Ra Kenworth

Susan Mené wrote:

Ra Kenworth wrote:
Do you sprout the turnips, rutabagas, and beets in water?

No directly into the compost hill.
Edit: I don't have much luck with water sprouting even with my well water and no additives. Ditto for sprouting -- other than soaked then drained peas in a Ziploc bag, I plant buckwheat seeds in peat moss and give them a scissor trim after 2 days and I'm not bothering with anything else but dried herbs, my garden squash, and typical carrots etc from the stores.

Root vegetables are excellent at holding up a slope, so I plant turnips etc., usually on the north side of a hill because they can take it, and they produce greens early spring.

Right now, the carrots are in a veggie friendly Ziploc bag sitting a couple of thick cardboard layers above the basement slab, inside a paper potato bag, and I will keep them there until they get planted. I will root around, accidental pun, for soil or peat moss plus coffee grounds, and get those planted indoors so I can have greens mid winter,
to be relocated in spring onto a compost slope.

My next roots to be planted but I will wait a few weeks. I will time them so they can wait inside paper bags same place as carrots are now, and dry out a bit where injured, about 2-3 weeks, then they can start getting planted outdoors on compost with insulation at night, which will be a good time to do another stew in the oven with the side chunks. At that point it's trial and error what will survive mild frost. I start planting the desperate ones first!

If this reply stays open for editing for a few weeks I will add pics of my various successes and failures!

This 1980 book is a wealth of knowledge isbn13 9780931790140

Ergonomic plastic end snow shovels with 16" blade reinforced with metal -- I bought four a few years ago, never going to find them again for $14 CAD
Roof shovel -- for the tarp tents and motorhome, sheds, and roof
Perhaps a ladder and go on the roof -- this year I paid someone to take most of the snow off the north side
Sleigh shovel (see pic) I call them a snow pusher. These are also great for draggng your stuff to your humble abode instead of pulling a sleigh -- on your return trips you can use it to tidy up your footpath
72 Dodge Adventurer with 60s hydraulic plow no brakes, for the yard when necessary
I have six feet of compressed snow already, 1000' Gatineau mountains in Quebec Canada
Snow shoveling: le sport nationale du Québec 😂
Edit: with all the warm weather I now have 40" of compressed snow! It just looks like less!

I have regrown all these veggies plus garlic, bok choy, turnips, beets, fennel,, kohlrabi, wild leek butts from my neighbor (I save mine and only eat the third leaf once they're producing three at around 4-6 years old) and I got a chayote plant one year off a fruit that I chopped off the sides but left the shoot in tact (the part that looks like an anus)

For turnips, rutabagas, and beets, I chop off a section of both sides leaving top and tail and a section spared along each side, works for me.Edit: I prefer the leaves from these roots. Also carrot leaves.

As far as long term, my onions disappear, the carrots are great for stabilizing compost hills, and they last. I have found the best way to keep the critters off my veggies is to provide them with sufficient oats and corn that are away from foot traffic that they aren't hungry.

Honorable mention: grapefruit seeds germinate well, and although too cold in Canada, they produce fantastic leaves I will nibble on raw and put in the crockpot I use to make teas. They are all stripped of their leaves before the frost.

Edit: pics added

"with dog for scale" 😂

Jay, you did a fantastic job!
This adjustment can also be done successfully by doubling up the material around the elbows(thereby shortening the sleeves): undo the side seam a bit and do the easement there if necessary, then it's like elbow patches. If there is lining you can remove some in the inner elbow.
Ditto for pants
Since arms and legs can be tapered, sometimes this won't work, but the less tapering the easier.

Nancy Reading wrote:
I think the seams won't last long though, the fabric at the folds is wearing badly.

A comfortable pair of trousers often become more loved, the more worn they become. When they are ready to repair again, you could use some complimentary fabric, and sew in a complete inseam piece like these jodhpurs. On the inside you could add a patch that's diamond shape to eliminate the thick seams that meet at the crotch if you like as well. I've done this to trousers I've had that I went cycling in! A diamond inside and out to sandwich the crotch area with a little more give and a lot more comfort!

I also buy from the thrift store, and once in a while through personal ads.so I sew a lot, have a machine, do lots of zippers, have grommet and snap kits, leather needles, heavy duty thread, use dental floss too, even bought a 70s sectional leather couch that needed minor repairs, 12 years ago for 200 $cad.

I get a dopamine rush from stacking functions and zero waste 😂

My last trip to Nunavut I brought an ankle length fleece $1 hoodie with buttoned opening and used my snap kit to snap it to a like new 90 $cad navy XL men's full length (well ankle length for my 165lb 5'3" ) down coat and it was sufficient for the winter. I left the xl coat for a housemate -- there are always people who need winter clothing when there is a storm -- and brought back my unusual $1 ankle length hoodie which I wear a lot.

So I found another navy men's down coat, for $1, this one much thicker down, missing the hood, and the zipper is heavy duty but finicky at the bottom.

No matter, I have started working on an extra huge amauti hood like all the good custom arctic coats have (big enough for a toddler) which gets laced to the collar of the coat with grommets, using my bright neon Paracord, and a side front horn style button closure, accented with Paracord, leaving the zipper in place. It's going to get under -30C (-25F) over the next few days and I will have plenty of time to finish it then.The Paracord will make it easy to spot in a crowd of coats

I try to upgrade during repairs: patch knees and add a side zipper and snap pocket going all the way around for holding hand warmers, a thigh repair with painter pant pockets and extra give in the knees, a rear seam rip gets extra give for bending, and a hood becomes a baby carrier/groceries, and enough room in the lining for all your extra scarves, skidoo masks, gloves, phone etc. Also, enough room in that hood for many multiple layers of head gear! Even a skiddoo helmet 😂

Upgrading during repairs turns tedium into a craft project.

Jackie, with a working temperature range of -10-60C (14F-140) and storage range above 0 (32F)  I would expect it to die quickly from abuse in my climate. It's a big reason I am holding out for alternative battery technologies.