Ulla Bisgaard

I have a sayin:  “An observation a day, keeps the problems away” and l” observation before design, saves money and time”.

It’s very important to spend the first year observing. I know it’s hard, but like the other says it’s a big risk to take. That doesn’t mean, that you will spend a year doing nothing. During that first year you need to find out a lot of things about your grow space. What wildlife do you have? from what direction does storms usually hit?  Are there spots, where there is a lot of shade? Are there spot that are always wet or one that stays dry?

That said, if you can’t wait, I suggest you put up some nursery beds. Nursery beds are beds, where you start perennials from seed or small cuttings. Here you can baby them until the year has passed. Once that year has passed, you will have trees and shrubs, that are a lot larger and has acclimated to where you live. At that time you will also have more information about the land, the seasonal changes and its inhabitants. That’s how you save money.
If you haven’t already, you might also look into polyculture. I grow over 50 different kinds of herbs, teas and spices, and many are medical plants and flowers. What I have found, is that medicinal herbs and flowers, like sharing space with vegetables, and fruits. My strawberries are growing with onions, sage, marigolds and perennial root vegetables. If I were you, I would spend that year learning about companion planting and poly culture.

Anne Miller wrote:Did the hydrogen peroxide work?

Since it is fat related, I would try rubbing with bar soap and working that into fabric with fingers.

If the garment has been wash there might not be anything that will work except sewing an patch over the stain.  May6be something like the border around the neck.

It didn’t, but I decided to use it for gardening. I don’t need nice clean clothes doing that, and it’s light and comfortable to work in.

Carla Burke wrote:How would you feel about turmeric dying the whole thing? It's a lovely shade of yellow, and dyes well on almost anything. Unfortunately, it tends to be permanent, even when you don't want it to be, and even without a mordant.

It’s a good suggestion, but the stain also contains fat from the sauce. I have considered dying the whole thing back though.

Joylynn Hardesty wrote:I've gotten difficult stains out with hydrogen peroxide. Let it sit till it stops bubbling, then work some more. I have not tried it on rayon though.try a test patch first.

Thank you, I will try that.

Nancy Reading wrote:From wikipedia:

Rayon, also called viscose, is a semi-synthetic fiber made from natural sources of regenerated cellulose, such as wood and related agricultural products. It has the same molecular structure as cellulose

It sounds like it is likely to stain easily... Most of the online advice seems to be to repeat the spot treatment and laundry again (eg wikilaundry). What was the food stuff involved?

A meatball covered in a homemade curry sauce containing turmeric, dropped when I was carrying a plate and my hand gave out (do to my neuropathy).

This shirt has been washed and I spot cleaned it first, but I can’t get the stain off. My hands shake sometimes, so I dropped my food. I haven’t worn it very much and I love this one. So, does anyone have any idea of what to do? The material is rayon.

It depends on so many things. Your climate, you micro climates, age of and how many people you are growing food for, if food production is  important to you.
I live in a warm climate, where I can grow food all year round. Because of that one of my criteria, is that all of my fruits and berries. Can’t be ready at the same time, because it creates bottlenecks in food preservation. Mine are paced out over the whole year. This means that we have fresh fruits and vegetables year round. The advantage of that, is also that your family will eat more fresh. Fresh makes for a healthier diet, and you don’t end up burned out, because you have preserved food until 4am.
I also look at growing conditions and how large and fast, their canopy develops. Some trees also have special needs, so that you have to start developing the ecosystem before you plant them. So you have to add these things into your design.
I am growing raspberries in a microclimate, in the corner of my food forest garden. I grow gooseberries and currants underneath a large pecan tree we have. That tree creates one of the largest micro climate zones in the garden. The soils and air temperature are 17F degrees lower, underneath that tree, which creates conditions where I can grow things we normally would not be able to.
The last thing I recommend is, that if you are growing fruit, you have your family taste it, before you buy the trees producing it. You don’t want to end up with a tree, that no one likes.
I have been playing around this “diagram”. It’s not completely ready yet, but it might give you something to help you decide.

Kara Ann wrote:Ditto on David's comment that this thread of post reads so well!

THANK YOU Ulla for sharing this method for preserving egg yolks - this is great to have and I have saved it so I can try it.
When you are using these salted egg yolks (sliced or grated), are you adding them as a final garnish to items being served (no further cooking)? Or also as an ingredient into food that is going to be cooked?

Since the salt kills off any bacteria, you can use it as you would cheese. Just to be on the save side, make sure to keep it dry.
I grind most of mine up. To use, I will add it to a white sauce for lasagna, or sprinkle it on top of my pasta or scrambled eggs. So you can both cook with it, or use it as is. You can also change the flavors, by mixing the salt with herbs, spices or things like mirin. It’s an ingredient often used in Asian cooking,

Kara Ann wrote:

I had completely forgotten about posting in this thread. When I reread the post I made, it made me laugh, because I am still preserving eggs.

Ulla - what you are doing is really impressive!!! As a newbie who has never heard of salted egg yolks before, would you share what you do to preserve them, and also the ways that you use them? They looked like little gems in the picture you posted earlier!

Salt cured eggs, is my goto substitute for Parmesan cheese, or cheese in general. I am allergic to dairy, and salt cured eggs are way cheaper, than buying dairy free cheese.
Here is how you make them:
Fill a container half way up, with fine salt. Use the bottom of an egg to make little indent in the salt.
Next you separate the eggs to remove the egg white. Then gently place the egg yolk in one of the indents you made. Continue doing this egg by egg, until the container is full. If an egg yolk breaks, either before or after you place it in the salt, it has to be tossed. If it’s right after placing the egg in the salt, remove all of the broken yolk with a spoon. Then add a bit of extra salt and create a new indent.
Once you container is full, with 1 and only 1 layer of egg yolks, you top up the container with salt, until the yolks are fully covered. Next they need to spend 5 to 12 days covered in the fridge to cure. The curing time, depends on how firm the egg is, and how salty you like your eggs, I leave mine for a week.
Once they are ready, take the yolk out, and either brush off the salt, or gently rinse and towel dry them. Now they can be hung on a string, by poking a needle with the string, through the egg yolk. Hand them in a cool space to finish drying completely. You can also use ann oven on its lowest setting, a dehydrator set on its lowest setting or a freeze dryer to finish drying any leftover moisture on the contact surface of the egg yolk.
Now the egg yolks are fully cured and ready to use. They can be sliced, or shredded before use. To get a bit more cheese flavor, you can add a little nutritional yeast to enhance the flavor.
You can reuse the salt up until the salt starts to liquefy, from the water drawn out of the yolks. I made around 50 this year.
The picture shared, was how they looked right after I cleaned off the salt.

I had completely forgotten about posting in this thread. When I reread the post I made, it made me laugh, because I am still preserving eggs. Because the temperatures outside have gone up, I can’t use my freeze dryer very much, this time of year because it doesn’t function very well in temperatures over 80F.
Instead I am making meals, and those are also great snacks. So far I have made a lot of egg muffins, scrambled eggs, Dutch babies, Japanese rolled omelets, frittatas and quiche. I will add a screen shot of my egg preservation.
We are getting green beans with almost every meal. Sugar snap peas, carrots and cucumbers directly from the garden is also a great snack.
Egg season is also finally over. Our chickens take a break once the hot season starts, and while they usually still lay a few eggs, we mostly depend on preserved eggs until February arrives.
We won’t run out of egg though, since we get between 2400 and 3000 eggs in a year.