A field of beans

As much as we all love the idea of gardening, if your garden space is limited, the soil on your property isn’t great or you simply want gardening to be easier, here’s a seriously perfect solution. Give yourself more room to grow with Vego’s modular raised garden beds. They’re sustainably made, they last decades longer than wood, they’re easy to assemble, and will adapt to your available space, regardless of size, shape, balcony or backyard. And another plus: For something so functional, they’ll look great in your yard.

Imagine harvesting vibrant, violet-hued pods that are not only a visual feast but also packed with nutrients and flavor. Whether you’re spicing up a stir-fry or looking to add a splash of color to your garden, Purple Beans are your ticket to an extraordinary experience.

Rob Last

Another Trader Joe's recall, this time for Texas Tamale Company's Gourmet Black Bean Tamales (in nine states), has customers wondering what's going on with their much-loved grocery store. This is the sixth recall by the company, which has 564 markets nationwide. 

There are areas in our homes that tend to be common storage areas, such as attics or basements. But just because a space can hold a stack of boxes doesn't mean it should. Before you stash a box of clothes or holiday decorations away, consider the ways in which factors like temperature, moisture, and household pests might affect the items you're storing.

Rob Last

The post Bird Feeders Suffield CT appeared first on Stonehedge.

Recently, the results of the 2022 Farm Gate survey were posted, showing data for several crops grown in SC. In the coming weeks, we will be collecting data for 2023 on a new set of crops. Extension Agents from around the state will be contacting growers to ask about this data. Our goal will be to calculate a total value for each crop in order to highlight the importance of agriculture in SC, track agricultural trends, obtain research funding, and provide information to our legislators who influence agricultural policy. No personal or identifying data will be published. Revisit the reports from 2022 to see an example of what will be released.

These are the Bean Watch 2008 seedlings this morning.

This is a really fun video (12:24 long) from Adam Savage’s Tested series, in which a chef tries to help astronauts on the ISS eat nicer meals by combining foods they already have in stock. Chris Hadfield is their astronaut guinea pig, and demonstrates very effectively why it’s so hard to prepare meals in space!

We’ve been making a lot of progress in the garden this year, including processing many of the plants in pots that travelled from the old garden, and were waiting to find a permanent home. Some have moved on yet again, to a friend’s garden. Some pots were filled with nothing but weeds, and have been emptied into the green waste bin. As the clutter subsides, it’s easier to keep track of what I’ve got, and where it is. One of the pots that has resurfaced from the chaos holds ‘Minogue’s Onion’, a slightly mysterious species that was given to me by the late Patrick Whitefield. He described it in Permaculture Magazine a few years ago, but never uncovered its scientific name. It’s a perennial allium with the flattened leaves of a garlic, and forms a clump of strongly-flavoured (he said) salad onions in the winter. In the summer it forms small, round bulbs, which you harvest by digging up the clump and replanting a few to allow it to continue. They don’t need peeling, apparently, which sounds appealing. The plant is supposed to die back in summer; mine hasn’t yet. I have never seen it flower; I don’t think it does.

One of the classic meals in Ryan’s family is bean feast. Ryan’s parents serve it occasionally when we visit, and Ryan’s mum kindly brought us over a bean feast when we moved into the house, to tide us over the first couple of days when we didn’t have the energy to cook. (It is the only time anyone has ever brought me food like that!)