Barbara Manning

Thanks for the links, everyone. I'll try to be nice(r), post direct links and not Google search results, and not lose any sleep over a disappearing post.  

I can only think that previous owners tried to use oven cleaner or some other type of cleaner that they didn't remove thoroughly. If the white is dusty and you're able to remove a bit of it, try scrubbing a small portion of one of the pans with fine steel wool and a mild dish detergent. You may be able to remove the white residue that way.

A brief online search on cleaning vintage cast iron calls up millions of sites, but this is the best of the 1st-page results: https://www.castironcollector.com/cleaning.php  In it, the author does not recommend using a self-cleaning oven to clean vintage pieces. He suggests that the super-high heat of modern ovens is a bit more than the older iron pots can take without warping. That makes sense to me.  This seems to be a pretty good site with lots of resources.  The CastIronCollector site also has a forum on Kirby & Allen pans https://www.castironcollector.com/forum/threads/kirby-allen.1505/

I love my cast iron fry pans and braisers, although a long-cooking tomato-based sauce will ruin the top edge finish on a cast iron pot. Ask me how I know (sigh.)

This site,  https://fieldcompany.com/pages/a-visual-guide-to-caring-for-cast-iron suggests that the cause is due to a build-up of oils in a vain attempt to season the pan. I know that I have been guilty of trying to "hurry the seasoning" along and ending up with a gummy mess in my favorite pan.  Keep at it.

Hello there,

I posted a reply on Thursday, Jan 26 about 18:00 JST in this thread: https://permies.com/t/208949/Indoor-Kudzu#1749035. Two people liked my post, yay!
Today Jan 29, at about noon, I went back to the thread to see what I said that was so brilliant that two people liked it, but my post no longer appears in the thread.

So, what did I do wrong?

I referenced a website on Kudzu as a starch. I think it was this one: https://morino-kuzu.com/en

I'm sure there is no mystery here, just some education on what the site will accept when posting links.

Thanks,
Barbara

Thanks again. Every little bit helps. Now get some sleep! And remember I'm on the other side of the planet, so I'm wide awake.

Wow! That's a lot of information. Thanks, everyone for your time and energy spent on this topic.

Nicole, thanks for that explanation. It's very handy.  Let me repeat it back to you so I'm sure I understand.  The category is the highest level. Within Category, there are Forums.  Within Forums, there are specific topics, called Subjects. You cannot post a Subject directly to a Category, posters much choose a Forum within a Category to submit a Subject.

And yes, you are correct, I had reversed the definitions of Category and Forum and confused everyone by calling a Forum a Subject. And I didn't fully understand how the term Boost was used, but I do now. What I should have used was the word, link -- exactly like all the links in my original list.
So, to be accurate the hierarchy is
1. Category
 2. Forum
   3. Subject
When I wrote this under my response to question #3, I would have more accurately reflected the hierarchy by saying:
And, we can avoid "emptying the old forum" if we make Recipes a subject forum within the Kitchen forum category, and flag (I believe you call it a boost the original post so that it would be included in the new Recipes subjectforum under the Kitchen forumcategory.

If what I'm proposing here is not the elegant solution I think it is, is there some other way to indicate where actual recipes reside and provide readers with a list or index so that they can find those recipes?  Perhaps this is simply a good idea whose time hasn't come or has already passed?  It could also be a bad or just ma-ma idea. Am I the only one clamoring for a way to locate all the recipes available on the site? Am I suggesting using a hammer to kill a flea?

Nikki Roche also makes a good point when she said; "Whole threads would be included in the forum, not just individual posts in a thread."  Since I had to scroll to find some of those recipes, perhaps linking the thread to a Recipe index (or something like it -- I'm envisioning a list of links, like the one I submitted that started this discussion) is a more reasonable idea.

R. Ranson and Nancy Reading also make valid points. Maybe all I've been able to do here is get R. Ranson to make the point that the Kitchen Category should be tidied up before trying to make other enhancements to the category. I can help with that if it is an outcome of this discussion.  I'm also leaning toward Rachel Lindsay's suggestion that "what we need is a perpetually-updated index of all recipes on Permies.", coupled with R. Ranson's concept of a review grid. At least I've started on it with the list of 50.

Again, thanks for your thoughts, suggestions, comments, and education. Whatever you decide, I know it will be in the best interest of the Permies site.

Thanks, Nicole,

I also don't want to jeopardize the content in any other forums or threads. I just want a single source for all the recipes available on Permies.com. I think having a Recipes subject within the Kitchen Forum would accomplish that. If the Boost function operates the way I described, all the forums and subjects remain intact, while a link (or whatever) is posted to the Recipes subject within the Kitchen forum.  I have no interest in deleting or abandoning other forums of subjects.

If you scroll through the posts on the Cooking subject, you can see that it's about way more than recipes. Yeah, there are some recipes in there, but it's mostly about ingredient use and other food-related issues -- but not recipes.

I just read this article on how Japanese rice farmers use ducks to patrol the rice paddies, and how one enterprising Vermont farmer adapted the technique to his farm.

You may benefit from the article as well. Good luck! https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/rice-farming-with-ducks-aigamo

Thanks, Beau,

I understand. I'll see if I can make a contribution in other ways.

Thanks, R. Ranson,

Here's my responses to your questions:
Questions:
1. do we have a forum that already does this job?
Not really. There is no single forum or subject within a forum that captures in one location, all the recipes that are sprinkled throughout the site. It could be placed in the Kitchen forum, but I'd like it to be its own subject in the Kitchen Forum, called Recipes. There is one called Cooking but it's too general I think.  If there was a subject called Recipes, its name is 1. self-explanatory and 2. can include recipes for nonedibles like the soaps, detergents, and cleaners I found.
2. do we have a forum that could accommodate this subject with just a little bit of tweaking?
Ah, yup. See 1 above
3. do we have enough content to fill the new forum (not yet) and enough interest to keep it active?  On the flip side, would filling up the new forum empty the old?
I'm a newbie in Permies, but I see a lot of shared recipes in many of the forums, but they are difficult to find without knowing the precise word(s) to search for.  So, yeah, you have the content, and if nothing else, you will continue to have recipes posted by people earning  PEP badges. I think it was the rocket oven Pep badge that asked people for 6 recipes using the oven to earn a badge.  And, we can avoid "emptying the old forum" if we make Recipes a subject within the Kitchen forum, and flag (I believe you call it a boost the original post so that it would be included in the new Recipes subject under the Kitchen forum. My thinking here is that posters can still post recipes in the relevant conversation anywhere but also flag/boost the post so that it also appears in the new Recipes subject. Of course, this assumes that boosting a post actually jibes with my description of it here. If you can show me how to search all new posts, and how to flag/boost a post then I can scan new posts on a daily or weekly basis, and flag/boost any new recipes I find.
4. does it match the goals of this site?
If by this you mean the goal of sharing as much info as possible with the greatest number of people then, yeah, it matches that goal, IMHO. And no, if boosting the post to the new Recipe subject has some horrible nightmarish implication for site management.


What do we need to build the forum?
a. a name - preferably one word that describes everything I think Recipes covers it broadly enough to cover edible and nonedible recipes. In addition, it doesn't take away from the manner in which the term recipe is used by Paul Wheaton, for example
b. a volunteer staff member to do the work (it takes about 20-40 hours) that would be me. But I certainly hope that I won't be working 40 hours a week on this project 6 months from now. I get that it'll still be my baby to care for, I just hope all the initial hoopla doesn't last longer than that.
c. a thread introducing the forum that we can link to at the top of the forum that would be me, too
d. some words to put at the top of the forum to describe it. that would be me, too. Although introducing the forum and describing it is practically the same
e. at least 50, but preferably 100 threads that would populate the new forum If you're willing to accept nonedibles into the Recipe category, then yeah, I think we have it. I spent maybe 3 hours max finding the 50 threads that have at least one recipe contained in the thread -- many of them have multiple recipes.

Fulfilling all of the above doesn't guarantee the new forum will happen.  But it's a good first step.   I understand.