Anthony Powell

Edward Lye wrote:

Cécile Stelzer Johnson wrote: At the time, they were practical and inexpensive even though they required real artisans who would fashion a shoe to very exactly match each foot of their customers.  Poplar and willows were used because they are easier to carve from one piece of wood and they resist water.

There are devices out there that can capture a 3D point cloud
of your foot to direct the robot.  

Or a traditional tech suggestion:
Make a clay mould of each foot, use to make plaster of Paris casts. Steam your basic wood soles and strap to the casts.

On the use of willow and poplar (cottonwood - named after the fluffy seeds?) - they'll contain salicilin, especially when new, so good for pain relief?

Cécile Stelzer Johnson wrote:In the old times, in France, the poorer folks used to have wooden clogs ["sabots"]  to go to work or work in the garden. The more expensive leather shoes were for their Sunday best, to go to church.
From this tidbit, you have the following word in the English language: Sabotage, saboteur, to sabot. How are they connected to the humble wooden clogs?
When those French workers were quite unhappy with the working conditions and their low wages, they would put their clogs in the cogs of the machines they were working on, resulting in ruined machinery. [Yep, it ruined their clogs too, but they made their point!]

Would that be where 'clogging up the machinery' might come from?

The food value of potatoes lies mainly in the carbohydrate, derived from light - the optimum source being sunlight. Ensure the leaves are fully ready for the bonanza of June (N hemisphere) and the rest of summer (it's good that most cultivated spuds are daylength neutral).
Given Sondee's sprouting shrivelling spuds, I'd plastic bag them and keep in the fridge. Those that aren't so shrivelled can have their shoots rubbed off and just kept cool - they'll have fresh sprouts by March.

i was once 'admiring' a bowling green, grown on sandy soil. It's edge, nextt o the gutter, was giving way. To use a carpet analogy, the thin pile of foliage supported on a feeble weave of roots wasn't up to the job of holding an edge. The roots are so shallow.
A 'nicely' mown lawn in dry weather will show off the non-grass species nicely, as the grass fades to straw colour while the others stay green. The grass quits, the others hold the soil biodiversity together.
'Nicely' mown lawns also often suffer in winter, with moss taking over (it's still green, what's the fuss?).
Before the mower, the grass carpet was inspired by sheep/rabbit cropped grassland. But they're adorned with scabius and harebell!

Reminds me of pipe-cutters. Biggest diameter they go up to in the UK seems to be 67mm plastic pipe, less for copper and steel. Cans seem to be more like 75mm.
You can buy replacement pipe-cutter blades, so useful for setting into a DIY jig in whatever material you're handy with.
For the amount I'd use it, I'll stick to kitchen scisssors. A neater result, with fewer sharp points, if you tackle it in the right direction, clockwise or ACW. In my case I can't remember, for a right-handed person with right-handed scissors.

Coydon Wallham wrote:Another interesting byway on this question that I came across was the relation between Flax oil and Linseed oil. I pulled this from Reddit, but it seems helpful nonetheless...

FrogFlavor
I wonder if linseed is just a bonus from flax grown for the purpose of textiles. I wonder if flaxseed oil (same thing but sold in grocery stores for food) has the properties OP is looking for.


forgeblast
It does, same plant just different varieties. The flax was grown for fiber and the linseed grown for oil. I use organic flax seed oil. But I make stand oil out of it. I buy it bulk in gallons, and put it in mason jars. 50/50 oil to water. Shake it once every day. Pour off the good oil. Do it again. Three weeks total. When you're done it's really pure oil. Dries quickly and I use it on carved spoons cutting boards etc because it's a drying oil vs mineral oil that never dries or beeswax and mineral oil that is melted the first time you use it.

I'm told that fibre flax is taller-growing, more favourable for long fibres; while seed flax is a shorter plant devoted to flowering.

Just to confuse matters, there's potting compost and rotting compost. The latter's what's being discussed above. Potting compost can include some of that, along with material with less fertility - sand, loam, leafmould.

Many (so-called) gardeners ditch their compostables in green wheelie-bins taken by the council, or worse, in the ditch across the road.
They're
* losing fertility, that they'll have to buy back in bags from the garden centre. And they're using fuel - for the collection vehicle, the composting process, and the garden centre trip
* the energy stored in the plants from summer is leaving their plot, while kept on site it can feed a whole chain of creatures, aiding biodiversity, including the birds they love to see.

jaime merritt wrote:I have a plant that I have been growing for several years. I started it from aerial tubers I bought online. It grows really well, but it has only ever produced a handful of pea sized aerial tubers over the entire time I’ve been growing it. I’m curious why that is. I don’t water it very much, and I’m a mile from the ocean on the California central coast. Maybe water is the issue? It never appears water stressed no matter how dry it gets.

Anyone else have plants that refuse to make aerial tubers?

I reckon water could be the issue. We've had a dry season in England, roots that usually grow through the bottoms of their pots haven't. And the top growth wasn't so strong either. I'll be ensuring they get enough next year!
I've only ever had a scattering of aerial tubers off my 5 plants, no more than sweet pea size - hardly worth propagating from, let alone eating. Could be the species/variety. Easiest to propagate by breaking the root.

I've noticed guano being brought in. I've a TV aerial strapped to my chimneystack, much appreciated by pigeons and magpies. The moss directly below is especially verdant and green - and very inconvenient to harvest!
I came across a guy trying (with modest success) rice in NE Scotland. He was using his paddy pond for ducks in winter.

Advantages of urban life:
So much less need for a car, it can be a 'where do I put it?' problem. But public transport is so much easier, and in a city they all join up, with short waits.
Lots of food, but lots of ultra-processed. Organic takes a bit more searching for.
You may be in an urban heat island, reducing heating bills. Smaller properties, especially flats and terraces, reduce external walls. And if your neighbour heats their home to a higher temperature, you'll get some of that through your common wall.
In the community, there may be a Transition Town group, community gardens/allotments, community eating (often involving volunteers gathering end-of-life food to feed all, poor, homeless, and general community).
Lots of other social groups, often in walking distance. Street lights may hide the stars, but they'll guide you home without a torch.