Gardening, Home and Nature Thread, Aug. 23

Hi, everybody! CrotchetyOldJarhead is here to help us keep cool today. And we have some more interesting photos and information, too!

Good morning!
Here is a couple of photos of the lilys in the pond and a view from the cigar lounge under the fan.

I put some red rainbow minnows in there to knock down the algae and the dragonflies keep the skeeters under control.

These are the cannas out of sight on the left.

And the fig on the right.

And here’s the cigar lounge…

R/s
CrotchetyOldJarhead

How inviting! A beautiful pond and a wonderful cigar lounge!

Edible Gardening/Putting Things By

Dear KT,

It's great to see you back!

It's harvest time here in SE Wisconsin, as the photo shows. This year,
the garden has been very generous. Soon after this photo was taken, my
wife (the lovely and accomplished Annalucia) turned the eggplants into a
middle-eastern-style eggplant-and-lamb stew: Delicious, especially when
washed down with a tasty orvieto. I do love this time of year!

BTW, my nom-de-ace is "Nemo".

Regards ...

The veggies look wonderful and the stew sounds great!

Puttering

Spider sees itself in a mirror for the first time. 🕷️🪞😲pic.twitter.com/uTtvcHlzqh

— The Random Guy (@RandomTheGuy_) August 22, 2025

Science

Allergies seem nearly impossible to avoid - - unless you're Amish

Despite the increasing rate of allergic diseases, both in industrialized and in developing countries, the Amish remain exceptionally - and bafflingly - resistant. Only 7 percent of Amish children had a positive response to one or more common allergens in a skin prick test, compared with more than half of the general U.S. population. Even children from other traditional farming families, who still have lower rates of allergic disease than nonfarm children, are more allergic than the Amish.

In fact, one Amish community living in northern Indiana is considered one of the least allergic populations ever measured in the developed world.

But why?

The "hygiene hypothesis" - first proposed in a 1989 study by British immunologist David Strachan - suggests that early childhood exposure to microbes protects against allergic diseases by contributing to the development of a healthy immune system.

The study found that hay fever and eczema were less common among children born into larger families. Strachan wondered whether unhygienic contact with older siblings served as a protection against allergies.

Subsequent findings have given support to the hygiene hypothesis, such as that children who grow up with more household pets are less likely to develop asthma, hay fever or eczema. Perhaps even more beneficial than having older siblings or pets, however, is growing up on a farm. (More than 150 years ago, hay fever was known as an "aristocratic disease," almost wholly confined to the upper classes of society. Farmers appeared relatively immune.)

This "farm effect" has been confirmed by studies on agricultural populations around the world, including in the United States, Europe, Asia and South America.

You would think that farmers, with more exposure to hay, would have MORE hay fever. Huh.

“We don’t really talk about the hygiene hypothesis as much anymore because we now understand that it’s not really about how hygienic you’re living,” said Kirsi Järvinen-Seppo, director of the Center for Food Allergy at the University of Rochester Medical Center. “It’s more like a microbial hypothesis, since beneficial bacteria that colonize the gut and other mucosal surfaces play a significant role.”

During the first year or two of life, a baby’s immune system is rapidly developing and highly malleable by environmental stimuli, such as bacteria. Some experts believe that exposing young children to certain types of beneficial bacteria can engage and shape the growing immune system in a way that reduces the risk of allergic diseases later in life. Farm dust contains a hodgepodge of bacteria shed from livestock and animal feed that isn’t harmful enough to cause illness, but does effectively train the immune system to become less responsive to allergens later in life

Thinking about getting a cow now?

Got other allergy tips?

Gardens of The Horde

I think it's a red yucca plant in my garden but not sure

Maybe the Horde knows.

Regards from northern Israel,

Biden's Dog

Looks pink to me. Anyone know what it is?

Beautyberry by the woods this morning.

- fd

Lovely. Have you got anything growing in YOUR garden? Harvesting anything?

Hope everyone has a nice weekend.

If you would like to send photos, stories, links, etc. for the Saturday Gardening Thread, the address is:

ktinthegarden at g mail dot com

Remember to include the nic or name by which you wish to be known at AoSHQ, or let us know if you want to remain a lurker.

Week in Review

What has changed since last week's thread? Gardening, Home and Nature Thread, Aug. 16

Any thoughts or questions?

I closed the comments on this post so you wouldn't get banned for commenting on a week-old post, but don't try it anyway.