Phoebe Fraiser

Mk Neal wrote:Love this thread, you are doing great things!

Lovage may be my favorite garden plant. It’s the one herb that reliably comes back strong year after year with no work or fuss. I use it in everything, anywhere parsley or cilantro might be called for. Lovage tabouleh. Lovage guacamole.

I also layer lovage leaves in salt to make a flavored salt that is great for all savory uses. The lovage seeds are a good seasoning also, similar to dill or cumin.

Have tried growing lovage every year previous five, and it hasn't come forth.  This year put some seeds in hydroponic system to get started, and so far, only one has popped, though seems a weak start so far.  Tried from different sources too.  Any pointers to get it going?  I'd really like to have it going in the garden.

Real estate renovator friend had mold in a house after major pipe break.  He used UV lights in the walls for two weeks; all mold gone he said.  Researching it shows to be a valid approach.  Often used in air ducts too it appears.  We have had a leak leading to mold in an underground wall area difficult to get to without major digging.  So, I have bought a couple of UV lights as well.  Plan to use for our situation.  In the meanwhile, I have been using dehumidifiers to cut back on the situation for spreading.

@johnfdean re: "Frankly, I  would like to go back to the flip phone I had."

You can more easily do that these days.  Part of my work is supporting 250± mobility devices.  Many people, both young and older, are dropping the "smart" devices and going back to flip phones.  They allow for greater peace of mind in many ways.  At any rate, because they are popular again, the industry is supporting with more options.  So, take a look and make the switch if you want to go that route. 👍

Used to teach nutrition.  Everyone's body is different, and also changes over time.  Additionally, nutrition can be impacted by disease and/or chronic conditions.  So, what works at one point in life, it changes over time.  Most important is to listen regularly to what you're body is telling you.  Does something that you used to love no longer sit well with your body in some way?  Stop eating it.  Are you craving something in particular?  Try a little bit, and see if that brings you more energy or upliftment.

Generally have found/experienced, both self and students, that the more whole fresh food eaten, the less food needed, since this contains the most complete nutrients, and fewer meals needed to meet nutritional needs.  The more food is cooked, the less nutrition, and in most cases, the less value it has for the human body (there are a few circumstances where a food item is more assimilable if it's cooked, though not the norm).  Lack of/low movement, disease and chronic illness can also impact (usually decrease) the amount of food the body can tolerate or process.  Ergo, as people age, the amount of food intake often decreases.  So many variables, and those are some of the considerations.  A single meal a day can be just fine, and important over a week's time, to vary the food intake to cover the nutritional bases.  Hope that helps bring some peace of mind and/or clarity in some way.

I do have a standing desk, and also a under desk cycle.  The cycle didn't fit well, and so it had to go.  Instead, I too set alarms for myself to remind me to move around regularly, and stretch; some kind of break for a few moments.  That seems to work the best when I'm not too focused on the project of the day. 😊

We do the best we can. At least the gardening is helpful in that regards.  With it pretty and in the mid-upper 70s, my dear husband, me and a couple of helpful neighbors spent yesterday and today getting six 8x4 garden boxes prepped with old Guinea poop and hay mixture over cut logs, and all of that covered with compost, as well as fruit tree pruning, and 7 self a watering 1x3 boxes soil mixture replaced, and planting out an early Master Gardener trial, some sugar snap peas, and planting in for later transplant some Roma's, chard, peppers, nasturtium, and marigolds.  Rain starts in the morning and it gets low 20s here again Monday night; maybe even a little snow.  We'll see.

We can recommend the LogOx, especially for those working with wood as getting older.  Great product; works as promised. Here's recent YouTube video on it.  

Luke Mitchell wrote:That's an interesting problem.

We regularly freeze sourdough loaves as my partner cooks 2 loaves at a time (to maximise on oven space use all the heat being generated) and we can only manage one every few days. I find the bread is a little drier once defrosted but I've not noticed any change in the flavour.

I wonder, is the ambient temperature when you defrost the loaf allowing wild yeasts to colonise and kickstart the fermentation again? Have you tried defrosting the bread in a fridge? It would be interesting to see if this helps.

In general, I wouldn't expect any of the yeasts to survive the cooking process. Once our bread is cooked, fermentation stops. We cook our bread at 240C.

I also bake two loaves at a time, and we freeze anything not used after a couple of days.  We've not had any issue with our loaf slices becoming more sour.  I will say that after preheating the oven to 500 I do bake at ~450 degrees F in a dutch oven with lid for ~40 min, then without lid from ~5-15 min to brown, then leave in oven with the door just cracked open for another 25 min to develop the crust before pulling out to cool on the rack for about 3-4 hours.  From freezer, we almost always toast it, as we just prefer it that way from the frozen state.  

I usually find sourness is a result of longer stretches between starter feeds.  A hungry starter seems to produce more sourness.

That's a great idea!  My dear husband is in love with the idea of pawpaws.  In my local Master Gardener group, there was talk of how they stink and pollinate by flies rather than bees.  Didn't appeal to me, and yet he really wants some.

So, I got three trees via Arbor Day Tree event a couple of years ago.  They didn't survive.  He bought a couple more, planted much higher elevation on our property, though these didn't make it either.  He's ordered five more, which are supposed to show up in the mail in a couple days.  I've proposed a different spot, one of our lowest in elevation this time, with less clay, more loamy soil.

If we get some good pawpaw from them, I will see about trying this out.  Let me know if you have any other pawpaw recipes. 😀🙏

Kyle Hayward wrote:I use a version of this:

except I use 2 cups sprouted spelt flour and 1 cup artisan bread flour (gives it more proof).

He also has a video making it with a "Poor Man's Dutch Oven", just two loaf pans, one inverted and secured with clips. I use both methods to make 2 loaves at the same time, one in a normal Dutch oven and the other in the Poor Man's.

Easy and healthy and absolutely delicious breads.

I also bought a bamboo bread slicing guide that works great.

Can also highly recommend anything from Artisan Steve's YouTube Channel and website: [https://nokneadbreadcentral.com/technique-etc/].  I regularly make the rye bread, and Mediterranean olive, and a version of the Cinnamon with dried berries instead of raisins.  His recipes work like a charm every time.

We too got the bamboo slicing guide though find it only works well for us for the loaves shaped breads.

Wow, this is so inspiring!  And I love your design.  I'm not at a level at this point to make such a one, and it's definitely something to work toward.