Tomato

Our tomatoes are finally starting to ripen. That pleases my Land Girl, who can then do her land girl activities of putting up produce. That, and the tomatoes are finally catching up with the peppers. Usually, are peppers and tomatoes ripen about the same time, but not this year. She commented that it is nice to be able to put up some of our garden produce.  Prior to this, some peppers were canned, and beans and carrots frozen. 

Some tomatoes

The tomato plants are well loaded with tomatoes and due to some critter that gets in and eats near ripe tomatoes we need to pick the tomatoes when they have some green, and have them ripen off the vine.  We tried placing them in paper bags, placing them in a cool basement, and now we are trying them in the sun.  The internet gives plenty of advice, some of it contradictory. We tried the basement since one source said that cool temperatures ripen tomatoes.  Our day light, for August 26, is about 13.5 hours, which is about equal to what we saw on April 12.  Daylight hours are getting shorter, and night usually means cooler temps. We are still in the dog days of summer. The meteorological summer ends next week. 

Tomatoes

Today, Land Girl finally had sufficient tomatoes for canning.  We had some frozen, and most she used had  ripened over the past days (in various experimental forms) from those we picked over the past week.  With her years of land girl experience, she correctly guessed 7 quarts of home-made tomato sauce from the available tomatoes. She had our large pot almost overflowing with tomato sauce. I suggested she let it cook down more before adding even more tomatoes (that were thawing) and she said she has done this more times than I have; the implication was clear that I should keep my mouth shut.  She used peppers and some spices, such as basil and parsley harvested from our garden. I grow Mariana hybrid tomatoes which are supposed to be for sauces and canning as it is a meatier tomato, but this is the first of the many years I have grown them, that Land Girl found them to be nice and meaty. I start the plants from seed in the second week of March.  

Our summer squash has not been very productive this year, so we have not had to really freeze any zucchini or patty pan. Varied animals, probably turkeys with groundhogs, took out my winter butternut squash plants at a young age.  I replanted with the remaining few seeds, understanding it may have been too late for a crop. Looking at the plants, I realize it is now too late as they are fruit on the vine are not near ripe with less than one month remaining in the growing season. 

Our Herb Garden

We had an abundant crop of lettuce and other greens this year, with the heat finally taking its toll when we got back from a camping trip in July. I now have another crop, for the fall planted, and it may be ready to cut in a week or two. We look forward to fresh garden greens. Fresh produce is the best result of vegetable gardening.

What can beat a gardener down is the weather, diseases or pests.  This year it has, generally, been hot and dry.  We have had some large rains. I have watered the garden a few times, but changed my method this year from that used in the past.  In the past,

I used to use a soaker hose, but that produced inconsistent results in the garden, plus it is difficult to set around the plants as they mature. Using a garden sprinkler tends to require a good length of time since the water sits on leaves and takes a while to get through the plant vegetation and the mulch layer. I mulch with leaves left over from the prior fall, which are used on flower beds, and some pulled off in spring and piled for use on the garden.  By this time of year, the mulch is nearing soil. I watered by taking the hose and turning it part way on and allowing water to flow at the base of each plant. I would move to another plant and back again until it appeared sufficient water was at the base of each plant.  It takes time, but it is probably easier on the water bill, with less waste.  With this method I can avoid water on the plant leaves which can lead to diseases. 

Land Girl making Tomato Sauce

With the varied diseases and pests it can take some work to get fresh produce.  I have not used a chemical spray for pests or diseases on the vegetable garden, and I cannot recall the last time I used a organic spray to control disease or pests. Some vegetables, such as kale, are supposed to be very good for you, but are on the dirty dozen list. I grow my kale organically, and hence, I think mine would not make the dirty dozen list with pesticide or herbicide residue. Another component is vegetable selection, I no longer grow cauliflower since the cabbage worms seem worse in that plant than in broccoli.

Gardening exploded last year during the start of the Covid pandemic. It makes for a good activity in which you can see results. Albeit, at times there may not be such good results, as with the animals eating my butternut squash plants, or my brussel sprouts plants.  Last year my brussel sprouts produced, and come this time of year were eaten clean, leaving only the long tall stalk as a memory of what could have been. Yet, I keep gardening, because we like the fresh produce. That and Land Girl has something to keep her active--like making and canning tomato sauce.

No Near Normal

For about two and one-half months, Dane County did not require masks indoors. On June 2, 2021 the local public health department allowed the then in-place order to run its course. This, was a few weeks after CDC guidance had suggested that mask wearing was no longer required.  Although the CDC continued to recommend that the non-vaccinated wear a mask. I am not sure how many non-vaccinated would follow such guidance, unless they have a health issue prohibiting them from getting the vaccine. As of Thursday, August 19, 2021, masks are once again required indoors in Dane County. The near normal is now more distant than it was a couple months ago. 

The recent mask indoor requirement came a few weeks after CDC guidance suggested that all persons should wear masks indoors, in higher risk areas. For probably a week or more Dane County, has been in a high risk area.  It is interesting, in that in Dane County over 70% of residents have received at least one dose of a vaccine. Of course, the percent of those eligible for a vaccine would be higher. than 70%.  As more and more persons who are fully vaccinated encounter the Delta variant, they get ill, although the level of illness is said to be not as great as those who did not get the vaccine. My spouse and I have been wearing our mask indoors since the August CDC guidance came out.

Dane County, WI Covid Dashboard, 8/16/21

The mRNA vaccines, Pfizer and Moderna, which required two shots, will be requiring a third shot at eight months from your last shot. The one shot J&J vaccine, which received emergency approval later, is still under study. A recent news report stated that the Delta variant is as present in a vaccinated person as in a non-vaccinated person. That means that the vaccine, while helping you perhaps not get as sick, the disease is as present in a vaccinated as non-vaccinated person. Meaning, it is as spreadable from a vaccinated person as a non-vaccinated person. That is why even vaccinated individuals were asked, and now in Dane County ordered, to wear a mask. To avoid spreading it to the non-vaccinated.  Besides wearing masks, my wife and I try to limit our exposure by avoiding indoor places unless essential. I was surprised how long it took Dane County to make it mandatory. In another piece of news today, while not giving numbers, the story indicates that break-through cases have more than doubled in Wisconsin between February and July. A break-through case is where one is fully vaccinated and they still get the virus. The public, beyond elderly and health care workers, were generally not eligible for the vaccine until probably late March. I had heard that at one point the CDC was not tracking break through cases. I would hope they have changed their mind. The State is also now starting to provide Covid numbers by vaccinated and non-vaccinated.  Just over 53% of Wisconsin residents have received at least one dose of the vaccine. As of July 2021, data (per 100,000 persons) from 8/18 about 125 cases of Covid were for those vaccinated, and 369 for those not fully vaccinated. Hospitalization rates for the not fully vaccinated track slightly higher than the case count, with 4.9 for those vaccinated compared to 18.2 not fully vaccinated. You are ten times more likely to die, per the stat, if you are are not fully vaccinated, as compared to a person fully vaccinated. Fully vaccinated is two weeks after your last shot (for two dose shots).

July Case Count in WI (per 100,000 persons)

The funny thing is the individuals who have refused to get vaccinated are those who probably promote a certain level of individualism. They have, in part, made it so those those of us who are vaccinated should (in Dane County now required) wear a mask indoors--to protect the non-vaccinated. Per the CDC announcement earlier this month this action was taken to help protect the non-vaccinated.  I find some irony in this situation. Many leaders, including Pope Francis, recognized the importance of the vaccine.  In January of this year the Pope said, "I believe that morally everyone must take the vaccine. It is the moral choice because it is about your life but also the lives of others." At the same time, the Pope had this to say about those not wishing to receive the vaccine: "There is a suicidal denialism that I would not know how to explain but today people must take the vaccine" (Quotes are from this article.) 

What I was really hoping for, last spring, was that by this time of the year we would be at the old normal, being able to eat-out inside a restaurant, not having to wear a mask indoors. Not having to worry about what you touch. Yet, now with a combination of the Delta variant, the decreasing efficacy of the vaccines, and the those who have chosen to not get vaccinated, we are going backwards. Case counts are increasing. For example, Dane County now has many more persons infected with Covid than last year August when my son got married in a small 16 person attended wedding last August. Fortunately, today, so far, Dane County does not have limitations on gatherings as they had last year at this time (25 persons for outdoors).  That they do not have limits on indoor or outdoor gatherings is probably due in part to those of us who have been vaccinated, and Covid fatigue.  

At this point, unless Covid starts to burn itself out, I wonder if we are nearing a new normal of masks and regular shots. I would say herd immunity, but I am not sure how herd immunity works with all the variants that pop up. Then there are those that refuse to get vaccinated, who make reaching herd immunity (if it is possible) difficult to reach. Never before, as far as I know, that vaccines have so quickly been created, and here we are with almost half the population hesitant about getting vaccinated. I don't really hear talk about reaching herd immunity anymore. The supposed worst variant, lambda, from Peru, is in the United States, and (according to a study from Chile) is said to evade vaccine antibodies; hence the vaccine is not effective against lambda. Hopefully, the booster shot will be designed to better protect us from the lambda and other likely to come variants. In the meantime, I am waiting out, once again, the no near normal. 

Poms

 It was the night of August 9, and we had turned on Netflix. Taking a break from the crime show, "Blacklist", my wife decided to put on the movie "Poms". This was an interesting choice since, on August 11, today, my Land Girl officially moved to the senior citizen category.  As she joins the ranks of seasoned citizens, it is well to recall that a typical 65 year old, say a couple generations ago, looked (and probably felt) much older than a typical 65 year old today.  I may be prejudiced, but Land Girl looks and acts much younger than her age. After all, she eats her corn in a rotational fashion, so does not follow the standard curve. The average age of death for US Citizens had been on the increase, albeit showing a plateau, until the past 12 to 18 months where it decreased due to primarily to two factors, the Covid pandemic and the opioid drug overdose epidemic.

Piers Gorge

What never declines is age.  From the day of birth we all grow older. While watching Poms, I laughed at a few different scenes, mainly those that played on senior stereotypes. My (then) soon to be seasoned citizen, commented that given my issues (feet) I should be careful, as we may headed to a senior citizen community. It did not really stop my laughing at the stereotypes. In the movie a group of older ladies form a pom squad, where they end up competing in a pom competition against a bunch of young girls. They fit into the over eighteen category.  As one woman judge at the competition said, the over eighteen was not meant to mean people that old. The lady who formed the group dies of ovarian cancer and the group continue as a fund raiser for ovarian cancer research.

Stream at Piers Gorge

In any event, the movie was not soft on senior citizen stereotypes, and it did produce varied laughs, at least out of me. Land Girl, of course, made another comment, that in a year and a few months, I too will be a senior citizen.  That does not mean, I can laugh at myself, and if I fit a few senior stereotypes, while I guess I am normal.  After all, stereotypes tend to be based on recurrent observation. 

Piers Gorge

Since Land Girl is now able to compete in a senior pom competition, perhaps the use of the term Girl is outdated. Although, I don't think Land Mam has the same ring as Land Girl, so I will stick to the what has the better ring. In any event, her constant motion, beautiful red hair, and other traits, certainly make her look, at least in my eyes, as much younger than the full fledged senior citizen age which she has now, by sole reason of passing a day, obtained. 

July 2021, Evening

I well know that aches and pains can make one feel older than they should feel, and perhaps that is why the ladies in Poms need to be given credit. Their pains seem to vanish as they did the pom movements. The Rhea Perlman characters shoulder pain appeared to vanish upon lifting the pom. Stereotypes are meant to give us laughs, and Poms did a great job of allowing me to snicker, all the while at least having some semblance of a nice story line. 

Sweet Corn

I have always liked sweet corn. The Sun Prairie Sweet Corn Festival in the later part of August was a dream come true with it sumptuous, large, thick ears of corn, with deep kernels, slathered in butter and an umbrella clothes line pole with salt shakers hanging from its cords, rather than clothes. My nephew likes to hear stories of my eating sweet corn at the Sun Prairie Corn Fest. He also likes the way I can pack the ears into the now required small tote. However, as good as sweet corn can be there are different ways to eat the corn.

Grilled Corn, Hovel Family Picnic, 2014
T Hovel photo

In eating an ear of sweet corn, I tend to move in a typewriter type fashion, eating along the length of the ear of corn and then repeating. My wife says I eat from right to left. My wife, on the other hand likes to eat around the ear of corn, and she does this left to right. This is called the rolling pin, or rotary, fashion.  There is also the hunt and peck option, which is not in any way orderly, so leaves a good number of kernels untouched. I did a little research on ones habit of eating corn, and found that at one food site they took a poll of their workers and found that 23 of 39 eat in typewriter style.  They did not say how many are rolling pin or hunt and peck. I eat corn, as one site describes, in the way most people eat corn (I am not sure what poll they based their information on). Quite frankly I was rather surprised as to its description, not about me, but about my wife. Us typewriter style eaters were described by the web site "Art of Doing Stuff" as follows: 

If you eat your cob straight across like a typewriter chances are you’re pretty stable. You fold your clothes when you put them away, own a Golden Retriever and can generally be counted on to pick your spouse up from the airport on time without challenging anyone in the parking lot to a cage match.

You’re eating corn the right way. The way almost everyone eats corn.

Anyone around who’s watching you can relax and enjoy their day.

2017

 

I would say I am stable and dependable, although I do not own a Golden Retriever. I think my wife would take issue with the last comment.  I think she has a hard time relaxing around me, wondering what I may do next. She, however, is the one that has trouble sitting still.  I can hear her now when she reads this. What does that website say about rolling pin, or rotary, style eaters? My wife, the rolling pin style eater of corn on the cob is described as:

If you eat your corn around the cob in circles it’s a clear indication you could go rogue at any minute. You’re a hippie, a wild child, maybe even an artist. You’re basically immoral and everyone watching you knows it. YOU have parking tickets. Unpaid parking tickets. And you probably drank kombucha when everyone still thought it was a poisonous alien life form.

But you’re not a complete lunatic.

2017 Corn Fest.  Back in my day
paint brushes were used

The complete lunatic style is relegated to the hunt and peck type who have no discernible pattern to eating corn on the cob. But, back to my wife. What is rather funny, is that my wife is likely the greatest rule follower and organized person I know. Her going rogue is about as slim as the Pope not being Catholic (although Traditionalists in the Church may disagree). While she has some artistic talents she is not a hippie, although perhaps she was a wild child in her youth, but I doubt it. I doubt she ever got a parking ticket. She did, however, go rogue just today.  She seeped tea, for iced tea, in more water than the recipe called for, and diluted with less than the recipe called for, but in the end, since she is a rule follower (at least most of the time) she and the recipe ended with the same amount. Taht would, for her part constitute the amount of rebellion in her soul. The part about drinking kombucha is straight on, she was an early human life form to eat the alien mass. The scoby looks like an alien life form, and of course now she enjoys kiefer grains. Maybe, just maybe she has this repressed wild side that is fermented (pun intended) in her choice of cultured beverages.  

Sun Prairie Sweet Corn Festival
2017

Now, the scientist in me, says don't rely simply on one source, so I also looked at a website called Food 52. 

Old-Fashioned Typewriter:

If you eat your corn from end to end, then rotate it and repeat, row-by-row, you're probably a neat freak—and you're among the majority of the Food52 staff: 23 of the 39 respondents claimed affiliation with Team Typewriter.  John M. de Castro, a psychology professor at Georgia State University in Atlanta, hypothesized that that typewriter-style eaters "live orderly, methodical lives and may be more prone to obsessive-compulsive disorders" (I'm pretty sure he was at least half-joking).

2017

While I tend not to reach the end make a slight rotation and go back from where I started, as I most always tend to eat from one direction to the other, such as right to left, it is nice to know I can claim to be a neat freak, although that may be more difficult to prove. We do fold clothes, but I tend to stuff them in the drawer my wife as Kondoized.  I was called OCD one time after I told my brother I rearranged the buoys at the swim beach to be near evenly spaced. I do like to clean my ear, and leave hardly any partially eaten kernels.  In regards to rolling pin eaters, this site is more generous, or tame, in description, and avoided loaded language associated with rebels and being rogue, as noted in the earlier description.

Rolling Pin:

aka Rotary Method

You're interested in the columnar nature of the corn cob, not its length. Psychologists surmise (again, half in jest) that the rotary method is "favored by creative, artistic, right-brainer folks." While the typewriter-style makes your progress enormously apparent, the rolling pin-style may obscure your accomplishments.

Others have very thought-out reasons for choosing the rotary-method: "My reasoning is this," says Eric Nager of The Christian Science Monitor: "freshly cooked corn is not uniformly hot. It cools more quickly on the edges. By eating around on the edges first, you create natural hand holds and then can proceed to eat around to the center, which cools last."

Knowing my wife, perhaps the cooling of corn is the reason in which she eats corn the way she does. Logic and artistic types seem rather at odds to me. She is a very logical person, as I hear about regularly, so she must have some logic in what is otherwise her suppressed  rebel, rogue personality. She is a red head, so I should not be surprised if she has some rebel tendencies. I guess one can both be logical and have a rebellious side as a means of expression, in defiance of their logical side. If typewriter style eaters, as is seemingly suggested like the length of the ear, is there another aspect to all of this?

US Sweet Corn Consumption by year and pounds
Source: Statista, accessed July 30, 2021

While eating sweet corn is a staple of Americana, showing how the nation is changing, over the past 20 years US Sweet Corn consumption has declined from 9.2 pounds per capita in 2001, 2007 and 2009 to just 4.7 pounds per capita in 2020. Given the trend in reduction of sweet corn eating, I am not sure it is fully related to the pandemic in 2020 (lack of festivals), although its slight reduction from 2019 may be. It may be related more to a health conscious population avoiding the high sugar content of sweet corn. 

2017, after eating you need to floss

Sweet corn is part of the bounty of summer, and unfortunately when its season ends, it generally means the end of summer.  Many road side stands sit empty after Labor Day, and then pumpkins, and fall related produce take the place of sweet corn.  Corn, like carrots, lettuce and many other vegetables, and fruits (think raspberries) are better fresh. In the end, my little bit of research has provided a glimpse into my wife, and gives me a different understanding of her. I now have to be extremely careful as she can, apparently, go rogue at any time. 

Unless otherwise noted, photos, 2017 Corn Fest, by Christopher Hovel (I think)