Rusty Shackleford

I haven't yet, though I plan to make some garum once the weather stays warm here in VA ( an unusually cool April it's been...)
The vat depicted is no five gallon bucket. Images of nuoc mam....distilleries? ...fermenteries? ...factorys?... whatever they're called, show that these barrels are large - 100 gallons or more - and sit out in the open to be warmed by the sun. I wasn't able to find a smaller version. I do recall that a high school teacher who *ahem*... "toured" Vietnam... described a fish sauce being made from an open-air mesh bag of fish with the drippings being collected underneath, rather than a fermentation vessel. I haven't seen anything to corroborate this account though. I've got to pick up the fish the next time I visit the ethnic grocery... I'll post an update, but will be using info from Christianne Muuser's page: http://www.coquinaria.nl/english/recipes/garum.htm

Great effort Victore, please continue to share throughout the seasons! Have a look at the bottom of this page http://www.carolinanature.com/plants/ for some books about plants in our general area.
also, check this yurt out, it's in your neck of the woods. https://www.facebook.com/ncyurt
Cheers

We had some cold weather a couple of nights back - down to the frost point. Killed some of my basil > , but didn't seem to spur the mushrooms into pinning out. Trichoderma remains in bloom, especially on the ends of the logs. Things look like spring here, with only a couple more nights of 0 degree weather. My other option is to let the logs in contact with the ground, to maintain moisture.

I was able to find info on bamboo as a rebar substitute (it works, apparently) but nothing immediately about it as an aggregate. Check out this text: Material For Sustainable Sites - Meg Calkins Page 425-7 in particular. It's written a textbook, but doesn't offer citation for some of the topics covered (the historian in me reels at this)

Neat tool. All those listed have VERY (<1000mi usually) low mileage, but are 'inoperable' whatever that means. Shame there's not a more specific explanation, but I guess you could ask.

In a recent excavation of a Boston privy, about 250,000 stone fruit pits (mostly cherry) found in Katherine Nanny Naylor's 17th century privy. The archaeology team believes the cherries were added fresh. I firmly believe they were being used to keep the system in balance. Does anyone have experience using fruit pits in a system? They obviously didn't break down too readily [see pic] Pits are a frequent find in middens and privies, even when charred.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=502387639870767&set=a.162363967206471.32442.162330280543173&type=1&relevant_count=1

I actually used to live in Boone. I always had mixed feelings about the area.
There are some great attributes to it, notably the proximity to forested parks/ the Appalachian trail,
regional type stuff like apple festivals, music, etc.
There was a growing "makers" fair which had quality products.
Good farmer's market,
some interesting places to eat (Melanie's is the only place I would bother naming).
They have a homebrew supply (of course it opened after I left...figures :p).

Property is tricky from many angles. NB:
College puts a lot of pressure on the town, always buying, or claiming eminent domain on properties (what else is new).
Rent is high.
Mountain folk/ old timers/ natives can be hit-or-miss. Some are okay with alternative lifestyles, many/most aren't. This complicates voting matters substantially.
The town gov't, is shady as well. The Democrats in the area have had the monopoly for a long time, but that is eroding. It sounds like the republicans aren't going to be any better. Real Estate barons hold significant sway and in-town, many zoning issues came up (a neighbor rented a triplex to courteous tenants. She almost lost the property because of false "loud noise' reports and falsified police evidence. Preemptive paperwork was being filed by a larger property buyer who was friends with the UDO chair.... that sort of thing)
In short, lots of growing pains for a vacation,college,retirement community
Short growing season.
Relative isolation from interstates (I travelled frequently, and regardless, it's slow going to get to Asheville, Charlotte, or more civilised TN) and a lot of growing pains for those living in-town or affected by its governance. Avoid Pottertown, Meatcamp, and to a lesser extent, Bethel (though there is viable, open land in these areas). Hard to articulate it, but it'd be tough for an outsider.

The area splits 2nd & 3rd vacation home types ($$$$) with pseudo-hippies, college faculty and students, regular folks, etc. (not so much $). Genuine folks are scattered about though, to be sure.
Low-paying jobs are quickly snatched up because of the students, career track positions are a little more scarce.
I'm just shotgunning some of the salient points I observed as a resident (2002-2012) If you have ANY interest in the area, please ask me anything

Thanks for catching that, John. Wish I could edit for clarity, I was going from memory.

After I removed the logs from their bucket of water, I noticed a fine white growth on the cut ends of both logs. Keeping a sceptical eye on them, they did turn out to be Trichoderma bloom. Scraping it off, and carrying them to our screened porch to get some fresh air. Things are cooling off now and I wonder if these 40F nights, coupled with the initial saturation, might stir up a fruiting. Even if it just knocks back the Trich, I'll be happy

drake schutt wrote:...
Who even knows if plants uptake BPA? Or if it's bio-magnified up the food chain?

one source from last year: Uptake and accumulation of four PPCP/EDCs in two leafy vegetables.
Dodgen LK1, Li J, Parker D, Gan JJ.

Abstract
Many pharmaceutical and personal care products (PPCPs) and endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) are present in reclaimed water, leading to concerns of human health risks from the consumption of food crops irrigated with reclaimed water. This study evaluated the potential for plant uptake and accumulation of four commonly occurring PPCP/EDCs, i.e., bisphenol A (BPA), diclofenac sodium (DCL), naproxen (NPX), and 4-nonylphenol (NP), by lettuce (Lactuca sativa) and collards (Brassica oleracea) in hydroponic culture, using (14)C-labeled compounds. In both plant species, plant accumulation followed the order of BPA > NP > DCL > NPX and accumulation in roots was much greater than in leaves and stems. Concentrations of (14)C-PPCP/EDCs in plant tissues ranged from 0.22 ± 0.03 to 927 ± 213 ng/g, but nearly all (14)C-residue was non-extractable. PPCP/EDCs, particularly BPA and NP, were also extensively transformed in the nutrient solution. Dietary uptake of these PPCP/EDCs by humans was predicted to be negligible.

source: Environ Pollut. 2013 Nov;182:150-6. doi: 10.1016/j.envpol.2013.06.038. Epub 2013 Jul 31

This question posed by William Van Cotthem is an extended dicussion about a post from his own blog. A followup post can be found here.

A key point, IMO:

John Chater · University of California, Riverside ...
BPA is a relatively large (and nonpolar) molecule compared to the ions that plants typically take up (K+, N03-, Mg++, ect.), so I do not think that the plant will take up the BPA (which has two phenol groups in the structure), so there is theoretically no way for the soil's BPA to get into the crop. Which crops are you interested in?

Remember, all materials need to pass through the Casparian strip in order to make through the root's endodermis and into the vasculature. [emphasis mine]