03-07-2022, 05:37 AM
I mentioned in the shoutbox my ongoing hobby of trying to make something grow, and a member expressed an interest in following along and keeping updated, so I thought that making a thread to keep track would be the way to go.
First, I've gotta tell you, I don't really have a green thumb. I hated working in the garden all through my wicked and misspent youth, so it never really took. Since I'm retired now (I was tired yesterday, and I'm tired again today, so I reckon that equals "re-tired"), I have all day to do things and nothing to do, so I figured a hobby would be in order. I settled on trying to grow stuff because A) that's a REAL challenge for me!, and B) I appreciate cheap living and self-sufficiency, particularly in these times.
With the Controllers trying to make life difficult for smokers and vapers, being able to grow my own nicotine was a no-brainer, so tobacco was one of the things I settled on. Medicinal hemp is legal in Virginia now, but expensive as hell with the additional requirement of having to obtain a medical marijuana card and then traveling an inordinate distance to use that card at a dispensary (only 4 operational in the whole damned state at the moment), but since it has been legal to grow your own here since last July 1, it seemed more convenient and cheaper to just provide my own, so that is another component. Quinoa, a South American chenopodium has pretty high nutritional value , and seems to be pretty low maintenance - right up my alley! Additionally, the ancestral plant of quinoa, chenopodium berlanderii (goosefoot) has a long history around this area. The Indians here grew it before they had corn to grow, and it is a major component of the Eastern Agricultural Complex, one of the 7 main original agricultural cradles of the world. Pampas grass is going to provide arrow shafts, so it's included in my wee assortment. Some few different sorts of herbs round out the collection.
So - tobacco, quinoa, pampas grass, hemp, and some herbs. Hence the title of the thread, "A Weird Hillbilly's Garden" - because that selection ain't normal.
In the next few posts, I will concentrate on each in it's turn, giving some background and initial conditions for each, and we'll go from there.
.
First, I've gotta tell you, I don't really have a green thumb. I hated working in the garden all through my wicked and misspent youth, so it never really took. Since I'm retired now (I was tired yesterday, and I'm tired again today, so I reckon that equals "re-tired"), I have all day to do things and nothing to do, so I figured a hobby would be in order. I settled on trying to grow stuff because A) that's a REAL challenge for me!, and B) I appreciate cheap living and self-sufficiency, particularly in these times.
With the Controllers trying to make life difficult for smokers and vapers, being able to grow my own nicotine was a no-brainer, so tobacco was one of the things I settled on. Medicinal hemp is legal in Virginia now, but expensive as hell with the additional requirement of having to obtain a medical marijuana card and then traveling an inordinate distance to use that card at a dispensary (only 4 operational in the whole damned state at the moment), but since it has been legal to grow your own here since last July 1, it seemed more convenient and cheaper to just provide my own, so that is another component. Quinoa, a South American chenopodium has pretty high nutritional value , and seems to be pretty low maintenance - right up my alley! Additionally, the ancestral plant of quinoa, chenopodium berlanderii (goosefoot) has a long history around this area. The Indians here grew it before they had corn to grow, and it is a major component of the Eastern Agricultural Complex, one of the 7 main original agricultural cradles of the world. Pampas grass is going to provide arrow shafts, so it's included in my wee assortment. Some few different sorts of herbs round out the collection.
So - tobacco, quinoa, pampas grass, hemp, and some herbs. Hence the title of the thread, "A Weird Hillbilly's Garden" - because that selection ain't normal.
In the next few posts, I will concentrate on each in it's turn, giving some background and initial conditions for each, and we'll go from there.
.
Diogenes was eating bread and lentils for supper. He was seen by the philosopher Aristippus, who lived comfortably by flattering the king.
Said Aristippus, ‘If you would learn to be subservient to the king you would not have to live on lentils.’ Said Diogenes, ‘Learn to live on lentils and you will not have to be subservient to the king.’
Said Aristippus, ‘If you would learn to be subservient to the king you would not have to live on lentils.’ Said Diogenes, ‘Learn to live on lentils and you will not have to be subservient to the king.’