Nancy Reading

One of my childhood memories is of playing 'sevens' as a family. Vingt-et-un was another popular one with us. Just add more decks of cards the more people you have playing (seven of us). One holiday at the seaside we collected limpet shells to use a money tokens, which I think we used for several years, although sweeties (candies) were more popular.

Nynke Muller wrote: I dug them up and replanted them in the dark dry spot near the fence, where nothing else will grow. They thrive!

That's really interesting. I wonder if in my cool summer climate the ferns may do better in a drier area. I do have some shady without much competition. It may also be that I just don't have enough organic material in the soil for them, only time (and mulch) will fix that.

I wonder whether there are varieties that grow larger, or whether it is just a matter of location.

I guess most recent first or chronologically earlier first, is like email inboxes - some people prefer one way and others another. Perhaps we could consider making it another pie feature? then people could select which they prefer and everyone (with pie) would be happy.
I find reading bottom to top to follow a thread more difficult than top to bottom. I guess if you've already seen it then having new posts at the top might be easier, but as said above 'the green line' and pie find my place so I forget that is one of the benefits of pie.

Adding to this great thread on ideas for home made freezer ready meals. I often batch cook as there are just two of us, and leftovers of some dishes are often nicer the next day (like chillies or curries). One one-pot dish that works well for us is risotto (or my anglicised version of).

There are so many things I agree with in this thread! Don't feed the monsters (vote with your wallet!) and lead by example.

I like the 'blame game' triangle. Actually I don't - because it is true!

“Hold up a mirror and ask yourself what you are capable of doing, and what you really care about. Then take the initiative – don’t wait for someone else to ask you to act.” – Sylvia Earle

That's a great find Kevin!
The fiddlehead ferns are sold as garden plants in the UK, and as I think I have the perfect (cool and damp) climate I have been trying to grow them here. So far I have been a bit disappointed. They seem to be very small still after several years so something isn't right, and I haven't been able to harvest them. I have planted one in my front garden which is shady, and one in my tree field which is shady and damp. My soil is generally acidic (very). I'm wondering if they actually would prefer a bit more sunshine, since I'm not short of water.

This is just great Rebekah! I've never got the hang of sewing, so am really impressed with what you have achieved - love the cosy coat! If you can make and dye more of the wool, you could make a couple of patch pockets and sew them on the front perhaps?

M Ljin wrote:Making your own clothing or using/reusing older clothes helps as well to avoid pollution from synthetic fibers, and so does using only natural fibers (not to mention they are better for you!)

Yes - I'm getting inspiration from Rebekah's thread on renewing her clothes with natural fibres! I'm looking at my falling apart slippers and thinking they may be the next candidate!

This is something I want to concentrate more on this year, consciously trying to avoid buying plastic, whether in packaging, clothes or goods. I think there are few cases where they are the best material for the job.

Using the R's@

Reduce: I have a little zero waste (refill) area in my shop which makes it pretty easy for me to stock up on dry goods and oils without a plastic container. We've got a list of zero waste stores here - look and see if your local store is on there - if not add it to the list! I'm particularly going to try and avoid plastic in clothing - this seems to be a challenge though! Particularly footwear.

Reuse: I do a lot of this already - making what we have last as long as possible. I reuse plastic pots a bit, where they are good quality - for food containers and for starting plants. I'm hoping to make a bird resistant net from some of my acrylic yarn...

Recycle: This is where I'm going to concentrate more in the medium term. I want to declutter by putting some of the plastic I have accumulated because it might come in - my local garden centre will take old plant pots, and I'm not going to keep those food containers I can't avoid but put them straight back in the system.

Still looking for more ways of reducing the plastic in my life.....

J.P. Waters wrote:Stop feeding the beast (reduce demand for stuff that pollutes, poisons, maims, kills)  I call it voting with my wallet...

You took the words out of my mouth! I call it not 'feeding the monster', whatever the bad guys are trying to make us buy - ignore the trolls and click bait and do something better with my time and money (permies is one of them!).

Thanks for the suggestions and I'm glad you found permies! I know paul and the developers only have so much resources, but keep them coming!