New and Old #109

Friday roundup and commentary

Recovering the Lost Art of Mixed-Use Development, Strong Towns, Edward Erfurt, December 2, 2022

Prior to the adoption of modern zoning regulations, a mix of uses was the standard in development. For thousands of years, mixed-use development was the default and common practice in cities and towns. We can see this within ancient archeological sites and we can experience this in our historic downtowns. Putting businesses and homes closer together made for greater efficiency in people’s daily lives, and it provided stability within a local economy. It was once expected that you would be able to work, live, and meet routine needs, within relative proximity.

But today, zoning assumes “that an office will forever be an office and a retail store will forever be a retail store. The result is single-use development without the ability to adapt over time.”

Erfurt describes this old pattern as an “art.” It’s not a top-down plan; it’s something that is first permitted, and then happens largely on its own. It is important to understand that this is not an approach to building cities; it is building cities. When we build today, we are mostly doing something different.

What Makes King Salmon Flesh Red or White?, Alaska Fish & Wildlife News, Terry Thompson, September 2015

At a fancy Japanese restaurant recently, my wife and I had white king salmon. King is the finest of the Alaskan wild salmons, and typically it looks like regular salmon: pinkish or orange-ish. But this one was a pale, slightly translucent white, looking more like haddock or snapper, say, than salmon. I thought it also tasted meatier and milder, somewhere between salmon and tuna.

I had to look up what, exactly, it was. I assumed—since salmon get their trademark color from their diet of tiny shrimp and crustaceans—that these salmons were from a particular area where their diet differed.

But that’s not it. They have the same diet! It’s genetic:

White-fleshed king salmon don’t have the genetic ability to break down their food and store the red-orange carotene in their muscle cells. The marbled flesh color sometimes found in king salmon comes from their limited ability to metabolize carotene, causing the flesh to take on a marbled look. Often, this marbled flesh is more reddish towards the spine and whiter near the belly.

The trait that keeps these fish from taking on the red pigment is passed on or inherited from the adult spawners to their offspring. The ability to metabolize carotenoids is a dominate trait; therefore the majority of king salmon have red flesh.

Maybe next time I have expensive sushi I’ll learn something else!

Are all Dixie Highway small towns in Indiana alike?, Down the Road, Jim Grey, June 21, 2012

I’m sure I’ll rankle the preservationists in my audience when I say that buildings like these were sort of the strip malls of their day – utilitarian facilities for a town’s commerce. To mollify the preservationists, I’ll say that these buildings were designed to last where strip malls aren’t, and are ripe for adaptive reuse in ways strip malls never will be.

It is kind of funny to see these photos of town after town that look almost the same. The two- and three-story downtown buildings of the 19th century were very much “the same,” but it was a useful, adaptable sameness, and one we still find pleasing today. Unfortunately, many of these towns are shells of their former selves. But the shells are still there, waiting for new life.

From the comments, I also found this neat project documenting Indiana’s courthouse and town squares.

And there’s also this interesting comment: “I’m not sure what came before these brick buildings. Obviously, we lack reconstruction this far north [another commenter noted many Southern towns were destroyed in the Civil War] so I don’t have a preconceived notion of ‘what came before’ in these towns.”

That raises a point I’ve made a lot: that when we see a village or town or small city, we’re really seeing an urban settlement at a particular level or stage of development. So to see what came “before” in a small town, you can probably find a tiny village, perhaps with old wooden buildings. That’s how many of these towns will have started.

Catkins, can we eat them?, Wild Harvests, T. Abe Lloyd, February 16, 2012

Upon learning that the spindly, pollen-y strings covering our yard were flowers from our oak tree, called “catkins,” I did some reading about them. They’re apparently good for homemade mulch. And, apparently, they are edible.

I read this with fascination, having just recently done a couple of foraging/identification nature walks. This blogger tried preparing catkins from a number of different trees. This is just one:

Our final taste test was of Red Alder. Catkins are 1 ½-3 inches long, hard, dark green to reddish, and arising in terminal clusters of 2-5. The raw catkins had an acrid, fir needle taste with an astringent after taste. They exploded in the boiling water releasing their pollen and a mildly sweet aroma akin to sap and boiled nettles. The cooked catkins were very resinous and had a milder flavor than the raw catkins.

At this juncture, I would have to agree with Tilford in categorizing catkins as survival food. However, I can hardly expect that my first experiment with a little known food would yield incredible results. I will continue to taste these catkins throughout their development and in the years to come, and perhaps time and experience will unlock the grouse’s secret to making the most of catkins.

I always wonder if there are edible hidden gems out there, or if there are good reasons so little of this stuff is regularly foraged and eaten. I think there probably are, but I’m willing to be convinced otherwise!

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Related Reading:

New and Old #61

New and Old #62

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