Friday, August 29, 2025

Gardening, Misfits and podcasts, Mutts

Thursday, another cool sunny day, was fine for a bit of garden cleanup. I pulled out the sorrel and dayflowers, which will come back next year, and since the morning glories are fading and setting seed, I removed the supports and pushed the plant down, hoping the seeds will be protected there and we'll get them next year.  


They were a definite success 

Not so successful were the potatoes which never flowered, though they had plenty of foliage. So there was no harvest when I pulled them from the container. That's a first.

In the other hand, a little potato which evidently planted itself among the dayflowers emerged 


That one hadn't flowered either. Strange year.  I'll try again next year.

Misfits arrived early, Kareem's morning shift.





Interesting couple of surprises. The gala apples weren't there, already credited for them, and that drink, not ordered, was. I tried it, pretty good, various juices and a milky base, probably oat.

Coconut milk for the food pantry, it's on the list of items there. When people qualify, income, residence,  etc, they fill out forms where they alert the pantry about food allergies, religious rules, and general preferences based on availability. I think that's where Erum, the manager, derives her list for the website. So this week I checked and found coconut milk is requested. Fine. Done. I do canned fruit and veggies too.

The large size surplus spinach is excellent, very glad I got it again. Maybe a spinach pie, not sure. And baby broccoli, also beautiful leeks.

This time I chopped the leeks keeping the green part and white separate in case I get fancy. I usually don't bother.

I made the hot spicy plant-based roll into patties which I froze on parchment paper, easy to separate out one as needed. And the whole dates, favorite Medjool, will be a snack replacing the apple I usually have.

By the time I've washed and prepped and frozen or fridged or bowled what's needed, swept the floor and broken down the box for recycle, I'm ready to sit down.  Another week's food on its way.

I did try mixing yogurt with fresh chives, cut short, and a sprinkle of dried basil and spices, on potato bread, with afternoon tea on the deck. That was worth doing again. Maybe I'll make crackers for this purpose, too, good savory snack.

About podcasts, I've started following Shedunnit, about crime fiction, very good discussions, ranging all over the last hundred years, very knowledgeable, and easy to listen to while you knit or go to sleep.

I've also found the podcast version of Lucy Worsley, her Lady Killers series about real life female murderers. She's just as interesting without the historic buildings and costumes, she does love to dress up. But her presentation doesn't need dressing up, really interesting and well researched.

I get my podcasts on the free version of Spotify, which comes with ads, but not in the middle of the podcast. 

Happy day everyone, and if you have recommendations of podcasts, not the political ones like Daily Beans, Daily Fail, Meidas Touch, etc, we know them. More literary or historic ones is what I'm looking for just now. Thank you kindly.







26 comments:

  1. I’ve never had success growing potatoes in containers.
    So I’ve gone back to planting in the ground.
    I’ve not really gotten into podcasts. Who knows I might one day

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I've had a crop year after year in a container, so this year's a puzzle. I don't have enough ground to plant in. We'll see next year.

      Delete
  2. Love the mutt checking his human is still there and wagging his tail.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I wonder what happened with the potatoes. I look forward to seeing next year’s morning glories. Let me know when the spinach pie is ready. I’ll hop right over. The cartoon is wonderful. I love seeing people out with their dogs getting those regular check-ins.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The potatoes are a mystery. They seemed to be doing so well. I wonder if dogs need to be sure nobody else took the leash? Why, why..

      Delete
  4. I can recommend BBC's Witness podcasts. Pick and choose what historical event you would like to know about. It's archive is huge.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Great suggestion, andrewwwww! Thank you and noted.

      Delete
  5. I've been eating spinach all week -- in a soup, in a salad, in a quiche. Have not turned into Popeye yet, thankfully.

    ReplyDelete
  6. A quiche with spinach and leeks is always good. I offer that instead of podcast suggestions. The ones I listen to are so very different than the ones you enjoy. And that's why there are literally millions of podcasts!
    Our potatoes (in the ground) did very poorly this year.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's a great idea about the quiche, thank you. I wonder now if it was a generally bad potato year. I don't think mine appreciated the heat waves alternating with massive rains.

      Delete
    2. I really don't know but ours didn't put out much bloom either. Very disappointing.

      Delete
  7. One of the few podcasts I listen to, is On Drugs.
    https://www.cbc.ca/listen/cbc-podcasts/157-on-drugs
    It's quite interesting and I have a vested interest in addictions. I'm hoping it will give me a deeper understanding and some compassion. I can have compassion for people who are not related to me, but struggle with feeling the same way about those close to me.
    Your food looks good. I'm starting to pull out dying annuals and the other day I harvested a bunch of delphinium seeds, kept some in an envelope and scattered some around the plants. We'll see what happens.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's an astute comment about compassion for family compared to others. Maybe because family issues cost us so personally that it's so much harder to be compassionate to the people causing them?
      Thank you for the reference, too.

      Delete
  8. I don't listen to podcasts so I have no suggestions. Do you listen to those through your phone or on your computer? I really know nothing about them.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I have no computer. I have spotify loaded on my Android phone and my Fire tablet, so I listen to whichever is handy. They're just the updated version of radio discussion programs.

      Delete
  9. My two favourite podcasts are both British - The Rest is History and No Such Thing As A Fish.
    A favourite (& always a crowd pleaser) is spinach and feta rolls - bit of egg in and the rest as egg wash and levels up even more with a little mint in the mix.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you for the podcast ideas, noted. And the spinach idea, that's great.

      Delete
  10. I LOVE mixing herbs into yoghurt! So good. Love the little spud too. So cute.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yogurt is a good vehicle for all kinds of additions.

      Delete
  11. I checked out Imperfect Foods but not ready to try it yet.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Misfits bought out imperfect a couple of years ago, and where I live, Imperfect does delivery but you order from Misfits. I was hesitant when I first started with Misfits, but there's no contract or obligation. You sign up with your payment info, then order or not as you want. So I tried it for a couple of orders and was pleased enough to continue.

      Delete
  12. I've never been a fan of podcasts so I'm sorry I can't recommend any. For some reason I can't manage to listen to something and work/create at the same time and I can't sit still to actively listen to podcasts (or youtube videos...or the tv). I know, I have issues...
    Your Imperfect delivery is endlessly interesting. Really wish they had that service here.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I wonder if any Canadian company might catch on. It's certainly a going concern as far as I can see. And you have plenty of produce in season, and no tariff issues with Mexico and Chile! Some of my fish comes from NZ, another country friendly with Canada.

      Delete
    2. There is possibly a company similar operating here in Canada, but not in our area. Maybe one day.

      Delete

Please read the comments before yours and see if your question is already answered!