Lynne Cim

Purslane would be an easy one for use in salads and stir fry.

(Just make sure you look up and become familiar with the poisonous lookalike as they will tend to grow in same spots)

I've been out collecting some from my front path and repotting them - hoping to bring it inside for the winter as succulents do well in my home so I figured purslane may thrive too.  They already grew twice the size in a week and new little shoots are even coming up so fingers crossed as they are packed with omega-3's

Maybe this grasshopper ate too many raspberries?

I've learned about the possible fold from a video on Youtube - thanks to Pete Firman.  After doing this with some cardboard I can see it being quite a useful bit of knowledge to have in your back pocket for a future project.

I am a hoarder for sure.  For example, I saved all the heavy springs from my kids old trampoline, they surely could have another use.  I saved poles from an old canopy that no longer had a canopy. One day I used a spring to connect 2 of the poles and I discovered I could bend them into any angle I needed. The joy I got in discovering the springs fit perfectly into the poles and could connect them into any shape gave me a lot of joy imagining their potential. I still don't know exactly how I will use them but something else will catch my eye one day to make the poles + springs all make sense. This is the true joy of hoarding for me, the stored potential.

I find now that I have more time as our nest has emptied, my supply of random stuff is actually getting used at a more rapid pace. But I have to keep it all in my storage area and not in the house. My husband does not hoard, he prefers to buy parts as he needs them it but I am always running to the storage shed to show him we already have something on hand that would do the job.  

There is a phycological aspect to my hoarding, not sure where it comes from. It's more than just being creative, I do have some serious attachments to a few large projects I just cannot part with. They are part of my identity, my dreams for my retirement, part of who I may finally be in the end. But in an odd way, if they were gone tomorrow I know I would get over it in a day or two and simply move on. It's such an odd thing our relationship with things!

Now that I am older, I switched to one long hot bath a week + one or two spray bottle showers in between. This way we only need to turn on the water heater once a week on bath with hair wash day.  

My bottle shower is half boiling water from teapot + half cold tap water in a large soda bottle with a pressurized pump sprayer on top. Set nozzle to mist an it's all I need to take a long, normal time full body shower which I take standing in our normal shower.  I also use another sprayer on a smaller bottle for my composting toilet bidet to avoid having to use toilet paper for no. 1's

I use a bidet (the kind that hooks on your toilet seat) so that keeps me feeling pretty clean.  My deodorant (a few drops of milk of magnesia + essential oils) works SO well it's hard to tell when I need a shower - but I should really research if it's safe for daily use.

When I am somewhere without facilities, I already have my off grid routine in place, so I never feel like I am roughing it.

Thanks for the tip on covering hair, I will be doing this more from now on when I am working - reminds me of my grandmother, she always did this.



I want to upgrade to a large stainless steel bottle.  Anyone know of a large (2+ liter) bottle that has the same threads as a regular soda bottle?

My sister in law does! I got one of her creations as a gift and I love it!

I wear a loose fitting, light colored, denim jumpsuit sprayed with deet, a mesh hat, and a N95 mask.  

The mask and light colored clothing (fully covering any skin) definitely works for short trips to the garden, I feel invisible until my breath starts to escape the mask.  Otherwise I cannot be outside during mosquito season where I live (very wooded area). I instead go to the lake or near a canal where I am not bothered by them.

Last year we had almost no mosquitos!  I am convinced it had something to do with a new neighbor moving in - maybe he threw those mosquito dunks in the water on his property.  

Having so many mosquitos here I have learned their patterns. They usually approach and land on something behind you before they attack. I always thought about setting up fake plants coated in oil behind my chair to see if they would land on them. Once their wings touch the olive oil they can no longer fly.  A paper plate with olive oil rubbed on it can be used like a fan if they are flying around you. It is really easy to catch them on the oil coated plate.

Thai basil from my garden is my favorite.

I have been visiting towns and places along the Erie Canal State Park which runs from the Hudson River to Buffalo in New York, USA. There's free camping, toilets and potable water at most lock sites.

I found a boat club on the Hudson River, across from the Erie Canal entrance that charges $75 to store your canoe there for the year so I've put it on my bucket list to canoe a section of it. Maybe one day after I retire, I'll travel the entire way on my electric boat, using only solar power, like a modern day Hobo.


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Wait, people actually eat their scoby?  

My scoby is an absolute monster, looks very healthy and the larger it is, the less time it takes for my kombucha to ferment so I have not changed it out - is this bad?  

About cleaning with it, the question that comes to mind is would the tea vinegar leave a stain on what you are cleaning?