patrick.net

just_passing_through says

First time I saw some mangy kid licking the salt shaker at a restaurant was the last time I used a salt shaker at a restaurant.

When I saw a video of a homeless guy in SF washing his bare asshole in a public water fountain was when I decided not to drink from public water fountains anymore.

Patrick says

Imagine more backyard chickens.

Funny, the antimeat globalists never talk about chickens or farm raised fish. Both are low tech, low emissions, and high ROI. Chickens and Tilapia eat both bugs and table/veggie waste. Keep a vermiculture compost bin going and seed-save and you have a trifecta.

Tilapia tanks poop feeds low nutrient plants like arugula. Lettuce provides roughage for you and the scraps go back to the fish and the worms and the chickens. The fish water gets changed, and it's dynamite for terrestrial plants cut with 'regular' water a bit. Fish bones go into the vermiculture pile along with the lettuce. The chickens eat the worms and veggie scraps. Chicken shit goes into the 'regular' compost pile. You have the chickens over the fallow parts of your garden so next season the soil is naturally fertilized, and you throw a loose layer of vermi- and regular- compost over it when you move the chickens. In the terrestrial garden you have higher need plants like corn and potatoes... and those scraps feed chickens and fish... And so forth.

Yes, that.

I've read that the fish ponds which are common in rural China are for carp which eat scraps and thereby provide fish for the table. Japanese Koi Ponds are an echo of that which is not about food.

We had chickens, some of which my wife hatched as the science teacher at an elementary school. They provided a lot of eggs, but we just let them live out their natural lives of seven years or so rather than eat them. One of them was distinctly smarter than the others:

https://patrick.net/post/1218214/2012-10-28-domino-the-genius-chicken

After they all died, we didn't get any more, because it's work to put them in the coop each night so that the raccoons don't eat them, and because it's sad to see them all die eventually. They're smarter than you might think, and they do care for each other in spite of the pecking order. When Domino died, we found another chicken sitting with her instead of going out to eat. Also, when we gave away the roosters after they became loud and aggressive, Domino called for them for days. It was hard to hear.

Patrick says

When I saw a video of a homeless guy in SF washing his bare asshole in a public water fountain was when I decided not to drink from public water fountains anymore.

Yeah, I think you posted that here on patnet. If not someone else did. I haven't used a public fountain since I was a kid. Nor swam in a public swimming pool except for a few years in my 30s at 24hr Fitness - before they let them go to shit and started building higher end clubs my lifetime pass wasn't good enough to get into.

@patrick how did the tobacco plants turn out?

@just_passing_through

Sadly, none of them ever grew very large, and then they all started dying. I'm not sure what I did wrong, but I think they're all dead now. When they started dying off, I planted some outdoors thinking it would help them, but we had heavy rain and I think that killed all of those as well.

komputodo says

and if you have family members that prefer more salt than the other members or less salt, what happens then?

My parents salt everything. They have to get our larger cooking salt dispenser and use that. Never had anyone complain about too much salt, probably because with our low salt intake, we taste flavor sooner than most.

komputodo says

You should know me by now...The joke was how people claim that they dont eat salt because they don't actually put in on their food from a salt shaker. Even though the food is already loaded with salt from the cook or from the factory.

Salt is what brings out flavor. Any diet that tells you to completely avoid salt is extreme. Our meat is from a farm in Lake Elsinore, nothing added unless we get some bacon.

Patrick says

Also, when we gave away the roosters after they became loud and aggressive, Domino called for them for days. It was hard to hear.

We used to walk by a community garden in Imperial Beach. They had some ducks, chickens, and at least one rooster. He was never loud or aggressive, but he did watch you the whole time.

I haven't read through this whole tread, but one reason to grow your own food is the dramatic decline in nutrient density. Some foods are literally half as nutritious as what our grandparents ate, because of artificial fertilizers and selecting for other qualities like storage and transport durability. I was eating a BUNCH of greens in smoothie form and felt real good about it until I learned that it was all hydroponically grown and nutritionally very poor. It is also one reason Americans are High Calorie-Malnourished on their processed food diets. Even if they try to eat a lot of Veg it is not adequate.
https://rodaleinstitute.org/why-organic/issues-and-priorities/nutrient-density/

Anyone have advice for how to get rid of gophers?

We have a planter they cannot get into, at least not so far, but it's small. The larger part of the yard has a very busy gopher though, and it eats a lot of our plants.

Patrick says

Anyone have advice for how to get rid of gophers?

Try an air rifle.

Patrick says

Anyone have advice for how to get rid of gophers?

I have used the good old Macabee for years. There is a knack to it, watch your fingers.

Gopher snakes. You can set traps as well, but that's obviously less holistic. Barn owl's might eat them. Although not sure if you'd see any of those in a city, even if you put out houses for them. Find out what they really like and plant that. The gopher where we were at ate my strawberry roots, but never the tomato or kale.

komputodo says

Patrick says

We have a planter box with some tomatoes, arugula,

great idea....life would be a bitch without my arugula.

Growing lot of flower plants, they attract bees and birds. With extra fun with weeds ;) grow veggies and fruits, its a kind of fun-stuff too.

For those in the northeast:

https://wrongdirectionfarm.com/

In the middle of East Bumblefuck (AKA Canajoharie) NY

The ground beef isn't quite as good as Burgundy Beef in TX:

https://www.burgundypasturebeef.com/

These guys dry age the meat before they grind it, and it tastes awesome. These guys are strictly for TX and near TX, otherwise shipping is a killer.

Patrick says

Anyone have advice for how to get rid of gophers?

We have a planter they cannot get into, at least not so far, but it's small. The larger part of the yard has a very busy gopher though, and it eats a lot of our plants.

Gopher plants

Plant gopher spurge.

This plant, also known as "Euphorbia Lathyris," is a common gopher repellent.

My grandparents had major gopher problem, after planting the above gone forever. Be careful if you have dogs they are poisonous.

RC2006 says

Be careful if you have dogs they are poisonous.

I think this stuff works but you need to be aware the plant can be kind of hazardous. My wife had a bad dermatitis reaction from the milk in the stem. Neither of us knew and took no precaution.

"All parts of Euphorbia lathyris are poisonous if ingested and can cause severe irritation to the skin and eyes upon contact. The milky sap contains compounds that can cause blistering and dermatitis. It is toxic to humans, dogs, and cats, and care should be taken to prevent accidental ingestion or contact."

Carbon footprint of homegrown food five times greater than those grown conventionally

The study found individual garden infrastructure responsible for increased levels of CO2

Joe Pinkstone, Science Correspondent 22 January 2024 • 8:02pm

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/01/22/carbon-footprint-homegrown-food-allotment-increase/

RWSGFY says

Carbon footprint of homegrown food five times greater than those grown conventionally

Good. With that extra CO2 the tomatoes and beans will grow better.

RWSGFY says

Carbon footprint of homegrown food five times greater than those grown conventionally

Sure, and the vaccines are safe and effective, the glaciers disappeared 5 years ago, and Ukraine will win the war any day now.

RWSGFY says

Carbon footprint of homegrown food five times greater than those grown conventionally

The study found individual garden infrastructure responsible for increased levels of CO2

Joe Pinkstone, Science Correspondent 22 January 2024 • 8:02pm

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/01/22/carbon-footprint-homegrown-food-allotment-increase/

I'd like to help summarize Joe's points a little more clearly. By conventionally he means food industry. Spraying the ground with poison, planting it with invasive GMO breeds, spraying again, and allowing that poison to spread over miles into families homes and children's lungs. Cultivating e-coli through pollution and waste, spreading it into the ground water, and leaving the land dead and barren.

Since I live in Yuma, and not far from El Centro, I've noticed a significant increase in child diseases and mental disorders. There's a correlation, which is why I've made sure we only live in areas at least two miles away from the fields.

Joe wants you to think cultivating your soil, making yourself healthier, and taking money away from industrial operations is bad. Clearly Joe has some issues...

RWSGFY says

Carbon footprint of homegrown food

Carbon shmarbon.

Patrick says

RWSGFY says

Carbon footprint of homegrown food

Carbon shmarbon.

Carbon is a trace element. I worry more about an ice age than anything. Warming would open up vast swaths of land that could grow enormous amounts of food that already is unpopulated, as in unusable land currently. Warming would be good.

The rise in temperature would be trivial in places that already grow crops. I'm in the 10# camp on this, we have gravity and the oceans don't have a pool liner. The crust is porous at the ocean floor. Added water from ice is added pressure and is pushed into the crust. Was just down in FL and nothing has changed water level wise since I was 5 about 35 years ago. Zilch. We're talking hurricanes and barrier islands that are basically sand bars above sea level. According the climate idiots these islands should be gone by now. They're not.

Patrick says

it's work to put them in the coop each night

Automatic door opener with a light sensor. Opens up a couple of hours after sun up, closes at dark.
There are several kits out there and pretty easy to install.

Still - can be a hassle. Had to put a fence around garden to keep chickens out, and another one because they
got into the main back yard and were pooping on the pool deck. Then you need to build a run, with a coop for laying
inside as well... And... And... LOL

Plus where there are chicken coops there are rats.

Our chickens would never voluntarily go back in the coop in the evening, but always flew up to the lower branches of a Redwood tree.

To deal with rats, lace the feed with cayenne pepper. Or get a cat.