(no subject)

[scrottie]

Fields got planted full of tomatoes. Not sure why they go in so late. Maybe picking them mechanically, there's only one harvest, so they only need enough time to produce. I think that might be new as of last year. Tractor trailer trailers full of tomatoes were spilling them during harvest and I didn't pick any up for some reason. Maybe because I saw they were being mechanically harvested. Probably for ketchup or something. Guess I figured they're awful tomatoes. Got some black berries from the farm stand. They have some apricots but only a few. Still too early. Blackberries were large and only ok. The road-side cherry vendor is back advertising Bing and Rainier cherries. If they had tart cherries, I'd jam that. Maybe I'll get some to eat.

Projects mean lots of trips to (town of) Isleton and Rio Vista.

Shore power connector is in a terrible place. I'd just been dealing with that, but then when the cable went out, I did something different and just plugged an adapter to standard NEMA 5-15 US household 3 prong style, which I had sitting around, and have extension cords going around. I was doing that instead of using the two power outlets. Then it occurred to me that it would be convenient to bridge outlets to one of the outlets to one of the extension cords with a Forbidden Cord That Shall Not Be Made, so I made one and plugged premise wiring into an extension cord to shore power and it's great:



Thinking I might take the now unused existing shore power connector out and eventually install an external one in a reasonable location instead of having the big fat shore power cable come down from the forward hatch, over the little hobbit door which keeps you from being able to close it, and across the galley sink. At least extension cords are on the floor instead of strung around over stuff. Previous Owners are idiots. Probably especially myself.

Wind has been fierce but it settled down enough the other day that the trip in to Rio Vista was pleasant and reasonable.

Comments

[rebeccmeister]

Does the forbidden cord arrangement at least get grounded somehow, I hope? I am no electrician.

IMHO (or not so humble, as ‘tweet) sour cherries are best for pie, not jam, with the exception of that recipe for raspberry-cherry-currant preserves.

Blackberries do not properly ripen until August. I would be interested to learn whether the apricot schedule in the Delta more closely resembles Arizona or the saner climates further north. It sounds like in New York the ripeness window is only something like 1-2 weeks long towards the end of July and I haven’t managed to catch it yet. Plus I am also concluding that out here it is either necessary to go out to orchards for u-pick or else somehow miraculously revive our corner farmer (I am not optimistic about him, unfortunately).

[scrottie]

The Himalayan (I think you said they were) blackberries growing all over are getting ready to ripen. Don't know the variety I got, but I think the wild-invasive ones are tastier. I think the giant-fruit-doesn't-have-much-flavor rule is in effect with those. But it being early may be a factor, as you said.

Ok, maybe I'll jam cherries. Bing or Rainier?

I'm told apricots are late this year and there has been a lot of unseasonally cool weather. I'm told they usually hit right about now. That should be on my calendar. And now I'm told two weeks for peak apricot.

And yes, unlike the picture of a sign, my forbidden cord has a ground. That doesn't undo the potential for someone to short things with it if used wrong, but at least there's that.

[rebeccmeister]

That makes me feel at least a little better about the forbidden cord, whew. I can appreciate your desire to strategically implement it in this case.

Commercially-grown berries are bred for robustness so that when the rubber harvester fingers smack them, they don't burst into a pile of juices. The Himalayan blackberries are the wild-invasive ones.

I think one of my primary interests in potentially buying a house is being able to put in fruit trees.

Cherries: I recommend just eating the Bing and Rainier. Best enjoyed fresh, in season. For sour cherries, pie is the answer. Unless you are here and there's concurrent access to raspberries and currants. Oh, although I did also find a cake recipe that is excellent with the frozen sour cherries. A bit fussy, but delicious.