary and fun pens and erasers and pins and tea and just a whole lot of lovely things. It was like Christmas in June. I am only sad that I did not think to get her on jitsi BEFORE I opened the box, so that we could have opened it together, but we did chat and I basically squeed happily for a half hour straight. So, that was desperately fun. If you are a pen pal of mine, expect some fun new stationary in your next letter from me.

Friday afternoon, Shawn and I also hazarded a trip to the fabric store which is exciting in these days of the pandemic. Shawn was able to browse pretty well, but that was because I volunteered at tribute and stood in the line for cutting. I was a bit shocked to discover so many people without masks. My friend naomikritzer and my wife both suspect there's some kind of Republican/Trump-supporting bent to the crafters who shop at JoAnne's and I suspect they're both right, though I wish I understood why that's true. Shawn suggested that it's a "homemaker" bent. Like, the kind of woman who learns to sew is more likely to be the sort to stay at home to support her man?  I dunno. I want it to change. Surely, I shouldn't have to go to a more expensive store just to hang out with the other liberal crafters.

I did pick up some more quilting fabric, though, including some Avengers fabric. So, that was worth it.

Today (and most days, if I'm honest,) I also dithered around the garden and discovered a baby native pollinator. 


Image: a striped "parsley worm" nomming my parsley, probably to the ground, but she will transform into a native pollinator: the black swallowtail butterfly so she gets to have all the parsley she wants.

How was your weekend?

Supposedly, the heat is supposed to break this afternoon. We are expecting thunderstorms.

It was hot enough yesterday that I slept in the easy chair in the basement last night. We have two window units. We managed to get Mason's in before the heat hit, but my wife actually hates a/c air. Mostly, I am okay without, except at night. The basement, however, was about 20 degrees cooler than our upstairs bedroom, so that worked out just fine.

Yesterday, I took Mason to get his second-ever COVID test. ( No real CW, except that I suspect some people just Do NOT Want any more COVID realted news... ).

Otherwise, I am thinking about posting the progress I made on one of my long-running fics, just so my fans of that work will know I am alive, even though the update would probably amount to less than a thousand words. Thing is I logged on to Tumblr for the first time in months and discovered some people really, really worried about me.

Oopsie.

My gardens continue to grow. All The Wildflowers have clearly sprouted in the Victory garden, so that one should be very interesting as it develops. I can't wait to see what it looks like come August or September.



Image: my herb garden which is a combination of neat rows and riotous overgrowth, as always

My herb garden, pictured above, is doing pretty well. The basil loved the 90+ degrees yesterday (for the rest of the world, it was 36 C at its hottest here, yesterday.) The rest of my plants had no idea what to do, so I watered them like crazy. The dirt here in Minnesota really is this dark, but I had also recently hoed under the weeds, so that's part of why it looks so rich. I have been thinking I need to get to Menard's (a local hardware store) to get mulch.

When I say my shade gardens are in deep shade, I mean it:



Image: darkness and a few brave hosta

This is the "side" garden that I am currently focusing a lot of my revitalization efforts on. You can't see in the picture very well, but I transplanted some ostrich ferns to the back row in the hopes they will do what you saw in the herb garden, which is form a nice background for the rest of the garden. The problem with transplanting ostrich ferns is that you have to cut the leaves off or they will just wilt off, anyway. So it looks like nothing is there this year and won't again until next. 



Image: my established garden in dappled light

The only thing that I need to remedy with this particular garden, (which is my established shade garden, sometimes called my O-jizo-sama garden, because hidden in here is a dry river bed and a lovely Jizo statue,) is to figure out a couple of good early and late summer blooming shade plants. I should actually try some columbine over here since I think they would like the amount of sunlight this gets, but I am open to ideas if any of my readers are gardeners with shade experience. I actually don't mind the "basically all hosta" look, so long as I have various colors of hosta, but, visually, this garden is currently at its peak in the earliest part of spring and never again.

I should probably see if Mother Earth Gardens is open again. I noticed they had closed during some of the worst of the rioting, but, as things are calming now that the city counsel of Minneapolis has vowed to disband the police force, they might be reopening.

About all that... a lot of people have asked me, as a local, to weigh on on what Minneapolis is thinking with this, and my answer is very simple. "Look, Minneapolis is the home of locally-sourced, organic, bicycle-delivered couscous. If anyone can think of an alternative to the police, it's them."

I lived in Minneapolis for decades before moving across the river to St. Paul and it remains one of my favorite cities on earth for THIS VERY REASON. There are nations in the world who survive without militarized police. I truly believe there are visionaries who can see Minneapolis--and then hopefully the rest of the nation--through to a world where police aren't needed. Yeah, it's hippy-groovy and probably pie in the sky, but I am 100% there for it. If it takes a city-wide vote to defund the cops, my money is on the people of Minneapolis doing it so fast the rest of the world will be still be "WTF-ing" while they are amassing a tall-bicycle army of social workers to fill the gaps. Seriously, This is one to watch and wait and see. It's possible it will all be for nothing, but then again... maybe not. It's got to start somewhere.

Prince named his band 'The Revolution." Maybe he was prescient. 

I feel very awkward about posting joyful things right now, when the world is burning for justice. However, I do so in the hopes that someone, somewhere needs a little brightening and that this will help.

My victory garden (take two) is showing signs of life.

Some squash-type seeds have begun poking up after the big (albeit short) thunderstorm the other night. I am no longer certain what these will be. Mystery squash!



Image: baby somethings and a pole preemptively stationed to give them something to ignore, while they trail off wherever they wish.


Image: peas! Including seeds resurfaced by squirrels or birds or fate

I am particularly hopeful for the peas, since, apparently, peas actually like acidic soil. I realized that the reason my previous garden did nothing is because the PINE tree that had been there made for very, very acidic soil. I have since planted with things more likely to appreciate it. Except the squash, I have no idea why the squash decided to sprout.

This is going to be a very chaotic garden this year because in my frustration that nothing seemed to be growing, I also tossed half a pound of wildflower seeds into the ground so god(dess) only knows what will take. We could have poppies growing next to pumpkins next to corn next to bachelor buttons. Victory? Anything that grows in this spot will definitely be considered a victory.

And, lastly, for any of my friends from out of town or elsewhere that had not heard, there is now an official fundraiser for the Uncles (Uncle Hugo's and Uncle Edgar's.) I have not yet contributed because we are waiting for the next pay cycle so that we can give a decent amount, but I suspect this will be a long running fundraiser, at any rate. Here is the link: www.gofundme.com/f/let-us-help-save-uncle-hugo039s

Mason continues to treat his volunteering as a regular job. He gets up around 10:30 am every morning, gets dressed, eats a food, and heads over to Bethlehem Lutheran in Midway where he stays until at LEAST 4 pm, sometimes longer. Last night, he was home around 5:30 pm and informed us that they'd run out of food. Part of why he was late was that there was a last minute call for donations and so he stayed to help sort and organize what came in. They were still looking for more as of 5 pm last night, I linked to their call on my Facebook, but it might be easier to try to contact them if you feel you have things to contribute :https://bethlehem-midway.org/giving/

Looks like you can even contribute money directly to them online, if you are so moved. I always feel weird, as a pagan, donating cash to a church, but if we had spare food, I would consider it. These folks have had a long running food and clothing give-away, so they are very, very committed to good works, which my former Unitarian Universalist self appreciates.

At any rate, I hope you are all as-well-as can be in these times of trouble. It sounds sappy and a little bit useless, but I'm thinking of you all.

 My friend naomikritzer tipped me off that "Mother Earth Gardens" over in Minneapolis had basil of all varieties. Since we needed to go to the bank to deposit some checks, anyway, Mason and I headed out this afternoon to check it out. Actually, Mason stayed in the car and I donned my mask and headed in.

It actually was surprisingly uncrowded. Most people seemed to know what they wanted and so grabbed that and didn't really browse. That gave me a chance to check out their native plant section. So, along with the basil, I picked up:

Native columbine (this is a photo from this website: https://wimastergardener.org/article/eastern-red-columbine-aquilegia-canadensis/  My garden it not nearly this tidy.)


I have always loved columbine, since coming across it wild at Y camp as a teen. I've tried to grow this in the past, but I'm a bit more hopeful this time around because I have the time to fuss over it. Apparently, it likes things moist and I should be able to provide that where I put it. 

I also picked up some prairie pussy toes, which apparently need male and female plants and I have no idea what I got. I suppose that once they sprout and show off their flowers, I can go back to the nursery and pick-out whichever sex I did not get. The females look like this (photo credit: https://www.minnesotawildflowers.info/flower/field-pussytoes):



I also picked up purple cornflower and wild indigo, both of which need full sun. I don't have a lot of that, but I think I found them a good spot on the south side of the house. 

I should really get out and go for a walk today, too, but I am exhausted from waiting to get through the bank drive through. I could NOT believe the line.  There were cars jammed in all three spots and I bet I waited a full twenty minutes? Maybe longer? When I got up to the camera/teller box, the teller told me that it's been like this since the stay-at-home order. They closed the interior of the bank, obviously, and so everyone is being funneled through the drive through. A lot of people, apparently, have never done the drive-through (which isn't complicated, but which does take some figuring out the first time) and so often they spend ten minutes or more on each customer, just walking them through the process. I was starting to lose my sh*t, however. 

Since we were sitting there for so long, Mason and I decided to order take-out from My Burger.

It's been a big driving day for me, honestly, since I also started my day at the grocery store. I was able to find all the flour again, but now the shelves are absolutely picked clean of chicken. I picked up some white fish (cod, I think?) with the thought of trying out a fish taco recipe, since my family will eat some fish. 

Thank goodness we decided to thaw a 17 pound turkey last week. We made it on Sunday and so now we have all the poultry we could eat for a few weeks, at any rate. Because my wife is who she is, we have another 20-some pound turkey still frozen in the freezer. 

How have you been? What are the shortages where you are? How does YOUR garden grow?

 I still wish it would rain, partly because my hose broke. 

We have a decent-sized yard and so if I want to water all the gardens I really need at least two 'regular-sized' hoses put together. So, of course, the connector bit to my longest hose decided that yesterday was the day to RUST CLEAN THROUGH. When I noticed it leaking precipitously, I went to tighten it and BAM! Off it came in my hands, water everywhere (except where I'd been aiming it.)

With everything happening, we can't exactly rush out and replace it. 

I mean, I am hopeful (knocking on ALL the wood)  that we WILL be able to do a Menard's run sooner rather than later, so, in the meantime, I am filling up my watering can and walking around to all of the thirsty plants. Luckily, my hose reaches to where the clover and self-heal seedlings are, so I can give them their daily soak while they are smol. The nice thing about this rather tedious method is that I am carefully observing the continued growth of all the things. I noticed a few late starting hosta poking up, for instance, and my sulking peonies continue to sulk very dramatically but have conceded to lifting their stems skyward.  I am starting to think that my back shade garden is as full as it can be and it's probably going to be time in the fall (or late summer) to start splitting some of those hosta and moving them into the side garden, which had initially been an inspiration to the back garden but I accidentally let it go to seed/weed one year when I wasn't feeling very 'garden' and it never fully recovered.

Part of my delay in getting to this blog today was the fact that I decided, Given The Current Situation (as A. A. Milne might write,) I should probably consider signing up for a CSA.  I had worried that they'd be all booked, but I was able to sign up for a Hmong Farmer's Association share and I'm ridiculously delighted with it so far. Obviously, I have not yet received a box; they start in early June.  BUT, one of the things I have hated about CSA in the past is the "Oh, I see. An ENTIRE BOX of tomatoes." Which, for most people, I suspect, would be an absolute joy, but for our family leaves us thinking... "so, do we compost the whole thing now or just stare at the tomatoes woefully until they actively rot?"  Look, I know you think I'm insane, but I don't like tomatoes. No, trying heirloom or homegrown or YOUR FAVORITE tomatoes isn't better.They taste MORE like the taste I hate!!

And, yes, this means I hate pizza.

The only way in which I tolerate tomato taste is in soup. I'm not sure why, but I can add tomato to a sauce or a soup and I won't actively hate it. Nine times out of ten, however, I WOULD STILL PREFER SOMETHING ELSE.

I know you're still in shock about the pizza. Listen, you heathens, I went to Rome. They don't put tomato sauce on their pizza, either. That's a Sicilian thing. FIGHT ME. I will happily eat all the pizza bianca in the world!  I would put an egg on my pizza, too, JUST LIKE THE ROMANS.

Sorry, I have had this fight on and off my whole life. I mostly just put up with pizza as a kid because I like most of it? I just don't like the sauce? And I honestly didn't know that you could eat pizza without the sauce, and, holy crap, that was a life changer. I was finally able to get excited when people ordered pizza. More and more pizza places offer "white" pizzas now-a-days, too.

The point is, the new CSA I signed up for let's you check your preferences, so I could put a giant YUCK, NO THANK YOU to all the tomatoes while putting a giant smiley on okra because I'm weird like this. 

Other things that have happened? I had a lovely chat yesterday with jiawen where we literally did that Minnesotan thing of not being able to say goodbye and so did so about seventeen times. The only reason I think I was able to actually do it is because I really, finally had to go to the bathroom.  To be fair, I could have talked all day with her because we had just gotten into a virtual tour of her neighborhood (via Google maps) and I love that kind of thing? If I were actually there in Taiwan with her I would probably spend seven weeks just enjoying every detail of every corner, ESPECIALLY the whole hidden shrine stuff! But, I'm like that. I'm literally entertaining myself during this pandemic by taking photographs of houses I find neat in my neighborhood(s) (I consider all of St. Paul my neighborhood.) I'm only sad that those are on hold until we hear back from the testing place. 

We are doing okay on supplies. The only thing I screwed up (and which naomikritzer has already remedied for me) is cat food and a cabbage. I really wanted to make pot stickers the other night and discovered we were out of cabbage. I  had daikon for crying out loud, but NO dang cabbage!! This could wait, except the pot sticker wrappers actually get kind of sticky and unusable after being defrosted if I let them sit too many days. I'd already had them moved to the fridge, so... and cat food was just an oversight. We'd put in an order with Chewy.com, but it's not coming for a couple of days yet. Our young cats could survive on dry food for a few days, but our elderly isn't having it. And she's already got skinny cat syndrome. She needs her wet food.

So, that's us. 

For those following the Covid toe drama: ( Nothing much of interest as we are all good, but some people also like the minutia? )

 I've finally decided to try my hand at a butter-folded danish. This is one of those things like making croissants at home that I would normally leave to the experts because it is picky and time-consuming.  But, the pandemic really has me in CHALLENGE ACCEPTED mode. 

In fact, just the other day, we made tortilla wraps from scratch... and now we may never go back. I did not know tortillas could be light and flaky!  I will happily post the recipe to that if people are interested, but, be warned, we have a tortilla press. You can, apparently, roll them out by hand, but.... with the press I only have to roll them out a little and then they end up looking almost exactly like store-bought.  We also have a really nice round griddle to finish them off on, so we may have some advantages that your kitchen might not.

It's raining in St. Paul today, a nice soaking rain. 

I realized, looking back on it, that I had said that I had planted 'cover' seeds yesterday. That is true, but the majority of the seeds are actually CLOVER, though I also tossed in something colloquially known as 'self-heal' or 'heal-all' on the ground as well, as my bee resources (namely the University of Minnesota's bee pages) told me that the bees like those.  The internet informs me that, if I get a good crop, I could also eat it. myself.... hmmm, hopefully, it won't come to that. Self-heal/heal-all is apparently also a home for a specific butterfly's eggs (clouded sulfur butterfly), so that would be cool if it takes off.  (Prunella vulgaris: https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=prvu).

I'm just not interested in mowing and now that I can post signs that say "Excuse the Mess, It's for the Bees!" I am doing that EVERYWHERE.  

...

Okay the pastries came out of the oven. I nailed the butter/puff pastry from scratch thing, but failed presentation. They look like angry blobs of jelly. But, they are really, really tasty. 


I am an angry pastry, mes ami!  I should be beautiful because I am delicious, but no, I am a blob of mess! Sacre bleu!