Donna Lynn

I have a solar cooker that is great for summer use.  

Hubs ran some flexible duct from our basement up through a first-floor closet and into a half bath on the second floor, then switched to metal duct and split it just below the ceiling to route out each side of the half bath to vent into the two bedrooms up there.  We can close off either one.  He put a very efficient greenhouse duct fan inline, and pulls up cool air from the basement in summer which keeps the bedroom we use at least 10 degrees cooler than without it.  (We experimented with pulling the heat down to the basement, but that only warmed the basement and didn't cool the bedroom enough.)   The fan is programmable and has a temperature sensor and variable speeds.  We used to run a window a/c unit in the bedroom, but haven't used it at all since getting this fan going the right way.

I also open windows at night when it is cooler outside than in, and use old-fashioned pull-down shades to block the sun.  

Burying a large cooler or old fridge or freezer completely in the ground on the north side of a building actually works quite well if you can cover it with a good insulating cover that is weather proof and critter proof.  I can't do that here due to the high water table, but it worked even in Hawaii with the addition of some ice about once a week.  

I use a rechargeable personal fan that I can take from the living room to the dining room table to my desk to use as needed during the day.

Ants transport scale bugs to new plants to farm them.  So, oddly, putting citrus plants outside in summer both reduces the severity of infestations (predators? wind? rain? IDK) and exposes them to new infestations from ants (or even wind from what I've read.)  Male scale bugs can fly, so that could contribute to their spread as well.

Cold weather does seem to help with any infestations, so my mandarin orange tree, which can handle freezing temps on occasion, has the least infestation, and over this past winter did not develop any visible scale or spider mites for the first time, after I left it outside later into the fall last year and put it indoors away from my other citrus trees that had to come in earlier.  My poor little meyer lemon, however, is dying back heavily from scale and it's still too cold at night to put it outside.  Spray never gets everything, although it helps, and I'm always trying not to get spray on my walls so probably don't get it onto every surface of the plant.  If anyone comes up with a "better mousetrap," I'll look forward to trying it.  Maybe something with oil to smother them?  

My wild grape vines love growing up trees, and are probably planted there by birds roosting in those trees.  In my little apple trees' second year I already had to remove grapevines that were climbing them!  I planted some garlic around the trees which did OK, and tried some lentils which never grew.  For growing grapes in cultivation I've never discovered a good companion that kept grass out.  Grass is definitely bad, as it is for many fruits and veggies.  Clover is good but grass always seems to get into it here.  Grass gets everywhere there is not full-day dense shade, and even gets into some shaded areas.

Kiwi(fruit) doesn't grow in my zone 6, but Hardy Kiwi certainly does!  Mine followed the "first year sleep, second year creep, third year leap" adage.  Now it is trying to take over my entire deck: trellis, railing, gate, stairs, rain barrel, and over top of the roof as well as around the support posts!    I had to cut free a rarely used deck chair and table that had been partially engulfed last year.  Luckily for those vines, the fruit is absolutely delicious, like large kiwi-flavored green grapes.  I planted nothing around them, just replaced the stone "mulch" that was already there before the deck was built.  I've never fertilized them, and after the first year they've only been watered by the rain.  I may have to cut them back to just a couple feet off the ground since the vines are thickening and busting apart my wood lattice trellis.  They'll grow back quickly, I have no doubt!

Those things wore my arm out!  If you don't blend anything frozen, and cut it all up very small, and include copious amounts of liquid, it's easier, but with the stuff I normally blend it really wears out my arm.  It's nice to have them just in case, but unless you've got buff arm muscles, it's hard work and often requires cranking, then resting, then cranking, and so on.  The bike blender like Carrie mentioned above is a much better idea, and something almost anyone can do even if you're older and out of shape.  I used a home-made version on Maui when we visited the "off grid" side of the island and stopped for smoothies.  They had customers pedal to blend their own smoothies, which was kind of fun.  The staff would do it if someone really couldn't.  The bike blender is what I'd choose if space and price were not major obstacles.

Several years ago as part of preparedness planning, I got a personal-cup-size battery powered blender that recharges using solar.  It works better for me than the hand-crank one, but still it won't deal well with frozen fruit chunks or really fibrous stuff.   To use a manual gadget like that, for my older arms, things have to be already as close to blended as I can make them with a knife or a grater, and completely thawed out if frozen.

It's been an odd spring here in mid-Michigan, zone 6a.  But this is the first year my apricot tree, which blooms early, did not lose its blossoms to frost.  The forecast over the next week shows lows above freezing, and the tree is self-fertile so even though minimal pollinators are out and about, I am very hopeful for some apricots this summer!  

My early spring bulbs have bloomed, and others have leaves up, but I have not seen wild violets yet, nor dandelions or any other spring wildflowers, only flowers on shrubs like forsythia and rhododendrons.  My other fruit trees have not bloomed yet either.  Dogwoods are starting to bloom, redbuds not yet.  I'm really hoping to harvest some wild violets and dandelions this spring, so I'm watching my yard closely...

Wow, this sounds like it would be amazing over a steak; on a baked potato along with dairy butter; as a substitute for garlic on garlic bread; as a "creaminess" agent in broth soups; as a light sauce for stir-fry... I just ate supper and yet my mouth is watering, thinking about all the possibilities.  Instead of making a roux for cheese sauce, make onion butter and melt cheese into it!  MMMmmmmmmm.

This reminds me of a veggie lasagne sauce recipe from an Italian grandma who pureed summer squash along with some onion and a few other veggies to make her lasagne sauce instead of using tomato sauce.  It sounded odd, but I tried it and it was delicious!  I'll have to dig out that recipe again soon.  It was lots of prep work (which is probably why I haven't made it in a few years 🙄,) but really worth it.

Things like these would be a great boon to keto eaters to substitute for creamy dairy sauces thickened with wheat flour.  

I too now collect in late afternoon, which helps.  Cracked frozen ones go to the dogs bowls to thaw, then be fed with food or as a separate treat.  Uncracked ones go into the skelter with the rest and are used usually within 2 weeks.  I've never had a problem.  Since we don't get that many eggs in winter, we are able to use them quickly.  

Douglas Alpenstock wrote:Then they are stored in large plastic bags with several paper towels that serve to control the humidity level. These are monitored, and paper towels replaced if they become saturated. If the bag stays wet, rot will set in.

Thank you.  I use paper towels in with greens (washed or not) to absorb moisture in the fridge... it does help them last longer.  I am trying it now with cucumbers bought from the store to see if I can get those to last longer too.

Scrubbing and trimming before storage seem counter to much "advice" I've read or watched on keeping root crops good long term.  But since you've done it for so long successfully, it's worth a try!

Douglas Alpenstock wrote:Our other "root cellar" is the basement fridge, which has a good stock of carrots and beets that will last us until we start harvesting fresh ones next summer.

What temperature do you keep this fridge set at?  I have an extra old fridge I could put in the basement and use for that purpose, but keeping carrots in my kitchen fridge they only last about a month before some start rotting.  I've never kept beets long enough to start them rotting -- they become coveted chicken treats before then.  (Carrots are only valuable to the hens for any bugs they might attract.)

roberta mccanse wrote:My Aunt Nellie made, when I was a child, what she called pettijohns. They sat on the back of the wood cook stove overnight. When she finally upgraded to an electric stove they never tasted the same.

I had to do a search for this... found this image.  The Quaker Oats company's version of Pettijohn's sounds like more of a Cream of Wheat type cereal, while the original version before Quaker Oats bought the company was advertised as flakes with bran.  Interesting!