Subject: Re: planting in philadelphia

From: Libby Goldstein <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 10 Mar 1995 11:30:43 -0800 (PST)

You can probably plant dormant perennials like the hosta and
clematis (which really likes sun if it is to bloom) in April, but
wait til the end of April or the beginning of May for the
impatiens. If you're feeling impatient, get some pansies for early
color...probably available later this month or maybe at the flower
show. They don't mind the cold at all and don't need a lot of sun
either.

Libby in Philadelphia too

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From: [email-masked] (Stavros Macrakis)
Date: 14 Mar 1995 17:19:08 GMT

[email-masked] (Christine Owens) writes:

   >These snails are edible, but they are NOT the snails used in escargot!
   >Besides which, preparing snails for eating is a LOT of work....

In article <[email-masked]> [email-masked] (Alice Ramirez) writes:

   ...I also recall reading... that somebody in N. Cal was collecting
   these then marketing them as escargot.

   You are right about it being a lot of work to prepare them for the
   table.  I recall that it involves putting them into corn meal for
   several days, to flush out all the poisons....

Many varieties of snails are good to eat.  The most common one is Helix
pomatia, which lives on grape vines (among other things).  It is no
accident that snails are popular in wine-producing areas like France and
Italy!

There is a book you might want to consult (I haven't seen it, but found it
in a library catalogue): Escargots from your garden to your table, by
Francois Picart.  Published by F. Picart Snails, Santa Rosa, CA.

It is absolutely not true that preparing snails for eating is a lot of
work.  You just collect them, wash them, and throw them in a barrel with
some cornmeal.  A week later, they're ready to cook.  They have the handy
habit of sealing themselves up and going dormant for long times, so you can
keep them without spoilage for months.  After you cook them, you can serve
them in the shell.  There are various tricks for getting the meat out; the
one my father learned as a child in Crete was to crack open the small end
like a soft-boiled egg and twist the meat out with a toothpick or fork
tine.  More elegant service involves removing the meat in the kitchen, and
putting it back in before serving it.  That indeed requires more work, but
is completely unnecessary -- it is just a little luxury.

I'm not sure what COwens means by "they are NOT the snails used in
escargot".  "Escargot" is simply the French word for "snail".  As I said
above, several varieties of snail are used for snail dishes in France,
although the "petit gris" is probably the most popular.  No doubt there are
other edible snails (or "escargots" if you prefer) that would work just
fine in snail cookery.

Or perhaps the word "escargot" is now being used as a marketing term for
"snail", the way squid is called "calamari" on many menus?  Or is it being
abused like "scampi", to mean a kind of preparation?  "Scampi" are a kind
of shellfish found in the Adriatic, something like crayfish; in the US, it
is often misused to mean "shrimp with garlic and oil"; you see such
solecisms as "shimp scampi".  You might as well talk about "mushrooms
champignons" or "peas petit pois" or ... "snails escargots".

	-s

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From: [email-masked] (Christine Owens)
Date: 15 Mar 1995 12:19:43 GMT

In <[email-masked]> [email-masked] (Alice Ramirez) writes: 

>>These snails are edible, but they are NOT the snails used
>>in escargot!  Besides which, preparing snails for eating is a 
>>LOT of work.  Why don't you obtain a couple of nice garden 
>>toads to eat the snails, or pay the local kids to collect them
>>for you -- the going rate locally is a nickle a dozen for slugs.
>
>>Chris Owens
>
>If we are talking about the kind fo revolting garden snails found all
>over California, I think you might be wrong.  I remember reading in
>more than one source, that the reason these monsters are here at all
>is that some damned frenchman, yearning for his beloved escargot,
>imported some snails from france to San Jose.  Some of these then
>escaped and within 2 years had made it to Los Angeles.
>
>I also recall reading, in some very early Harrowsmith (back before the
>mag. changed its name) that somebody in N. Cal was collecting these
>then marketing them as escargot.  
>
>several days, to flush out all the poisons.
>
>Personally, I like Chris's suggestions of using toads or hiring kids.
>After years of California gardening, the very thought of escargot
>turns my stomach.  Yukko!
>

Unfortunately, California already had it's very own snail population,
with which the french snails have cheerfully interbred.

I LOVE escargot -- an excuse to eat garlic butter and revenge in
one shot.

If you decide to eat the snails anyway, you need to collect them
and keep them in a barrel for at least six weeks, with no food
source.  Rinse out the barrel every day or so.  This empties
the digestive tract.  TOTAL PAIN, I buy my escargot snails
at the fish market.

Chris Owens

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From: [email-masked] (Sylvia Fuller)
Date: 15 Mar 1995 16:44:26 GMT

In article <[email-masked]>
[email-masked] (Christine Owens) writes:

> >Greetings,  I recently bought a house that has a *huge* rock in the back yard.  The previous owner had a deck built around the thing and it's really quite 
> nice.  The rock itself is approx. 18 ft long and 5 ft. wide by 3 ft. tall.  This winter it accumulated green moss.  I tried swabbing it with a toilet bowl scrub
> >brush and dishwasher soap but it didn't all come off.  What's best for this?

Well, as a rock climber, I've had occasion to scrub lichen off large
quantities of granite in Nova Scotia-kinda hate doing it but climbing
hard routes on lichen covered rock is just about impossible.  Anyway,
the standard rock climber method is scrubbing with wire brushes, hard
work, but effective.  Personally, I wouldn't dump any chemicals on the
rock, I don't think it's necessary.  The wire brushes don't scratch the
granite, maybe this would be a problem on really soft rocks, but I
doubt it.  Also, it is easiest to clean when the lichen is wet,
although it's a messy job.  Personally, if you're not planning to climb
the rock I'd leave the moss (or lichen, whichever it is) on, I rather
like the appearance of mossy rocks (just hate climbing on them).

Sylvia Fuller