May 18, 2012

Mad Dogs and Englishmen

Mad Dogs and Englishmen
(by Noel Coward)

In tropical climes there are certain times of day when all the citizens retire to tear their clothes off and perspire. It's one of the rules that the greatest fools obey, because the sun is much too sultry and one must avoid its ultry-violet ray. The natives grieve when the white men leave their huts, because they're obviously, definitely nuts!

Mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun. The Japanese don´t care to, the Chinese wouldn´t dare to, Hindus and Argentines sleep firmly from twelve to one, but Englishmen detest-a siesta. In the Philippines they have lovely screens to protect you from the glare. In the Malay States, there are hats like plates which the Britishers won't wear. At twelve noon the natives swoon and no further work is done, but mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun.

It's such a surprise for the Eastern eyes to see, that though the English are effete, they're quite impervious to heat. When the white man rides every native hides in glee, because the simple creatures hope he will impale his solar topee on a tree. It seems such a shame when the English claim the earth,they give rise to such hilarity and mirth. Ha ha ha ha hoo hoo hoo hoo hee hee hee hee ...

Mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun. The toughest Burmese bandit can never understand it. In Rangoon the heat of noon is just what the natives shun, they put their Scotch or Rye down, and lie down. In a jungle town where the sun beats down to the rage of man and beast, the English garb of the English sahib merely gets a bit more creased. In Bangkok at twelve o'clock they foam at the mouth and run, but mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun.

Mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun. The smallest Malay rabbit deplores this foolish habit. In Hong Kong they strike a gong and fire off a noonday gun, to reprimand each inmate who's in late. In the mangrove swamps where the python romps there is peace from twelve till two. Even caribous lie around and snooze, for there's nothing else to do. In Bengal to move at all is seldom ever done, but mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun.



[If one wanted a quick three-minute snapshot of what our British Colonial forebears were like, the famous song 'Mad Dogs and Englishmen' probably does it best. It is a tongue-in-cheek lampoon of the British colonial mentality, written in 1932 by perhaps Britain's finest wit, composer and theatrical bon-vivant, Noel Coward. This light-hearted dig at colonial society is not surprising coming from Coward, who's work frequently parodies and ridicules the social snobbery and hedonism of British colonials.]

Heirloom Veggie Garden list

Well ... it's been a while and I've decided to give the page a bit of an overhaul. Hopefully a lot more posts, shorter ones, and loads more photos as the summer gets into gear. We finally have some good weather again in Ontario and it looks like the cold nights are passing. Good news for the seedlings!!

Next weekend is the traditional "planting" weekend, when warmer weather veggies get planted out into the garden - like tomatoes, peppers, squash, beans, etc.

I'm really getting into the heirloom vegetables this year, and not only with tomatoes. There are so many arguments for growing your own veggies (organic, cheaper, more convenient), but even more for growing heirlooms (save your own seed, sustainable, better flavour). I've been reading about the GMO controversies and I'd much rather grow my own vegetables if possible, from heirloom organic seed, than risk growing out a genetically modified hybrid seed (or eating a genetically modified hybrid vegetable from the supermarket) that may or may not have harmful side-effects. There will still be items to purchase from those supermarkets, especially in the winter, and other veggies that aren't practical for me to grow, but I think I'll try to do what I can to try to grow many of our summer veggies. It gives me peace of mind, at any rate!

I am also looking forward to canning/home preserving this fall ... salsas, tomato sauce, pickles, pickled vegetables, jams, bbq sauces, and lots of other ideas.

That being said, the veggies I am planning to grow this summer are:

Carrots - Nantes Coreless and Imperator
National Pickling Cucumber
(Slicing Cucumber - not sure which one yet)
Onions - Red Zeppelin, Spanish Sweet
Lettuce - Grand Rapids, Green Oakleaf
Rapini
Chives

Squash:
Winter: My Nonno's heirloom from Italy, Burgess Buttercup
Summer: Golden Marbre, English Golden Custard

Beans:
Bush: Ireland Creek Annie,Tigers Eye,Thibodeau du Comte Beauce
Pole: Bosnian, Hidasta Shield, Aunt Jeans, Amish Gnuttle, Cherokee Trail of Tears,Turkey Craw, Bridgewater, Northeaster

Peppers:
Sweet: Chervena Chuska, Giant Aconcagua, Carmagnola Rossa, Corbaci

Chili: Black Hungarian, Black Czechoslovakian,Cascabel

Tomatoes: (this year I am growing lots of greens, purples and bicolour/striped tomatoes to determine our favourite varieties of these colours -- trying to narrow down the list!!)
Paste: Smoky Mountain, Opalka
Green: Cherokee Green, Absinthe, Green Zebra, Green Pineapple, Moldovan Green, Malkhitovaya Shkatulka
Purple: Pruden's Purple, Cherokee Purple, Purple Calabash, Eva Purple Ball, Aunt Ginny's Purple
BiColour/Striped: Ananas Noir, Striped German, Pineapple, Northern Lights, Hillbilly, Orange Russian 117, Berkeley Tie Dye Pink, Berkeley Tie Dye, Oaxacan Jewel, Black and Brown Boar
Cherry Tomato: Isis Candy

* also Sweet Basil, Italian Flat Leaf Parsley, Dill, Cilantro, Thai Basil (perhaps, or another variety), Summer Savory, several types of Mint, Thyme, Lemon Thyme. Possibly Oregano and Rosemary. Raspberries. Grapes - both white and red.

* next year, I will be looking to add some heirloom Slicing Cucumbers, a couple more varieties of thyme (orange balsam, rose petal, etc), heirloom onions from seed, different colours of tomatoes, and other ideas that I'm sure I haven't thought of yet!!

And all this in what is not THAT large a space ... Yikes!