Leigh Tate

author & steward
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since Oct 16, 2019
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My dream has always been to live close to the land. My goal is simpler, sustainable, more self-reliant living. In 2009 my husband and I bought a neglected 1920s-built bungalow on 5 acres, which we've gradually built into our homestead.
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Southeastern United States - Zone 7b
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Recent posts by Leigh Tate

This made me really curious because I'd not heard of banana bark fiber before. I did some exploring on youtube and found some interesting videos of the process.

The first one features is large scale and uses machinery to help with the process.



This one is how to hand process on a small scale.



Here's one on making paper from banana fibers



And this one is done by someone who started a business in Belize selling crafts made from banana fibers.



Quite interesting, although not yarn I'd use for garments!
1 day ago

Ellen Morrow wrote:Things change . . .  In the end it is what you are willing to tolerate.


I think this is why I will continue to buy paper patterns. I've gotten good feedback in this thread, and would use a PDF if there was no other choice. But I still prefer paper. I hope that as long as there is demand for paper patterns, they will continue to make them.
3 days ago
Something to aspire to . . .
1 month ago

Christine Handmaker wrote:Would like to process tomato’s in olive oil, is there a way!


Christine, firstly, welcome to permies!

Yes, it works very well. Just follow the instructions in the first post of this thread. The tomatoes get a little shriveled looking over time, but they taste great on salads or sandwiches.
1 month ago
There's a really interesting book that lists important Native American plants and which tribes used them.



Native American Food Plants: An Ethnobotanical Dictionary Hardcover by Daniel E. Moerman.
Trouble is, it's not an easy book to find anymore.

He also wrote a companion volume, Native American Medicinal Plants, which is still available in paperback.
1 month ago
One question is, how much work do I want to make out of it??? It's a fascinating topic. I chose the four colors based on what I already had available. The online generator was easy to use, but it got tricky changing cones of yarn for every length of warp. It got even messier (as in tangled yarn) when I took it off the warping board, brought it to the loom, and tried to figure out which thread was supposed to be next on the loom.

Another question I'm wondering is, what is "random?" My dictionary says by chance, or haphazardly. So if I was being truly random, I would have a "rule" to not have the same color side-by-side, I'd just use whatever I grabbed. As a design element, I've been thinking of random as color order without a discernible pattern. It's funny because when I asked the question "Is anything in nature random" in the permaculture design forum, everyone agreed that everything in nature follows a pattern whether we recognize it or not. So for weaving inspired by nature, i seem to have chosen something that doesn't happen in nature.

For this project, I realize is that from a distance, the four colors will blend visually in the final weaving. They probably won't be distinguishable as individual colors unless one gets real close and takes a look. That kinda makes me feel that I don't have to be terribly fussy about how random my colors actually are.

1 month ago