Most of what I know has already been said here, but I want to underscore the idea of pantyhose/tights as a fabulous base layer. I often used opaque "guaranteed not to run" dress tights rather than pantyhose, and more often running tights under my pants when I had to dress for snow (as a former cross country runner, i always had tights around).
Another thing I really can't say enough about is arm gaiters. On the inside, covering your shirt sleeve up to your wrist, a tighter pair of knit gaiters (I often buy used little girls' fleece tights and cut them up for this, but recently I bought a pair of "compression sleeves" that work just as well), or on the outside a pair of waterproof gaiters, if you are going to be doing something wet.
Theoretically I moved to South America to avoid these sort of situations (after spending my first 25 years in very snowy places), but they come in handy even in not-life-threatening cold.
yesterday we were at 30C (high 80s F?) and it's now in the teens (high fifties). The plants are confused.
It looks like we're going to have another "weird" summer- my corn is knee high but tasseled with ears already. The string beans are loaded with beans but aren't even halfway up my calf yet. Last year we had so much rain and so little sun that things like okra didn't even try to grow. This year everything is stunted: we've had scorching heat early (summer starts in a week or so if i'm not mistaken) but still very little sun, mostly clouds, everything is growing in fits and starts.
At least the yard long beans are developing well, that's the one thing I really, really want.
I have had bananas for years and still no bananas!! Then again, I'm in zone 9b, which I know is right on the edge. My neighbor gets fruit, but hers are in a microzone against a wall that captures heat and I suspect that's my issue, just a tad too cool. We certainly get enough moisture....
seriously, i wouldn't worry about it. I know I differ from other gardeners I respect in the US, but where I live it is a common weed and I can't walk ten meters without falling over one. I have never heard of anyone getting poisoned off them.
In fact I just macheted my big one in my backyard, i make "swamp tea" out of it to spray my young plants with as a foliar feed/bug repellant. Otherwise, I do chop and drop. I wouldn't chew on the leaves, and while I hear you about random kids coming into your yarde and maybe chomping on them I think oleander and datura are probably much worse and way more common....
My busband grew up slingshotting the seeds at his friends, a pasttime we have also picked up. choppíng off the immature seed bundles seems like a reasonable way of dealing with them if you're uncomfortable with the seeds (and they do sprout up like crazy-- if you have poor soil, they are probably the most reliable "big shade quick" plant youre going to get in a hot place).
From Brazil, where the oil from these seeds was the most common way to rustproof your car chassis and farm equipment before the advent of petrochemicals! with the added plus of making your skin and nails very happy, as Nathanael notes.
i always assumed it was a dimensional problem-- in some other dimension or the upside down or whatever you want to call it, someone needed a sock. it went there. then next week i find it hanging in my orange tree, after they don't need it any more.
now i'm wondering if the Clothesline Deity only needs it temporarily.
i understand you may just be working with what you have, but considering all the things i have around here, banana leaves i think would not make a large amount of biochar.
in terms of other "tropical materials", i'd probably get a lot more biomass from palm frond 'spines' (after you take the large fringes off, for weaving or ties or whatever-- they're very fibrous and can be seriously large) but definitely a heck of a lot more from coconut husks. banana stalks seem to have a lot of water in them and i'm not sure how they would burn, havent tested. also haven't tested coconut shells.
I think this is a regional thing.
Here in my corner of Latin America, where we eat beans every single day, in my experience it is a given that no matter what you pay for your beans, you are going to sit down and sort them before cooking. Even though now some companies are advertising totally computerized processing that scans the line and can eliminate all rocks. Still, I buy a lot of small farm production and I know a person shelled the beans and peas, and I frankly expect to find some "added surprises".
Even if you cook them every day, it's a few minutes that nobody skips, even if you never find any rocks. Maybe it's just habit that's hard to shake, but I always worry about cracking a tooth.
We pour them out on a table and do visual inspection (it's good for getting bad or moldy beans or other debris too). Then we rinse like Nathanael explains, since often the beans are dirty or maybe drilled by weevils.
Monday I realized I had a kg of gobo (burdock) roots that had been in the fridge for a month (!!) and a container of spaghetti left over from last week when I made sauce, so I decided to make a mix of a few Asian things.
Pressure cooked the peeled gobo, then smashed it and mixed it with dashi, sugar, and ground roasted sesame (tataki-gobo).
Quick lomein with lots of charred onion and cabbage using the spaghetti.
Quick cucumber pickles (sesame oil, soy sauce, white vinegar, sesame seeds)
and a broccoli and pork stirfry. Enough leftovers for everyone's lunches, yesterday and again today.
Last night I took the night off and had popcorn for dinner, as I tend to do when the husband plays soccer on Tuesdays.
Tonight, we're having chicken biryani (chicken went into the marinade last night) with a quick chopped salad and mint/garlic yogurt. This will also yield serious leftovers for lunches.
John F Dean wrote: We drifted into a holiday routine where we don’t buy gifts. While we have a couple of special holiday meals, we generally stay within our normal budget.
This is us as well. Since my daughter was about 10 we buy gifts for each other when they're needed, but not for holidays. Yesterday we went out to look at fabric (she has a few projects for her summer vacation), and we're going to buy her her own sewing machine, now that she's outpaced my talents....
We will host a few meals here over Christmas (probably Christmas lunch), as some extended family is coming into town, so we'll spend some money on food we don't usually eat (barbecue, certainly).
We'll travel to visit other family members at New Year's, and I'll spend a bit of cash kenneling the dog during this time, which is really the only big difference in terms of what we'll spend, but I think it's worth it in terms of avoiding vet bills since he inevitably gets sick/unhappy if I leave him here when I travel with just someone to come and feed and without his usual routine.
I will make some food gifts for my sisters in law, I've gotten them used to expecting homemade jam and such every time we visit. I also like to make some sort of fancy long-keeping bread at the holidays, one for each family (4 sisters in law), I'll do that too.
i have a pair just like yours that i bought some years ago. I love them.
That said, I almost never use them. They are super cute but not practical for me. Instead of the maybe-mitten super cuties, I inevitably find myself using either fingerless rubber-nubbin-stubbed knit cotton work gloves, or rubber-nubbin-stubbed normal cotton work gloves with my pointer and thumb cut out for the inevitable phone/security/etc reasons. I very rarely am in below-zero cold, so the fingerless ones work good enough for my needs.
My major issue is grip. I'm outside walking the monster dog or driving and I need to hold fast. The second-biggest issue is (also dog related) washability. My sweet little intarsia mittens are not going to stand up to repeated washings, so I just buy a bundle of these fingerless gloves and wash them as often as I need.
that is super awesome! and what a great idea with the liner and the cover being separate, i agree entirely, the cover wears out but it's the inside that is doing the hard work.
It is almost holiday baking season, and every time my husband threatens to go buy me arm gaiters for welders, because it's always my wrists and forearms that get burned. Maybe this year I'll let him.
Coydon Wallham wrote:Is there a problem with just dropping lots of paper into a RMH? I don't have that much so just use a few sheets crumpled up to start fires, but if I had that much I'd make a tight roll about 1" thick (50-100 sheets?), tie it up with jute, and drop it in with a bunch of other sticks...
I would love to know this too. we have access to ridiculous amounts of old office paper (white printer paper from our old accounting documents we have been required to keep for 7 years), and if i decide to build a stove in the back it would be a great free fuel source.
Welcome Mike! I'm also a master of the Cat Scan!! (scan, identify, and go pick up the hose, at which point cat scampers over the rooftops to find another bathroom, while the rabbits stamp and snort)
this weekend my dog had really bad vomiting and bloody diarrhea. Of course, over the weekend, so I watched his hydration, fed him pumpkin, and gave him 24 hours and a pill for belly cramps. By Monday things were improved enough that I didn't take him to the vet, and by Tuesday all resolved for him to go to training. but the weekend was bad, in terms of cleanup and canine unhappiness.
he only eats kibble and i just figured it was maybe a virus from his training school, lots of dogs interacting.
Til this morning, I was outside fooling around with a solar panel in my front yard when I saw a caterpillar fall off my passionfruit vine onto the patio and the dog catapult over there to eat it, and then begin the bite-cough-spit-heave dance. These caterpillars are very hairy and spiky and I know from experience that they will burn you badly. The fact that he saw it and immediately considered it a hairy candy bar makes me think that these caterpillars will also do a job on your GI tract if you eat one.
He was very unhappy that I removed the caterpillar from his reach and now he's locked up inside until caterpillar season is over.
He also considers bees a great delicacy. What is it with these dogs???
my dog also cannot be outside our yard without a leash.
He can open the door and go in and out into the front yard by himself to relieve himself, drink water, and occasionally scare off people putting things in my mailbox, but he prefers to stay in my office with me most of the time.
The days he does not go to dog school/daycare I take him for a long walk. Days when it's pouring or work doesn't permit, I'll try to do a training session inside the house instead. Last year I had a few months when I couldn't use my hand and so we didn't go out for walks, and he was fine.
I learned the hard way with this dog, more physical activity makes him more anxious. There was a time we were walking 10k+ a day to "tire him out," but I learned that with a Belgian Malinois this is a losing game....
I'm so sorry Eric. I hope you can give Gracie a couple of great last days and spend good time together.
We were just remembering the same situation in our house - I had to do the same with my old boy last year, who at 14 had a good last year with a new little brother but then his bones and his spine caught up with him. I also had to choose a day (my vet comes to my home, but had to schedule a week out) and I agonized over when to do it. He'd have good days and bad days with hind end paralysis, arthritis, and then toward the end diabetes and heart stuff.
The vet and I decided on a day and we had a week of "good days", even though he couldn't do much- i'd let him sit on the grass in front of my house and sniff, and cast threatening looks at the neighbor dogs (even if he couldn't do much beyond that), skipped his kibble and made soup out of our food for him. The day before, was so energetic and I almost called to reschedule, and spent the whole day second-guessing myself. The next day Nacho couldn't get up, and it was clearly time. He was also my daughter's dog, grew up with her, and I made sure she was there too. It was probably one of the hardest things I've ever done. He was definitely one of those "once in a lifetime" dogs that I don't expect to ever see the likes of again.
Gracie was lucky to have you during her life, and to make sure she doesn't suffer more than she has to now. Take care of yourself too now, as you obviously know she's going to leave a big hole in your heart for a while that will sneak up on you when you least expect it.
"Top to bottom" sounds a bit intense! To me that level means washing the curtains and dusting the tops of the doors, decluttering the cabinets and scrubbing the ceilings; we do that maybe twice a year, once when we are hosting a party or something and then usually again at the end of the year (we usually maintain the Japanese tradition of "big cleaning" before January-- also a time to fix and resolve all the things we've been putting off around the house).
I do a basic clean twice a week, Tuesday and Friday evenings at the end of my workday. We keep up with things around the house and my house is very small (those things mutually help each other-- in a place this small everything needs to be in its place), so it takes me literally no more than 15 minutes. Dust and spray down surfaces, take out all trash cans, vacuum, mop the floors and switch out the throw rugs and dog blankets.
This level of cleaning isn't super intense but it's enough that if I had unexpected visitors drop by for tea and cake and take some pictures, it would be okay.
as mentioned- aprons, slippers/sandals, and also sleeve gaiters. I learned that last one in Asia, where women often wear waterproof ones for messy jobs, but I cut them out of kids' tights just for protection and/or extra warmth.
Tyler Grace wrote:I like how you put "(To Dogs)" at the end of the title. Just in case people were thinking...
To be fair, I've opened up cans of dog food before and started salivating from the scent.
I am reading a book right now ("Gulp, adventures on the alimentary canal" by Mary Roach) that took a detour into dog food to talk specifically about the process of making dog food palatable. To dogs and to humans, since it's the humans who decide which ones to buy. It was a very interesting chapter and perhaps worth a trip to the library!
The poster above mentioned freezing broth cubes. When my old boy was having arthritis we made "slop" out of chicken feet in the slow cooker for 2 days to get him lots of collagen and keep him eating, I put about 2T on his kibble every meal. Sometimes i would use pork knees or cow feet as well, depending on what i could find.
`how awesome!!! and what are you going to do with those oyster mushrooms?
Today was supposed to be an all-day-in-the-garden-planting day, but the weather was sketchy and some paid work popped up, so I did the fruit and veg shopping this morning and spent the rest of the day doing some prep cooking (passata for tomato sauce tomorrow, roasted marinated tofu, dal for breakfast...). I did manage to prune one of the passionfruits and put in some cucumber seeds when nobody was looking and I had ten minutes.
Tonight is my work-and-craft night, so I will work for a few hours to finish that paid work and then do some sewing, i have some things that need mending.
I've been hesitating to reply to this thread because I've been thinking about what exactly homesteading and permaculture even means.
but in my definition it means stewardship. Caring for the piece of land I have and doing the best I can for my family who live here. This may mean repurposing trash or planting intensively or farming rabbits to eat my waste. Even without land, I can find ways to use what I have-- right now canning tomatoes, fermenting sauerkraut. Making herbal medicines as alternatives for things that come from far away and involve lots of waste. The ecosystem I help may not even be my own, but I'm also doing what I can to improve mine.
The other treasure we hold is skills. With every generation skills are getting lost. When we learn how to make sourdough or jam or dry persimmons we're preserving knowledge and culture. How often do I make something and someone (often a young person in my family) says "I didn't know you could MAKE that!!" You absolutely can!
I honestly am a city person at heart. I love the idea of a farm but I know in practice, my soul needs to be close to a library, a university and a symphony. My ideal setup is a good-sized home garden in the city, with access to a community garden to help infect more minds.
i use a mouthwash specifically for gum health. my gums tend to bleed, and my mother had gum disease that required grafts. I can see when I use a mouthwash like this (or pull oil, but I have trouble remembering that, since in the morning I have so many tasks to remember already), the gums bleed a lot less overall.
As for the alcohol- I don't have a problem killing bacteria in my mouth to avoid tooth decay. I often rinse with an herbal tea, but for practical reasons (I don't always have the space to store yet more tea in the fridge) the alcohol is a convenience for storage purposes. I spit it out either way.
Tyler Grace wrote:Got some goat leather work gloves at Ace Hardware a few months ago. They are comfy and very durable. I think it was some off brand that they don't often sell at Ace, just one of the local stores. The gloves just say "G.O.A.T." on them and have a picture of a goat. Wish I could give you the exact brand but it's a gift idea nonetheless.
I was going to recommend a pair of goat leather work gloves i got at Tractor Supply a few years ago-- again, some un-memorable brand. i've used the heck out of them and they just get better with time.
Alder Burns wrote:magical herbal mouthwash....
The gist of it is good handfuls each of rosemary, thyme, calendula, echinacea, white oak bark or acorn meal, and smaller amounts of stevia, cayenne, and cinnamon. Simmer all in a big pot of water for half hour or so and let cool. Strain and mix with 30% minimum of strong alcohol (gin or vodka) and it will store at room temperature. To use without adding alcohol, freeze in small containers, and thaw them at need and keep refrigerated.
I have made this several times and it is indeed magical!! I use what I have in the garden, replacing the astringent oak bark and echinacea with local alternatives. it smells, tastes and works great!
We spent the weekend away and last night I had a hankering to cook.
My mother in law gave me two huge (pound-and-a-half) blocks of okinawan tofu, so i sliced it up, threw it in the air fryer to get dryish, and made chinese home style tofu (with peppers, carrots, chilis and a brown sauce).
i also did some garden work and had to pull out several good-sized shiso plants to make space, so i made two shiso dishes- a chinese stir fry with cucumber and shiso (with red pepper and soy sauce) and a japanese one with charred onions and a sweeter sauce.
i also found half a napa cabbage in the fridge and that got pan-charred with some chinese chicken boullion granules, sesame oil and salt. it's amazing how flavorful cabbage can be.
tonight my husband plays soccer and i usually craft and skip dinner. today i found tomatoes on sale everywhere, though, and bought 12 kg to make passata for sauce in the future. i may water bath can it, since my mother in law also gave me a bunch of large jars. dinner will be whatever fits well with sauce making!
i would be concerned about the cast iron holding heat too long and burning cake.
i have a heavy but pretty bundt cake pan that is the queen of doing that, and between the burned crust and the impossibility of cleaning the fancy decorations i barely use the darn thing.
another thing to consider is that it looks like that one will have to have a parchment paper insert put in every time you use it, or the batter will leak through (or maybe some sort of other insert?). Some people (like me) use a lot of parchment but some people don't like to use it-- might be something to consider.
That said, I would probably buy it if I saw one around - it would be great for cornbread and monkey bread and a bunch of other things I make, and non-aluminum baking pans are rare here.
this happened to us when i had my carport recovered. not insulation, but many, many bits of wire and other metal. not great for the dogs or me when I was digging in my large containers. it took me forever to get rid of.
prevention is a great idea. I also could have caused some noise after but decided to make it a learning opportunity for myself (and perhaps others).
Dian, I'm so glad you posted this (even if I'm late to the party).
I had no idea I could use turmeric leaves. The rabbits love them, so they usually get first dibs, but I will definitely use them for steaming in the future. There are some interesting recipes out there for chopping them to add to rice and stews.
The cubes have been fabulous, we have used them for tea and to add to soup as well. I always struggle to use up the turmeric harvest and this is a nice solution.
nice looking rhizomes!!
we also had a good year for it. I pull mine up mostly because I don't plant it-- it comes up where bits were left in the past. I plant it in containers when I want a harvest, and i'll make sure to "set it and forget it" to see what happens!
And for anyone wondering what people use it for, this thread https://permies.com/t/360984/plant-fresh-ginger-turmeric has some ideas, as well as a recipe for tea cubes that I made a few weeks ago, and are a great way to get that turmeric into your diet if you're looking for ways to use it.
My uncle, the legendary farmer (among our family) always said August was the time to plant cassava --- early spring in a hot zone 10ish. He also planted in the waxing moon, never waning.
I keep my rabbits in hutches, a lot like what Anne posted, but with roofs that open.
When the weather is nice, the rabbits are put out (one at a time) into a fenced run in my garden to sniff, dig, run, jump and generally just chill.
I like the idea of them living in colonies but when I start producing rabbits I don't want to have to dig out a litter of babies. My girls dig for fun, to the extent that at the end of a day outside I need to inspect the run and fill up holes.
I have seen two communal "free" setups that I liked- one was an old horse barn with a huge load of dirt/chips dumped over a concrete floor, where the rabbits could tunnel and dig as they pleased. The only downside was that it was dark and not well-aired, due to being a barn. The other thing I saw was a gang-type situation where they had a hard clay tunneled out space (like a cave type thing open on two sides and fenced on the others), where they were relatively limited and could do as they pleased.
I like the idea of tractors but the only place I could put tractors have lots of roaming dogs and feral cats, so that won't happen. All my rabbits depend on me cutting and bringing them food, unless they're chilling in their run (where I have stuff planted for them).
how nice that this thread was bumped today!
I was reading something this week and saw a claim that using ghee or drawn butter or coconut oil would keep your popcorn crunchy for longer. I live in humidity central and my dog seeks-and-destroys any extra popcorn so we don't ever have any left to see if it doesn't go stale, but what do you all popcorn folks think? It made me raise my eyebrow.
I still use the heck out of my small-scale chipper, usually once a month or so. The vast majority is thick stems the rabbits refuse to eat, as well as invasives from my garden that will root if they are pulled out and thrown elsewhere-- they don't compost, they get supercharged and take over the compost pile.... the only issue is keeping the stuff dry until I can chip it up, especially during our current rainy spring!
today is my daughter's birthday, and yesterday was a slow day work-wise, so I spent it in the kitchen. I made four types of cookies for her to eat/take to work/take to school (ginger sparkle, peanut butter choco bars, oatmeal raisin, and double dark chocolate GF flax brownies, which sound nasty but are the best brownie i've ever had) and had a pot of beans on the hob to make pasta e fagioli. Used the hot oven to make a rustic italian loaf too. Got some nice local-ish country-style parmesan type cheese to eat with it.
Sunday my husband was sick and we spent the morning at urgent care getting himself looked at. Came home and had a boring Sunday, so decided to do something about the fish in the freezer. Small-ish white ocean fish (no idea what kind), too small for whole steaming/baking but not really suited for anything else. I separated the meat from the skin and bones and made kamaboko, a project I've been considering for years. The meat is pureed with an egg white, salt, sometimes some starch, and then formed into logs and steamed for half an hour.
Tonight I'll make some rice and miso soup and we'll slice them and try them out. For a while in Japan that was my breakfast every day, with a smear of mustard or wasabi alongside.
I make this out of yellow lemons when they appear briefly here (my other options, with lime, are way too bitter) and it is AMAZING. It is the taste of winter for us. Instant hot lemon tea, ready in a few weeks (I keep mine in the fridge, and it never lasts more than a few weeks). Everyone I've ever gifted it to has been thrilled.
I've always used it zested and mixed with miso or other things, never the fruit and juice, but it seems with all the seeds and pith it should make a nice marmelade.
Thomas Skipper wrote:
Also--- cassava should never ever be washed from coming out of the soil-- it has microbial activity on the outside of the root; keep this intact and place in a dark well vented area and it will keep for weeks on end... No washing or waxing needed...
Yes!
This idea of eating in a few days surprised me-- we eat a lot of cassava here and it's shipped from the fields and sold and then i keep it for a while-- all just fine, probably a question of weeks. often because of their size the roots are chopped in half and the cut edges will get nasty, but the roots remain intact. Just brush off the extra dirt and they'll be fine.
We let ours grow usually a year and a half, depending on the weather. Zone 9/10 may be pushing it, hotter than that you get really nice cassava that gets 2 m tall and huge roots. And yet my mother in law in Zone 10 grows it in garbage soil in her rooftop garden in the city, and gets edible roots.
Here people often peel and boil, to eat it like a potato, but the tradition of making it into flour involves shredding it, pressing it to remove the liquids, and then drying. there are certain types that need to be cooked or fermented and others that don't.
Dian! It took me a month but I finally made my cubes! Drinking a cup of (very strong) tea right now.
I think your idea of mixing ginger in is a good one. I mixed my peeled turmeric (that's why i dawdled for a month before making it, took a few hours of peeling and two pairs of gloves) with a whole peeled lime and about 3 limes worth of juice I froze when I had a lot. Lemons are out of season here and I figured the lime skin would be too bitter. Added honey and some apple cider vinegar and a spoon of whole peppercorns.
Not sure how much turmeric I had, probably enough to fill my two cupped hands. I have more growing in the garden (although it won't be harvested for a while, unless something accidentally gets dug up- usually the first frost, so maybe May).
And right on time-- the husband now has bursitis in his elbow, and my knees are just waiting for their chance to cause problems, lol. It will be put to good use!
Thanks so much for the nudge to get in gear!
