Ether Maiden's Profile

I tend to get the smaller, more firm ones which are the size of an olive, rather than the larger squishy ones. I dunno, I just like them better.

Whee, Kitchen Cure-ing over Pesach AGAIN this year? Oof. At least most of step one is easily taken care of already! Since Pesach started last week, my fridge and freezer are already pretty nicely cleaned up. The Pesach cupboard is likewise all nice and tidy. The rest... well, the rest could use a goodly bit of cleaning up but that will have to wait until the end of the week when I can re-enter my pantry and unlock those cupboards. Right now, the Chometz containing areas of my world are off-limits even for cleaning.

@pedalpowered there is still the issue of this being open-kettle style process, where the lids of the jars aren't brought nearly to that temperature (boiling canning lids ruins the sealing compound, you're supposed to heat but not boil them, according to most manufacturers), and that there is ambient open air enclosed in the jars as opposed to proper canning processes which force said air out of the jar AND fully heat the product and lids/jars through to sufficient temperatures.

Angry Chicken does reccomend storing in the freezer, but many sites do not suggest this. Plenty of site say you can do this and store them on the shelf in your pantry just like jams and pickles, which isn't really the case.

Sure- this is something you can do, and many avid home-canners do partake in this sort of project (and assorted other tweaks on approved recipes), but avid canners also know fully what they are working with and risking. The general public with little to no canning experience doesn't nessicarily understand the risks they could be taking.

Come to think of it, can graywater be stored somehow, or have an option of where it goes? If all the water from the washing machine, sinks, and shower were to go into the garden I'd waterlog all the plants, I'm fairly sure.

I can't help but snicker at the name Smeg. I guess no one on the naming committee were fans of Red Dwarf. That or they WERE fans, and waaaay to into Red Dwarf for all our own good.

I've been foraging my whole life. From ramps and fiddleheads to garlic scapes, morels, and chanterelles. In more urban settings even such things as kale can be foraged. Most of the things I end up foraging cost a premium at the grocery, and are entirely free and in vast quantities when I forage them.

No dogs, but I do have cats. Two live apart from me, one lives with me. The two who live with my parents sleep leaning right up against whichever human they are sleeping with that night. The one who sleeps with me starts off under the covers curled up against my belly or side, depending on how I'm positioned, and then moves to my pillow where she sleeps in a C shape all night long, wrapped around the top of my head like a little kitty hat.

I would never have it any other way, and sleeping away from home I often wake up with a start because the cat isn't there and I worry that she's not OK before I realize that I'm not at home.

Hate to say it- but you're a bit late for morel forays. There will still be some in the sweet spots, but no nearly as prolific now as at the height of their season. Next year, try earlier in the spring- you want to go out when the tulip poplar and elm trees are JUST BARELY leafing out, when the ramps are in their peak, and the garlic mustard has just started blooming.

I'm looking for the best way to amend my soil to add calcium to where I plant my tomatoes. Most calcium rich amendments drastically throw off the pH, so something which doesn't do that would be awesome.

I'm moving more and more away from the use of peat based products, with the exception right now of my bog garden. Peat is a very slowly renewing resource, much like oil or coal. Yes, it technically is renewable, but we have a limited available supply on hand at a given time. There are an assortment of other products and media out there which can take the place of peat in almost all instances. The only thing I've not tested it on that greatly concerns me is in my bog garden for carnivorous plants. Carnivorous plants have very particular requirements, and I'm not sure how they would react to other fluff yet.