J. Syme

A few Mushrooms showed up this fall

good on your husband for trying new things. i have about 3000 hrs in a piper cub & another 1000 Aerostar and seaplane shenanigans. it is super cool to fly the mountains and surf the wind on the windward side. my flight instructor/dad taught me to fly back in the 80's. flying is only briefly stress full when landing or taking off, rest of time it's super peaceful. stress relief for me is usually physical activity like chopping wood, hiking the woods or the like. if I'm tired or sore then fishing, archery or rocking chair on the front porch. as for the news turn it all off. (except permies, they have the scoop on world domination) I get enough local news at the local hardware store, like: "Bill's cow broke the fence last week" "Sue's daughter is getting married this spring"

While trouble shooting refrigerators or suspect power grids I will place a penny or stone on top of ice cube in IceCube tray in the freezer. If the unit fails long enough to thaw the ice so the rock sinks I know the food is suspected of going bad.

r ransom wrote:

J. Syme wrote:our local library network has an online catalog search and several of his works are available, (some are reference books  and thus only viewed at the library others are check out or eBooks).  try a site like https://library.pugetsound.edu/home and see what's available local to you.

Were there any books that appealed to you more than others?

It looks like it's on our interlibrary loan system, but I'm limited to only one more ILL this year.

see it they have this one:        Jean-François Millet, Peasant and Painter           by Alfred Sensier   (bio)
or  illustrations one:     Jean-Francois Millet: Drawn Into the Light by Alexandra R. Murphy

this cute little rabbit was eying the garden earlier this spring

our local library network has an online catalog search and several of his works are available, (some are reference books  and thus only viewed at the library others are check out or eBooks).  try a site like https://library.pugetsound.edu/home and see what's available local to you.

we have 50lbs bags of diatomaceous earth available at the local farm/feed store. i put a 20" diameter dust bath bucket that's only 5" high and mix it 50:50 with dirt/diatomaceous earth. the hens like to dust bath in the bucket and it keeps our mites in control.

My dog found this little bug interesting so i took a picture.

what's worked well for my daughter's chickens is to separate the sick ones from the flock, keep there butts clean, add electrolytes, vitamins to her water, make sure plenty of fresh water to them hydrated, supplement her food with some cooked egg. peace & quiet helps too. good luck, some times they just don't make it, but give them a fighting chance

Lana Reyes wrote:I've been thinking about this because it seems like we spend a lot of money solving a problem that the ground has been solving for a very long time.

You grow potatoes, carrots, beets, cabbage, onions, squash, maybe some apples.

Then winter comes.

<redacted>

A proper dug-in cellar is one option.

What's the cheapest root-cellar setup you've seen actually work?

cheep cellar
4 yrs ago helped neighbor with digging a hole, he's 94yrs old
put 55 gallon drum in hole let it stick up about 5"
backfilled with dirt to make a sloped dirt collar around it so you could get lid off easier
he has several burlap sacks with stuff he tosses in there for cold storage.
this is closer to his house than his celar by the creek bank.
not pretty but usefull. same guy has 1950's stove with pilot lights you can adjust individually.
he shuts them all off except one burner. this one he puts a can of soup on in the morning
come lunch time he opens the can for hot lunch.... i shake my head at him regularly with
the stuff he does.