May Lotito

Here are my lacto fermented daikon and sunchoke. The yellow color is from boiled turmeric water.

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John C Daley wrote:I am reading about the big storm you have at the moment, why are power poles not made stronger so they can carry the weight of the ice as it builds up?

The power companies have standards to follow regarding the risks of ice storm for each region. Usually power outage is from broken tree limbs overhead, breaking the power line and taking down poles. Power companies would hire companies to trim or cut down trees that might be safty hazard. It's good enough for most cases but not rare and catastrophic events like the 1998 Ice Storm.

They are black soldier fly larvae. Typically the younger instars are light in color but if the food source has tannin or other pigments the skin can be stained and the grubs appear darker. They are voracious eaters and recycle food scraps quickly. When they are present, fly larvae are out competed. Since adult black soldier flies don't eat and thus won't get into the house and contaminate fresh food like pesty flies do.

Jay Angler wrote:OT - sorry, but I had to ask...
Does that mean that you've got Lotus growing? ( Nelumbo nucifera )

Yes, I have a flowering variety for the petals (tea), seeds (edible when young) and seed heads. I also grow a non-flowering type for edible roots. I do have to dig up rhizomes for overwintering indoors. According to Judith, it's easy to sprout and grow: https://permies.com/p/3161635 It's a versatile plant if kept contained.
Other plants used above are: cockscomb, stonecrop, broomcorn and iris.

I did some flower arrangements with dried plant materials from my garden. One is western bouquet in a bamboo ikebana bowl and the other is in minimalism style with self made vase.

I don't have a heat mat or other gadgets to keep temperature constantly above 70F/21C.  However, by the sunny window, solar radiation can warm up the surface significantly.  So I was wondering if the brief hot period is sufficient to make seeds sprout and tested out the idea. I bought one dragon fruit and ate most of it. Then I smeared some pulp with seeds on a damp paper towel enclosed in a ziplock bag. I placed the bag where it received a few hours of afternoon sun. Room temperature fluctuated from 58 to 70F ( 14 to 21 C). I didn't measure the maximum temperature while in the sun but it felt warmer than my body temperature. I started on 1/16 (10 days ago)and we had stormy and cloudy days since. Total warm period would be less than 20 hours above 70F. Nevertheless, today I opened the bag and saw several seeds sprouting! If anyone has seeds that need warmth to germinate, maybe you can try this trick.

I use tightly woven fabric for filling down/feather: sewing three sides and stitch down the channels; fill in equal amount of materials in each channel; stitch the side shut and even out the fillings; stitch a perpendicular line in the middle; then do the same at 1/4 line etc until fillings are secured in the grids. I make a duvet cover that is 30% smaller in both dimensions and put the insert in. There is no need to use ties or anything to hold the two together because of the pressure and friction. And the resulting duvet has a lot of loft and is smaller than the flat cover. This is a hindsight though because I intended to made a full size and it turned out to be a short twin.

I currently only have a few Knock Out and miniature rose bushes. Maybe I will add back fancier varieties when I get better at growing roses.

I dice fresh shiitake mushrooms and sautee them in oil then freeze in cubes. Certain flavor would be lost if I dry the mushrooms and rehydrate.

I also freeze small portions of ginger juice in cubes as it's time consuming and messy to press fresh juice for ginger milk curd.

You have some beautiful house plants here! I've never seen a pickle plant before and the swiss cheese monstera leaves are so interesting. Aren't they uplifting to look at in the bleak midwinter days!

My place looks like a plant nursery with overwintered flowers, veggies and indoor plants everywhere and I mostly group them by light requirement.