I think that I will need to up the ampage to keep students awake in their seats on a summery afternoon again.  Time to go through my YouTube backlist of great historical (and often musical) videos again to take a wake-up break mid-class.

Last week's video before class while I prepped the podium for the course on Midwestern history?  The anthem of the capital city of the Midwest: Sweet Home Chicago!  With the scene filmed in Milwaukee.

There should be more than one, given how incredibly fast they develop.  But if not, I will definitely try again next year if this plant makes it through the winter or with a new one.  A local friend planted his at the same time I did but in a huge pile of bedding straw and manure from his horses, and his plants are producing little artichokes like crazy, so clearly they thrive on a large amount of nutrients.  I'll be more energetic about that next year.

Other than tomatoes, which aren't even optional as far as I'm concerned, potatoes are by far the most satisfying thing I grow.  And they're so easy, it's a shame more people don't do it.  Producing utterly perfect and unblemished potatoes takes some care, but almost no matter what you do, you'll get terrific, if maybe not cosmetic, eating from them.

What kinds of potatoes are you growing?  This year I did Irish cobblers, which are absolutely divine, creamy and wonderful, plus a standard northern Russet (Kennebec) and German Butterball on impulse instead of my usual Yukon golds.

I do count on mine for storage potatoes over the winter, so I'm letting all but the cobblers keep going until the plants die back.  The Butterballs, interestingly, turn out to be later than the Yukon golds usually are, so not yet ready for harvesting.

Also, what kinds of tomatoes?  Since Monsanto bought out all the common hybrid varieties, including my beloved Celebrity tomatoes, I switched to heirlooms and was growing Brandywines.  But BWs are a pain in the neck in a lot of ways-- too huge, too quick to crack, and too often hard core bits growing well into the flesh.

This year I tried Ramapo, one of the older NJ Rutgers varieties that's only recently been rediscovered, and I'm totally sold on them.  They have every bit as much flavor as the BWs, but aren't so gigantic and are much less subject to cracking and other problems.  And the core stays where it belongs!   So I'm going to switch over next year to Ramapos for my fresh eating tomatoes.