Thread: Getting back to living off the land.....

Thanks for the kind words Coote. I just bumble and fumble my way through life. At my age not so much of the fumbling!

Is the no knead bread similar to a Boule? It’s a French style bread I used to make a lot of. Leave it overnight and make rolled balls into “gluten cloaks” I think they were called. Was beautiful bread. I should get back into making it


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https://www.hummingbirdhigh.com/2013...boule.html?m=1

Pretty sure this was the recipe I used to make


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I needed a new chainsaw a while ago. I use my dad's old Jonserad, brilliant chainsaw but too heavy and dicey to use if you're limbing up a ladder etc. I asked the guy in the repair place what he recommended as a good smaller saw. He is super straight up and honest.

He recommended the Japanese Shindaiwa. He used to sell them and reckoned they fly under the radar, he said that even the good brands build their smaller chainsaws to a lesser standard; and their really wasn't much difference between them and the el cheapo Bunnings chainsaws. Whereas Shindaiwa always build them to the same specs as their big ones.
Gotta say it punches well above it's weight. Chews through stuff and uses bugger all gas. I'm really pleased with it.

Greetings,
Totally agree Bumblefoot. I have 2 Shindaiwa chainsaws that are great. The 18 inch one replaced my old Husky when it crapped out. the chainsaw chap recommended Shindaiwa ahead of the cheaper Husqvavarna saws. It really made cutting up the trunks of some big trees we had had felled easy. Later I was at the chainsaw place for something else but came home with a top handle Shindaiwa with a 10 inch bar. Man is it great for cutting up the smaller stuff especially for us older codgers who do not bend in the middle as much as we used to. These days it does more than 50% of the work.
Grandpamac.

I find that hanging bucket inside a rubbish bin works best as that way the chooks get all the maggots. Any that drop out during the night wriggle away to pupate I find that a hare or possum is used up in about 7-days in summer. All that's left is fur and bones. Here's a vid of it

https://www.facebook.com/ross.nolly/...85514844824227

You guys.... I'm impressed. Pity I don't have chooks. Its fantastic that you fool the flies into breeding, yet they will not be contributing to a growth in the fly population. Nice video Bumblefoot.... and one of the cleanest and tidiest hen houses I've seen in my life. Also, please compliment your rooster on his good manners.

A man could set one of these buckets up at the end of a wharf or over a pond to feed and attract fish.... and to help thwart the fly population.

Yup; it's done a lot in Asia. I've also seen people make a fake small island in their pond with a solar light on it. The moths are attracted and a fair percentage end up in the drink; fish food

Well, dang. I didn't know that. Makes perfect sense though. It is kinda win-win unless you are a maggot or a moth.

If you lived at the North Pole you'd stand vertically. At the South Pole you'd be upside down. But you live in between... thus you are horizontal.

i planted 10 tomato plants for the mrs, got bugga all off them this year (well enough to keep her happy). chili plants failed miserably too. interestingly the neighbours plants plants across his back fence had similar issues.
at least i got a sack of spuds out of the patch this year so that keeps me happy.

Originally Posted by gonetropo

i planted 10 tomato plants for the mrs, got bugga all off them this year (well enough to keep her happy). chili plants failed miserably too. interestingly the neighbours plants plants across his back fence had similar issues.
at least i got a sack of spuds out of the patch this year so that keeps me happy.

The soil is very hungry where you live.You might be best putting in some raised beds and growing in fresh topsoil rather than trying to improve what you have.

Originally Posted by norsk

The soil is very hungry where you live.You might be best putting in some raised beds and growing in fresh topsoil rather than trying to improve what you have.

they are in raised beds and the soil came from a garden center, had good result last year but this year was abysmal
now the wife wants me to extend the vege patch and she's the only one that eats the stuff !!!

I have an NZ made electric dehydrator. I just cut the figs into relatively thin portions and spread them out on the trays. I can't remember how long they took to dry last time. I have read that if you dry things above a certain temperature they will lose some nutritional value. But lately I've cranked up the heat to get the job done. I figure that I could eat supermarket confectionery after dinner.... or I could eat hastily dried fruit. No matter how quick I dry it, it still tastes pretty good and it is natural.

I will possibly dry some apples this year as well. One of my favourite dried fruits is pear. The flavour gets concentrated nicely. Unfortunately I don't have a pear tree.

I dry tomatoes. These are excellent to put on the pizzas we make during the year. And we might toss a few small bits into salads. Canned tomatoes are cheap, so it is a waste to use the dried ones in casseroles etc. I also make tomato sauce.

My tomato crop wasn't wonderful this year.... and once again the peppers didn't produce. I have a friend who got some decent peppers, but his were grown in a glasshouse .... even though, in my mind, they should flourish well outdoors in 'sunny Nelson'. But I've never grown a decent crop of peppers outdoors.

I am on a quest to find the open pollinated variety of tomato that does the best in my area. The first quality I seek is reliability... closely followed by flavour. I've grown many heirloom varieties. This year the best and earliest producer was Bloody Butcher. I've found psyllids on my tomatoes every season for about the last four years. And later in the season the stink beetles/vegetable bugs climb all over the fruit and I suspect they are often the reason that the quality of the fruit deteriorates around this time. So my current philosophy is to grow early varieties that will give me a crop before the psyllid and vege bugs arrive in big numbers.

I think the best variety of tomato I've grown is Stupice. They are a potato leafed type which aren't overly vigorous. They produce early with comparatively good crops. They can be a bit bland when eaten raw, but they are fantastic cooked or dried. I think I will go back to growing them next season. I save my own seeds and I keep the seed in the fridge where it seems to stay viable for several years. I look forward to planting my seeds in the first week of September. I place the seeds in a multi-folded wet paper towel which I keep in a plastic bag on top of my fridge. The seeds generally start to sprout in about three to five days. Before the sprouts get too long I plant them into pots which I keep under a plastic cloche. Starting the seeds in the paper lets me know ASAP whether I have good seeds or not. I also think I save a little growing time.

I'm always happy to share seeds if I have a surplus.

A very relevant thread right now...does anybody have a toilet paper tree I can take a cutting from, ?also a paracetamol tree would be good as well. thanx.