tjksales

Girdled Flowering Crab Apple Tree Blooms Again

2015-05-19T08:22:00.001-07:00

Southern Maine was blessed/cursed with above average snowfall in the winter of 2013-14. Homeowners responded by repeatedly snow blowing and shoveling out their driveways and pathways. The results were monumental mountains of snow and snowdrifts everywhere.

In our yard that meant as much as six feet of snow blanketing flower beds and landscaping shrubs and trees. Perfect conditions for active winter critters to tunnel unseen underneath in search of a meal of succulent vegetation.

Our flowering crab apple tree was high on their menu. Over the course of the winter the voles and other denizens of the deep snows managed to strip the bark from the main trunks of our favorite ornamental as can be seen in the accompanying photo on the right.

Hoping against hope, we researched the available literature about the effects of girdling on trees and the possibility of discovering an antidote to the dastardly deeds of the hungry rodents. As we surmised, we found that arborists and horticulturists agreed that if the bark of a tree is completely removed on every side of a tree's trunk, there is little that can be done to save a tree so damaged. A call to the State Extension Cooperative confirmed our worse fears.

But we couldn't give up on our resilient tree that had survived wind storms and everything that mother nature had thrown at it over the years. Hoping against hope and defying professional advice, we bound the wounded and condemned trunks of our flowering crab apple with black plastic tape and waited to see if it could possibly survive though perhaps only weakly.

We were rewarded for our efforts with amazing results as can be seen in the photo on the left taken in the Spring of 2014. Not only did our tree survive, but it bloomed with a generous display of blossoms.

One trunk did not fully recover and gradually succumbed to its wounds. We cut it low, but have been rewarded with an offshoot that promises to gradually replace the original in years to come.

We were still not sure whether this resurgence of bloom was permanent or a temporary phenomenon that would end in the eventual death of the tree. After the winter of 2014-15 which proved to bring an even more abundant amount of snow, we watched to see if the voles came back to finish their destructive work. To our relief, our tree did not suffer any more damage under the most recent winter snows. Perhaps the plastic tape deterred the critters' efforts to feast on our tree although their trails revealed after the snows had melted that they were very active all winter.

We have since camouflaged the black plastic tape with a coat of black alder stain to make it less visible and resembling the look of the original bark.

You can't keep a good tree down, So don't give up on your favorite tree. Give it a second chance with a wrapping of plastic tape.

For Efficient International Touring Use a Travel Agency

2011-02-05T07:25:00.000-08:00

You have always wanted to join the millions who travel the world on a regular basis. Until now you have put off your dreams because of family responsibilities, professional commitments, or a lack of discretionary funds to make those dreams come true. Suddenly, everything has fallen into place and you are ready to embark on your long anticipated adventure. Where do you start?

Deciding on a Destination

St. Peter's in the Vatican

Before anything else, you need to wander through your dreams again and decide on the one location to which your musings have returned time and time again. Do you see yourself on a cruise across endless seas with stops in exotic ports? Or do your dreams take you to ancient archeological digs that continue to reveal their mysterious past? Perhaps you long to visit the country from which your parents and grandparents emigrated? Whatever your dreams, you would do well to consider engaging a tour counselor with an international tour agency to assist you.

Securing Necessary Documents

The Roman Colisseum

Once you have decided upon the destination you would like to visit, you could search the internet for information about securing your passport, the other documents you need, how to secure them, and what the latest security measures are in place at your departure airport. The websites Travel.State.Gov and TSA (Transportation Security Administration, tsa.gov) could provide you with a wealth of information.

But if you secure the services of an international travel agency, they will not only provide you with that information, but will present it in a convenient readable format. Moreover, your personal travel consultant will include practical advice about weather, customs, appropriate clothing, tipping rates, special events, etc.

Flights and Hotels

St. Mark's Bell Tower in Venice

You might be able to obtain what seems like a great deal on airline tickets from one of the multiple internet websites. Your international travel agency, on the other hand, has an ongoing relationship with all the airlines with flights to your destination. Because they have arranged innumerable trips for thousands of travelers, they have access to group discounts on these airlines. They will be able to get you to your destination in the most efficient and comfortable manner, at a time convenient to your schedule.

Similarly, they do not depend upon the ratings of hotels listed on the internet or in a promotional brochure. They have first hand experience with all the hotels at which they have booked travelers for years and know which ones they can recommend. The five star hotel you found on the internet may not be as accommodating as a three star hotel proposed by your travel counselor.

Tour Guides

While you are touring, you could enlist tour guides at a museum, archeological site, basilica, etc. when you arrive, but your travel counselor would have arranged for proven guides who could introduce you to a whole city. If a travel agency finds that a particular guide is inadequate for the task, they will find one who is. They constantly poll their clients for their opinion about their travel experiences.

Local Atmosphere and Dining Choices

The Canals of Venice

Since you have never visited your destination before, you would be fortunate to stumble upon a typical neighborhood, a cozy restaurant, a colorful entertainment venue, etc. Your travel counselor is able to arrange for an optimum experience of the locale with no hassle on your part.

You must be prepared for the higher cost of dining out in a foreign country. In Europe you will find that it will require about $144 in exchange for 100 Euros. You could spend that much for a single meal in your hotel restaurant. Your travel counselor can arrange a five course meal for you in a local establishment complete with singing waiters for less.

Avoid The Hassle of Scheduling

The Duomo in Florence

Above all, your travel counselor will lift from your shoulders the hassle of negotiating each detail of your journey from booking your flight and hotels, arranging for transport to each of them, supplying tour guides and museum reservations, making restaurant appointments, and managing the ebb and flow of a more leisurely touring experience.

Having experienced both approaches to travel, I highly recommend using a travel agency. Once you have become a seasoned traveler, you will find it easier to make all of your own arrangements. Until then, find yourself a travel counselor with years of experience and enjoy a relaxing vacation.

Kolachi - An Eastern European Delicacy

2011-02-02T17:06:00.000-08:00

When the holidays roll around in Slovakia, the Czech Republic, the Ukraine, Poland, Hungary, and Russia you will be sure to find bakers busy turning out the traditional dessert roll delicacy called Kolachi, also called Kolachki, Kolacky, Kolachy, Kolace, Kolache, or Kolachke.

These are dessert rolls made with sweet rising dough and filled with a variety of fillings. Some fillings consist of ground walnuts to which some bakers add ground coconut and others add honey.

Another popular filling is made with ground poppy seed to which some traditional bakers add raisins, either red or white.

For ordinary occasions or simply as a roll with your morning coffee many eastern Europeans enjoy kolachi stuffed with lekvar, which is a prune filling.

When I was as boy, my mom rolled out the lekvar kolachi throughout the year for morning coffee or an after school snack. For Christmas and Easter, however, she would ask me to assemble the old grinder that was practically an antique, attach the small grinding wheel and churn out bowlfuls of fine walnut powder, adding a little coconut as I went along.

She would take this walnut/coconut concoction and blend it into a semi-liquid paste, the consistency of soft butter, and slather it thickly on the rolled out dough. Carefully rolling each slab of dough the size of a large pizza, she would create kolachi rolls in the unbaked state. After they had been allowed to rise to their maximum plumpness, they would be put into the oven to bake, giving off a delicious aroma that presaged many enjoyable snacks during the holidays.

The poppy seed grinding process was a bit more difficult since dry poppy seeds tended to slip through the grinding wheel without being crushed. To prevent this, I was advised to add a few raisins to the mix as I started grinding the poppy seeds and intermittently thereafter. The raisins moistened the grinding wheel and assured that the seeds would be ground properly.

Mom would process the ground poppy seed in much the same way that she had the walnut mixture. Sometimes she would sprinkle a few raisinns over the rolled out dough covered with the poppy seed mixture to add a sweet taste to the kolachi.

When all the hustle and bustle in the kitchen was brought to completion, my mother would have baked enough kolachi to last throughout the Christmas or Easter holidays --- that would be the equivalent of a huge canning kettle filled with upwards of 25 rolls. The hardest part of this enterprise was waiting for the holidays when, and only when, the first kolachi would be sliced and served.

If you don't bake them yourself, it is difficult to find authentic Eastern European kolachi in your local bakery. Fortunately, I have discovered a great source for kolachi just like your mother and grandmother used to bake.

Bubba's Home Baked kolachi are everything they claim them to be. This past Christmas I ordered some for my eldest sibling who is a religious sister. She attessts that she and the other Slovak nuns enjoyed them immensely, all agreeing that they were just like the ones their mothers and grandmothers made. For a moment they were giving me credit for baking them as if I could!

You can't go wrong with Bubbas's kolachi. They are still following the recipes of their grandmother whom they affectionately called 'Bubba' since they were children. Just click on the link below and see what they have to offer. You won't go wrong with either the nut, poppy seed, lekvar or other rolls. Take special notice of their discounted combination packages.

http://store.bubbashomebaked.com/?Click=1204