Bill's Focus

We don’t really care about parents, especially moms.

During Covid, there was something called the “big quit”. It’s about to have a sequel. Millions of parents are losing child care. And guess who will probably be the parent that will have to stay home. Sexism and stupidity occupy the halls of Congress.

Below is Catherine Rampell’s Washington Post column. Pasted here to beat the paywall. I have a short list called “What pisses me off the most!” This subject is near the top. Our approach to child care is simply neglect. Of all the areas of society that ought to be fully funded, why isn’t child care a given? Why do we ignore how we treat our children when they are in their most formative years? Why wouldn’t we want to pay child care workers what we pay teachers? Why do we simply warehouse our babies (if you can find a facility)? Why don’t we value the right of women to have careers and children?

”In June, when Tracy Fredrick was forced to close her child-care center’s doors for good, 100 kids suddenly lost their care arrangements.

They’re just the start. Nationwide, 3 million more kids are expected to lose their child-care slots in the coming months, after a significant federal funding program ends in September. The country is facing a cascading crisis not only for the children losing care, and their families, and the small businesses that watch and educate children, but also every other sector of the economy that needs the care industry to exist so parents can work.

“People were crying on the phone wanting me to take their kids, saying, ‘I don’t know what I’m going to do. I’m going to have to quit my job,’” said Fredrick. She ran Today’s Child Learning Academy, in Waterford, Wis., for eight years, usually with a long waitlist.

There was never exactly an abundance of available child care in this country, given the yawning gap between what most parents can afford and the pay levels required to attract and retain care workers. Then the pandemic further destabilized an already tenuous business model. Providers around the country shut down — or could stay open only intermittently because of frequent covid outbreaks. Employment in the sector plummeted by more than one-third in early 2020.

As the economy reopened, many of those laid-off or furloughed child-care employees decided to leave the sector for good. The pay had never been sufficient, especially relative to the exhausting work of wrangling and educating small children. Now, different opportunities became even more attractive, as other industries facing labor shortages rapidly raised wages. Fredrick said her company’s starting wage was $13 per hour, the average for all child-care workers across Wisconsin; that’s less than new employees make at Walmart or Home Depot.

Another Wisconsin child-care provider I interviewed, Corrine Hendrickson, said her 16-year-old son outearns her, at least on an hourly basis, at his part-time job in the back of a restaurant.

Thankfully, a series of pandemic-era government interventions has helped keep some of these fragile care operations afloat, at least for a while. Among the most significant came via the American Rescue Plan, which awarded states $24 billion in “child-care stabilization grants.” States distributed this money in different ways, with allowable uses including raising staff pay, reducing tuition, and defraying rent and maintenance costs.

The care sector is still struggling, no doubt. The number of employees working for child-care providers remains below pre-pandemic levels. This funding nonetheless helped stave off complete collapse.

Collapse is back on the table, though, as the funding is slated to expire Sept. 30. After that happens, more than 70,000 child-care programs are expected to close entirely, according to estimates from the Century Foundation. Researchers there project that in some parts of the country (Arkansas, Montana, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia and D.C.), the number of licensed programs could be cut by half or more.

The Post’s View: How to fix America’s broken child-care industry

We’ve already seen a preview of the carnage to come, as states have begun winding down their subsidy programs.

With relatively little notice, Wisconsin slashed its monthly payments to providers in half in May. That helped drive Fredrick’s decision to close the following month. She had been receiving about $15,000 per month from the state’s Child Care Counts program, which she primarily allocated for raises and bonuses, yet still struggled to retain staff. To make up for the lost public funding, she calculated, she would have had to raise rates for infant and toddler care from an already steep $280 per week to $400 per week. She knew this wasn’t feasible for the families she served.

State politicians in Wisconsin and elsewhere are fighting over whether to plug the hole left by the end of federal assistance. Meanwhile, child advocates around the country have urged Congress to simply renew some version of those federal stabilization grants. Republicans insist, though, that programs passed under the auspices of a pandemic response bill should not be extended now that the public health emergency is over — even if other emergencies loom, such as a potential collapse of the labor market as care infrastructure disintegrates.

Even President Biden, who has publicly supported more funding for child care in political campaigns and his annual budgets, has been unwilling to go to bat for it this time. The supplemental appropriations request his administration released this month omitted the issue completely, despite pleas from child-care experts and lawmakers who had been warning of the coming funding cliff for months.

This is astonishingly shortsighted. The littlest Americans need investments in their development. Their parents need help to continue working. And the nation’s economy, both today and tomorrow, would benefit from consistent support for both.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/08/27/child-care-funding-crisis/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/10/11/how-fix-child-care-united-states/

Contact your Senators and House Rep. Send President Biden a note. This is important for families, for women, for our kids, the economy as a whole and it could be an election issue next year. THE election of our lifetimes.

A priest does his job

I don’t have a “religion”. But I have a faith.

For me, a practical kind of guy, faith is about how we treat each other. Show me a religious group that cares about improving the welfare of ALL humans and ALL life on Earth and I might be interested. Simply put, I am in the camp of “we” not just “me”.

Below is an article that just melted my heart. And the guy in the story was a member of one of the world’s most corrupt and cruel religions ever created. Of course, that’s harsh. There was Mother Teresa and many other unselfish helpers of the downtrodden. But still, the Crusades, the Inquisition, the persecution and expelling of Jews from Spain and Portugal, the modern day sexual abuse of children and the continuing cover up of such crimes…all make my skin crawl. And the head of the “Christian” church in Russia supports Putin’s genocide in Ukraine!

Enough of my personal thoughts. Please read this story about a spectacular person who just happened to be a priest. Like I said. It’s about how we treat people.

By Margaret Renkl

Ms. Renkl is a contributing Opinion writer who covers flora, fauna, politics and culture in the American South. She wrote from Nashville.

You’ve probably never heard of Charles Strobel, but by the time he died on Aug. 6, at the age of 80, he was a hero here in Nashville, at least among people who worry about what the city is becoming: a place where only the well-off can live with any measure of comfort or security.

Even before Nashville’s swift and stunning growth began to gentrify working-class and impoverished neighborhoods, Father Strobel had already become our civic conscience. What he understood is the difference between charity and community — a difference founded in kinship, in recognizing that we all fall down, that sometimes it takes another hand to pull us up again. “All you have to do,” he once told the novelist Ann Patchett, “is give a little bit of understanding to the possibility that life might not have been fair.”

That understanding seemed to have been inborn in Father Strobel, but his role as this city’s moral gadfly began in 1985, when he was a priest assigned to Holy Name Catholic Church in East Nashville. One cold night he looked out the rectory window and saw people sitting in cars in the church parking lot, trying to keep warm. He went outside and invited them in.

“I knew once they came through the doors that night, they would come back the next night and the night after that,” he often said. “I also knew I wanted them to come back.”

With the help of kindred souls, he managed to shelter and feed his unhoused neighbors all winter long. As he did, an idea bloomed. What if all the houses of worship here — all the churches and all the synagogues and all the mosques and all the temples — opened their doors to people without homes, too? Was it possible for Nashville, the self-described Buckle of the Bible Belt, to become a place where “Love your neighbor” meant something literal?

Father Strobel wrote a letter to the editors of both of the city’s daily newspapers proposing the idea. By December, four congregations were opening their doors to people experiencing homelessness, and a program called Room in the Inn was born.

Strobel was just getting started. Please read the full article – no paywall.

no politics – a celebration of food

We all need to fight the good fight – protect democracy and help those who don’t have a level playing field. And of course, there are the fascists who need to be vanquished.

But a happy life is a balanced one. I find growing food to be a way. Almost as important as the chats with my brilliant wife who keeps me focused on family and the natural world of birds and trees.

This could be called the mid season farm report. We have a modest plot at a nearby community garden. After the asparagus, there was “sugar snap season”. Sweet!

Our early season report was a celebration of the asparagus harvest. The biggest and best I can remember. The extra rain was a factor. Which has continued in Massachusetts. Some might call it relentless. But everything is so green.

Lot’s of rain also makes for really great garlic! Below is a comparison between last years garlic and this years.

Our garlic is a porcelain variety called “Georgian Crystal”. I grow it because it’s flavor is relatively mild and buttery (not super spicy) and because the huge bulbs contain only 5 or 6 large cloves. Easy to peel and one per dinner is quite sufficient!

We are “garlic independent”. I save a few of the biggest cloves for replanting in late October. We’re still enjoying the 2022 crop. Here’s a growing guide if you are interested. It’s one of the easiest things to grow – if you get the timing right.

The peas are done for the season. We’ll plant a few for a fall crop. But now it’s on to summer squash! We have always enjoyed Zephyr – zucchini summer squash hybrid. And this year another zucchini called “Eight Ball”. The striped guy is called Parthenon.

Growing food is fun and a really good form of therapy. And if there is an apocalypse, perhaps we’ll find a way to last a bit longer.

https://www.johnnyseeds.com/growers-library/vegetables/asparagus/asparagus-key-growing-information.html

http://greyduckgarlic.com/grow-georgian-crystal-garlic.html

And thousands are applying

Florida has 55 available workers for every 100 open jobs. Yet Governor DeSantis is creating an environment hostile to immigrants. His bigotry and economic ignorance will be his demise. Workers are leaving the state. Enjoy our strawberries while we can.

Please visit this site and tap on the state you are interested in. See the condition of the workforce. We are in trouble.

• Americas birthrate is below replacement level

• Millions of Boomers are retiring – enrolling in Social Security and Medicare

• Lack of workers means less funding of our Social Safety Net

• Essential jobs are not being filled – holding back the economy
  
  Recently five souls were lost in the Atlantic as their recreational submersible imploded. The 500+ migrants lost in the Mediterranean Sea were a less exciting story for some. Apparently, reading about the fate of really rich tourists who ventured to see the grisly remains of a famous sunken ocean liner has much greater morbid entertainment value than the drowning of 500+ desperate impoverished travelers who were seeking a life of shelter, food and safety from thugs.
  How much money was invested in the rescue efforts of the five Titanic viewers vs the hundreds of folks who simply wanted to survive?

Migration is a political football. Republicans won’t join Democrats to address a humane way to deal with it because they would lose a “blaming tool”. Democrats are reluctant to do the right thing because they are afraid of losing votes.

The immigration problem is growing exponentially. Europe is reeling from the number of Africans that have arrived in their countries. The concept of being French or Swedish in a traditional manner is driving xenophobic anti-immigrant rhetoric to a breaking point. What will it mean if there are more Sudanese in a region of France than Europeans? It will mean change.

Every person on this Earth is a product of migration. Europeans shifted around from location to location for eons. The British are Nordic. National purity is a myth.

The US faces a similar dilemma. Encourage your kids and grand kids to learn Spanish and Portuguese. Over the next few years the wave of immigration from South and Central America will be an unstoppable tsunami of humanity. When you can’t grow food because of the Climate Crisis and the gangsters are raping you and/or killing your children, you run. When the ocean or river drowns your town, you can’t just become an amphibian. People are coming north. It’s not a discussion. It’s a fact.

It has happened before. Consider the Irish who were starving in their homeland.
”Census figures show an Irish population (in Ireland) of 8.2 million in 1841, 6.6 million a decade later, and only 4.7 million in 1891. It is estimated that as many as 4.5 million Irish arrived in America between 1820 and 1930. Between 1820 and 1860, the Irish constituted over one third of all immigrants to the United States.”
And this is how they were welcomed:

And the Jews, the Poles, the Italians – the list of nationalities and faiths that were deemed un-American and suffered brutal discrimination upon arrival here is endless. A stupid selfish pattern of “I’ve got mine and now you can grovel for yours – or go home.” Too few of us embrace the fact that we are ALL immigrants. No human in North America is really a “native”. We are all a product of immigration – whether it was a generation ago or many. Even our “indigenous” tribes came from somewhere else. Sadly, humility and the welcome mat don’t ever seem to be trending.

Of course, there is another way to look at this. The United States is VERY short of workers. This recent article about an aging America should set off loud alarm bells. The median age of Americans is almost 40. Boomers are retiring in droves because, well, that’s what you do when you get old. And millions suffer from “Long Covid”. Hence, worker participation is lower than before the Pandemic. There are not enough younger people to replace the doctors, nurses, teachers, construction workers, hospitality workers – you name it. We are in trouble.

What if we looked at all the job applicants knocking on our doors? What if we embraced the people that want to work here, pay taxes here – live wholesome lives here? What if we processed them efficiently and safely? What if we provided English language and job training so they could feed their families and pay those taxes to help support an aging population? Win, Win!

And aging we are. Please check out this well composed and graphic article from the NY Times (no pay wall) that details the aging of humanity – country by country.

Immigrants have a record of working hard and committing LESS crimes than American citizens. I would say it’s only logical to say “You’re Welcome!” They are coming anyway. Why not do it the right way? That does NOT MEAN open borders. It means letting more people move to America – in a systematic and safe way. We have the system. We just haven’t invested in the people and infrastructure to properly process the families we NEED. And I do mean invest. It’s not just charity. Although helping fellow humans does have a nice ring to it. It means hiring and filling the positions that are open!

Congress is charged with legislating our immigration policies and procedures as well as providing the funds for it. Because of political ambition, they have done nothing. Why give up a campaign weapon?

But with unsurprising adeptness, President Biden has begun addressing the problem. A small but important and symbolic step. Read here about the ways we are now discouraging illegal entry as well as targeting the population that so needs our help. It’s a small smart start. Immigrants are a resource, not an enemy.

It really comes down to your world view. Are we all in this together or not? Are all humans in the same boat? Don’t all humans have the same value? I know of some religions that have preached that. “Am I my brother’s keeper?”…“All are welcome at His table?”…”Offer shelter to the stranger?”……

Are we to act like a species or just a bunch of warring tribes? How big is YOUR boat. Mine is called Earth.

Or, if you don’t care about “them”, consider the fact that as we age, there are not enough younger citizens to support us. That’s just math. How much do we love our elders?

https://www.uschamber.com/workforce/the-states-suffering-most-from-the-labor-shortage

https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2023/population-estimates-characteristics.html#:~:text=JUNE%2022%2C%202023%20%E2%80%94%20The%20nation’s,of%20the%20population%20is%20younger.

https://www.brinknews.com/americas-migration-problem-is-being-used-as-a-political-football/

https://www.loc.gov/classroom-materials/immigration/irish/irish-catholic-immigration-to-america/#:~:text=Census%20figures%20show%20an%20Irish,immigrants%20to%20the%20United%20States.

https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/research/criminalization-immigration-united-states

NY Times: Vast Demographic Shift

https://www.carnegie.org/our-work/article/15-myths-about-immigration-debunked/

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/immigration-colombia-central-america-border-us-relatives-border-crossings/

It’s complicated

Please for a moment, set aside any personal or political opinions you have about Elon Musk. This may be difficult as Musk seems to have the same oral affliction as a former US President. We used to call it “Foot in Mouth Disease”. And it invades our consciousness almost daily…or several times a day. Anyway, park your disgust or frustration long enough to read this article from “Rest of World”. You can resume your animus upon completion. But a warning. It’s complicated.

Tesla has the well earned reputation for bringing electric vehicles to millions of believers in the “Climate Crisis”. Arguably the greatest threat to our species and trillions of other innocent plants and creatures. Electric cars are one of the answers. Tesla is making them faster than Lay’s makes potato chips. And Musk is just getting started. A new more affordable model is about to be built. This is the scaling up that all of us had hoped for. Most Americans still can’t afford an electric vehicle – even with subsidies. So praise be Elon Musk and Tesla. Maybe.

The article I am linking to describes the collision of what could be an important tool for mitigating Climate Change and the immediate survival of millions of “little people”. It is a head on collision between a laudable (even essential) goal and the ability of millions of humans to have a glass of water.

That’s the two components of this well researched and nicely written piece. But the author could elaborate on the third element. Why put a new auto factory – with all it’s supporting businesses – in a region suffering from a declining source of potable water? Why not put it in a region that has ample supplies of water? The Mexican President took that position. Until Elon made a phone call.

Simply put: PROFITS. Profits over people. Elon Musk needs more money. By parking such a huge enterprise right next to the US border, Tesla makes larger profits. Does Musk need to replace some of that stupid money he wasted on Twitter?

Is this Tesla project another example of “green washing”? Of course we want more electric vehicles. Of course we want Mexicans to have good jobs and prosper. But the trade off here seems more focused on corporate profits and personal wealth than the greater good. It would seem that having water to drink would fall into the latter category.

One more irony. Elon Musk is the same guy who pledged millions to help the citizens of Flint Michigan deal with the lead in their water. Are Mexicans any less worthy of a glass of water? Like I said. It’s complicated.

https://restofworld.org/2023/tesla-new-factory-mexico-drought/?utm_source=Rest+of+World+Newsletter&utm_campaign=ecc9b41890-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2023_06_26_06_48&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-ecc9b41890-%5BLIST_EMAIL_ID%5D

The worst and the best

Recently we watched the two most popular streaming shows currently on TV. Two award winning depictions of 21st Century life – and values.

We started with an episode of “Succession”. Somewhat reluctantly. It’s a painful thing to watch. But maybe, just maybe, one of the characters will display something other than avarice, contempt, jealousy or “payback” behavior for a life of withheld love and all around psychological abuse. Maybe.

The writing in Succession is clever and quick paced. The standard set from the beginning was to deliver quippy obscene dialog – all in word salad style. No real sentences. Sometimes it’s really funny. Often, it’s pathetic. And just as you begin to develop some sympathy for a character, that person will do something more awful than the person before them. Succession portrays the offspring and the corporate puppets as desperately trying to seek the shelter (approval) of the lead Media Oligarch also known as Dad. It’s brilliant. It’s disgusting. Succession is almost as bad as the real life it imitates. We watched to the end with curiosity – how can this family war be resolved?

We followed Succession, this monstrous display of human betrayal, with a completely opposite show. We watched, with a tear or two, the series finale of “Ted Lasso”. If I was searching for a show to reinforce my faith in people, this was it in spades. Each character evolves through the series. People are portrayed as unique individuals who grow before your eyes. Most of them (not the evil guy, aptly named Rupert) want to grow as humans. And they do!

”Succession” gives us the world of the uber rich and the disposables (the rest of us). “Ted Lasso” gives us a world where diversity is displayed as beautiful. Where the kid who cleans the locker room is part of the team. Where the phrase “Football is Life” takes on multiple levels of meaning. Where the loss of a game is not the end of the world. And how the players (and coaches) grow from that loss is a thing of beauty to watch.

We watched what I describe as a bit of TV from Hell and followed it with what I believe is an antidote to the poison in our culture. “Ted Lasso” celebrates diversity. It includes. It finds the best in people and builds on it. “Ted” teaches us to have those long treasured values of humility, loyalty, compassion and empathy – all the while showing us how to grow. “Ted” is on my “top ten list” of best shows ever created.

We suffered through the last episodes of “Succession” with the perspective and hope that maybe it will disgust enough viewers. That some will cease being entertained by the real life assholes they are symbols of. “Succession” is like ripping off the bandages on a burn victim. “Ted Lasso” is food and water for the soul.

Below is a great interview with Jason Sudeikis who plays Ted Lasso. The Lasso character was actually “rewritten” as the horrors of MAGA were being launched. What’s not to love?

BTW, Apple TV is a bargain. It seems to be leading with the type of creativity that we used to expect from HBO. Or, you could just binge on Ted Lasso for a month. It will be the best $7 you ever spent.

Carville’s quote takes on a new meaning

President Zelenski and the Ukrainians could teach us about more than being tough and smart in battle. Read Thom Hartmann’s piece and weep at what we have allowed our nation to become. But also consider the possibilities of reclaiming democracy and a level playing field in politics and life itself.

In America, Oligarchs rule. In Ukraine, they run to hide in Russia.

Excerpts from Thom’s letter today:

”Then came Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who successfully campaigned for president on a Teddy Roosevelt-like anti-corruption platform and, like both Teddy and Franklin Roosevelt, declared outright war on politically active oligarchs.”

“In 2021… Zelenskyy declared a campaign to “de-oligarchize” his nation, having diagnosed Ukraine’s political & economic crises as tracing back to the corruption by the morbidly rich.”

”An oligarch, by the Ukrainian definition, is somebody who:
— Has “significant” influence over mass media,
— Controls a business that exercises monopoly influence over a part of the economy,
— Involves themselves in politics through funding politicians, political parties, political campaigns, or think tanks, etc. (the phrase used is “takes part in political life”), or,
— Has a net worth of greater than $89 million.

Ukrainian oligarchs, under the new law:
— Are included on an official register published by the government,
— May not hold political office, may not fund political parties, or have influence over any meaningful part of “political life,”
— May not purchase state assets that are privatized, and
— Must disclose their assets in what the Financial Times calls “exhaustive declarations.”
— Government officials are also required to report any meeting with an oligarch on the government’s list.

America once had a similar tradition and Americans want it back. So much so that they bought hook, line, and sinker the sales pitch from a professional con man who knew how frustrated working people are by our American oligarchs and their seizure of the GOP.”

Please read the whole piece by Thom Hartmann. It’s humbling and yet, inspiring.

The Hartmann Report

Can Little Ukraine Teach Big America How to Deal with Our Oligarch Problem?

Can little Ukraine teach big America how to deal with our oligarch problem? Viktor Medvedchuk was the Rupert Murdoch of Ukraine. He ran a rightwing television network and owned TV stations across the country, while simultaneously being one of the richest men in that nation. He promoted hate and division, tax cuts for the r…

Read more

2 years ago · 25 likes · 4 comments · Thom Hartmann

Hitting it out of the Park?

Today’s letter features the NY Times article that follows. It could be called another in my series of “Who Knew?” We all loved Geena Davis in “Thelma and Louise” and “League of Their Own”. Her acting is appreciated by Oscar and millions of fans across the globe.

Read this (pay wall skirted) and learn who this powerful woman is:
How Sexist is Hollywood? Check out Geena Davis’s Spreadsheet

Geena is much, much more than a comedic genius. She has been (somewhat) quietly assembling an analysis of how Hollywood employs actors and directors based on gender and more. She has been doing this for 20 years!

Here is a link to The Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media. Her research and her team are attempting to change the way films are made. To help disband gender, race, age and body type stereotyping and casting.

Since films and TV are drivers of popular opinion and guide us in a way that churches did in the past…you gotta love this effort to find equity and inclusiveness. Oy! I sound “woke”. I AM WOKE! I am awake to injustice.

Sorry, but if you aren’t “woke”, you are either asleep…or a bigot. Or a sleepy bigot.

Plus, who knew that Geena Davis speaks fluent Swedish and is a certified member of Mensa? I guess we shouldn’t be surprised!

From the Vegetable Files

In the Spring of 2019, I planted 25 asparagus crown roots called “Jersey Supreme” – purchased from Johnny’s Selected Seeds of Maine. Johnny’s has been my favorite source for seeds since the 1980’s. I like that they often provide organic options. But mostly I figured that if their plants can survive the climate of Maine, they will do well here in Massachusetts. And, very important to me, Johnny’s is employee owned. In the Spring of 2020, I planted another 25. This time it was a newer variety called “Millennium”. The spears are equally tasty.

Here is a guide to the planting process. It’s not complicated. But it does involve several steps. Lot’s of soil prep. I used horse bedding compost. You dig a trench, placing the crowns properly and then gradually filling the trench as the spears emerge.

And here is the thing. You really don’t get a full harvest for 4 years. The antithesis of immediate gratification. Yes, you could take a few spears in year 3. But not much. The plants need to get firmly established. The payback of this patience and loving care for the soil is perhaps 20 years of heavenly harvests.

Now here we are, in our fifth year, eating asparagus every day. Giving some away. Part of the fun of growing food is sharing it with friends and family. And…searching for recipes.

Asparagus wrapped in prosciutto. Par boil the spears until just slightly limp, cool them immediately in an ice water bath. Dry them and drizzle with EVO, sprinkle with shredded Parmesan, wrap with the meat. Roast carefully. Or Google for your own version. If you are invited to dinner, bring this.

Asparagus soup! After trying various versions of this aromatic delight, I have come up with my own recipe. Adjust to your taste.

~ In a medium/large sauce pan saute a finely chopped 1/2 medium sized sweet onion in butter. Do not brown. For the last few minutes, add some cloves of finely chopped garlic. Do not over cook! Leave in the pot.

~ Fill the pot with one inch pieces of asparagus (hopefully harvested that same day – there is a difference – just like corn). Add enough chicken stock to cover the asparagus. Boil until fully softened. You will have set aside a few tips as a garnish.

~ Remove from heat, cool briefly. Add shredded Parmesan and a small amount of heavy cream. Squeeze the juice of about a quarter of a lemon. Maybe three pinches of salt and two grinds of black pepper. Pulverize with an immersion stick until creamy.

I am deliberately being vague about quantities because I believe that recipes are just someone’s opinion. Make this soup your way. The first time, you will say “good, but needs more or less cheese or salt”…or whatever. Tweak to your desired result.

Grilled asparagus. This is a nice project if you are also planning to grill some protein. Just brush them with EVO and salt/pepper to your liking. Asparagus can be enjoyed at room temp, so I grill it first. Be careful. It is very easy for the asparagus tips to become crunchy charcoal – use medium heat and turn them frequently.

Steaming is the classic way to prepare asparagus. I think there are times when that can be the straight up simple way to enjoy them. Don’t overcook, just apply salted butter or a Hollandaise sauce. Yum.

But wait! In my humble opinion, THE best way to bring out the special flavor of asparagus is oven roasting. I use parchment paper to line the pan – easy cleanup. Just brush the spears with EVO – salt and pepper as you like. Pop them into a 350 oven for about ten minutes. You get maximum flavor, a nice texture – not that burned essence that often accompanies grilling. Eat as is. Or…try a sauce.

Here is sauce we tried. Some loved it. Others were “meh..” Use is as a starting point for your own creation, perhaps. I really liked it.

~ 3 or 4 heaping tablespoons (globs) of sour cream

~ 1 heaping teaspoon of white horseradish

~ 3 pieces of very finely chopped bacon

~ 2 rounded tablespoons of grated Parmesan

Blend thoroughly and serve slightly warm or at room temp.

Now that the asparagus plants are fully mature, we can harvest for up to six weeks. The first nibbles were on April 17 – almost two weeks ahead of tradition. Guess why.

Anyway, that says that we have another week or so of what I call the “queen of vegetables”. And another week of funny smelling pee 🙂

Below is what the queen looks like once you stop cutting and let her become a big fern. In the late fall, after the ferns have turned brown, cut and remove them to prevent pests from overwintering in the foliage. Sprinkle some pelletized lime or wood ashes on the bed – asparagus like a slightly sweet soil. Apply a one or two inch layer of compost. Like a winter blanket.

After this seasonal feast, we’ll take a break from asparagus. But in a couple of months, I’ll be yearning for it again. We are fortunate to have a global supply. The spears from Peru and Mexico are pretty good. Chances are small you are going to grow your own. But if you can find it now from a local farmer, treasure it. And note how much lighter and brighter the flavor is when it is that fresh. Enjoy.

https://www.verywellfit.com/asparagus-nutrition-facts-calories-and-their-health-benefits-4118017

https://www.johnnyseeds.com/growers-library/vegetables/asparagus/asparagus-key-growing-information.html

https://www.helgilibrary.com/charts/which-country-produces-the-most-asparagus/

Could This Man Beat Ted Cruz?

A short letter today. Please watch this brief but powerful announcement from an eloquent and highly qualified candidate. You may be tempted to send him money.

Could this man be the answer for Texas and the nation?