Inge Leonora-den Ouden

Coydon Wallham wrote: ...
I came back to correct myself about the scarcity of said strawberries. I wandered off to investigate some deer snorts a few days ago and found myself in a patch full of wild strawberries. I think there are two 'tricks' to foraging these- one, they ripen during what is normally the height of mosquito season around here, so I'm not spending much time just wandering around outside at this point. However, the mozzies seem to be thinning out early this year so I wasn't adverse to taking the time to investigate this. Second, it helps to get your head down a little and look sideways to see the berries under the leaves, for being bright red they don't pop out much just walking directly over them. I suspect this may be partly because any that do grow out from under the leaf cover are visible to birds and are snatched up at the first sign of colour change.

I might actually say these are more flavourful than domesticated strawberries, but that might just be the fresh picked vs. store shelf phenomena...

I have real wild strawberries growing in my front yard (got a plant from someone who got a plant from someone ... etc.). And yes, I only notice the tiny red fruits when I bend down, or even sit on the ground, so I can look at the underside. There they hide!
Their taste is incomparable to any store-bought strawberry, even the organic strawberries right from the grower. Flavourful indeed.

Here sometimes a tomato plant comes as a volunteer (once even in the public lawn in front of my garden). But they appear too late in the season. Even the tomatoes I pre-seed indoors early in the year struggle to get all of their fruits ripe.

I grow them from the seeds I collect (from some of the ripe fruits). The plant I originally bought was called 'wild tomato'. It has bunches of small fruits. The ripe fruits are yellow, but they aren't all ripe at the same time. They have a good taste, not at all sweet (so they are not cherry tomatoes).

I use the ripe fruits in salads. With the green ones I make 'green tomato chutney'.

Reminder for myself: I want to make a free food-and-other-things stand. The wood to build it is already mostly here ...

Tesla Truck ... Have you see this one?

J. Adams wrote:The book, "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain" addresses how most people "see" using their left brain. The author gives you exercises to see through the use of your right brain, and it's amazing what's in front of you that you never noticed before. Long ago, the new idea of a left brain and right brain was somewhat over simplified and they were treated as almost completely different organs. Then it was discovered that both sides of the brain actually share many of the same systems that are all operating at once, so the idea of "left brain and right brain" was debunked. But then later, the debunk was undebunked, because even though both sides have many of the same systems going at the same time, each side is still highly specialized in how it uses those same systems.

Many years ago I discovered a Dutch translation of that book (it must have been in the 1980s). It helped me 'draw what I see' (and see what I look at). Drawing/sketching became much more motivating and I do it ever since then.  
I don't mind if this 'left and right brain' is scientifically correct, but no matter how you call it, it works!

Matthew Nistico wrote:

Inge Leonora-den Ouden wrote:Most of the time I drink only water. It's from the tap, but boiled first and then cooled down. Not cooled in the fridge, I don't like it that cold. I prefer 'room temperature', or even 'body temperature'. If I don't forget I add a little 'sea' salt (Atlantic ocean, from France).

Do you have unreliably safe tap water in the Netherlands?  I would be very surprised.  Why do you boil it first?  To me that always makes for "dead tasting" water.  If you want to eliminate chlorine, I think that can be achieved with sufficient hours of passive evaporation.

1. Yes I think the drinking water here is fairly good. There is no chlorine in it.
2. I don't boil it because I think that's needed. It's just the leftover boiled water from the electric kettle, after making coffee, I pour in my glass to drink. To me it doesn't taste different.

Everything that's 'textile' I like to make it myself, so I like to mend it too (because I made it myself). But also if I didn't make it myself. And when at last it isn't 'mendable', it's still 'cloth' I can use in other projects.

I think I inherited this frugality with textiles from both my parents. My mother never threw away anything that was stil useable or wearable. She wasn't very good at hand crafts, but mending and darning she did. My grandmother (my father's mother) was a really good hand-crafter, always busy making something.

Maybe that's what I like most about bicycle rides: looking around and see what you're passing by. Especially while I'm riding a bike path through nature (the kind the Netherlands is known for).

I think it's more difficult while driving a car, because then you need to participate in the traffic while you're going fast. I mean faster than a bicycle.

Maybe when walking it's even easier.

Most of the time I drink only water. It's from the tap, but boiled first and then cooled down. Not cooled in the fridge, I don't like it that cold. I prefer 'room temperature', or even 'body temperature'. If I don't forget I add a little 'sea' salt (Atlantic ocean, from France).

I do drink my water kefir, but only one glass a day. Not against the thirst, but for the probiotics.

I saw there was one reply I gave 6 years ago. Since then I have done (and am doing) more fermenting.
- There's the water kefir. Some years ago a friend gave me a small jar of it to start with. Ever since then I have it going on, feeding it new water with sugar and dried apricots every other day, so I can have the probiotic drink it made (I mix in a little fruit syrup/cordial). When I go away for more than two days I put it in the fridge. It's easy to revive.
- There's garlic honey, made with the first garlic I harvested this season. It's only one small jar, so I'll only use it when I feel I really need it.
- Two jars of 'kimchi' (made without a recipe, using a mix of vegetables and spices) are in the fridge now, so the fermenting won't go on any longer.
- And I have lemon-with-salt. Although it's more salty, I think it's fermented. I use small bits (half teaspoon) of it in salads.