Ulla Bisgaard

I will look too. Maybe I can find the video I talked about. I also vaguely remember my grandmother talking about things like this.

I haven’t tried this, but you can make a similar yeast using raisins and water. I haven’t tried it yet, but it’s on my todo list. I have seen this method used by families in rural China and Japan, and by others who are living off grid. One person only uses this type of yeast in her bakery. Her baked goods are also all baked in fire heated ovens.
As far as I know you just mix filtered water and raisins and let it ferment on your countertop like you would with sour dough.

It’s hard to see, but to me it looks like mites since it looks like spider webs, and the eggs have the right color for it.

Maybe a thicker fabric would work. I am thinking the type used for furniture or outer wear. It could be treated with oil or wax, so keep water from penetrating the fabric. I think that would last much longer. I have some in my fabric stash, so I think I am going to test it out in a few beds, to see if it will work.

Cashew apples are what is known as touch sensitive. They have to be handled very carefully and shouldn’t be touched wile they grow on the tree.  Once picked, they will do bad very very fast, so they are rarely sold. They are supposed to have a sweet and sour taste similar to apples, and are good for making jam or fresh eating. Professional farmer’s usually use the apple as animal feed and only use the nut, because it is so sensitive.
Here is a photo of it. You can see the nut underneath the “apple”. Until properly processed, they have to be handled with care. The outer layer is toxic similar to poison ivy, so gloves are needed. The apple itself isn’t toxic like the nut.

No, we don’t grow pistachios only pecans and cashews. Also, the cashew tree isn’t producing yet. That will take a few more years.
Since we can grow food all year round, a lot of my fruit and berry decisions, are based on being able to have fresh fruit/berries all year round. The cashew tree was added, because it produce a dual crop. It produces an apple like fruit (very popular in Asia) and then a nut underneath the fruit, so you get two delicious crops from one tree. A lot of research and calculations has gone into building this. This year we planted 2 sapote trees, a Surinam cherry and a fuerte avocado. We already have a has avocado which fruits 6 months of the year. The fuerte will cover the second half of the year. The sapote was picked both because we love the flavor, it cover a time of the year, when we don’t get a lot of fruit, and it’s a money crop. Each of the fruits sells for 10 to 20 dollars each, here in San Diego.

It sounds like you have a great garden.
My food forest is 3300 square feet big, and was started 10 years ago. You can see it from start (dirt)  to finished here: Building a food forest on the edge of the desert

After we finished the main work there, I started a new topic where I also include my raised bed garden and what else we do here on the homestead. We have 22 raised beds, chickens, ducks and rabbits. While the forest garden is in the front of the house, most of the raised beds are in the back, together with our livestock. Here is a link to that topic. Southern California homestead stories
Together those two gardens produce over 2000 pounds of vegetables, fruits, berries, herbs and grains each year. I spend a lot of time out there, especially in the forest garden, because we have lots of seating and a nice area for yoga and meditation. I always felt outside my extended family because I can’t draw or make sculptures. When I said so to my daughter, she pointed to the garden and said “you are an artist, you have the biggest art installation in the neighborhood”. She is right. I love the riot of colors, smells, sounds and  textures there, and I love how it’s constantly changing.
Fruit trees were supposed to only be in the forest garden, but I ran out of room, so we have started planting some between the swales. I have also added arbors, so I guess I am trying to build a second installation LOL.

Barbara Simoes wrote:I didn't mean to make it sound like it's coming in in droves; it's not, but let's just say, I'm vigilant and am always patrolling and on the lookout for invaders. I have blackberries from a neighbor's place that the birds love planting here, sumac that sprouts up to six feet before I see it from the same neighbor....My best advice would be to plant some well-behaved impenetrable perennial on the outside borders.  My personal favorite is hosta but I know some people who love comfrey. I like the hosta because the root becomes a solid mass, it's easy to divide: one plant can become ten very soon, it's well-behaved in that it doesn't run or spread horribly, it's a good height for a border, it's got sweet flowers that the bees love and it's easy enough to dig out as proven by the number of times I do that to divide plants.  
I really think that you could save yourself money and not have to bother with the landscaping cloth, especially if you plan to put wood chips over them--the wood chips will start to break down and create "soil" which is all it takes for something to grow there. The roots will puncture through the cloth and then every year you will be weeding the holes made--ask me how I know!  If you use landscaping cloth, you want to keep the top surface clean.  If there is a bit of dirt or soil, seeds and roots will find it.  I used it both in my vegetable garden and where I have my blueberries.  I used to weed and leave the weeds on top of the landscaping cloth.  Of course, they would start to break down, create soil, and the next thing I knew, I had crabgrass and all sorts of "lovelies" growing there.  My advice would be to either go with just cardboard with chips, or landscaping cloth, but not both unless everything is under the cloth.

It will be hard planting around one of the beds, since my tangerine are too close. I usually have borage growing around beds, since they love it there, and I don’t want comfrey to take over. I keep my comfrey in a raised bed instead. I will look into the hostas. I think my husband will like that better than getting wood chips, and I will love the colors.
I actually also need to prune my blackberries, and my raspberries. We are cleaning up the area behind my blackberries, since we have rats nesting in there.
Anyway, in the rest of the food forest, it’s not a problem. I have lots of perennials and self seeding wildflowers, plus I always end up adding new flowers. I also have vegetables and herbs growing among the flowers. I planned to make this bottom layer of the forest, a place for foraging, and that’s what it is now. I love picking flowers and herbs there. I got so much calendula last year. I filled a 1/2 gallon jar with them. I use calendula oil in a salve I use for my hands, and my son for his psoriasis. I got some really big diakon last year too.

Barbara Simoes wrote:Yes, it will come through. It will travel great distances, too.  One of my gardens is bordered by a town sidewalk  and the perpendicular side by driveway, yet Bermuda grass jumped or came in from beneath the sidewalk...yikes!

I am pretty sure, that’s how it got into the beds. In the beginning we only had a little growing beside the walkway. Ohh well, we are doing that was suggested. Double layer of landscape fabric with a layer of cardboard on top. We made sure, that the landscape fabric extends 20” around the bed, and we will add wood chips or mulch on top of that.
Now we are just hoping it will last, because it has been a lot of work removing the beds, cleaning up and refilling them. We have one filled, and are filling the second one tomorrow. We will probably have to do it again at some point, but hopefully it won’t be for a while.

Anne Miller wrote:To me as long as the Bermuda cannot see light though it is possible for it to spread under that and come up on the other side.

I like to recommend cardboard and wood chips for 6 inches to 12 inches because ... how much light can get through that?  And those will biodegrade.

This thread seems to indicate that some plants can punch through landscape fabric, I don't know as I have never used it:

https://permies.com/t/114968/Plants-punch-landscape-fabric

I love Bermuda and have never had a problem with my raised beds.

Thank you, I appreciate your help. The reason we have the problem, is that my husband insisted we leave it alone, so he could use it for his rabbits. I warned him it would be a problem, but he didn’t listen. Now he is working hard to fix it. It’s only a problem in that area, the rest of my beds are okay. It is trying to strangle my tangerine and my Barbados cherry, which is in the same area, so wood chips is a good idea.