Ducks ALIVE in 2025!

[ducks4you]

Bean research inspired by @heirloomgal

How to Grow and Cook Italian Flat Beans - Farm to Jar

A guide to growing, harvesting, cooking and freezing Italian flat beans (aka Romano beans). A must-have in Italian cooking, but hard to find.

farmtojar.com

Romanos Are the Queen of Snap Beans and I Want to Eat Them All

These beans should have their own show and it should be called “Everybody Loves Romanos.”

www.bonappetit.com

 

[heirloomgal]

Pretty neat ducks! I didn't realize that there was articles like that online about them! Makes sense though, they are such a culinary dream for a fresh bean. Just looking at the recipe photos of them makes me hungry!

I sent seeds to a lady 2 years ago for a pencil pod type she requested from me, but in our email exchanges it became clear she was looking for something specific - beans that her mother in law had grown years before that she still remembered because she liked them so much. She didn't know the name of them, but saw one type I had and thought that might be it. My spidey senses told me what she was really after was romanos, not the ones she chose. So I sent her 10 romano seeds along with the other pack. It was so funny, by middle summer I get an email out of the blue, the lady wrote to tell me the ones she picked were not it, but the 10 seeds I sent WERE THEM! Hahaha, I got such a chuckle out of that. Nobody who eats romano beans forgets the experience.

 

[ducks4you]

I am not at ALL against specific beans.
It's just that, as a gardener, my successes in growing certain vegetables has not been the best.
Heck, the only saved 2024 seeds were some garlic cloves and a handful of sugar snap peas!!
Family loved ALL of the cucumbers from 2024 and all of the tomatoes from 2024 (almost all hybrid and purchased, though I was trying to get away from that,) that I grew and they loved the green beans from 2023.
I Hope to grow what I have seeds for in my seed cabinet in 2025 and to save as many seeds as possible.
That lady was lucky that you "read between the lines" for her seed request and used your "CSI nose" to decipher what she Really was looking for.
Just for the record, I am Very interested in keeping our vegetables diverse in case of massive crop failures in the future bc of monoculture farming, as well as livestock breed diversity.
I also want to emphasize that most of us out there--not me bc I own 5 acres--garden like people in Europe, a strip of land to the front of the house and a strip of land to the back of the house.
I moved here from such a property and I want to encourage ALL of you out there to plant vegetables with flowers.
Brie Arthur won her HOA's award for most beautiful front yard landscape doing Just That, and you can stretch your landscape and gardening beds in this way.
She also talks about planting peanuts in this video and pushes Rosiland Creasy's book, "Edible Landscaping."

Edible Landscaping: Now You Can Have Your Gorgeous Garden and Eat It Too!: Creasy, Rosalind: 9781578051540: Amazon.com: Books

Edible Landscaping: Now You Can Have Your Gorgeous Garden and Eat It Too! [Creasy, Rosalind] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Edible Landscaping: Now You Can Have Your Gorgeous Garden and Eat It Too!

www.amazon.com

 

[ducks4you]

12 Marigolds
I have some seeds, the seeds are easy enough to come by. I would like to start them indoors and plug them in everywhere I am growing vegetables. Articles:

Marigold Companion Plants: 27 Different Plants to Grow With Marigolds

Marigolds are one of those companion plants that seem to plant well with everything. However, there are a few plants that actually thrive when marigolds get added nearby. In this article, gardening expert Natalie Leiker examines the best companion plants for marigolds in your garden this season.

www.epicgardening.com

Marigolds Are the Ultimate Best Friend for Plants—Here's What to Grow Alongside Them

Marigolds are one of the most agreeable plants in the garden because they deter pests from your other plants. These are 30 of the best companion plants for marigolds.

www.thespruce.com

 

[ducks4you]

How like a winter hath my absence been
From thee, the pleasure of the fleeting year!
What freezings have I felt, what dark days seen?
What old December’s bareness every where!
–William Shakespeare (1564–1616)

 

[Dahlia]

You are getting your act together! Energized, organized and specialized—your garden is gonna be tremendous!

Bright lights Swiss chard are pretty plants. Don’t eat it raw. Gave me a sore throat. When cooked, those pretty bright colors are replaced by the muddy looking version. Looks good in a flower bed, but not on my plate.

I found a good lemon lasagna recipe by Martha Stewart that uses swiss chard in it and it is fabulous!

 

[ducks4you]

St. Nicholas Day 2025: Learn About The Feast of Sinterklaas

St. Nicholas Day (December 6), or the Feast of Sinterklaas, is celebrated to honor St. Nicholas, the patron saint of children who is traditionally tied to Christmas. Learn more about St. Nicholas' history.

www.almanac.com

 

[heirloomgal]

St. Nicholas Day 2025: Learn About The Feast of Sinterklaas

St. Nicholas Day (December 6), or the Feast of Sinterklaas, is celebrated to honor St. Nicholas, the patron saint of children who is traditionally tied to Christmas. Learn more about St. Nicholas' history.

www.almanac.com

I love this! I always wondered what the real root of the holiday was, as my dad always says, lambs are born in spring, not winter.

 

[ducks4you]

Be not a baker if your head be of butter.
–Proverb

Today is National Cookie Day! Celebrate with one of our favorite cookie recipes.

The 10 Best Cookie Recipes

From our Blue Ribbon Chocolate Chip to beloved Cowboy Cookies, see ten of our readers' favorite cookie recipes. Our best cookie recipes are easy to bake, too. And there's something for everyone from elegant cranberry and white chocolate chip cookies.

www.almanac.com

Christmas Dessert Recipes: Festive Sweet Treats

A selection of our favorite Christmas dessert recipes, including cakes, puddings, pies, cookies, and more!

www.almanac.com

I like butter cookies and thumbprint cookies and a couple of old family recipes--DD's have those recipes--such as
something called "sweetish squares", which was a hardish cookie with a walnut base and dusted with confectioner's sugar, with the consistency of a scone, but more crumbly. IF I can find the recipe I will post it.
If you look up the recipe you won't find it. It was my Hungarian Aunt's family recipe.

 

[ducks4you]

DD's Amaryllis is waking up!!
Mine isn't.
But, I read up on it, and I am willing to be patient. It has some green, the roots were long and rubbery, nothing really dead looking except for the excess around the top. Nothing was mushy when I potted it up last week.

Amaryllis Dormancy: When, How Long, & How To Revive It - Get Busy Gardening

Learn all about amaryllis dormancy: when and how to prepare it, tips to care for it during its rest period, and how to revive it afterward.

getbusygardening.com

"Don’t worry if you don’t see any signs of life when you first bring it out. It can take another 4-6 weeks for them to wake up and start sprouting new leaves again."
I moved mine to the left of the kitchen sink and it is getting some direct sunshine today, so I hope that helps.
Remember, MY red Amaryllis had it's roots hacked off and was glued to a piece of wood in 2023.
Pretty abusive!!