Susan Mené

   One of my favorite breakfasts consists of a poached egg over lentils and vegetables.   I'd eat it any time of day, but I love it at breakfast.
   
    The lentils are always leftovers.  I cook them in homemade chicken or vegetable stock. Then I saute lots of vegetables and add then to the lentils.  Often these are "zero waste" odds and ends: celery tops,  the tiny pieces that fall off when I cut up cauliflower, pieces trimmed from the stem end of jalapeno peppers, the awkward ends of onions, you get the idea.  Of course, garlic is in the mix.  Add a little grated cheese, pop that poached egg on top and mmmm. I feel the best with a heavy on the veg./protein/fiber and some healthy carb mixed in.

Axel Rosie, my German Shepherd is calling. More later .

   

Shookeli Riggs wrote:Be sure to have a varmit control system if you dont have dogs for the fowl,guinea  are pretty fast runners and can fly very well but the chickens and ducks are a little more vulnerable.I know everyone thinks birds in general will eat all bugs but i have had chickens for awhile and if i find a tick i try to get them to eat it,they just look at the tick then look at me like im stupid for trying to get them to eat a tiny little bug,now i have given them the swollen ticks from off of dogs and they eat them without hesitation.I dont have dogs anymore so my chickens are penned when im not around.I dont have dogs so deer are around more,during our deer season if you kill a deer in november it will be tick infested,usually right on sternum or hard to reach places.Deer are tick transportation devices because they cannot reach all over thier body much like a dogs back will have fleas and ticks.Kill all deer and you will likely have less ticks in a few years,just my theory but i hate ticks as much as i hate deer eating my garden,win win.

Oh another theory and this isnt mine,but opossums are said to eat ticks.I have had people tell me "dont get rid of your possums,your going to have ticks".I have ticks and i had tons of possums,now i dont have as many possums .They also eat chickens,you make the choice whether you want possums eating ticks or possums eating chickens.

I have a Dog and 1/4:  an 85 lb. German Shepherd and a 6 lb. Maltese, so no more raccoons or possum or rabbits on my property.  Only the squirrels are brave enough to live with my Axe (shepherd) roaming about.  The few deer in the area run through rarely.  

Unfortunately, Convincing my husband to get fowl will take a lot more effort than I thought. Going to visit our friends' homestead in June and they and I believe he will be fully converted, lol.

Jay Angler.  I just saw your note re: "how much is me and how much is the environment?".
Alas, I believe it's mostly me.  I'm a tick magnet, lol.

Paul Fookes wrote:Not sure if you can get your hands on a few Guinea fowl.  Their favourite candy is ticks.  We have a flock and they managed to get rid of an incursion of ticks when some stock feed was brought in after drought.  They also got rid of the kangaroo ticks.  As a side benefit, they repel snakes and are good watch dogs sounding an alarm if something is not right. More information here: https://thriftyhomesteader.com/guinea-fowl/
 

Got that website up already!  Thanks.

Thank you.  Looks like I may have to be getting some fowl.  
Convincing the husband...hmmm.  The more tick bites, the easier it gets.

I haven't posted in a while.
I have a serious tick problem:  I am literally a tick magnet.
I know about showering, clothing, all the stuff one can google. I do it all and it doesn't work.
I need real help keeping them off me.  I am on a fast track to tick disease and alpha-gal.  
I know there are things that are forbidden-to-be-mentioned on permies; can someone please educate me on why they are so bad?
I am desperate and need proven methods.  Please.

Nancy Reading wrote:My guess would be sun scorch. Could there have been water on the leaves that magnified the sun? Did you ever work it out?

If I remember correctly, it was exactly what you said:  sun scorch.

Carla Burke wrote:The chives & green onions will probably be fine, rehydrated in soups, stews, etc.
I'm not sure how much heat the tomatoes will pick up, unless they are actually touching, while they dry. Let us know how it turns out, please!

Thanks for this!  Almost threw the chives & green onions into the compost.  The hot cherry tomatoes came out great.
I put the minced hot pepper on top of the tomato and thy are incredible.

    SUCCESS!
    Thank you for all the suggestions and a special shout out to everyone who recommended putting the minced hot pepper on top of the cherry tomatoes. The flavor is wonderful: first the incredible sweetness of the cherry tomato followed by the heat of the pepper. Most of the dried tomatoes with hot pepper are eaten already and I am the only one home right now.  
     As this was experimental,  I made a small batch of about three dozen. Some had minced hot pepper smooshed onto the cherry tomato, some were naked and just placed next to the minced pepper.
I also did a tray of just minced pepper.  
     Criticism, advice, and tips cheerfully accepted!

Jay Angler wrote:If your goal is very spicy dried tomatoes, and if you haven't already started....

I would sacrifice a couple of the tomatoes and squeeze the juice out of them. I would whiz that with chopped up hot peppers using my stick blender.

Then I would cut the cherry tomatoes in half and put them cut side up and spread the hot pepper mush on top. If it's liquidy, you might try an eyedropper even?

I think that would be the best way to get the flavour where you want it.

Separate pieces may not have enough "stiction" - the pepper dries differently and faster and may tend to just fall off.

What Carla says - good or bad, worth repeating or not, let us know!

Thanks for the suggestions! I will do what you said.  I'll be starting them late afternoon.  The cherry tomatoes and habaneros are home grown, other mixed hot peppers I got because they were misfits/ugly and unwanted; they seem  run 5-8 SHU.  We shall see!  YAY!