Saturday, August 11, 2007

Fresh Sweet Corn

Upstate NY has the best sweet corn as far as I am concerned.

Fill a large kettle with shucked corn on the cob and fill with cold water. Put on the stove on high, and when the water comes to a boil shut it off and let it sit for 5-10 minutes. Drain, then lightly spread with butter and salt.

I have not experimented with this because quite frankly it is perfect the way it is. What I have done is always buy a dozen ears at a time, which is twice what we eat. I cook it up, then after supper cut off the kernels of the leftover cobs with a sharp knife and freeze the corn. Usually 6 ears will fill a quart bag most of the way. After a summer of eating corn, and with minimal effort and no extra time or energy spent blanching (it was done while cooking the eating corn) I can have enough corn to last the winter. While it may not be any cheaper you cannot beat the flavor. I end up paying about a dollar a quart bag, which is not bad. I remember as a kid my mother getting bags of corn and doing it all in one day-this is much easier!

I have had a perfectly boring and very satisfying day. Dave took the boys to the steam tractor engine show in Rochester, with Steve, Greg, Bill and Andrew (BIL and cousins). I cleaned my poor house from top to bottom, finished the laundry, hung out with the chickens, played with the dogs, and spent several hours weeding and sweeping the flower gardens and driveway. I have not been home for more than 4 days in a row in the last two months. My vegetable garden is a wreck, the peppers and tomatoes can be found among the towering weeds, and it looks like the zucchini may yet produce but the potatoes and garlic has all but disappeared. I probably will get potatoes though, I planted all blues and they are pretty hardy. The Moons and Stars watermelon isn't fairing too well, and niether are the Boothsby Blond cukes-I did get three but I think that may be it.

I was pleasantly suprised at how the flower gardens are doing. I really do not buy many plants, I either split what I have or trade people for new plants. I have been collecting sedums for the front birdfeeder garden, because the bed is in full sun and I do not want to have to water it. They have spread wonderfully, all different types. The nice thing about sedums is you can just pinch a bit of someone's and in a years time you have a really nice ground cover. The Echinacia is just gorgeous, and and the phlox is stunning. The Shasta daisies were really nice a few weeks ago, but are now fading, so I deadheaded them all-who knows, they may reflower. My hostas are doing well except in one side garden, where the chickens have shredded them. I got two wheelbarrows of weeds taken out, what a difference. I really like the sunflowers which the birds plant-Dave hates them but I defend their right to reside there with the excuse "but they're free!" Plus they feed the sparrows and chickadees in the winter and are quite pretty in their own way.

My chickens are so mean. They have been hanging out right next to the screen door, huge birds of all colors, baiting the poor Bull Terrier. They seem to think the dogs are friendly, which Jack is, but Tallulah....She leaves them alone because she is well trained, but they are not helping. Right now they are honking at her, as she sits crouched in the doorway with a ball between her feet. Yes, my turkens honk, it sounds like a kid on a kazoo. Turkens are the ugliest chickens, they have bald necks and you can see their ear holes, and they make noises which sound half turkey, half chicken. The only thing I can think they were bred for is it will be easier to cut off their heads without all those feathers. Speaking of which, I really need to do. Stupid me got fond of them, and trained them, and now I am having a really hard time thinking of killing them. I wish I wasn't so soft sometimes.

I have been perusing Stand Your Ground and MensNewsDaily, and I swear people are going nuts. They are arguing about everything, and doing nothing. They ask who are leaders and several claim they are and quite frankly if you spend most of your activist time online on message boards, you are no leader. Leaders are people who are doing great things and leading by example, people who you look up to. Glenn Sacks, Tom Golden, Matt O'Conner, Steven Baskerville, these to me are great leaders. It struck me when I had a few drinks at the hotel with Jolly how different he was from all the MRAs I talk to everyday. He didn't sit online, he probably doesn't spend much time at all at the computer. He is out doing things. I admire him for that. I have been trying to do the same, but old habits die hard. I have signed up for several activist action alert groups in the hope that even just on-line I can focus my time constructively. RADAR is one that I signed up for today. I had some ideas for local action, but I know once I start school I will not have much time for anything.

And of course Dave just bought me a laptop for school (crazy man) and now I feel like I am on-line even more. BUT-I started my dogtraining book, worked on my blog, and signed up for action alerts, so I guess it is not so bleak as all that.

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