Annette Jones

Carla Terry wrote:I am interested in drinking chicory, but not sure where to get it and even how to grow or make my coffee. I believe it is the root, but not completely sure. Since I can't have caffeine, this has been a great alternative for me, but would love to grow instead of buying.

Hi Carla. Hope this helps.
Chicory Coffee - Cichorium intybus Description: Open pollinated heirloom variety that is a hardy plant with a long taproot topped by a rosette of leaves. Known since 4000BC throughout Europe, chicory roots have been dried and ground for use as a substitute for coffee and a vegetable. It is the ingredient used in coffee/chicory essence and many dried substitute coffees sold today. Its properties help support the liver. In the herb garden grow at the back as it grows up to 1 metre tall. An attractive herb with spikes of bright blue daisy like flowers it is also a wonderful pollinator plant and attracts butterflies and other pollinators. It is frost and drought tolerant.
Care: Prepare soil by deep digging in well-rotted manure or compost. Plant in full sun in spring, directly where it is to grow. Sow 1.2cms deep. Protect from snails and slugs. Keep moist, not wet. Plants should be 60cms apart to allow for good strong root growth. Add organic fish or seaweed fertiliser when plants are half grown.
Uses: Roots are dried, slow roasted and ground as needed as a coffee substitute. Leaves and young roots are steamed and used as vegies. Young leaves can be used in salads in spring, as the weather heats up they become too bitter to use this way. Roots grow up to 30cms long and weigh a kilo. A well-known liver tonic it supports the body and rids it of toxins. Fresh chicory root contains from 13-23% inulin and is used to fight colon cancer. (USDA.gov). Its other use is that the roots break up compacted soil areas. Left over parts of the plant thrown on the compost provide many valuable trace elements missing from our soils as the deep roots bring them up from the subsoil and then they are broken down in your compost.

Celtuce which is the edible lettuce referred to by Jennie, the stems taste like mild asparagus, I love them when making Asian food.

All stems and leaves of broccoli, broccolini, kohl rabi or cauliflower if they have not turned woody.

Nasturtiums, I use the green seeds pickled in vinegar like capers, the very young leaves in salad for their peppery taste, the flowers are lovely with a little drop of honey hit at the base, and I sometimes use a leaf or 2 in a vegetable juice or in cooking.

Sweet potato leaves are a wonderful source of protein used in stews to thicken them or fried until they are crunchy to sprinkle over meals, as well as the roots being so tasty.

Hamburg Parsley can be used for leaves and the roots are yummy and give a parsley taste to anything you cook with.

Young dandelion leaves in salads or roasting the roots to dry and chop to make hot natural coffee substitute or brewed, cooled and used in icy cold drinks with a little maple syrup.

Radish leaves in juices or roots in Asian stir fries or patties.

Chayotes/chokoes. Fruits are similar in taste to zucchini and the large edible seed inside is very high protein. Another great use is to make dolmades from the chayote leaves - just as grape leaves, (used in normal dolmades), become mature and too thick, the chayote vines are bearing fresh leaves, so it extends my dolmade seasons a lot. They bear a lot of fruits suitable for making pickles and spreads.

Appreciating all the suggestions here, I love anything that produces little waste.

All the suggestions mentioned here are positive and easily doable. Thanks everyone it's great to get feedback from tried and true methods.

The mosquito problem in my area of Australia is huge and I have practiced all of the things mentioned here over my 70+ years of farming/gardening. We have micro bats in our yard, they do a great job and plenty of dragonflies in summer through to fall.

One other plant I have always had in tubs, along pathways and around ponds and water sources is Pyrethrum daisy. Even when not flowering (flowers are great for soaking and adding to water based spray bottles), grabbing some of the leaves and rubbing to release the chemicals then rubbing on my gardening clothing and headband is enough to stop them biting. You need to reapply daily.

Knockdown (Kill): Pyrethrins interfere with the nervous system of insects, causing them to stop flying, lose movement, and die shortly after. It is widely used by pest control professionals to kill adult mosquitoes.
Repellent Action: At lower concentrations that may not be immediately fatal, pyrethrum still acts as a potent repellent, preventing mosquitoes from landing and biting.
Dual Mechanism: A study found that pyrethrum acts through a dual-target mechanism, where its components (pyrethrins and (E)-β-farnesene) work together to both repel and kill mosquitoes.

For the best results, pyrethrum should be used as part of a wider strategy that includes eliminating stagnant water to prevent breeding as already suggested by many.

Best of luck with your project Steve, come back and let us know how it goes :-)

Unfortunately I have just finished packing my coffee roaster away as I am retiring and moving in a couple of months and had roasted my green beans in readiness to last until after the move.

I have never used the oven as I felt I wouldn't be able to turn the beans enough and still keep the heat correct for optimal roasting.

Instead my son converted an old Sunbeam bread maker we found on a waste collection pile out front of someone's house we were passing over 10 years ago. Hopefully when I move I can post a pic of the converted roaster.

Since green coffee beans can keep many years just fine it gives me the option of buying many different kinds of bean and creating single or blends of flavors and aromas I prefer when they are on sale.

I only ever roast enough to see me through 10-12 weeks as after roasting quality quickly deteriorates. I only grind these amounts when I am ready to use them also for deterioration
reasons.

My son screwed a holding bracket to the side of the bread maker to hold a heat gun positioned directly onto the green beans. A fan is placed at the side of the bread maker and keeps going during the process. As the beans oscillate (turn) in the bread maker they get even heating and cooling happening. We listen for what is called 1st crack, then wait for 2nd crack when the beans are about ready - First Crack vs. Second Crack: Light/Medium roasts are defined by the first crack (popping sound), while Dark roasts reach the sharper, louder second crack.. FYI Roasting beans smell yuk! You will need a resealable foil pack to store the beans in for a few days while the gasses burn off then the beans can be stored as you would usually before use

There is a colour chart online that you can refer to as to how dark or light you want your beans to be. It also explains whether it will taste light, mellow, dark, and the bean overtones you can experiment to get, caramel, chocolate etc. I used a site called coffeesnobs.com.au for a lot of info on how to treat my beans but only ever bought a couple of times from them because their prices were too high, you can shop around for better bargains in your own country.

Key Roasting Color Stages
Green: Raw bean, room temperature.
Yellow/Yellow-Tan
Moisture loss stage, develops a toasty or bread-like smell.
Light Brown
Maillard reaction occurs, beans expand before first crack.
1st Crack
Light brown color,, pronounced acidity, "City" roast level.
Medium Roast
Medium brown color, balanced acidity and body.
Medium-Dark
Rich dark brown, oil begins to appear, "Full City".
Dark Roast
Dark brown/shiny black, oily, "Vienna/French" roast, low acidity.

Commonly Used Roast Categories
Light Roasts (Cinnamon/New England): Pale brown, high acidity, non-oily.
Medium Roasts (American/City): Balanced, brown, widely used for drip coffee.
Medium-Dark (Full City): Rich, dark brown with some surface oil.
Dark Roasts (Vienna/French/Italian): Shiny black/dark brown, bittersweet, smoky.

We had fun trying light to dark before choosing what would be our daily use one and our special occasion blend.
Great fun and well worth it once you get into the routine, compared to store prices and freshness. It is definitely more successful than an oven or any other method that isn't able to turn your beans while they are roasting.
Hopefully any of our talented permie DIYers on here can give it a go and post their pics.

My kids love using these recycled candle tins around a fire pit or on a table outside for dinner

Second pic is recycled herring or sardine cans, theoretically not soup cans, but why limit the type of can to repurpose for something useful

In Australia we have a lot of corrugated iron and tin sheds which look amazing as they rust. The second pic is of a small shed converted into a Pig Sty

What a great post. AI is taking away innovative human thinking and feeling and substituting a more isolating, disconnective system - leaving us feeling more useless to ourselves and those around us and generating more mental illness. Humans need purpose, AI and robots take this away without any realisation of the consequences.
Good on you Paul for making us think about the global result when human purpose is taken out of the equation.

Welcome back Stephen, been missing your posts :-)

I wouldn't use the word 'random' rather I'd use different or unique.

Of all the billions of people, living things, inert things, each one has something unique about it.

Cloned things, identical looking things rolled off a manufacturing line have minute differences, flaws, scratches. etc and are deliberately made not random, even twins have differences depending on what they are exposed to in life. I could go on with more examples.

For me, everything created is unique and different not random, even if appearing random or out of the blue to the naked eye or human mind.

For over 20 years I have been using bubble wrap bought at my local post office - I bought as a large roll used by commercial businesses, so it goes a long way. I know it's plastic but the reuse factor is a big plus.

If you wanted to be really thrifty, ask friends, neighbours, local businesses who use wrapping if you can have theirs to save it from landfill.
Join pieces up to the appropriate sizes for your windows or around door strips.

The reason I love it is I reuse it, so no extra costs every year, just sticky tape for sealing. Gently remove tape, fold and store after each seasonal use.

It doesn't shut out light which you need in winter to keep away the winter blues (depression) so many suffer from lack of light.

In the whole time I have had it I have had 1 small tear at an edge that I repaired with tape straight away.

It can also be used in hotter areas to act as insulation against extreme heat, works well too but better for cold