Mk Neal

Eric, have you ever been screened for ankylosing spondylitis? SI pain and kidney stones are both associated with this. I have mild AS, and other family members have kidney stones and gout.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6790921/

Nancy Reading wrote:I've realised I actually find it easiest to save seeds from biannual plants here (kale, carrot, parsnip...). Because they over winter and usually flower in spring, they have a chance to ripen when I get a bit of dry and warmth in summer, so I can harvest and dry them quite easily.
Plants that go to seed the same year are often a bit hit and miss as they ripen later in the summer or autumn, when the weather is getting cooler again, so drying is much more difficult. I'm hopefully selecting for earlier ripening seeds just by succeeding in saving the seeds!

Probably you are in the right climate for saving seeds from the European biennial root crops. Those of us in northern/central North America can’t rely on the roots surviving overwinter, which makes it more complicated to save seeds from beets/carrots etc.

John Weiland wrote:

John F Dean wrote:.....if I can only have one handful a year in present times, I will grab the candy corn for the flashback to my childhood.

Yet inquiring minds want to know:  When younger, did you nibble one color of each kernal at a time, starting with the yellow portion at the end and progressing to the white tip?  Somehow in those early years, my impressionable mind was convinced that the yellow portion tasted more buttery.... :-)

I still do! I like a little bit of candy corn at Halloween, but otherwise black licorice would be my choice.

I would carmelize onions, salt to taste, and mix with sour cream ( or labneh) while still warm. Then let sit some time before serving so the flavor permeates.

Nancy Reading wrote:

Tim Springston wrote:

One other thing I have heard is that pease were (and are?) also grown as a polyculture with grain crops so that you harvest, thresh and eat the whole crop together. I'm not sure how this might work, but you'd get a nutritious porrage I suppose. It may also have been fed entire as an animal food with the stalks as well

In Estonia, meal from toasted mixed grains is a traditional food. I wonder if the mix of grains in this recipe was grown and harvested together in olden days?

Recipe for “kama” https://estoniancuisine.com/2017/08/11/kama-estonian-muesli/

Interesting! I have seen this as an ornamental but never knew it was edible.

If you’re trying to make grits like the kind you can buy in the store, those are hominy grits. So the corn kernels are soaked in lye, boiled, and the skins rubbed off. That removes the chewy bits. Then the bare hominy kernels are dried and ground to grits.

I have had good luck just freezing sliced fresh turmeric. Lay the slices flat on a tray to freeze solid, then put in bags or jar for long term.  Use just like fresh in tea/smoothie/stir fry.

Last year I stored canna roots in box of loose straw  over winter. It worked well enough for that purpose.

At end of growing season (usually around Halloween), I pull or cut down the annual vegetables, plant garlic, and spread a layer of compost, then a layer of fallen leaves and garden prunings