Thekla McDaniels wrote:
Anyone have any suggestions how to clear the lint from time to time? The best I can figure so far is when I take dry clothes off the line is to shake them, if possible producing a snap, as in shaking a rug…
And I am used to the needed shaking (before hanging and afterwards when it's dry) of every item. Yes, with a 'snap'.
that double snap there is the thing!
I try to wait to wash the dog beds/blankets/towels and my homeade swiffer type pads and cleaning rags, all of which are covered in dog hair thanks to my two hairy brats, until we have a windy day. This helps to get more hair off, but still, I'm shaking the heck out of everything. If it's a blanket, I'll go take a broom and whack it around a bit as it's still pinned up on the line (make sure your line is secure before you try this, or you may find yourself up on a ladder later trying to feed your line back through the pulley and cursing prolifically. Ask me how I know.)
Donna Lynn wrote:Hubby really wanted an air fryer/convection oven, even tho we have an old, small, but super dependable non-digital toaster oven.
This, after our toaster oven finally bit the dust, was what got me to get an air fryer oven. That, and the fact that cooking gas got really pricey. I now fire up my gas oven maybe only once a month, and I can make almost any small-batch thing in the air fryer oven. And we can make toast too. It takes a bit of a learning curve for baking (smaller batches, bundt pans, lots of cupcake/muffins, changes in time and temps) but I am so glad I bought it.
We had a drought for a bit there where we could also be fined for using tap water. Lots of people started doing a few basic things like just keeping a bucket in the shower to catch the water that doesn't get on your body, for example, and using that in the garden.
When I washed clothes I would let all the rinse water (no fabric softeners) go out into the garden, and when things were really bad I would also let the soapy water go out into the garden too.
I would save any and all kitchen water- from rinsing veg, pasta water, the rinse water from dishes (we use a basin when water is in short supply).
It was really just a question of catching all not-so-dirty water and then carrying lots of buckets.....
I am (and the plants seemed to be) okay with soap and shampoo on plants. We do not use anything antibacterial (lately lots of body/hand/dish soap is antibacterial). Our soap and detergent are just soap and just detergent, nothing else. Maybe some scent.
I'm not so sure about the vinegar: if really well diluted, I would think would be okay but I'm not so sure. Alcohol maybe would evaporate off if you let the bucket stand for a while? Not sure about that.
Cowpeas here are also exactly that sort of thing: "old time food" that was discarded as soon as possible. Now people are starting to look back at it as food prices are rising.... We eat them like we would other dry beans, but we also eat the unripe green beans, cooked together with rice, or as people might use (imported) frozen/canned green peas (people love to throw them in salads and such, I'm not a fan). Shelling the green peas is much harder, but they are worth the work and sell at better prices, at least here where there are people who grew up eating them who today live in the city and miss them.
still, fingers crossed for rain for you!
those are fabulous! I'd buy a load of them too, it would make my winter clothes drying a lot less miserable (it's not the yukon out here, but old hands with reynaud's disease are awfully grumpy even when it's only 45F out there)
here are my bratty boyz:
Nacho is 13.5, got him off the side of the highway many years ago, apparently a shepherd/pitt mix, the best dog I've ever had. I've seen him let babies crawl all over him without blinking an eye, just after he bit a creepo at my front gate who was busy boasting about how no dog would stop him from getting in. If you've got ice cream or a pack of chips, keep a close eye on it or he's likely to swipe it from you before you even know it's gone.
His motto is definitely "Are you lookin at me?"
The vet tells me he is about 4 years past his expiration date, and he takes some serious painkillers to be able to walk around with bad arthritis in his back end, but he's still a scrapper and would totally take on anybody, even with one hand tied behind his back....
Mookie is 15 months old and a total screaming meemie, his daddy was a police dog and his mother also a screaming meemie, I believe one day he will learn to do the right thing but right now it's teenage years and lots of barking, anxiety, and OMFG IS THERE A CAT IN THE STREET. He also would literally sell his soul for anything edible, and his definition of edible is a bit more encompassing than mine.
But he's a million percent better walking in the leash and trying to behave over the past few months. He's also absurdly loving and wants nothing more than to sit on my lap (and cover me with hair). He is also incapable of sleeping with his belly down, it has to be up in the air, and if his back legs can be propped up on a wall/corner/object, even better. When (if) he settles, he's going to be a really good boy, right now he's the terror of the neighborhood, which is an important part of why I have a dog like this, and just his arrival in the park makes a certain type of person grab their small packages and scram real fast.
Rufaro Makamure wrote:The maize has started tasseling and it's so short I am confused. I am stressed out because nothing seems to be working. It's now cold, I don't think it's raining soon. The mulched raised beds are changing, the plants in the beds are getting greener and for the gaps, we planted suckers they seem to be having some life but it's taking forever.
Rufaro, I follow your updates every time, and I'm sorry to hear about the challenges you face (but I always am glad to hear about the good things too).
The short maize tasseling early happened to me too last year, which for us was a dry spring. I harvested what I could and planted again, and it did better in the second round.
This year so far spring (I'm also in the southern hemisphere) has been strange, with extreme heat as well as cold, but we are getting lots of rain- a whole month in the space of 2 or 3 days, for example.
We are just trying to adapt what we grow to the changing conditions. This year they say with El Niño we will have a hot, wet summer where I am in southern Brazil, while other parts of the country will have drought. I planted crops that can tolerate extra water and skipped the things that will moulder with too much rain. I bet if you are in dry conditions, your cowpeas will flourish; the maize may be challenging. Mulch seems like a good solution. I wonder if you could trade for sorgum seeds, sorgum does well in drought, the grains are good for eating and you can sell the greens as forage, as animals love them. (can also make syrup from the stalks like sugarcane if you can process them).
I feel like what should be simple gardening and working has turned into a game of strategy now, as things are changing.
I hope you get some rain soon!
Judith Browning wrote:.... but maybe they can attack as a group?
If spiders can attack as a group, i'm not sure i will ever be able to sleep at night again...... I'll be up blinking and thinking of the possibilities..... the geckos in my house take care of individual spiders, but if a group of hooligans shows up i'm screwed!
i would think that the wee spiders might not have enough strength or big enough mouth parts to take down something so much larger than them/penetrate its carapace. i think til they get larger they're limited to what is a bit smaller and softer.
I've grown asparagus a few times from seed. it takes a long time to germinate (2-3 weeks). Don't give up!
The official suggestion is to plant it in spring, but i'm in 9b and grow year round, so I generally ignore these rules, your mileage may vary.
Hey Jason. Don't sweat your compost. Mother nature will do it, we just feed it and follow along.
Also don't worry about the leaves. There will be more!
A cubic yard, think about a pallet-- normally they're about a yard tall, so imagine a cube made of pallets, more or less. Most of the tumbler composters i've seen are a bit smaller. I don't have space for a full yard (or more) of compost in my small urban farm yard, but I still make rockin' compost. Don't sweat it too much, just maybe consider when you're gathering goodies to throw in your compost whether yard waste you're getting may have been sprayed with toxic gick or not, that can survive the composting process and damage the veg you grow next year, for example. Grass clippings or yard waste from other people can sometimes be hard to tell. Other than that, compost is pretty easy! Have fun with it!
i wonder if she's also encouraging them to start wandering off. You figure by now some of them might not have eaten anything yet, maybe that's why the numbers are down. If they want to eat, they need to start spreading out.
The stuff I read wasn't clear about exactly how cold-hardy they are, and I'm not sure if you're already getting ready for snow and wind (here we're just rolling into warm spring, last week it was above 90F...), but she may be on her last legs indeed.
Great work, mama spider!!
(I love this thread. I am another arachnophobe, with some exceptions, like daddy longlegs and other non-obvious spiders, as well as jumping spiders, which I really like and will happily carry around and talk to. But here I am looking at a spider that in the past has scared the potatoes out of my ears, and thinking sweet thoughts for her.)
i have mystery comfrey (sold as just "comfrey"). it has white flowers, and is preposterously prickly. the rabbits will eat it happily if it's wilted a bit (and the young male rabbit will eat it off the plant, as he seems to not really care about anything). i would not consider putting it in my mouth, honestly: just so prickly!!!
i might make a tea with it, but i make comfrey tea for fertilizer..... it doesn't smell bad per se (i think it's better than the stuff i used to drain from the bokashi barrel, for example) but i think i'd have a hard time drinking it because i've associated the smell of the fresh plant with the swamp water tea i make.
that tahini dressing you made goes well on top of hummus or any other type of bean or whatever, on top of some kind of bread.... i made ful (beans) last night and smeared on homemade pita bread with some chopped onions and tahini sauce that will be my fabulous lunch.
As for the tahini itself- i think the first choice of what I'd make is cold sesame noodles (often they involve a mix of tahini and peanut butter, since tahini is pricey), i make a semolina cake (basbousa) that comes out amazing if you grease the pan with tahini instead of oil/butter, and if you're really into doing weird things, you could always make gomadofu (sesame tofu, it's more like a jello than a tofu though) out of tahini, almost all the recipes on the internet use tahini rather than actual sesame seeds.
Vera Stewart wrote: I'm thinking of starting a project/thread/substack/journal or something called "Vera is Losing It!" where I can chatter more about trying to get body and mind in better shape. I've had the thought the world needs a "Healthy Living Tips for Writers and Other People Who Sit On Their Butts All Day and Don't Exercise because They Are Nerdy Writers" type of book or website or podcast or... something. I've had this thought lurking in the back of my mind for awhile.
I bet it would be appreciated: you definitely aren't the only one. I help run a yearly peer conference on mental/physical/spiritual/financial health for local translators and editors and it always sells out: when you work for yourself, by yourself, it can be easy to put these things on the back (or the way back) burner.
Laurel, what an amazing space you've made! Your landlady should see you as an asset, you really made a marvelous difference.
I wonder if you moving into the apartment that opens onto the backyard might be an option, if that is a concern with the landlady?
As for your partner. I agree with Douglas, these situations often progress in a very negative way. I see from your public profile you are located in California. This site has a map with resources available in different places there. https://www.cpedv.org/domestic-violence-organizations-california Many have crisis lines, and even if you are not in their direct area, and don't want to "do" anything, you can still call them and just talk. You are not alone in this, and talking to someone who really, truly understands what you're going through, and maybe can have some information/advice to offer can be helpful.
Big hug from far down south: I'm glad you're here!
We are planning our move to a farm once my daughter graduates college (soon! fingers crossed!) and I am going to trade in my car for a small 1000cc pickup truck ("K truck").... my retirement plan involves scrounging on a professional level!!! There are street fairs where we plan to go that, at the end of the day, the leftover broccoli leaves and broken melons and whatever else ends up just being left for anyone to take. The smart cookies have flocks of chickens who greatly appreciate this bounty....
(my husband may actually be a bit afraid!! then again, I got him scrounging around in the freebie box at our local lumberyard the other day, he got some nice pieces of good hardwood to put up sprinkler anchors for me in the garden.....)
i think hops sounds like a good idea; another one that might work for you is scarlet runner bean. It tolerates cold well, seems to not get the mildew that kills the other beans, pollinators love it, and it's pretty. It will die back in strong cold but in your climate might live a few years. I grow mine in part shade (needs must) and they take quite a bit to get started.
I like to eat the dry beans but am not a fan of the immature pods, prefer normal snap/string beans instead.
https://www.gardenersworld.com/plants/phaseolus-coccineus-scarlet-emperor/
supposedly the tea is good for blood pressure, but I haven't investigated that in more detail. i just think it tastes good (in the summer I drink all kinds of iced herb tea)
in case anyone is wondering, it came back to about 85%, about a month later. I won't be back to culinary tastings for wine or olive oil anytime soon, but at least I can tell which is which now.
I used my neti pot every day and made a point of spending some time each day with my spice drawer, my essential oil box, my perfumes just to try to get things going.
A few spots are still blank (apparently I can't smell the dog farts... which is kind of nice in a house with two big stinkbags), and a few times I've been upset that I can't taste fruit, only to find the fruit wasn't particularly flavorful (early peaches). Coffee still has no appeal to me, but I'm not a big coffee drinker anyway.
As expected, I lost some weight (no scale here, but all my pants are falling down), but there was some extra hanging around, so no big deal.
All in all: not fun, do not recommend.
Nikki Roche wrote:Has your soil changed in that time? What kind of crops are thriving now? Any other crops that used to do well but aren't now? What kind of climate were those seeds from, and are they the same variety that used to grow well for you?
Oh dear, there's a lot here. my soil is better (in the last 5 years, vast amounts of rabbit manure), but things are all over the place with weather/rain changes. Corn is doing well, and usually doesn't.
As for seeds: I import my seeds, so none of the fancies are from here. The stuff from here (my old standbys) isn't growing either though, I started them all together. boooooo.
I suppose part of it may be the rain- we had only 4 days without rain in October. The sun finally returned last week, so I'm hoping that after being stalled they can actually take off. I'm going to go make a new bokashi compost barrel today and will use the leftover rabbit poo to throw in the garden. Supposed to get a thunderstorm tonight that will wash it all in.
Watched pot indeed. I noticed that okra in the store yesterday was 10 bucks a kg though, which means the farmers aren't having much success either. (same with tomatoes. and the guy where i buy my plant starts told me yesterday they aren't even getting them in the store to sell, because the weather has been so crap nobody's even planting them. this is going to be a heck of a year for produce, apparently....)
Abraham, i think a web page and targeting english speakers are both a great idea.
You could make cards with a link (QR code?) to your page, where there could be pictures of some of your work once you get some clients, for example.
I work with folks in Spain and I know about the freelance thing, at least you have health insurance with it. You figure if you don't pay the freelance fee for this you may end up paying it for other kinds of employment, it's basically inevitable. if you have competitors charging very low, they may indeed be working illegally, and it might be worth your while to target clients who have to do everything legally/correctly (in my field, in my area, very few of my competitors are legally established, and i target multinational companies who can only hire subcontractors with all their documentation in order, for example).
I was just watching something about a guy in Japan basically doing just this. An extra service, if you have your own space, might be takeaway of waste/trimmings, and even making compost with them.
Edited to add:
I hear what you're saying about your concerns (no experience yet, not sure about your qualifications). Maybe make a list of what you think is most important that you can provide, and put it that way. Like instead of thinking you shouldn't say permaculture if you haven't done a course, say "no pesticide, no chemical, working-with-nature garden care", "experience with drought-suited plants", etc. It's like farmers here who can't afford the $$$$ organic certification, so they sell their produce as "no chemicals used". You do have expertise, and it has a value.
Okra gardeners, help me! When does okra start actually growing???
I often get good okra that goes up to frost, but it takes FOR BLOODY EVER to get started. Last year I planted okra 5 times and didn't get to eat a single one, but the weather was weird. This year we're supposed to have screaming heat though, so I started a large batch. They've been in the ground for about 8 weeks and not grown a single new leaf. It's been raining regularly and average temp has been pretty warm (25C and over), although there was some cold. Not a lot of sun yet, as we're just moving into spring here.
Bright side, they're not dead yet. I used the last of my fancy seeds (okinawan pinks, baby bubbas) and am wondering if i should just give up on them and plant new starts? heap up the rabbit crap and say encouraging words? take off my glasses and come back in a month? Or is okra just pokey? (poke-ra?)
I used to get wonderful okra here, and it ain't for lack of trying. Maybe I just forget how long it takes.
I know your criteria are different, but just putting it out here for posterity-- I was given one of these (I'm also a smash-with-the-knife kind of girl) at least 20 years ago, and it is the Motorola phone of garlic presses. I may have actually used it as a hammer, not even kidding. It is indestructible, and if you're a monster like me and insist on putting the garlic through the press unpeeled (after all, if I have to clean the sonofagun, why peel the garlic too??) this one can do that for you.
i learned to cook the root in Japan, there is the classic stir-fried with carrots/dashi/sugar (kinpira gobo) or on its own with red or black pepper, I'm actually going to cook up some for dinner today, in pressure in dashi, then smashed a bit with some ground sesame (tataki gobo)- it's probably the easiest way to cook it that I know, and its delectable.
I've had it pickled and fermented and frankly i think I'd rather just eat it cooked.
I also grow it and the rabbits love the leaves, if you want to get rid of your population of it it seems like letting animals graze (or chopping it and giving it to grazers) will work pretty well. I know here people make tea with the leaves but I'm not sure exactly why, i think some of the links mentioned earlier have more about that.
From what I've read they are ready to go, with venom, but just small. So they'll need smaller (and more tender) things to eat. There are so many things like mites that we barely even see. As for the spitting, I'd guess they probably can, but again are so small that we'd probably never notice at this size.
i just saw the bat signal, i mean the spider signal!!!
so, i found something online that made me go gulp--- the mother will probably not live much longer, sad to say.
i don't think she's feeding the babies. the resident biologist here says the babies can hunt already, they just need to start branching out (and you may not be seeing them do it, since they seem to be pretty smart). the babies will survive the winter by seeking shelter and slowing their metabolism (just like the mother did in the past) but after laying eggs the mother usually dies. So she is feeding, and they are watching, but she's not feeding them, she's showing how to hunt.
we don't have a similar spider here, and we don't get very cold, so the biologist isn't clear on exact details about when they will start moving out, but I saw studies online talking about them hunting during the winter in places like wisconsin, the rocky mountains, and pacific NW, so they are apparently cold hardy and ready to rock.
Christopher, I think there are so many variations (climate, feed type, rabbit type/size) that maybe aside from saying you need a flake of hay and cup of pellets per day per rabbit I don't think I've seen anything helpful.
Personally we feed a huge variety of stuff depending on what's available. I have 1 mulberry tree per rabbit, but they only eat that rarely, when there's nothing else. I adapt my number of rabbits to suit my stream of edibles (not the other way around), since waste processing/fertilizer production is their main purpose for me.
I think the best option for you will be to keep records on your rabbits as to how much they eat and what you can grow for them.
Hi Curt,
might be helpful to know how often this water is there, how much/how deep, how long it stands before it drains off normally, what kind of soil you have.
was there any sort of drainage put down under that driveway area/how deep does the gravel go? and how much of that gravel area do you need to keep clear (for parking, etc)?
also nice yard, you've got some good looking things in pots!
since I seem to be among scissor people I think I'll share a few more!!!
I have new fabric shears, but these are apparently from some distant tailor relatives that nobody in the family really remembers, and I break them out every so often when I'm working on a project. Both American made, Wiss and Robeson, and both sharp as the dickens still despite needing some serious cleaning.
The poor pinkers, on the other hand, are duller than the proverbial leather sickle and almost impossible to use with the arthritis in my hands, but I keep them because they make me smile. One one trip between NY and Japan I brought my Gram's sewing kit (in my checked baggage, of course) and an X-ray screener in New York thought they looked like a pistol, made some loud and rather excited accusations, and the security goons decided to dump out my entire suitcase (full of said sewing kit and a year's worth of Irish breakfast tea and lingerie)-- back in the day there was no special room and man was that fun for everyone.
While I also am very partial to my snakehead hoe and my machete (and my woodchipper....), I also have a dear pair of scissors!
They are quite old, they were forgotten in a drawer in my first apartment in Japan approximately a million years ago (the handles were still blue back then). They've been around the world with me and I use them every day (during the same period I've gone through at least 4 chef's knives), and while I have dedicated garden scissors these are just as likely to be in the pocket of my work pants when I'm outside.
I rarely sharpen them, but they are still sharp enough to easily take apart a chicken or cut pig skin.
Judson, how did you make out?? Please tell me it eventually came back.
(...I figured someone else here went through this too....)
I can taste bananas and tang (the foodie within me sighs....), everything else tastes like ashes or (if there is milk involved) vomit. I smell cigarette smoke in the weirdest places, every so often something like oranges or mint tea has a ghost of a taste (hallelujah!), but just as often it's simply a blank. cardboard probably has more taste.
I got the creeping crud for what is probably the third time since it all began, the new variant is going around and at least the symptoms were less intense, but i never lost smell/taste before. i'm doing my neti pot and sniffing everything with great enthusiasm, but so far nothing doing. i hope it is just a question of time. in the meantime, i'm eating a lot of bananas and thinking a lot of zen thoughts....
I feel your pain. The corn I can get (here in Brazil) is for feeding your pigs/ducks. No idea what kind of corn it is. It requires lots and lots of washing.
I do boil it for a long while (maybe 2 hours?) and let it sit for a long while as well. I found that the Victoria mill was a pain, and I now use my Omega macerating juicer instead. I run it through at least twice before it's acceptable. If you're using the Victoria I think it's going to take various trips through the grinder.
And I've also never seen puffiness, but I do make a good amount and freeze part of the masa afterward, and it definitely seems easier to work with after freezing/thawing.
so I live in one of those places mentioned above where people have to take security seriously. the problem with the "gatehouse" where you go in and out of your property is that only people who have really good things to steal have them, and that encourages the smart thieves to come up with new (more violent) tactics, and your danger zone ends up expanding outward.
Jeff is spot on with the "love and fear" approach, it's a bit different here from North America (here knowledge that you have guns makes you a huge target, so they're not helpful), but fear can be produced in other ways. A neighbor spotted me recently at the military police base (where I'm doing guard dog training with my dog) and that has fed the rumor mill very usefully, for example.
here i think there are two important ideas:
- you want to be the least easy to break into, to avoid the thief/addict who's just looking for an easy score. bars/dogs/etc are useful here.
- you don't want people to think you have good stuff, or the people who really want to get in will find a way, and those ways tend to be very violent. here is more psy ops/rumor mill: if the neighbor thinks you have good stuff, people will find out. if your neighbor thinks you're just weird, they'll find that out too.
Here the neighbors know that I have cameras and also that they really work (when they've had bad things happen I've provided footage: again, love and fear!). But they also see us do a lot of "poor" things (we don't have a maid, I cut my own grass: unthinkable here; my husband wears a uniform so they think he's just a mechanic, they dont know he owns the place), and they don't understand my garden, brewery, and lack of TVs, they just think we're strange outsiders, not worth paying much attention to.
broken umbrellas are some of my favorite things. I use the hardware for stakes in the garden and the fabric to make mostly-waterproof tarps to throw over stuff on my back porch so the drips (rainy season, no matter how good the roof is there will be drips) and lizard crap don't get to be too much.
I was thinking along the same lines as Faye, did you necropsy the dead rabbits? i'd be concerned about some sort of ground-based parasite first, frankly.
Its not stainless but it is sturdy.