U.S. Farmers Want to Grow World’s Costliest Spice

U.S. Farmers Want to Grow World’s Costliest Spice

"As spring crocus blooms approach, some growers have visions of a fall-flowering crocus that produces saffron, the world's most valuable spice.

University of Vermont researchers have been raising the exotic spice now grown primarily in Iran and are encouraging growers to tap into what they hope will be a cash crop.

It's not a hard sell, particularly in the short growing season of the Northeast. A crop harvested in the late fall, when other crops have died off, that tolerates extreme climates and yields an average of $19 per gram."

March 20, 2017 9 AM Update

Definitely sunny but cold this morning, although at the nine o’clock hour we are up to a degree below freezing. 47 degrees and clouding up later. Not terrible weather for the first day of spring.

The sun will set at 7:08 pm with dusk around 7:36 pm, which is one minute and 10 seconds later than yesterday. Today will have 12 hours and 12 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 56 seconds over yesterday.

When I went shopping this weekend, I bought a variety of fresh fruit and different types of waffle mixes to compare. The whole grain waffles with fresh blueberries and strawberries were really good. Fresh fruit has become affordable now that spring has reached the southern states. Really not much more of a pain then frozen fruit to rinse and slice them and the package is recyclable and lightweight. Summer will be here before you know it and I’ll be able to get the same stuff in paper bags locally grown at the farmers market.

Traffic is moving well on Delaware Ave finally thanks to the snow emergency and ample snow removal. Nice smooth commute for the local and traffic is moving well. Delmar bus stop was shoveled out. There was a lot of melting this past weekend, which helped the clean up a lot. Still some pretty big snow banks around – those banks along Knox Cave Road in Knox are enormous.

I have a bunch of photos and videos to post from Sunday’s Pine Bush ski trip which ended up at Thacher Park. Great skiing for sure. Came back through the Switzkill Valley, heading out to my parents house after the hike. I will post this video later on today. I put together a short little shell script that makes it a lot easier to extract and join clips together from the dash camera – and remove the audio from the clip. This helps me avoid YouTube copyright strikes and clips of Mr singing along with the radio or cussing out traffic.

I figured out how I’m going to run a new power wire from the inside of the cab of my truck cap.Β There is a large plastic grommet under the seat that I should be able to drill through and run as big of a wire I need through it. Β I figured out how to pull the plastic piece off the ledge under the door, and lift the carpet to get to it. Finally got warm enough to look. I don’t currently have an electric drill in my toolbox, and while I could probably borrow one from my dad, I think it’s a good investment to get my own. Its good to keep adding a few tools over time to my toolbox. I’m just waiting for it to get warm enough on the weekend to make it possible to work outside to do the wiring.

Tonight will be mostly cloudy, with a low of 30 degrees at 12am. Three degrees above normal. Northwest wind around 5 mph becoming calm in the evening. In 2016, it got down to 32 degrees with periods of snow. The record low of -1 occurred back in 1956.

Looking ahead, there are 4 weeks until Patriots Day when the sun will be setting at 7:40 pm with dusk at 8:10 pm. On that day in 2016, we had mostly sunny skies and temperatures between 76 and 36 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 59 degrees. We hit a record high of 91 back in 2002.

March 20, 2017 Morning

Good morning! Calendar spring is here. But it still March and cold in Delmar. Clear and 21 degrees. Calm wind.

Today will be sunny but will have increasing clouds, with a high of 45 degrees at 3pm. One degree below normal. Northwest wind 3 to 8 mph. A year ago, we had partly cloudy skies and a high of 41 degrees. The record high of 78 was set in 2012. 7 inches of snow fell back in 1944.