Anthony Powell

Ra Kenworth wrote:I grow mine from seed and it didn't ask how many already fruiting and there's a big discrepancy

Edit:
I only have 2 acres so everything must be small.

Over a dozen apple trees from seed but none are bearing fruit yet and it has been 8 years. I might get a backhoe in next year and if so, relocate them. The spot has grown over and now I have a better spot for them

The 2 Hawthorne which I thought were apples for years are beginning to fruit!

Ra: I've grown apple pips too. Having a much smaller plot than you, I've got to restrict the size of them. Two pairs were growing close, so I've been training and pruning - the leader of one to run down the trunk of its neighbour, and vice versa. Growing downwards is reckoned to encourage flowering, and 1.5 years after the work, one of the plants flowered and fruited on the down-growing wood. Hopefully others will produce this year.

Otherwise, I've 4 old trees from when we moved here: Kidd's Orange Pippin, Ingrid Marie, Annie Elizabeth, and Wallace Street my own seedling on own roots, not too large and fruiting nicely. A seedling came up that dropped its small fruit early - that's commandeered for grafting onto, so that's got Wisley Crab on it. Then a raft of small trees that I've grafted with interesting and tasty trees from the local area, mostly feral seedlings.

Jen Anderson wrote:I live in the desert where plantain and others are not always at hand.  I have a bee allergy that requires an Epipen and trips to the emergency room.  I started putting clay mud on the bites.  The clay would dry and suck out the poison and all I needed was two days of benadryl.  Using clay has allowed me to live in a very remote area as a beekeeper and not die!!  Woohoo!  I carry a form of clay mask with me that I purchase online because of how quickly I need to apply it, just in case I am not near a clay deposit.  I still keep Epipens handy just in case...

You may be able to purchase a clay-based cat litter, marked as 'clumping'. It needs a good bit of hydrating to get it anything like clay, probably help to crush it first.
Does the dry desert air help the clay to dry out, or is body heat enough? I'm thinking of the cool, humid UK climate... Thanks for the tip!

I don't know if non-Brits can pick up this excellent BBC doc, 3x1 hour programmes: BBC Royal Institute lectures
Some relevant points:
We have the inate ability, like other animals but often/easily overridden, so decide how much of what food we need.
We need a mixture of protein sources - animal proteins have all the essential amino acids, ones we can make ourselves and ones we can't. Plant proteins - we need a mixture of plants to get all the essential amino acids.
We need a range of fats, they're not all equal.
We need fibre to help our microbiome, we need water. A goat has a monumental gut biodiversity relative to the best human - it gets a lot of value from its crude vegetable diet as a result. Enough fibre and liquid helps get the residue out.
Beware processed food. They make it delicious and easily digested - in our mouths we feel 'this is good', but while an unprocessed item gives our gut time to tell us 'enough', that limit is easily exceeded with processed food. An awful lot of which is derived from maize, purified to leave just the calories.
How much energy we need has nothing (or very little) to do with physical activity - computer work or hunter-gatherer, the same. But the sedentary person will be putting more energy into tackling stress and other side-effects.

Christopher Weeks wrote:

Ulla Bisgaard wrote:...If you have a healthy soil full of nutrients, then your plants will also be full of nutrients...

Maybe. I've been wondering though, the more I look at alternatives. Here's an interesting ten minutes:

My thoughts - plants that have been mollycoddled - in monocultures, no competition, no pests or diseases, maybe no real sunlight, will be bigger - but lack all those vitamins etc that help their wilder versions - to push through competition, fend off enemies, protect agains solar radiation. What helped them can help us.

r ranson wrote:A traditional pudding lasts 13 months at room temperature.  So, one a month?  
I was eating my practice puddings well into spring.

I've eaten bought Christmas puds 10 or more YEARS old! Made with palm oil though.
Has anyone tried these recipes cooked in a microwave, to save on energy?
While living in London bakeries sold a dense cake called bread pudding, made from yesterday's unsold bread etc, soaked in water, with added fruit and spices. Very like a Christmas pud but baked.

Some early washing machines had a small mangle (as that's called - in the UK at least) attached

Leigh Tate wrote:

Timothy Norton wrote:I just stumbled upon this thread, I was wondering how this has worked out for you now that it has been some time.

Any learnings?

It didn't thrive like I hoped it would, and I think for two reasons. I think my biggest problem (and hence the biggest lesson learned) was from not actually digging holes for the roots of the clumps I transplanted. I relied on tucking them into the the slope of the ground on the uphill side and covering the downhill side with leaves, like mulch. So, once our dry summer hit, I lost quite a bit of it.

The other problem was that the goats still had access and grazed them down quite a bit.

Edit to add one more thing. I didn't have a way to irrigate them, which I think would have helped tremendously.

Some of the clumps survived, but most didn't make it. Still, I'm glad I gave it a try because I learned some things. I'd like to try it again this winter, hopefully with a better survival rate.

There are loads of species of grass. Could it be that you were planting a meadow species where you wanted one for sloping woodland? Yes, they're tricky to identify even when in flower. You'll need a good ID book from a US (if you're US) botanical society, or equivalent

The older kit would have been a dolly tub and posser (2 styles of posser here) -
A washboard for stubborn dirt, grimy collars and sleeves, metal or glass, as used with thimbles by jug bands - Wikipedia
Some have rectified a modern washing machine, ditched the motor and connected to a static bicycle. Might get enough speed up to spin dry - use the gears and forget the big wheel that the belt ran on.
In Victorian times they'd grate a block of soap into the mix, until some wise guy reckoned they could sell you a lot less soap by pre-grating it and putting it in a big box.
Or you could use wood ashes. Leave them in the rain and collect the leachate - lots of potassium hydroxide. Not for hand laundry. I reckon this works best with clothes that have been used everyday and are due their annual wash, so plenty of grease to combine with the alkali

Thekla McDaniels wrote:I think, in varying degrees, human beings also have senses beyond what our culture recognizes. We are trained not to believe they are real, and we are not encouraged to develop these abilities into useful skills.

Believing this, of course, I believe animals can sense things. Whether they have knowledge prior to the event unfolding or whether they become aware of it sooner than we do, through more sensitive senses, who can say?

This session on Oxford Real Farming Conference's 2022 programme had me riveted - it shows how humans can connect on a different - er, dimension?    (1.5 hours)
Animals, wild and farm if they have the range of plants available, can self-medicate. How do they know what to use? Even chimps/bonobos can choose the plant for their ailment. Are we missing on 'listening' to an inbuilt talent?
Dogs apparently detect cancer and other diseases by smell.

Gravel comes from somewhere, and is often from natural sources, so has effects. Demolition waste is also something that shouldn't be, not in the quantities currently available: buildings should be used, looked after, maintained, repurposed - standard pyramid of recycling - before careful dismantling and reuse of components.
Others have mentioned transport. Have words with your local skip supplier?
On site, gravel travels. It can walk out of your drive onto the road, or get itself into adjacent areas of your site. If you haven't already got gravel in your soil, it'll start interfering with your spadework. If you choose to get rid, it'll be contaminated with soil.
Most gravel is a pig to cycle on. Even some cyclable routes in our local park were a problem - sand particles got picked up by my front tyre and sprayed onto the cables running under my bottom bracket, causing them to wear out.
Of course, there are issues with other materials!