Wednesday, February 4, 2026
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Lettuce Eat Local: E is for eggstra eggplants

By
tammiehoeme
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0

Amanda Miller
Columnist
Lettuce Eat Local

For some foods and food terms, etymology could not appear any simpler. Blueberries, for instance, are berries that are blue; watermelon is a melon that is 92% water. Sweet corn is corn that is sweeter than field corn (corn that is grown in big fields), and popcorn is different from both of those in that (guess what) it pops. 

Names could come from taste: honeydew melons are as sweet as honey mixed with morning dew, and butternut squash is deliciously buttery and nutty. Names could also come from appearance: cherry and grape tomatoes are as small as cherries and grapes; oranges are, you know, orange; dragonfruit can make you think of what a dragon might look like.

Speaking of squash, I’m guessing you can see the logic behind summer squash versus winter squash without me going into great detail, so names can also come from seasons. 

Some food names, however, sound simpler than they really are. Sweet potatoes are potatoes that are sweet…kind of. They seem like it and we call them that, but actually sweet potatoes are in the same family as morning glories and bindweed, whereas “real” potatoes are nightshades and therefore more closely related to peppers and tomatoes. While there are logical etymological explanations, surface reading won’t explain that coconuts don’t taste like nutty cocoa, and fortunately, strawberries are not berries that taste like straw. I live with a three-year-old boy so I should also point out that a pea doesn’t taste like its homophone. 

Eggplant is one of those that terms that does actually make sense, except maybe not immediately. What on earth does that elongated purple fruit have do to with eggs? They don’t taste like them or look like them; hens don’t lay them. The problem is not with our language nor with the vegetable itself, but rather with the cultivar that we are familiar with. If you’ve never seen one before, go google images of “white eggplants that look like eggs” — the reason for the name is suddenly and strikingly obvious.

I like to think how oddly surprising it would be to walk out to the garden, peer under a few leaves, and see this egg hanging there! It’s like a fairy tale…which, incidentally, there is type of eggplant called fairy tale, although they are just enchantingly small and not eggy. Eggplants have been around for so many centuries that they long predate fairy tales, being mentioned in Ayurvedic texts sometime in the years BC. Because of their natural bitterness, they were often cultivated for medicinal purposes, and their Arabic name is thought to mean “demon’s eggs” in light of their potent flavor.  

Nowadays, these egg plants are not as common, due in part to the little white varietals not shipping as well as the modern market desires. The potential of being surprised by eggplants remains, however, as I was pleasantly shocked by discovering several big purple orbs hanging on my plants — I’ve picked six beautiful eggplants so far, the best harvest I’ve had yet. 

I thought perhaps I had discovered a new varietal of eggplant the other day as I walked around the corner of the house. But wait, no, thanks to a wayward hen, that was just an egg sitting on some plants. 

 

Tahini-dressed Eggplant Salad

This isn’t your typical salad, but I assume you weren’t eggspecting that anyway. I usually reserve my eggplant for baba ghanoush, a Mediterranean roasted eggplant dip (that also features tahini, yes I have a problem), or ratatouille, but I actually have enough eggstra to be able to eggsperiment a little. I’ve found microwaving the eggplant a bit can help it not soak up so much oil when cooking. This dish can be served warm or chilled, so it’s nice both fresh and to pull out another day once its soaked up the dressing. 

Prep tips: I served it with some freshly pickled jalapeño slices, but sriracha would be a nice spicy hit as well. 

1-2 medium globe eggplants [about 1 ½ pounds], sliced into quarter-moons

salt

¾ cup water

¼ cup tahini

1 tablespoon molasses

1-2 tablespoons soy sauce

2 tablespoons rice vinegar

olive oil

Toss eggplant with a good sprinkle of salt in a colander; let set while you make the dressing. Blend the water, tahini, molasses, soy sauce, and vinegar; set aside. Transfer the eggplant to a microwaveable bowl, and microwave for 2 minutes. Heat the oil in a heavy skillet over medium-high heat, and put in a single layer of eggplant (in batches if needed), searing until golden. Toss with the dressing and enjoy. 

 

As ‘Grain Belt Express’ moves nearer to construction, fights move to center stage

By
Guest Columnist
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0

A series of long-simmering fights over a proposed 800-mile-long, 5,000-megawatt energy transmission line designed to bring power from the wind-rich central plains to energy consumers in the east is moving into the spotlight this summer, as an Illinois court challenged a key part of the project and reversed its regulatory approvals on Aug. 8.

The Grain Belt Express is a proposed energy transmission line that would originate in Kansas just south of Dodge City and traverse four states.  The project’s champions compare it to rural electrification in the 1930s, and they say it’s crucial for future energy needs. It’s been in development since 2010. Its current iteration goes back to Nov. 12, 2018, when Invenergy—the world’s leading privately-held developer and operator of sustainable energy solutions—acquired the assets and rights to the project from Clean Line Energy Partners.

Kansas is America’s No. 1 wind energy state. Invenergy quotes Gov. Laura Kelly as saying, “The Grain Belt Express will be instrumental in helping to power Kansas and other states and will have a significant economic impact here at home. My administration is committed to supporting investments that will continue to boost Kansas’ production and export of wind and other renewable energy.” But other Kansas politicians have taken up the cause of defending property owners against the project’s progress.

If all goes as planned for the company, construction could start in early 2025 and be completed in 2028. An October 2023 study by the U.S. Department of Energy found that the Midwest will need to double its energy transmission line capacity to keep up with energy needs.

Ever since it took over the project, Invenergy has been quietly amassing required permits and approvals from more than 20 state and federal agencies. In June 2023, the Kansas Corporation Commission approved a request from Invenergy to allow the transmission line to be built in two phases. The commission had already approved the siting permit for the transmission line in July 2013.

The federal government has made significant efforts to shorten the approval process and compress project timelines. In 2022, the Department of Energy established a Grid Deployment Office to help develop new high-capacity transmission lines and upgrade old ones. The Grain Belt Express project has earned FAST-41 designation, a program designed under the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act of 2015 to put permitting of large, complex projects under one roof and subject to one centralized timeline.

But it still faces opposition in several states. U.S. senators in Kansas and Missouri back reluctant property owners who don’t want to sell, and an Illinois appeals court reversed state regulators’ approval of a permit for the Illinois portion of the Grain Belt Express, setting up a possible fight at the state’s Supreme Court.

Benefits claimed

On its project website, Invenergy claims the line is expected to provide energy equal to roughly four new nuclear power plants. It will power 3.2 million homes and businesses, create 22,300 direct jobs and provide $11.3 billion in electricity cost savings along its route over a 15- year period. The current route map has the line originating south of Dodge City, Kansas, heading northeast before turning east to cross the states of Missouri and Illinois, terminating in Indiana.

Invenergy originally pitched the project as providing $7 billion in energy savings to consumers in Missouri and Kansas. Its corridor, designated as the Midwest-Plains Potential National Interest Electric Corridor, is part of 3,500 miles of designated NIETCs.

Eminent domain

Invenergy estimates it needs about 1,700 parcels of land in total to secure its route. It must either come to agreement with property owners or use its power of eminent domain if agreement can’t be reached. Either way, property owners get compensated, but the eminent domain process can be long and contentious.

The company got its initial approval from the Missouri Public Service Commission in 2019 by insisting it would always prefer negotiated agreements and use eminent domain only as a last resort. In 2021, Invenergy took its first resistant Missouri landowner, Bradley Horn, a Gower, Missouri, farmer.

Invenergy claims voluntary easement agreements are complete for “a substantial percentage” of the Phase 1 approved high-voltage direct current route. In October 2023, Invenergy said it had acquired 95% of the easements it needs in both states. But the company must still deal with concern along its proposed route among remaining rural landowners who have not yet agreed to sell their property. They are backed by politicians, including Hawley, who has vowed he will do everything in his power to stop the project.

According to the Missouri Independent, Invenergy offers landowners 110% of fair market value, plus extra payments for each transmission tower, with tower payments adjusted upward to account for changes in the farmland’s assessed value. Transmission towers have a 40-by-40-foot base and are between 130 and 160 feet tall.

Political opposition

Hawley has been a consistent critic and opponent of the Grain Belt Express, blasting it as an “unconstitutional land grab.”  Republican legislators in Missouri tried for years to pass a bill that would strip Invenergy of its eminent domain power, which would have killed the project.

Hawley claimed that Missouri customers were originally to get no energy at all from the line. A compromise bill signed in 2022 by Missouri Gov. Mike Parson set a seven-year window for payments and required farmers to be paid more for the compensation—a bill that Hawley now claims is upended by federal eminent domain rights.

To get the Missouri Public Service Commission’s final approval, the Grain Belt Express—originally envisioned as a 4,000-megawatt line that would drop off a small portion of its power in Missouri—was reconfigured to make it a 5,000-megawatt line and drop half of its power in the state. It got final approval in October 2023. The project added the Grain Belt Express Tiger Connector, a 36-mile-long transmission line that will connect existing power infrastructure located in Callaway County, Missouri, to the Grain Belt Express transmission line in northern Missouri.

On June 24, Hawley complained in a letter to Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm that the department has still not provided enough information for citizens to be properly informed for comment periods.

“In 2022, Missouri passed legislation requiring a proportional amount of energy be dropped in the state (by any transmission line) and that adequate compensation be granted for eminent domain. Now, a NIETC designation opens the door for the federal government to exercise federal eminent domain for new transmission lines in Missouri without consent of landowners in its path. With the stroke of the pen, your department has jeopardized all of the progress made by farmers in my state,” Hawley’s letter said.

Judging Travel Sometimes Burdensome

By
Frank Buchman
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0

“Adjudicating is not a scientific profession.”
Many fairs are completed, and major horse competitions are scheduled, so most people have had some contact with show officials.
To clarify, Mr. Webster defines adjudicating as “judging,” although it is not a common term.
Every horse show has a judge who in their personal opinion ranks entries from top to bottom.
Those placing high think the judge is perfect while others ranking lower question the official’s decision.
It is essential to always remember the decision is entirely one opinion based on training, experience, and preference. What one official selects is usually unlike that of another and the reason for different shows and judges.
Judging diverse divisions in high school, college, and professionally, horses have been evaluated in 20 states and 56 Kansas counties.
To be qualified, judges are required to go through stringent four-day national training and testing every three years.
Now retired, there were judging cards in Pinto, Ponies of the Americas (P0A), International Buckskin, American Buckskin, Miniature, and local associations.
Show managers from Washington state to Florida to New Mexico to South Carolina contact judges for their competitions. Fees, travel arrangements, and expenses are agreed upon by signed contract.
While judging horses and meeting exhibitors is a wonderful experience, it is not always a perfect scenario.
Driving to neighboring states usually works satisfactory when the show manager has accommodations arranged.
A problem often arises when airplane flight and rental car schedules are made personally. One’s own car must be parked at the airport to leave in ample time the day before a show.
It is fine when a show manager meets the arriving flight and handles transportation to the motel and show grounds.
However, renting a car, locating the overnight facilities, and getting to the arena early on show day are often difficult.
Hardest part though is when the return flight leaves the airport at 3 o’clock in the morning. Rental car must be fueled and the city airport parking lot located in night darkness.
Clock is checked constantly because the airplane is not going to wait for a lost Kansas cowboy. After passing security, it is a relief to be headed home. Adjudicating horses is often easier than getting there and back.
Reminded of Exodus 23:20: “I’m sending my Angel to guard you in your travels.”
+++ALLELUIA+++
XVIII–37–9-9-2024

A Rare Package

By
John Marshall
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0
john marshal

In 2007 the U.S. Postal Service began issuing “forever” stamps at 41 cents each, stamps that were good “forever” with no additional postage. They were on sheets of 20 and frequently carried a theme, offering lessons or messages with illustrations and designs by gifted artists.

Among other favorites: The Harry Potter collection (2013, 46 cents) with photos of cast and characters; the story of Owney the Postal Dog; the greats of major league baseball; muscle cars; Transcontinental Railroad locomotives; American wildflowers. And striking illustrations for “Made in America: Building a Nation”. I’ve recently worked through “Garden Delights” with photos of hummingbirds at work. “Protect Sea Turtles,” and “Manatee” are recent enchanting issues. It seems painful to slap one on an envelope headed for a credit card billing dungeon.

A few people have griped about the cost, up from 68 cents to73 cents in July and since 2007, a 78 percent increase.

But everything is up since 2007. That $10,000 pickup in 2007 is now $45,000 at least. Groceries, housing, clothing, utilities, cable and satellite TV, smart phones and more ‒ up. And the cost of insurance (vehicles, homeowner and rental, health and life) is through the stratosphere.

A postage stamp is art with a flourish, guaranteed transport for your missive, and for a lot less than a buck.

*

Living color and art can be found at the Lindsborg Post Office, a comfort zone that tends to soothe, give pause to consider the finer things around. Start with the raised flower bed, radiant aside the front steps, and above the doorway a clerestory, flowers painted along the frame and panes.

Inside, magnificence in a small space: Old wood preserved; heavy, high writing tables; the etched and frosted glass of doors that say “Janitor’s Closet”, and “Postmaster”. On the west wall over the postmaster’s door, the striking Sandzén mural, Kansas Stream. Past the framed teller windows, a small alcove is lined with brass drawers, raised numbers and keyholes at the ready. It all speaks of times ago when things were sturdy and complete and unalloyed.

The building has been open at 2nd and Lincoln since 1936. A brass plate near the door announces its place on the National Register of Historic Places. A stone inlay on the planter tells us the officials responsible in 1935: Henry Morgenthau, Secretary of the Treasury; James A. Farley, Postmaster General; Louis A. Simon, supervising architect; Neal A. Melick, supervising engineer.

Our post office is a den of courtesy, assistance, humor, concern, advice and who knows what else. People behind the counter and who carry the mail make all the difference.

*

The Postal Service is a footing of this nation. America discarded the shards of confederacy as the Pony Express grew and evolved into a large and vital service. It remains fundamental to the energy and vitality of America.

E-mail and United Parcel Service have cut into Post Office business, although UPS now depends heavily on postal deliveries, and the Internet is a sluiceway for the nation’s junk mail, rumor mills and digital trash.

Everyone needs the Post Office. Without it the country well might

have remained a scattering of territories, and not a United States. We like to kid about the cost of posting a letter, or chuckle at the bewildering routes of a parcel from there to here. But overall the postal record speaks of efficiency, courtesy, unfailing service ‒ and beauty. That’s an impressive package for any business.

Cruise yields more than memories

By
Milo Yield
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0
Thayne Cozart
Milo Yield

I haven’t talked about Nevah’s and her best friend’s 8-day river cruise that started in Nashville, Tenn., on the Cumberland River and ended in Memphis on the Mississippi River.

She returned home with a lot of good memories. Attending the Grand Ol’ Opry and overnighting at the expansive Opry Land Hotel got her trip started. They also had a bus tour of famous places in Nashville.

First interesting stop along the way included navigating the locks going downriver at the Land Between the Lakes. Then they overnighted in Clarksville, Tenn., where they took in Clarksville’s Musical History, Ft. Defiance Civil War Park, a lunch program provided by Johnny Cash’s grandson and other kin, and touring Old Glory Distilling.

Next stop wuz in Dover, Tenn. Highlights there included touring Fort Donelson and a 1850s Farm & Living History Museum. On their float downriver, they enjoyed a presentation on the Roots and Branches of Bluegrass Music.

Next port for two days wuz Paducah, Ky. There they leisurely took in a local tour of the National Quilt Museum, the arts district, the Lloyd Tilghman House, the Paducah Railroad Museum and the Inland Waterways Museum.

Memphis wuz their final stop. Naturally, they took in the day-tour of Elvis Presley’s Graceland and topped the evening off watching the Beale Street Blues All-Stars.

Nevah said every evening on ship they had music entertainment of country western, bluegrass or blues. Naturally, they ate and drank well and floated by a lot of pretty big river countryside. There were 180 folks on the cruise.

That pretty well sums up the highlights of her trip. But, now I’ve got to mention that she brought back more than good memories from her trip. Unfortunately for both of us, she also brought back the ever-lurking Covid. She came down with it the day she arrived home. Five days later, the disease nailed me. Fortunately, both our cases were pretty mild as far as Covid goes. Just lots of coughing, sniffling, and lack of energy for about four days.

***

And, that’s not all the health news about me. My dermatologist, ol’ Dr. Slysin Dysim, had a field day carving on me. He took a pre-cancerous hunk out of my right calf muscle, sliced a biopsy chunk off my left ear, and shaved another little chunk off a suspicious mole on my back.

When I wuz reclined on the operating table, Doc had to cauterize the wound before he started sewing me up. It smelled like cooking steak, so I told him that I liked my steak’s medium-rare. He got a chuckle out of that comment. Happily, I’m on the mend from the whole ordeal.

***

I had an interesting thing happen in my garage a couple of days ago. The garage doors were up. When I went into the garage, I saw a young ruby-throated hummingbird had flown into the garage and its bird-brain went on vacation. That silly little bird just kept trying to fly upward and didn’t have the knowledge to understand if it just dropped down 18-inches, it would see the doors were open.

I watched it until it got so tired it rested on the door hardware. Finally, I left it alone and it eventually found its way outdoors. At least, I haven’t found a hummingbird carcass in the garage.

***

Two days ago, Nevah and I got stir-crazy in the house and took a little outdoors excursion to Alcove Springs, about 40 miles away close to Blue Rapids, Kan. We’d never been there but knew there wuz a lot of history at the location.

The limestone spring and waterfall on a 200-acre preserve wuz a popular stopping point on the pioneer Oregon Trail. When the Blue River wuz flooding, Alcove Springs wuz the handiest spot for the pioneers to wait until they could cross. It’s just a few miles west of Marysville.

The historical sign at Alcove Springs said it hosted such luminaries as John C. Fremont of California fame, Marcus and Eliza Whitman who settled in Walla Walla, Washington, and the ill-fated Donner Party, which, as it turned out, would have been smart to have stayed in Kansas.

It wuz easy for me to envision little pioneer kids playing in the spring and waterfall. As, I’m sure, little Native American kids did for centuries before the pioneers.

Sadly, the spring wuz barely trickling on our visit. I suspect that all the invasive cedar trees, hedge trees and brush upstream of the waterfall is sapping the spring water unless it’s the rainy season. We’re glad we made the trip. Another local travel item off our bucket list.

***

My garden is tapering off. Tomatoes and okra are still so plentiful that we’re sharing with friends and family. I’m still shelling dry beans as they mature. The fall radishes are still producing.

Nevah and I swapped some of our tomatoes with friends for some of their excellent homegrown apples. Nevah made us a yummy apple pie from that trade.

My fall planting of tomatoes and sweet corn is growing fast and furious. It will be a race against the frost to see if either produces this fall.

***

My words of wisdom for this week come from a wall-hanging in our guest bathroom, about 10 steps from where I sit in my office. Nevah hung it supposedly for everyone, but I think the “Rules of the Bathroom” had me in mind. The Rules of the Bathroom are: “If you lift it up, put it down. If you miss, clean it up. If it runs out, replace it. If you’re finished, flush it. It it smells, spray it.”

Have a good ‘un.

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