Tereza Okava

Here's the summary of the video above:

Microbial Stimulation
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Use brown sugar in small amounts as a microbial energizer in compost piles or microbial teas to kick-start decomposition by providing quick energy for soil microbes, but avoid excess to prevent microbial explosions and ecosystem crashes.

Fungal Disease Management
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Mix baking soda with water and soap as a mild anti-fungal spray to discourage powdery mildew by raising pH on leaf surfaces, applying as light foliar sprays rather than soil amendments to avoid sodium buildup.

Pest Control Applications
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Combine brown sugar with yeast or other attractants in homemade bait traps to lure fruit flies or certain beetles, using sugar as a food attractant rather than applying directly to garden beds unless diluted for microbial stimulation.

Soil pH Adjustment Strategy
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Avoid baking soda for long-term soil pH adjustment due to sodium accumulation that degrades soil quality; instead use lime or wood ash which provide calcium and beneficial minerals without excessive sodium.

Experimental Approach
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Test solutions on a few plants first, observe responses over several days including leaves, soil texture, moisture levels, and growth patterns before scaling up any kitchen ingredient applications.

my grandmother was definitely of the 'rip yer head off and feed it to____' persuasion!!!
my mother grew up getting yelled at in Sicilian dialect by her stepfather and it must have been pretty bad (or maybe that part of her brain didn't get developed) because she never said anything in anger, ever (if we weren't practically biological clones I'd wonder if I'm even related to her).

We do a lot of multilingual threatening, but all in good fun. The dog, particularly, is often told that his tail is going to end up in the soup if he doesn't stop doing whatever annoying thing he's up to. Still, my most frequent utterance is probably the good old "Jesus, Mary and Joseph!"

(many years ago we had nursing care in-home when we lived in Rhode Island. the combination of crusty yankee personality and seen-it-all nurses was very fertile ground for diversified vocabulary!! one time my daughter's feeding tube came out and nobody, from the nurses to the chief GI surgeon, could get it back in. We heard some pretty salty talk that day.... hats off to nurses and hospital staff!!)

we're at the time of year where there is a strong gift economy. Pine nuts, citrus, passionfruit and avocados are getting passed around by people who have them in their yards and need to get rid of them.
I was generous with the fruit jams I made this year and was so pleased that now people are remembering me with winter gifts!!
I now have a crapload of pine nuts (araucaria angustifolia, also known as monkey puzzle tree) to figure out what to do with. I usually just cook them like I would chestnuts in Japanese or Korean food. Here they're usually cooked with lots of meat, but occasionally in cake or just roasted and eaten plain (they're a massive pain to shell).

Carmelo Panucci wrote:"The dude abides"

Some folks like Jeff Lebowski have the natural ability to keep their cool under pressure.
Others like me need to actively work at it.

I've been very disheartened lately to see casual, matter-of-fact references to widespread misery in the media (just sort of blasé noting, yeah, lots of people are laid off, things are hard for everyone). I'm right in that boat: things are rough right now.
I have to work HARD every day to keep my mental health right. And I know I'm not the only one. And I say mental health because for me, my stress turns to anxiety and then depression. I've been there and don't want to be there again.

So....I exercise hard at least 5 times a week-- this is the most important for me to keep stress/anxiety/depression away.
I work with my hands (knitting, sewing, cooking) when I can, and try to do something creative (writing, painting) when possible.
I spend time in the garden, in nature, and with my animals as often as possible.
I sing to lighten my soul (even though right now not with a chorus, I sing on my own. I don't care about my neighbors.)
I try to get out of my own head when possible. Try to remember that anxiety is not reality.
I try to breathe and realize that all this shall pass, whether I'm stressed, happy, upset or anything else. Someday I'll be old and wish I had any time back, even this stressful time.
I try to be thankful and go out of my way to be nice to other people (for purely selfish reasons: it makes me feel good).

David, I hope you're well. I love weeding, but sometimes just sitting in the garden and watching the bugs is good too.

Susan Mené wrote:My favorite topping is NOTHING!!

I also hail from the land of great pizza (didn't realize what a luxury that was til I left) and I have to say I agree with you 100%. The best pizza has no topping at all. It's been a long, long time since I've had a pizza good enough to stand on its own without any fripperies (I can remember specifically, in fact, a slice I grabbed to eat later on the bus as I raced through Manhattan doing the airport-train-bus dance to catch a quick visit with my mother between flights a few years ago). You all who have pizza you love, treasure it. I can make a mean pizza but there's just something about city slice pizza that I can't replicate.

I mostly use wine for deglazing pans or for Japanese/Chinese/Korean recipes that need the subtle flavor, but lately I've found myself making a rye whole-meal soda bread that calls for beer. I dug out an old bottle of red ale homebrew one time and this last time used some crummy pilsen we had hanging around, but it really gives the bread a nice somethin-somethin.
rye soda bread recipe

Kara Ann wrote:(Does anyone keep puff pastry at the ready on a homestead?? Maybe you permies in France whip some up?)

Ha!! I personally very much dislike puff pastry (turns my stomach just thinking about it.... I'd much rather make a drop dumpling on top or, like you, just go with mash), but I would bet there are plenty of homestead freezers with a roll in there.....

there's a reason they talk about the 'google ecosystem'. they're huge and everywhere.
probably your settings on the tablet allowed alarms (sometimes there is an update, and of course the default option will allow everything). And of course it's in their interest to know about your dog groomer appointment-- this identifies you as a being willing to open your purse for dog products. That is worth money to advertisers.
there is the old saying: if you can't tell what product is being advertised, that means you're the product. How does Google offer free email/online storage?
I am guilty, unfortunately, because the amount of work it takes to extricate yourself from Google is serious. You can get secure emails and now even better prodocts (like Calendar and Drive equivalents) from Proton, but not all for free. Again, things cost money. There are free options using other calendars, there is a nice free email tier at Tuta (last I checked, anyway).

If you're going to use online stuff, there will be watchers. You can get a cheap/free email and use a desktop program to manage it. You can use a paper calendar. If you like the sharable online stuff (which I admit I do), then probably Proton is worth looking at, but if you spend 5 minutes searching for non-google options you'll see plenty of ideas from people who know a lot more than me.

they are very pretty plants, I think. here in 9b they are grown on top of sunny walls or wherever they can catch extra heat/sunlight and will fruit every so often, but not as much as in zones 10+.
they have become a new fun export crop for farmers looking for alternatives, but with the tariffs this year we actually had a lot of local pitayas in the markets and got to eat way more than usual. I frankly don't see much difference in the taste (we can get yellow, red with white flesh, and red with red flesh, they're all pretty bland in my spoiled fruit-snob opinion), they're more of a novelty and a vitamin C source. But the flowers are absolutely gorgeous.  
I understand that if they're grown from cuttings it takes a year or so to fruit, and way more (5 years? more?) from seeds. People who are switching from some other fruit in my area plan on 2-3 years til full production (large plants) from cuttings.

Jen Fulkerson wrote:Has anyone direct sow roselle? Please let me know how it went.  Thanks

I can only get seeds, and all I can tell you is that it took forever for them to germinate. If you put it directly in the ground I guess just cover it with something so you don't pull it out by accident and be patient?
(I hear you on the 'garden blerg' this year. Some years are harder than others in my experience. This year seems to have been pretty hard on everyone in some way or another...)

Amazingly we have had two frosts since I wrote the last thing above. The one roselle that made it to maturity is still alive with no signs of damage and has twice as many buds as it did before. I don't know what to think.
Next year I will try sowing seeds indoors on a heat mat (going to do that with peppers too) and then maybe we'll see how far it goes.