28 F at 5AM this morning; 29 at dawn.
In the dog watering tub, a layer of ice, some in my hand here.
Down by the dirt pit, ice pushing out of the ground:
And a tiny longleaf in a field of icy clay:
Pictures by John S. Quarterman, Lowndes County, Georgia, 7 Dec 2010.
The dogs found something in the dirt pit.
Watch
the video below and eventually you will see it:
Continue reading
So
first you pick and cook the beautyberries,
then you
strain them and cook them again,
and finally, you
can them in jars, as you can see Gretchen doing in the video linked
through the little picture to the right.
Here is one batch of beautyberry jelly jars:
Pictures and preserving of beautyberry, Callicarpa americana, by Gretchen Quarte rman, Lowndes County, Georgia, 17 Oct 2010
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So far we’ve picked and cook the beautyberries.
Now we want to pour it through a strainer to get out any remaining stems or skins.
That’s why it’s going to be jelly, not jam.
This strainer is an old pillow case.
First get it nice and bubbling.
Then strain it as in the first picture above.
Then cook it some more and add sugar.
To be continued….
Straining and cooking of Callicarpa americana by Gretchen Quarterman, Lowndes County, Georgia, 16 Oct 2010.
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Those small violet berries in the woods: it’s beautyberry, and you can eat it.
(No, not pokeberry; those are larger, and the stems are purple.)
Beautyberry grows in clumps that you can pick like you’re milking
the bush.
First, find some ripe ones:
Pick them and wash them:
And boil them:
To be continued….
Pictures of Callicarpa americana, Lowndes County, Georgia, 12 Oct 2010, as well as picking, cooking, by Gretchen Quarterman.
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Checking in Saturday morning, 13 Nov 2010,
at the Growing Local Conference organized
by Georgia Organics in Tifton, Georgia.
Janisse Ray and Leeanne Culbreath explain the conference.
Raven Waters demonstrates cheese making,
South Georgia “Growing Local” Conference,
Georgia Organics, Tifton, Georgia, 13 Nov 2010.
Videos by John S. Quarterman.
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Tom Philpott asks in Grist about
Why Monsanto is paying farmers to spray its rivals’ herbicides
…Monsanto has been forced into the unenviable position of having to pay farmers to spray the herbicides of rival companies.Roundup, trade name for glysophate, doesn’t work anymore because the weeds mutated: Continue readingIf you tend large plantings of Monsanto’s “Roundup Ready” soy or cotton, genetically engineered to withstand application of the company’s Roundup herbicide (which will kill the weeds — supposedly — but not the crops), Monsanto will cut you a $6 check for every acre on which you apply at least two other herbicides. One imagines farmers counting their cash as literally millions of acres across the South and Midwest get doused with Monsanto-subsidized poison cocktails.
The move is the latest step in the abject reversal of Monsanto’s longtime claim: that Roundup Ready technology solved the age-old problem of weeds in an ecologically benign way.
She told me not to video her:
But did I listen?
Video by John S. Quarterman of Gretchen Quarterman demonstrating preserving at a south Georgia event in Tifton by Georgia Organics, 13 Nov 2010.
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Robert Langreth writes in Forbes that
Forbes Was Wrong On Monsanto. Really Wrong.
Forbes made Monsanto the company of the year last year in The Planet Versus Monsanto. I know because I wrote the article. Since then everything that could have gone wrong for the genetically engineered seed company….has gone wrong. Super-weeds that are resistant to its RoundUp weed killer are emerging, even as weed killer sales are being hit by cheap Chinese generics. An expensive new bioengineered corn seed with eight new genes does not look impressive in its first harvest. And the Justice Department is invesigating over antitrust issues. All this has led to massive share declines. Other publications are making fun of our cover story.Maybe Forbes should improve its “invesigating” [sic] skills.
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