M Ljin

I’m in New England so not in Europe. My mountain mint is the broad-leafed sort—less tough but still better as tea. Pycnanthemum muticum I think? I got them as a cutting from a native edible planting.

Corn mint, wild mint, Mentha arvensis, Mentha canadensis—I’m treating them casually as one though they are different (but closely related). They are sometimes considered the same species. I have had some amazing and unusual flavored mint of that kind show up!

Oh, I forgot! Mountain mint! They are delicious in teas, very strong taste. A little tough for fresh eating but they aren’t excessively enthusiastic either, and appreciate drier soils.

This barbed wire is really old and needs to be de-rusted, likely no zinc left. But I suppose I should take slow reliable steps and not dive into anything crazy at first!

I haven’t found mint to be bothersome in a permaculture jungle garden setting. They grow as a ground cover, and I love eating them as greens raw or cooked.

I grow a wild species, water mint, which I love. On land, they are milder tasting than by the water. There are three species of mint nearby—corn mint, water mint, and apple mint. Apple mint is the highly invasive kind that grows four or five feet tall and makes a monoculture. The leaves are very hairy, but good in tea. The other two are well behaved. Corn mint has some incredible, rich, diverse flavors too. They are all quite variable based on conditions. The strongest tasting one I know was some water mint growing in an old beaver marsh.

That makes sense. I know I read about that yesterday but forgot this morning.

I have benefitted from making as much texture in the landscape as possible, as opposed to seemingly everyone else around who makes a flat garden. Hills, ridges, hugelkulturs, they drain and aerate the often waterlogged soil while encouraging diversity and fertility, and the ditches between them work to soak water into the ground.

Do all welders need a specific diameter of stick or wire?

There is abundant barbed wire fencing that I have unwound that I might be able to use.

I have a broken shovel and scythe blade to fix, but also a cast iron cauldron with a crack.

I don’t know the latter terminology, but we have ordinary electric AC power (connected to grid).

I’ve had some broken tools I have wanted to repair for a while. This spring that includes the shovel! So I have been thinking—look for someone who welds? Or maybe find some equipment to weld them myself? I do have some cursory arc welding experience, but that was years ago.

Do you have any recommendations as to basic welding equipment?

Dame’s rocket is a reliable source of winter greenery that could fit well into the winter harvesting emphasis. Their leaves and those of garlic mustard never really die off. They’re also a beautiful flowering plant in summer, and a biennial.