Nancy Reading

paul wheaton wrote:
       skirret (tastes like carrots, but spreads itself and can be harvested in winter)

Likes it damp, so may prefer a shady spot with you. I find the clump gradually gets bigger in one spot rather than spreading around (unless you're lucky enough to find it self seeding...)

       parsnips (can be harvested in winter)

They may well self seed if you let them

Good luck finding the strawberry to suit! They can have a very long season. Raspberries are good and go feral here....

The simple three field rotation of grains, followed by legumes, followed by fallow (animal grazing) was pretty standard in much of Europe in the medieval period I understand. I find it difficult to believe though, that people stuck loads of pea stick in the fields for their peas and beans to grow on and then took them off again the following year - it just sounds like rather too much work on a field sized system!

How did they manage it? I experimented this year with not supporting most of my peas. I interplanted some with my fava beans and some were just by themselves, but (as you might expect!) the results were less than satisfactory - the pea vines scrambled over the ground, and the slugs and mice had most of the peas produced (despite a good growing year for me generally). I don't think shorter peas (which are one obvious solution) were available till about the 19th century this article has some background reading on peas...) so that wouldn't be the medieval solution.

failed pea experiment in early summer

So my questions are - did they use pea sticks or another method? What do you think might work with less labour on a larger scale?

Looks like the mega bundle is only $25 at the moment for all the plans and both movies - you can't go wrong!

Hi Gina, It sounds like what you've got will dessicate (and pulverise?) your kitchen scraps. This means they take up less room and are less likely to lead to smells...downside is taking up room, expense and energy use (£ etc.) Since the scraps will probably be sterile, I guess adding a compost starter to your heap might be beneficial. But generally just having a good mix of 'greens' and 'browns' in a moist heap will give you good compost in the end. I think there is no 'one size fits all' when it comes to composting, so I say give it a go and tweak it if you need to. Let us know how you get on!

I think raspberries don't like grass much....I plant raspberries in patches all over my tree field and let them spread where they like. Where they like seems to be under the trees where there is not much grass, even though it is super shady there. I think they do like nettles though, which doesn't make a comfortable polyculture in which to pick them! I have a lovely spreading patch of both at the top of my plot. You could try mint perhaps as an alternative? I think the nettles work by shading the grass out, but mint might work too and be nicer to walk in.

Interesting observation Ronaldo - I'll have to keep an eye out. I have noticed that elder appear to have extrafloral nectaries on their leaves as do my fava beans.

John F Dean wrote:I just did a fast refresher read. I was curious as to the maintenance issues …something the guy I spoke with was concerned about.  It seems they must be relatively shallow to take advantage of the wind moving the liquid.  They must be exposed to sunlight.  They must be free of vegetation…which could block the wind and sunlight.

These sound somewhat different to a reed bed system (which uses vegetation to 'eat' the nutrients). I wonder what the advantage of the lagoon is?

Since I own a little grocery store, I tend to buy herbs and spices there as I need them (apart from the herbs like sage, parseley, bay and mint that are easy for me to grow). I have one little spice rack near the stove which I use for herbs and spices that I throw in when I'm cooking, and since it isn't big enough for everything I use, I keep the spices I use more for baking with my ingredients in the larder corner opposite the cooker.
One or two pots of bulk herbs with the year's harvest are in larger jars on the kitchen dresser. I think I only have oregano and parsley in bulk stock at the moment.
Bay leaves live on the tree (tiny as yet) outside, and I just pick a leaf when I need it!

I think if you've not used the dryer in several years then what ever you are doing instead is working well and you certainly don't seem to need it. I'd put it up for adoption and see if you get any takers, the space sounds like it will be far more useful to you now.

Aethetically I much prefer the second option with the longer bench. The symmetry against the wall behind in the central area is more pleasing.
I suspect that the bench behind the stove itself will not be very useful for sitting on until the stove is off, as the stove will probably give off too much heat....?
Presumably the flue will exit the far end of the bench in the entry area.
You have a lovely home, thank you for sharing with us.