Christopher Weeks

Neat! This isn't a plant that I know, but looking through pictures of the various jewelweed / touch-me-nots found in MN, it seems like something I've seen around but not engaged with. I'll try to remember to keep my eye out for it.

Also, the video of the seeds exploding at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impatiens_glandulifera is impressive. :)

Apparently, Ianto Evans needs a lot of care just now and they're soliciting donations to make things a little easier as he passes.

https://www.gofundme.com/f/ianto-evans-end-of-life-love-and-support-for-linda

Ianto is the father of the rocket mass heater and the Oregon cob movement. He was an early pioneer of organic polyculture. And if you grow fava beans in the US, you may well have some of his genetics in your field.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ianto_Evans
https://permies.com/wiki/8313/Hand-Sculpted-House-Ianto-Evans
https://permies.com/wiki/44429/Rocket-Mass-Heaters-Ianto-Evans

Thekla McDaniels wrote:Does it include plant identification, caveats about seasonal considerations.

Not much. In passing it tells you that wild carrots look like poison hemlock, but it is absolutely not teaching you to forage. Sherman recommends following Linda Black Elk and field guides written by natives. And then he recommends the usual suspects: Alan Bergo, Pascal Baudar, Alexis Nikole Nelson. I thought there was a Sam Thayer mention but I'm not seeing it now.

How much is it cook book?  And how much something else?

This is a great question. And it feels like it was designed specifically for my preference. Its DNA is 100% cook book. But it's extremely heavy on anecdote, options, history, personal experience, etc. So there's a lot to just read for fun in addition to the recipes.

Nancy Reading wrote:

Christopher Weeks wrote:We had (vegetarian) Dried Venison and Corn Salad from page 56 for dinner. I’m sure we’ll have it again.

very nice - beans? and colourful corn :)

Anything you're seeing that looks like beans is actually hominy/posole. We have a big diversity of dried maize here and for this I suggested we mix it up to simulate "indian corn". The "venison" was a commercial vegan jerky seitan product. The big slabs are dehydrated apple and the black junk all over everything is ash of corn cob.

I agree on the time window issue. I work hard to get my broad grex to hybridize and I think next year I'm going to plant one row each week to help get things to mix up in ways they can't normally.

I've never had crows pick the seeds or sprouts, but I did have them attacking the ripe ears once they were all grown. I cultivated a flock of bluejays by feeding them peanuts most days and they run the crows off if they start to linger.

I pressure-steamed a dozen eggs this morning. When I was running the ice-bath, I found this one. Anyone know why this happens?

I guess there must have been air inside the shell that expanded when heated, but why?

Nettles

This batch was 237g x 42 Cal/100g = 100 Calories

(This one's never going to hit 10K, but it's all the vitamins and phytonutrients that nettle brings to the table!)

Our home is on a septic system, but my wife's coffee house (a fancied up shed) isn't plumbed. She carries water out to it and runs water down a drain. For that, I dug a pit big enough for a metal trash can, drilled a bunch of 1/4" holes through the bottom and sides, and wrapped it in woven poly before dropping it in the hole. Then we had the shed installed over it. When I put in the sink, I drilled through the floor, marked the lid of the trash can and drilled through that. She has run about a half gallon per week (obviously way less than this thread is about) down that drain. Here in northern Minnesota, it sometimes freezes the first time in late September and the last time in late May. It is generally freezing straight through from first of November through the first of April. And our frost line for pipes is 6' down. I don't know to what extent that trash can just disperses the water into our exceedingly well-draining sandy loam vs. builds up all winter and then drains when it thaws. But the system, as informal as it is, works fine for us. (The shed is heated and we insulated the under-space too, to try and keep as much warmth as possible down there where the water goes.)

For topics like politics or religion, I'm really glad to have the Cider Press as a relief-valve. These are important parts of our lives and so it's good to have a place where they're acceptable. And also, since they're very likely to derail other conversations, it's great to have them banned from the general permaculture/homestead topics. I'm convinced it makes this place stronger.