I was just in my kitchen making a fresh container of tea. It’s becoming my summer favorite cold tea. As a hot tea, I wasn’t very fond of it, ok, the truth is I didn’t like it at all. But the other day I forgot that I didn’t like it and made a cup and took it out onto the porch. Then after I sipped it, I remembered I didn’t like it and set it down while I read my book. That’s when it happened. The tea cooled. I took a sip before I was going to pour it into the plants and it was delicious.

Had a magical house elf switched the tea? What was this magical elixir? It was the same tea but in a different circumstance. Now I have a gallon container of it in the refrigerator and will soon need to get another box of it. What I did was go out of my comfort zone. I tried something and it didn’t work for me but then I tried it again in a different way and what do you know? It was perfect.

The residents, taxpayers, and leaders need to try that approach. Try new things and if they don’t meet the current needs, try again in a slightly different way. If doing the same things, the same way and not getting a different result is not working; how about trying something new or looking at the desired result first and then working to develop a new way to reach the desired goal?

Norwich, CT has a broad and diverse culture and there have been many celebrations held throughout the years. But thanks to Covid we need to work a little harder, together, to expand and share our cultures. Our leaders need help. The leaders we elect. The leaders we hire and the leaders who volunteer.

Let’s ask our local newspaper to create a local recipe column. The kind where members of the community send in their recipes, with help from the English as a Second Language classes and the citizenship classes. How many different ways are there to make chicken soup? What’s for breakfast? If entire shelves of bookcases can be written on these topics how about a local column?

Is it possible for there to be articles for example on the ways the same or similar crafts are done in different countries and cultures? It could be woodworking, embroidery, tea making. All the same yet very different. We might have learning exchanges and experiences and that is almost as good as a jumpy house and much less expensive.

Some of the banks have been stepping up and supporting future commercial accounts with business and bookkeeping classes. Maybe its time for the newspapers to start educating their readers and potential advertisers and contributors about the ever-changing role of newspapers, their adverts, and legalities. How do you get an article published in the paper? What are the secrets and perhaps a few tips?

We as residents need to know what is happening in our area and its time for the various medias to tell us and to teach us what they need from us to give us what we need for a successful community.

WICH/WCTY radio stations have call in shows but what if they were asked to have volunteers from the citizenship class talk about why they want to become United States citizens.

The time is now for the residents and taxpayers of Norwich, CT to take back the control of our city. Now is not the time to quit committees. Now is not the time to protest, destroy and make demands. Now is the time to settle down and get to work sharing our individual visions to create an honest shared vision as we proudly step forward into the future of our community, our city, our state and our nation.

Thank you for reading and sharing my history and Norwich Community blog freely with your family or friends or anyone you think might be interested or in a position to take on some of the suggested projects. Don’t hesitate to contact me for further information. I am happy to pass along anything I can. Together we can make a difference. Email comments on this blog to berylfishbone@yahoo.com View my past columns at http://www.norwichbulletin.com/section/blogs .

I do not bake. Ever. I blame it on my old gas oven not maintaining temperature. The fact that my previous attempts (once upon a time I tried) have all been undercooked, over-baked, burnt, lop-sided, or just plain odd have nothing at all to do with me and my skills as a baker. The fault is with my oven. I just wanted that to be clear.

Anyway, when I saw this fund-raiser I thought it to be ingenious and fresh. The results on their website looked amazing. This was their invitation, “Readers, authors and friends of Historians Cooking the Past: Participate in a virtual bake-a-thon in honor of Juneteenth and Canada’s Indigenous People’s Day. Efforts and donations will be in solidarity with #bakersagainstracism. Anyone can join in the fun for a good cause!”

Join us as we engage with our memories and make some new ones during this tumultuous moment! Get grounded, coat your anxiety in sugar, throw some dough around. Re-enact all of those community kitchen, fish fry, bake-sale moments that have brought us together traditionally to nourish and support each other!

The college made it a facebook event and then asked the participants to make a short video sharing by posting the moment on social media with appropriate tags.

I had never heard of Ragebaking before but apparently there are rules that have been posted and been making the rounds since July 11, 2016.

• You can bake alone or with folks, but whatever you make must be shared, preferably with strangers. Pass it out. Mail it. Throw a party.  Take it to the nearest shelter. Set up a #ragebaking stand. However, you do it, spread the love and make sure folks know what’s in it so you don’t kill anyone with food allergies.
• Challenge yourself. Make something you’ve never made before. Perfect your old game.
  Always wanted to try to make a four layer cake or reverse engineer your grandmother’s biscuit recipe?  Wanna take your pie game to the next level? Do it!
• Embrace the fail and celebrate it. Take just as many pictures when you screw up as when you don’t. Remember that Martha Stewart has an entire company of folks helping her achieve that perfection.  There is a journey to greatness that you often don’t see.  Embracing the fail is embracing that journey and the beauty of putting it out there.  When you do that, you’ll find other folks are on it too.  You are never alone in the fail.
• If you’re ragebaking with folks, everyone must bring something to contribute.
  Whether it be the recipe, baking pans,ingredients, music to ragebake to, hands to cleanup or love. Remember that not all contributions are the kind bought with money. Work together and work it out.  Take turns. It’s all hands in and hearts on.
• Ragebake with purpose. Bake with intention.
  Whether it’s to chase the blues, have real talk and support folk, raise money for a cause or to have fun, think about what you’re doing. Set the theme and the tone and go in.
• Be thoughtful, considerate and kind
  If you don’t know how to do that, let the ragebake be your guide. It goes without saying that ragebaking is open to all- no racism,homophobia, transphobia,sizism, sexism or general hateful ridiculousness.   Don’t ruin what should be a good time for everyone.
• Show us how you ragebake.
  Follow us on Instagram and Twitter and use the hashtag #ragebaking when you post pictures or video of what you made,the folks you made it with or the reason why you made it.  Show us how you do it.

Obviously this is not to be done in July and August but these are the things that take time to plan. Fall, winter, holidays and more are coming. The what to bake, the category, the ingredients, finding that perfect recipe. What came to your mind? Do you have an old Norwich, CT area cookbook? Church? Chamber? Radio Station? Historical Society? Take a peek thru and see if anything looks interesting? Fun? Absurd to even attempt? (Hint: Those are the best!) This is a time for ethnicity to shine! What recipes do you have from the “old country?” Start your planning now.

Thank you for reading and sharing my history and Norwich Community blog freely with your family or friends or anyone you think might be interested or in a position to take on some of the suggested projects. Don’t hesitate to contact me for further information. I am happy to pass along anything I can. Together we can make a difference. Email comments on this blog to berylfishbone@yahoo.com View my past columns at http://www.norwichbulletin.com/section/blogs .

You are absolutely correct. It is absolutely none of my business. But I am going to toss my two cents in anyway. I have heard a rumor that Diversity Day in Norwich is canceled. I have heard a rumor that all of the Ethnic Festivals in downtown are canceled. I have not heard so much as a whispered peep of any events taking their place.

Do our social leaders really think that the only way to teach and acknowledge diversity is thru Americanized restaurant food, alcohol, and jumpy houses? Without those, there can be no festivals? Let me help with a few ideas for community diversity education. No worries I have more if needed.

A Sunday, Bring your own picnic, with different ethnic bands playing each week. Local restaurants or organizations could even sell bagged lunches as profit makers while people picnic on the grass while keeping social distance.

Use on-line cooking classes to introduce new flavors, herbs, and textures. Sell kits of measured ingredients with purchase instructions for an on-line in home cooking class.

Create child and adult story times with your local cable station. Have people read aloud stories from different countries. Try and have a bit of a creative show and tell as well. Maybe five, well spaced children listening to the story.

The adult story time can range from the casual stories, fairy tales, legends, to exciting chapter books or biographies of people from different countries.

How about a fashion show featuring the clothing and costumes of different lands? Imagine the impact of costumed males and females waving to traffic as they pass by. Consider sewing or assembly lessons with limited class sizes.

Gardens can be a very personal thing and with a little planning and advance promotion gardeners could grow the herbs and plants of a particular area. Some might be difficult and some not possible but you won’t know if you don’t try.

Sub-titled movies from different countries could be shown on a screen at Dodd Stadium. People could sit in their cars and laugh or cry with stars they are not familiar with.

Social distancing does not mean we have to stop enjoying life, being with each other, laughing with each other. We just need to find different ways to do it. It’s important that we continue to live our lives!

Thank you for reading and sharing my history and Norwich Community blog freely with your family or friends or anyone you think might be interested or in a position to take on some of the suggested projects. Don’t hesitate to contact me for further information. I am happy to pass along anything I can. Together we can make a difference. Email comments on this blog to berylfishbone@yahoo.com View my past columns at http://www.norwichbulletin.com/section/blogs .

This gardening season I am watering liberally with Epsom salt. It’s one of those old wives tales that I heard somewhere, at some unknown time. This year it surfaced in my brain and I decided to try it. I am just putting a teaspoon in the large watering can and watering the plants. This is just like planting the banana. A partial, faded memory with no clear direction if I am doing it right or wrong.

So far the results have been mixed. Some of the plants have perked up considerably. Of course it could just be that I am watering them. But the roses, and peonies seem happy, and filled with blooms. The upside down hanging tomato is way bigger and bushier than the ground tomato. This is the largest and most solid crop of milkweed I have ever had. The spearmint is growing taller and sturdier than is reasonable. The porch ferns are a little over four feet tall now so I am expecting that they will top my five foot height soon. The rhubarb seems to appreciate it and has had a recent growth spurt. My other herbs don’t seem to care and are just being normal.

From the internet, I finally looked it up. I learned that using Epsom salts in gardens is not new and farmers learned long ago that magnesium sulfate fed plants become greener. The magnesium helps plants to absorb nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus. Which in turn helps in the creation of chlorophyll, vital for photosynthesis and leads to the plant having more healthy blooms and fruit.

So magnesium is one of the nutrients plants need to grow but, it’s a minor nutrient which means plants don’t need very much of it. The sulfate consists of sulfur and oxygen but it is also only a minor nutrient for plants.

According to what I read, we should all have our soil tested in the spring so we will know what needs to be replenished for better gardens. Farmers rotate their crops but home gardeners have a strong tendency to plant once and then leave it alone until the plant makes its unhappiness known by not blooming or growing.

Fortunately, for me, Epsom salt cannot be over done and its safe for almost all plants. I have been adding a teaspoonful to the water every other day or so. Now I learn I’m only supposed to be adding it to the water once or twice a month at the most. Oops!

I also learned that my beans, kale and lettuce are perfectly happy and prefer soil with low levels of magnesium. That could explain a lot! Roses, tomatoes and peppers love magnesium. This could be a good thing but perhaps its time to put the bottle of Epsom salts back in the cabinet.

These are the directions on how to use Epsom salt in your garden correctly from the web site https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/garden-how-to/soil-fertilizers/epsom-salt-gardening.htm

When diluted with water, Epsom salt is easily taken up by plants, especially when applied as a foliar spray. Most plants can be misted with a solution of 2 tablespoons (30 mL) of Epsom salt per gallon of water once a month. For more frequent watering, every other week, cut this back to 1 tablespoon (15 mL). With roses, you can apply a foliar spray of 1 tablespoon per gallon of water for each foot of the shrub’s height. Apply in spring as leaves appear and then again after flowering. For tomatoes and peppers, apply 1 tablespoon of Epsom salt granules around each transplant or spray (1 tbsp. or 30 mL per gallon) during transplanting and again following the first bloom and fruit set.

Happy gardening!

Thank you for reading and sharing my history and Norwich Community blog freely with your family or friends or anyone you think might be interested or in a position to take on some of the suggested projects. Don’t hesitate to contact me for further information. I am happy to pass along anything I can. Together we can make a difference. Email comments on this blog to berylfishbone@yahoo.com View my past columns at http://www.norwichbulletin.com/section/blogs .

Americans are always angry. Anger can be a good thing. If used well anger can be a very helpful motivator. So what precisely are you angry about? How can we go about changing what is making you so angry?

I say we because I am always willing to encourage and help change. Change is always growth. Sometimes growth is good, healthy and helpful. Sometimes growth is annoying, confusing, and frankly, not at all helpful or a good thing while in the process of being changed. Often, the changes we think we need are not the changes we need and so we need to go backward in the process to go forward and try again. And sadly, there are all too often the occasions where some very good things are lost or cut so there can be future improvements.

What are the improvements you would like to see? Realistic improvements please. I have met few people who would not like world peace, an end to poverty, clean water and access for all, abundant medical care, and free basic education for everyone. Now, let’s get real about the changes we can make by our own actions and influence. If we each do just a little bit, and our little bits join together, and more of the bigger bits and little bits become attached to one another to become a chunk, and more little bits and bigger bits, and small chunks attach themselves the chunk becomes a bigger chunk pretty soon you have a change that can proudly be lived with.

For example – If you are concerned the police are acting inappropriately in your town or area, ask for more training. Become active in setting up and endorsing getting acquainted situations. Encourage situations that allow participants to be seen as individuals and not mobs. Recognize that we are all human beings that regardless of exercises and training, we all react to situations instinctively. It’s not often that fear causes someone to relax.

If you are concerned about health care. Be the person who helps set up the blood drives. Be the person who raises the funds for free medical care, PAP smears, mammograms, Emergency Services, dental clinics, eye clinics and hospital beds. Encourage farm stands, community gardens, and healthy free and discounted meals.

If you are concerned about education read with students. Almost everyone loves to read to young children but consider forming a book club with older students using books and magazines that can help them learn skills, and be looked to as sources of information. Magazines such as car, truck, boat, motors, science, the list is endless. Find a way to feed into the interests of the students. Tutor students if you are able. Support the tutoring of students if you are not. Help your teachers to be better teachers by supporting your students at home.

If you are concerned about your taxes. Become active in your community, city and town to find ways to reduce or hold the line on your taxes. Serve on the committees, and boards. Ask questions. Don’t give up. Join political parties that are seeking candidates for office. Encourage people to run for office, or run for office yourself. Don’t just accept broad promises, ask for specifics. Know what the job description is and that the promises being made can be done by the person in that position and always – VOTE! When it comes to taxes, Americans real voice is not yelling, writing Letters to the Editor or whining, its in elections and voting for the people who have the power to make the changes.

Don’t hesitate to vote for change. To vote for someone new. To vote for fresh eyes and new ideas. Politics was never meant to be a lifetime career. It’s your votes that allow it to be. Term limits means voting for someone not currently in office.

Be angry but put that anger to work. Become the changes you want to see. Create the changes you want to see. Work towards and help others toward the changes. Make the changes you want to see. We do not all need to agree on every single item but if we all work toward improvements together, we can have a better world.

Thank you for reading and sharing my history and Norwich Community blog freely with your family or friends or anyone you think might be interested or in a position to take on some of the suggested projects. Don’t hesitate to contact me for further information. I am happy to pass along anything I can. Together we can make a difference. Email comments on this blog to berylfishbone@yahoo.com View my past columns at http://www.norwichbulletin.com/section/blogs .

Canceling the large events is as if a giant re-set button has been triggered. Growing up in the 1960s I watched as events and family events grew and expanded until they were no longer local and family events but were boring commercial operations.

Lets celebrate the return of old fashioned fun begin with modern spins and imagination. Lets raise money not for giant conglomerates but for our cities, towns and the local people.

• Sell a box of ingredients or even just the recipe with a code for the demonstration on website or local cable station of how to make a particular dish in the private home
• Bring back the publication of the Local Cookbooks. The ones with names of fabulous and not so fabulous local cooks you recognize.
• Miss seeing the animals perform or in cages? Set up a parade or a circus in your neighborhood of stuffed animals, and pets. See what tricks your neighbors have taught their pets to do.
• Enjoy a neighborhood “Masked Event.”
• No movie theater in town. Show a movie on the outside wall of a building. What a tremendous opportunity to re-paint at least one side of the local firehouse! Or a school. Gee I wonder if one of the painting companies would be willing to show off why they should be hired to paint your house?
• Set aside a day or a weekend to take people out on small boat tours. Row boats, motor boats, rafts, gondolas, canoes, kayaks, the options are endless.
• Demonstrate safe camping procedures by having a safe camporee. Set up ten, safe, campfires for groups of 6-8 to roast marshmallows or hot dogs on provide a roving singing minstrel (ok someone in town must play a guitar, banjo or accordion). Two hours and then the next group.
• Beaches are a bit tricky and do require a budget. You’ll need the medium sized plastic pools filled with water for people to splash their feet or wade in. You’ll need some childrens sand tables with fresh sand to build sand castles in. I say tables as adults love to play in the sand but often don’t like the sitting on the ground part. Encourage a turtle or frog race and set up pools with fish in different places. This type of event is wonderful for local nurseries and landscapers to show off their creative side. Don’t hesitate to ask them. Create the place, or paradise you like to spend your vacation in at home. Work with your friends and neighbors to create yours and theirs happy places.

Make the memories you want your children and grandchildren to remember with smiles and pride.

Thank you for reading and sharing my history and Norwich Community blog freely with your family or friends or anyone you think might be interested or in a position to take on some of the suggested projects. Don’t hesitate to contact me for further information. I am happy to pass along anything I can. Together we can make a difference. Email comments on this blog to berylfishbone@yahoo.com View my past columns at http://www.norwichbulletin.com/section/blogs .