Jay Angler

OT - sorry, but I had to ask...

May Lotito wrote:I did some flower arrangements with dried plant materials from my garden.

Does that mean that you've got Lotus growing? ( Nelumbo nucifera ) I managed to start one from seed once, but we're just too cold for it to reliably grow here, let alone bloom. In my dreams, I'd love a large enough greenhouse that I could grow some of these marginal plants.

I also happen to adore Lotus root as a baked veggie and it's terribly hard to find locally. A friend of mine found some once and had it on the menu when I was visiting and she was surprised I recognized it, because it's so uncommon here.

Yes, in Japan, flower arranging is considered a valuable skill and highly respected art form. I learned a little while I was there, but not enough to tackle it.

The issue with driving over an area, even just semi-regularly, is that if the ground is at all wet, the soil will end up compressed.

When I read the question, my thoughts went to narrow pavers just where the wheels will go, and mixed greenery on either side. The pavers don't have to cover a the full 15 ft mentioned, just be wide enough to spread the weight of the car tires.

This is an old school system that was used a lot in Canada. My grandfather had exactly that leading from the road to his garage, and around it was grass. Nowadays, if the clients are open to options, I know someone else who had thyme around pavers, and it was winter tolerant (Ottawa, Ontario).

Hey everyone, it's been 10 years.

Can anyone remember what was actually planted, how it worked, and how many of the plants listed are still growing on Wheaton Labs now?

I just watched this delightful video about an Indigenous community in Mexico. Two teenaged girls are developing a low tech water treatment system to conserve water for reuse and to protect fields and groundwater.

I like that it shows how just 1 or 2 people can make a significant impact just by caring enough to look for solutions.

I remember reading in a book about a group building "food clubs" rather than "food banks".

The concept was that everyone put a certain amount of money in the kitty every month, and with the pooled money, the organizers could take advantage of Bulk sales and commercial sellers where food is packaged in quantities too large for the homeowner.

The benefit of this is that the users no longer felt the stigma of "needing charity". The group could provide input as to what would be ordered when. It was community building rather than just servicing. It did require the backing of some community spot like a church or community hall that had a kitchen, so there was some "charity" involved, but it didn't come across that way.

There are some good books about how the only one that feels better about charity is the giver and how it can be quite damaging to the receiver - particularly the person who feels responsible to support their family and simply can't. I've read about how international aid, barring emergency situations, can be demoralizing and damaging to the community. It has made me think differently about how we approach such things.

paul wheaton wrote:  Kinda thinking that the real magic for doing this in the future is to have something like 40 of these wood crates and to fill them up with woody garbage in the summer and set them some place dry.  Just having a good place to put woody garbage will make a huge difference.    

Are the wood crates designed to stack?

Do I imagine another skiddable structure full of stacked wood crates in your future?

I think that what is key is the balance between calories, and micronutrients. A huge apple will have lots of calories, but may not have many more micronutrients than a tennis ball sized apple.

Many fruits and veg have their most important nutrients in the skin or just below it. If it's spherical, the surface area will use radius squared, but the volume will use radius cubed.

Also, I agree that to get supersized veggies, often requires a lot of irrigation and artificial fertilizers. My friend thinks the strawberries she buys look wonderful and are huge, but the ones I bring her have much more flavor. Mine receive the minimal amount of irrigation, if any. I accept the smaller size and the extra work to pick them, because I know they will taste better.

There are bound to be exceptions to this rule. Some years the climate just decides to be a certain way and my kale will be huge. Sometimes I'll get lots of strawberries and fewer raspberries and other years it will be the reverse.

I try to have a lot of variety planted so there's at least some harvests in poor years and be happy when it's a year where the harvest is huge.

I was given a used coat for farm use. Trouble was that the sleeves were just too long for me.

It took me a while, but I realized eventually that the easy way to fix the problem was to cut them *above* the cuff, take out a chunk of both the outer fabric and the lining, then sew them back together.





No more orangutan arms for me!

When I'm wearing it, it is hard to even see the extra seam.

OK, I decided to give this a go on my lunch break. The kitchen was running about 60F. I forgot to check what temperature the water came out of the tap at.

I had the equipment:



I got it lit just fine:



...and then I waited, and waited, and waited.

Finally after 55 min and the water only reaching 136F according to my meat thermometer, I was out of time, so I dumped the water into my pot of chopped potatoes and used my burner to get the water boiling and the spuds cooked, in barely 15 more minutes.



So, if you have no other option, this will give you a warm drink using a bullion cube, or some homemade broth, or some home dried herbs.
It would also give you warm enough water to fill a hot water bottle to take the chill off the bed.
It will *not* be a practical way to avoid a boil water advisory - just too slow.
It will *not* be a practical way to actually cook anything.

You would be so much better off to make sure you had some dry firewood stashed and build yourself some sort of mini-rocket stove out of bricks. Yes, this would have to be outside, and those little stoves have to be constantly fed, but at least you'll get some serious heat out of it.

So this does *not* pass the permie test overall, but if it's your only choice for a warm drink, it would be better than nothing.