Meg Keeney

If in doubt, throw it out. Why get sick if you can avoid it? Canned food should not leak, seep, bulge or dry out. It’s not worth the chance of botulism.

I have a fisher in my area and the other day, a coyote. I learned to remedy the losses by making my birds’ home a fortress.
As far as dealing with the deaths of your beloved animals, a good way to be an example to a child is to teach them to be grateful for the time spent and the memories made. Losses are hard enough. We don’t want our children to become indifferent to them. Love, appreciation and respect are most important. Be strong and be a good example. I am sorry for your losses.
It also disturbs me that the cat was so close to your home. I would be very wary about having my small child play outside.

I made the mistake of purchasing a large bag of whole dried peas. To me, 5 pounds is a large bag.  I had to pre-cook them before I could peel the skins off by hand. I rolled and scrubbed them around in my hands under the water in the pot, also tried to roll them around on a towel- sloughing off the skins and then pouring off the floating skins from the top of the water until I finished the batch of 2 cups.  That was enough for me! I decided then that for all that effort it would be worth it for me to buy them already split. Since then I have been sprouting them in my chicken feed. They are also excellent grown to 6" size and then harvested for salads. I wonder if the skins are removed before the drying process. I wonder if they are steamed before they are split and dried.

I've got a well aged piece of land and it's just a grassy field with five very old and needy apple trees. I am looking forward to transforming it into an edible landscape. My first impression by the title of your book, it sounds perfect for the job. I can't wait to get a closer look. Thank you!

I would like to add a seed supplier to your list that might help you a great deal. Johnny's selected seeds in Winslow Maine. I worked there for 15 years with the last eight of it in the seed lab where we regularly tested the seeds for germination levels. The catalog has a wealth of information. And for questions they are just a phone call away. Johnnyseeds.com

Someday I would like to try growing coconut, banana, kiwi, fig, mango, Papaya, cocoa, olive, cinnamon, coffee and Pawpaw.

So glad to find this! Ok, Paul, here is my list of questions concerning the riser.
I noticed that Erica and Ernie's riser (video) was made of whole firebrick and not insulated. Are whole firebricks sufficient without being additionally insulated? Won't they eventually get too warm and deter the cooling effect on the outside of the riser inside the bell?
When collecting my supplies to build my RMH, I obtained a quarter inch thick 8" steel pipe to use as my riser, having read that the metal pipe used as a riser will burn out overtime because of the the stresses of extreme temperatures. My plan was to use perlite/clay as insulation around that riser as thick as possible within the bell. I found a 15 gallon barrel a 35 gallon barrel and a 55 gallon barrel. I thought maybe if I used one of the smaller barrels around the 8 inch steel riser and insulated the riser with perlite/clay, I would get a longer-lasting riser with that configuration. And of course, then next I had read that the thicker metal takes longer to warm up and charge the system. Overkill? I guess.
So then I had opportunity to come to the workshops! I feel bad for those who weren't able to make it. You missed out on a great learning experience. Yet, having had the experience of the workshops I now have a new set of questions. ) So much of those workshops was highly experimental that my questions are limited. But I have read about wrapping the riser in Rock wool. How do the insulating qualities compare between perlite/clay and rock wool? What about using the Dura board? I am also concerned about attaching the insulation with metal screen or wire where such high temperatures are involved. And have you yet cast a riser using Erica's ingredients? Or are the risers you're using made of the same material? It didn't seem to be the same to me.
I love the idea of the shippable core and I am definitely on board with that. I also would like to work on designing a more solid configuration that would piece together or that would be solidly cast to thwart those weak areas we saw. I think given the weight of the material will be sufficient for a thicker core.
Oh! One more question. This one concerns the second bell. Sending a pic of a design I'm considering. I am thinking that this will work just fine. I am concerned with the second bell because it is a 16 foot bench. Will the second bell capture that much heat so that it would radiate or am I just overkill?
Thanks again Paul!
Meg
PS
I hope you like my pineapple story~

I have also started Ginger and Turmeric in the house as well.

Here are the most recent pics. In the last pic, I was going to cut off the top and decided I want to grow it so you can see where I cut and then when I twisted the top off- only half of the roots that are exposed because of it. I believe it will be fine though. I have it rooting in water for the time being. As soon as I see growth starting I will transfer to potting soil. And changing the water daily until then.

Here are more pics.