One More Chance…
by John Weckerle
Just one more event remains in Wildlife West Nature Park’s Chuckwagon Supper series for this year. The season finale this Saturday, September 4 will star Holy Water and Whiskey, a regional favorite specializing in “traditional, folk, bluegrass, gospel, western, and some select “whiskey” tunes.” The night’s entertainment includes a free-flight falcon show as well as dinner, and admission to the Park. This is a lot of fun, and a great deal; both shows and the dinner are just $20 for adults, $19 for seniors, and $10 for kids age 5 to 11. Kids under 5 are free! Reservations must be made by 2 p.m. the day of the show.
Pete’s Mexican Cantina Shows Promise, But The Jury’s Still Out
by John Weckerle
This evening, the NM-Central staff (minus Chief Staying Home For Dinner Correspondent Wilson) took the evening off and went out for our evening meal. Our first choice for the evening was going to be Sandia Crust Pizza, which serves a noteworthy eggplant rollatini, but after a neighbor asked us if Pete’s Mexican Restaurant and Cantina – Home of the Halfbreed – had opened yet, we decided to take a peek and see if they had started operations.
Boy, had they. Your editor dropped the rest of the party off at the door and ended up parking on the shoulder of North 14. We were seated immediately, despite the fact that the parking lot was completely full.
The prospect of once again being able to have a margarita (or, for that matter, any mixed drink) before or with dinner was apparently a draw; there were a lot of people in the place, and a lot of margarita glasses on the tables. Unfortunately, after waiting more than 10 minutes for our drink order, our waiter returned to tell us that they did not have the tequila we requested (the very popular Jose Cuervo 1800 Silver). Now, there are those who will say that it doesn’t matter what kind of tequila one puts in a margarita. Such people are not to be trusted, voted for or, for that matter, allowed to vote. Or reproduce. Under such circumstances, one expects the waiter to suggest another middle-shelf tequila. He didn’t. We got regular Cuervo Gold instead. Strike one.
Chips and salsa were on the table before the drinks. That is to say, some very tasty salsa and some whole chips on top of a bunch of smashed ones. This is the sort of thing that does not go over well in other states, but in New Mexico, it’s nigh unto treason. Strike two.
The menu at Pete’s contains a mix of regular favorites – New Mexican foods, steaks (Lucy says they need to add an 8-ounce steak; 12 ounces is too big for a lot of people), and so on – and other things we don’t see in some restaurants. Shrimp Veracruz is one of the selections, and shrimp fajitas are another. A green chile pasta dish was also featured, and that could be ordered with shrimp. Your editor was delighted to be able to get something with some protein that didn’t involve meat or poultry. With great enthusiasm, I ordered the pasta with shrimp – and at almost exactly 5:45 in the afternoon, the waiter replied, “We’re out of shrimp.”
Strike three.
»» Pete’s Mexican Cantina Shows Promise, But The Jury’s Still Out
Harvest Festival This Weekend At Wildlife West
by John Weckerle
Those looking for a little food and entertainment can find it starting tomorrow at Wildlife West Nature Park in Edgewood. The Park will be holding its annual Harvest Festival celebrating the area’s agricultural heritage. Locally grown products will be available for sample and/or sale, and an opportunity for wine tasting will be provided by Anasazi Fields Winery. Other attractions include blacksmith demonstrations, antique cars and trucks, old iron tractors and machinery, historic ranch equipment, and artists and vendors. Tractor-drawn hayrides around the park will be available. Entertainment will include music by Jimbo, blacksmith demonstrations, and games and stage shows for children. Events include the 5K Pronghorn Run and a 1/4 mile “run” for kids on Sunday morning. The Park will also hold its regular weekly Chuckwagon Dinner, including a free-flight falcon show, on Saturday night.
A Letter From Sandia Mountain BearWatch
Editor’s Note: This is a little late in coming, but well worth passing on. The problem of bear-human interactions is complex, and not likely to be solved by shooting the bears or, for that matter, the people. A more balanced and well-researched strategy than that proposed by New Mexico Game and Fish might go a long way toward solving the problem with the minimum ecological disruption possible. For information, see the Sandia Mountain BearWatch web site.
August 1, 2010
Dear BearWatch Member,
If ever our bears needed your help in the last seventeen years…it is now.
The New Mexico Game and Fish (NMG&F) is proposing an incredibly destructive statewide bear hunt starting in 2011 through 2014. They are proposing to kill 733 bears… or more than double that of the 2009 bear hunt (335). They are also proposing a kill limit of 318 sows out of that 733. Sows are the future. This proposed hunt will do a good job of destroying New Mexico’s bears with intervening chaos in our bear population.
Last year NMG&F raised the 2010 bear hunt to 406; that hunt hasn’t occurred yet. But they plan to raise the hunt yet again, without seeing what this year’s hunt will bring. They’ve had approximately 150 bear complaint calls this year along with one mauling of the illegal camper in the Sandias and two Scouts at Philmont Scout Ranch. No one had severe injures, just bites. NMG&F is telling the media that there are just too many bears in New Mexico when in fact; we’ve had a statewide food crisis. Harsh late frosts with no spring rains have devastated the forage that bears need at this time of the year. »» A Letter From Sandia Mountain BearWatch
Wyngette Soup
by John Weckerle
As outlined in Saturday’s article, we are awash in squash, and decided to take the time yesterday to make some wyngette soup (to make wyngette soup, you take whatever vegetables you have on hand, and wyngette). Yesterday’s variety contained onions, garlic, zucchini, carrots, parsnips, celery canned diced tomatoes, lentils, and green bell peppers. Today, we’ll share the “recipe” – such as it is – and some thoughts on wyngette soup making.
The first thing to understand about spontaneous soup making is that any “recipe” is really just a guideline. There’s no real right or wrong way, and if you want to make a change, you’re probably not going to hurt things much: if you don’t like parsnips, leave them out, and if you want more onions, then toss in more onions. So here we go (and remember, quantities are “give or take”): »» Wyngette Soup
Grow Your Own – Lurking Beneath The Foliage
by John Weckerle
Today's Harvest
Vegetable gardeners always wonder what’s going on while they’re on vacation. We had our good friend, Russ, watering while we were gone, and the beds came through with flying colors. Well, mostly one color – green – but we’re sure our readers get the picture. In fact, the foliage had developed to the point that several zucchini were hiding in Bed 3 well enough to grow to extra-large status (forearm length in two cases). Growing zucchini large is generally not recommended, as they taste better at about medium size. Bed 1 gave us another three green bell peppers this morning. Eggplants are still relatively small. There is also a mountain of kale and a good bit of chard in Bed 1, so we’ll definitely be eating our greens this week. Hmm… Zucchini, yellow squash, kale, bell peppers; some of this could be the beginning of another batch of wyngette soup.
As for Bed 2, tomatoes are still small and green, and it looks as if we’re losing one (but only one as far as we can see) to blossom end rot. We may yet get some out of the deal. Bed 2 is also home to the winter squash, and we can see an acorn squash and two spaghetti squashes hiding in there already. The parsley’s looking good, as are all the other herbs over in Bed 1.
Next year, we’re thinking of doing something different and creating Bed 4, which would be a more traditional double-dug raised bed. This would allow for a greater rooting depth for crops like tomatoes and eggplant.
Edgewood Chamber On The Lam?
by John Weckerle
The local newspapers are abuzz this week with news and commentary on the recent move on the part of the Edgewood Chamber of Commerce to – well, move.
At the heart of the issue are expressions of concern from a number of sources, including NM-Central.com, that the Edgewood Chamber has been perhaps more involved in politics than some might consider appropriate. Much of the current brouhaha seems to revolve around recent concerns associated with a “meet and greet” function for Republican candidates – Jim Smith and Tom Mullins – running for State Representative and Congress, respectively. Some current and past Town officials have expressed reservations regarding these functions, suggesting that the Edgewood Chamber’s actions in this arena, and actually conducting events supporting those candidates in office space provided by the Town, represent a de facto endorsement of the candidates by an organization that is receiving public funding in the form of free office space. One of the candidates counters that the Chamber announced a “meet and greet” event for his opponent. A local Tea Party activist and Chamber booster alleges violations of the Chamber’s First Amendment rights. A person or persons unknown attach a not-too-recently deceased skunk to the Town office with what appears to be 50 tubes of Krazy Glue. Panic ensues.
Only some of this is true (the skunk part and mass hysteria aren’t), but there’s much more to the story(ies)… »» Edgewood Chamber On The Lam?
Southern New Mexico Resource Advisory Committeee to Accept Project Proposals
Editor’s Note: We received this just today from Karen Takai. It’s a little outside our usual coverage area, but if anybody knows of anyone wanting to do projects in the referenced counties, please pass this along.
ALAMOGORDO, NEW MEXICO…The Southern New Mexico Resource Advisory Committee (RAC) is seeking proposals for projects that enhance forest ecosystems (environment functioning) or restore and improve land health and water quality on the Cibola, Gila, and Lincoln National Forests and other adjacent lands in Catron, Grant, Lincoln, Otero, Socorro, and Sierra Counties. The RAC committee has nearly $2,005,000 to allocate to projects this year, made available through the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act for fiscal years 2008 and 2009 Title II monies (http://www.fs.fed.us/srs/Title-II.shtml). Proposals and Title II monies will be recommended by the RAC to the Designated Federal Official (DFO), Al Koss, based on each affected County’s Title II monies allocation percentage. The RAC will be funded annually for an additional two years with slightly declining amounts each year. »» Southern New Mexico Resource Advisory Committeee to Accept Project Proposals
Music Festival Hits Edgewood
by John Weckerle
For those who may have forgotten, the Wildlife West Music Festival begins tonight with a barn dance and other festivities at Wildlife West Nature Park in Edgewood. Tomorrow’s headliners includes two-time Grammy nominee Claire Lynch, Grammy Winner Pat Donohue, Spring Creek, and Small Potatoes. They will be joined by Hot Club of Santa Fe, Syd Masters and the Swing Riders, Cheap Shots, Atomic Grass, the Martin Family Band, and the Muddy River String Band. This is a wonderful event for the whole family, and tomorrow promises to be a great experience.
Crank It, Baby!
by John Weckerle
Just a little over a month ago we published an article written by Margarita Mercure Hibbs on the subject of cancer and the upcoming Estancia Valley Relay for Life. This is a cause that your editor and his business have supported in the past, and will continue to support in the future.
Rather surprisingly, we got a nasty response from somebody who signed on as “Abe” and made some particularly inflammatory statements. Our response was to inform Ms. Hibbs immediately – and to essentially accuse Abe of not being who he said he was and challenge him to back his allegations up. We thought our response was, frankly, more snide than any response that has ever come out of this operation. Even with a guarantee of anonymity, Abe was unAble (or unwilling) to respond. Armed with what information we had on Abe, we we did a little digging, but did not obtain anything that would be worth publishing. Ms. Hibbs did a very good job in putting the intrepid Abester in his place, and we agreed with everything Ms. Hibbs said. Now, we want to be clear: having essentially come to the conclusion on the basis of our perfunctory investigation and Abe’s writing style that Abe was nothing more than a crank – and having essentially called him a liar and issued a clear taunt on the opportunity to elaborate anonymously – we considered the matter closed. We have had some communication to the effect that there are those who do not consider it so, and that we should have taken the matter further. With nothing to follow up on, and with Abe’s nonsense definitively refuted, there seemed – and still seems – that there was little left to do.
We can see how people would be angry about what Abe had to say. Toning down our own response frankly took a heck of a lot of doing. We try, but do not always entirely succeed, to avoid too much angry expression here. We try to be at least a little courteous to those with whom we disagree – and we do tend to write off those who just rant without any logical argument. We have done that in Abe’s case, and would like to suggest that we all stop giving him the attention he was seeking.
Weather Is As Weather Does
by John Weckerle
New Mexico Central headquarters finally got a good bit of rain this afternoon – anywhere from 0.2 to almost 0.5 inches, depending on which rain gauge we believe (we’re inclined to believe the latter, being skeptical about the ability of a gauge to catch more rain than has actually fallen). For the second time this week, we were treated to a unique sight – not only a double rainbow (look closely), but a full primary arc. We’re not sure about the “double,” as it was too big for the camera. And we’re glad we decided to leave those sunflowers in the driveway…
Got Yogurt?
by John Weckerle
Vegetarian and looking for some good-tasting, non-fat or lowfat yogurt? These days, it seems a difficult task; for some reason, the people at the mega-corporations that produce Dannon, Yoplait, and other widely available brands feel compelled to take a perfectly good substance like yogurt and add gelatin to it, effectively placing it off-limits to non-meat eaters and those whose whose religious beliefs prohibit mixing meat products with dairy. We have, however, identified a few products that might be of interest to those who don’t want gelatin in their snacks.
Top of the list is the Chobani Non-fat Greek Yogurt 12-pack currently available at Costco in Albuquerque, a collection of three fruit-in-the-bottom flavors – blueberry, peach, and strawberry – all of which are extremely tasty. Greek yogurt tends to be thicker and creamier than other types. It also has the advantage of having about twice the protein of other, more common styles, making it a great dietary choice for those who take a pass on other sources of protein.
Breyers has a series of fruit-flavored yogurts with a little serving of granola in a separate compartment on the top. This is a nifty little presentation, and of course the granola is optional; you can always save a few of them up for later. We have only seen this one in Walmart (Smith’s does not carry any vegetarian-friendly snack-size yogurts that we know of). The yogurt itself is tasty and has a good consistency.
Sunflower Markets in Albuquerque carry several brands of vegetarian-edible yogurt. We’ve recently been visiting Sunflower occasionally and have found them to be a very good and very reasonable source of things like the yogurt as well as proteins, cheeses, and various dry goods that are not always available in more conventional stores.
All things considered, though, we consider the Chobani yogurt to be the front-runner in the vegetarian yogurt race, and encourage everybody to give it a try.
Grow Your Own – Nothing Quiet On The Western Front
by John Weckerle
It’s been some time since we’ve posted anything on the topic of garnering one’s own food from a few small boxes west of the house, so this morning we have a few photos and some updates on the progress.
Bed 1 - Lettuce, kale, chard, green peppers, sage, oregano, and thyme
Celtic Festival Coming To Tijeras
by John Weckerle
The folks at Just Imagine Gallery have informed us that there will be a Celtic Festival at the Tijeras Arts Market on July 31 and August 1. Entertainment will include JUBALation (a band that has appeared at the Wildlife West Music Festival), Gerry Muisener, Dan McDermott, Eagle’s Whistle, and the McTeggart Step Dancers. For more information, see the Tijeras Arts Market events page.
The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly
by John Weckerle
It is perhaps an ultimate expression of Murphy’s Law that we were putting the finishing touches on a long article on people playing the racism card when the Shirley Sherrod story broke. That article will have to wait for now, as the current issue seems more pressing, and perhaps drives home a point we were trying to make in that article far better than we could have hoped.
Ms. Sherrod was subjected to national humiliation and loss of her job after administration officials viewed a video on biggovernment.com, published by Andrew Breitbart. That video purportedly showed that Ms. Sherrod, an African American speaking at a National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) event, not only was a racist, but actually discriminated against white people in the course of performing her work for the United States Department of Agriculture. It turns out that the video was heavily edited and that the original speech was essentially the opposite of what was being portrayed. No surprise, there; it was, after all, Andrew Breitbart, and we’ve debunked him here before on the issue of phony claims associated with Senator Robert Byrd (here and here). In an interview with CNN, Mr. Breitbart angrily defended his actions stating that they were in response to the NAACP’s accusations that the “Tea Party” was tolerant of racism at its rallies.
As with the Byrd situation, conservative bloggers nationwide, including our friends at Gadabout-Blogalot.com, immediately and in some cases gleefully relayed the story, with embedded video “proof” that the NAACP was racist because one of its members made racist comments at one of their events. (The irony is hard to miss; the NAACP is racist because somebody made a “racist” speech at one of their functions, but it is outrageous to suggest that the “Tea Party” is racist because a number of their rallies have included people waving signs with racist overtones and some highly-visible organizers have made bigoted comments.) This has become a common tactic over the last several years – somebody makes an accusation of one inappropriate behavior or other, and the response is to accuse that party of the same behavior. Seldom does the response deal with the substance of the original accusation. It is, to most of us, rather transparent and more than a little childish – the phrase “I know you are, but what am I?” comes to mind – but there is a certain percentage of the population that seems to buy into this approach. I, myself, have been publicly denounced as a racist for criticizing Mr. Breitbart’s position that African American congressmen walking through a white crowd was race-baiting. I wouldn’t be surprised if I’m accused of it again in response to this article. Regardless, we’ve taken issue with Mr. Breitbart’s distorted reporting in the past, and we hope that this incident will be a wake-up call to those who have been happily consuming and passing on the dreck that comes out of his mouth, or keyboard, as the case may be. But that is not what this article is about. »» The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly