Morfydd St. Clair

Replying to my own comment:

- yes, my comfrey does grow as large as in Rachel’s picture.  Fear the comfrey!
- also, bees love the flowers, which is great, but I have to whack it down early morning or late evening to avoid their wrath.
- which also suggests checking that renters aren’t allergic!
- and looking back at your original post, 2 feet apart is too close.  I’d say 4 feet apart, mulch in between, and maaaybe you can fit something in between that will have time to get tall before the comfrey overwhelms it.

A couple things to consider:
- be sure to get Bocking 4 or 14, which are sterile.  If you will want more, trust me, you can divide the roots, and meanwhile you won’t be tormenting the neighbors with seed-spread volunteers.
- I don’t know how comfrey acts in the PNW; maybe someone can chime in? Here in 7b comfrey dies to the ground in winter.  A whole front yard of flat black leaf remains sounds… unattractive.  Maybe it could be interplanted with something evergreen?
- Speaking of interplanting, my comfrey under trees does almost as well as in the sun, so if I were planting more I’d fill in the spaces under fruit trees to keep grass down.  Not too close, though; you don’t want to provide a rodent home complete with bark to eat, and also I suspect comfrey doesn’t play well with some shrubs.
- Finally, after the first year you can whack it down 2 or 3 times a year and throw the leaves into the compost.  Be sure to agree with your renters that you have occasional access for that and that a compost pile is ok.


Sounds like a fun idea!

Rebekah Harmon wrote:So the grand total for the year for my food storing efforts this year is 371,400 calories.
I did store more food than this total reflects which wasn't local or organic. There is also quite a bit more meat in my freezer than the 10% rule allows. I also froze quite a load of veggies in plastic bags in the freezer. I'm sure that I reached 500,000 altogether, but that's not what we are counting for this bb.
Half a million for one year isn't bad!
Over the next few months, I may eek more calories out of roasts that turn into jerky, or fish/venison that gets pressure canned. But mostly, this bb is on hold til next harvest season.

Wow, this is impressive!

Dumb question: why not freeze dry the venison?

Inge Leonora-den Ouden wrote:I did not know about this 'suikerwortel'. Might be one of the forgotten vegetables ('vergeten groenten') that aren't grown much anymore.
I found out I can order the seeds from a seed company in my region. But I hope to find a grower where I can buy a plant.

Rühlemanns sells both plants and seeds:  https://www.kraeuter-und-duftpflanzen.de/pflanzen-saatgut/zatar-zuckerwurzel/z-einzelsorten/zuckerwurzel-pflanze

Beau M. Davidson wrote:As part of the 2024 Permaculture Technology Jamboree, we conducted expirements in growing giant, interlocking lego-shaped mycelium blocks, for structural and insulative applications.  Materials requirements dictated that we purse natural form boxes and natural/reused/reusable liner possibilities.  Lots of long-shots and wildcards in this one, resulting in lots of success in wisdom gained and lessons learned, while ultimately arriving at 83.33% objective failure.

We can expand on this as needed, but for now I just want to jot down some notes and post some pictures while it's fresh.

Paul has been talking for a couple years now about making giant mycelium legos.  So this year we gave it a go.

We custom-fabricated 12 cedar boxes with hinged sides and removable tops & bottoms to expirement with different lining materials.  Those materials were:

- beeswax, rubbed on
- beeswax, brushed on
- clay
- fresh linseed oil
- cured linseed oil
- dust (top/bottom) & fabric (sides)
- parchment paper
- no liner (wood only)
- first-use plastic, 6-mil
- reused plastic, grocery sacks
- reused plastic, mushroom grow bags
- reused plastic, Dave's Killer Bread bags

Full disclosure, I was skeptical about all of these except the plastics, both due to adherance/release issues and biocontamination.  Furthermore, I was skeptical about any advantages about using a lego shape in general, because I foresaw trouble in getting the mycoblocks cleanly out of the nubby bits, and because I see the advantages of mycelial properties of blocks growing together as negating many structural advantages of interlocking.  Nevertheless, we persisted, knowing that even if we experience large-scale failure as I expected, that we would: a. learn some things, and
b. maybe get a few solid lego-ish blocks out of the deal, for cool-factor if nothing else.

In the end, several boxes failed due to structureal isssues like adhering to the box/liner, several boxes failed due to biological issues like contamination or anti-fungal liner properties, and several boxes just didn't come together very well for a variety of reasons.  We had 5 boxes that were inadequately coalesced, or contaminated, but nonetheless in largely lego-shapes.  Those we stacked as a wall for further experimentation.  And 2 boxes came out in quite decent shape, showing promise of retaining full lego-shape with no known contamination.  These 2 best samples, we observe and record as they dry out independtly to see if they will "lock" together in any way, shape or form.

Cool, that's the nutshell.  Here's some pictures.

Special thanks to PTJ Attendees Mike, Krista, Angela, and Jason, as well as boots Stephen, Brian, Rio, Carissa, & Ben for making it happen.

And an extra-special thanks to Sam & Becca at Blood Veil Fungi for providing innoculated substrate from their wonderful mushroom farm in Ronan, MT.  You guys rock.  

Very cool!  So from your notes, I'm guessing E, F, and L were the most successful?  They were all plastic-lined in one way or another, right?

One dishcloth, usually a souvenir from a trip, hangs from a magnet on the front of the refrigerator for hand-drying, emergency cleaning, etc.  Extras are stacked in a wire hanging basket between the stove and refrigerator.

Paper towels hang on the other side of the stove for disgusting cleanup.

Microfiber washcloths are stacked on a shelf above the sink, used for intermediate cleanup and going dampened under the cutting board.  (And for reasons known only to the bf, one hangs on the faucet.) I depend on my dishwasher for dishes, but have another hanging basket above the sink for scrubbies, scrapers, etc, for handwashing.

The advantage of a small apartment is that the bedroom hamper is steps away so everything washable can be thrown there immediately.

I just made Avgolemono soup, inspired by this post, and it was lovely.  I used Jack Monroe's recipe which I had saved, but it looks like it's gone from her blog, so for posterity:

600 ml chicken or vegetable stock
100g rice
2 eggs
zest and juice of 1 lemon (or 2T lemon juice)

Bring the stock to a boil in a medium saucepan.
Add rice, reduce to simmer, simmer for 20 min.
Break eggs into small bowl, grate in zest, add juice, beat well.
Add a few tablespoons of the hot stock to the egg mixture, beating it in quickly and thoroughly. Repeat. This step is very important – if you simply tip the egg mixture into the stock, you will end up with a pan of chicken stock with some scrambled eggs floating on the top. I learned this the hard way!
Once you have beaten in stock to the eggs two or three times, pour the egg mixture into the saucepan with the rice, and stir well to combine.

(I had some extra chopped cooked chicken, so added that.  My soup was very "full"which I like - if you don't, skip the meat and maybe increase the stock.)

The Joy of Cooking recipe is about the same, though I think Jack's instructions were clearer.

Hi Makyla,

Congratulations on your pond!

You will probably get better answers if you mention generally where you are,maybe with USDA climate zones if they are relevant.

I think there was a good multi-part article on a natural swimming pond area in the Permaculture UK magazine a few years ago - I will try to find it but also suggest subscribing which gives you access to all of their archives.

What do you want from your pond - food/biodiversity/game?

Oh, thank you, Cécile, for reminding me of a thing I love here:  ein halbes Mett.

It’s half a bun (the halbes) piled high with raw ground pork and topped with raw minced onion.  As an American from the land of trichinosis, the thought of eating raw pork makes me twitch.  But here you can get this in almost any bakery, not even in the refrigerated case.  So far I have not died, though I have had to discreetly pick bits out from between my teeth.

Avgolemono soup is really nice (and easy!). I don’t have a recipe to hand, usually grab whatever version of The Joy of Cooking is nearest and use theirs.

Preserved lemons are interesting for several savory dishes, but I’m not sure if the zest adds something vital: https://www.seriouseats.com/how-to-make-preserved-lemons

I stuff my roast chicken with lemon quarters (then save them for broth-making with the bones - I theorize but have no proof that it successfully takes the place of a bit of vinegar) and feel very clever when I’ve used the zest for rubbing the skin.  Of course cook a bit longer when stuffed to be sure everything cooks through.