Jean in Trucksville, Pennsylvania, says her family hasn’t named a household appliance, exactly, although they did christen their compost bin Darth Vader. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “The Smell is Strong in This...
Jill in Shelton, Washington, says that when she lived in Southern California, she understood the word garbage to mean food scraps, with trash referring to everything else collected curbside. Historically, garbage has referred to the wet, disgusting...
The Mexican Spanish term tules means “bulrushes” or “marsh plants.” In parts of California and along the Pacific coast, toolies or tulies refers to a place that’s in a remote area, or in other words, out in the sticks...
Aaron, a law enforcement employee in the Midwest, asks about honey hole, used at work for a spot where parking citations are easy to write. The phrase honey hole has many recorded uses and meanings, including a hole in a tree or ground filled with...
compost tea n.— «Spraying compost tea coats plants with a dense and diverse population of beneficial bacteria, fungi, protozoa and nematodes. A good tea can contain as many as 25,000 species of bacteria. Once on the leaves, compost tea...
compost tea n.— «Applications of a manure or compost “tea” every week or so, once the stems have begun to bulb out, helps a lot. Put a couple of shovelfuls of manure or compost in a burlap bag and let is soak in several...

