Jonathan de Revonah

Donna Lynn wrote:Had to upvote Jonathan's post, not because of the song or Brak (whatever THAT creepy thing is...) but because ---- SPACE GHOST!!!   Haven't seen him since I was a little kid watching Saturday morning cartoons in suburbia in the '60s.  

I’ve never even seen the show, but when I was a kid, my buddy and I would listen to this CD and thought it was hysterical. It’s just a bunch of silly songs 😆

https://www.amazon.com/Space-Ghosts-Surf-Turf-Tiki-Torched/dp/B000009NJA

Mk Neal wrote:I did not end up trying it again this year, I grew a different variety of corn that had little wimpy stalks that did not look worth the effort.

Thanks for sharing the resources, good to see this really was a thing people used to do!

There’s not too much to be found online about this. I did come across this brief post:

https://fermentpittsburgh.com/2022/08/20/making-old-fashioned-corn-syrup/

I wonder if one of the giant varieties that take forever for the cobs to mature would be good for this, such as a silage corn like Shumway’s Goliath. I’d imagine the stalks would be massive at 15’ tall and most of the sugar would be circulating throughout the stalk before becoming concentrated in the corn cobs when they mature. I’m guessing you’d want to harvest the stalks before the kernels are at the milk stage. There’s probably even a science to the flow that would make it advantageous to harvest in the morning vs. the evening, etc. It would be interesting to know more about this. It’s amazing that this plant can be used in so many different ways.

On a more serious note, apparently both the American Indians and American colonists practiced this…

https://minuteman.boards.net/thread/978/another-stupid-question-corn?page=2

Mk Neal wrote:This got me thinking that maybe I could use the corn stalks for syrup, like sugar cane or sorghum.

Mk Neal, Did you attempt this again this year?

Do you think sweet corn would have sweeter stalks?

Have you seen this video? It belongs here 🤣

Timothy Norton wrote:How interesting, I stumbled upon a video right on this subject! It looks like they are still early in their build of a true modern steam tractor but folks are exploring it. I'm interested in the idea of 'lightweight' steam boilers as the systems I am used to are huge in scale.

I found this video through the one you linked. It looks promising.

Steve Zoma wrote:With a society with no oil, neither my tractor of that homemade one will operate.

I know that this is just one of many issues you pointed out, but are there no plant-based oils that could serve as a suitable substitute?

I have absolutely no knowledge or expertise in this field. I just thought it was “cool.” 🤣 Thank you to all of the experts chiming in on the challenges of such an idea. I appreciate the discussion.

Fossils fuels are a limited resource. Firewood is renewable. We always tend to look “forward” in terms of technology, but perhaps we should be looking backward for solutions in the past? How cool would it be if every homestead had a steam-powered tractor to which you could attach various steam-powered implements such as the chainsaw in this video?! I think a half-tracked version would be even better than 4-wheels, but check this out:



How awesome! Kickstarter, anyone?

Mark Reed wrote:Just another little video about my sweet potatoes.

Last Winter I kept some sweet potato vines alive inside, but I also had trouble with spider mites. I’d have alternating battles with spider mites (when things got to dry) and fungus gnats (when things got too moist). I had some success with a ZEVO light trap (for the gnats) as well as spraying a very dilute solution of ZEVO insect spray (for both gnats and spider mites). I also sprayed diluted H2O2 and diluted Dr. Bronner’s peppermint Castile soap. There was never a point of total victory. The plants really just needed to get out in the sunlight so they could grow faster than the pests were doing damage and so beneficial predatory insects could eat the bad guys. Some of the plants looked pretty rough before the weather was warm enough to get them outside.

Very interesting that you discovered this mutation. I’m hoping you’ll be successful at keeping both parts of the plant alive and I’m curious to see your results next year.