I bought a big bag yesterday at the organic store and I am wondering what plants benefit most from an application of this stuff. Mostly I forget what the K in N-P-K is good for. I think I'm losing my memory skills. I threw some into my pea bed mixed with some kelp meal. I figured it couldn't hurt. Y'know, my gardens have never been the same since fish bone meal went off the market here. That stuff rocked! Stunk to high heaven but what kick ass gardens I had back then (my own golden era of gardening). I am thinking about getting a bag of fish meal from the feed store to see if that'll work but the smell is worse I hear. Info anyone? Whats your sure fire garden amendment (not countinmg the obvious compost)?

-- Anonymous, May 31, 2002

Answers

Response to Anyone use greensand?

Living near the ocean...we collect lots of seaweed. It makes a wonderful mulch!! And whatever clam shells, crab and lobster bodies that we don't give to the chickens, they go into the garden as well.

-- Anonymous, May 31, 2002

Response to Anyone use greensand?

Greensand is very slow acting. It actually will take a year or two before it starts to do any good. It's great for root crops and I think it helps plants to take in water properly. Also, greensand makes plants more cold hardy. Have you had a soil test done lately? Fish meal is a source of nitrogen, so maybe your soil is deficient in N. Alfalfa meal is a great source of N and is overall very beneficial. I usually just use compost and kelp meal. About every 3 years, I get a soil test and put on geensand and black rock phosphate if needed.

Marcia, WAAA!, I want to live near the ocean! Lucky chickens!

-- Anonymous, May 31, 2002

Response to Anyone use greensand?

Vicki...it always makes me mad when I dump a bunch of lobster bodies into the chicken's run and they pull out ALL KINDS of meat that I missed!! Grrrr! And I had picked them over soooo good :-)!!

-- Anonymous, May 31, 2002

Response to Anyone use greensand?

Ok Marcia, I've just about had enough of your goin on about your lobster bodies and suchlike! I cannot even imagine having as much lobster as I want, at my beck and call! I had my first one when my folks took me out for my 18th birthday and let me order lobster. I have been in love ever since. Then for many years, to keep it special, I would just buy it on my birthday. As you can imagine, its quite expensive in the midwest. I stopped that nonsense a few years back when I realized I could afford to splurge more often, so I eat lobster about once a month. It's still special to me; I'm the only one in the house that cares much for it. Actually I could live on seafood.

So who cares if you can walk outside and grab a lobster! We aint jealous! Why here in Minnesota we have, um.........eelpout! And.....lutefisk! So there!

-- Anonymous, May 31, 2002

Response to Anyone use greensand?

I'm sorry, Aunty Em!! I promise to keep my mouth shut...unless I'm eating lobster :-)!! No really, I am sorry! Actually, if you have it once a month that's more often than I do.

What is eelpout and lutefisk??

-- Anonymous, May 31, 2002

Response to Anyone use greensand?

Oh please dont keep your mouth shut for real, you silly. I'm just joshin ya, I'm sure you know.

You mean you dont know what lutefisk is??? How is this possible? Its a delicious Scandanavian delicacy! And eelpout, well eelpout are like the cutest fish in the world!

-- Anonymous, May 31, 2002

Response to Anyone use greensand?

Don't believe her, Marcia!! Lutefisk is nasty, nasty, nasty!! Ick! Yuck! Blech! Ptooie, even!! It's one of those foods old people give to kids so they can watch their Mamas slap 'em when they spit it out on the floor!

Oh, wait! Were you still trying to get back at her for the lobstah (gotta say it right!) and crab report, EM?! Ooops - sorry!

I still think that Sven and Ole jokes are a much better Minnasota export than the lutefisk!

-- Anonymous, May 31, 2002

Response to Anyone use greensand?

Hey, remember those characters on Bugs Bunny? "He iss Olaf I am Sven..." . I still hear those voices when I here those names. As for being close to the ocean, I'm about half an hour from the nearest salt water beach. I did the seaweed mulch one year but it takes more than I can haul so now I do leaf mulch. And ding dang doodley crapadoodle...2 years for the greensand to work!!? Rats. I had lobster for Mother's day.. Lobster King Neptune which is half a lobster (sacriledge!!) with shrimp and in a sffron sauce. I prefer my lobster whole and numerous with a variety of butters for dippin'. The trucks are on the sides of the road in town now :fresh mackeral, scallops, etc etc.

-- Anonymous, May 31, 2002

Response to Anyone use greensand?

lutefisk

-- Anonymous, May 31, 2002

My goodness, Joy!!! What a story!!! Thank goodness I've already eaten supper!!! Otherwise my appetite would have gone kapoot! I think I would need something LOTS stronger than aquavit to eat that!!!! BTW, I like the way you've added to the title of this post...(sorry Alison!!) And Alison...another of my favorite garden amendments is woodstove ash and coffee grounds!

Now....Aunty Em! What is lutefisk...REALLY???!!!

You guys are soooo much fun :-)!!

-- Anonymous, May 31, 2002

(Have to finish wiping my eyes after reading Joy's story)......

Even if it _is_a load of horsepucky! Another scandalous assault on my heritage! Although I must admit this one was written better than most.

Polly Polly Polly..........if you have actually tasted lutefisk, you are probably yet another victim of what I like to call INAPPROPRIATE LUTEFISK PREPARATION SYNDROME. The world is filled with people who pose as authentic lutefisk chefs, but in real life were trained in the art of creative aspic-making or somesuch. Most of them are Norwegian, and therein lies the problem. A whole bottle of aquavit will not wash down the nastiness of just one taste. (By the way, Marcia, have you actually _tasted_ aquavit? You want something stronger? There is nothing stronger)

Being as I am 75% Scandanavian myself, I think I can speak with some authority on this issue. Norwegian lutefisk is foul, no doubt about it. If you want to give lutefisk a fair shake (and after all, who doesn't?), you must eat some prepared by a Swede or a Finn.

The lutefisk I grew up with ( only at Christmas, of course) was wonderful! Well, maybe not wonderful, one needs real flavor to be wonderful, but good anyway. Well, not really good either, more like ok. The secret to good lutefisk (about which the Nords just remain clueless) is in the sauce! Lots and lots and lots of cream and butter sauce! Yes, the sauce, in which the fish is actually kind of hard to find, but you know its there, cuz every once in awhile something barely reminiscent of texture touches your tongue. The fish actually has no discernible flavor in properly prepared lutefisk, as compared with Norwegian lutefisk, with which Norwegians like to sadistically torture unwary visitors.

So, being as I live in Minnesota, I will be happy to ship any of my good friends on this forum some properly prepared lutefisk (but you'll have to wait till Christmas, or at least Thanksgiving). Just let me know, so I know how many shipping containers to order ahead of time.

Skalar!! (Bon Appetite)

.

-- Anonymous, May 31, 2002

Well, EM...your description (I have to say!) sounds much more appetizing than Joy's story! I really am brave enough to try any kind of "fish food" as long as it's not RAW!! And...nope, I've never tried aquavit. I just assumed it was a "water"-type of liquor!! So you'll have to explain just what that is also :-)!!

-- Anonymous, May 31, 2002

On "normal" bullitin boards , threads sometimes "drift", here at BTS , they go over the falls in a barrel :>)

On the subject: I keep 12 aquariums with goldfish to make fertilizer tea of with a few buckets and worm crap under constant aeration.

My addition to the thread drift: I can only eat lobster after about three drinks.It takes that to make me arrogant as a ceaser to send that critter to its death :>)

-- Anonymous, May 31, 2002

On "normal" bullitin boards , threads sometimes "drift", here at BTS , they go over the falls in a barrel.

Yes, and all the while we're yakking a mile a minute! Thanks for the laugh!

-- Anonymous, June 01, 2002

We used to get wonderful stuff around here called Door County Fish Compost from Jungs, but they don't seem to sell it anymore. I wonder if Door County ran out of alewives? We used to hear news stories about enormous traffic accidents in Green Bay that had been caused by alewives on the highway (spilled out of trucks on the way to the fertilizer factory). It is too bad, it was great stuff.

I have taken to asking my mother's carpenter to save the heads, bones,aand guts from his ice fishing expeditions, which I dig in under rosebushes and such. If I had an enormous compost pile, I'd put them in there, but mine is too small and I really do not want to attract every raccoon in a 60 mile radius.

I like bunny bullets and alfalfa pellets,& composted horse manure (since we have so much of it). Kelp meal is also great.

And now, The Lutefisk Song!! (sung to the tune of 'Oh Tannenbaum' -- that's aka 'Oh Christmas Tree')

Oh Lutefisk, oh Lutefisk --

How fragrant your aroma!

Oh Lutefisk, on Lutefisk --

You put me in a coma!

You smell so strong--

(you look like glue)

You taste just like --

(an overshoe).

But Lutefisk, oh Lutefisk,

Come Christmas Day --

I think I eat you anyway.

(please pass the lefse)

-- Anonymous, June 01, 2002

Love that song! I never realized what a cultural experience this thread would be. :) And BTW what is aquavit like?

-- Anonymous, June 01, 2002

Why yes, EM; I HAVE eaten lutefisk...well, I allowed it to touch my tongue once for about 1 1/3 seconds before I spit it out in my napkin; much to my Mama's mortification! She was somewhat relieved by the adults around the table roaring with laughter at my expression, so I didn't get the aforementioned slap; but it took a long time before I would trust her friend Ruth on the matter of food again! Now, I don't know for sure what her heritage was, (she's since passed away) but she made the best darn cookies - a soft, almost breadlike, gently spiced cookie called a Kringle that we rolled out into ropes and then formed into bows to bake...hmmmm; I think I have that recipe somewhere around here...

And to add my bit of song to the thread drift: Roll out the barrel, we'll have a barrel of fun!!

-- Anonymous, June 01, 2002

I think Stan Boreson wrote the Christmas Lutefisk song. He lives up here. We have a huge population of Swedes (I'm married to a half- breed) and Norwegians (as well as Danes) around Puget Sound (Finns live in Oregon)...all the fishing and woods, I guess. Check out the Ballard neighborhood in Seattle sometime. Stop by if you're in the neighborhood, though! Lots of Scandinavian immigrants bounced first in Minnesota and then landed in Washington (including some of my buoyant ancestors). Oh, were we talking about Lutefisk? I prefer pickled herring. And I like potato lefse. Stir in a little greensand, and sprinkle with N-P-K. Then shake, not stir. De-lish!

-- Anonymous, June 01, 2002

BTW, the best lutefisk is conditioned in wooden casks sitting on the sidewalks of Ballard. The dogs that pee on the casks contribute a unique (and valued) essence to the taste of the final product. Best if the kegs are left sitting out in the sun, too (unfortunately rare in this area).

-- Anonymous, June 01, 2002

Over in Sweden, the cod for the lutefisk is usually left on the roofs of the houses to dry (bird poop is the secret ingredient?).

John Clees once referred to the dried cod that lutefisk is made out of as 'a delicately fish-flavoured baseball bat'.

-- Anonymous, June 02, 2002

All I can say is, YEWWW, Gross! I'm sticking to lobster every once in a blue moon, and lake perch and walleye. Wonder if Scandinavian chickens eat lutefisk?

-- Anonymous, June 02, 2002

Sheepish.......keeping me in stitches as usual!!

Oh, and Vickie.......funny you should bring this up, but four years ago I served an entirely Swedish menu for the Christimas family get- together, including lutefisk and aquavit, of course. It was a buffet, so people grazed throughout the day and wandered around the place alot. I didn't know about it at the time, but I was told later that it was apparent that not only Scandinavian, but all kinds of chickens like lutefisk just fine!

-- Anonymous, June 02, 2002

Mmmmmmm...all these delicious ideas for serving up lutefisk!!! Sure is making me hungry reading them. Think I'll go check out my fridge and see if I can scrounge up some old "party-colored" food to munch on :-)!

-- Anonymous, June 02, 2002