Dirty Lentils

Weather: Afternoons were warm most of the week.  I was able to work outside a couple days, but high winds kept me indoors Friday.  When I walked around the yard yesterday, I found carcasses of Russian thistles and pigweeds had blown over the fence.  Usually, they are around the north facing fence, but this time they also came in from the west and south.

While the weather bureau was forecasting a possibility of rain or snow on Friday, we just had clouds.  Earlier in the week the satellite showed moisture crossing over the area.  While it is nice to get precipitation, the high-level activity seems to prevent the air from sucking water from the ground.  Many areas still are wet if one looks beneath the dry surface.

Last snow: 2/24.  Week’s low: 9 degrees F.  Week’s high: 70 degrees F in the shade.  Winds were up to 48 mph in Santa Fé on Friday.

What’s green in the area: One-seeded junipers, and most cultivated evergreens; Japanese honeysuckle and all the cultivated yuccas.

What’s green in my yard: Leaves on Apache plume, cliff rose, bearded iris, grape hyacinths, vinca, large-leaved soapwort, hollyhocks, sweet peas, Queen Anne’s lace, and horseweed.

More plants are reviving since the snow from January finally melted.  The fern bush is leafing, and some of the grasses (June, needle, smooth brome) have some green blades.  I found new leaves at the bases of some wintered-over snap dragons, black-eyed Susans, chocolate flower, and chrysanthemums.  I also removed some horseweed seedlings.

What’s turned red in the area: New growth on trees in the rose family, especially apricots.

What’s turned red/purple in my yard: Leaves on some alfilerillo, coral bells, coral beard tongues, golden spur columbine; some stems on roses are pale green and some are maroon.

The bluish leaves on the Bath pinks are more obvious, and some pink evening primroses have sprouted.  The blue flaxes have new growth at their bases.

What’s turned yellow in the area: Branches on a big weeping willow.

What’s gray in my yard: Snow-in-summer.

Animal sightings: Other than a raven, I did not see any birds this past week.

Tasks: I continued cutting down Maximilian sunflower stems near a block walk.  I usually sit on the ground and use loppers to cut the thick stems.  Although they are tall, the Helianthus maximiliani are not woody.  If the stems are more than 1/8" thick, the center is pith.  When I try to break them to fit in the small trash bag, they shred or splinter.  White flakes break off and float to the ground.  On the other hand, the purple asters that sprouted in the area are woody.  Some of the thicker Symphyotrichum ascendens stems had a green band under the outer shell which, apparently, was transferring nutrients to and from the roots.

I divide my time outside into half-hour segments so I do not overuse my muscles.  After working on the Maxes, I spent another half hour cleaning needle grass near the Garage.  I found piles of stones from the driveway around the roots of each clump.  I was reminded again that many of the plants that dominate the prairie actually require glacial conditions.  We did not get the ice then, but stones sank when the area was flooded by blockages of the narrow passage of the Río Grande beneath White Rocks.  When I found one-seeded junipers on the prairie, they usually were associated with buried rocks.

I pulled the stones back in the driveway.  It may kill the grasses, but they are a nuisance in this location.  When they get tall, I have to weed eat them to keep the blades from scraping the bottom on the car.  That leads to tiny pieces getting imbedded under the gravel that capture moisture and encourage more tall plants to colonize the crown.

I realize that if the grass does die, the area will not be barren.  Nature will fill it with horseweed (Conyza candensis) and wild lettuce (Lactuca serriola).  People, who look on the grasslands as native, consider them alien weeds.  They are what can survive in the climate we now have.

I finished updating the plant records for 2021, but have not started updating the location records.

Weekly update: The rice mystery has taken a new twist.  I found an unhusked rice or wheat kernel in my lentils.  I already knew this particular bag contained more skins than most.  It reminded me of 2016 when lentils disappeared completely from the shelves.  Then, when they reappeared, the packages were filled with debris from the bottoms of storage silos. [1]

A couple months ago it seemed history was repeating itself.  When I went to the grocery, there were no house-brand lentils.  Some from a company with a Spanish name were in their place.  In the previous shortage, the local grocer had found ways to get produce from México.  Goya claims the lentils are grown in this country.

Back then I could not find an explanation for the shortage.  This time I was luckier.  Montana produces 72% of the lentils grown in this country, and North Dakota 15%.  In 2021, the USDA reported “more than 70 percent of the crop was rated poor or very poor and less than half the crop was harvested in early August” of 2021.  The cause was drought mentioned in the post for 20 February 2022. [2]

Canada produces more lentils than this country, with most grown in Saskatchewan, Alberta, and Manitoba.  The USDA expected production to drop there too because of “unfavorably dry weather.” [3]

As for rice, I am not a complete, passive fool.  I bought a different brand when I was in the store this week.  It was another with a Spanish name, but grown in this country.  The most obvious difference was there no broken pieces or dust in the new bag.  The bits are not harmful, just a sign of poor quality-control in the processing of the house brand.

Lentils and rice are not part of the diets of most Americans.  Major food processors do not bother with them.  I have even been in big stores that do not carry them.  Very often, only house brands are available, or, if a store has a specialized clientele, imports from other countries.  Things are no better in Santa Fé with its New Age population.  It is ironic that brands who cater to supposedly poor Hispanics take more care than those distributed by middle-class, independent grocers.

Notes on photographs:
1.  Fern bush (Chamaebatiaria millefolium), 5 March 2022.

2.  Stones at the bases of needle grasses (Stipa comata), 4 March 2022.

3.  One seeded juniper (Juniperus monosperma) growing on a hillside to the northeast of my house, 10 November 2011.

End notes:
1.  The previous post on lentils appeared on the older blog, NatureAbhorsAGarden, on 18 December 2018.

2.  Reed Blauer.  “Lentil Export Opportunities on the Rebound.”  United States Department of Agriculture, Foreign Agricultural Service, International Agricultural Trade report for September 2021.

3.  Blauer.