marie-helene kutek

Hello hello,

Wonderful tips from a horsefly fav, they hunt me down whatever.
I use them to train my reaction times, probably handy for table tennis playing.

Some one mentioned Vegemite, absolutely, I have heard reference to Marmite, a UK equivalent of brewers yeast, loads of B vitamins.
Great for repelling mosquitoes.

In the Caribbean, I came across a perfume sold through the home party thingammijigs, don t know the name of the scent or the scheme
but it was very safe and effective.
Not very useful but it might jog someone s memory.

For the head and face, one can wear beekeeping kit or an Australian bush hat, like a cowboy hat with corks on strings attached so that each time you move, you swing the corks around or any other weight, could be buttons.It does keep bugs away and attracts quizzical looks from people who are not familiar with crocodile Dundee, you can look him up.

The heat is getting to me, xs garlic and marmite and msm and stuff

Blessings
MH



   

Hellooo

Will I respond? won t I?
difficulty with most elements which are prescriptive, everyone should, noone ought to etc....
Greatest diificulty is with lying. dishonesty, fraud, theft, cruelty,

Yesterday a mate told me that I was very negative. Hmmph.
My response is that I was relating challenges we all face,
There s a lot of learned helplessness about.
I happen to address some of these because it is easier to do so than not to.my water meter move dropped from 3000kE to 400kE.
Oh a mistake madam.

It also gives scope to my acting talents when an official is trying it on,
Humour, and I appreciate that officials are often in untenable situations but have not yet discovered that they have choices and
yes these have consequences.
I did my Greta Garbo in Anna Karenina bit, I will live in this room for a long time, or something like that, standing by the wall.
The tax official managed to comply with my request after my departure.
Did I sanction licence  to act differently?
There was no aggression, surprise definitely. I do what I can not to get angry but creative

If you fancy a laugh
A friend told that she would have to move her postbox.
She lives on a narrow country road, of which we have many in these parts.
Drivers of postal devilery or is it delivery vehicles will soon be FOBIDDEN from driving in reverse. Reversing is deemed too dangerous.

Please don t shoot the messenger.

I explained to the friend who thinks me negative that I am awake not woke and collecting material for comedy stand up and yes I do have
a RMH and composting facilities and a spot of attitude with a laugh.

Thanks to us all
Blessings
MH

sauerkraut production and ratatouille too

saluti tutti

Moments of hot pepper madness or is it folly?

The mention of candy reminded me of misspent middle age
A friend with asian antecedents used to consume at least 6 chili peppers, every day.
One day, chewing the cud, I came across chocolate covered plums, and before I or we could help ourselves,
we made some chocolate covered chilis. A treat nor for the faint hearted though a wonderful marriage of sensations.
By the by, I also make a delicious hot cocoa drink with boiling water, lots of ground spices and grains, maybe a nut or two and chili of course.
It s a wonderful winter pick me up,

Mark Land, hello, mentioned chili and medicinal properties.
I have red green and yellow chilis so I have prepared traffic light tinctures.
Sliced chilis in attractive glass jars in traffic light colours
I added some turmeric root to the yellow chili.
The idea is that I can add drops of tincture to food preparation, oil, herbal teas etc as it is allegedly a boon to one s blood system and a pain
reliever.
I believe one can acquire a chili salve which can be used like tiger balm. Or you can make some up yourself and live with the consequences.
Yes, I do like chili.

https://www.chilipeppermadness.com/recipes/chili-crisp/  a link someone kindly put up on a forum recently, I m in the middle of studying it
at the moment.
Thank you for the link.

We had 9mm of rain yesterday on seriously parched soil. Better than nothing and more big heat forecast.
I have lived in the tropics so maybe I make an effort to adapt but it is harder for the local flora and fauna to handle climate madness.
Good thoughts to those experiencing harsh realities.

off to make nocturnal sauerkraut, it s dark outside,
Blessings
MH

Hello
Yes an interesting thread and there is another peach flavoured thread referring to the tree as a hedge ingredient.
I am blessed with loads of helpful gardeners who share the fruit with me and other bipeds, then plant the pits all over the place.
Well I never???
They are short lived trees here, replacing each other without any effort on my part.
Last year, 2025, was excessively peach.
This year, hail, drought, monsoon, have contributed to thinning out most of the fruit.
That means lots  of pits have fallen to the ground.
Will there be a glut of peach trees?
To be continued......

blessings and happy planting whatever method is selected.
MH  

PS it s been noted that flowers and fruit appear to be smaller in size, apples roses plums etc some are plain roasted in situ, on the tree or bush.
I have picked dried blueberries and surprise, the blackbirds were not queuing for their lion s share.
Blackbird lion? ok

Hello hello,

Iappreciate all the exchanges.

A few years ago, I invested in a whole heap of spawn and plugs, followed instructions, neighbours swapped some spawn for freshly cut logs.
I was a most disappointing experience for us all.
Couldn t work out why.
It was hot and dry, we had all done the required preparation to provide optimal conditions. Heyho

Recently, I harvested loads f oyster mushrooms off a fallen walnut tree.
I mention this because, if I remember rightly,  in Mr Stamets Mycelium Running, walnut is mentioned in relation to lion s mane LM
I have not seen any around and my mates at the mushroom club don t appear to be familiar with LM.

From the photographs that I have seen, LM seems to prefer not exclusively flourishing up high in trees.

I do have some consolation, morels, but not every year not far from the house.

Happy myceliuming with blessings
MH

Hello and thank you all for the suggestions and advice.

I use a lot of water and part of the house I occupy has very thick stone walls and a RMH which is a lovely cooling system as I leave dragon open.
It removes a few degrees of heat which is appreciable.

My dad was in the merchant navy. He used to tease me about their maritime habits, including their uniforms.
In the tropics, he told me that he wore woollen socks and vests.
No I protested. You re having me on.
Well no, they did have woollen clothing.. soaking up sweat then cooling the body as the clothing dried on the skin.
This form of clothing also avoided skin issues, apparently.

I wore mainly silk when I lived in the tropics not having access to wool.
Also learnt to drink hot tea, frequently.

The thing that I have found most bothersome is the violent changes in temperature that we have experienced.
Our bodies didn t have the time to acclimatize to the high temperatures and dryness.
The vegetation is equally perturbed at the sudden changes.
Today it s drought conditions and not so long ago we were having very heavy rain.
The earth here is like concrete. I digress sorry.

Thank you once again, reminders much appreciated and many so simple to put into place.
Cool blessings
MH

Get beer slops
I supply a couple of bars with 5l containers.
The bars are very happy to recycle their beer slops for a good cause.
And the slugs float happily away in the shade of the large twirly horseradish leaves.
Rain rain please rain
blessings even to our slimey friends
MH

hot hot hot Hello
Very dry and I m resisting watering too much.
Horseradish one of the many favourites of the slugs here. they strip the leaves in a trice.
And the plant makes new leaves, so there.
Like another contributor, I planted horseradish to accompany potatoes. not sure that it made a difference to rodent predation.
There is an adventurous plant that has sprouted in the wood shed.

I thoroughly enjoy horseradish, leaves in salads, the extremely hot root grated made into a condiment and as a medicinal.
The grating is a challenge, if onions make you cry, horseradish is even meaner.

I believe it is an ingredient to four thieves vinegar, a wonderful mixture to drink in winter.

How do you make fire cider with rosemary gladstar?
Directions: In a half-gallon jar, combine horseradish, onion, garlic, ginger, peppers, elderberries, and lemon, and add enough apple cider vinegar to cover. Seal with a nonmetallic lid. Set aside to steep, and shake the jar daily. After 8 weeks, strain the vinegar into a clean jar.

and drink diluted please. Great for when you are feeling under the weather.

good health and cheer and copius blessings
MH

It s been a long day picking raspberries with all those pesky cleaver plants.
Did you say a drink ma de with those very tiny seeds
I m up for it

Coffee is a not to interrupt ritual, an entire French press, large family size all for me.
I don t go for alternatives that could just remind me of whatever.
Coffee, should a situation arise, could become a holiday or xmas treat to be enjoyed on special occasions.
Total agreement with the hot drink requirement at certain times.
Currently, as it s warmer with lots of physical activity, there is a jug of water with sprigs of melissa and liquorice mint.

There is a stash of raw coffee beans somewhere which might be sown at some point.
My loving attitude is either you grow or you don t.

A useful tip
when people are panic buying toilet paper, I calmly stroll down to a coffee supplier to acquire a modest addition to my coffee hawl.

To our extremely good health
Blessings
MH