Annette Jones

Thekla McDaniels wrote:I used to grow “love in a mist” Nigella, everywhere I wasn’t growing something else.  They grow readily, are pretty, have a fabulous seed pod good for dried arrangements AND super easy to collect the seeds, so you’ll have plenty for next time, and the root system is TINY!  You can just pull them right out. I always thought of them as substitute “weeds”.  

Calling a plant a weed just means the person doesn’t want those plants in that space.  I think my idea of “choose your weeds just shows how silly I am.

In addition to spreading Nigella seeds everywhere, I also encourage lettuce to self seed all over everywhere that I will be watering so that the seeds of unwelcome plants already present in the soil won’t get a chance to germinate.

Apart from being so pretty, having great seed pods for flower arrangements, and seed saving-they produce lots - as Thekla uses Nigella for, this is one plant I would never call a weed as it is so useful.

I save enough seed to scatter each season, the rest gets stored to be used for ground black pepper. It is a great black pepper substitute and FREE from your garden.

Pete Grego wrote:i believe the fastest growing plant is kan kong or some similar water lilly type plant. i believe any kind of fast growing water planet will also add to the nutrient density of your compost, considering that algaes like spirulina/chlorella are most nutrient dense foods on planet. perhaps even someone could experiment w throwing different algaes on a compost if its sturdy enough?

This is true. I have been growing kangkong for over 20 years at the side of one of my backyard ponds, you can sit out by it and almost watch it grow.

Downside is it needs a very warm climate to thrive but you get tons of it for great crunchy salads, stir fries, stews or as mulch/chop and drop.

My compost heap gets barrow loads, I love it.

In Australia people are encouraged to enter the acronym ICE (In Case of Emergency) on their phones with the name and number of the contact they wish a finder to call in case of phone loss or danger.
Maybe ask a trusted friend or family member if they will be your ICE contact.
I've had to use it a couple of times over the years and been glad I put it on my phone.

My ancestry is Danish and my grandma and mum made pickled fish and rollmops. The fish was placed in a huge glass bowl on a bed of salt and covered with salt from 1 up to 3 months, you can layer up to the top of the container as long as salt covers everything.

When you are close to ready to eat. Take a fish out, wash thoroughly and place in a pickling mixture of vinegar, salt and a little sugar with 2 bay leaves, peppercorns, dill or onion, whichever you are used to in pickling. As a child I found it very vinegary but as an adult I love it.

Right across Russia, Baltic countries and Scandinavia this is traditionally served at our Christmas Eve 12-dish supper and at Easter.

Grandpa also used to smoke herring but I am unsure how long this process took, just that I liked it. I would guess there are a lot of tips on smoking fish on the internet though.

Jeff, thanks for kindly posting the link to The Farmers Handbook (goldenseal), I really appreciate it.

Jay, and son and DIL, please check out my post from last year at https://permies.com/wiki/272602/Permies-Poll-fruit-trees-homestead. for a look at what my small yard contains.

My area grows sub-tropical to temperate very easily, (also a few tropical if I place them in the right areas with canopy ; a few cool temperate if I place them facing north against brick or stone walls and protect them when under 3 years). I've put their Latin names for anyone who is curious as I realise some may be unfamiliar.

Of course what you choose will depend on your State/Country/local area, but the point I am trying to make is to check out varieties that can add a continuation of produce, rather than just one option and create areas with under storey shrub, vine and ground cover plantings.

I have a small (just under 600 sq mtrs), sloping suburban permaculture demonstration backyard, showcasing layering of many plants grouped in their deliberately created microclimates.

As an example my apple tree has 5 different varieties of apples grafted to a crabapple stock and grows in the coolest spot of the yard. I chose varieties that don't all mature at once giving fruit over 3-4 months. My banana varieties extend the growing season over 8 months and grow in the hottest area where they get maximum sun, by surrounding them and interplanting them with other edible shrubs and sweet potato ground cover and mulch it warms and protects the soil.

Grafting is a wonderful tool in a small backyard. I have used it on my citrus, plums, peaches, cherries and apricots. I had a few dramas early on finding which varieties were most tolerant of their positions and had to change a couple of positions to better suit my berries, but now all seems to be in sync and thriving.

My biggest challenge is climate change and water which over the years I've managed to adjust my block to, but the weather changes are fairly rapid now and it is ongoing work in progress. I have some wonderful people in our local permie group which we have formed into Permie Pods, they come to help and see how to manage small areas, even balcony growing is taught. As long as you can grow something it all helps ourselves and our communities.

I've been a permie, before permaculture really became a thing and studied with Bill Mollison in the 1980's so as you can see I'm getting on now, but I must say permies has been an invaluable place for learning new ideas, different ways of viewing a sustainable life, and meeting some pretty fabulous people along the way who share their knowledge and caring.

When you make your list of what the locals in your area, look at what else can grow on or under, you'll be surprised at how much yield you will have.

Carla Terry wrote:I am interested in drinking chicory, but not sure where to get it and even how to grow or make my coffee. I believe it is the root, but not completely sure. Since I can't have caffeine, this has been a great alternative for me, but would love to grow instead of buying.

Hi Carla. Hope this helps.
Chicory Coffee - Cichorium intybus Description: Open pollinated heirloom variety that is a hardy plant with a long taproot topped by a rosette of leaves. Known since 4000BC throughout Europe, chicory roots have been dried and ground for use as a substitute for coffee and a vegetable. It is the ingredient used in coffee/chicory essence and many dried substitute coffees sold today. Its properties help support the liver. In the herb garden grow at the back as it grows up to 1 metre tall. An attractive herb with spikes of bright blue daisy like flowers it is also a wonderful pollinator plant and attracts butterflies and other pollinators. It is frost and drought tolerant.
Care: Prepare soil by deep digging in well-rotted manure or compost. Plant in full sun in spring, directly where it is to grow. Sow 1.2cms deep. Protect from snails and slugs. Keep moist, not wet. Plants should be 60cms apart to allow for good strong root growth. Add organic fish or seaweed fertiliser when plants are half grown.
Uses: Roots are dried, slow roasted and ground as needed as a coffee substitute. Leaves and young roots are steamed and used as vegies. Young leaves can be used in salads in spring, as the weather heats up they become too bitter to use this way. Roots grow up to 30cms long and weigh a kilo. A well-known liver tonic it supports the body and rids it of toxins. Fresh chicory root contains from 13-23% inulin and is used to fight colon cancer. (USDA.gov). Its other use is that the roots break up compacted soil areas. Left over parts of the plant thrown on the compost provide many valuable trace elements missing from our soils as the deep roots bring them up from the subsoil and then they are broken down in your compost.

Celtuce which is the edible lettuce referred to by Jennie, the stems taste like mild asparagus, I love them when making Asian food.

All stems and leaves of broccoli, broccolini, kohl rabi or cauliflower if they have not turned woody.

Nasturtiums, I use the green seeds pickled in vinegar like capers, the very young leaves in salad for their peppery taste, the flowers are lovely with a little drop of honey hit at the base, and I sometimes use a leaf or 2 in a vegetable juice or in cooking.

Sweet potato leaves are a wonderful source of protein used in stews to thicken them or fried until they are crunchy to sprinkle over meals, as well as the roots being so tasty.

Hamburg Parsley can be used for leaves and the roots are yummy and give a parsley taste to anything you cook with.

Young dandelion leaves in salads or roasting the roots to dry and chop to make hot natural coffee substitute or brewed, cooled and used in icy cold drinks with a little maple syrup.

Radish leaves in juices or roots in Asian stir fries or patties.

Chayotes/chokoes. Fruits are similar in taste to zucchini and the large edible seed inside is very high protein. Another great use is to make dolmades from the chayote leaves - just as grape leaves, (used in normal dolmades), become mature and too thick, the chayote vines are bearing fresh leaves, so it extends my dolmade seasons a lot. They bear a lot of fruits suitable for making pickles and spreads.

Appreciating all the suggestions here, I love anything that produces little waste.

All the suggestions mentioned here are positive and easily doable. Thanks everyone it's great to get feedback from tried and true methods.

The mosquito problem in my area of Australia is huge and I have practiced all of the things mentioned here over my 70+ years of farming/gardening. We have micro bats in our yard, they do a great job and plenty of dragonflies in summer through to fall.

One other plant I have always had in tubs, along pathways and around ponds and water sources is Pyrethrum daisy. Even when not flowering (flowers are great for soaking and adding to water based spray bottles), grabbing some of the leaves and rubbing to release the chemicals then rubbing on my gardening clothing and headband is enough to stop them biting. You need to reapply daily.

Knockdown (Kill): Pyrethrins interfere with the nervous system of insects, causing them to stop flying, lose movement, and die shortly after. It is widely used by pest control professionals to kill adult mosquitoes.
Repellent Action: At lower concentrations that may not be immediately fatal, pyrethrum still acts as a potent repellent, preventing mosquitoes from landing and biting.
Dual Mechanism: A study found that pyrethrum acts through a dual-target mechanism, where its components (pyrethrins and (E)-β-farnesene) work together to both repel and kill mosquitoes.

For the best results, pyrethrum should be used as part of a wider strategy that includes eliminating stagnant water to prevent breeding as already suggested by many.

Best of luck with your project Steve, come back and let us know how it goes :-)

Unfortunately I have just finished packing my coffee roaster away as I am retiring and moving in a couple of months and had roasted my green beans in readiness to last until after the move.

I have never used the oven as I felt I wouldn't be able to turn the beans enough and still keep the heat correct for optimal roasting.

Instead my son converted an old Sunbeam bread maker we found on a waste collection pile out front of someone's house we were passing over 10 years ago. Hopefully when I move I can post a pic of the converted roaster.

Since green coffee beans can keep many years just fine it gives me the option of buying many different kinds of bean and creating single or blends of flavors and aromas I prefer when they are on sale.

I only ever roast enough to see me through 10-12 weeks as after roasting quality quickly deteriorates. I only grind these amounts when I am ready to use them also for deterioration
reasons.

My son screwed a holding bracket to the side of the bread maker to hold a heat gun positioned directly onto the green beans. A fan is placed at the side of the bread maker and keeps going during the process. As the beans oscillate (turn) in the bread maker they get even heating and cooling happening. We listen for what is called 1st crack, then wait for 2nd crack when the beans are about ready - First Crack vs. Second Crack: Light/Medium roasts are defined by the first crack (popping sound), while Dark roasts reach the sharper, louder second crack.. FYI Roasting beans smell yuk! You will need a resealable foil pack to store the beans in for a few days while the gasses burn off then the beans can be stored as you would usually before use

There is a colour chart online that you can refer to as to how dark or light you want your beans to be. It also explains whether it will taste light, mellow, dark, and the bean overtones you can experiment to get, caramel, chocolate etc. I used a site called coffeesnobs.com.au for a lot of info on how to treat my beans but only ever bought a couple of times from them because their prices were too high, you can shop around for better bargains in your own country.

Key Roasting Color Stages
Green: Raw bean, room temperature.
Yellow/Yellow-Tan
Moisture loss stage, develops a toasty or bread-like smell.
Light Brown
Maillard reaction occurs, beans expand before first crack.
1st Crack
Light brown color,, pronounced acidity, "City" roast level.
Medium Roast
Medium brown color, balanced acidity and body.
Medium-Dark
Rich dark brown, oil begins to appear, "Full City".
Dark Roast
Dark brown/shiny black, oily, "Vienna/French" roast, low acidity.

Commonly Used Roast Categories
Light Roasts (Cinnamon/New England): Pale brown, high acidity, non-oily.
Medium Roasts (American/City): Balanced, brown, widely used for drip coffee.
Medium-Dark (Full City): Rich, dark brown with some surface oil.
Dark Roasts (Vienna/French/Italian): Shiny black/dark brown, bittersweet, smoky.

We had fun trying light to dark before choosing what would be our daily use one and our special occasion blend.
Great fun and well worth it once you get into the routine, compared to store prices and freshness. It is definitely more successful than an oven or any other method that isn't able to turn your beans while they are roasting.
Hopefully any of our talented permie DIYers on here can give it a go and post their pics.