Waste not want not
06/05/2006 11:46 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
izmeinaYesterday, after our usual Friday morning meeting, the Iz pottered off to the very pretty Queens Gardens to smell the roses and lounge about listening to the radio - Life Matters talk back on the subject of choice - how much is too much and the Book Show replay of the Nobel Prize acceptance speech by Harold Pinter
After a while, decides to check out the state of those adorably enormous sunflowers. Iz looked over and where the sunflowers should be was a big grey space - a few stalks or two and a gardener digging them out. Iz was just flabbergasted. Went over and asked the gardener if we could have some of the seed heads from the wheelie bin he was tossing the flowers into. But there was none left there - must have been all dug up the day before. The gardener said that they throw most of them away but keep about ten to twenty heads for next year. He went and got us one which was really rather sweet. Said that it still needed to dry out a bit more.
There was the odd parrot picking about finding the odd seed or two but Iz could not understand why they just did not leave all the unneeded seed heads in a heap for the parrots or the public to pick at.
So, now the Izzie will have to guard these treasures for spring time. Every attempt to use bird seed from the shops, snatching from sunflowers or even buying nonhybrid seeds at a ridiculous $2.95 a packet from greenie shops has never succeeded so this is our last chance to get it right. (Oh most of our attempts did grow but were most weedy indeed)
We then pottered off to book the bus ticket for Bridgetown - three weeks from now will be on our way down there. That was a ridiculous seventy silver sickles return. Used to cost half that when we were getting the student discount.
Finally picked up more pretty pods and spices from that Greek Grocery - cummin, fennel and black eyed beans. Will be planting them any time in the next week or so
Returned home and put all things plantable in a little box to have them all in one place. In the process, came across a little bag of pine nuts that we'd bought to make pesto. Was not amused to see itsie bitsie wormies wiggling in the bag. Seems they even eat holes in plastic bags. Oh bugger. Do we sort through them or just toss the lot - bury them in the garden and count our losses? So so annoyed.
Tasted one or two and they do taste OK but not sure if we like the prospect of crunching on squishy wigglers.
Pine nuts are not exactly the price of peanuts. Iz gets them at the Greek Grocers for $$20 per kilo but idiots who go to the supermarket will have to part with $$50 per kilo. (Obviously - you do not need to buy a whole kilo - usually they are in 50g packets. Izzie weighed them - 100g it was. Wonders how much of that is worms.
Maybe we should put them in a bottle and cover them in rum.
So, now the Iz is going to make another attempt at abolishing that bad habit of buying stuff and feeding it to the worms or letting it get so far past its use by date that we are too scared to munch it. Will need to spend less time slinking in Cyberia and more slaving over a hot stove.
After a while, decides to check out the state of those adorably enormous sunflowers. Iz looked over and where the sunflowers should be was a big grey space - a few stalks or two and a gardener digging them out. Iz was just flabbergasted. Went over and asked the gardener if we could have some of the seed heads from the wheelie bin he was tossing the flowers into. But there was none left there - must have been all dug up the day before. The gardener said that they throw most of them away but keep about ten to twenty heads for next year. He went and got us one which was really rather sweet. Said that it still needed to dry out a bit more.
There was the odd parrot picking about finding the odd seed or two but Iz could not understand why they just did not leave all the unneeded seed heads in a heap for the parrots or the public to pick at.
So, now the Izzie will have to guard these treasures for spring time. Every attempt to use bird seed from the shops, snatching from sunflowers or even buying nonhybrid seeds at a ridiculous $2.95 a packet from greenie shops has never succeeded so this is our last chance to get it right. (Oh most of our attempts did grow but were most weedy indeed)
We then pottered off to book the bus ticket for Bridgetown - three weeks from now will be on our way down there. That was a ridiculous seventy silver sickles return. Used to cost half that when we were getting the student discount.
Finally picked up more pretty pods and spices from that Greek Grocery - cummin, fennel and black eyed beans. Will be planting them any time in the next week or so
Returned home and put all things plantable in a little box to have them all in one place. In the process, came across a little bag of pine nuts that we'd bought to make pesto. Was not amused to see itsie bitsie wormies wiggling in the bag. Seems they even eat holes in plastic bags. Oh bugger. Do we sort through them or just toss the lot - bury them in the garden and count our losses? So so annoyed.
Tasted one or two and they do taste OK but not sure if we like the prospect of crunching on squishy wigglers.
Pine nuts are not exactly the price of peanuts. Iz gets them at the Greek Grocers for $$20 per kilo but idiots who go to the supermarket will have to part with $$50 per kilo. (Obviously - you do not need to buy a whole kilo - usually they are in 50g packets. Izzie weighed them - 100g it was. Wonders how much of that is worms.
Maybe we should put them in a bottle and cover them in rum.
So, now the Iz is going to make another attempt at abolishing that bad habit of buying stuff and feeding it to the worms or letting it get so far past its use by date that we are too scared to munch it. Will need to spend less time slinking in Cyberia and more slaving over a hot stove.
no subject
Date: 2006-05-06 08:48 am (UTC)Whatever is the lesser of two weevils. *g*
no subject
Date: 2006-05-06 03:43 pm (UTC)Well - Izzie has learned her lesson and will never again buy pine nuts unless we get basil too on the same day and zap them with the wand within a week.
But one good thing about having a garden is that you can bury all sorts of green things that would otherwise end up wasted in landfill. Sometimes the buggers even sprout. Used to get quite a few tomato bushes that way.