Dave Lucey

Jill Dyer wrote:I make hard boiled eggs even when I mean to make them "soft"
Observations - if the egg tips up onto its pointy end when popped into water deep enough for it to do so, then its very fresh.  After boiling, leave to cool with the lid off the pan - this avoids the black ring that can form around the yolk.  Then to peel, crack the shell by rolling on the bench, and commence peeling from the pointy end.  Somehow this arcane procedure seems to work.  Now, how do I make a soft boiled egg???

I generally prefer a method I learned from some German friends.
1. boil your water.
2. punch a tiny hole into the bottom of the egg where the air sack is.
(the German homes apparently have a special tool for this...of course they do.  I've taken to using a diabetes lancing device, it works great.  Before I stumbled onto that, I just used a metal skewer tip.  The hole in the bottom keeps the shell from cracking due to thermal shock.)
3. Lower the eggs into the boiling water on a spoon.

3 minutes for soft boiled
5 minutes for medium boiled
7 minutes for hard boiled.
(per my German friends)

Apparently they have another special tool for cutting the top of the shell off as well, so you can eat it with a tiny spoon.  I've not seen it, but I could ask them if there is interest.

It works pretty well, I'm fond of the results.  I do the same for making hard-hard boiled eggs, but I go to 8 minutes then put them directly in an ice bath and stir until I don't feel heat emanating from them any longer.  Usually 7-8 minutes.  Then they are pretty easy to peel.  If the peels stick from there, I peel them in the bowl of water.

John Weiland wrote:A bit different out of necessity.... :-)

We have very free ranging.....and free nesting....chickens.  We do our best to monitor egg laying, but as you might suspect, often lose track of egg ages.  So we end up with buckets of eggs of different ages and stages.  To ensure that I'm not hard-boiling undesirable eggs, I will coat a shallow heat-resistant bowl with a film of coconut oil or margarine, then crack and observe each egg going into the bowl for quality.  Once I have enough for hard cooking, the bowl is placed in a steaming rack in a large shallow skillet.  About 1/2 -3/4 inches of water is placed in the skillet and covered with a lid.  The stove top is set for medium high and once steam is escaping from the lid, turned down to medium for 12 - 15 min.   Eggs are essentially steam poached to a hard state and once cooled diced up en masse and added to potato salad, egg, salad, etc.  Clean up is a bit easier with the oiled bowl.

I'm in exactly the same boat, but I float my eggs before use.  It's been pretty reliable for me when determining age.  How much the bottom wants to angle up when placed in the water is the indicator.  If they sit almost flat on the bottom, just slightly tilted, they're fresh.  I'll go up to about 45-degrees before I consider them questionable, and at that point the inner white will break down pretty quickly.  I've pushed it as far as about 60-degrees, but it's dicey and beyond that they're inedible.  If they don't remain in contact with the bottom of the bowl...handle them very gently, it's a stink bomb.

Blake Lenoir wrote:Could we add mulch to our hugelkultur for enrichment of soil and the organisms that benefit from the material we added to it? How do the lasagna layer and logs work under that pile of dirt to speed up the moisture that sponge its way to the roots of our crops for better growth and health?

I've never really lasagna layered, but I have added some additional organic matter into the piles of logs I place into my trench, then place my branches and slash above that before filling in and adding the topsoil layer.  I try to keep it out of the initial root zone since I'm usually using raw stuff (usually fresh ruminant manure, I've got plenty when I muck my barn in the spring).  I rely on the soil-beasties to mix and turn it through the first year, and the fresh logs will absorb some amount of it as they start to break down, then release it over the years.

That being said, my first using raw manure additions are only about six years old, so I would argue that I don't have any long-term data yet.

Blake Lenoir wrote:My soil is full of slag and few rocks right now almost all sandy. How do hugelkultur react to urban soil? And do we need another layer of new soil in case if the soil is too contaminated to use? Thanks!

I would use the soil you have, maybe pulling any slag or other undesirable stuff, and then add either a layer of topsoil or just use planting compost in a six inch layer on top of it.  It'll work its way in over time as the wood starts to break down, but the drier nature of your sandy soil may slow down the time it takes to get the wood good and spongy.  That'd depend on your rainfall though.

You could consider throwing something in that'd jumpstart mycology in the wood like a lot of spent coffee grounds or some raw manure or something else?

Ryan Burkitt wrote:
I’m wondering for larger mature trees with tougher, thicker bark. Would the goats ignore chewing and eating the bark if there is plenty of leaves in the pasture for them to browse?

Nope.  Or rather, not always.  In my neck of the woods, even with plenty of browse, in the spring no fruit tree is safe from goats.  Once the sap is up, I swear that they can smell it in the fruit trees, and even maple trees.  I had an old wild cherry in one of my winter sacrifice areas that had to be at least fifty years old and sixty feet tall.  Four angora goats girdled the tree one March, even though their favorites were all around them.

To start with, I have no idea.  I've never added rocks to my soil by choice, but I've already got a ton of them. ;)

The only times I've seen anyone add pebbles or rocks into a hugelkultur bed was in suburban raised beds trying to fill under or around logs to avoid any possible sinking in the bed as air spaces fill in.  I've always avoided that by layering soil with logs.  (Add a layer of logs, pack soil around it, lather, rinse, repeat). Then putting about 12" of topsoil on the top of it all.

I've not heard of needing to improve drainage, but maybe if there is a really claggy, clay soil on the top of a bed?  Generally the soil on top of my hugelkulturs don't need additional drainage, and I'm on a low-perc soil.

My $0.02, it depends.  

How has the pasture been? How do other pastures around it look? Are they growing the density, types, and nutrition you want?  Whereabouts are you?  Answers are likely different in lowland Arizona vs the PNW.  How critical is the nutrition of your horses?...are they breedstock or rental horses for a summer camp?  Healthy vs peak performance have different needs.

I generally lead toward 'No off property amendments', but for cattle or horses I will chain harrow the clods at the end of the dry season to allow for faster breakdown of the road apples.  I'll also drop any of the scrap vegetation on the property as well, whether composted first or not.  If it was massively overgrazed or abused then that'll change things as well.

If I'm in an area that is 'especially anything', especially dry, especially wet, especially high or low in some mineral then I'll reconsider.  Often I'd start with looking at a soil map for the area (such as USGS Web Soil Survey or USDA Soil Survey Map if you are in the US) and then look at the general conditions for that soil type to see if it is lacking in something.  If so, then I'll consider adding something, or break down and get a soil test to help decide.  For example, I use sweet lime and overseeding in one part of my North Pasture to knock back creeping buttercup, but in my area creeping buttercup is an indicator of an acidic low calcium soil.

If the pasture was abused, then I've got some choices to make.  I'm assuming sustainable stocking densities here, not stockyard levels.  If I'm not in a hurry, I'll bring in additional good quality hay and try to get as much the poop and urine into the pastures as I can.  The chain harrow and the weather will do the work, but it'll be seasons.  If I'm in a hurry, see above: soil map, soil tests, and amendments.

If there are some 'peak performance concerns', like you're raising competition horses or high end PBR bulls or something, then it is no holds barred...tons of money goes into them...but then I expect folks would also be supplementing with the finest of everything they can find.  That's just not me. :)

It looks like a steamed pudding mold, like these Random Commercial Steamed Pudding Mold link

edit: corrected spelling, you'd think I'd check it before hitting submit. :D

I think JOMO is fantastic, but I've become rather protective of 'my attention' in the last handful of years.

When I started looking at the things that were clawing for my attention, including some people, most of them were extractive in nature.  Whether it was advertising, or shows, or news, or politicians, or parasocial interactions on social media, most of them wanted to take and want to use gimmicks and negative emotions or engagement to hook me and extract what they want.

Apologies, that's a bit ranty, but it is the core of my point.  Let me turn it around and put it a different way.  With the breadth of options available, we MUST miss out.  The WHOLE WORLD is out there.  Eight billion people all living and doing things.  If we tried to FOMO all of it, it would grind us into nothing.  With the very limited capabilities of one mind, why wouldn't we high-grade and focus on the things that make us the most fulfilled.

Hello Brianna.  I don't know Illinois and I'm only semi-educated about Tiny Houses, but a quick google search for 'tiny homes in Illinois' turned up lists of regulations and it looks like it's a county by county thing there.

Tiny Homes in general fall into the same categories as trailers.  They are temporary structures that can be moved.  Some places require they be on wheels, some allow them to be placed on a pad, but must be able to be moved.  In my neck of the woods there are several companies that build 'portable buildings' that many folks insulate, wire up, and turn into tiny homes.  I had one built and placed to use as a fiber shop, then later moved it across the state for my sister-in-law to use as a one-room schoolhouse.

Not sure how helpful this is, but it is what I have.  I wish you luck.