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richwicks says

You really cannot buy authentic dill pickles anywhere

The Sonomy Brinery pickles at Trader Joe's are very good.

Patrick says

richwicks says

You really cannot buy authentic dill pickles anywhere

The Sonomy Brinery pickles at Trader Joe's are very good.

Maybe, but I recently made pickles. I'm kind of set for the year.

richwicks says

Lawns are firebreaks. That's their original purpose. It's so the house wouldn't burn down if there was a forest fire.

In CA I can imagine that's true, but most of the country doesn't have fires that are a threat to housing. In the midwest you just have a lawn.

I'm starting to realize that much of the national narrative is based on a flawed view. You make sense when saying they are firebreaks. But outside of the mountain west there's literally no fire risk for the most part. 58% of the country lives east of the Mississippi river. 80% east of the Rockies. The fire thing is the west coast and rockies.

And yes Wisconsin and Minnesota have fires, but it's rare and generally doesn't effect homes because it rains in this part of the country consistently. Lawn isn't a determining factor in it here. Smokies occasionally have fires in TN and the Carolinas.

What I'm saying is for 80% of the country it is a status thing. Not much to do with fires. My lawn is better than Ted or Joe's. Desert Southwest doesn't much care either. The fire problems are in CA, OR, WA, MT, UT and CO for the most part.

WookieMan says

What I'm saying is for 80% of the country it is a status thing. Not much to do with fires. My lawn is better than Ted or Joe's. Desert Southwest doesn't much care either. The fire problems are in CA, OR, WA, MT, UT and CO for the most part.

I can only tell you how they started out. I grew up in NY near the border of Canada in the middle of nowhere. Firebreaks ARE needed there. I've seen plenty of forest fires there when I was a kid, before NY started actively managing the forest again. California doesn't.

richwicks says

When I was a kid, we had a huge garden

You went on to describe how I grew up.

I make half sour refrigerator pickles, don't last as long as dill pickles. But the biggest fans of my pickles are people who say they can't stand pickles. I am up to about 7 jars I have to make when I make a batch. As several family members and friends want a jar. I buy those cukes that are a cross between Kirby and mini English cukes, they come about 5 to 8 in a bag, just enough to fit in a guart Mason jar.

My brine 1 cup water, 1 cup white vinegar, 1 tblsp of salt, 10 black pepper corns, 10 Sichuan pepper corns, 1 bay leaf, 3 to 4 garlic cloves. Put in a sauce pot and bring to a boil. Add two sprigs of fresh dill to a quart jar, pack in 6 to 8 pickles, pour in liquid while still hot. Let jars sit until just above lukewarm, place lids and let finish cooling. The jars will end up sealed by time they fully cool. Left sealed they will last for three months. But only about 2 to 3 weeks once open. Even longer I guess, but I put off because the whole thing starts getting an amber tint from oxidization. Rather than the nice dill green it had going before. The pickles are ready to eat within hours. Though the magic hour for them are 24 hours later to one week.

Those gardens look easy but, pests , rodents , deer, birds all going to eat it before you. Gardening is lot of work.

Tenpoundbass says

10 Sichuan pepper corns

Good idea, man.

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KgK one says

Those gardens look easy but, pests , rodents , deer, birds all going to eat it before you. Gardening is lot of work.

Put in electric fence today, keeps them out.

richwicks says

Weeding is backbreaking work

Yes!

I made a raised bed of asparagus, now I just have to wait 3 years for them to grow to the point I can eat them. The bed will only get better over the years and they come back bigger every year.