Cécile Stelzer Johnson

Hmm. Using moles to till your garden beds sounds like a great idea at first: they sure are tilling the heck out of my little lawn right now! How would you bait them to visit your beds?
Because moles are insectivores and carnivores, they do not eat plant roots, bulbs, (yeah, great!) or grass.
So, yeah, you will still have to deal with your Johnson grass, which is a curse here, in my sandbox..
Their diet consists of  90% earthworms. Then beetles and other insects, spiders... Beetles, ants, crickets, slugs, centipedes and millipedes.
I want to keep my earthworms, though.
Another question is: After they have tilled your beds, how will you get rid of them? Will they come back once your  earthworms do?
Is there a critter that would rid me on Johnson grass and other undesirables while leaving my bulbs and roots alone?

Christie Ames wrote:I know I am late to the conversation here, but I love my food chopper!

For all of the juice mess problems... put a bowl below the whole thing. We clamp to the counter with newspaper (or junk mail flyers now since newspapers aren't a thing) wrapped around the counter to prevent scratching. Then push a stool or chair under the counter with a bowl on it so all the leaking from the base goes into the bowl. If your counter lip is too short over the edge of the cabinets to get a chair and bowl under it, use a counter that has a drawer right below, empty the drawer and put a bowl in it. Juices caught! There will be some minimal clean up from splashing, but not much.

As for creative uses, we always used it for cranberry relish on Thanksgiving. Medium grind plate for cranberries and apples, then fine plate for some orange peel. Add sugar to taste and refrigerate for at least a few hours, but overnight is best. No real measurements, but probably a bag of fresh cranberries, an apple to one and a half, and peel from one naval orange. Sooooooo much better than canned. It was always a fun project for the kids while watching the parade! And the juice that ends up in the bowl, pour it in a glass with some ice and sweet n low (sugar won't dissolve properly). Delicious, no waste, occupies kids, and is a hit at the Thanksgiving table.

I honestly can't believe how cheap these are selling for. I got mine from my Nana and it has to be at least 60 years old (if not 90 lol). And knowing my Nana, I am sure she got it used at a flea market or garage sale.

Welcome to Permies, Christie. I don't put apples in my cranberry relish. As to the orange, I add it without the peel. (but of course, I don't put the orange in the grinder; that would really make a mess. I just separate the wedges and cut them a bit. Yum!
I'll have to try adding an apple, since now, I have an orchard, and oodles of apples!
I lost my first grinder in the divorce, and the one I have now can't hold a candle to my old one. I really needed one for what I was planning to do and I was seduced by the cheap price.  
Big mistake: the metal is quite coarse, to the point that it's a pain to crank. I'm looking for a model with a better quality now.

Dian Green wrote:I love plums but the problems I had were: trying to get pollination partners to match up and the plum curculio weevil. Between those issues we called our plums " the lying freeloaders" due to their lack of production.
While you can salvage some bitten fruit, it all looks ugly and most didn't make it to ripe. I also didn't like that there really didn't seem to be many ways to deal with the bugs aside from sprays that I will not use. Even distracting them didn't work since they would damage my pears a bit too.
The Italian plum was a bit slow getting started but once it got going, it got huge and very productive. I am hoping to put in several of those, here on our new lot.

We have a lot of native cherry trees in sandy Central WI, zone 4b. Those are attacked by the curculio pest... it works a s crop trap: They leave my Mount Royal plums alone. I have one such plum in my chicken yard, and the chickens have been excellent sentinels guarding the fruit trees inside the enclosure. The first year, I had a lot of bugs in my plums, but then, I didn't have many chickens.
For natural pest control on plums, this is what they recommend:
Kaolin Clay (Surround): This is the gold standard for organic growers. It is a natural mineral powder mixed with water and sprayed to coat the tree in a powdery white film. It completely confuses the weevils so they cannot grip or lay eggs on the plums. Apply at petal fall and reapply every 7–10 days or after heavy rains. Find some talc free here: https://www.simplypureproducts.com/inventorybaby/baby-powder
The "Tarp and Shake" Method: Early in the morning when the beetles are cold and sluggish, lay a large white sheet or tarp under the tree. Give the branches a firm shake or thud with a padded stick. The curculios will play dead, drop onto the tarp, and you can dump them into soapy water.
Fruit Bagging: If you only have a few small trees, you can physically protect the growing fruit using specialized mesh or paper bags (like Clemson peach bags) tied around the stems once the plums are slightly larger.
I see that you are in zone 6, Ontario, so Hi, Canadian neighbor! I'm always looking for plums that are freestone and will make it in our winters. There's a nursery in your neck of the woods that I'm going to order from, as they specialize in trees that can brave the cold. It's your St. Laurence Nursery.
Do you know them? I'm planning on Opal, Italian plum and Stanley. What do you have?

Tereza Okava wrote:

Cécile Stelzer Johnson wrote:"The de-icing salt that will clabber (curdle or coagulate) milk is calcium chloride (CaCl₂).
While it is commonly used as a highly effective, low-temperature de-icer on roads and sidewalks, food-grade calcium chloride is also a staple in cheesemaking. When added to milk, it introduces soluble calcium ions that bind with casein proteins, significantly strengthening the protein matrix and allowing the milk to firmly coagulate into curds and whey".

I also found two bottles of this, lol. I have used it as an additive for making tofu. I bought it thinking it would make our ultra-high temp pasteurized milk into cheese, but even with this stuff the only thing it will make is ricotta, which isn't something we really eat. So we stick to yogurt and yogurt-type cheeses.

Making tofu? Do you have a recipe?
By the way, I don't care for ricotta either, but what I got was a lot better: It tastes more like an old fashioned fermented cheese. It does need compressing and aging though. It's aging in my fridge right now, in a glass Mason jar. I'm considering pounding it some more, salting it a bit and placing it on a bed of fine straw, like they do for Brie and Camembert. But it's good enough to eat as is... and I'm impatient, so...

Tereza Okava wrote:
I did, however, find an old bottle of rennet/coagulant in my cabinet the other day. We can only get shelf stable milk here, and while I can make good yogurt with it cheese simply doesn't work. The rennet expired in 2019. My mother in law makes cheese every week, and I brought it to her to test. She was sure you'd just need to use more, but no go: no coagulation. Who knew!

About milk that does not clabber: unpasteurized milk, which would be the best for making yogurt and cheeses is now illegal, so we have to buy pasteurized milk. But there are 2 kinds. Pasteurized and hyper filtered pasteurized.
'Meet the hyper filtered, pasteurized kind: When I have just-expired milk, I try to make easy cheese: add a bit of apple vinegar to it, just warm it up a bit and it SHOULD clabber.
Well, hyper-filtered milk doesn't. It has a higher percentage of protein but it doesn't clabber.
There's a workaround, and you may be shocked: if you add just a bit (tsp.) of de-icing salt to your gallon of old milk, you can then warm it up gently and it will clabber.
"The de-icing salt that will clabber (curdle or coagulate) milk is calcium chloride (CaCl₂).
While it is commonly used as a highly effective, low-temperature de-icer on roads and sidewalks, food-grade calcium chloride is also a staple in cheesemaking. When added to milk, it introduces soluble calcium ions that bind with casein proteins, significantly strengthening the protein matrix and allowing the milk to firmly coagulate into curds and whey".

I do grow some runner beans, but UW Madison tells me that they won't survive zone 4b unless I treat them like Dahlias, harvest the tuber and keep it in damp sand away from frost.
According to the University of Wisconsin-Madison Extension office, you can maintain them as perennials by digging them up: [1] (https://hort.extension.wisc.edu/articles/scarlet-runner-bean-phaseolus-coccineus/)Dig them up: In late autumn after the first light frost kills the top vine growth, carefully shovel up the underground root tubers.
Store them frost-free: Clean off excess dirt and store the tubers in a cool, dark place (like an unheated basement or root cellar) packed in cool, damp sand or lightly dampened peat moss.
Replant in spring: Wait until the soil warms up past 50°F and all danger of frost has passed in May before planting them back outside. [1] (https://www.facebook.com/learntogrowmisilla/posts/did-you-know-that-the-tubers-of-scarlet-runner-beans-are-edible-in-this-video-i-/1345001665650909/), [2] (https://hort.extension.wisc.edu/articles/scarlet-runner-bean-phaseolus-coccineus/), [3] (https://www.getgrowli.app/overwintering/scarlet-runner-bean), [4] (https://www.stclareseeds.com/product/scarlet-runner-bean-seeds/)
I'm intrigued and I'm crazy enough to try it! If I were to winter over some of these tubers, would they grow more beans? If not, the seed is cheap enough to not bother.
Or is the tuber edible? in which case I'd still try.

Emma Grace Wilson wrote:I am trying to understand how people balance fresh air with temperature control in poultry housing.
Too little ventilation can create moisture and ammonia issues, while too much uncontrolled airflow can make birds uncomfortable in cold or wet weather.
What design details have made the biggest difference for your setup: ridge vents, side curtains, fans, insulation, house orientation, or stocking density?

You don't tell us where you live, Emma Grace, but since you were writing in August you are likely more concerned with excessive heat. While ammonia can be a very serious issue, let's assume that your chickens are kept reasonably clean. These descendants of jungle fowl are actually more sensitive to the heat than to the cold. Try to maximize the time they spend outside by offering abundant shade there. (The more time they spend outside, the cleaner the coop stays, too. Yeah!). If you could shade the whole coop, that would be great too. One thing I've done during oppressive heat is put a bag of ice cubes (like 10 Lbs) in their water. I've got the rubber bowls. That was just about the best thing to cool them fast. Have some water outside too. Several bowls. I'm amazed at how much they drink
Stock density can be an issue: shoot for 3-10 square ft per bird, depending on the number of perches.
I would not bother with curtains that will diminish light and get dusty/dirty.
Insulation? of course, absolutely.  The frost can go 48" into the ground  around here, so that's not optional, and it's cheap for long term comfort. It also slows down great variations in temperature. . When it gets really coooold, I have a ceramic heater hanging from a wall)
Fans cause drafts, so they are not very good either.
Ridge vents are very useful, insuring an exchange of air without causing a draft and they work all the time with no energy input.. How may windows do you have and can you open them? : In multiplying windows, you multiply free light and  the possibilities of airing the coop. I added 4 and I now wish I had made them larger. Install once, use forever. Just make sure that you put some serious wire, like 1/2" or 1" to stop all predators.
My biggest surprise, raising chickens was to realize just how much cold they can endure. I used to think "jungle fowl, they must like it tropical". Well, nope.
Even in -30F, I leave the trap door open during the day, and they all do go out, (unless there's too much snow, of course). I built a secondary "coop", attached to the first that's just a hoop house, (reinforced with tight wire, of course). It comes in real handy when I want to clean the main coop. It can get extremely cold in there, but it's very dry, and they even have a big, huge dust bowl in there, for when the weather is inclement.
So good luck if you need to make renovations.

Kate Downham wrote:I did a bunch of research into benchtop water filters and figured that one that would hold 4 filter cartridges would be big enough for our needs.

At first it was excellent, but after a few months the flow rate slowed down massively.

I am finding that when I scrub all the filters and replace the water with fresh water, the flow rate is a bit better, but if I leave it longer than a couple of days without scrubbing or replacing, it slows down again.

When we first got the filter, the water level in the top bit would drop down almost to the bottom, now it only empties to around 3/4 of the way up the filters, so overnight it just doesn't refill like it used to, and during the day it's definitely slower than it used to be, so I'm having to constantly top it up during the day, and am not sure if it's going to give us enough water this summer.

I got the Boroux filters, because I did some calculations and figured I would only need to replace them every 10 years, whereas other filters I looked at needed replacing every year. Is the slowing down of the filter a sign that it needs replacing? Or is it still filtering properly, just more slowly?

Does anyone have any tips for getting filters to last longer? Or any DIY ideas for low pressure off-grid creek water filtering?

This is not the type of filter that I'm using because we are not off grid, but it seemed to me that the water you wish to clean may be an issue. when I looked up:" Problems with water in Tasmania", I found this:
Sewage and Wastewater Overflows Massive Effluent Releases: Over 500 million liters of untreated or partially treated sewage were released into Tasmanian waterways during the 2024–25 financial year, largely due to infrastructure bypasses during heavy rain.
Cataract Gorge Contamination: More than 27 million liters of improperly treated sewage entered the river just upstream of Launceston's popular Cataract Gorge swimming area.
Failing Standards: Reports indicate that 90% of TasWater sewage treatment plants fail to meet environmental standards, though a $1.2 billion infrastructure upgrade plan is underway.
Declining River Health and Over-Extraction/ Stressed River Systems: Heavy water extraction for agriculture and irrigation has left major waterways—such as stretches of the South Esk River—severely depleted or temporarily dry during summer months.
New Irrigation Pressures: Proposed projects like the Greater Southeast Irrigation Scheme plan to extract massive amounts of water from the already stressed River Derwent, raising alarms among scientists over low oxygen levels and potential fish kills.
Aquaculture Pollution: Flow-through salmon hatcheries and fish farms have contributed to nutrient overloads and traced antibiotic presence in local catchments like Meadowbank on the Derwent River.
 If you are far enough off grid to not be impacted by these events, forgive my logical mind.
Next is filter installation and care:
Boroux says: If your BOROUX filters are not working or flowing water, they usually need to be properly primed or cleaned.
Common Fixes for BOROUX Filters:
Inadequate Priming: BOROUX filters are made of dense activated carbon and must be fully saturated to open the micropores. If dry or poorly primed, water will not pass through. Re-prime using a priming tool or soak the filters overnight in a pot of water for at least 8 hours.
Incorrect Washer Placement: Ensure the sealing washer is placed inside the upper chamber against the metal wall, and the wingnut is tightened on the outside bottom. Putting the washer on the outside causes leaks and bypasses filtration.
Clogged Pores: Mineral buildup or fine sediment can block the filter surface over time. Remove the filters and gently scrub the exterior under clean running water using an abrasive pad like a Scotch-Brite sponge (do not use soap).
Gravity Flow Expectations: These are gravity-fed filters with a normal rate of about one gallon per hour. Also, ensure the upper chamber isn't overflowing because the lower chamber is already full.

I don't know how much they cost, but would having another set at the ready be a good idea? You could use the new ones while you rest, clean/soak the old ones? Although what water would you use to clean them?
I must assume that you live in the East Coast and Midlands: These areas sit in a rain shadow created by the central mountains, leading to much drier conditions. How deep is your first water over there? Would water storage be a possibility is you have a wet season?
I guess, if none of this explains or fixes your problem, all I can offer is my shoulder to cry on while I thank my lucky stars for not having to rely on a gravity fed system.

Mike Barkley wrote:About the Havahart trap ... try baiting the desired trap location for a while without the trap. Then keep baiting a while longer with the trap close by but not set. Gradually leave the bait closer & closer to the trap. Then put the bait inside the trap.

Thanks for the tip, Mike. (It may ruin me in carrots, but hey. It's worth a try). We have piles of disparate logs where they like to lay low.
It's quite warm right now, but in a couple of weeks, around the 24th-25th of September, we get our first frost. I'll have to try that...