D. Logan

I've spent a few years tinkering with a 'more accurate' calendar than the standard. I have found that the tools for fantasy authors are often useful for such endeavors as well. As such, you might consider this fantasy calendar generator. While it's built to handle things like extra moons and such, nothing keeps you from just plugging earth information in and having it spit out a fully functional calendar for you without having to rework something like Excel.

Fantasy Calendar Website

I imagine you can find what you're looking for by googling "Fashion design templates".

Many times in the past I have combined the free version of Grammarly with the Hemmingway App (not an actual app, but a website so named). It isn't ideal, but does the job well enough.

If you're looking for a solid alternative you may consider ProWritingAid. It's $79 per year and is actually a fair bit more in-depth than Grammarly in my experience. If you dig around youtube, there's almost always someone offering a discount code on top of that. They offer a free trial that I consider one of the best in the world. You get 30 days of use, but rather than continuous, it only counts for days you open the program. That lets you stretch the trial period out in very useful ways.

There is a downside however. If you get anxiety over 'errors', it may not be right for you. It offers up so much information that you can actually break your own writing if you aren't careful. Worrying too much over things like adjectives or how often you use the word pickle in a given text can make you lose sight of the prose itself. Something to be cautious about going in.

I just started a Youtube channel this week. It's focused on my writing and world building rather than standard Permies topics, but if people are interested, it can be found here. I only have the introduction video so far, but am hoping to add much more interesting things as time goes on.

While it doesn't offer exact varieties, this document does a good job of indicating the nature and shapes of different cabbages and when they first were found in different areas. It can offer a way to narrow down the options I imagine.

The Document

Michael Cox wrote:I had one experiment with powders last year - some dehydrated mushrooms. It failed miserably, because my hand-held blender just wasn't up to the job. Could just be the wrong type of blender, but is there something special about dry powders, vrs wet soups etc...? Do you need different blades/blender style?

Some blenders are better than others. Having done a few powders now, I have considered replacing my cheap dollar-store blender. It was already struggling in the past with anything even semi-solid and the powdering involves me having to stop repeatedly and push things down with a wooden spoon. Mushrooms were the only thing my blender handled well actually. It might be that I cut them thin before drying them though. A strong well-designed blender is going to be an entirely different experience. I've seen the 'magic bullet' style blenders handing solids far more easily than what I have now. Perhaps it is a similar situation for yourself.

For many years I have been dehydrating foods. It's a natural outcome for someone whose focus was on long distance hiking for so many of my early years. Of late, I've been experimenting with powdering my dehydrated fare.

I started with mushrooms. I found a good deal on them and knew I wasn't going to be able to use them all if I bought more than a couple. I decided I would dehydrate the extra, but already had dried slices stored in the pantry. Having just watched a video on the subject, I thought I would give powdering a try. Holy moly! They didn't reduce in size as much as I expected, but definitely lowered the pantry space. More importantly the pure essence of mushroom was now literally at my fingertips. Just a pinch of this powder is enough to flavor an entire pot with lovely mushroom notes.

It gave me confidence to do the same with this year's squash purchase. I prefer heirloom squash for making pies, but just one such squash is more than I can reasonably used for the holidays. Some goes into soups or as side dishes, but most years a few cups get stored in the freezer. This time I dried it. Once powdered, it rehydrates into a ready-to-use puree I can make into any of my favorite squash dishes right away without the prep time or thawing.

Armed with this new confidence, I noted a major sale at a local store (Shout out to anyone who knows Jungle Jim's in Ohio!) that has an enormous produce section. The week after any sale, a ton of produce that is super ripe gets moved to clearance allowing me to get things for a song. With this knowledge, I prepared myself and made a special trip to buy a small ton of super ripe tomatoes. These I dried and powdered. This last one is a game changer for me. One of my biggest problems with so many recipes is that they want you to use tomato paste/sauce/juice in smaller amounts than the can you buy them in. With this powder, I'm now able to mix up the exact amount I need for ANY of these.

I don't know what I will powder next, but I am in love with this method. It's an extra step, but one that saves me endless time later down the road.

Finally needed some.

Ingredients:
2 Tbsp Sugar
1 Tbsp Salt
1 Tbsp Olive Oil
3/4 C Warm Water
2 C Flour
1 tsp Instant Yeast

Instructions:
Mix everything but one cup of flour together until combined.
Add the remaining flour a little at a time until it begins to pull from the sides as you mix.
Scrape out onto a floured surface and kneed until you can stretch a small piece and see light through it without tearing. Add flour as needed while doing this step.
Form the dough into a tight ball.
Pour a small bit of extra olive oil into a bowl and turn the dough in it until coated.
Rest in the fridge overnight. Can be left up to a week before use if needed.
Allow to come to room temp when ready to use.
Preheat the oven to 500F.
Sprinkle cornmeal on a pan.
Split into smaller balls and gently flatten. With the tips of fingers gently spread as evenly as you can.
Lift and stretch, using gravity to expand. Toss if you're comfortable doing so.
Place on the prepared pan and top as you like.
Bake 7 minutes if lightly topped. 10 if heavily topped.
Rest briefly before cutting and serving.

How it went:
My children wanted to make their own,  so we divided the dough 3 ways. One wanted stuffed crust, so we folded cheese sticks into the crust edge. For the adults, we were content with pepperoni and mushroom with extra cheese. I decided to turn on the top broiler briefly to get a good toasty cheese on top. Mmmm.

I haven't tossed dough in years, so it took a bit to get the motion back. It turned out well though. Everyone enjoyed,  though I may double the batch next time though.

I've never been blessed with a mill for grinding grains in my home. Growing up, my parents did make many things from scratch, but never went so far as to grind their own flour. Once I lived on my own for a few years, I'm afraid to say I wasn't focused nearly so much on back to the land or clean ingredients. After marriage, other expenses always had my attention. Even now I have a laundry list of things ahead of getting my own mill.

That list, however, is subject to change. Different factors motivate me over time and a strong description can go a long way to driving an urge to upgrade its position in the ranks. Because of this and with so many eyes focused on bread this week, I am hoping that some of you who've already made the transition from store-bought flour to home-ground grains can offer your best descriptions of the difference it has made for you using your own grinder to have fresh flours and other products. The more vivid of a picture you can paint in terms of tastes, textures, and smells, the better.