Inge Leonora-den Ouden

r ransom wrote:...
Coffee is the only humidity lover that survives, but they are usually clustered together.  The humidity inside the plant cluster is usually 20% higher than house humidity which, even with the kettle, is skin-splittingly low.  Plants have an amazing control over their local environment.

My coffee plants are all together in a 'window-sil greenhouse'; they seem to like it there.
Now I think I need to make a photo, to show that little 'greenhouse' ...

If I could find someone (nearby) who's able to, and wants to, build such a machine I would like to try out a foot-powered kitchen blender (strong enough to make nuts into nut-butter). I do have the book on human-powered low-tech machines (the Dutch translation).
I like such things, but I don't have the right kind of handyness/skill to work with metal and wood ...

btw some bicycles now instead of a chain have a belt-drive. I think that would work well too on stationary human-powered machines.

There must be something wrong ... I didn't get e-mails anymore about boots (like you) posting in their threads. First I thought: maybe they're on holiday.
But it lasted too long. I went to look for new posts at the Wheaton Lab forum ... and indeed, you had new posts!

r ransom wrote:I just gave my house plants their new years water.   Well some of them.  Others probably won't want water for another month or so.  That's where I went wrong for so many years.  I watered to schedule and didn't know they need far less water when they aren't growing.  Now I check on them once or twice a month in the winter instead of watering every week.
....

Your indoor climate must be very different from mine. But I see a woodstove and a kettle on it. So I think that kettle with water on it gives your houseplants the right kind of humidity.
My central heating makes the air in the room very dry. I need to water my plants at least every week.

I went to this thread (mentioned in the dailyish) because I was curious wo knaow what is a 'capstan'.

Now I understand: it is a 'kaapstander'! That's the Dutch name, I think the original name, of that thing.
Exactly as someone here says: from the colonial-era ships. During the 17th century the Dutch were very 'colonial minded'! Their ships sailed everywhere, and sailing involves doing things with ropes ...

I love light! I already have mirrors at both sides of the window (just ordinary old closet-door mirrors) for years. But now I read some things here that make me want to experiment...
... that aluminium foil I rarely use, I can try to reflect the light in the corner of the room with it! That corner is where I like to sit (on my couch), but the lamp there doesn't give as much light as I would like (doing textile crafts).

Now is the time (I mean in the Northern regions, where it's Winter) it is difficult to keep your houseplants alive!
They like to be in a light place ... but the window is cold, they don't like the cold! And if there's central heating, the window sil might be above the radiator ... plants don't like to have hot feet!

To add to my post before.
I hope you understand what I mean. English is not my own language ...

Probably in this thread it is about doing a craft or making art in your 'spare time', while you live on your 'permaculture homestead'. And then making more than you need for yourself and sell those products.

How do you do that? You could sell from home, or have a booth at a fair/market, or bring it to a shop/gallery that sells it for you.

Selling from home is okay. But then you need to advertise. So the money you make from selling your product needs to include advertising costs too.

Arts or crafts fairs I know in two seasons: during the Summer holiday in regions where people spend their holidays (that's the region I live in), and in November/December, aimed at christmas presents, more in towns. Mostly the fair is 1 day, sometimes 2 (a weekend). Costs: rent a booth (rent varies a lot), drive a car with your products there and then stay there all day long (while demonstrating your craft?), preferably with at least two persons.

Shops where you can bring your home-made craft products to sell those are only in large towns/cities. In other places shops selling craft products may exist, but they work with volunteers and the income is for some charity, not for the makers.
Most art galleries only exhibit the art of their choice, you can't just 'bring in' your work, they invite artists (so you need to be known as an artist). Sometimes you even need to pay them to have an exhibition of your artwork there. Okay, your art will be sold for much higher prices than at an art fair. And you only need to bring it there, and be there at the 'opening of the exhibition' (not a whole day).

I don't know about taxes in the USA, but here every little bit of income has to be administrated and you need to pay a percentage over it as tax. Your selling price of course is not the 'income', costs can be subtracted. For me my costs always were higher then what I received, so I did not have any income from selling art.

I did post here a few years ago. Nothing has changed since then, for me.
I think opportunities to sell home-made craft / art products in the USA are better than in the Netherlands.

Even for professional artists (and crafters) it's hard to make a living from their work (instead of 'odd jobs'). They need to do many efforts to become 'known' in the world of art-buyers. Costs of advertising (in expensive magazines) and being at art-fairs come before there's a real income.

r ransom wrote:

Inge Leonora-den Ouden wrote:I always do 'creative stuff'. I'm a creative busy bee, my hobbies are too much to mention.
Even my gardening is creative.

What captures your fancy this year?

Most things, like knitting, crochet, hand-sewing (slowstitching), drawing, creative cooking and gardening remain, I do them all year every year.
For 2026 I decided to (re)start Nature Journaling. I did a little bit of it in the past, and Urban Sketching too, but now I bought a new multimedia sketchbook to fill with nature observations (in drawing and watercolour painting, with added text) during this year. 'Nature' includes my gardens.