Ra Kenworth

Biggest roadblock: have to cut down on carbs now I've had surgery and am mobile again.
I could do a sourdough bun or two but they're sooo good.
So rather than a whole small loaf, I do a low gluten crêpe on occasion.

Douglas Alpenstock wrote:
I also want to create a winter dog food supplement to cut down on costs -- sprouted peas could be part of the dog stew.

I add plenty of ground fennel which I buy by the kilogram -- which contains an enzyme we, dogs, and perhaps other species lack to digest the ogliosaccharides in beans and it seems to help with peas too. I often don't get to the sprouting stage, but simply soak the peas overnight, rinse, add water and bake in a high quality covered roasting pan for about 2-3 hours at 350F along with some black pepper for taste and health.
That makes a great base for meals for myself and the dog. If I let it get a bit crusty, the dog gets the crusty parts. The proof is in the poop: if the dog poop is well formed and he is regular, I know his meal is of correct portions. Obviously that's a good guide for us also.
I freeze it in medium sized ziplock bags I lie flat while they freeze, and I can usually get a good dozen uses out of a ziplock bag before it gets relegated to bring patched with red housewrap tape and used for other things like storing seeds from the garden, before being placed in the freezer door where all the quick saved seeds go.

Pigeon chicks:

Under 14-21 days, they need my body heat, so in a sock, in a pocket (or at night, a brocket: the space in a bra, ha ha ha)

At this point I am thinking Dr Seuss style board book:
" In a socket in a brocket"

Once they are maintaining body heat, which can be 14 days, in a small cardboard box in the bath tub (where they can't be stepped on, and poop is easy to clean up) with toilets and grey water buckets lidded

Once they are flying they get a small plastic cage or a cardboard box in a wire cage, and days, they are grouped with others their age in a large wire cage 3' off the ground that has perches and I start leaving it open for them to come and go shortly thereafter, but I feed them in those big cages (which are wrapped with 1/4" mesh to keep chipmunks out).

Okay, so this inquiring mind had no know, and the Internet seems to suggest goose is much higher (yay, time to think about getting 3 geese) The internet says

100 gram serving of domestic goose contains 0.4 milligrams of tryptophan

and

Turkey contains 0.24 grams of tryptophan per 100 grams of food

You're right Billie: tryptophan increases melatonin production -- perhaps turkey doesn't have melatonin in it! Well turkey works for sure and I love the broth idea -- I wonder how geese are? Stacking functions: geese for security, soil building, meat, eggs and sleep...

I've tried before and never got one to sprout. I guess age is a factor too.

I am located in Canada, and I 've had difficulty getting whole peas on occasion, and for the last three years, the price of food grade 10 kg bags of yellow whole peas has been on par with feed grade, and it's closer. These peas are old, and there are about 5% halves in there. The halves never sprout but the whole ones always do. I eat them too of course and so does my dog, plus many of them make their way to the garden and the compost.

If melatonin works for you, as it does for me, then foods high in melatonin: eggs, nuts, fresh cow's milk collected at night, turkey, other meats.

Melatonin (in its various forms) is good for boosting the immune system also (along with particularly vitamin D). 3 mg is plenty of the synthetic kind and if your pills are 10 mg, cut them in quarters

In a rush and a big day ahead? A boiled egg or three, quick oats with dehydrated apples, or warmed up leftovers
Not in a rush? Sautéed veggies including lots of onions and garlic which usually contains some prepared beans or peas or lentils
Not in a rush and still a big day ahead? Brunch: A low gluten crêpe filled with sautéed veg and maybe some kind of protein

Anthony Powell wrote:

Growing downwards is reckoned to encourage flowering, and 1.5 years after the work, one of the plants flowered and fruited .

Awesome! Many thanks for this tip!!

I will try this on the largest trees which are 5-7 feet now, before I attempt a backhoe coming in and digging down and attempting to move them off the mound of trees trunks and smaller rocks and dirt that I seeded them on top of boulders and meagre top soil on glacial deposits.  (I hope to locate a buried point well and a neighbor is renting one.)

jeff Swart wrote:

I agree with Carla - seems you might want to add a Poll option for "Both"

IMHO there are good uses for showers, baths, AND 'sponge baths'

Totally: with a significant number of this poll having no running water at times, a sponge bath is quicker to heat and less hauling than a bath bath

A shower becomes a luxury worth detouring for, especially before appointments with others

A bath may be a preferred luxury add-on
Soaking requiring a method to maintain temperature

The whole question becomes complicated

Then there's the shower then hot tub option

Plus those who really want a sauna included as part of the clean up ritual

All of the above then merits as an option