Shawn Foster

Letharia vulpina (a bright yellow lichen) also makes a lovely bright yellow dyes. Just remember to collect your lichens from fallen branches, not directly from the trees! Nice example here

I save some seeds and want to save more. I save them because both the concept and the process are soothing to my soul; I feel much more connected to my plants and their welfare, as well as the benefits that they bring to me. The ones I grow from saved seed feel more "mine", for whatever that means.

What gets in the way of "more"?

Space; my method of chuck-the-plant-parts-in-a-paper-bag-and-let-them-dry-for-a-long-time tends to take up a lot more space than is really logical

Saving tomato seeds intimidates me a bit. Pretty sure my squirrel brain will just let them rot in that fermenting stage and I'll have a stinky mess with no viable seeds

We're going to be moving next spring to a very different climate (from rain-shadowed valley 8a to timbered mountain 5b, more than 5° latitude north) and I'm still unsure about crop selections for that new area

Slight amount of shame for the masses of seeds I already have

Sometimes it’s the little, almost offhand, comments that generate the biggest a-ha! moments for me. In that overview video, he mentions using loom waste for nålbinding. OH MY EARS AND WHISKERS. What a great idea! I have a couple buckets of loom waste just sitting about, and now I’ve got a neat idea for using them up! Wonderful! (Yes, stuffing, thrum knitting, tying them together and weaving with them…done all of those. This is a shiny new idea, and I collect shiny new ideas to satisfy my brain magpie.)

I made this dress in a nice purple cotton/linen blend. I graded up the pattern and waaaaaaay messed up the math so it’s now about 6 in/15 cm too big in the high waist seam and looks rather like a very large, purple potato sack. It’s in the naughty pile until I can summon up either the courage to take out all those hand-felled seams or come up with some other clever way to take it in.  Le sigh.

I love those chubby star pillows!

McCall’s, Vogue, and Butterick are all owned by the same company; they’re just slightly different product lines. This chart might help when dealing with their modern patterns.

Cast iron is cast iron is cast iron. For ours, my goal has been to polymerize some fat on the surface. That requires three things: fat of some kind (obviously), heat, and time. I've used a couple of different fats on the stove, including tallow (smelled ghastly when polymerizing) and coconut oil (takes more applications but smells nice, like baking). Higher heat equals faster polymerization, so hot areas of the stove won't need as many applications to achieve a seasoned surface. Lower heat means you'll need more applications. In neither case is it a "one-and-done" kind of thing; it needs frequent application to begin with and then enough to maintain it. I aim to make it look like a well-seasoned cast iron pan; very black and just a smidge toward shiny.

Commercial stove polishes have some pretty scary ingredients that are then vaporized into your home. I avoid them.

r ranson wrote:

very cool.

can the whole system be set up for under ten bucks?  

With a little creativity, yes. Cover the outside of one or more canning jars with foil, paper and tape, or paint. Basically, as long as it holds a decent quantity of water, is opaque or covered to keep the light out so you don’t end up with an algae farm, and has an opening that is it can be made sufficiently narrow to hold the weight of the cup, you’re in business.  Make a cup to hold the plant by cutting long, wide slits in a yogurt cup. Growing medium can be some clean, small gravel. Coconut coir works great, too, if you have that somewhere. Or cut up loofa sponges. Light can be supplied through a good window or even just a basic lamp.

So far, cost is $0. Cool.

The one off-premises input you need for hydroponics is nutrient solution. It needs to be specific to hydroponic grows, especially with Kratky—the plant is always in the solution, so an imbalance can kill it.  To be under $10, look for small containers of it or split a larger one with someone (or someones). They’re sold in concentrates and it takes very little per container.

The other sticky bit that may incur a cost is starting seeds. Gravel won’t work for that purpose, though it works just fine for the technique that Anne mentioned in restarting from the cut stalk if you have the right type of lettuce. (Iceberg, no, romaine, butter, and “red leaf” or “green leaf” yes.) Coconut coir can work, but it’s a bit fiddly to keep the seeds from dropping out before they have a chance to germinate. I’ve used rock wool and compressed hydroponic “sponges” successfully, but it doesn’t fit into the under-$10 category unless you split a package with someone. There are  other materials that will work with seeds, and perhaps someone else can comment on those.

I currently do lettuce in a second-hand  Aerogarden I picked up from someone on Facebook Marketplace for $20. Bought a liter of nutrient solution a few years ago and I’ve used maybe a quarter of it.   This system works really well for me.

Lettuce grows great in a hydroponic setup. In my area, it’s the most reliable way to grow lettuce! Kratky is very simple . https://www.indoorvegetablegrower.com/kratky-lettuce-kratky-method-hydroponic-system-diy/

Alona Pickett wrote:My CANNER ran dry 5 MIN before MY CANNED TURKEY WAS DONE   LOST PRESSURE! 4 TH TIME ON OWN - PUT THEM IN COOLER IN GARAGE OVER NIGHT!
 CAN I START THEM ONCE MORE IN COLD WATER AND COLD CANNER? WITH SAME LIDS ON? OR DO I START ALL OVER??? HELP???

Your instincts are pretty much spot on. Since the jars have likely already sealed, I would be concerned about breakage in the canner and therefore I’d start with new lids. New lids, cold canner, manufacturer-recommended amount of cold water; heat it all together for a few first, then close up the canner and start processing.