Nancy Reading

+1 for dishes. Even though we have a dishwasher for the crockery, I don't like to put most of my cookware in there. I do like cooking, but apparently the job isn't done until the dishes are clean....
I can ignore most chores for quite a long time, but eventually I run out of pans.

Another thought on the double snake - if you have an internal door you want draught proofing, you can put the two humps either side of the door. The snake then will open and close with the door. This might be obvious to everyone, but I thougt it was pretty nifty when I first saw these.

Every now and again fashions in personal care and beauty swing round... I (thought I) had a big bum as a young woman - that seems to be the fashion now. I couldn't be bothered to go to the hairdresser - and long straight hair became the trend (I do myself a buzz cut now, so watch this space!).

Now naked nails are apparently in!


bbc source

Although mine, I have to admit are ususally a bit grubbier than these! Anyone got tips on how to get dirt out from under the nails? I seem to remember using a white pencil to make them look cleaner as a teenager. I could do with some tips on how to look less like a gardener when I'm in my food shop.

politics (mumble mumble) taxes (mumble) economy (mumble) philosophy ...

Sound like cider press? remember you need both apples and pie to post there.

I like the focus of these forums and would much rather discuss growing plants than politics....

I know most tomatoes come true to type - if you save seed from a particular tomato, unless you have one with promisciuous parts like Joseph Lofthouse, they will grow new plants that are likely to be the same as the parent plant. Apparently however minor variations can occur. I'm not sure the mechanism, but a local grower to me has been selecting a particular purple beefsteak for flavour and now has one that is apparently nicer than the typical one of that variety.
I could imagine that local bacteria might cause your plants to become used to your soil, but can only assume minor mutations over generations has make some difference in this case, as the plants were grown elsewhere in Scotland for the taste trials.

I haven't grown tomatoes for a few years, but have two plum/paste tomatoes this year: 'Amish paste' on the right which grew rather poorly but did make a few tomatoes, and an unknown 'fleshy red plum' which had much more healthy plants. The Amish paste does seem to have more flesh than the other plum variety, but presumably I could select seed from plants that did slightly better or fruits that have more flesh in proportion, and hope to make small improvements in time too.

Thank you!!!

Burra Maluca wrote:I'm not well versed enough in metalworking to comment very much on how the handles were attached so I'll let the images speak for themselves.

At a guess the loops are doubled back on themselves through a hole in the can side, which has been reinforced with extra metal, and then the wire rivetted (or possibly just hammered flat). Nice job!

That mobil bucket is interesting...



I have a few left over handles from plastic buckets that degraded and developed holes (and of course I kept the handles !) Making reuse of smaller bulk metal containers like that is a great idea. Metal buckets take a lot more abuse - thanks!

Do you have a close up of how they have done the hole for the handle on the bostic tin? That also looks rather interesting.

bump.....

I love that book - although I haven't investigated the brewing section much....

My guess is that the malt is just that - malted barley. You can still get black malt for brewing stout and porter: https://www.themaltmiller.co.uk/product/black-malt/ for example