Tereza Okava

Raspberry seeds are hard- i suspect only a chinoise is going to do a good job.
I make a lot of guava jelly and for guava seeds, my omega juicer is a rock star (also for tomato seeds). But my mother has a metal hand-crank one (like the one in your first link) that is about 100 years old and it still works a charm.

Welcome to permies! those are some nice beds you have there.
I would say don't worry too much about the seams and leakage, frankly. You're going to have all sorts of organic matter in there holding your gorgeous dirt together.

About the stone-- is there something underneath you don't want the roots getting to? Or is it just a matter of not wanting to get the stone out of there?
You could conceivably use cardboard or even fabric (depending on your drought/drainage situation, the fabric might differ). both will eventually break down. Roots will eventually penetrate the stones. Once you fill up with dirt it will hold the fabric in place.

Christopher Weeks wrote:

J. Syme wrote:https://udm14.com/

Good lord! If I read something more important than this this month, I'll be surprised. Thank you!

indeed, thanks a million. i was using an addon that did the same thing but lately it stopped working  

I definitely noticed DDG is not a helpful solution these days.... i'm hearing a lot about paid search engines lately, which is great if you have extra cash laying around (but I dont). I will definitely be trying Mojeek. thanks!

if it's just me (or 2 cups), I use the moka pot. love it, and love adding spices, chickory, whatever.
if it's more than that, I use a pour over with a fabric filter, for making a liter or more.

this is certainly not what you were thinking, but it has come to mind a lot lately.....

Leigh Tate wrote:I'm trying to build a dyer's garden, so I'm going to try my hand at some dye plants - Japanese indigo and woad. Both produce blue dye. The idea is to see which one grows best in my garden and make it a garden staple.

I really, really liked indigo, it was pretty easy to grow and seemed to like the summer here in 9b.
I grew it two years in a row but didn't have the space/time to dedicate to the quantities I needed. I did some dying with the fresh leaf and am saving the seeds for next summer, I think.

in a place where we can garden all year round, where the birds mostly stay around here all year and where we don't have most of the plants on the lists mentioned already, this can be a frustrating proposition.
But I have noticed a few things that are always true (even when the weather is unpredictable and we're getting crazy hot spells in winter and vice-versa)-- when the shiso starts making flowers, I have about two weeks before a cold snap comes and it's time to think about shifting away from summer plants to fall. And the persimmon trees will start to turn color (the only fall color we get): this year the persimmons are already being harvested, but the leaves haven't turned yet, a sign that we have a bit more time before the cold gets here.
The same thing applies for when shiso starts to explode into growth in the spring-- a few loners will come up all winter, but the self-seeded volunteers will all shoot up only after the last threat of cold is past.

I want to say that a variant of this recipe is in one of the Alice Walker cookbooks, where you roast onions (no water) in a tightly covered dutch oven for hours til caramelized. Puree and you have the best onion soup you've ever had in your life.

I'd do it regularly in the slow cooker but.... let's just say it doesn't agree with my digestion, despite the deliciousness, and I'm not willing to deal with the fallout!

we use a lot of it, as mentioned in the spice thread when you want an eggy taste (like in a vegan quiche) it is a great ingredient.
I do prefer, however, the traditional Indian uses like chaat masala (sprinkled on fruit with some warm and hot spices, or puris) or in raita (yogurt sauce/salads) or lassi (savory, not mango!). It's used really sparingly and adds a really nice dimension.

there seem to be a gazillion types of cichorium. We have a variety that is specifically for eating in salad, it is slightly (but not overly) bitter. Then sometimes we can get the purple tiny-but-bitter kind that is good roasted and blistered.
As for the italian recipe, we often make sauteed arugula or cress. Depending on the season it can be REALLY zingy, and some varieties (like a certain dryland cress I can sometimes get) are downright intense. Still, in Chinese cooking watercress is pretty commonly quick stir fried (as is lettuce) and is significantly toned down compared to raw. No 15 minute boiling, to be sure.