Oscar Daniels

This is our favorite easy dressing.
Olive oil
Lemon juice
Trader Joe Everything but the Bagel Seasoning

That's it. And it's amazingly good.

Just drizzle olive oil on your salad to your desired wetness.
Follow with a splash of lemon juice
Shake Everything by the Bagel Seasoning on it to taste.

Mix it all together.

If you want organic, Frontier Herbs sells an Everything but the Bagel Seasoning that is organic.

So easy. So good.

Cody Hahn wrote:Bumping an old thread here. So, I have the Handmade House Guild package, and I can comment and weigh in on it and what it offers/teaches, as it currently stands (it's a slowly and so far ever-evolving and growing series of courses). I'll try to come back and comment on this when I have a chance, in a way that might benefit/steer those taking a look at any of the currently offered individual courses, or on the Guild package as a whole.

Hi there Cody,
I'd appreciate any thoughts you had on the value of the course. I'm thinking about getting it.  

Welcome Kate!!  I had a question.
If I cut some green grass to use in my compost pile and it turns brown while I am collecting all my materials to put in the pile. Maybe months pass.  Is it still a "green" because I cut it when it was green or is it now a "brown"?

Carla Burke wrote:Awesome! Congratulations, Andrea, Mary, Oscar, & William!

Thank you so much! I'm looking forward to reading the book.  

Cristobal Cristo wrote:
I wanted to dry farm them, but it was failing in my climate. I decided to set up an irrigation system to help the trees establish themselves. Trees do grow in my area, but they need solid help in first few, most difficult years.

Then I decided that if I'm already irrigating then why not to try species that I would not normally consider, so I added plums and sour cherries and planted them within existing rows, but with 5 m spacing.

Cristobal, is dry farming still an option once all the different species get established,  or is it no longer possible because of the varieties that you planted?

Thank you so much for all the detail. I live in the Sierra Nevada Mountains up near Redding so it was helpful hearing how a "neighbor" was approaching things.

helen atthowe wrote: I would test your soil and choose a cover crop mix based on your soil nutrient and texture needs. ...It is worth doing the homework to know your soil and site very well before you choose cover crops, living mulches, and soil amendments. Good luck building your soil organic matter and microbial community.

Helen, do you have any book recommendations for how to choose cover crops based on "soil nutrient and texture needs".  From the Table of Contents, it didn't seem like you covered that in this latest book. Or am I mistaken?

Thanks,

Joseph Lofthouse wrote:I love them all. If a particular plant causes problems in a particular place, I weed it out (goatheads in my barefoot lawn). Other than things like that, I welcome all plants to my farm and the surrounding wildlands.

Having a love for all plants is a beautiful outlook. If you can give me some tips on how to love Poison Oak, that would be fantastic!!

William Bronson wrote:Bindweed.
I still hate it, but I have been making progress in using it for tying up tomato plants.
Wild mulberry.
I thought it was only good for feeding chickens.
Turns out it's almost as durable as locust wood, plus it has edible leaves along with the fiddly fruit.
I am propagating as many as possible.

William, Using bindweed as cordage is ingenious.  I like thinking outside the box on what to do with these invasives. While researching "how to snake-proof a yard", I learned that rattlesnakes--and maybe all snakes-- don't like thorny things because it is painful to slither over thorns. This got me thinking about how to re-purpose all the blackberries cuttings I have after I cut them back.  I'm thinking of weaving the long blackberry canes between the wires of the fence around my house-- maybe 12 inches off the ground--and see if that keeps out rattle snakes.  

Ned Harr wrote:Dandelions of course.  And now in my third house I welcome them, they bring me utter joy. So pretty. And of course they attract pollinators (I love watching the bumblebees browse, I could do that all day), enrich the soil, let me know what my soil health is, create fun for my kids (they like to whack the ...what do you call'em? seed balls?), etc. If I could replace all my grass with dandelions, clover, and other eco-friendly lawn-coverings I'd be a happier guy, plus I could sell my stupid lawn mower.

Ned, I loved hearing your dandelion journey. Watching the pollinators frolicking on your "weeds" versus fighting your weeds is such a healthier, happier place to be.

Oliver Huynh wrote:Lamb's quarters and goutweed.
The only way I found to control their spread is eating them.

Oliver, I had the same experience with Mallow aka Cheeseweed.  One year I was fighting mallow continually in a garden bed and then when I realized it was edible and healthy, I changed my motto to "If you can't beat it, eat it!"

Jeff Marchand wrote:
There is of of course one invasive 'weed' that I have definitely grown to love in recent years since its legalization. ;)    

Alright, Jeff, I've got my eye on you.  😀 J/K
We'll have to figure out something good we can do with Russian Knapweed.

Gray Henon wrote:Bamboo.  Edible shoots for us.  Edible leaves for my livestock.  Biochar for my other plants.  Provides a cool retreat in the summer.  Has absolutely stopped erosion on our stream bank. We’ve used a bit for garden stakes and I’ve given some away for fences and poles.  

I prefer to describe it as “locally invasive” as it only grows where planted.  No worries about birds transporting here, there, and yonder.

Gray, You've convinced me to plant some bamboo.  I just need to find the least invasive variety. 🤪

I have a thicket of blackberries that sit next to my garden area which I always considered a nuisance because of their borderline invasiveness and always having to cut them back.  This year I gave them a little water by accident--due to  errant overhead irrigation--and I realized I love vine-ripened blackberries and they produce prolifically all summer long with pretty much zero effort and inputs. I can't believe I turned up my nose at them. (The ones I bought in the store were never ripe.)  

Are there any other (borderline or completely) invasive crops or useful plants that Permies secretly love even though they would be ashamed to admit it publicly?

Your secret is safe with me.  I won't judge you.

Thank you so much, Dave, for your explanation.
Would you mind posting some pictures of your overhead setup?  I love the sound of it, but can't fully picture everything in my mind. I have been struggling with irrigation and am about to set something up for this season because the rains in my area are stopping.

Dave Bross wrote:
My whole irrigation setup is that 1/2" poly tube with the fittings you just wiggle onto the tube.

Would you mind posting a link to the tubing that you use? It may be a no-brainer, but I'd appreciate it.

Dave Bross wrote:
What I went to was an inexpensive overhead setup using very inexpensive sprinkler nozzles screwed into 1/4" tubing, the 1/4" then plugged into the main 1/2" line with the fittings where you punch a hole in the 1/2" to connect the 1/4" tubing from the sprinkler to the 1/2".

I hope you can post a picture.
About how tall are your bamboo stakes?

Are the sprinklers that you had in the link the ones giving you 8ft of spray diameter? That is fantastic.

Dave Bross wrote:
I use a siphon to pick up ferts into the water and that has minimum and maximum number of sprinklers that will make the siphon work right.
... you do have to have a certain amount of flow, requiring a certain amount of sprinklers, before the siphon starts drawing.

What exactly is the siphon you are using? Do you have a link to that? And what type/size container are you siphoning out of?

Whew! Sorry for all the questions.  

I appreciated the thoughts on why tree jack's fail.  I think one advantage the timbertool might have is that the timbertool is pushing from the side of the tree versus inside the tree.  I imagine this would put less vertical stress on the hinge leading to hinge failure as described previously in the thread. I wish they were cheaper.  From a price standpoint, it seems cheaper to experiment with ropes first.