Inge Leonora-den Ouden

Donna Lynn wrote:I love these holders secured with a stick.  The nice thing is that you can make them yourself from leather, stiff fabric, metal, or recycled plastic if you're into that sort of thing.  The sticks are nice made out of wood or metal.  You can cut a simple strip of leather, or tool metal into a bun-shape to fit your volume of hair.  You can design and decorate it to make it feminine, masculine, or plain and functional.  It can hold a ponytail, a bun, or that in-between thing where you gather a ponytail, then twist it and fold it up and clip it all to the back of your head.

Such a thing I have too, made of leather and wood.

I found out leather in general is very useful to tie hair. If you cut long narrow strips of buckskin (or chamois) you can use them as hair ties, for a pony tail, a bun, or (a) braid(s). I do this because I re-enact neolithicum (late stone age), when probably the most used material was leather. Most plant-based materials are too slippery, in my hair they don't stay in for long enough.

For ordinary daily use I have elastic bands too, the kind made to tie hair (the elastic stuff is hidden in a woven cotton-like material).

Sorry, Paul, I'll speak of earwigs. I'm sorry you're a little traumatised because of what happened when you were camping...

It was interesting to hear 'earwigs' are called like that because they like to be in (and eat) ears of corn. But it's strange then that also in Dutch they are called 'oorwurmen' (ear worms), while an 'ear of corn' isn't called an 'oor' (ear) but a '(maïs)kolf'. So in Dutch the ear has nothing to do with the corn.

I think in Montana there are not that many earwigs. They like a more humid climate.

The way I know 'wetlands' is because of the large national nature park I live close-by: 'Weerribben-Wieden'. It's exactly what's defined by Raven Ranson here. There are some larger bodies of water, but most of it is 'soil saturated with water' and 'plants called hydrophytes'. In the less wet areas there is agricultural land too, almost all of it pastures with cows or sheep. There are many ditches to lead the water away.

Ned Harr wrote:Now something is eating the leaves of my grape plant. Not sure what to do about that...

Is it really bad, or only some holes in leaves?
In the last case: don't worry.

When I was young I had English lessons at school. These lessons were meant for Dutch children (in the Netherlands) so they could read English literature, or go on a trip to England/Scotland. So I learned UK English.

From this forum (and some other social media) I learn more USA English, and some Canadian and Australian too. I can understand there are so many different words in different regions. It's the same with Dutch from the Netherlands and Dutch ('Flemish') from Belgium. But still it's difficult.

I hope you all do your best to be clear for foreigners. If it's a name of a plant or animal, please mention the Latin name too. If it's a dish, or an ingredient in a recipe, maybe you can give a description, or mention the name in 'the other English' too.

Devin Lavign wrote:Sad part in clothing it is hard to find 100% natural fibers in clothes. Often cuffs, tags, and stitching are synthetic without them saying. If a cuff is stretchy it is likely synthetic rather than natural no mater what the tag says. This happens in "wool" socks a lot of times.

....

You are right. Even in clothes made of organic cotton (jersey) often a little bit of synthetic material is used for stretch. But then it is on the label (or if you order online you can read it).
Most of those organic clothes use organic cotton thread for the seams. But all other clothing (made of cotton, linen, wool, etc.) is sewn with synthetic thread.

Socks don't have a label, but if you buy them new they have a card or band attached on which is written what materials are used. Usually wool socks have 10-20% of synthetics.

I think the rain is not the problem, it's the combination of rain and clay soil.
I have sandy soil. If it rains a lot (and it often does, here in the Netherlands) it's ideal for sowing! Then the rain does the watering, I don't need to use the watering can.

In Dutch that is called 'bakplaat', best translated as 'baking tray'.

Not so long ago I learned how to make a knotted net. The best material for such nets is linen or hemp cordage (string). A material without any stretch.
Acrylic knitting yarn is stretchy. I think it won't make a good knotted net.

Knitting yarns are for knitting. There are knit stitches that result in a sort of mesh. I knitted a 'shopping net' that folds small, but can be filled with a whole load of groceries.
I think you could use such a stitchpattern for a large net to cover your fruit bushes. For example this stitch:

Shawn Foster wrote:Looking toward winter weather, ...
- Linen, surprisingly, has some value in cold weather, since it helps dissipate sweat when you're working. Top it with wool to keep your body's temperature range more stable while working.

...

I agree. Linen underwear and then wool. That's the way people here* had their clothes for thousands of years! Probably since the Bronze Age. Flax was grown before, but sheep with usable wool did not yet exist. From the Neolithic (when people started farming, cultivating the land and breeding animals) into the Bronze Age farmers have been very busy breeding sheep with wool! Have you ever thought of that?

* Here, I mean where I live, in what's now called (North) Western Europe.