Christopher Weeks

Congrats all — thanks for the effort you put in!

We were budgeting around the purchase of a nixtamal mill (https://www.nixtamatic.com.mx/nixtamal-en.html) from Mexico and made the purchase today instead of waiting to have our financial ducks in a row. (It's only the difference of 3-4 weeks, but we figured why pay an extra $150 in tariff?)

Benjamin Dinkel wrote:the acid evaporates before the water. i think the boiling point is even lower then alcohol. So boiling it will actually result in having less acidity.

I think the principal acid in kombucha is acetic and Wikipedia tells me the boiling point is 118-119 C. So it seems like gentle heating should drive water off faster than the acid, but I don't have the chemistry background to know if there's something that makes it more complicated than this.

Oh no...there's no final post from Mike; I need to know how this ends! :-)

Instead of a bed with a wavy edge, I went with a whole bunch of tiny beds in the same space to increase the amount of interface between where I was planting clover and the weedy lawn. I won't know until this summer whether the technique is working, but it does illustrate an approach to increased edge per work-shovel.

I used to find them on peppers and tomatoes at my old place, but I haven't seen one in the five years we've been living in the woods. I don't know if I moved north of their range (like I did with opossums) or in the wild(ish)lands there's just enough natural predator pressure that you have to really screw things up to get them. When I used to occasionally get them, I'd just pick them off and toss them in the bushes, and they never got out of hand.

I tolerate sour more than a lot of people do, but when mine does finally go too sour, I just dilute it with seltzer or tea or juice and drink it like that.

I wonder if you can just evaporate the water out of it to increase the acid concentration. Try a hot dehydrator or a very low stove burner and see what you get. And also, I wonder if you need to. Have you tried cleaning with it as it is?

Poor puppy! (And poor wallet...)

Oh, thanks for the reminder, Anne!

Another great update, Clay! Enjoy the holiday.

https://permies.com/w/175964/Pina-colada-day-assed-Holiday ?