Nina Surya

Thank you Jay, for including this thread in the daily-ish!
I think Life is nudging/pushing me towards wild food at the moment...
A friend of mine was doing a wild food challenge for the month of April in Amsterdam (Netherlands) and posted about it on Instagram.
She reported a LOT of health benefits after, and is still reporting her findings about it.
Wild food for her included hunted meat and locally fished fish.
You can find her posts with  @urban.herbology .
Now where's my foraging book...?

Sounds like a great idea!
I think that stones-sinking-in-the-ground-scenario greatly depends on the type of soil you have.
But even then...I personally would just go with the inspiration! Let the situation guide you and have fun!
Big stones under, great! Perhaps a big papa-boulder standing up as a guardian?
Create your own landscape art according to your insights and vision, you can always adjust it if and when you think it needs some further "guidance".
Perhaps make a little photo journal here in this thread of the process? Inspiring!

I viewed the page - looking good and is very clear!

Since I'm from outside the EU I followed the link prompt for "outsiders" and landed on this page .
But then I loose the reduced price and my affiliate link, they don't follow along.

PS. I immediately also checked the getting healthy (cancer) paywall situation, if there would be a similar option for outsiders, but there's not (yet).

Kudos to the whole Permies-team for all the work happening behind the scenes!!

I get you. Here's the experienced advice of my dear hubby: he says "after shaving, clean your razor with water (like you always would) then put it in a glass of water (blades submerged well) until the next shaving session. By doing this your razor will stay sharp for about a month - but then it'll go blunt quite suddenly." He says that by doing this with his razor blades he could sometimes go two months with the same razorblade.

Thank you Kevin, for the warning.
So sorry to hear you had that bad experience with the straw bedding! And good that you found out the cause of the issue.
We're getting our sawdust from the local sawmill, they're making pallets from treetrunks, so it should be just raw sawdust, no chemicals there.
Wishing you the best of luck and a great gardening season with container gardening, until your soil has healed. Maybe get some wood chips to mulch with to make the soil nice and cozy for helpful soil bugs to move in?

Hi Bert,
Thank you for your input!
I have one horse. I've had him for two months now (he's friends with the neighbors' donkey).
In his stable I'm using sawdust as bedding material.
Every day I'm taking out one wheelbarrowload of pee-wet and manured sawdust and put in fresh sawdust to 'top up' the bedding again.
Until now I've been emptying the used stable bedding material into
- the compost piles (there are 2)
- onto hugel beds
- on flowerbeds
I honestly am not sure if I'm doing things "right" or not. Any input / feedback from everyone reading is welcome!

I use empty feedbags to store sawdust in for the compost toilet. We haul a trailer-full at a time, have a rainproof sawdust box outside, but the trailer keeps more than the box is in volume, the rest goes into feedbags until needed.

I'd be interested in growing this plant in Europe (middle of France).
Does anyone know of a source of seeds, cuttings or young plants?
I did an initial internet search with very meager results.
I've got experience with growing Plectranthus amboinicus (the round-leaved version), it's a lovely succulent-like mint-like fuzzy-ish medicinal and culinary herb plant Normally I took it in house for the winter, this winter I left it in the greenhouse and it juuust made it. Next winter taking it inside again, phew.
But yes, I'm super interested in this friendly bio-TP-plant!

Hi there Serena,
Welcome to Permies!
Yes, growing plants is a wonderful thing to do - good on you not to let anything stop you!
It would be a good idea to try and grow them out in the patio. Squash loves a sunny, warm location, rich soil and regular watering.
When you move your seedlings outside from the apartment, be mindful with letting them get used to the UV rays of the sun gradually.
My method is to do the moving-out on a cloudy day and also to put them in a spot (still in their original pot) where the sunlight doesn't get to them all day long.
After 2-3 days I transplant the seedlings to their final spot. It's best to transplant your seedling with the whole soil clump that comes from the seedling pot.
Water them before and after transplanting and then leave to recover for 3-5 days. After that water them if they look thirsty (or stick your finger into the soil to feel if it's dry) .
It's normal that the plants look sad after transplanting. They get stress from such a change. They usually perk up again within 1-2 days.
A huge pot or a grow box should work well for your spaghetti squash. Keep in mind that the plants need about 1m2 (one square meter) of space per plant.
Some squashes are vining, for those trellising would work well. Others grow from a central point like a rosette.
Harvest your squashes when they're small to medium in size. If you let the fruit grow really large, the plant starts producing seeds and will put all its energy to making that one fruit with seeds (stops producing more fruit).
It's actually a good idea to let one plant (or a couple) produce such a seed-producing squash. Save seeds!
Find out more about saving your own seeds and why it's such a good idea here.
Good luck!

Judith,

Ooh, good to know there's a new book out by her!

I was surprised to sense the ...jubilating joy and see the loving beauty of the garden here after the winter. We have been feeding the soil around the fruit trees and I pruned them this winter. There's something very special in the energy that is emanating from the garden now!
I believe that when we tend to a place or space, it does something nearly magical with the energy. It's reciprocity in a very pure form.

Often the change is too slow to notice on a day to day basis, but after a pause, like the winter or perhaps a trip to somewhere else and returning makes noticing it easier.