French_Peasant Member

Oh my goodness, I love this idea so much! @kshama2001 My aunt recently started a nursery business based on native locally-adapted phenotype perennials, and in support of her I have been getting hands-on experience with cool plants like penstemons, rattlesnake master, false indigo, etc. If it's not the native version, I…

Whoa, that's a good sized garden, 1800 square feet. Is the bird netting stretched over the whole garden, or would it work to have a floating row cover over the individual rows? That might be easier than trying to stretch over such a large area. Plus dealing with larger netting just pissed me off, but a finer floating row…

If you are in 6a, you could probably go much earlier; I am in 6b/5a (climate is shifting) and probably put really tender things in the week after Mother's Day, but that was always a rule of thumb for Zone 5 I thought (where you are definitely safe). Different tomato varieties, cultivation techniques and microclimates make…

I really love how you have expanded your fiefdom! I wonder if my neighbor would mind if I took over his front yard for a vegetable garden (and by vegetable garden, I mean something stuffed so full of "temporary" perennial flowers that veg has a hard time growing there). I once gave a bunch of hostas to another neighbor…

Here are a few pics I took yesterday...some of the things I’ve been planting in pots (why yes those ARE two dead Christmas trees and three pink flamingos in the background DON’T JUDGE :# ), rhubarb and garlic coming along and mulched with our first grass cutting, one of my cold frames, some scandalously unpruned fruit…

I am so far behind in my garden this year, it fills me with despair. I feel like I have been chopped into 50 pieces, and every fragment is fulfilling a different obligation, but not one fragment is in the garden getting the damn planting done, which is where I really want to be. Normally I will have 100+ peppers, eggplants…

Ha ha I was up in Oak Park on Saturday for the fabulous snow (and a First Communion). That's Chicago, ain't it. It's just been so miserable this spring. I get to go sit in this crap for hours at a track meet tonight. You want to wait for Mother's Day for the most tender, tropical plants--tomatoes, marigolds, peppers,…

If you are not losing weight precipitously, I agree you're not undereating, although it's important to be fueled for the workouts, but I don't think that explains this sudden onset of sickness, faintness and exhaustion. If you had come back and said, yeah, I lost 20 lbs in 3 months or some such, then I would be more…

One saying I have seen often on this site is “comparison is the thief of joy.” The old folks who are making it through might have been doing this longer, or maybe they are just more naturally suited to this particular regimen, but there is no point competing with them at the expense of your comfort and health. I take a…

Aw, I love the care and craftsmanship that went into bringing that beautiful baby back to life. I wonder what happened to it to get into that state. Poor little guy!

Oh, definitely the unprocessed option, I agree! But I would probably get kicked out of the study for sneaking in a jar of honey like Winnie the Pooh. I am kind of fascinated with those tumeric hash brown potatoes

There is definitely an art to whetting a knife, but even if you do some basic whetting following a video, you will generally get it into better shape than it was. I somehow got pulled into being a cub scout den leader and had to teach my den knife safety, including whetting. Fortunately our pack leader is trained as a…

I agree, it's definitely an interesting, insightful and extremely useful study, and I am not rejecting it; I am just pointing out some significant limitations that they did not themselves discuss. The thing that had me most excited in the original post was the fact that their diet is influencing their hormones, which…

Yes, I am sure they did it in order to be as dramatic as possible. But science is not about drama; it's about a dispassionate look at the facts based on the categories that have been created. Their specific choices should have been analyzed and discussed in the limitations. (and I just skimmed it, so maybe I missed the…

I had to go back and check the NOVA definition again. There is a lot of room for decent nutrition in this space: "When products made solely of group 1 or group 3 foods also contain cosmetic or sensory intensifying additives, such as plain yoghurt with added artificial sweeteners, and breads with added emulsifiers, they are…

WOW that study is insane! I would honestly stab myself after a single day on the ultra processed diet--just scrolling through the pictures makes me feel like heaving. (I would be down with the PB&J and the Egg McMuffin type thing, however, and I have the liquid scrambled eggs every morning from our cafeteria at work but…

In other news of the extruded, mechanically separated, and otherwise ultra processed food universe, "pink slime" is now considered to be ground beef. Mmm, mmm, mmm! https://www.foodandwine.com/news/pink-slime-ground-beef-usda-classification

Oh, I could talk about stock all day, LOL. I am so happy when I have my big red stock pot steaming away on the stove on a cold winter day!

Yeah, I yell at Julia Child too--"Not the fat, Julia! NO!!! NOT the canned stock!" As I had stated above, my primary concern is people making the stock and just throwing out the valuable fat. Every recipe says to skim the fat, but the vast majority don't tell you to be sure to treasure it and use it for X, Y or Z. I am…

Well, there is a wide variety of ice creams available. I pulled out a Talenti in my freezer, and it has: milk, sugar, cream, skim milk, dextrose, vanilla extract, glucose, carob gum, vanilla beans, and lemon zest. Still seems pretty decent to me, as opposed to the fake stuff one gets at McD's or Dairy Queen. But oh no:…

That fat floats on top of a soup is neither here nor there, if you are eating said soup with a spoon. Every time you take a bite you are getting a portion of the fat. Of course, it might present challenges if you are drinking it with a straw. ;) I think it's crucial for not just the flavor, but the silky finish it leaves…

You need a Slap Chop! Or whatever version of the slap chop is out there; link to Amazon below. I have the same problem with onions, just in the past few years. My strategy is to quarter them, then let them sit for a half hour or so, the get the peel/roots off, and then slap chop them, keeping the freshly chopped ones in a…

Well, have a couple of kids, have them join 4-H, and then you will have more fuzzy bunnies and other critters than you know what to do with. :# :D

I know, I was just thinking lovingly of matzos too.

Cheese steak with provolone can get in my belly too!

Of course, you are going to do the right thing, due to your general culinary awesomeness. I just get a little weepy thinking of all the people making homemade stock, skimming the fat, and throwing it out. :'( That stuff is like gold. Organic, free-range chicken fat is currently $18.74 for a cup's worth on Amazon.…