See Hes

Since my first gnashers grew, mother put me on eggs and ryebread for breakfast.
Two-three eggs with two slices rye bread.
Grandfather had about 60 chickens so it was my every day breakfast and I loved it.

Today I am 62, my annual health check a week ago was like in the past, well within all limits and since you have to arrive sober and with empty stomach to the examination, I had afterwards my usual five fried eggs on rye bread for breakfast.

Despite of this and for our "weight watchers" I went through all kind of weight classes from 76 Kg (167 lbs) to 113 Kg (249 lbs) by just being myself and eat what I was thinking of, and since the last 18 years I am constantly around 94 Kg (207 lbs).

But sure I love my five eggs on rye bread in the morning.
Since we have our farm and our own (100 each at present) Brahmas and Plymouth Rock Chickens I know they are from literally "wild" Chickens.  
As a mechanic I learned early: "Never touch a running system"

I relocated to Thailand 2002 I have adapted to the Thai cuisine, hence the solid western food is not often seen in my Kitchen...
...but nothing wrong to put some fried eggs on my Rab Moo for dinner, isn't it?

James Bridger wrote:Just to make sure I understand......you're curing the ham using a salt brine, and then covering in wood ash both to add smoke flavor, and to preserve the meat?

Or are you covering an uncured ham with wood ash, and the ash provides the curing?

You take all steps that you do for smoking and instead of smoking you ripen the meat in wood ash.

To add: As far I remember Granny used beech and apple tree wood cuttings from a neighbor carpenter and her apple tree prunings.

We had an overproduction of Squash and Pumpkins and had lots of recipes as well from my Thai family members as also from my German history.
The last recipe, which was impacting even the last Thai taste bud, was my stuffed Squashes and Pumpkins.

-Clean the inside of your Pumpkins or Squashes until the seed core is completely removed
-Spoon out the flesh until the rind with about 1/2" or 12 millimeter are left
-Pre-fry minced meat  (Pork or Beef or 50/50) in Olive oil, add equally diced Onions till they are glassy, the diced pumpking pieces you spooned out and last the diced tomatoes
-Add chopped Coriander, Salt, Pepper  (Oregano, Thyme who likes)

when the ingredients are slighly softened spoon them into the hollow Pumpkin until the Pumpkin/Squash is slightly dense filled.

Cover it with grated Cheese (Gouda, mild Cheddar or grated Pizza mix which I use) and bake it in the oven by 160 degree celsius (320 degr F)
In picture Nr 3 I used Hokkaido Puimpkins with the common processed cheese slices you find on every Cheeseburger, its also ok but not that exclusive.

After 45 minutes to an hour the flesh of the pumpkin should be soft and penetrateable with a fork as sign its all done.

Enjoy

Congrats,
here in Thailand is a turtle a symbol of longevity and many people have released a turtle into my lake in hope for luck, health and prosperity.
From time to time one of them sticks its head out of the water but most have meanwhile found a good hideout in the greens and only the splash when they jump in the water while I am passing by, tells me they are still kicking around.

The biggest challenge in the potato world is to grow a heat resistant potatoe.

Potatoes usually wont fruit if the night is not significantly cooler than the day.
Here in Thailand we talk about 34 Celsius Day and 26 Celsius night and only October/November till February/March.

India developed Kufri Lima which is now known as most heat resistant but also these are grewn in the north and cooler areas.

If anyone has found the ultimate heat potato he/she probably will grow a golden Nose too.. ;-)

Challenge is on!

By the way: The picture shows where my wife and I am now.
We got a few years ago real potato seeds from India and a single potato from NE Australia a friend gave us in Thailand on his return.
The Aussie potato started flowering and produced seeds as well, we mixed both breeds..
The outcome was small but at least some fruits were growing.

Any earth homes have one significant risk you should be aware of.
Before you do any steps check the soil for Radon Gas and maybe also for other dangerous gasses..

.. Time for an Update.

I left the wind farm project in Taiwan after closing my site and workplace in the 5th year and itwill be a change from rat race to "permie"

As you could follow in the past, while I made the coin in my offshore job my wife and our long year house maid prepared each other and together when ordered seeds and small trees came..

Now it's time to get a life (on) with our land.

The 2nd rain season sets in and we can only say, that we still had water in abundance and all fish survived the heat wave..
Our house has got its solid foundation and now the mud bricks (they are much harder than cinderblocks) walls getting erected.

My experience gathered so far is the following.

Here in Thailand the best time for Potatoes is November till March but that will need watering.

The problem with potatoes is not the heat, it is the fact that a potato needs cool nights below 28 degrees celsius to set fruits.

Organic...

everything that has a life is organic, isn't it?

If I am looking nowadays in the shelfs of big supermarkets it's meanwhile all organic and bio.
Then I step outside, start my Enfield and drive 100s of miles passing only monoculture fields..

Yes the plants are in the dirt growing, have been fed with "chemical" fertilizer and get sprayed with "bio" pesticides,
but because they are alive, they are from my point of view "organic"

Then I enter my food forest and forage for my veggies, harvest what I need and shalke some bugs off. Hey that's organic too..
But you cannot tell me that these veggies are found by the metric ton in the supermarkets..

I not worry if a seed that is not readily available has an organic label. It's a little embryo that has one root and 2 small leafes, in total maybe 2 grams when it pops out of the seed shell.
As soon it hits the resources in my soil it will grow into a 100% clean and organic plant in pounds of weight, full bio to eat..