Gonna do another of them hangouts on Sunday » « Spiders! Now with scale bars!

This isn’t going to last

Lately, Mary and I have been taking our morning constitutional strolling around the horticulture gardens, over by the Pomme de Terre river.

It’s pretty, but OMG IT’S SEPTEMBER. Everything is going to die soon and freeze and be covered with snow, so we’ve got to get our walking in now.

At least one good thing is that we’re seeing a fair number of monarchs, and the next generation is growing fast.

Gonna do another of them hangouts on Sunday » « Spiders! Now with scale bars!

Comments

  1. damien75 says

    Is it going to die because of the monarchs ?

    I want to bathe in that river, just because of the name.

  2. Azkyroth, B*Cos[F(u)]==Y says

    I know what you mean. Over here, we’re already seeing Summer fading to Summer, on its way to Half-Assed-Fall-Spring-Kinda-Thing.

  5. Tethys says

    The Pomme de Terre river and lake are named for the local native prairie turnips that used to grow there in abundance. They were a staple food of the Dakota and other plains tribes. Psoralea esculenta

    Abundant under favorable conditions, palatable, and nutritious, the prairie turnip was once a wild-gathered staple food of the Plains Indians, especially the nomads, and of early European explorers. It was harvested May through July when the blooming flower stalks were easily visible among prairie grasses. The Indians, usually women, harvested the root with a sharpened, fire-hardened digging stick. The tubers have a hard, dark skin and are peeled before eating. Some were eaten immediately, either raw or boiled, but most were dried for further use. They were sliced and sun dried, braided and hung on meat racks to dry, and pounded into flour.[5]

    The prairie turnip was also a reliable food in times of shortage or famine. A number of examples have been recorded of Indians and whites subsisting on the root for extended periods when other food could not be obtained. The prairie turnip is more nutritious than most root crops, containing about 7 percent protein, more than 50 percent carbohydrates, and is rich in vitamins and trace minerals. Particularly important was the Vitamin C content of 17.1 milligrams per 100 grams as the winter meat-rich diet of the Plains Indians was often deficient in Vitamin C.

    That final sentence simply had to be quoted, in light of the recent Dinner at the Petersens thread.

  7. littlelocomotive says

    In Winter, that same scene will have an austere beauty that is special in its own way. And anyone who thinks it will all be dead needs to read more Bernd Heinrich.

  9. gijoel says

    Whilst on the other side of the Pacific; OMG IT’S SEPTEMBER EVERYTHING IS GOING TO BE ON FIRE.