Furniture, lovage, and beans

I did not, alas, do any gardening today. I cleaned house instead, which was good because it had been a while. I even went around applying English Oil on most of the furniture. Any idea how often one is supposed to do that? We used to have a cleaning service who applied it every time they were here (every 2 weeks), though in a rather haphazard manner, and only to the top surfaces. I have a feeling I ought to know more about what kind of finish each piece of furniture has in order to take correct care of it. I know you're not supposed to use oil on wax finishes, but I doubt anything we have does (though I don't know how I would tell). Such mysteries. If only I left everything covered in books and papers, I could avoid this question altogether!

I made a wonderful salad for dinner, based on a recipe from Deborah Madison's Local Flavors cookbook. It was grated carrots tossed with chopped mint, parsley, and lovage, lightly dressed with walnut oil and white balsamic vinegar. The mint and lovage combination was superb. If you don't have lovage (it's an easy perennial to grow, hardy even in Minnesota), you could probably substitute celery leaves, but lovage has a more complex flavor. It's awfully strong by itself, but in this salad was fantastic. I think this will be my new potluck dish for a while.

My bean seeds that I planted Friday have come up already -- Blue Lake (my fave), Kwintus, Neckargold, Supermarconi, Marvel of Venice, and Big Mama. The fairytale Jack in the Beanstalk has so much more resonance once you've watched some beans grow. They're big, they're fast, and they're heading towards the sky.