WANTED: A Box For The Wicked

13 years ago

No rest for the wicked. Put another way, tomorrow I head off on another trip. Wheels up at 6:20 AM. Thinking that didn't sound fun at all, I walked glumly in my door this afternoon to find . . . a box.

Once upon a time, to see a box on your stoop meant that a friend or loved one had sent you a welcome present. Today, we buy so much stuff online that a box might be toilet paper or dog food. Well, not quite. But it is going that way.

I brought the box inside. Too small for toilet paper, too large for toilet parts, addressed by a person, not a company. Hmm, promising! "J____ F____" Who's that? Then I realized, my gifter is the famous Jessy F!

Poured myself a beer, sat down with my box, and was instantly happy. The nicest "dear John" card and letter I've ever received, not even an unwanted engagement ring enclosed. A roll of cheese preservation medium - how did? you know of the shame that breeds in my refrigerator? A bottle and a magazine that made me feel just returned from a foodie stroll in Silverlake, or Santa Monica maybe. Best of all, A Book.

I love books, and I'm about to go spend three nights slumped in a hotel, so "Best Food Writing 2012" is exactly what the doctor ordered. Thanks, Jessy! Your gift will be tucked carefully into my shoulder bag to take a little trip to the City By The Bay.

Come to think of it, I have to get my gift box put together. Somewhere out there, someone is wondering if her box will come . . . patience, patience.

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Comments (21)

mustangs81
13 years ago
Great job Jessy, just what John needed to boost his spirits! I'll have to check out that cheese paper.

I hope your trip is safe and productive.
wizardnm
13 years ago
Great swamp.....err I mean swap box!

Let us know how the book is, looks very interesting. Me thinks that Jessy picked up on your writing skills, your posts are always so interesting.

Cheese paper is a new one on me, but then, I live in the boonies. Nevertheless, good cheese is pricey and deserves proper wrapping. I like the idea.

Nancy
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To top water or bottom water really doesn't much matter for a typical container garden. Where it matters is in terms of efficiency and how long the plants will be in the container. Think of a commercial operation with thousands of containers needing at least daily watering. Clearly having all containers in trays that could be bottom watered would be a huge benefit. The next issue is build up of salts from the water supply and nutrients. Bottom watering, if it doesn't keep the media constantly wet, results in salts forming on the media. This is bad. A good top watering can flush much of the salts out, but in a commerical operation where the plants spend only a limited time in a bottom watering situation before being shipped out is not important. The perched water table may or may not matter to you. If you have a 12" deep container with a 2" perched water table you have 10" of vertical growing room before encountering a constantly wet area. What's the difference between a 10" tall container with no perched water table and a 12" deep container with a 2" perched water table? Nothing much other than the 10" deep container needs to be watered more often. Since you are using some self watering containers you are deliberately (if not knowingly) relying upon the same physical principles that create a perched water table to keep your plants irrigated. Question 2 is correct. Question 3 it doesn't much matter. As long as the wick isn't in contact with a wet surface evaporation will occur. If you want to speed up the draining of the PWT, put the bottom of the wick in contact with something that absorbs water.
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I started using SWC wicks made from synthetic mop material last year with very good results. I use the same mop Al Tapla recommends for wicking excess water out of containers (Mainstays brand at WalMart). I like them in my bucket SWCs because it's easy to adjust the amount of wicking (even after plant is in place) by adding or removing wicks. This year I want to try using binder clips to temporarily 'cut off' wicks until they're needed. I also like the fact that the soil buckets remain flat on the bottom so it's easy to move them around, work on, sit on the ground without worrying about crushing a wicking cup. I use my SWC's as top watered containers at first (until the plants get well established), and the wicks really help drain excess moisture out at the early stage. Peppers and Eggplants did best last year with 2 wicks, tomatoes in 5 gallon buckets 4, and cucumbers needed 8! (possibly more-or a better wicking mix). Keep up the experiments!
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Nice test but at best your results will be inconclusive. Your sample size is far to small to be able to make any sort of accurate statistical conclusion. You need at least 9 plants (3 of each) for your results to be statistically meaningful. With a sample that small you cannot rule out the possibility of random chance. It will be interesting to see which does better, but all you can conclude is that you need to test further. Now if you can find more people to join you in this test then you will be in business! I think it is wonderful to experiment with gardening concepts. However, I don't want you to think can stick it to Al based on the results of the test as you have it laid out now. I know of Al but I have not read his work. I can promise you that no amount of holes will speed the draining process of the pot. The reason is because of the capillary action of the soil that holds water in. Water will only drain from a pot where there is enough water for the gravitational force to overpower capillary action. Once you reach that equilibrium point the soil will stop draining. What the wick does is uses capillary action to your favor and pulls more water than gravity alone can out of the pot. I am sure Al knows this and he has great science backing his claims. But again it is always important to question scientific claims, because science wouldn't be science if the results weren't reproducible.
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wicking was spoken about :)
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annie1992
13 years ago
Cheese paper, I've never heard of that either. Not that cheese lasts that long here, Elery and Cooper both love the stuff.

I agree with Nancy, your posts are interesting and well written, I think that book is right up your alley.

Enjoy the reading, maybe it'll lift you out of your winter doldrums.

Annie
User
13 years ago
Great box. Perfectly tailored to John. Love the idea of the cheese paper. I hope the authors of that book write as well as John.

Well done Jessica.

~Ann
centralcacyclist
13 years ago
What a cool mix of elements! The book looks great. Cheese paper, eh? I've never seen it either.

Nicely done, Jessy.

John, are you going to be in San Francisco?

Eileen
John Liu
Original Author
13 years ago
Indeed I'm in S.F. now. Gosh, there is sun here. Funny, when I visit here now, it is always sunny and nice. When I lived here, it was always foggy and cold. Sneaky weather.
compumom
13 years ago
Great job Jessy! I echo the sentiments that your choices are perfect for John. I just know this gift will lift his spirits!
E
coconut_nj
13 years ago
What a great selection and perfect timing! That book will be so nice to relax to tonight at the hotel.Love the cheese paper. So nice to get something you never seem to get for yourself. I'll bet that vinegar gets good use too. Good job Jessy and a very lucky John!!
jessyf
13 years ago
Oh goodie I'm glad you like it! How did I know about the shame in your fridge - we all do (and that's a good thing)! I have to confess I cheated - I sent one of AnnT's (my last one) greeting cards, with no writing, so John can reuse it.

I've enjoyed Holly Hughes's anthologies before and I hope you do too...one of my favorite authors (Joel Stein) has a contribution.

Now I have to catch up with the other boxes.
John Liu
Original Author
13 years ago
Hey, why do we title these posts "WANTED:"? I'm new to this exchange stuff and don't understand it.
dedtired
13 years ago
I think Exchanges was originally meant for people who WANTED something and also for people who HAVE something they want to swap. However, as in many things, the members of the CF tweaked it to mean what we want it to mean. I believe the site generates the words for you. How thoughtful, yet meaningless.

Jessy's box is both meaningful and thoughtful. Brava, oh Evil One. Can't wait to hear the book review, and I have to get some of that cheese paper as all the cheese in my fridge had morphed into roquefort.
centralcacyclist
13 years ago
The auto wording didn't used to be here when the Exchanges page was first created. As I recall it was created during the time that Roger was around long ago. He and others complained about the swaps taking up valuable discussion space. Also, the swaps had many more participants. The auto wording is a new thing. I think someone at GW thought it was the usual exchanges, not a gift swap, and tweaked it to fit their format.

Eileen
whgille
13 years ago
Jessy, what a thoughtful gift! I can see John enjoying the book, it is perfect for him. The cheese paper is a good idea. I also agree with everyone about his writing skills, I always like his well written posts.

Silvia
gwlolo
13 years ago
that is such a nice John-ish gift! Great job!

Although after reading some of John Liu's posts here, some saved John liu posts will do nicely for cooking/ kitchen related reading on that long boring flight to dreary germany that is coming up.

SF is nice and sunny today :)
riverrat1
13 years ago
Jessy, Good job! Perfect for John.
I use cheese paper often and I think I found it in California for the first time. It works well for us seeing that we love cheese but don't eat it fast enough.

Enjoy your goodies John!
centralcacyclist
13 years ago
I sent this to GW:

I'm wondering if the Cooking Forum Exchanges page could be changed to "Swaps" because the forum has never used it as a typical "wanted/have to trade" sort of exchange venue. It was created to accommodate the blind swap fun we have. There were complaints long ago that the swap threads were bothersome to nonparticipants and took up space.

If not, could the "wanted/have to trade" only options be deleted? They make no sense when we post.

Thanks, Eileen
gwlolo
13 years ago
Is it bad to covet something from someone else's swap gift.. I had never heard of cheese paper but we do often buy cheeses to try and I hate to have them go bad in those silly plastic wraps.. That is good enough justification for my impulse Amazon prime buy right:) It even has labels!
centralcacyclist
13 years ago
Cheese paper is intriguing but I seem to eat it all up fast enough that there is no spoilage.

:) Eileen
KatieC
13 years ago
Cheese paper...and I was all thrilled to discover Press 'n Seal, lol.

I can bring the vinegar almost close enough to read the ingredients...organic and ginger and 'secret spices'...mmmm...

Spotted Ann's handiwork right away. I'm waiting on a frame for three chocolate-ey notecards for my back porch (aka kitchen extension).

And a book. You are my bookophile hero, EJ. Enjoy, John.

This post was edited by katiec on Fri, Feb 8, 13 at 20:21
centralcacyclist
13 years ago
From Tamara:

Hi Eileen,

I think Exchanges can be renamed Swaps, but not sure if the wanted/have option can be deleted because it might be hard coded into the template. I'll see what I can find out. Just an FYI -- it probably will take a we or so just because we have a couple of other things that are high-priority right now. If you haven't heard back from me in two weeks, rattle my cage again.

Thanks,

Tamara
mabeldingeldine_gw
13 years ago
Another fabulous swap package, enjoy, John! One of the great benefits of these swaps are seeing all the great books to try. I especially enjoy anthologies so will have to put that on my list. Nice job, Jessy!

WANTED: A Box For The Wicked

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