Today's Adventures
May. 28th, 2025 09:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ysabetwordsmithToday we went up to Champaign-Urbana.
I wanted to look for pond plants. We started at Country Arbors. They had a few pond and wetland plants -- including tiny pitcher plants! -- but not the oxygenating plants I needed.
Next we went to Prairie Gardens. Same situation there: pond plants, but no oxygenating plants. This is nuts because ALL ponds need oxygenating plants to soak up nutrients, discourage algae, and make it so aquatic life can breathe. If your pond is big enough, then you may also want the other categories of water lilies and emergent plants. Then bog plants go in areas that stay moist but not actually underwater. Frustrating. >_<
I may try again at pet stores since the weather is warm enough that tropical plants might survive outdoors. On the bright side, the mosquito larvae have all died off. \o/
However, I did find some other things. They had gladioli bulbs on sale. Sadly there were no mixed colors left, but I got a bag of red and a bag of yellowish-green, which I have since planted in the septic garden. I also picked up a few things I had not found elsewhere: 2 golden lemon thyme, a silver thyme, a lime thyme, a red broadleaf portulaca, and a purple torenia.
The coolest find was a suncatcher whose prism is about the side of a goose egg, although flattened rather than round. It's hanging on a chain inside a couple of brass hoops. I have rarely seen a prism that big and never in person. I think my biggest is about golf ball size, and those are usually $20 alone. The bigger prisms typically run $30-60 alone. I got this suncatcher for just under $20 so that was a major bargain. :D
We stopped at Art Mart to check out their pastries. This late in they day, they didn't have much left. We wound up splitting a raspberry cream cheese brownie, which was tasty but not as good as the previous one.
Finally we checked Harvest Market for grain bowls. They had a good selection, so we can shop there as needed if the local supply continues to dry up. I also stumbled across the Kind Bar brownie version that I like, which is difficult to find, and got a box of those.
We also finished reading Nutritious Delicious: Turbocharge Your Favorite Recipes with 50 Everyday Superfoods by America's Test Kitchen. The front has a guide to the 50 superfoods. We marked a lot of recipes. If you like hippie food, you'll probably find things to enjoy here. It's also good for vegan, vegetarian, flexitarian, climatarian, etc. diners because animal products are occasional rather than ubiquitous ingredients. The main drawback is that if you hate some of the ingredients -- like avocado and brussels sprouts for us -- that can knock out a bunch of recipes.
It has been a good day, even if I didn't find the main thing I went looking for.
I wanted to look for pond plants. We started at Country Arbors. They had a few pond and wetland plants -- including tiny pitcher plants! -- but not the oxygenating plants I needed.
Next we went to Prairie Gardens. Same situation there: pond plants, but no oxygenating plants. This is nuts because ALL ponds need oxygenating plants to soak up nutrients, discourage algae, and make it so aquatic life can breathe. If your pond is big enough, then you may also want the other categories of water lilies and emergent plants. Then bog plants go in areas that stay moist but not actually underwater. Frustrating. >_<
I may try again at pet stores since the weather is warm enough that tropical plants might survive outdoors. On the bright side, the mosquito larvae have all died off. \o/
However, I did find some other things. They had gladioli bulbs on sale. Sadly there were no mixed colors left, but I got a bag of red and a bag of yellowish-green, which I have since planted in the septic garden. I also picked up a few things I had not found elsewhere: 2 golden lemon thyme, a silver thyme, a lime thyme, a red broadleaf portulaca, and a purple torenia.
The coolest find was a suncatcher whose prism is about the side of a goose egg, although flattened rather than round. It's hanging on a chain inside a couple of brass hoops. I have rarely seen a prism that big and never in person. I think my biggest is about golf ball size, and those are usually $20 alone. The bigger prisms typically run $30-60 alone. I got this suncatcher for just under $20 so that was a major bargain. :D
We stopped at Art Mart to check out their pastries. This late in they day, they didn't have much left. We wound up splitting a raspberry cream cheese brownie, which was tasty but not as good as the previous one.
Finally we checked Harvest Market for grain bowls. They had a good selection, so we can shop there as needed if the local supply continues to dry up. I also stumbled across the Kind Bar brownie version that I like, which is difficult to find, and got a box of those.
We also finished reading Nutritious Delicious: Turbocharge Your Favorite Recipes with 50 Everyday Superfoods by America's Test Kitchen. The front has a guide to the 50 superfoods. We marked a lot of recipes. If you like hippie food, you'll probably find things to enjoy here. It's also good for vegan, vegetarian, flexitarian, climatarian, etc. diners because animal products are occasional rather than ubiquitous ingredients. The main drawback is that if you hate some of the ingredients -- like avocado and brussels sprouts for us -- that can knock out a bunch of recipes.
It has been a good day, even if I didn't find the main thing I went looking for.
