Gita, I just checked the sodium levels for you.
Watkins: 1 1/2 teas
Beef 530 mg. of sodium
Chicken 430 mg sodium
I have a jar of Wyles chicken granules and it has 740 per 1 teaspoon.
So I would say Watkins is less, I don't add salt to my cooking, unless there is none in any of the ingredients I am using. I rely on herbs and spices for flavor. I do add it to Pasta water. and to the water to boil potatoes, but even then very little. I just cringe when they toss in salt on those cooking shows, I toss that much on my side walk to melt the ice.
Sounds like a fun time at the restaurant, we need a run down of what you order. Give your daughter a birthday hug for me.
Hanging in there Part 6
Lady--
Considering that the amounts given are per 1 1/2tsp.---it would still be a lot of sodium.
That's only half a Tbs.!
How much of the base would you add to a pot (how big a pot?) when cooking soup???
Is it super concentrated?
The sodium "hidden" in foods does not always taste salty. Just good....
It is not the same as if I sprinkled some salt over my food as i eat it----then you
would taste the saltiness.....
I am not "preaching"--I do use a little bit of salt IF I think it needs it....
I always read the back label to see how much is in there....I cringe watching the
"kids" at work eating those instant soups for lunch....But--they feel immortal--as i am
sure we all did when younger...
I try to tell them it will catch up with them after 45 or 50....but that is water on a duck....
Just the Old lady preaching.....
We have a fairly young (40'ish) woman--who is grossly obese--I would guess over 300lbs.
She just had a mini-stroke (TIA). I bet her whole life style will now change....
It just takes a Doctor to tell her so.
I think they sell Soup bases here at "Richardson Farms"---a small, local Greenhouse and shop place.
They are the ones that grow their own chickens and sell the fresh meat....and eggs...and turkeys....
I know I have looked at it there--and cringes at the amount of Sodium in it....
OK! Gotta go! Need to vacuum a bit and then take a shower...then off to dinner. Such a rare treat
for ME as well as my DD and her Hubby. None of us are rich.....
Stay well---Gita
Gita, I use 1 heaping teaspoon in a pot of soup that is about 8 cups of water. I don't use it all the time like in this bean soup I made. Just when I don't have a stock as a base, or a good hunk of meat for the pot. I use things sparingly, I am cheap and hate to use it up too fast.
Don't kid yourself, sadly most folks don't change their habits, just because they are sent a wake-up call. Paul sees it every day going to ambulance calls, the people with an ashtray of cigarette butts near their easy chair, as they gasp for air. The morbidly obsess with old pizza boxes, potato chip bags on the coffee table.
Just got home a little while ago. Been out all day it was fun. Josh and I were running errands and then we picked up Dad and went to see Sanctum. We all liked it very good it is about a group of cave explorers that become trapped. It was based on a true story and I am going to see who's story it was. You know how they change a story make a lot more out of it.
Glad you are feeling a bit better.
The soup base I use has the meat (chicken, beef, whatever) as its first ingredient and salt as the second ingredient, meaning it contains more meat than salt. They also make an "economy" version (a little cheaper) that has salt as the first ingredient, and I'm sure the bouillon cubes or granules have salt as the first ingredient also.
I often add the soup base instead of adding salt, for example I use it when we're making spaghetti sauce. I simmer the sauce for several hours with the beef base (plus herbs, garlic, and vegs), then add the cooked ground beef at the end. That way, the beef doesn't have its flavor all cooked out into the sauce, but the sauce still has good beef flavor from the soup stock.
Chris, isn't that sad? The 'general public' is amazing at times.
I stepped out to sprinkle some bird seed. Feles like it will be a nice day- for February! I hope the nice stretches up and over to PA and IA (billy!) , besides MD and VA. I think I better start some seeds today! I cleaned off a shelf under the lights.
I saw the trailers for Sanctum, looked like a pretty good movie.
I am a food label reader, that is why it takes me so long to go grocery shopping. I have learned to stick with certain brand because I know they are the better choice, but I will on occasion recheck those labels just encase they change their product.
Sally, the warm up is expected to come here too, looking forward to some melting.
Just heard about next weekend (not this one!)--it will be in the low 60's here....
YAY!
Sally--
Which seeds are you starting this early? Any of flowers?
I am too lazy to read up on which need to be started when--
So--I am asking.....
My daughter said she wants to start her Tomatoes and peppers--
talked out of it.....Said maybe 1st week in April.
After last season's success with her first-time-
ever gardening attempt--she is gung ho to do it again.
Been cleaning and straightening somewhat.....happy I am slowly getting
to some of this....Sally--you proud of me?
Gita
Gita, I usually start my tomatoes and peppers around the 3rd or 4th week in March. Growing under lights which I move up to only one inch from the top of the plant, to prevent leggy plants. Here is another trick I use, when I plant the tomatoes out, I have the large plastic pop bottles with the bottom cut out. I plant the tomatoes deep and put a pop bottle, with the cap removed over each plant to make a mini green house just in case a cold snap comes through.
I am in zone 5 so, I am usually 2 to 3 weeks behind everyone else in MA
Carolyn says to start tomatoes only 6 to 8 weeks ahead, so that's what I do, start them in mid-March for a mid-May plant-out date. I start peppers around the same time but set them out 2 weeks later, so they get a 10 week head start.
I think the general rule of thumb for most things that you'd start inside is to give them an 8 week head start (count backward from when you want to plant them out.. for me, really tender stuff doesn't go out until Memorial Day). If you want blooming plants of torenia, impatiens, vinca, petunias (especially wave petunias if you use 4 inch pots for bigger plants), etc... then you might try more like a 12 week head start. Some things, like tuberous begonias and geraniums, are just slow from seed -- so start them now. :-)
Speaking of "Carolyn says," a friend of mine has two extra copies of Dr. Carolyn Male's book "100 Heirloom Tomatoes for the American Garden." It's a great coffee-table book (not huge, just has wonderful photos), very interesting & informative. She ordered them in error and is offering them at cost (less than the current list price) for anybody coming to the swap. Dmail me if you're interested!
Garden bookworm link: http://davesgarden.com/products/gbw/c/77/
Lettuce, parsley, chives. and just reseaerched a few oddballs and have put them in to coffee filters to stratify. I might put more of those same into wintersowing and indoor sowing just to see what happens. Its still a bit early on most though. even the lettuce really, that might almost just wait to sow directly. But I will like seeing baby plants!
Sally, sounds like a fresh salad to me. I was thinking to starting lettuce too, just can bringing myself to starting up the lights in the basement just yet. I'll be starting petunia seeds in a few weeks so maybe then.
I went and got sick the day of the launch and spent two days in bed willing myself to get better. We were gettting the boys on Friday. I got better, had a bit of relapse last night, but nothing a cold capsule and a lot of water won't cure.
Interesting about your hair feeling wirey. At least you know how to stay on top of things!
I too don't feel wintersowing would work for me. I'm hoping on enough cold weather left to work on the columbine I hope to sow today. Yesterday got to busy to do more than find the tub the seeds are in.
Jill, that's how I do beans. A couple hours later, it's soup!
Gita, potato soup sounds so good and we ate the last of the potatoes yesterday, LOL!
I think the ''Cleaning For a Reason'' is the most selfless thing a person could do for another. I kind of do that for an elderly relative.
Sorry to skip to the bottom. I'm so far behind and have to get up and get busy!
Chris, I will be praying for you as I reach under the bed for the dust bunnies :o)
Billy, hope you start feeling better, you need to get ready for spring.
The wirey feeling is gone and the hair is still hanging on. Maybe I won't loose it, but if I do no big deal, I have tons of scarfs, and I am getting use to going bare.
Penny and MaryChris is getting so spoiled with me being home, they are sleeping beside me right now on the double recliner. They have to get as close to me as possible, free heat. LOL
With the warmer weather, the sun has been behind the clouds. The snow and ice is melting. Revealing the winter dirt. Still looking for some green grass as this all melts.
We still have snow covered ground here on the shady side of the street. Across the street most has melted. I have between 1 in and 1 foot still. It's so high where snow plow and drive way shoveling threw it.
Read about your twins. Congrats! I have triplet grand daughters! They are 10 now.
Thanks Chris, I hope to be over it by Friday. I just need to keep eating fruits. I had a yummy bowl of thawed dark sweet cherries last night. Cherries are an amazing health pill and drink. Especially the tart juice.
I hope you are feeling good too. I'm still praying. These promises of Spring makes all of us feel better I think.
Free heat! I hear you, LOL! It's comforting for all!
Coleuslover, thank you and a huge Congrats for the triplets! Wow, I'll bet that was so exciting! Were you close enough to help out? I'm about a half hour away. I'm ''worrying'' already about how early these might be. They are a good size for being two instead of one. Her oldest son was big and the next son was small.
Laughing, I have a 5' drift acrosss the yard to remind me it's not Spring yet! I even walked across it the other day. I sunk a few inches because the snow is melting, but it's a thick, dry, almost chunky snow. It's hard to explain, but it was sooo white! So clean!
That would seem a bright spot, ladyg, if you don't have to go through hair loss again. Crossing my fingers.
The dirty piles of melting plow stuff can be pretty ugly and the new mud is not so much fun either! That must be why God invented snowdrops and crocuses and forsythia...
Share the heat! My kitty just loves me lately. When its cold, and when he's hungry!
Yesterdayor in the afternoon--we hit 67*
I was shopping. In and out of the car...Didn't think it got that high!
It felt colder than that--as it was soooo windy all day.
Today--back to some cold and mote regular temps....
Next Thursday and Friday will be in the low 60's again.....
Yay!!!
Gita
Sun is out today, I opened the front door this morning, I have a full length glass storm door. They girls like to lay in the sunshine and look out the door.
I have been feeling better and getting a few light chores done. Getting ready for Friday, my next treatment, and a long rest period again. I'll be going over the side effects with my doctor and see if there is anything that will give my better relief that what I have been doing.
Gita, I am loving this warm-up, not as high a temp as you, but it holds promise.
I have been eating a lot of fruit, fresh cantaloupe, canned fruit in juice. Have to be careful with washing and peeling the fresh, so I am doing a lot of the canned, also dried fruit as snacks mixed with some high fiber cereal and nuts. My own party mix. LOL
Looking forward to hearing about some twin and triplet tricks, to bad you can't toss them around like Shrek's baby ogres. I just watched the 4th movie, it was pretty cute.
lady---
I have been searching, lately, for just the right Garden-Related Poems for the album
I plan to finish for my manager, Donn---IF he would ever remember to bring me all
the photos of all the plants I have ever given him over 3 yrs. I keep reminding him!...
How many ink cartridges I have wasted to print all those pictures. AND--he cannot comply
with my requests----Seems an endless hope.....
He has so much on his mind--that for about a month and a half--I have been asking
him to bring in all the pictures. So far--I have gotten dribbles of them.
And--He has told me he wants EVERY one of them in this Album.
I don't think he has a clue--of what an amazing thing I am trying to create for him!
I don't want to become a "pain in the butt"--but he SHOULD remember at some point!
One day--as I approached him--and he was talking to our Plumbing Supervisor--
I said: "I don't love you any more!!! You never think of ME!--Just the store....
He said, defensively--"Yes I do!"---etc...etc....
John, the plumbing supervisor, laughed and said---"You two sound like you are
married!!!!" It was good for a chuckle.....BUT--in a couple of days, he brought in
the first few items he had on hand for my efforts....
I am sooo frustrated--as this small album (6"x4") I am doing for him will contain ALL the
pictures and directions on each plant I have ever given him----and I cannot even start this,
as I am also planning to divide the Album in sections: Annuals----Biennials--Perennials--and "Other"....
AND--I am collecting these Poems to insert them, here and there, among the pictures--
just as an "EXTRA"....I am getting overly emotional about this project----I am sure you
"get it".....I KNOW...I KNOW.....
This is a HUGE labor of love I have taken on for the BEST Manager
we have ever had----and it is frustrating me---as I know, any day now, the "Higher Ups"
will decide to transfer him out of our store--and I will lose ALL contact with him.
WHO will then advise him on all the plants he has in his one Acre garden????
Knowing how absent-minded he is--and how much he loves his Garden--
and how he can never remember the names of anything I have given him--
This project is super important for me to finish up. BUT.....He needs to do his part!
In my mind--I am trying to collect garden-type Poetry to accompany every category.
Just my "SPECIAL" way to do all this.....A little "AAHHH" along the way....
SO---As I sit, bored at the phone at work--I have been Goggling "Garden Poetry".
There are SOOO many links and options---but, each Poem has made me smile.
Lady---Maybe this is a way you could spend your time when you do not feel like
doing anything else. Many of these Poems are by the famous "GREATS" in Poetry.....
I read them--and identify with them as a gardener...BUT--for my purposes--they cannot be
longer than 3 verses--so they will fit in the 4"x6" album--AND-- I move on......
As an example----Under the "BULBS" category ---The Poem that will go there is by
William Wordsworth--"I wondered Lonely as a Cloud"....
There is a famous one about Trees---Hmmm...blanking out here! That will go to the "Other"
Category....."I Thought I'd never see--A poem as lovely as a Tree..." .....
Just today I found the perfect one to go under the "Perennials" category....
It was something about "The Faeries in the Garden".....
And so--My "labor of love" muddles forward......I am driven to make this "SPECIAL".
All I need are the rest of the pictures--as, from memory, I have ONLY been able to
think of 21 plants I have given him--and have typed out directions on all those
to be inserted into all the pages. I know there are more......I just need the pictures!!!!
So does HE! And, yet, this NEVER seems to enter his mind!!!!! UGH!
I KNOW---I KNOW---By now you are seeing me as Obsessive about this.....
SO? Many projects I undertake--become "obsessive" till I finish them.
Even if they are just in my mind......
Gita
Gita, The Poem you are thinking of is by Joyce Kilmer 1886–1918
Trees
I THINK that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.
A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
Against the sweet earth's flowing breast;
A tree that looks at God all day,
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;
A tree that may in summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair;
Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain.
Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.
Sounds like a great project, sorry you are not getting the cooperation you need. Some men are like that, their minds do not work like ours. Have you tried sticky notes taped to his coat?
I have a load of projects and things that I want to work on or am working on. Seed starting is just around the corner and I need to set up my Seed starting spread sheet for this year. I have some books I am reading, still working on that puzzle too. I have an interest in current events that will effect our way of life, so I watch the news quit a bit.
If you ever get that project done, you might be able to get it published. It would make a great coffee table book for a gardener.
Lady---
Thanks for reminding me of the Poem...I think I already printed that out....
It will go in the Trees part of the Album....
This project is NOT for printing out.....It is more like giving my current Manager
something to remember ME by--as his Garden will be there for years to come....
All the plants in his Garden---and all the memories of
helping him to become a better gardener will be MINE to remember HIM by.
And---That wonderful picture of the both of us at the Christmas Party---
AHH! That will last for both of us....forever.....
Once more--here it is.
Chris, I'm glad you're feeling better! I adore the Shrek movies!!
Gita, that is frustrating!! It looks like you should have kept the pictures taken. It's a wonderful thing you are doing tho and I understand the drive to do a wonderful job. Basically you are creating a book for him that will be a keepsake. Any way to call him and offer to swing by and get the photos? Maybe he;s misplaced them too.
I can tell he's a pretty special person.
I'm still trying to get rid of the headache. After I enjoyed Monday's wonderful weather, the sinus crept up a bit.
Chris, I ate the last delicious orange, but I too am going to fruit it today! Apples are also antiseptic.
I did sow the columbine seeds yesterday and put them on the porch. It should be cold enough for the rest of the winter to help break dormancy.
Gita, that is a very nice picture. It really shows the friendship you both share.
Billy, Hoping the columbine seeds take for you, if I remember right you have tried them before. If I can I'll collect some fresh ones for you this year. The picture is from several year ago.
Chris, those are so pretty!! I sowed three to a pot and was wondering what colors I might get from your packet. I also did Magpie, AKA, William Guinesess (sp) and Firecracker, which I sure wonder if it's the common columbine. The colors are so close, but it looked so pretty in the catalog picture. I can't wait to see what will grow. I have seed left in your packet and am going to sprinkle it as soon as I find a place where the snow isn't 3' deep.
Wow, 3' deep! I can't wait to just see the bed!!
I have mine popping up all over the yard. Even in the vegetable garden. I leave the seedpods ripen on the plant. They get bumped and just scatter on there own. Some get tossed into the compost pile when I cut them down in late summer.
Here is a cute little white one. Reminds me of a Colonial Williamsburg dust cap the women use to wear.
That is cute! I haven't seen a show on the old days. I forgot people used to wear dusting caps, LOL! If I wore one I think I would keep knocking it off!
I love how I'm weeding and back into a plant. I usually end up with seeds sticking to me if I'm sweaty, LOL! When I was getting too many of the common, I used to try and cut ever so carefully so not to spill the seeds. Ha, it was smarter than me! I love to hear them rattle in the pods :o)
Oh Chris! How cute! That should be named Williamsburg Lady's Dust Cap.
After seeing your beautiful Columbines around Maples, I've decided to try and establish a self sowing bed around two of my maples. They can just go dormant if they have to, midsummer. One can only fight the maples so much; me and the columbines agree and work around it! Last year's babies should bloom this year there.
Sallyg, I also have a maple and it's starting to poke roots out of the ground! If I had known what kind of tree it was when we bought the lot, it would have been replaced! We hang the kid's swing from it now so I can't plant around it too much. I have a daylily, blackberry lily and a few other things planted around the trunk. How sad it's such a blah bed :o(
Columbine would be perfect around it! Dig dig, chop dig.
billy- a tough perennial grass can grow right against it- least, I have Black MOudry grass established right up against mine., It wilts more in summer, blooms less (a good thing- invasive) but lives. You could step on it and not care. I'll never get it OUT though, those grass root are every bit as tough as any maple roots. But the seeds of this one are spiky. Anyhoo, a soft Pennisetum would live too I think. YEah me too the other day thinking- Just exactly HOW crazy would it be to spend a few thousand dollars to take out big maples and plant what I want, and wait another twenty years to even get half this size? Our own Beech tree, with our own initials in it- how cool would that be?!!
Must get up and be a responsible person for awhile- grumble grumble LOL
Sallyg, I've learned to never plant anything I want to dig out later. It took a few plants to learn it, but learn I did!
I love Pennisetums!, but the one I love is for zone six and I don't pay that much for annuals.
Aww initials in a little tree. How neat!!
Must get responsible here too ;o(
Have a wonderful day everyone!
After reading all the posts I think I might try to start a few seeds outside. I will have to look around and see what I have that would be good for winter sowing.
I finished my concrete Swan Planter. Ric bought it for me at Christmas and it was painted solid white, So here is the finished project.
From the back.
One more, Not sure what I will plant in it this summer.
That swan planter is really pretty. I have a couple of white swans that are looking kind of out of place in my yard being white. How did you do that finish? It looks great!
Sallyg, cutting down a large maple is $$$, and you have to deal with the roots for quite a while. Been there, done that.
I added good soil around the roots but didn't cover the large ones sticking above the ground. just enough soil to support shallow rooted plants without a large tap root. I add extra compost when I have it to spare.
Holly nice work on the planter, it is lovely. I think you need something that will not cover the planter, something that makes it look like the swan is swimming out from under the plant. What about a light colored caladium?
I have tons of Caladiums coming. I was thinking of salmon or pink Geraniums. With some thing that would trail out but not cover up the swan.
Coleuslover, It was a project for sure. I used my ceramic paints. Started out painting the whole thing black with the idea that I would dry brush it with brown. Then I rethought that idea because there isn't a lot of texture on the neck of the swan so I started to scrub the black off the swan. I was thinking antiquing instead of dry brushing. But the black didn't want to come out of the crevices so it sat around looking black and white for a while. Then I went back to my first idea painted more black in the crevices where some of the paint had scrubed off and painted the neck/head solid black. The area of the raised feathers was still white from the scrubbing and I dry brushed it with walnut. I also dry brushed the neck with walnut but it looks darker as it is over the back and the feather area is over white. Then Ric thought I should add a bit of a blue sheen to the neck area which I did on the curved part and over the middle of the face. That was dry brushed and blended. I was going to leave the beak black but he thought I should add some orange to it. So I used Orange Peel dry brushing it on and then going back and dry brushing some black very lightly to just tone it down a bit. I then sprayed it with a matt sealer which brings out the colors nicely. I do think it is pretty shinny for a matt sealer but I was happy with the end results.
Chris- yes I'm thinking, to plant something that will naturally go dormant when it gets too dry with the roots in summer. I'm hoping columbine can survive or even thrive. Mother Nature solves the problem that way!
Holly, didn't realize the several steps involved. Well done!
Holly--
My immediate thought was to plant a bunch of Hen and Chicks
in the swan.
In time they will trail--but would not cover the swan.
Perennial too....:o)
Gita