Catherine Winter

Anne Miller wrote:Is it the beef?  Or the spices ?  What makes a really good Vegetable Soup?

Many different aspects, really.
When I make beef-vegetable soup for dinner, I start it early in the morning. My go-to cut is a chuck roast, which I cut into bite-sized pieces.
These get placed in a large crock pot, layered with thinly sliced onions and a bit of minced celery. Each layer is lightly sprinkled with salt.

Once I've layered all the meat and these veg, I mix homemade bone broth with tomato juice in a 50/50 blend, which I put into a blender with some fresh parsley, thyme, summer savory, and a splash of apple cider vinegar.
This gets poured into the crock pot, and I use a wooden spoon handle to move everything around so the liquid saturates down into the meat and vegetables.
I turn the heat on high, and once it starts to boil merrily, I turn the heat down to medium and let it cook for 7-8 hours, stirring occasionally.

While this is simmering, I roast a tray of peeled and chopped carrots, parsnips, rutabagas, potatoes, and onions. These are drizzled with olive oil, and seasoned with salt, pepper, paprika, and Herbes de Provence, then roasted at 375F for about an hour until they're fork-tender. Then I remove them from the oven and transfer them into the crock pot along with a few cloves of minced garlic.

I add more beef bone broth until everything is covered well, i.e. more like a soup than a stew, and then I make a roux and add that in to thicken up the broth a bit. I then adjust the seasonings to taste, which normally involves adding some hot chili paste like gochujang for a bit of heat, and usually some extra salt, garlic powder, etc. Once the flavours taste right, I heat it back up to near boiling again, add a handful of finely chopped spinach, and serve hot, with some crusty bread on the side.

Jennifer Markestad wrote:

Catherine Winter wrote: the draw orifice had been broken in storage.

Can you take a picture? I'm having trouble imagining a hole that is broken.

Sorry for the delay: my laptop died.
We took it to be inspected and it turns out that someone had SOLDERED SHUT the draw orifice, and also soldered a brass cap onto it, so it's unusable. I'm in the process of talking to some luthiers about creating an entirely new flyer.

Hello lovelies!
I inherited an antique spinning wheel from my aunt, but some of the parts are missing. It's not a "spinning wheel-shaped object" (SWSO), as it has all the key features normally missing from those (e.g. the flyer and bobbin do spin separately, there are tightening screws for the drive band, etc.)
That said, the leather maiden bearings were so degraded that they've fallen apart, and the draw orifice had been broken in storage.

I'm trying to figure out whether to create a new orifice out of something like Sugru, or simply buy an entirely new flyer + orifice and adjust it as needed to fit the wheel.
Any suggestions would be welcome!

r ranson wrote:I made a bunch of lavender wands this year.  

Oh, those are absolutely gorgeous! I saw tutorials for them in Faerie Magazine/Enchanted Living a year or two ago. Beautifully done!
Let us know if they're effective?

Hi Shari, and welcome!

Your land sounds quite a bit like mine: I'm based in the Laurentian mountains, and my property is also slanted, heavily forested, with "swampy" bits here and there. I've been here for a decade now, and although I'm still working on my land (and likely will be forever), I can share some of the things I've done to cultivate my food forest.

As others have suggested, making the problem the solution works REALLY well. For example, those swampy areas are ideal for cattails (as mentioned), as well as cranberries, flowering rushes that have edible tubers, (Butomus umbellatus), watercress, and lotuses.

I took down most of my poplars as well, and have been replacing them with indigenous edibles: this bridges the gap between "taming" the forest, and preserving it. For example, beech trees with pawpaws, raspberries, and medicinal flowering plants as understories. In fact, the best luck we've had with edibles has been with those that are from this region. For instance, our Jerusalem artichokes and Algonquin pumpkins fare far better than the introduced Solanaceae plants like tomatoes, peppers, eggplants and the like.

Hugelkultur mounds are ideal as well! We only have a few of those at the moment but gardening is a perpetual endeavour, right?

We grew "Montreal Melons" a few years ago, and they were the best-tasting melons I'd ever had.

The flesh was firm and sweet, with a texture somewhere between honeydew and cantaloupe. The flavour itself had a spiciness to it: almost like nutmeg mixed with honey.
I got the seeds from Heritage Harvest here: https://heritageharvestseed.com/products/montreal-market-melon-seeds-1870s?_pos=5&_sid=7d336bc88&_ss=r

Apparently these melons were once referred to as the "caviar of cantaloupe" and were served on the Titanic!? After tasting them, I understand why.

All herbal teas will have different medicinal actions over various periods of time, but you might enjoy a combination of dandelion leaves and red raspberry leaves.

They both have bitter flavours and astringent actions, and it's rare for them to cause negative side effects. Just prepare to pee a lot more as they're both diuretics.

I'm also a frothing introvert, but I've found ways to work with communities I've lived in to share knowledge (and eggs!) with others around me. I spent quite a bit of time living in places where there were language barriers between neighbours, but we found ways around that!

One great idea was akin to the "little free libraries" that are popping up everywhere. We created little seed banks that people could draw from or deposit into. Some were solitary heirloom varieties, while others were starter packs. For example, we had a "three sisters" starter pack with local heirloom corn, bean, and squash varieties. There were also medicinal herb kits, culinary herb kits, etc. Some people generously donated amendments and treatments like bone meal or diatomaceous earth!

People started to leave notes for each other in these little libraries, and eventually we managed to coordinate some sit-down meetings, like picnics or tea in a nearby park. In one area, we were given permission to create a community garden in an unused lot that was never going to sell. In another locale, an elderly land owner allowed us to create a food forest garden for the surrounding neighbors in exchange for prepared foods that we harvested (cooked meals, canned/pickled preserves, and the like).

I see these kinds of endeavours like expanding spirals, in which we take tiny steps at first, and they in turn lead to larger happenings (and pick up both people and momentum along the way!).

Some things I've learned:

- People love free stuff: seeds, eggs and preserves (as mentioned by others here), meals, coffee... you want to draw people in? Offer them free swag.
- They also love giveaways: you can load up a tote bag with an organic/permaculture starter kit as a giveaway—all they need to do is sign up for your newsletter, and you'll do a draw on X date.
- Getting together towards a common charitable goal: Is there an elder care residence in the area? Post that you're asking everyone to plant an extra row of whatever they're growing so you can donate that to the care home. Many residences have small budgets and they're delighted to get fresh produce like spring peas, strawberries, etc. Just talk to the admins first to make sure all is okay in that regard. If you get the go-ahead, you may be pleasantly surprised to see how many people mobilize to do good for the vulnerable in their communities.

Where you go from there will depend a lot on the people around you. Some might be really interested in a weekly organic produce box created by local farmers and delivered to their door. Others might be more interested in an annual harvest festival where they can buy preserves, dry goods, and frozen items to stock their pantries.

Extraverts might be great at schmoozing, but introverts are usually awesome planners and coordinators. As others have said here, use your own skill set in the best way you can, and don't get discouraged! Like perennial vegetables, root systems need to establish (sleep and creep) before the plants can leap into action. <3

"So, to summarize this rather long post:  in the past, free speech meant you could get on a soapbox in a public space where people congregated and say whatever you liked without being arrested.  People could listen or not listen as they chose and be persuaded by your eloquence or throw rotten fruit as they chose.  Now, everyone congregates in private spaces - and, increasingly, in private digital spaces.  What does that do to the soapbox?  Is it lost?  Is that a good or a bad thing, and why?  If it is bad, is there a way to regain it?  And, coming back around to the podcast, is there a way to use the privately owned public squares (aka YouTube) without being overpowered by smell of digital rotten fruit?"

Your entire response is incredibly well thought-out and articulate—thank you so much for sharing your insights!

I feel for Katie, and for everyone who has a thin skin and is afraid of negative responses from trolls and other haters out there. As someone who doesn't have a thin skin in that regard by any stretch of the imagination, I find it difficult to relate to her trepidation. Your soapbox reference comes to mind here, in that I remember walking past soapboxes on street corners and hearing the people on them howling all manner of opinions. They ranged from racist hatemongering to religious fervour and everything in between.
There were people stood around these manic street preachers, and those who walked by without paying them any mind. Some cowered away from the mean things they were saying, others merely shrugged, chuckled at their stupidity, and left knowing that they'd never think about those people again.

We seem to live in an age where there are extreme reactions in all directions. The "good vibes only" crowd can go overboard with silencing and cancelling those whose opinions differ from their own, while hateful bigots will curse and threaten those they deem too different from themselves. Many are quick to insult and criticize—not only what a person's saying, but their appearance, cultural background, vocal inflections, and the like. The middle road of respectfully agreeing to disagree, or constructive criticism without cruelty seems to be quite rare these days.

I don't have an answer for the best course of action either. People have a right to be able to express their opinions, but if those opinions are just mean, then why not keep those ideas to oneself? Before the internet comments section came about, the only time we'd hear vitriolic grumpings about various topics would be from an ornery uncle kvetching about something during a family get together. Now, every single social media post gets inundated with hateful responses from childish, hateful little boggarts from around the world.

I think it's important for people to develop their own set of healthy coping mechanisms so they don't crumple over mean comments. The whole "sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never hurt me" approach and all. That said, having moderators around to reduce the sheer amount of hatred and stupidity frothed in one's direction can go a long way towards maintaining good mental health.

Is there a middle road that one can walk, here?

Hello lovelies,

A lot of people I know are dealing with chest complaints right now, so I thought I'd post my recipe for a herbal chest salve here.

I base my salve on a recipe in one of Rosemary Gladstar’s books, but have tweaked it as I’ve determined what works best for me. You may wish to make a few versions of it with different essential oil (EO) proportions, and see which you like best. These oils in particular have wonderful decongestant and antiviral properties, and I've used it to treat URIs, bronchitis, pneumonia, various viruses, and asthma attacks.

Ingredients:

   1/4 cup olive oil
   2 tablespoons coconut oil
   1 heaping tablespoon beeswax pellets (you can use carnauba wax if you’d like to make yours vegan)
   12-15 drops eucalyptus EO
   10-12 drops pine EO
   8-10 drops camphor EO (use fewer drops if making this for children)
   5-7 drops peppermint EO
   5 drops rosemary EO
   2 drops wintergreen EO* (if this is for kids, eliminate wintergreen and increase peppermint – see the note at the end of this post)
   A small, clean jar to pour it into (I use the 50ml amber glass jars from Mountain Rose Herbs for my salves, but mini jam jars can also be used in a pinch)

Step 1: Heat the Oil

Heat your olive oil on very low heat in a small glass, ceramic, or enameled saucepan. You can also use a double-boiler method for this, as long as you’re careful not to let any water get into the oil mixture.

Step 2: Add the Beeswax

Once the oil has warmed, add in the beeswax pellets and use a small whisk or spoon to stir them around thoroughly. When they’re just about melted completely, remove the saucepan from the heat and keep stirring to ensure a homogeneous mixture.

Step 3: Essential Oil Time

Let this cool for just a minute or two before adding in the essential oils. Stir constantly as you mix them so they’re distributed evenly, then pour the mixture into your jar. You may need a spatula to scrape down the inside of the pot if it’s cooled enough that the salve has started to congeal around the edges.

Close the jar’s lid and either set aside in a cool place to set, or place it right in the fridge. It’ll firm up a fair bit once cooled, but still be fluid enough that it will spread easily if you dip a finger into it. Take note of the texture: if you find it too squidgy, add more wax to your next batch, or add less wax if you find it a bit too firm.

Step 4: Seal and Store

Store this salve in a cool, dark place until needed, or keep it in the fridge. In fact, keeping it refrigerated doesn’t just extend its shelf life: it’s incredibly soothing to slather on a cool balm when you have a sore throat or if you’re sore and feverish.

*Note:  Wintergreen oil is very powerful, and can be toxic in even moderate doses: if you choose to use this oil in your salve, be very sparing with it, and use it with care. Don’t add this oil to the salve if you’re planning to use it on children—either omit it entirely, or use a couple of extra drops of peppermint or a bit of lavender instead.