Conference quark::mennotes-v1

    reminds me of the old line from the lone ranger tv show..
    
    it's quiet here....
    
    yeah, too quiet
    
    Bonnie

    
    Nah, all us guys are busy reading our Scotts lawn literature,
    buying fertilizer, and tryin to get our lawnmowers goin. 
    After all, lawns are the last domain of old fashioned 
    masculinity you know.:-)
    
    Kidding aside, it has been real quiet here. But, speaking for
    myself I DO have spring fever. Each year Lynn and I plant a lot
    of bulbs around the yard and I'm anxiously waiting for them
    to come up. I'm also really looking forward to the June invasion
    of "the bees" when a buzzillion bees descend on the honey locust
    tress in my yard. How bout you?
    
    								Hank

    
    I've been out tramping through the garden plot that the previous
    owner's had, trying to figure out how to expand it.  Gotta fit in
    peppers (mild and hot), eggplant, tomatoes, zucchini, onions,
    carrots, green beans, sugar peas, and maybe some okra if I can find
    a variety that grows well in N.H.  Plus, there's an asparagus bed
    to create, and I have to review the techniques for growing Belgian
    endive.
    
    The heck with the lawn - I want to grow stuff I can eat.
    
    Ron (with a spring fever of 102)

    My parents used to have a garden...the woodchucks and bunnies loved
    it until we put up the chickenwire.
    
    Oh, them sugarsnap peas!  Carrots!  Kohlrabi!  Zucchini!  Tomatoes!
    Now all that grows (wild, I might add) are rhubarb and mountains
    of mint (which we preserve and use in the winter every now and then).
    
    -Jody
    

    Springtime, I suppose- I'm nursing my first severe sunburn in quite
    some time, but you'll never guess where I picked it up...
    
    spring-skiing at Squaw Valley!
    
    Drag me from the slopes kicking and screaming, only when the last
    slush melts away!  Springtime, who needs it! ;-)
    
    DougO

    
    Re: .5
    
    Jody, thanks for reminding me!  I have to get rhubarb going, too.
    There's a Persian khoresh that's made with beef, onions, lemon
    juice, cinnamon, black pepper, and rhubarb...   mmmmm.
    I got spoiled in spring at our old house, because we had
    inherited asparagus, rhubarb, and blackberries.  Then again,
    now we have herbs (mint, thyme, rosemary, sage, and chives),
    blackberries, apples, pears, and grapes.
    
    Ron

    re: .5
    
    	There you go with the food again, Jody.  At least this time it's 
    	a bit healthier!  =8-)
    
    							Carla
    

    We have both a large rhubarb bed and a lot of wild asparagus
    and mint. Anyone who wants to drive out to the nw corner of
    Worcester county (I've been told we are off the edge of the earth)
    is welcome to stop and pick some as part of a drive in the country.
    
    Bonnie

	I can see it now....

        **********************************************************
        *                                                        *
        *          BONNIE's rhubarb & lemonade stand             *
        *                                                        *
        *            5 miles that-a-way   ----------->           *
        **********************************************************
                                   |   |
                                   |   |
                                   |   |
                          ..  v..\/|   | / . \ v ..

    re: .9
    
    	Bonnie, do you know it's nearly impossible to find rhubarb in
    	Colorado?  I'll send you my CC number and you can FedEx some
    	to me.  No kidding, it's about $4 a pound here!
    
    							Carla
    

    Bonnie, is there a difference between wild asparagus and regular
    asparagus? 
    
    Carla, that much for rhubarb? Geez, we can't seem to kill the plants
    growing in our yard. Is it hard to grow there?
    
    							Hank

    	I'm not entirely sure, Hank, but I think the soil might be too
    	dry in the Colorado Springs area.  Whatever the reason, it is
    	impossible to find GOOD rhubarb here.
    
    							Carla
    

    in re asparagus and rhubarb...
    
    both are 'wild' in the sense that they were planted years ago
    by a previous owner of our place and they continue to come
    back every year. 
    
    Like Hank I would say that it is impossible to kill rhubarb..
    even my goats didn't touch it! 
    
    I guess true 'wild' asparagus, would be asapragus that had
    grown from seeds dropped by birds. Mine is more feral I guess.
    
    and Carla if you can figure out how to get it out there
    cheaper than buying it, you can have *lots* :-)
    
    Bonnie

    Carla,
    You can have all you want from my garden in fact the whole plant
    if you have a place to plant it. I cant stand the stuff but dident
    want to just dig it up and throw it away. Mine is the strawberry
    type and tastes real good *if* you like rhubarb.
    Let me know..
    
    My spring fever has kept me busy in the yard. The last 4 days I
    have been busy transplanting 10 rose bushes,planting 30' of privet
    for a hedge and prepareing the garden for planting. This year I
    plan to grow tomatoes,cabbage,onions,garlic,lettuce,sugar snap peas,
    corn and asparagus.(only the fun stuff for me;^))
    
    I skiied in shorts 2 weeks ago at breckenridge and got a nice tan
    going no burn though just a slight snow rash from a yardsale fall.
    Geez is that spring snow ever rough on the skin!
    Getting off at 8am on a day like yesterday makes working the
    mid-shift a whole lot easier. 
                                                     
    
    -j

    	Jerry, if you're going to the party on Saturday, I'll talk to
    	you about it then.
    
    							Carla
    

Please note, though - I refuse to put rhubarb in the chocolate mousse!

				Steve

    in re .17
    
    That's a relief...
    
    do you want to take some of my rhubarb plants out to Colorado
    for Carla?
    
    Bonnie

    
    AH yes, spring fever. The peepers are peeping, the little waterfall
    is falling, the mallards are back (they wake me up in the morning
    as they leave, and return about 5 every evening for about 8 weeks),
    little green heads are popping up in the garden. I llooovve spring.
    
    Bonnie i'll take some rhubarb if you have too much, I have none.
    Strawberry rhubarb pie, and strawberry rhubarb jam are two of my
    favorite things.
    
    

    Re: .17
    
    Hey, Steve. Are you *really* schlepping out to Colorado this
    weekend for the party?
    
    Or was Bonnie just yankin' your chain? :-)
    
      Alan

    And yet another olde ode to Spring:
    
       Spring Has Sprung
    
       The Grass Has Riz,
    
       I Wonder Where
    
       The Flowers Is???? :-)
    
                   (By Max Schulman, I think)
    
      Alan 

Re: .20

As a matter of fact, yes.  But as for ferrying rhubarb, I think we missed
the connection by a day or so, since I had lunch with Bonnie yesterday.
Too bad the request wasn't put in earlier!  (Though I wonder what airport
security would say to a suitcase full of rhubarb?)

				Steve

    and besides, my rhubarb isn't even *up* yet this spring, so
    all I could have sent would be roots. :-) Steve I don't think
    that rhubarb would set off any alarms!   :-)
    
    Bonnie

    
    Bonnie, might be the best time to ship it, while it's dormant.
    
    								Hank

    yeah, Hank
    
    but what I want to get rid of is the excess of stalks not
    the plants themselves! ;-) we like rhubarb but just not
    as much as we grow! :-)
    
    and besides I suspect my ground is still frozen.
    
    Bonnie

    	Okay, I'll admit it....
    
    	I've never had rhubarb!  What's it like?  All this talk about
    it certainly makes me wanna try some! :-)

    	Amy

    Rhubarb is what was once called 'pie plant' in the mid west. (My
    grandmother called it that, and it is referred to as 'pie plant'
    in the Laura Ingels Wilder books.) I have no idea where it comes
    from originally. It grows in clumps with long redish green stalks
    that look sort of like celery with a large leaf at the end of the
    stalk. One plant will put up a large number of stalks in a summer.
    It is very sour, and the leaves contain enough oxalic acid to make
    you very sick (both goats and ponys take no more than one bite!)
    
    However, if you pick the stems, and peel them a bit, then stew them
    and add sugar, they make a lovely easy to fix pie filling, stewed
    fruit dish, or topping for icecream, to name just a few. Once sweetened
    stewed rhubarb is good both hot and cold. It is especially good
    mixed with strawberries in a pie.
    
    Bonnie

    Spring is here!  Spring is here!
    Life is skittles and life is beer!
    *I* think the loveliest time of the year
    Is the spring.  I do!  Don't you?  'Course you do!

    re: .28
    
    Zowie!  Haven't heard that one in years; I know it's Tom Lehrer
    but which song?  Is it perhaps from "Poisoning Pigeons in the Park"?
    
    Steve
    

    
    re .28, .29
    
    No not pigons, it is TL though (memory test time). I have to look
    it up.
    
    -j
    

    
    It is from Poisoning Pigeons... it's the opening stanza/whatever.
    
    						cathy 

    Quite right.  I cannot tell a lie (well, I could, but I'd be sure
    to get caught).  It is indeed from "Poisoning Pigeons in the Park."
    

    Does anyone in this file hava a recipe for rhubarb/strawberry pie?  All
    this talk brought back all these memories of my grandma making a
    strawberry/rhubarb pie in the summer for us?  She never cooked with
    a recipe (jewish grandmas are all the same ... a little of this,
    a pinch of that).
    
    Please either post it here, or send it to me via E-mail.
    
    Thanks,
    JayCee
    

    
    RE:.31, .32
    
    Dag nab it, alzhimers(sp?) struck again, checked last night
    it's in the song book.
    
    john
    
    

    Spring fever...
    
    . going to get that damned plastic off my windows soon
    
    . kids will be out playing in the street waking me all day
      ( I work nights)
    
    . LESS CLOTHES!!!!!!!
    
    . too many couples breaking up as beach fever approaches
    
    . great ski tans...
    
    . and best of all, the return of all those outside construction
      workers...aaaaahhhhhh! 
    
                                            cj *->
    

re:.33	Does anyone in this file hava a recipe for rhubarb/strawberry pie?

	I have tried this and it IS good!  From Betty Crocker's Cookbook.
	Enjoy...

							- Paul

	  8-inch pie      9-inch pie
	--------------  --------------
					Pastry for two-crust pie
	1     cup	1 1/3 cups	sugar
	  1/4 cup 	  1/3 cup	all-purpose flour
	  1/4 		  1/2 teaspoon	teaspoon grated orange peel (optional)
	1 1/2 cups 	2     cups	rhubarb (1/2 inch pieces)
	1 1/2 cups	2     cups	sliced strawberries
	1    tablespoon 2   tablespoons	butter or margarine


	Heat oven to 425 degrees.  Prepare pastry.  Mix sugar, flour
	and orange peel.  Turn half of the rhubarb/strawberries into
	pastry-lined pie plate; sprinkle with half of the sugar mixture.
	Repeat with remaining rhubarb/strawberries and sugar mixture; dot
	with margarine.  Cover with top crust that has slits cut in it;
	seal and flute.  Sprinkle with sugar if desired.  Cover edge with
	2- to 3-inch strip of aluminum foil to prevent excessive browning;
	remove foil during last 15 minutes of baking.

	Bake until crust is brown and juice begins to bubble through slits
	in the crusts, 40 to 50 minutes.

.35>	. and best of all, the return of all those outside construction
.35>	  workers...aaaaahhhhhh!
    
    	That's the best thing about living in a town where everything's
    	constantly under construction, cj.  Five years to widen a road?
    	The summer months are when you appreciate those SLOW signs.  ;-)
    
    							Carla
    

    Hey Carla!  How did I know you'd be the first to reply to that one?
    
                                              cj *->
    
    

    I have Spring fever too.  I just bought a Va Repo house so the yard has 
    kept me going.  I lave yard work though. 
    
    
    Why is it so many couples break up in Spring??  I know of many.
    Andrea