Barbara Simoes

On Pinterest, I saw a recipe that includes 1 tsp. of dish soap, 1 tablespoon of rubbing alcohol and 1/2 gallon of warm water.  Does it work? I don't know, but I thought I'd put it out there and see if anyone has tried it.  I'm thinking some sort of sprinkler watering can would be the simplest way to apply if it does work....
In an apartment where I used to live, the shower drain used to freeze, so I would put a splash of rubbing alcohol and before long, the water would drain out.  I also used to have a car that had receding door handles--great for aerodynamics but terrible in an ice storm.  Again, I had to spray rubbing alcohol in order to have the handles release.  It always worked and never caused damage.

Any place that sells sewing machines often will also offer sewing classes.  Our local quilt shop is very active and offers tons of classes at all levels.  It's a great way for them to sell machines, material and notions!  

Carmen Sanchez wrote:I want to learn how to sew and upcycle clothes can anyone give a place to learn online?

Jen, I, too, have just an acre, and like you, live here alone, do everything, and I keep adding gardens!  I just discovered a great cardboard supply at a local coffee roaster place.  Their cardboard has no printing or tape and they have it in large flat sheets--some I have to fold to fit into the back of my car.  This fall, I picked up a few carloads to cover some grass out back and then put the leaves I'd swept up from the lawn on top of the it.  Woodchips would also be a great cover, but at that point, I'd already used this year's load of chips.  

The area is a really tight circle--10x10?, and difficult to get in to mow.  Behind it, I have some evergreens, and behind them, I have a place where I can dump debris throughout the year.  The evergreens, being wide at the bottom, hide the raggedy mess of sticks and vine clippings!  I have 40 blueberry bushes alone, and with annual pruning, that can really add up. The mulberries also add a lot to the pile, as do all of the other fruit tree and bush prunings.  I really like having an undisturbed dump spot for wildlife to feel safe in.  Branches don't break down quickly, so sometimes the piles can get pretty high.  

I had thought of planting something in that circle area, but having access to the dump site is more crucial, and now that I have a dependable source of great cardboard, easy enough to keep up.  When I'm in town, I'll swing by and get what I need...all told, the pick up, laying down of cardboard, etc., takes less than a hour a year.  That's a good return on my time to keep that area looking tidy and it helps to help build beautiful soil.  If you have any big box stores or appliance stores, I bet they'd be thrilled to not have to pay to get rid of cardboard, and it wouldn't be covered in tape and labels like Amazon packages are.  Also, it's probably already broken down and cut to size for recycling.  I don't make special trips to get the cardboard, but when I'm driving to town for something else, I'll swing by and pick up a load as needed.  

Right now, my garage has probably 100 large burlap coffee bags waiting for spring.  I had had a huge delivery of wood chips and so I used many of them in the pathways of my vegetable garden, but I found that I couldn't walk barefoot in there because the chips are pretty rough.  I'm thinking that I will cover them with the burlap, and then maybe some hulls on top of those. I will pick up as many large bags of the hulls as I can to store until spring as well--another great thing to layer onto the cardboard or through garden paths or around plants, too.  In season, the hulls are hard to come by, but I'm hoping that through the winter, they'll have more--chicken people use them for deep litter, but at least the gardeners aren't also grabbing them!

Jen, I don't think cotton sheets will work because light will easily penetrate.  The fabric is so thin that I think you'll be disappointed. Cardboard will keep light out and probably will last longer.  I don't know the size of your garden, but with that in the foot paths or wherever you're not growing something along with perhaps trenching along the edges might help.  I know with some weeds, I was seriously tempted to get one of those fire torches!

I was recently diagnosed with diabetes and have had heart failure for a number of years.  Not really a big surprise, being I'd been pre-diabetic for a few years and have always been overweight.  I asked my doctor if there was any way to reverse it, and she said no, and that it was progressive.  I was not willing to settle for that.  The thought of losing a limb or going blind terrifies me, so I started to do some research.  I soon stumbled across a video by Dr. Jamnadas, who is a cardiologist in FL and prescribes fasting to many of his patients as a way to help rid the body of diabetes, heart issues, as well as treat the gut microbiome and a multitude of other issues. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gryta3KZKU4&t=256s

Much has been learned about diet and food since this post began, but I was very excited to try fasting after seeing the above video.  I, too, find it easier to go without than to try to limit how much I eat. I will admit not eating for such long stretches did have me nervous, but he talks about easing into it by starting with a whole food diet, going on to skip one meal a day, and then two before leaping into a 72 hour fast perhaps once a month. I had always eaten well, using lots of fresh fruits and vegetables, and carbs were only complex carbs not simple ones like pasta, bread and the like.  I don't eat processed food and I've stopped having deli meats, bacon, sausage, etc. or (diet) soda.  I rarely drink, and when I do, it's usually wine that I've made myself from fruit that I grow.  "Slow food" or "Whole Food" has been the way I've always eaten for the most part.  Once in a great while, like maybe twice a year, I'd get a gallon of ice cream, but sugar has always made me feel terrible and I couldn't control it.  I was restrained if that ice cream lasted more that two days--not good.

What I hadn't known is that the idea that one should eat many small meals rather than one or two larger ones is horrendous for our bodies.  That was the last medical advice I'd been given around eating, but it turns out that that is horrible advice because your body releases insulin when you eat, and if it's never given a break, more and more will be released and hence, you become insulin resistant, and all of that food gets stored in fat cells or long term storage, making it impossible to lose weight.

After trying fasting, I quickly and pretty effortlessly lost 15 pounds--about five pounds a week. Thanksgiving has come and gone, which threw me off a bit, but I'm now back to it, starting again with 18:6 or 18 hours fasting and having a six hour eating window.  I've never liked eating first thing in the morning, so going without food until noon or one is not a hardship.  I do find it difficult to stop eating after dinner.  It is quite important to do so though, and especially in winter when it's dark.  It somehow effects out circadian rhythm.  Again, this was new information for me.  A sacrifice is to drink my coffee black.  I used to always drink it with real cream and it was so good, but it's a small thing and I'm adjusting. It would be silly to break the fast over that, and coffee has a much better medicinal effect without fat surrounding certain molecules.   As I'm writing this I'm drinking a cup of tea, also without cream--first time ever, and I'm realizing that I like it as well.  I cut open the tea bag and dumped it into a tea strainer to steep to avoid microplastics.  When did food become such a minefield?!

I'm still learning what works and what doesn't.  I'd been missing potatoes, so I got a bag to use in the annual turkey soup I make after Thanksgiving.  I've discovered that they must have too many carbs because in my eating window yesterday, I had some black bean soup that I'd thawed a few days ago along with a slice of sourdough bread and then for dinner, I had a bowl of hearty turkey soup: celery, onions, carrots, string beans and potatoes added. This certainly is not overeating, yet, when I climbed on the scale this am, I realized that I'd put on three pounds.  I'd heard that some simple carbs can be made into complex carbs by refrigerating overnight--This supposedly works with rice and a few other ingredients. (The loaf of sourdough has been in the freezer and has lasted much longer than I would have expected: bread=carbs=sugar=addiction.)

Maybe the weight gain was from the salt I added to the soup, but unlike every other time I've tried to lose weight, I wasn't discouraged to the point of  giving up, nor am I going to toss out the soup.  I will eat it and enjoy it, and then get back to low carb restricted eating because it works for me.  I had been able to fast for 24 and 48 hours and was trying to do a 72 hour fast, but didn't follow through on that one.  I will work up to that again, although I think it might be easier in the summer time.  Autophagy and mitochondrial health benefit abundantly so it will be worth it to try, but I'm not in a huge yank to get there.  The money I'm saving by skipping so many meals allows me to put that saved money toward better quality food like real ingredient, fermented sourdough or good seafood.  I am much more forgiving of myself with this way of eating, and for that I am grateful.

To be able to go out and pick an avocado every day would be such a treasure  That's fascinating about cashews; I'd never heard anything about the two crops.  Some of your fruits I've never heard of.  They must not transport well and are certainly not going to grow in snow country.  The Sapote sounds wonderful with the black variety tasting like chocolate pudding...I could get behind that! The pawpaws and persimmons are the closest I can come to "pudding" or custard.

I too, made a spread sheet making sure as much of the year as possible was covered, while not having too much at any one time.  I also had other criteria: nothing that spread too wildly or had bad thorns, etc.--no sea buckthorn for me, nor any jujubes, which sound marginal as it is.  I did get  a hawthorn tree, though, because of its ability to work with all things related to the heart.  I was able to cut my medication in half after I started using it.  

I absolutely love raspberries, but didn't want to deal with the canes or thorns.  I found one called "Bushel and Berry" that stays as a bush and doesn't have thorns. They also have blackberries and blueberries. But I already have 40 blueberry bushes and the mulberries are starting to produce, so that will be plenty! I got six of the raspberries ('Raspberry Shortcake') and I've found that they send runners underground, so now I have many more that I can divide and replant.  I find the flavor a little washed out, but that may improve with age.

It is remarkable to see all that you have done with your property and the diversity you're able to grow...bananas, oranges, cashews and coffee.  It's a dream!  Do you grow pistachios?  I spend a fortune on them every year, so if I lived in your climate, you can bet I'd have them growing!  As for now, I have to settle for heartnuts and hazelnuts.  I don't want any giant trees because we get big wind storms here.  My rule of thumb is nothing that gets over 40 feet and preferably smaller than that.

I'd looked into and seriously considered raising chickens, but hauling water in the winter and potentially climbing six foot snowbanks to do so, had me rule that idea out.  I'm 65 and just can't take on much more than what I am already doing. I live within a five minute drive to a chicken farm, so I can get eggs at a good price.  The lady across the street has six chickens and I find them very entertaining to watch from my front porch.  

It's such fun to have things start producing after years of care and waiting.  The new things this year were the hardy kiwi (thousands), a small bowl's worth of hazelnuts, some goumis and bush cherries, a few pie cherries and loads of peaches.  We had a weird weather year and the Concord grapes that have always produced for close to 40 years, didn't end up having any.  They had formed but then we had such a drought that none ended up developing...very disappointing as they are some of my favorites.  I think this winter I will need to really prune them hard.

I refuse to plant comfrey for that very reason.  I have some borage out back, and it's spread a bit, but it's pretty, and seems quite manageable.  I have some calendula out front, and while it's reseeded itself, it hasn't gone crazy.  I, too, used some in some salve and I have some tincture going with it.  I really like using plantain in salve.  More and more, I'm using "weeds" as medicine ; I use chickweed, goldenrod, horsetail, cleavers. etc. in tinctures and I make dandelion wine every year...It makes me think of the old sisters on the Waltons with their "medicine!" I always find some purslane in the vegetable garden that I nibble on while out there.

I have hosta lining most things now because it makes such a nice border that makes it easy for mowing. Edging or trimming is not needed.  It is also edible; while the plant still looks like spikes (before the leaves unfurl), you can cut them at ground level and sauté them.  They smell uncannily like asparagus, however, I found that they were not as flavorful (bland) and yet had sort of a peppery flavor.  I have a huge amount of asparagus growing, so I just eat it as I think they're both ready at the same time.  When the flower stalks on the hosta start to get tippy, I do cut most down as they can look a little raggedy.  It's kind of a relief to my eyes to have them be trimmed back when they start to tip every which way, but I leave some in front and all of the ones out back for the insects.

Your garden sounds lovely.  I, too, love to intersperse flowers, herbs, trees, shrubs, perennials, etc. I love the efficiency of space with the permaculture principle of using different levels to really fill the space and create the lushness.  Insects like butterflies and bees really flock to the flowers and it's good to provide food for them.  Some people might have a problem with some things not being native, but when I see creatures taking advantage of snowdrops in February, I don't care that they are not indigenous.  The ten thousand plants that are native make up for those that aren't!  I figure that I have to be part of the equation as well, so yes, I have daffodils and peonies, but I also have paw paws and persimmons!  Along with garlic, the daffodils help repel the moles and voles from eating / tunneling through the garden, so I'm good with it! Having the color in early spring is so welcome and needed after a very monochromatic winter!

If you have the time, I would absolutely get the cardboard down under the woodchips.  Where I didn't, I have violets proliferating.  I'm not too worried about them; they're pretty and stay quite low, but it was a lesson learned.  I had put chips down along the long east side of the pool, so about 50'x 20' to a depth of two feet or more, which I was certain would be deep enough to keep light from reaching the soil...apparently not!  Where I had laid cardboard in other beds, it has remained weed free...except for Creeping Charlie, but that's because it can easily come in from the top.  That's easy enough to pull...it's sort of like a zipper if I wait until after a rain.  I discovered a great source for cardboard that is clean of any marking or tape and the pieces are quite large and that is a local coffee roaster.  They have tons of hulls, burlap bags and cardboard that they offer to the public for free.  I have probably 150 bags ready for use in the spring and where I am starting a few new beds, I've laid down lots of cardboard and then that's where I dumped loads of leaves from my neighbor's yard.  The coffee hulls are in high demand, but every time I go to town, I drive through and check to see if any are available.  After about ten stops, I've only been able to score about three or four bags of them for the vegetable garden. I'm hoping that with winter coming, people won't be getting so many, although lots of people use them for their chickens.  If you've got chickens and a coffee roaster in your area, it might be worth inquiring!

Know that wood chips make a wonderful medium in which to plant mushrooms, too.  I live in Vermont, so I can't perennialize many types of mushrooms, but I do have quite a few pretty effortless beds of wine cap mushrooms that flush out twice a year: spring and fall.  Their only requirement is moisture and food in the form of something they can break down, so hay, straw, leaves, cardboard and wood chips all do the trick.  If nothing else, I know that I will have leaves every year, so I will be able to "feed" them and have returning flushes every year.  I've also learned that if I sauté them first, I can fit many more into the freezer for mushroom soup or quiche the rest of the year. The flushes don't last very long...only about a week or two, so it can be a bit intensive, but so well worth it. If you decide that eventually you want to try them, keep your eyes peeled come that first spring as they blend in and are hard to see.  A friend and I were walking around and she pointed them out.  I hadn't even seen them and they can get to be a foot in diameter!

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.

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!