Thekla McDaniels

Yoga nidra has alleviated lifeee long insomnia.  Both falling asleep and staying asleep.  It’s an ancient practice, like other yoga disciplines.  And it is like a guided meditation.  There’s a woman on apple podcasts ad free and no cost.  Yoga Nidra and beyond.  There are others, she is my favorite.  If you search Ayla Nova or Nova Nidra anyone of them should find her.

I use my phone to play it, so it won’t work for those without some kind of internet access.

Other important considerations, get early and late daylight into your eyes.  Do NOT turn the light on at night, you need darkness in the night to keep your body’s sleep cycle undisturbed.  Sleep at the same time every night.  If you wake in the night and you seem like you’re going to be tossing and turning, get out of bed, go sit somewhere, develop a routine to perform, often times you will be able to go back to sleep.  That one is a matter of training.

There are a few podcasts that are supposed to put you to sleep, if you find you don’t take to yoga nidra.  The nice thing about YN is that after using it nightly (and if I woke in the night as well) for 18 months, I rarely have insomnia anymore!  

Comfrey topically if the skin is intact.

I use both comfrey and aloe,

But I bet the sunburn that inspired the OP to post is long healed.

Sounds like a plan!

Will you have enough seeds?  We have a few apple presses in the region because we have commercial apple orchards and cider makers. They probably press literally tons and tons of apples. I am thinking I might hit them up for seeds next fall.  I hope the seeds survive the pressing process!

Good luck to you on this project, Joshua.  I’m going to try something similar at my place!

I had a tea cozy when I had a teapot 😊

I loved it.  Now I don’t use a teapot, so no need for a cozy.

I don’t even try to keep things in my kitchen  cleared away, wiped down or covered.  I use the same bowl for multiple meals, same pan for making my herb blend, same jar for drinking.  Usually and when compatible, I reuse the butter knife, mixing bowl etc.

I do full clean up with some regularity, and if you are coming over for dinner, or I have a big project and need things cleared away to start, then I clean, pick up and put away.

But generally my attitude is “there’s lots more room on this counter!”

I do remember when this attitude revealed itself, more than 40 years ago.  Married, our friends were coming over, and I was getting ready to vacuum the living room.  The carpet didn’t look dirty.  I thought of all the shoes coming in and how they would shed the dirt they were carrying, thought how I would be needing to vacuum again the day after the party.  I laughed out loud at the idea.  I exclaimed as I put the vacuum away, “There’s lots more room for dirt on this floor.”🤣

And back to the kitchen:  my children were very small, a 3y o and a 4 month baby, I was single, we had been on an outdoor adventure of some kind.  On entering the small kitchen I observed on every horizontal surface things were stacked two and three layers high.  My first reaction was guilt and shame.  

Then as with the vacuuming, I laughed out loud, and said “Just think of all the fun we had while this was all piling up!”

While raising my wonderful children I did keep the house clean and tidy, and they helped.  In group situations that makes more sense.  The next user deserves a clear space!  Now, living alone, and doing my best to become an eccentric old woman, I am always the next user, and the clear space was a while ago, and I can have a new clear space when ever I want it.

Back on topic, I have made many tea cozies.  I made them for my own teapots, and to sell at crafrshows.  Always the same way:  I knit them.  

Great topic!  Thanks

As for pruning, I liked the idea noted above that the trees get interplanted among taller trees, maybe evergreens. (But maximize the light they receive)

I would also try planting them way thicker, closer together, than you want them.  If it’s seeds, they will germinate, the “strongest” will grow better one way or another, they will self identify.  If they are trying to get to the light, they will be straight and likely without many side branches.  You would want to thin them at some point, but still trying for the closed canopy formed by your timber.

When you prune, you throw away some of the tree’s effort.  I prune for shape in the winter and for size in the summer.

In the fall when the tree goes dormant, it sends all its sap under ground, in storage for next year.  All winter it remembers how big a tree it is/was.  In the spring it sends its life sap up to reinhabit the trunk and branches.  If you have removed a majority of wood mass it grows watersprouts and root suckers and what ever it can because it has a certain amount of sap to utilize.

In the summer, you can cut major branches off without the waterspouts etc, because you have removed that much sap with the branch.

That’s how I remember when and how much to prune.  

In the case of growing timber, which is going to be a major time investment, i would want the trees to grow as much as possible, and not deprive the trees of the products of their growth unless absolutely necessary.

I wonder about crabapples.  There are plenty of seeds available!  They used to be food,  crabapple jelly, pickled crabapples, and crabapples in cider.  If they are closely enough related , the wood might be the same.

Seedlings on their own roots will develop a taproot.  From what I understand, grafted trees and trees from cuttings do not have the taproot, and the roots do not support as viable and robust or deep root system.

It’s worth some looking into!

The idea of coppicing keeps coming up.  I had the idea the OP was interested in timber production.

A person might inadvertently coppice when harvesting timber, and enter a new realm of applewood production, but for board feet production I think the idea of a near closed canopy and single trunk per tree is going to best at producing usable lumber.  

Possibly when the trees are headed skyward, a person might thin the stand.  

Standard varieties of apple can be quite  tall.  

When I think about what a long term project this is, finding good varieties, researching most successful growing methods, it seems a wonderful gift to the future.

Joe Klerekoper wrote:I'm just learning about comfrey so a few questions. How does it improve the soil around fruit trees? Is is just leaving the leaves as they die for compost or does it do something else for the soil. My place is mostly woods but I have a garden, some fruit trees and a large grass area that I use for a burn pile as I clear trees and brush. I'm sure I can find some places to plant comfrey that I won't have to worry about it getting out of control. Would like to use some as compost greens, but does it help the fruit trees if I just leave it natural around them?  I'm in zone 7b

What I know about comfrey.  It does do something beyond providing mass for decomposition.  As a “bioaccumulator” it absorbs particular minerals out of the soil, which provides those minerals to surrounding plants as they decompose.

Comfrey has mucilagenous roots.  In moist conditions, if a root is wounded there is an exudate which promotes healing, as medicine for people and livestock and for its own roots.

Comfrey has allantoin, I don’t know if it’s in leaves and roots or concentrated in just one or the other.

Worms have grown in abundance next to comfrey roots in my gardens, promoting soil aggregates.  (The highly desirable cottage cheese appearance of soil, which indicates that the soil will allow water to soak in).

I think if you mow or cut the comfrey it will be more beneficial for soil development and adjacent trees.  This is because cutting back stimulates the plant to provide root exudates for soil bacteria and fungi.  The fungi carry nutrients to the roots of the comfrey plants.  The bacteria produce ?is it called glomulin? a gluey substance which also contributes to the production of soil aggregates.  But if you don’t have time to cut it down, don’t worry!

Comfrey promotes the soil food web.

Comfrey does fabulous things for the soil!

As for whether it’s good right up next to trees, I cannot say.  Someone posted above problems with creating habitat for rodents that eat bark.

Apples do indeed grow tall.  There are apple forests in the part of the world where they originated.

Most of the variation in size and growth habit in commercial apples is due to the root stock.

You would want tough disease resistant varieties.

Monocropping apples has allowed maybe even enhanced the development of apple afflictions.  I don’t know if there are apple afflictions which affect the wood or rate of growth.

Have you thought of a polyculture of other timber hardwoods?  I don’t know if black walnut suppresses apple growth but that is another premium wood.  Apricot and cherry also provide premium hardwood.  I just have to add one more to my list of possible trees to grow, siberian elm.

So, let me say this idea of not monocropping is based on conjecture only.  And my list of possible trees is a list of beautiful premium hardwoods.  I know nothing about their compatibility in polyculture with apples.

I like the idea of growing some timber.  I might copy you!😊

Use new cat litter!  Unscented and containing no additives to deodorize.  Get a small amount to see if it is clay or clay coated.  The ingredients label should just say clay!

Prepare it in advance if it’s for use in emergency situations.  

Seems like potters clay would be a lot easier than cat litter with its various claims and mystery ingredients.

Potters clay comes moist or powdered.