Gail Gardner

John Polk wrote:For best results, freeze your lard overnight.  Then use one of those box type cheese graters (course side) to grate your lard.

Once it has been mixed, divide in half.  Put top half in freezer while you work the bottom half.
Remember, you want the lard still solid when you put it in the oven !!

Brilliant! Thank you. No need to cut the fat into the flour that way. But when I do, I use 2 table knives or a sturdy table fork which I find works better than a pastry blender.

James Landreth wrote:I'm one of the few people who would advocate for more, rather than less, land...

You're not the only one. What many don't realize is that 5 acres, 20 acres, 80 acres and 160 acres can all cost pretty much the same because the smaller the acreage the higher the cost per acre. When I realized that, I bought 117 acres instead of 20 or 40.

The joy of living on really large acreages is that you can plant whatever you want.  After finding out in a thread here that peaches were the original invasive species in north-east America, I decided to start planting peach pits wherever little trees pop up just at the drip lines of established trees.

Will they be true to their origins? Probably not, but I don't care. They're basically free and I've read in the forums here that trees planted in the soil rather than transplanted are stronger, healthier. If they grow peaches I will use them. If they're not sweet enough, I'll can them or bake pies or freeze them for pies all winter or make jams and jellies.

I have a theory I want to test. What if we acquired mixed wild edibles seeds and plant them in random locations. See what grows in each area and let the wild plants take over that area. Free survival food for many AND you can tell how the soil in that area is (ph, deficiencies) based on what grows and doesn't grow.

If you want livestock of any kind, you need a lot of land for pasture. Or, like others have found, they eliminate livestock because food forests are more valuable on small acreages. You can still have chickens, ducks, goats, rabbits - but not cattle, bison, horses, etc.

Tyler Ludens wrote:

Jocelyn Campbell wrote:inflammatory foods are linked to the deterioration in the brain

My dad has moderate Alzheimer's but appears to have improved while taking Theracurmin, a concentrated form of curcumin, the "active ingredient" in Turmeric.  It's difficult to eat enough Turmeric to get the same effect, unless one lives on Indian food (yummmmm), so for ease of ingestion, my dad's physician recommended Theracurmin.  Curcumin is an anti-inflammatory.

I found a non-gmo, organic protein drink that is absolutely delicious as well as healthy and noticed they have other products I'm going to try. One of them has turmeric as the primary ingredient. https://www.organifishop.com/products/1-bottle-supply-organifi-gold.

I ordered the pumpkin gold because it is seasonal and I didn't want to miss it, but plan to try the chocolate gold and regular gold, too. All 3 of those have turmeric and are best consumed as a hot tea. That could be an easy way for your dad (and anyone) to find out if it works for them.

Turmeric isn't my favorite tea although I have added it to my "tea punch" iced tea mixes for health benefits - not for taste. It's ok if you don't try to drink it alone.

Yes, the first time someone called me "ma'am" was at a drive-thru in southern California. (He had recently moved there from the south.) I asked him if he thought I looked that old. He said, "would you prefer I call you 'miss'?" Lol...that sounded equally weird to me, so I said, "I guess not".

I haven't had people call me "honey" even though I lived in Texas a long time.  It is more associated in my mind with sarcastic waitresses on TV comedy sitcoms. Getting people in the south to stop calling you sir or ma'am or miss would be pretty hard for them because, as someone mentioned, that is drilled into them at a very young age.

The reason I mention it to people I collaborate with who are from India is because they are trying to get work from Americans, so it makes sense to not do something that Americans will find strange. If I knew something was offensive to people in India, once made aware of it, I would stop.

I don't usually bring it up when people from India that I do not know contact me because it is useful to know where someone is from to know why they are trying to reach me.

I just want to say WOW and well-done! I sure hope a Permie ends up renting your place and keeps it all going and even adds to it. What a find this is for the right person. I only happened to see it because someone mentioned "Gail" and I got an email.

If the people who already commented don't end up renting it, you should check into making this posting more visible here on Permies or find out how to get it featured in a daily email. With the size of this forum I would think there would be more people interested.

Have you ever written a book or started a YouTube channel or sold plans or anything that lays out how you managed to get so much accomplished there? I need to do the same thing here starting with I really need that chicken tractor, the duck pen, and a greenhouse.

The only drawback is that some wouldn't want to rent, but imagine what they could learn and then apply to their own place or maybe partner with you when you come back!

There are a lot of us who work entirely online now, so you may want to update your listing with what kind of internet access is available there in case someone else could work part time to cover the lease and spend the rest of the time working on the property.

You might also want to mention how many hours a day / week / month it takes you to maintain what you have going and how someone could cover the rent by selling what is produced there.

Also include the typical carrying capacity of your pasture. This is typically expressed as x acres per cow/calf with some areas only needing 1 acre to support a cow/calf, but other locations needing 2, 5 or an enormous amount. I would think in Missouri it would probably be somewhere between 1-5 acres.

This thread should definitely get featured in the email so everyone who might be interested has a chance to see it.

Nina Jay wrote:In response to Gail Gardner's wish for  charts for other countries that speak and write their own versions of English:

A very unofficial table, based on my experiences.

It sounds like we wouldn't have too many misunderstandings there. Even in the United States, there are very different ways of saying things. The most common one is to be very businesslike and professional with peers, potential clients, or people they consider important, but not so polite with those someone considers to be under them or employed by them.

The one thing I know about people from India is that no matter how many times I mention it to them, they will persist in calling me "dear". I have tried explaining that I personally find it inappropriate to have a total stranger using a term of endearment - but it seems to be a particularly ingrained habit there.

It does make it easy to tell where they are from on first contact, though.

This is very interesting to me because I deal with people around the world. I would love to see more comprehensive charts for other countries that speak and write their own versions of English. I only realized how different UK English was when a client tried to use a British content writer. I never knew how many of their words we don't know.

One word that all British writers use that most Americans did not know (but that is starting to change) is bespoke. Americans don't do bespoke anything. We do custom whatever it is.

What we really need is one for India. No matter how many different ways I try to explain something, getting my point across is just often not happening.  That they provide support for apps I am currently learning makes it a real challenge.

Dan Boone wrote:"They say" that tick disease is most likely to be caught from a tick that latches on and goes undetected for multiple hours, or especially 24 hours or more.  

I feel them moving and drop them into little screw-top jars with some water in the bottom that I keep handy during tick season. I've never had any illnesses from them.

One thing I have noticed is that my older horses seem to first get some that get engorged, but then pretty quickly any ticks that get on them dry out and die instead of getting engorged and dropping off. My theory is that a healthy horse defeats the ticks, which limits their reproduction.

Over time, the two younger horses which originally had a ton of ticks started killing off any that got on them in the same manner. But a sickly horse (or dog, puppy, kitten, etc.) gets some benefit from the ticks and until they don't need them anymore, they drop off and multiply. I doubt there is any research showing why this would be so, but think about it.

If you're a believer, why would Our Creator create something with no beneficial purpose? When I was younger, I thought the first question I wanted to ask was why mosquitoes. But most people realize that they will eat some people alive, but not touch other people in the same vicinity. There must be a good reason for that.

So eat better. Feed your animals better. Learn to avoid the worst exposures (think chiggers and ants, for example). And as you (and they) get healthier, you'll have less issues with annoying insects. That, and get ducks, chickens, or guineas to keep their numbers down. Diatomaceous earth can also help.  

Cowboys in Texas would duct tape the bottom of their pants legs and powder them with sulphur. So if they really bother you, try that. Be careful what you try, though. I read that tea tree oil would repel them. When i tried that, it was like nectar to them and they crawled on me 10x worse than normal. So test before assuming something will work.

What I like about printed books and libraries is that those books can't be changed. I wonder how many are aware of the Kindle controversy where they removed books people had paid for - ironically, 1984 and other books by George Orwell. If they decide to change what is in books you've already bought, how would you know?

While I love libraries, their choice to saturate their environments with WiFi means they aren't somewhere I could spend much or any time in. They aren't alone as WiFi is ubiquitous as are smartphones and all kinds of wireless in today's vehicles. So if I want books now, I'll have to read them online or buy them and have them shipped.

I call this strategy "stop  buying junk". I continually have to defend my choice to only buy quality from small businesses to friends who support Wal-mart and Dollar stores. They seem to think it is cheaper to buy junk and keep replacing it. I buy the best I can get ONCE and it lasts for years to decades.

The same friend that gave me grief for buying quality brooms and a mop at Ace Hardware instead of toys from the dollar store buys brand name clothing from Goodwill. So what's up with that?

Some things you should only buy quality: shoes, boots, tools, clothing. Buy used in good condition whenever possible. it is ridiculous to buy cheap boots that last 4 months when you could have paid half as much total to buy a pair of excellent boots that last 2+ years.

Sometimes cheap tools are ok if you don't use them very often. But if they break the first time you use them, you're going in the hole for no good reason.