Kay Swartz

Faye Streiff wrote:Hull less  buckwheat is easy, grows in poorer soil, but have to harvest a few every day because it does not ripen evenly.  I use that to make lasagna noodles with no other flour.

Faye, would you be willing to share your recipe for buckwheat lasagna noodles?

Yes! I am experimenting with this right now. I made crackers with this recipe https://foragerchef.com/dock-seed-flour/ and we really liked them. They are quite tasty with butter and I am eager to try them with brie...

I did not winnow, though I wonder about the phytate content, just whirred the seeds in the blender after letting the hoards of little spiders crawl away.

Yes! I am experimenting with this right now. I have not winnowed it,  though I wonder about the phytates, but have made crackers with this recipe https://foragerchef.com/dock-seed-flour/ and we really liked them. Tasty with butter and I am eager to try them with brie...
I just whirred the seeds in the blender after letting the hoards of spiders crawl away.

Dear Pearl,

I am so sorry to hear about your wonderful mother--she sounds like someone we would have all liked to know! I just prayed for you, as requested, asking that the God of all comfort would comfort you in your pain and be near to you in the days ahead.

Thank you for sharing with us so vulnerably and giving us a glimpse of what it means to be a good mom.

Xoxo,
Kay Swartz

We have 21:
2 apple (different varieties)
1 apricot
1 nectarine
2 fejoa
1 pomegranate
2 fig
1 loquat
2 cherry plum
1 lemon
1 peach
2 finger lime
3 orange (different varieties)
2 cumquat (different varieties)

A good variety ensures something is producing for us even when conditions and pests vary.

Yes, I would love more, but we live in a residential area and I don't know where to fit any at the moment because I need room for all of the veggies!

We don't spend zero but do spend very little extra even with four young children and lots of presents under the tree. This year total on presents for my children and husband I spent $22.50. Here is how:

- We plan ahead and look for deals on ingredients we need for special foods.

- We have set up gift expectations for our children so that they know they will get one main gift from us which will be some kind of "experience" usually something we do as a family together. We also always give them a nice new Christmas button down shirt or a dress which we make for them from material sourced for free somehow(salvaged from a larger discarded garment, offcuts or material someone never got around to using and have away--actually quite common). They love these things!

- We also give them a very full stocking stuffed with gifts that I have made in the lead up or found looking on sites where people give things away for free, such as:
- homemade: cookies, candies, flavoured popcorn, etc.
- books
- little toys (people are ALWAYS getting rid of these last two, you just have to be thinking in advance for Christmas!)
- handmade: doll clothes, embroidered kerchiefs, pouches, bookmarks, hair bows, mini notebooks, crayons, crochet little animals, Christmas tree ornaments, lip balm, craft kits, garden seed kits, etc.

- We also do a little advent gift each day in the lead up and it is very tiny, maybe a little sweet or a figurine, something with their initial on it, etc.

With children in my experience it just needs to FEEL special, and be presented well. I mean, how different really is a new little box of LEGO from the Legos that they already have? But if it is packaged nicely, new to them and they can look forward to something that they can build with it that they might not have thought of building before--it's exciting!

So, if I make little cookies gift wrapped just for them to eat whenever they want and sew a mini notebook together and label it "Secret Invention Ideas" and wrap it up, suddenly the paper that was there in the study all along becomes "cool". And those things that we source from what others are discarding just need to be new to them and gift wrapped.

It does take more planning, creativity and work in the lead up but I enjoy it and also like the investment in what we are, hopefully, modelling for our children.

Yes, our neighbourhood Buy Nothing Facebook group is fantastic! We have been involved for about 6 years with this group and have gotten to know many of our neighbours this way.
We can usually find random things we need: jars for canning, bedsheets, flyscreen tools, work lights, garden supplies, seeds, suitcases, spare parts, paint, shoes--you name it!
Neighbours also give away excess produce or plants and things like that.
We love the opportunity to pass on our excess and help someone out or declutter regularly and after a while when you have built some relationships you end up finding it even more useful because you have people who will let you borrow their trailer or mulcher or let you use their washing machine when yours breaks or give the gift of knowledge and help you sort out a problem/tell you where to find something or offer to help fix something.
If course the reverse is true and we have now many people in our area whom we know and trust because of experience with them through this group--I would highly recommend it!

We love pemmican in our household. We honestly have never been able to resist eating it for long so the most we have ever had it sitting around has been maybe a couple of weeks.

Yes, we have tried dried berries but our favourite way is simply to add molasses and chili to the mix. You have to add a bit more chili than you would think because all of the fat tones down the spice significantly.

Just in case this helps someone still, food grade diatomaceous earth is fantastic for hair and nails. Someone earlier in the thread mentioned horsetail because it is high in silica and d.e. works because it basically is silica. Start small and drink a lot of water and gradually work up to 1-2 T. Per day in water.

William Whitson wrote:My experience with concrete block beds:
https://www.cultivariable.com/how-i-build-raised-beds/

Bill--thank you for sharing your learnings on your site! I have been wanting to grow potatoes from seed and you answered every question on TPS that I had (and some that I didn't even know I should've had).
Now I am most excited for next year's growing season!