Willow.
Medicinal, good climbing tree, and indicates presence of groundwater.
Can be used for firewood.
Can be used to grow living fences.
Can be used to quickly make a low quality bow, a fishtrap, or a basket.
I have had some success with sewer-foot friends by convincing them to stop wearing plastic/polyester socks and shoes.
Cotton socks + Goretex shoes are best.
Leather shoes are already a major improvement over plastic.
If that doesn't work I will recommend baking soda.
Rebecca Norman wrote:I've got an update to my posts above. I got pure lanolin and have found it to be the best yet. Yes, it's very stiff and sticky when you rub it on, especially in cold conditions, but it seems to soak into my skin quickly, and doesn't seem to leave greasy fingerprints around like some other natural products have done. Best of all, I've used nothing but lanolin, on my face, hands and feet, for six months in the desert, and it works really well, better than anything I've ever tried. It doesn't lead to rough cracking skin after a couple of weeks, the way natural oils have done for me.
Lanolin works fine for me as well.
Olive oil too.
Olive oil requires a regular hygiene rhythm because rancid olive oil stinks.
I have insufficient structure in my day to risk that.
In my limited experience, grape and kiwi work well together.
The kiwi won't grow at it's best speed, but the grape will protect it from strong winds and excessive sun.
The grape doesn't even notice the kiwi, if anything it grows better because of it.
I also had passionfruit growing through them both that did very good as well.
One element that certainly helped all three was a short (0,6 meter) thick (0,35m) brick wall protecting them from the wind and storing heat.
I no longer live in that house but I visited it recently and was glad to see the new owners kept the plants.
They are absolutely dominating, that short stretch of garden fence (4-5m) is a clearly visible landmark.
If the new owners don't trim it people won't be able to use the sidewalk anymore.
I think another big factor is more variation in food.
When you don't think about what you eat, you tend to default to a limited selection of comfortable and easy options.
So when you start paying attention to what you eat, by either eating more organic for example, you automatically buy and prepare more varied foodstuffs.
I know it is common knowledge, but it bears repeating: A varied diet is a healthy diet.
I'm not saying there is nothing wrong with factory processed food, I just don't think it is the only factor and we should always keep an eye open for additional or alternative explanations.
Reginald Ret wrote:
The vaccine thing I'm not going to respond to because what I want to say will get me banned.
Everyone is welcome to share their opinions here, so long as it's done in a nice way and adhered to the publishing standards. So maybe just consider it an exercise in wording things appropriately.
Thanks, that is good advice but yesterday I was not in the right mindset to do so nicely.
I should try later, because it is an important topic to me that touches many other topics important to me.
Madeleine Innocent wrote:To get permanent relief, it would be best if you consulted a homeopath. OTC homeopathic remedies do have limited abilities because the causes may not be being addressed. Most allergies are caused by vaccines, so your history needs to be thoroughly gone into.
Don't waste a penny on homeopathy. A treatment should have at least some plausible means by which it could work. The idea that vaccines cause your allergies is also unsubstantiated. Allergies existed long before there were vaccines. It's your body reacting to the pollen and chemicals that plants naturally produce.
Seconded.
Homeopathy's lousy theoretical foundation means that any claim it works had better come with a link to research supporting the claim.
If it is not supported, I will ignore you.
If the supporting link is has flaws I will point them out.
To be fair, quite a lot of people who call themselves homeopaths often use naturopathic treatments (with active ingredients in detectable concentrations!) so I will try not to make assumptions.
Sleepdeprivation makes it so I can't tell if my tone is too harsh, if it is I apologize for the tone.
I won't apologize for implying that homeopathy is silly though.
The vaccine thing I'm not going to respond to because what I want to say will get me banned.
Ross Hunter wrote: Being easily offended is not a good thing.
I think it is important to keep in mind that everyone has a different level of sensitivity and that is okay. Some people are offended by things because it hurts them or it would hurt someone else and because of their high level of sensitivity and empathy, it hurts them. Just because you can't "understand such sensitivity" doesn't mean that it isn't a real thing for people and that they need to change so that you can understand them.
I think you are responding to something that was not said.
Saying that something is not good, is not the same as saying that something is bad. Neutral still exists
When I respond that way it is usually because my previous experiences have conditioned me to expect a negative experience is coming my way.
Could that be the case here?
Highly sensitive and empathic people can still choose to use words that cause short-term pain or discomfort.
That choice could have good and bad reasons.
One example of each:
"Using this common word in an inoffensive way and in a safe setting could desensitize my friend, making it easier for her to have conversations with people who are not aware of her sensibilities."
"The constant pressure of being surrounded by too many people with too many feelings is draining, so I will be a dick to make them leave me alone. (Also, I suck at communicating my wishes.)"
I have done versions of both and I think you should too.
(just kidding! you do you.)
This might be a good thread to work on an easy how-to guide for collecting data.
I think we should try to aim for a balance between easy to follow and accuracy.
Similar to a lab logbook, my proposal to get the discussion started:
Needed per individual:
A way to easily take notes (I always have a pen and notebook on me)
A project
Later on we will need for the whole group:
A central place to collect and sort the data
Method:
Write down the goal of your project.
Write down location & date.
Write down at least 3 traits that you think may be relevant, (more is better).
Write down the results.
Example:
Proposal Try to cross strawberry (Fragraria _ unknown species) with mock strawberry (Potentilla indica) by planting them in close proximity.
Goal Tasty mock strawberries.
Info Almere, Flevoland, The Netherlands. april - july 2016
Soil with high sand content and a bit of clay.
Drainage of the soil is too strong so it dries out quickly.
Plenty of sun.
Protected from the wind by a 2,5m wooden fence all around the garden.
Mock strawberry plant was transplanted with plenty of very good soil from a different part of the garden.
Real strawberry plant was a gift, it came with a small amount medium quality soil.
Results Mock strawberry is doing very well and spreading very far with plenty of fruit.
It is doing a bit better than the mock strawberries on the other side of the garden.
It still tastes like water though.
Real strawberry is alive and healthy, but not spreading out and has no fruit.
End of Example.
As you can see, it doesn't have to be a well thought out or well executed experiment as long as it is well documented.
I kinda cheated here because i wrote this from memory, maybe that should be noted as well?
It would be even better with a day to day log.
Once plenty of these experiments have been registered, a simple targeted meta-analysis could lead to interesting results.
