Thekla McDaniels

Lauren Ritz wrote:One of the things that really bothers me (although I do understand the reasons behind it) is that for whatever reason a farmer's crop fails (flood, fire, insects, etc) and you can see the tractors plowing under the whole crop. Here and there one or two plants are doing great under those conditions. And yet they get plowed under with the rest. One corn plant at full height surrounded by water, one bean plant in a dried out field.

I want to scream at the screen, or rush out and stop the desecration. If someone lives in one of those areas, it might be worth it to go "rescue" those few plants and add them to a landrace, assuming they're not GMO.

Yes indeed!  And this was the “mistake” when the chestnut blight took the American chestnut.

Out of the millions of trees across the region where the trees provided food and lumber and shade and held the soil, there were surely individual trees that were withstanding the disease… could have been the origin of blight resistant American chestnut trees, but people got in a hurry to cut them all down, diseased or not… and that’s the reason we never hear about the loss of that great organism.

There’s a wonderful (fiction) book by Barbara Kingsolver called Prodigal Summer.  Some of the characters in the book are involved in chestnut research, others in predator prey relationships, and results when broad spectrum insecticides enter the picture.

Just a bit off topic, but it’s (IMO) worth mentioning because it’s a great book.  And the science is not dry or boring, it’s interwoven into the lives of the characters.  And before she became a best selling author, Kingsolver was a biologist; the science is accurate.  I especially enjoy reading fiction in which the characters share my interests.  Those books are rare, but this is one.

I’m so glad i remembered this thread on this great site!

I had a very rough day in town yesterday.

I spent most of my life being very patient and very kind.  Now, at the three quarters of a century mark, all too often I find myself frustrated with others, and with situations and with what the world has become.  I lose my patience, and in the aftermath find myself wanting to say “I wish you knew me when I was nice”.

It doesn’t matter whether I was right or justified etc, I still feel defeated that I was impatient and, or that some other person was upset.  Then follows an overarching feeling of general hopelessness, the “take me now!” feeling. Anyone else ever feel that one?🤣

This morning I awoke in the same dark discouraged frame of mind as I felt after yesterday’s experiences in which I answered the same question 5 times, what is the point of answering it again, what’s needed here is that you listen to what I am saying…  followed by “register for the vaccine on your smartphone” (I am required to have a smartphone?  We’re here, you are going to administer the vaccine, what’s my phone got to do with it?)… followed by “we need you to complete this legal document about medicare” which doesn’t say anything about medicare, it’s a page and a half of legalese, all about beneficiaries, and what’s that got to do with the business at hand?

This morning I ended up here on permies.  I read a years long thread about persimmons, a fruit which I love, and it was so nice to feel revived, and re enter the world of growing things and sharing things, and the reality of unalterable natural processes.

Then I remembered the existence of this thread where us oldies can discuss our adaptations to the challenges, adventures and realities of aging.

I wonder how others deal with self centered newbies to the adult world, who are not yet ready to perform the duties they have taken on.  Not saying every emerging adult is self centered, there are plenty of helpful competent people both young and old out there.

I’m sure the very recent death of my sister contributes to my current frustrations, and the fact that her death reawakens in me, the experiences of the diverse and extreme abuse we shared, but these are just part of the aging process aren’t they?  We lose people, we remember past traumatic experiences, and there’s more loss to come!

Speaking for myself I can say sometimes I want empathy that isn’t there.  Sometimes I feel disoriented in what seems a foreign culture.  Sometimes I despair for the future.

I take refuge and reaffirm my hopes and beliefs  by planting seeds and gardens, and trees whose fruit I will not eat.  

Anyone have any additional suggestions or strategies for when the going gets tough?  

I have enjoyed reading this thread. It reminds me that I could look into planting persimmon tree here.

I grew up with American persimmons. The ones I am familiar with did require frost to lose their astringency, even when fully ripe.  We learned we could get around that by putting them in the freezer. I think there must be a lot of variation in American persimmons because they are a native tree. Probably some lose their astringency naturally and some weight for the chill.

I was astonished the first time I heard of the Asian persimmons. I never saw one get squishy and soft. I loved it that you could eat them like an apple and they were not astringent, and they dried so easily.  

I live at 7000 feet. We have alkaline soil and a very cold winter with the ground usually freezing. Can anyone tell me which would be more likely to tolerate my climate? The Asian or the American persimmon?
Thanks

Mk’s idea is pretty much what I thought.  I have run onions in a food processor, and they have been pretty liquid.  I would caramelize the onions after the food processor to evaporate the liquid and concentrate the flavor.  I like mayonnaise but it isn’t what I like in onion dip or dressing!

I think it is quite telling that the bouillon cube rescued the flavorless dip.  An umami something or other might be what’s needed.  Soy sauce?  MSG?  (Interesting note, when I was a child MSG became a bad guy.  Recently I read that it had been exonerated, is really only a problem to people with a specific allergy.  Kind of reminds me about the vilification of butter and eggs which has not yet been officially renounced.

As always, do your own research.

An umami element is brewers yeast.  The caramelized onions with salt in sourcream might have more flavor with small amounts of soy sauce and or brewers yeast.

Alan Burnett wrote:

L. Johnson wrote:
   9. Tie bundles of twigs to dry for kindling

Please acknowledge my craft in this spirit, a jig sized to my boot to put forest waste and waste sticks into, stomp down, and twine twice to create firewood kindling bundles. Made of 2x4s and screws, I should be able to fill with sticks, stomp down, twine up, and dry overyear to make wood stove fuel

Good idea!  I have some long unruly sticks, lilac prunings.  I have been trying to figure out how to process them into something.  This might inspire me.

I used to have a chipper.  I miss it now.

Sourdough without fail includes  sourdough from whole grain flours not failing.

Is there a place on the KS page where that information can be included?  Or an FAQ place?

You have probably made it known that instructions for whole grain flours are included.  

Some folks just want some reassurance for any number of reasons.🤷🏻‍♀️

You’ll have to decide in the end.  Sourdough without fail does roll easily off the tongue.

If the majority of questions have been about whether a person can bake with whole grain flour then absolutely!  Change the title!


It’s hard for me to even remember what bread was like before I got my first flour mill ( at a thrift store)!  And I don’t know how to grind any kind of flour but whole grain.

Then I learned we should ferment grain….  What a looong healthy, happy road it’s been.

I haven’t got mine yet.  Credit card got broken into.  When I get the new one, you’ll have one more backer.

Which reminds me I will have to update KS because that’s the card I used for Kate’s sourdough book!

Thank you Donna!  Maybe your dog had this same condition.

I don’t usually do extreme treatment on animals.  The vet recognized it immediately, said Great Pyrenees were prone to it.  I hadn’t known that when I got her.  I probably won’t get another Pyrenees.  Mine has some Anatolian shepherd mixed in, and I had thought it might be enough to bring in hybrid vigor.

I was thinking I would have to put her down, but the prednisone worked so well so fast.  And then my sister got recurrence of her very aggressive cancer, died in 6 weeks.

It’s no time for me to make a life death decision to the death side when Sharkie has  quality of life:  pasture to own and sheep to tend, a mixed species flock to own and tend….

But I know the ultimate outcome, we always do.  Just don’t know when.  I was going to get a replacement and helper dog, but right this minute, the logistics are too much for me!  

Ok, sorry OP.😊.  I believe the topic is itching canines.