It's the Pits....

It's always nice when you don't have to spend extra money on hobbies. From Inhabitat.com comes this suggestion:

How To Grow An Avocado Tree From An Avocado Pit

The big caveat is that like many other fruit trees, avocados grown from seed don't necessarily turn out like their parent, and it can take 3 to 15 years to find this out.

Flea Be Gone

The weather is getting warmer, so that means nasty buggies are coming out.  Plenty of ways are available to poison them, but you have to be careful they don't poison you or your pets -- even if they are natural.

How to Make Christmas Pudding

Getting ready for the holidays can be very stressful.  High on that list is making special dishes.  Here is a very easy-to-follow recipe for making Christmas pudding.  I think you'll find your stress levels will go down just watching it.

Shopping List....

Everyone is on a budget these days, especially preppers.  It's hard enough when you are just trying to deal with today's needs, but when you are trying to set aside for the future, it's that much more difficult.  One way to prioritize is to buy things which are relatively inexpensive now but which will become much more expensive later on; Urban Survival Site has a list of 40 of these.  It's mostly common sense, but it's nice to have a list to make sure you are missing any.

This Rots....

If you want a good in-depth discussion on composting, listen to Trevor Van Hemert on The Survival Podcast.  What makes him an expert?  It's his day job!  He has a profitable business collecting compostable waste -- by bicycle -- and selling the finished compost.

'Dem Dry Bones

You may take supplements for healthy joints, but what would you do if they were no longer available?  The Prepper Pages has instructions for Making Dehydrated Bone Broth.  Not only is this something that can be done with relatively simple equipment, it is shelf stable, so you can start making it up now for use later.

Up All Night?

Having trouble sleeping?  Jeremiah Johnson at ReadyNutrition.com has 12 Natural Ways to Remedy Sleep Disorders: 8 suggestions for changes in behavior and 4 natural remedies to try.

Pulling Up Roots

As a general rule, you will get better results from plants if you start them from seeds in the place where you want them to grow.  However, this is not always possible: seeds don't always breed true, your growing season is too short, etc.  In these cases, it is important not to let the plant become pot bound, where the roots hit the sides and start circling around.  These roots can end up killing the plant -- imagine putting a solid piece of wood around a child's neck and leaving it there as the child grows.  What was ample room at first becomes impossible to get food and air through by adulthood.

What appears to work best is treating the pots with a copper hydroxide solution ahead of time.  This kills the roots as they touch the pot, so they never start circling.  If that is not done first, you may want to remove all the soil from potted plants and cut crooked roots before transplanting.  This should work well when the plant is dormant; it is the way most plants are shipped by mail.  I'm not so sure how good your results would be for an actively growing plant, however.  For those, you may want to use slicing, butterfly pruning, or teasing to get more fibrous root growth.

Related articles

• When You Buy Plants, Spend Smart!

Advice for Parents

Bad Idea T-Shirts

4 decades later, I still remember my grandmother doing this to me.... and it was about buttering bread!

Drying in the Sun

Many designs are out there for solar food dehydrators, but Naturewitch has one that is particularly interesting in being relatively pest-proof.  She even includes directions for creating "moats" to keep out ants.  More importantly, in a summer like we're having, it looks like it might be able to be made rainproof.

Fast Fresh Food...

Thoreau at Prep-Blog has some tips for saving time in the garden.  While it's a bit short, every bit helps, because if you're serious about growing your own food, it can be extremely time-consuming if you don't know what you're doing.

Keeping It Fresh....

Organic Authority has 8 Food Storage Options for Your Backyard Party.  I have and love the Pyrex, although I rarely use it for food storage, more for cooking, but it is nice to just put leftovers away without taking them out of the pan sometimes.  I have a few of an older style Anchor Hawking storage set, and they work great.  The rest I haven't tried, but they do look interesting, albeit a bit pricey.

Hot, Hot, Hot...

M. D. Creekmore at The Survivalist Blog has 6 options for cooking without utilities.  While it is by no means comprehensive, it does give a nice range of possibilities.

Critical Points for Off-Grid Solar

Patty Hahne at Preppers Illustrated has some important things to consider in designing an off-grid solar power system.  Anything but the smallest flashlight-battery system will not be plug-and-play, and if you are expecting to just take it out of the box and have it work perfectly, you will be disappointed.

When It's A Cat's Ear....

When is a dandelion not a dandelion?

When it is Hypochaeris radicata, also known as Flatweed, False Dandelion, and Cat's Ear.  My mom asked me what the yellow flower out in the yard was, and my first answer was "DYC", which stands for "Damn Yellow Composite".  That gives some indication of the, um, "affection" botanists have for that class of flowers, because of the difficulty in narrowing down exactly what it is.  In the end, the Peterson Field Guide to Wildflowers: Northeastern and North-central North America on Google Books ended up being most helpful in coming up with an identification, but IdentifyThatPlant.com Dandelion and Cat's Ear made me confident that I had identified it correctly.

Learning more about it, Cats Ear is quite interesting.  It is edible, although it may be toxic to horses in large quantities.  Unlike dandelion, it is not supposed to be bitter, and like chicory, you can dry and grind the root for a coffee substitute.  I don't drink coffee, so I won't be trying that, and it's a bit late in the season to be eating the leaves, as they are probably quite chewy by now, but I look forward to sampling some next year.

Related articles

• Dandelions Need Love too.
• 7 Little-Know "Superfoods" You Can Find In Your Backyard
• Common And Powerful Healing Plants You Can Find In Your Back Garden
• Why Should You Eat Dandelion Greens?
• Natural rubber from dandelions

For Seed-Saving Addicts...

Caleb at the Open Pollinated blog has come up with a unique way of making seed packets:

The interesting part is the design was originally meant for powders.

50 Things To Make

Natural Living Ideas has a list of 50 Things To Stop Buying and make yourself.  They started off on the right foot -- the first item was ketchup!

Eggs-cellent idea!!

Tammy Pedersen at Polyface Farms has a simple recipe for Homemade Mayonnaise.  Her secret?  An immersion blender.

Cool! (on the outside) DIY roll-up insulating curtains

A group in Chile has come up with the Kume curtain, a multi-layer curtain you make yourself that keeps moisture and warm air from reaching cold windows.  You can roll them up during the daytime to let light in, or leave them in place the entire winter if daylight is not needed.

Going to the Dogs, Again...

Highly Uncivilized has an interesting use for butternut squash: dog chews!  I'm not a big fan of butternut squash myself -- I prefer spaghetti squash or Delicata -- but my dogs can really go through the chews, so it'd great to make them myself.