What did you do in the garden today?

[EuroChook]

On poison ivy (Sounds painful)... vitamin D is anthistaminic. If one's vit D is low, mast cells destabilize much more easily and release histamine. Also caffeine, being a methylxanthine compound is also antihistaminic and anti-inflammatory, with the only caveat being that certain phenotypes will react to caffeine, and for them it will produce histamine in an inverted parabola response over time. But for those not reactive to caffeine, even a three teaspoon instant cup can be painted onto a rash, mosquito bite, yea, even hemmorhoids for some relief. As long as one doesn't mind smelling like 'eau du cafe'. Bromelain in pineapple is antiinflammatory. Ethanol is a depressant antiinflammatory. Ginger, too. 4g a day may even help bring relief to osteoarthritis.

Just winking anti-inflammatory tiddles into my afternoon tiddle cup.

And you can see--more chance of histamines, then the greater the reaction to **any** kind of a pathogen, or negative impulse. So good vit D. (In Europe they take 50,000 iu through winter. Glass is UV reflective. We get UV from processing sunlight. What a wonder! But sitting in a beautiful window won't give vit D. If the sun does not rise above a certain number of degrees, it won't produce vit D for us.... If one has lost kidney function, you will need more vit D--for those even taking 3000iu daily, you can still be found D deficient on blood tests. (Like me! OH no, I've said too much!)

My uncle, who I love dearly, had... well.. (sorry uncle B), hemorrhoids badly. Tada! It's known across town now, Uncky! Anyway....Nothing worked. After telling him to soak a "pad" in coffee, he told me I was crazy. Then it worked! After sitting in many "Sitz baths" before that. Ha. It worked. I know. I hate anything that doesnt work. I have a weird neuropeptide disorder (after exposure to too many chemicals). That--plus 5 years of medicine, so I know (for people medicine) what to look up, what to research; and I have to date read 93 articles on how to fix a neuropeptide disorder. 22 different gene transcription centers are responsible for it. Ha. And I will bore you no more. See who you let in, (with the cat and the rain), when you approve a request to join?

 

[EuroChook]

Yeah, I thought maybe that was typo, but I checked into it and everywhere they say the oil from poison ivy can stay in your clothes and reinfect you as much as one year, or more, later. Like was mentioned, you have to wash those clothes in cold water so the oil is not triggered to release. I'm thinking the best option is to have either disposable protective clothing for poison ivy jobs or have a set of working clothes just for that job.

A year. An hour. What is the difference, between friends?

 

[EuroChook]

Green mangos, before ripe, have even higher urushiol levels than the ripe ones. such a nasty chemical!

Has anyone heard of monsterio delicio (sp?) plants? Grow in the tropics. Fruit tastes a cross between banana and pineapple! Who wouldn't? I followed my father there for a contract he had in Fiji, one time. Ate some. Nearly died. Amazing how urushiol and other weird chemicals want to "off" us. Taro also--had a feeling like a throat full of glass shards. A local man, Savea, told me you had to cook them first. Nice to know while I'm in Island ER.

 

[igorsMistress]

Thanks. I'm going to try a small jar maybe tonight.

Enjoy!

 

[Sally PB]

(In Europe they take 50,000 iu through winter.

So the 5000 iu I take a day (625% rda) is not overdoing it? I have low, but acceptable vit D level, per my last physical. I also have osteopenia, so osteoporosis is definintely on my radar. I've already broken my wrist.

In garden news, I need to freeze some beans today!

 

[littledog]

Huntington Pro cart on sale at Menards for less than $150.00. It has the same specs - 10 cubic feet, 1,500 pounds - as the Gorilla cart. However, the Gorilla cart sells for about $359 at Home Depot. The Gorilla cart does have some inserts for side panels if you want.

That's crazy, barely any difference between the two carts except the inserts for side panels. If you wanted side panels, you could easily design something that would fit your own cart, and make it out of pallet wood. Probably hold up better than whatever Gorilla charges for their special side panels they want you to buy for their cart.

sewed me pants.Or my version of them.

Nice! Those look so comfortable.

My second job after highschool was at a Friendly's Ice Cream restaurant.

Friendly's Ice Cream!!! That was my go-to place for lunch in college. They had inexpensive but good and generous helpings for lunches, plus it was right by the bus stop I took to my afternoon classes. Are those still around?

 

[JennyLynnLuv]

What did you do in your garden today?

I picked a bunch of Rattlesnake green beans and Cherokee wax beans, a few tomatoes, three eggplants, some broccoli shoots, and jalapenos. Pretty happy with today's harvest!

Checked on my late start cucumbers they're flowering but no fruit yet. Meanwhile I have 23 tomatoes!

 

[littledog]

I didn't get anything done in the garden today. Maybe a bit tomorrow, but not betting on anything major happening.

Same here, it's actually been 3-4 days since I've done anything besides water when I get home at night, because it's been so darn hot. My weather app claims 93-96, but today when I looked at my analog thermometer by the back door (in the shade!) it was 102.
It's supposed to get a bit cooler by Friday, and I'm hoping when I go out there I'll see a giant zucchini and yellow, seedy cucumbers, rather than dead plants.

And the self checkout scanners are usually "card only". They're trying to remove cash purchases.

Yes! That's what they are trying at my local Fred Meyers, but good luck with that, since they can't seem to get their card readers to work properly. The other day the card reader kept saying "chip error" then I tried to swipe the side and it wouldn't take that, either. Finally, I had to pay with a paper check! Fortunately, the checker was my age and knew what that was! I was lucky I had my checkbook with me, since there are very few bills I use it for.

 

[littledog]

I think for your inside potting/seed starting soil you should bake it in the oven to sterilize it. That would get rid of any bugs and pathogens that could hurt the seedlings as they're establishing themselves. And you'd have no bugs in the house.

Commercial potting soil is sterile, and starting plants inside is just a temporary thing. Once they get outdoors they need the living, critter infested compost and soil. Just my opinion...

Hmm, you just gave me some ideas...the bags of "seed starter" ARE sterile, or claim to be...and people who do hydroponics just start their plants in water and add nutrients as needed. So what if I were to not spend $$ on seed-starting mix next year, but make my own out of, I don't know, shredded cardboard mixed with pine chips? Some kind of medium I can make myself, that can support the seedlings, allow water and nutrients to travel through without gumming up, and decompose in the garden once the plants go outside.

 

[EuroChook]

So the 5000 iu I take a day (625% rda) is not overdoing it? I have low, but acceptable vit D level, per my last physical. I also have osteopenia, so osteoporosis is definintely on my radar. I've already broken my wrist.

In garden news, I need to freeze some beans today!

Definitely not overdoing it, especially if you're regularly just coming in on the lower side of ok. You cant do any harm, but I wouldnt recommend it for everyone. Just please check D and calcium levels regularly, which is probably what your doctor would want you to do. Some studies suggest 10,000 iu regularly is toxic. Other studies suggest 6,000 iu is toxic, which has changed over the years. But if you're doing fine, no symptoms, you should be just fine. Vit D toxicity usually shows as big thirst, plenty of trips to bathroom, even up to stomach cramps, confusion, lots of fun symptoms like those. So if you start feeling as I do when I first wake up (confusion and apathy included--ha) then definitely go to ER. 5,000 and low to normal is ok

Oh yes. Garden--I have been in a friend's garden. I counted butterflies. How many? 0, thanks to Monsanto. 0 bees too.