This is the answer to a question in the Beck’s Basics group on Telegram. The actual question was about rice vs. pasta.
Did you ever try millet instead of rice? It is a whole grain and lasts much longer. Polished rice is pure carbs and creates sugar spikes in the blood which leads to loads of insulin to be created which leads to a sharp fall of blood sugars and that leads to hunger. So you need types of carbohydrates that need longer to be digested. Millet, amaranth, quinoa, chia seeds (this one has loads of protein and fewer carbs, which is even better). Look for fewer carbohydrates and more protein in food. Our body deals well with proteins, but has problems with too many carbohydrates (due to sugar spikes). Modern wheat is heavily changed. Take a look at spelt, einkorn and other old grain varieties. These keep you full for a longer time.
Here I am showing you how to knit socks. First with very thick wool to help you to see things better and then with usual sock wool. If you have questions, please ask.
We are going towards the end of August and the mornings look like autumn days. I have to say this over and over again. What a strange year between heat, rain, foggy mornings. Some beans could be harvested, as well as radishes and chili. An evening out and a country festival in a city nearby, where I found a lady making bracelets and more with very small pearls. Actually, I did not even know about this festival. I learned that it was going on every year by chance, and therefore I wanted to take a look. We had some coffee and dinner there and while sitting down I did some naalbinding work, like so often. Naalbinding works are easy to take with you, even in a small bag. It was somewhat strange to see square dance here in Germany. Again, I was working on baby socks to get the trilogy for my friend ready. When the grass in front of the house was dry, I went to collect two plantain varieties and some yarrow. I use them for tea and sometimes to make tinctures. This time I dehydrated everything for tea. I first dehydrate on the air without using electricity and when everything is already “dry” (or almost dry) I place the herbs, zucchini etc. in the dehydrator for another bit of time, mostly 30 minutes, to make sure that they are really dry. The lavender cuttings and the apricot trees growing from seeds are growing well. Btw. should you be interested in an article from 1892 about growing peach trees from pits, you can read it on my website: https://sabinewanner.de/growing-peach-trees-from-pits/ It was also time to put away my zucchini chutney, and so I had to label the jars. I usually use masking tape, since it is easy to remove. Should I give some jars as a present, I remove the masking usual masking tape and write a “nice one”. Like you can see, I am dehydrating a lot this year. One reason is also that dehydrated veggies take less space than canned ones (I don’t have a cellar, so having methods that require less space is relevant).
Here is my linktree, from where you can find other contents: https://linktr.ee/mamaskram
If you would like to buy me a coffee, you can do so here: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/mamaskram
Music: Dream Machine by Purrple Cat | https://purrplecat.com Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com Creative Commons / Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Mountain Legend by Keys of Moon | https://soundcloud.com/keysofmoon Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com Creative Commons / Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
This video shows how to make a simple and stretchy naalbinding cap. I am using the traditional wooden needle as well as one made from metal and also two ways of “attaching” new thread.
Like you might have seen by now: you get a line when you always double in the same space. To avoid this I start in the 5th or 6th round to place the doubled loop always in different places and then do my regular loop count. Below I repeat the increases like I wrote them in the subtitles.
You might wonder how often I increased the number of loops: well in the end I had 70 loops per round. And the number of rounds: 52 for this cap. Yarn: I will give you some links to yarn that corresponts to what I am using here. (Always consider buying at your local markets :-)) Yarn quantity used: 60 g (50 g = 50 m / for knitting needles 8 mm / UK 0 / US 11)
The needle: BUT: each of us works differntly. Therefore the easiest way to make the first cap is measuring it over and over again, just like I do in the video, comparing to a cap that fits. The other way is simply to measure how it fits on the head. Unlike crocheting and knitting you cannot easily unravel these caps. The advantage of naalbinding is that you won’t have any ladders (like you often have it knit garments). Since this particular naalbinding stitch (which is the easiest one IMHO) creates a farily stretchy cap it does not need to be as exact as with the Oslo stitch (which is the one most naalbinders use).
Instructions: Round 1: bind 5 loops Round 2: double each loop –> 10 loops Round 3: double each second loop –> 15 loops Round 4: double each third loop –> 20 loops Round 5: double each fourth loop –> 25 loops Round 6: here the rhythm how to increase loops changes. Double the second loop, and then double each 5th loop until the end of the round –> 30 loops Round 7: double the 5th loop. Then double each 6th loop –> 35 loops Round 8: here I double the 2nd loop again, and then each 7th loop –> 40 loops Round 9: double the 1st loop, and then each 8th loop –> 45 loops Round 10: double the 6th loop, and then each 9th loop –> 50 loops From here on I did not increase any more. Depending from the head form, some increases further below might be fine (but it is really rare that this is needed).
Materials: Wooden needles: https://amzn.to/3Ea2jdq (here I would really try to get them hand made from a market – these are not rounded well, but there are wooden needles) Blunt metal needles: https://amzn.to/3srPRTJ Blunt metal needles (including some for easier weaving): https://amzn.to/3QXgnyF Pointed metal needles: https://amzn.to/3YNcKwS Wool: https://amzn.to/3YQP5fg (there are also multi-coloured skeins)
Here is my linktree, from where you can find other contents: https://linktr.ee/mamaskram
And if you would like to buy me a coffee, you can do so here: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/mamaskram
Zucchini harvest, naalbinding and attaching tomatoes etc.
There were soooo many zucchini to be harvested. Very likely I will preserve them as a zucchini-tomato sauce and some chutney. I also read that apple-zucchini-chutney was a great thing, well, let’s see :-))) – Also some more tomatoes were ripe. There are not many this year. If I am lucky, I will have quite some green ones by November and maybe can make a chutney from these. The leaves getting yellow need to be removed, and I do this nearly every day, when I see them. Finally, also the pole beans are having some flowers and I hope that it is not going to rain continuously so that they have a chance to be pollinated. The bush beans on the other hand already produced som green beans which I could harvest. The tomato and chili plants need to be attached over and over again. They are growing and tend to fall over. I am also knitting the other sizes of the baby socks for my friend. My husband’s new winter cap also got done in a very old naalbinding technique. The complete video on how to make it will follow.
Peach tree cultivation from pits has many advantages, but also several downsides. It gives varieties that bear very little, almost nothing, and are quite different from the mother varieties, such as Mattheser (the so-called wild nectarines), yellow and other varieties that are only useful as rootstocks for grafting, otherwise have no value and must be removed after 10-15 years, having waited in vain for fruit until then.
But good varieties are also obtained from seeds, because all our good varieties are grown from seeds (even the early from Northern America) And there are varieties that have all withstood severe winters. These good varieties are then further propagated by grafting, not from pits. Peaches grown from pits are usually tougher than grafted ones and do not suffer as much from resin flow and cold.
Peach seeds for growing good, portable trees must be selected only from the best, most grateful varieties.
Peach stones need to stay in the ground for the winter. They are placed in the ground before the onset of frost at the time of leaf fall (in autumn). But before that they need to be spread out one by one to dry the flesh adhering to them, so that the seeds inside remain good and do not rot or fester. We put the kernels here in a basket, not in a box or a wooden bucket, even if there are holes in it. The moisture never drains out purely and thus rot the stones. In the basket, first a layer of soil, then a layer of stones (one by one), then soil again and stones again, until the basket is full or the stones are used up. This basket is buried 1/3 to 1/2 m deep in the earth, but not where groundwater comes; they remain in the earth until the spring sowing time of vegetables and other seeds.
Each individual peach stone (peach seed) is taken by hand in the spring and knocked open. For this purpose, it is held on a stone or other hard object, the seam up and down, not the tip, not even the broad side, because then when tapping many seeds go in two with the shells. Even when tapping lightly, the two shells go off the kernel very easily and smoothly. The kernels are now placed on a prepared bed, with the tip down, because that is where the root is formed.By tapping them, the germination capacity of the kernels is increased to 90%. If the stones are placed on the land right in the fall, the germination capacity is only 40-50%, because many germs are not able to break apart the shells. Besides, in winter the vermin drags away a lot of stones, which does not occur when the stones are laid together.
The seeds now go 3 – 5 cm deep under the ground.
Of course, if you put the peach seeds together on a bed of better garden land, it is better. The young seedlings will be faster to find later, can also be more cared for, spared and cleaned.
When the tree is one year old, it is transplanted and pruned back to 5-6 eyes, so that in the second year the crown is formed, and then the tree can be given the form, as a trellis or for the open air. It is still necessary to prune the branches every year, because the peach tree has the ambition to grow upwards and will become bare at the bottom if we do not prune it. Finally, it should be noted that in older, non-grafted trees, the fruits grow larger and also juicier with each passing year.
Source: Der praktische Ratgeber im Obst- und Gartenbau (The practical guide to fruit growing and horticulture), published on October 6, 1889, written by A. Werder. Published in German on the website Uropas Bauerngarten (Great Grandpa’s Cottage Garden)
Needles for knitting in the round: a set of 5 needles, 4 to 4,5 mm
Needles to take up stitches: a set of 4 needles, 2 to 2,5 mm
Yarn for knitting with 4 to 4,5 mm needles
Sewing needle
Scissors
If there is an instruction that is not clear, please let me know and I will improve the description. When you do knit all the time often there are obvious steps for the experienced knitter that are not obvious at all. The YouTube video is embedded below.
Right hand glove
Cast on 40 stitches (10 per needle, 20 on two needles)
Distribute the stitches: 12 stitches on needle 1 and 3, 18 Stitches on needle 2 and 4
knit 2, purl 2 in the round until you have completed 34 rounds
Distribute the stitches: 10 stitches on each needle
Knit 17 rounds (the amount of rounds here actually depends on how you like your gloves)
At this point we start with the increases of the thumb
Round 1: first needle: knit 1, knit 1 + increase, knit 1 + increase, finish knitting the round
Round 2: first needle: knit 1, knit 1 + increase, knit 2, knit 1 + increase, finish knitting the round
Round 3: first needle: knit 1, knit 1 + increase, knit 4, knit 1 + increase, finish knitting the round
Round 4: first needle: knit 1, knit 1 + increase, knit 6, knit 1 + increase, finish knitting the round
Round 5: knit this round without increases
Round 6: first needle: knit 1, knit 1 + increase, knit 8, knit 1 + increase, finish knitting the round
Round 7: knit this round without increases
Round 8: first needle: knit 1, knit 1 + increase, knit 10, knit 1 + increase, finish knitting the round
Round 9: first needle: knit 2, distribute the 13 stitches on two safety pins, increase 1, finish knitting the round
Go ahead knitting in the round until you have finished 40 rows starting from the rib
Distribute the stitches: 12 stitches on needle 1 and 3, 18 Stitches on needle 2 and 4
Knit 2, purl 2 for 5 rounds
Bind off
Knitting the thumb:
Pass the stitches from the 2 safety pins on the 2 thin needles and take up 5 stitches with a third thin needle
Knit one round distributing the 18 stitches evenly
Knit 6 rounds “knit 1, purl1”
Bind off
Weave in the ends
Left hand glove
Cast on 40 stitches (10 per needle, 20 on two needles)
Distribute the stitches: 12 stitches on needle 1 and 3, 18 Stitches on needle 2 and 4
knit 2, purl 2 in the round until you have completed 34 rounds
Distribute the stitches: 10 stitches on each needle
Knit 17 rounds (the amount of rounds here actually depends on how you like your gloves)
At this point we start with the increases of the thumb
Round 1: knit first needle, second needle: knit 6 stitches, knit 1 + increase, knit 1 + increase, finish knitting the round
Round 2: knit first needle, second needle: knit 6 stitches, knit 1 + increase, knit 2, knit 1 + increase, finish knitting the round
Round 3: knit first needle, second needle: knit 6 stitches, knit 1 + increase, knit 4, knit 1 + increase, finish knitting the round
Round 4: knit first needle, second needle: knit 6 stitches, knit 1 + increase, knit 6, knit 1 + increase, finish knitting the round
Round 5: knit this round without increases
Round 6: knit first needle, second needle: knit 6 stitches, knit 1 + increase, knit 8, knit 1 + increase, finish knitting the round
Round 7: knit this round without increases
Round 8: knit first needle, second needle:knit 6 stitches, knit 1 + increase, knit 10, knit 1 + increase, finish knitting the round
Round 9: knit first needle, second needle:knit 7 stitches, distribute the 13 stitches on two safety pins, increase 1, finish knitting the round
Go ahead knitting in the round until you have finished 40 rows starting from the rib
Distribute the stitches: 12 stitches on needle 1 and 3, 18 Stitches on needle 2 and 4
Knit 2, purl 2 for 5 rounds
Bind off
Knitting the thumb:
Pass the stitches from the 2 safety pins on the 2 thin needles and take up 5 stitches with a third thin needle
Knit one round distributing the 18 stitches evenly
2022 was a truly terrible year for beans. First it was too cold for a long time. Than they were finally in the soil and we had a very long dry and hot period that prevented them from growing, even if I watered them regularly. When they finally started to grow it was too late in the year and it was too cold for bees. I love beans so much. Let’s hope for a better year 2023.
It is time to consult Mother Nature. Unfortunately, much knowledge about our old natural medicine has been lost. Of course we should try to find the information again.
A very interesting document comes from the Schola Medica Salernitana, which initiated the beginning of modern medicine with herbs (modern at that time) in Europe https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schola_Medica_Salernitana However, I would be interested in the healing methods of the Celts, because they used the herbs growing in our country (welll in Europe). The Scola Medica Salernitana is a place where to start. By the way, Hildegard von Bingen’s knowledge was based precisely on this “school”.
