Thursday Open Thread 11-23-2017

Morning and Happy Thanksgiving, may the day be filled with people and activities that you enjoy.

My favorite Holiday of the year. It was my Mothers Holiday. She hosted the event for 42 years bringing together both sides of the extended family and friends, up to 37 people in an 1800 sq ft house. No religious or patriotic overtones. Adjusting the time around those who had to work for the day, we caught up on each others lives for the past year, played games and stuffed ourselves with the harvest of the year.

Now a quiet day of reflection without the hectic house cleaning, preparation of food and creating enough space for everyone to sit, eat and park their cars. Grateful for the memories past and present calmness.

Preserving old traditions and skills from disappearing is a continual effort.

Ashley Book of Knots honors the tradition of rope, twine, yarn and string. Is now out of copyright and may be downloaded for your library. If you do not have a utilitarian need or interest check out Chapter 33 Tricks and Puzzles beginning on page 404.

Composting to improve Soil has a long tradition in farming.

I have never been much of an active composter. Primarily use biodigesters, since they seem to get into every pile of weeds, grass or tree trimming before it is fully composted.
[video:https://youtu.be/XPGoVQW7J8U?t=4]

Not all manure is the same. A batch of manure and straw from a neighbor slowed plant growth for several years on a patch of ground. Found out he used a higher than recommended wormer in his sheep. Avoid much of the free local horse manure for the same reason. Shrub and grass trimmings from local suburbia has a lot of residual herbicide and pesticides I would not want in my soil.

A vegetarian method practiced by the Koreans, IMO (indigenous microorganisms). He speaks very clearly, I can watch at 1.5 speed and understand.

[video:https://youtu.be/UgTe4GUXzeQ?t=8]

links for Part 2 and Part 3. They have been disabled from running on third party sites.

Set up a composter or Bokashi Bucket for kitchen scraps or toss it to the chickens.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X74b94M2H6s]
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=csr6FxRFen4]

Farm Report
Enjoy the quiet of the season, settled into winter pattern and inside projects. Livestock sent out to graze daily in various pasture areas. Short days and molting means few chicken eggs. Appreciate the supply set aside earlier in the year.

Fall grazing
soe fall graze.JPG
Local rock in the landscape
soe wall.jpg
soe cinder.jpg
Fallow Fields
soe head.jpg
Last Flower
soe last flower.jpg
Reminder Times Past
soe wheel.JPG

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Here's to remembering past celebrations and loved ones and making new memories with loved ones. Hope everyone has a wonderful day.

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"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon

mhagle's picture

Have a short break while the kolache dough is on it's first rise. Growing up I loved the holiday season in November and December. My mom, a marvelous cook, prepared giant feasts really up to about a year before she died in 2004. I had helped in the kitchen but never did any of it myself. Holidays tanked after she passed away. Hit me really hard. Until a few years ago when I discovered allrecipes.com and decided to learn to cook.

So this is fun for me. Only 6 of us here so not high pressure. Including herbs, collards, and tomatoes from the garden.

I look forward to sitting down with your essay again when it is all over. Thank you so much. C99 is a big part of what I am thankful for this year.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Also . . . almost online with http://nowthepathforward.us Hope you and others here will want to participate as teacher/moderators and/or student/collaborators.

Smile

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Marilyn

"Make dirt, not war." eyo

Lookout's picture

I hope everyone has the opportunity to gather with friends and/or family today. We visited with family last weekend. Today we visit our friends and neighbors and their kids home from Nashville. I'm sure we'll play music and eat aplenty. Sure is nice to drive a few minutes rather than a few hours!

We still have some color here on our side of the mountain. The northwest face has lost all the leaves for the most part. Fall is really holding on this year. I guess we are still about a month from the solstice and real beginning of winter.

I use the simplest of compost bins here at the house. Three rounds of fencing wire lined with hardware cloth are near the kitchen door. I keep a bale of straw beside the bins, and start with one bin adding our kitchen waste and a handful of straw to cover. After the first bin is full, move to the next. After filling the second bin, I stir the first with a spiral garden claw. When the third is full the first bin is ready to be emptied and used, and the second bin is ready to be stirred. No need to add worms, they arrive on their own...at least our native red wigglers in the South. (Many people are unaware the big "nightcrawler" earthworms came from Europe and radically changed our US forest ecosystem.
http://earthsky.org/earth/european-earthworms-change-u-s-forests )

So that's our simple three bin compost for kitchen waste made from scrap fencing and hardware cloth. In northern climates some gardeners build a hotframe over their compost pile and heat it for free... http://www.mofga.org/Publications/MaineOrganicFarmerGardener/Winter20072...

Here's hoping you all are warm and well fed today...like a good compost pile!

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

riverlover's picture

And think of Puerto Rico. Don't sleep with Hershey's Kisses in your pocket.

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Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.

Wink's picture

@riverlover
Hershey's mini candy bar, instead, left over from Halloween.

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the little things you can do are more valuable than the giant things you can't! - @thanatokephaloides. On Twitter @wink1radio. (-2.1) All about building progressive media.

enhydra lutris's picture

for the OT, SOE. We will be only 7 but it is already time to start final prep and set up to get the bird on the Weber. Also having tablet and tablet upgrade/replace grief while trying to multitask my life. It will be an interesting day. Much to take in in today's column too.

Thanks for the tip on the Ashley book of knots. I have owned and lost at least 2 soft covers, and and that will definitely be going on both my desktop and my tablet. Hell, I might even put it on my phone. I grew up with and love knots and have used and relied on them for many decades, even trusting my life to them more than once.

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That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

@enhydra lutris

And thank you all for being you. C99's community of passionate writers for peace is one of the things I'm most thankful for. Happy Thanksgiving.

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enhydra lutris's picture

@Linda Wood
studentofearth.

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That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

detroitmechworks's picture

Because I made a Turkey and have no intentions to spend today arguing on the internet.

Smile

Everybody enjoy the day, your bird, and your family.

To the Retailers making people work for no overtime today:

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=th4Czv1j3F8]

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I do not pretend I know what I do not know.

thanatokephaloides's picture

@detroitmechworks

To the Retailers making people work for no overtime today:

And to the assholes who shop on Thanksgiving, whose mis-spent dollars drive all of this:

"You're all cucked, so fuck you all!"

Smile

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"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar

"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides

earthling1's picture

My compost pile is 8' x 8' and I keep it loosely covered during rainy season. Kitchen scraps go into an old blender, where they are mixed with everything including coffee grounds and flung into the garden.
I've been incorporating bio-char into the garden to capture co2 and I'm slowly moving to a "no-til" method of cultivation.
I've become very protective of my organic garden and what goes into it. I don't use the debris from the rain gutters or leaves from curbside as they may be contaminated with nasty chemicals.
Hope you have a great holiday as I do everybody here at c99%.

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Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.

smiley7's picture

Been cooking since last evening, about four hours to go before dinner. Son and I soaking up this time, so good to have a 35-year-old bringing his experiences and thoughts to the conversation.

Hugs and love to all in this beautiful online family!

And thanks, SOE, for this good thread.

Happy Day!

s7

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