Arp and I have loved mojitos ever since we discovered them, quite a few years back. When we lived in Manhattan, we’d have to scour the local markets to find some decent mint. It was sometimes hard to find, which was irritating when we had the urge for a Mojito.
Since we’ve lived in our current house in the exurbs, I’ve invested some effort in growing our own mint. My favorite variety for mojitos is chocolate mint. The first year, I listened to all the warnings about mint taking over the garden, and I contained the mint plants in huge buried buckets. Well, we drink a lot of mojitos in the summer, and we quickly exhausted the supply of my bucket-bound mint. The next year I threw caution to the wind, dug up the buckets, and let my mint taste the full freedom of my herb garden. Holy mojitos! We were in heaven!
But something has happened this year that is totally unexpected. Arp and I both admitted to each other the other day that we are a tiny bit bored of drinking mojitos. We still wanted the mint, but we needed it to be something a little different, more exciting. The garden is overflowing with mint, of course.
Now, the great thing about Mojitos is that they don’t have any fancy ingredients. Rum, seltzer, sugar, lime, mint. How easy is that? We get a big ole jug of rum and we are set as long as the mint in the garden lives and we remember to buy the limes occasionally at the supemarket. When we whipped out all our drink-making books the other night, all the recipes seemed to include odd-sounding liquors that we most certainly didn’t have. (Before we had kids, our liquor cabinet was stocked with quite a few interesting concoctions, but our supply has dwindled. We are now at rum and tequila.)
Tell me, dear readers - what exciting drinks can I make with mint?
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I placed my order for herbs on Saturday. I went with Richters, as I did last year. I love looking at their catalog and being able to pick from dozens of varieties for any herb I am interested in. Plus, their catalog tells you a little bit about how each herb is used medicinally. If I’m honest with myself, I know I’ll probably just cook with the darn things. But it’s nice to know there’s another purpose for some of the plants. Read more »
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A few crocuses have appeared on my lawn, but the other signs of Spring seem seriously delayed. Maybe I’m just being impatient. Have other Springs come on so slowly? Or maybe it’s just because one of my bedrooms is filled with stinky 3-week-old ducks that poop day and night.
Modified Homesteading Lessons, 101 (I say modified because I don’t really feel I have the right to call myself a homesteader, but the ducks are our first tiny step): Be sure to order your ducklings at the right time. By the time they are 3 weeks old, their poop will be so stinky and voluminous that it will make your house smell like a zoo. You want the weather to be warm enough by that time so that they can at least spend the days outside, thereby limiting the amount of poop deposited in your indoor brooder. Or better yet, keep the brooder in your barn! (I don’t have a barn since I live in the suburbs/exurbs).
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Yesterday was lovely. It was nearly 70 degrees and the first day this year that I’ve gone without a coat or hat. The kids and I spent lots of time outside while I dug around and tried to find some signs of Spring. Read more »
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Ever since watching Jesus Camp, I’ve been wondering why someone would teach a child that global warming is not real (aside from the pure politics involved). The National Arbor Day Foundation has released updated hardiness zones for planting in the US and, shock of shocks, it’s actually getting warmer in the US. The New York Times chimed in with an article on it earlier this week, stating in it that
Cameron P. Wake, a research associate professor at the Climate Change Research Center at the University of New Hampshire, said that winter temperatures in the Northeast have increased an average of 4.3 degrees over the last 30 years.
That’s quite a bit more than the figure of 0.6 degrees that a future preacher was learning to memorize in Jesus Camp. Yesterday I was reminiscing about Christmas as a kid, and how my perfect Christmas involved a snowy night and a nice fresh blanket of snow to play in the next day. I think this last occurred in 1979 or so. M’s been asking where’s the snow and we’ve been wondering ourselves. This warmth might feel good and be good for our heating bills, but it is truly disturbing.
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