Matthew Nistico

To address the OP's question, probably the first plant medicine most people will attempt is aloe vera gel - from a fresh leaf, or it can be bought in even mainstream stores - applied to a sunburn or skin rash.  Perhaps rivalled in popularity among novices by chamomile tea for inducing relaxation and sleep.

Otherwise, I have to agree with several posters above: a spit poultice of plantain applied to an insect bite is doubtless the "gateway drug" herbal medicinal for many people.

But I am surprised nobody has yet mentioned comfrey.  This was my own first (semi)serious venture into herbal medicine.  Probably because I already grew lots of comfrey.  People debate the wisdom of comfrey tea, based on toxicity concerns.  I would not hesitate to take it when treating a specific internal problem for a limited duration, such as mending a broken bone, but that is only when I would take it internally.  Nonetheless, a spit poultice of comfrey leaf can easily and safely be applied to just about any surface cut, abrasion, scratch, or mild burn to accelerate healing.  In fact, they warn not to use comfrey on a deep puncture wound because it can heal too fast!  (If the skin heals over before the deeper wound heals, it could form an abscess.)

I believe comfrey root is more potent, but also more trouble to harvest.

M Ljin wrote:Cuban man fuels car with charcoal!

I wish they would have provided a more in-depth, technical explanation of how that conversion works.  My first thought was wood gasification, but that doesn't make sense using charcoal.  Charcoal is what you have left AFTER the volatile wood gases have been cooked off.

Any ideas?

May Lotito wrote:I basically grow goji as a primocane berry bush. I wouldn't say it's the best way because the previous year's twigs aren't dead, yet they aren't producing either. Removing them takes away nutrient so I put back more biochar and wood ash to compensate. I'd like my goji to grow taller and bigger each year if possible. I have seen pictures of established bushes growing like a wall, pruned with a hedge trimmer.

Here are a couple posts on my efforts to deal with the situation. Welcome to share your pictures and methods.
https://permies.com/t/80/163796/Ideas-Trellis-Gardening#2393733
https://permies.com/t/218922/Training-seedling-goji-tree

Thank you for the explanation and for sharing pictures.  After seeing your photos, I realize that the mistake was mine from the beginning - I didn't realize what plant species you were discussing.  I read your post, but confused in my mind what you were talking about.  I have NOT grown many goji bushes in a different manner, nor reaped large harvests doing so as I stated previously.  I have only attempted a few, and unsuccessfully at that.  So, disregard my prior comment.

My experience with purchased commercial goji berries is that I don't find them very tasty.  I have read about eating the shoots and leaves, as you described, but have never tasted them.

May Lotito wrote:Goji berry shoots. I cut my established bushes to the ground in late winter and numerous shoots appear in early spring. I break off the whole length of tender shoots when they are 4-6 inches long to thin out a bit. They are very tasty with licorice like bitter and sweet flavor. I harvest a second time when the slender branches get long enough to touch the ground. They will try to layer if left as it. I pinch the tips off to encourage lateral shoots, those will flower and bear fruits in summer.

It's not technically foraging.  Since I have plenty prunings to start new plants, I am thinking about sticking them in the easement where the area gets bushhogged every winter. Then I will have lots of young shoots to harvest in the spring time.

How fascinating!  I grow many goji bushes, but had never heard of this approach.

Considering that goji is so productive, do you truly feel that this approach is better than just letting the bushes grow large and harvesting buckets of berries?

Becky Lawson wrote:Where I lived in Brazil for a while, the only salad dressing I saw used was mixed on the salad at the time of making.  No prep or need to store.

On top of already made salad:
salt and pepper to taste
squeeze of lime juice
splash of apple cider vinegar
splash of oil

Mix with bare hands (very important part)

Agreed!  Simplest is best.  Though I don't quite understand the value of mixing with bare hands...?

I will occasionally prepare a specialty dressing, like blue cheese or Ceasar, or concoct some recipe based on yogurt or tahini, or blend berries or garlic or mustard or salt-cured lemon into my dressings.  But most of the time, I add just a few ingredients directly to the salad as I serve it, then toss and eat.  No measurements.  No emulsification.  No leftovers.

For me, this usually means just a good quality olive oil, a good quality vinegar, salt, and fresh ground pepper.  The OP asked for simple, and you can't get much simper than this.

The key is to add these to a salad with good ingredients that I want to shine through: good quality leafy greens, good cheese, and as available plenty of fresh herbs comprising up to a quarter of the total salad greens.  I like crunch with my salads, so I will usually throw on pepitas and/or sunflower seeds and/or nuts of some kind.

Finding oil that you like is essential.  I use one of just a few brands of extra-virgin olive oil (EVO) with a robust, fruity taste.  When I pour it, I want it to really smell like an olive.  I sometimes use a bit less EVO and add a splash of pumpkin seed oil and flax seed oil, but those additions are for the health benefits, not for the taste.  For taste, you can't beat a good EVO.  Occasionally I will substitute walnut oil for a specialty themed salad.  Posts above have highlighted the health benefits of raw avocado oil, which is absolutely true.  Yet for me, despite that I love eating avocados, I just don't like the taste of avocado oil on my salads.  Weird, I know.

Vinegar usually means home-brewed apple cider vinegar.  Depending on the type of salad I'm mixing, I will substitute balsamic, or red wine, or white wine, or sherry vinegar, or citrus juices as the mood strikes me.  Importantly, never use distilled white vinegar, which I reserve for cleaning purposes only.  I suspect this may be why traditional recipes use so much more oil than vinegar - if I were using such harsh tasting vinegar, I'd use less of it, too!

Lawren Richards wrote:Highly recommend buying an EV, and as small a one as you can get. (Car dealers love to upsize more than McDonald’s!) Bought my Chevy Bolt last year, have driven it long distances & through a Canadian winter. Different handling but boy am I glad to not be tied to the gas companies anymore. Sometimes I charge at home, where it’s free (I’m off grid); mostly in town. Eventually I’ll charge at home most of the year but I’ve got to get a few more panels first— I only have 3.

Absolutely!  Five years ago, I bought a small EV - a used 2015 BMW i3 with a range extender - and it was the best decision I ever made.  Unlike Lawren, I never charge anywhere but home, and it has saved me so much money.  Buying someone else's electricity is expensive.  Home electrical rates are cheap, particularly where I live.  And since I installed photovoltaics three years ago - not completely off-grid yet, but that is coming - driving has become SUPER cheap.  I love riding around town thinking to myself "this is literally costing pennies."  Lawren, when you reach that same point, you will appreciate what a truly liberating experience it is!

As Lawren stated, buying an electric pickup truck or SUV makes little sense.  And don't even get me started on Cybertrucks (WTF?!)  Get as small an EV as you can.  With current technology, at least, that really is where the optimum balance between price and performance is located.

And if at all possible, get one with a range extender.  There aren't as many such models to choose from right now, but hopefully the market will offer more choices soon.  My old car's battery is tiny by modern standards, yet I have zero range anxiety, and all for the cost of only a small amount of gasoline purchased each year.  It really is true what the statistics tell us: the large majority of trips that most people make are within the range of even a smaller EV battery.  Without a range extender, your options are pretty much 1) maintain a second, internal combustion vehicle to use for longer trips; 2) pay $$$ for a modern EV with a 300+ mile battery; or 3) live with range anxiety.  None of these options are attractive to me, considering that when my car was originally manufactured the range extender was only a $4K upgrade.

So, yes, the best way to save on gasoline is not to burn gasoline in the first place.  But keep in mind that some of the good advice others have posted above, particularly about driving slower and accelerating slower, are rooted in basic physics and apply to any vehicle, regardless of its powertrain.  Remember: back in the 1970s when the USA implemented a national 55mph maximum speed limit, that wasn't a safety measure; it was meant to improve efficiency.

r ransom wrote:I remember, the 1980s, every suburban town and satellite city to the metropolis had massive parking lots in the middle of nowhere.  We are talking a thosand or more, cars worth of free parking on discarded or old industrial land.  Absolutely middle of nowhere land.  Some of them were even paved.  

These were called Park and Ride.  And given the commute to Vancouver was over an hour each way on a good day, and most days over 2 hours each way, these park and ride lots were packed full of cars every week day.

You park there for free and carpool.  If four or more adults are in the car, you could use special lanes...ones with massively high fines for people with too few adults ingthe car.  In a place that thinks $2,000 for littering is an acceptable fine.  These would cut the trip down to less than 45min on a good day.

Anyway, I haven't seen one of those for ages.  But carpooling did a lot of good for fuel conservation back in the day.

Yes!  When I was a child about that same period I recall that my father used a carpool out of just such a park-and-ride lot.  I had forgotten, it has been so long.  By the time he retired after the millenium - actually, by the time I was in high school in the 90s - he no longer did so.  And from what I can tell, far fewer people did so in general.

I wonder why those went out of style?  Obviously it is something that must be coordinated, so it's a little bit of work and commitment.  But it seems such a self-evidently good idea: put four or five people into a van or large car and you 1) save gas; 2) reduce traffic volumes, so less highway slow-down, so everyone gets into the city faster; and 3) all but one of the passengers can relax and think/talk/work on other things than driving, so less stress.

And from city government's point of view, it is a win-win.  Paving a parking lot on some low-value land somewhere, setting up an HOV lane, providing some advertising to encourage the concept of carpooling - all of these measure cost pennies in comparison to operating a mass transit system with trains or even buses.

I would bet that today some Uber-style app exists to help people coordinate carpools.  Does anyone use such an app?  How does it work?

Inge Leonora-den Ouden wrote:Added note: for gardening work I like 'coveralls', the kind of suit that covers all my other clothes. It has several advantages (keeps clothes clean, can be worn over as much or as little clothes as needed in every season).

I was surprised to read a couple women in this thread decrying that their coveralls don't fit them well.  A lot of women wear coveralls; there must be companies selling them in women's sizes, no?

Mk Neal wrote:I think I speak for many women when I say this poll is missing my most accurate answer “with my hips.”

I think that should fit within the "proper waist size" category, yes?