The Culver Family Blog

Worcester Telegram:

http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/telegram/obituary.aspx?n=james-k-culver-bope&pid=144597224

James K. “Bope” Culver
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James K. “Bope” Culver, 86, passed away Saturday August 7, 2010 at home with caring loved ones at his side. Born in Syracuse, N.Y. on August 23, 1923, he was the son of Kenneth J. and Lucienne Culver.

Jim leaves his wife of 64 years, Kathleen A. (Sykes) Culver; sons, Kenneth and wife Judy, Raymond, and James B. and wife Alta all of Barre; daughters, Lynn and husband Peter Zukas of Sturbridge and Lana Culver of Seattle, Washington; grandchildren, James E. Culver, his loving caregiver for many years and wife Debra, Michael Culver and wife Jessica, Jeffery Zukas and Jessica Zukas. He was also the proud great grandfather, “Bope” To Cassidy, Zachary, Dylan, Cole and Jocelyn. James was predeceased by his sister Paulette.

Jim served in the US Army, 2nd Cavalry Troop C Reconnaissance Squadron. He was wounded September 30, 1944 at Bathelemont, France for which he received the Purple Heart on October 21, 1944.

Jim worked many years in the Barre Wool Combing Company, while dairy farming at home. He enjoyed hunting, gardening, military history, cutting cord wood and in his last years just being at home on the farm viewing his barn and garden. He was very appreciative of the care given to him over the last few years.

A Graveside service will be held on Saturday August 14, 2010 at 10:00 AM in Glen Valley Cemetery, Barre, MA with Military Honors. Donations may be made in his name to the American Cancer Society , 7 Oak St., Worcester, MA 01609.

I just recently got this recipe from one of my cookbooks and I wanted to share it because it makes the most delicious quick pickels that will stay good in the frige for weeks! They are crispy and good like a Clausen pickle! I have tried canning them and will report back later on how they turn out, but I make them in the jars even if I don’t can them because it is easiest.

4-6 pickling Cucumbers
1 cup white-wine vinegar
1/4 cup sugar (I only use 2 Tbsp. because I don’t like them as sweet)
3 Tbsp. coarse salt
1 tsp. dill seed (I also add fresh dill to the container and a few peppercorns)
2 crushed & peeled garlic cloves
2 cups water

Quarter cucumbers lengthwise, then place in a large bowl. In a medium saucepan, combine all the other ingredients. Bring to a boil, stirring until sugar and salt dissolve; pour mixture over cucumbers.

Use a small plate to submerge cucumbers in liquid. Refrigerate until cool, at least 2 hours. Pickles can be refrigerated in a airtight container up to 2 weeks.

Makes 1 quart.

Thanks all for being a part of the big day.  Your presence was appreciated and added to the pleasure had by all!!  If you all have photos, as I took very few, I’d love you to email them to me or post them in such a way that I can get them onto my computer….please remember I’m nominally computer literate.

Meet my two new babies, Flora & Fauna. Fauna I found at the Beverly Shelter in Waterloo and Flora I just picked up last night from Northern Vermont. Flora is a 1/2 Himalayan and 1/2 Bengal mix. They are both complete trouble and so far they keep hissing at each other. I’m hoping since they are so young though, they’ll get over it quick! They were playing together this AM, so hopefully they’ll be good sisters!

In other news, my wonderful father came out this weekend to help me plant my garden. We didn’t get the whole garden done, because I had him help me with a bunch of other projects around the property. The biggest project was installing an underground hose all the way to my garden. My garden is 200′ from my house, so trying to drag 200′ of hose in and out each time it needs water is almost impossible to do solo. So now, I have a buried hose that comes out right at the edge! I’m so very excited about this, it has already made life easier up there! I still have to plant the second half, but it’s 2/3 done. Then, onto my containers…. whew, too much to do, too little time!

Since Erin was big on planning, I thought I should too. Although my garden is a lot harder to plan!  But I did it!

Plans include: Zucchini, Summer Squash, Cucumbers, Red Onions, Parsley, Rosemary, Dill, Bush beans, Potatoes, spinach, sage, peppers, sugar snap peas, carrots, edamame, pole beans, strawberries, eggplants, basil, tomatoes, corn and pumpkins!

I’ve just started my pepper seeds and need to start the tomatoes soon.  I also started a garden journal this year!

garden_plan

The Culver family gets a C+ for popularity.

Ranking: ’Culver’ is the 1,915th most common last name.
Popularity: 48% of people have more common names. (Grade: C+)
Number: Around 17,231 Culvers live in the US.
Change: The Culvers fell 92 places over a recent 10-year period.
Competition: The Albrechts and Blums compete with the Culvers for #1,915.

I never would have thought our name was that common!

I was talking with my dad about gardening because I started reading the book: Small-Plot, High-Yield Gardening: How to Grow Like a Pro, Save Money, and Eat Well by Turning Your Back (or Front or Side) Yard into an Organic Produce Garden, and I read that members of the Allium family (onions, chives, garlic, leeks, shallots and scallions) can prevent many bug pests by planting them around the perimeter of your garden. I knew this about marigolds, but not these items. I told my dad and he said he knew there were a bunch of tricks, but he didn’t know that many. At the same time my sister sent me a link about broccoli that said Sage, thyme and rosemary all deter cabbage fly, which can harm broccoli plants. So I got thinking that maybe we could use a resource to find out some of these organic gardening tricks. Below is just one of the charts I found. I compiled a few charts into a .pdf document (CLICK HERE) that we can all print and use (a few more charts are included in there like what other veggies to grow together and NOT to grow together).

NATURAL HERB & PLANT PEST DETERRENTS – VEGETABLE COMPANION PLANTING CHART

From http://www.all-things-emergency-prepared.com/vegetable-companion-planting.html

Here’s hoping today and every day this year will be happy and exciting!

I’m back with more garden pictures! Plot 40 is the plot I chose for my spot in the Santa Barbara community garden. It was horribly overgrown with weeds, but three things sealed the deal for me:

1. Plot 40 is right in the middle of the garden, so no shade problems.
2. I saw lady bugs on some of the plants, which seemed like a good sign.
3. Despite the weeds, there were still some vegetables growing on the plot.

I spent some time yesterday afternoon pulling out the weeds and found cabbage, broccoli, strawberries, carrots and the remains of tomatoes, brussels sprouts and a pumpkin!

Here are my before and after pictures. Plot 40 is all mine. It’s 10 feet by 20 feet.

Before my afternoon of weed pulling

After (obviously, I still have a lot of work to do)

You can see the broccoli and cabbage in the picture. The strawberries and carrots I found were in the upper left corner of the plot – hidden in this picture.

Hi everyone! I’m about to secure a plot in one of Santa Barbara’s community gardens. I’m pretty excited about it, but I need some advice.

I’m looking for recommendations on what to grow. Santa Barbara has pretty good weather, so I can grow things year round.

I’ll start with things that I can grow in the winter: beets, snap peas, cabbage and maybe some kale. If you have specific types of these or any other vegetables I might be able to grow in the winter, please let me know.

I’m also interested to know what kind of corn and tomatoes you recommend. It can’t hurt to plan for spring and summer, right?

Happy 2010!

Here are some pictures I took at the garden this weekend (click the picture to see more):