This salt is purple. Why is the salt purple?
As I headed into an appointment on a recent frosty morning, the parking lot and sidewalks were bejeweled in a lovely lavender hue.
Beets. Beets make the salt purple.
Much like the kale that is supposed to be uber healthy but I still don’t particularly love, beets are not usually on my menu.
But under my feet, they apparently are a more effective and environmentally friendly tool for snow removal than traditional rock salt. Per the linked article, “molasses, beer waste, pickle brine and cheese brine” are all being used in various locations as well. No lie, in college my class studied the possibility of converting cheese whey into a usable alternative for road deicing. We didn’t have success in coming up with an economically viable process, but look at what the kids are doing now. Granted, our goal was more about – in one academic quarter – learning R&D, scale-up, and how to make an economic case for building a manufacturing plant. Once we had a lab bench size setup built, one of my group members returned after a weekend home in Amish country with five-gallon buckets of actual, genuine cheese whey.
He transported them in his pickup truck, not a horse and buggy. He himself was not Amish. Thanks for asking.
The bleak midwinter around here is typically, well, bleak. The last time I visited Estes Park, I had a conversation with a woman who had relocated there from Ohio. We talked about the beauty of Colorado winters – so much pine green and snowy white versus Midwest brown and gray.
Speaking of brown …
The preacher on Sunday used the phrase “God’s prerogative” and I’ve had this song stuck in my head ever since. Anyone else? Just me? K.
I keep finding color in unexpected places this week, though.
In disposing of some unused Christmas frosting, I found great green gobs of greasy grimy gopher guts.
What, you thought I’d go for the Rich Mullins lyric? Too easy. The Wikipedia page for Great Green Gobs is fairly amusing and worth a peek, by the way.
Pro tip: To avoid having to put the dining room Christmas décor away, flip placemats over to the no-Santas-visible side and add red glitter hearts to the centerpiece.
With this year’s milder than expected (so far) winter – hey, those wooly worms were super wooly – we keep seeing birds at the feeder. Even varieties that normally migrate further south.
One month into 2021 still looks a lot like 2020. I’m starting to notice more color, though, and noticing more color seems like a good plan.
