Sasha Goldberg

There might be too little time for this and I don't know the details but Daily Kos runs/has run(? it's been a while since I've been to the site) an annual auction. People donate items and I believe, there is no actual collection of items; it's all done on-line and the donator is responsible for sending the item to the winning bidder. I realize that there is a lot that can go wrong but if the people involved are operating in good faith, maybe it can work.

Of course, another consideration is, which method uses the least coffee because over the course of a lifetime, that matters too. I want to say that percolators use the least, followed by french press, followed by drip, followed by espresso makers but I'm not certain because my info is coming from an article I read several years ago. The basic idea was that the more contact the water had with the coffee grounds, the less coffee you would need, which makes intuitive sense to me. I've never tried to work it out myself but we have a small stove top espresso maker and I know it takes more coffee than the french press does. I would think that cowboy coffee takes even less coffee than a percolator.

We have a stainless steel french press which we bought, for $60.00, after breaking the umpteenth glass one. Glass presses are a scam. There is nothing to stop them from using pyrex or any other thick, strong glass but then you wouldn't have to replace them every three or four months and we can't have that. The stainless steel press we have works well but the bottom piece has threads that strip easily, we had to replace it after just a month or so. The company blamed us for unscrewing it to clean. If we didn't already have the press, I would definitely move to this system. I really hate one-use items although I do use it to froth my milk when I make a latte with my moka pot.

You can also use leaves from the Yaupon Holly. It's not a Camellia species at all but it is a native shrub/tree that has caffeine; more than tea but less than coffee. I just planted one so I don't know how it tastes. It has a pretty appalling botanical name, ilex vomitoria, but that is a misnomer. The Yaupon Holly was used in native ceremonies for men which including vomiting (don't know why). The Europeans mistakenly believed it was the Yaupon Holly tea that caused the vomiting. I just planted it so it is still teeny-tiny but I just noticed new growth so I think I will be able to try a cup in a month or two.

What I would like to know is, has anyone harvested any tea? Novella Carpenter, 'Farm City', planted three bushes and she harvested right away but she bought them because she was desperate for tea after having committed herself to eat for 30 days from her back yard. Later two of the plants died from natural causes and the third got whacked by her landlord's landscaping company. She felt that it might have been too cool where she had them but I am wondering if she set them back by early harvesting. I have chewed a few leaves from my plants; very bitter but in a good way. I bought one Sochi and two others one of which is good to zone 7 and the other, zone 7A. We are almost Zone 8 here, in fact, according to the new USDA zone website, we actually have pockets of zone 8 in Suffolk--just not where we live. I am a little apprehensive about winter; the coldest it's gotten here has been 12F. It's unusual to get that low but it does happen. I guess if they're hardy to zone 7, they should make it but the folks at Camellia Forest caution about too much wind and lately, it's windy all the time. I am going to plant them on the east side of my garden shed and probably erect some kind of lattice to act as a windbreak.

Tea comes from Camellia Sinensis, only. There are a whole lot of Camellias that are not Sinensis.

I just bought three bushes from them. A couple of sites I've been to since, state that the bush needs to be 4-5 years old before picking tea leaves. I don't plant on waiting that long though.

Although they don't use briquets, I highly recommend Safari grills/ Qwik Grills. They use crumpled pieces of newspaper and work really well. You can only find them on Ebay, these days, but they're well worth it. The food comes out just like it's grilled over charcoal and all it takes is between ten and twenty sheets of newspaper. It does not work for thick cuts (I used it for burgers, thin steaks and satay type kebabs). The only real downsdie is that they are made of very thin metal and they just don't last. I am being particularly careful with my latest acquisition, keeping it out of the rain for starters, and using fewer sheets of newspaper at a time so the flame doesn't get so hot. If this one wears out, I will have one made of better materials.

http://users.aristotle.net/~shicks/qwikcook/index.html

Sasha

I just finished watching "Water is Life", http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hF2QL0D5ww&feature=youtu.be, and I came away thinking, "why isn't Sepp Holzer a star?" Why does everyone know who Jeremy Lin is and nobody knows who Sepp Holzer is? Sepp Holzer brings land back to life and Jeremy Lin plays games for a living. I don't mean to pick on Lin, he just so famous, he's even penetrated my consciousness but the essential question remains: why do we exalt people who accomplish nothing while ignoring people who truly contribute to the world?


I am going to buy his book as a way of saying, 'Thanks'.

Kari Gunnlaugsson wrote: Having said that...yes, you do need a gun if you are homesteading. You will probably use it reluctantly, and hate having to use it, but there will be times when it's unavoidable... predators, porcupines that won't move on, terminally ill or injured livestock or pets when you are a long way from the nearest vet...etc, etc... maybe even a deer to supplement the food...and you will learn a lot about yourself and living and dying and mortality and respect...

Learn how to use it safely and teach your kids responsibly, and Always treat it like it's loaded...

I was thinking about this too. It is said that if you have livestock, you will have dead stock. We have had to put down a couple of goats and I don't think we could have done it without a firearm. We don't have ours for protection, they are unloaded and not readily available. We slaughter our own meat which was our primary reason for buying them. We started with a 22 handgun and then had to buy a rifle when my husband shot a pig who did not go down but was clearly in pain. We couldn't get close to him so now we have a rifle as well.

I also wanted a rifle because we have had several situations with dogs going after our chickens and foxes as well. We haven't had to shoot a dog so far, and I hope we never do.