Paul Fookes

Getting AI to read stories is a treat.  "St" can come  out as street or saint. The full stops are read out as stop and quotation marks for conversation is called asterisk (*).  Read will come  out at red or reed.   AI is classically unable  to  place context on any word that can be pronounced in more than one way.  In the worst case scenario, AI has a profound negative effect on people  with mental health issues, and especially if those folk engage in a conversation.

In October 2023 and 2024 my wife and I hosted two open gardens.  Thanks to R. Ransom and other Permies, we where able to prepare a party pack with information on cleaners you can eat, hugelkulture, and other useful stuff.
For a few dollars we provided morning tea, with home baked biscuits and slices, as well as home made bread and soup made from vegetables grown in our garden.

We had a couple of presentations on alternatives to conventional  inputs and growing proper soil.  The garden walk, with the explanation of edible weeds and perennial vegetables, was the highlight.  Participants taking home weeds, walking onions, other other vegetables and seed, was very rewarding and heartwarming.  After a small fire which took out 0.2 hectare, we are rebuilding the garden with a view to another open garden this October.  
Thanks to Bettina who has been helping me get back on track while my back mends.

What worked:
Food, garden walk,  discussions, being able to forage, collegiality through common ideas.

What didn't work:
Formal seating arrangement.  I completely forgot to  take any pictures

Gardening - successes and failures are all part of growing flowers, fruit, and vegetables in a journey towards self sufficiency.  This is the place demonstrate how to make the world a better place to live starting in your own backyard by changing habits and minds one brain at a time.

No matter how much knowledge we have about gardening, there is always more to learn and more to share.  Inviting friends to our garden is both rewarding and an ego boost.  Knowing that our efforts are appreciated.
This thread is somewhere to post about how to host a  garden tour, and things which will make is a better experience for you, your friends and visitors.

Share your experiences here - what works and what didn't.

Hi Jason,
I really like your design.  An acre can be tight plot but it is doable.  We live 100% off grid and have done since 1986.  Our biggest lesson which you have addressed is don't put your solar panels on the roof because someone has to get up there to clean them.  Rather than have fixed ground based panels, consider 1 or 2 dual axis trackers which can increase your daily solar production up to 60%. They are easy to put up for a handy DIY person. And because they create shade, herbs grow well under them.

There is some fabulous information here on Permies on polyculture. I am a bit of a slow learner so we have only just started doing it.  We are having great success, especially with cut and come again herbs like nettle, dead nettle and kale.  We added flower bulbs and artichokes into the mix.  Look at each area as though it is a circle - so Ruth Stout composting and mulching-> seeds will germinate-> eat and use produce-> Introduce chickens to clean up the area and add manure-> Ruth Stout composting and mulching as well as adding other seeds and plants-> etc.  Hopefully, I have explained this clearly enough.  In Australia, we have folk in a suburban back yard turning off enough fruit and vegetables to feed their local community.  I would love to watch as your design comes to life 👍👍👍

Paul Wheaton  has a fabulous mantra: I paraphrase- start with three things and do them well than add one more thing once the 3 are going well.  This includes only sow 3 types of seed to start  Hope this helps a bit.

Agree it was weird.  I could log in but it looked like it was plain text not html or rich text.  I could only log in but could not do anything else.
Thank you to whom ever got onto the problem.

Dropping a quick note to say how fabulous the new email format is.
It is very easy to read and not as much of a strain on older eyes.

The Dailyish is fantastic.
🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷

Congratulations Alexandra on your journey, focus and inspirational leadership.  For those who actually have doubts, You are the proof that family, motherhood, and PEP 2 are doable.
Best wished for finding a fabulous Otis.

paul wheaton wrote:

Paul Fookes wrote:The bits and bobs pages are such a funtastic fabulous idea.  Put me down for 12 to go with the cards

The idea is to put together an ebook that could be a good stretch goal.  It will take some additional work ...

Love the idea for a stretch goal.......  Will we be able to buy extras if the goal is reached. Will be a great gift set with the BWB and Skip books.

The bits and bobs pages are such a funtastic fabulous idea.  Put me down for 12 to go with the cards

Tyler Grace wrote:I use ghee for high temperature oven cooking, the smoke point is around 485 degrees. I also use it for stovetop cooking but usually use lard, butter or coconut oil.

We have moved to using ghee since a friend gave us 2 jars  that he made.  It is the best we have found and stores perfectly in the pantry without going rancid (2 years now).
Both my grandmother and mother saved the butter wrappers, as Kate says, and stored them for greasing cooking pans and cake tins.  We use them to line cake tins and pudding bowls, especially at Christmas.
Ghee is also great for seasoning cast iron ware.  We then pack the greasy paper into a toilet roll inner to use as a fire starter.
This is some good information on ghee: https://www.indianhealthyrecipes.com/ghee/
Not sure why, but we have problems with our olive oil sprayers clogging up so have retired them.