vibes from a bunch of plants that grow in my neighborhood
🌺Red Lily🌺: big, face splitting grins and red freckles peppering the bridge of their nose; ripped jean shorts and tank tops;texting their friends at nine am to hang out with them(and whining until they do);early morning jogs with neon spotswear, dangling earbuds; infectious positivity and ambition; a friendly competition with everyone they meet
🏵Dandelion🏵: sun-kissed freckles lining their forearms and a bright summer tan; energetic and social, like a puppy; charms jangling on their backpack as they walk; big, bright eyes; chasing butterflies; afternoon picnics and laying under the shade of the trees; 12 pm when everything’s warm and bright; laughing with their mouth wide open
🌾Quackgrass🌾: big fuzzy sweaters; sleepy, drooping eyes; thee pm afternoon siestas in the warm, sun baked hammock; soft cheeks and a chubby face; quirky and lost in thought; sunbathing and swaying in the wind; beanies pulled over their eyes and hair tickling their neck; soft giggles; waking up at twelve pm; rolling over in bed with sunlight on their eyes, soft(TM)
☁️White Clover☁️: white lace tank tops; biking and feeling the wind against your face; cloud watching and giggled whispers; clinking of jewelry or charms; chokers and colored contacts; pastel hair and pastel clothes; uncaring of others opinions and bravely them; persistent, stubborn but for the right ideals; the sunlight streaming through the clouds and all of a sudden blinding you
🍁Japanese Maple🍁: refined, elegant, and powerful; softly swaying orb earrings; a knowing look and sharp eyes; soft smiles in acknowledgement and thanks, wit as sharp as a knifen; wise beyound their years; a bubbling pot of ginger and cinnamon tea when anyone is distressed; the clacking of stilettos on marble tile; always knowing the right thing to say, the best advice even when it hurts; sunsets and a certain wistfulness, making them seem older
🌷Tulip🌷: going to the park on a sunny day; dropping your backpack and running off to play; local playgrounds, the smell of fresh wind and laughing kids, the friendly ice cream man and his cart; ‘kid’ snacks like apples and peanut butter, pretzels, and juice; your parents telling you to come in before dark; climbing trees; bright and innocent eyes; big stuffed backpacks and an eagerness to learn; sharing secrets with best friends
🌱Grass🌱: plain, but nice: a kind smile, a friendly wave, the flash of recognition from someone across the hall; loyal, steady, together through hardships; laying into the cool dewy grass after playing in the hot sun; fingers playing in their hair, twisting and tickling; soft hugs and a firm hand to hold; the feeling of falling into bed after a long day
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New Post has been published on https://www.buildthebottle.com/2020/10/06/quackgrass-wine-recipe-d-i-y/
Quackgrass Wine Recipe D.I.Y.
Quackgrass Wine Recipe D.I.Y.
Hey Guys and Gals!
Are you looking for an awesome Quackgrass Wine Recipe. you will find it below! So look no further you have found what you have been looking for! Below is the most awesome tasting Carrot Wine Recipe in the world.
Ingredients
Step 1
2 pounds quackgrass roots, clean and chopped
1 ounce citric acid
8 ounces of raisins
3 pounds of sugar
4 liters of water
Step 2
1 Sachet of wine yeast
1 tablet of yeast nutrient
Equipment
Primary fermenter (carboy)
stirring spoon
hydrometer,
straining bag
siphon tubing kit
1 gallon carboy or jug
an airlock and bung
Sanitizer
(A thermometer and brewing belt may be used to monitor and control temperature.)
Walmart
Make sure all equipment (i.e. stirring spoon, etc..) is sterilized you can bleach it or use . Contaminated equipment can let a stray yeast enter the wine and ruin it’s taste.
Instructions
Step 1
Cut the scrubbed, trimmed quackgrass roots into roughly one inch long sections. In a large stockpot, boil the roots gently with 2 liters of water and 1 ounce of citric acid until they are tender.
Strain into your carboy add in the sugar, raisins, and water.
Step 2
Add yeast and yeast nutrient.
Yeast Hydration and primary fermentation: in a large cup add 4 ounces of warm chlorine free water.
Stir the yeast into the water then let mixture stand in cup for 15 minutes, make sure it is bubbling and then you will add it to your wine.
Take your hydrometer reading and calculate all the measurements.
Attach your airlock and wait for your fermentation to be complete, let ferment with the pulp for 5-7 days gently agitate daily.
After 5-7 days when the foaming calms down you will siphon your wine off of the sediment into your secondary container which is usually your glass carboy.
(The sediment is the stuff that accumulates at the bottom of your container.)
Step 3
After you strained into your secondary carboy wait till the fermentation activity dies down (could be between several weeks to several months)
Final Step
Although yeast activity will decrease as the fermentation process proceeds, there will still be fermentation going on as long as you still see some foaming or bubbling.
Then rack into a clean carboy.
(For a sweet wine, rack at three weeks. Add 1/2 cup sugar or maple syrup dissolved in 1 cup wine. Stir gently, and place back into secondary Carboy.)
Repeat process every six weeks until fermentation does not restart with the addition of sugar. Rack every three months until one year old.
When the wine has cleared and is inactive – taste and bottle.
Stage 4: Aging / Bottling
You can repeat the racking process several times to get the maximum clarity though I would wait in-between each time a day or to, so the sediment can settle. I personally don’t like racking multiple times because of the risk of oxidation meaning the air touching it will give it a funny taste.
Bottle using the siphon cork and let wine sit for 6-12 months before drinking. Some would even prefer waiting 2 years!
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To spirits and cheers,
Binyomin Terebelo, Master Distiller and Drinkologist
Image by Yerson Retamal from Pixabay
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Understanding Soil Basics
Some recent, introductory horticulture projects have brought my attention to the regenerative nature of ecosystems. One of the most basic and important aspects of plant cultivation is the health of the soil. Good soil is alive, an ecosystem unto itself. Industrial agriculture (and plenty of horticulture) functions with a narrow and exploitative understanding/prioritization of the soil ecosystem--a holdover of colonialism, now built into capitalism, excused out of desperation. Our reliance on synthetic fertilizers, destructive tilling practices, excessive pesticides/herbicides/fungicides, monoculture “efficiency,” and deforestation (for more monocultures!) has resulted in abysmal global soil quantity and fertility levels, largely related to loss of biodiversity in and around the soil ecosystem. Now climate and agriculture experts predict our soils can produce approximately 60 more harvests. Speaking of which, check this out:
So I’m learning about soil. Not just because I’ll need to in order to help a community enjoy food security, but also because... I dunno, I just really like it. Putting my fingers in some dirt feels good and right. Currently I’m reading The Ultimate Guide to Soil by Anna Hes, and I’m summarizing important content as I go back and review sections (especially stuff I know I’ll want to reference later). Rewriting it helps me remember it, so I’ll be dumping that stuff here. along with any extra research I wind up doing in the process. As I work my way through the sections of the book, I’ll make more posts!
First up: Understanding Soil Basics...
Healthy soil is dark with humus. Humus is stable organic matter that’s decomposed into a mix of waxes and lignins, held together by microbial gums and starches, and loaded with nitrogen. Humus bonds readily to heavy metals and excess elements/nutrients, too, thus improving food safety. Organic decomposition into humus even increases carbon dioxide near the soil’s surface, which stimulates plant growth.
“Wild” plant growth can reveal aspects of soil health. Since weeds often thrive in low-nutrient soils and are less susceptible to diseases and pests (since they grew based on what was appropriate for the soil/area), observing them may make it easier to filter out non soil-related variables in overall garden health/output. Of course, these correlations tend to be region-specific and don’t indicate much by themselves. Regular tending is the best prevention, but some general weed-to-soil conditions are as follows:
Nitrogen-fixing plants thrive in low-fertility soil (legumes, dandelions, nettles, comfrey, horsetails, watercress, parsley, plantains, chamomile, chickweed, autumn olives, alders, temperate list here).
Sedges (Cyperaseae grass-like flowering plants with triangular cross-stems) and rushes (Juncaceae grass-like erect stems with tufted tops) thrive in wet, waterlogged soil.
Mosses thrive in damp, shady, compacted, low-fertility/nutrient, and/or acidic soil (pH < 7).
Pfeiffer (found reliable) claims acidic soils (pH < 7) are often linked to poor drainage and tend to grow sorrels, docks, fingerleaf weeds, lady’s thumb, horsetail, hawkweed, and knapweed.
Pfeiffer claims crusted or hardpan soils tend to grow field mustard, horse nettle, penny cress, morning glory, quackgrass, chamomile, and pineapple weed.
Pfeiffer claims overcultivated soils with excess nitrogen tend to grow lamb’s quarter, plantain, chickweed, buttercup, dandelion, nettle, prostrate knotweed, prickly lettuce, field speedwell, rough pigweed, common horeground, celandine, mallow, carpetweed, and thistles.
Soil order relates to the origins of a region’s soil:
*It seems notable that the author focuses on a soil region’s “agricultural” use. A soil’s agricultural value doesn’t necessarily relate to its cultivation prospects. On the contrary, if Oxisols in Hawai’i and Puerto Rico can support indigenous cultures and hosts of wildlife with lush year-round vegetation, then perhaps agriculture isn’t the most reasonable, sustainable, or appropriate means of obtaining food from the land.
Note, regional soil is more than just regional bedrock. It also contains naturally and unnaturally imported soils, like sand used for human developments sand or windblown silt (loess).
Dominant soil order map (as seen below)
Soil order images (as seen below)
All USDA soil data/maps
Soil texture relates to the various sizes and types of particles in a soil sample. The three soil particle types are clay (smallest), silt (mid-size), and sand (largest).
Sandy soils can be useful for early growth and for root veggies that excel at pushing through tough earth, but water flushes through too quickly to maintain hydration, and big dry pores make it easy for microbes to churn too quickly through organic matter additives, leaving no time for humus to form. Try no-till gardening in sandy soils and add heavy mulches and bio-char. In areas with droughted, sandy soil, try sunken pit gardens.
Clay soils have small particles and therefore small pores, causing a tendency to drain poorly and clump up when worked too wet or too dry. However, the small particles bond readily to nutrients better than do sand or silt. Clay gardens can be quite productive, albeit damp and heavy. Adding organic matter helps create larger aggregates and therefore more pore variety, thus improving air and water circulation. Try raised beds.
Silt soils can appear similar to clay soils on the microscopic level, and their medium particle size has its benefits. However, silt soils aren’t sticky like clay, so erosion is often an issue. Utilize cover crops and/or mulch.
Loamy soils are the ideal texture because they contain relatively balanced quantities of the three particle types. Adding compost, mulch, and cover crops to sandy, clayey, or silty soils improves diversity of particle, aggregate, and pore sizes; increases overall water retention while providing balanced aeration; creates balanced microbial activity; and provides nutrients. Simply blending the 3 soils textures together does not yield the same results and is a resource-intensive process.
(Check out comparisons here.)
Moistening and manipulating the soil makes it easier to identify. In the ribbon test outlined below by the Australian Department of Primary Industries, if a ribbon is unable to form then soil contents are sand or loamy sand. If the ribbon is less than an inch, its contents are loam, silt, silt loam, or sandy loam. If the ribbon is 1 to 2 inches, it’s sandy clay loam, silty clay loam, or clay loam. If the ribbon makes it up to 2 or more, it’s made of sandy clay, silty clay, or clay.
To perform a jar test, pour one-part soil and two-parts water in a clear jar. Separate aggregates by lidding and shaking vigorously, before allowing the particles to settle at the bottom for at least 24hrs. The largest, heaviest particles are sand and will sink to the bottom. Small, light clay particles remain at the top, while silt rests in the middle.
Measure the thickness of each layer and calculate the percentage of sand, silt, and clay using a soil triangle (or enter calculations here).
Online soil surveys like https://websoilsurvey.sc.egov.usda.gov/App/HomePage.htm are also available.
Soil aggregates clump together as soil particles (waxes, minerals, lignins) interact with the weather, organisms, and each other. Soil aggregates vary in size depending on their circumstances. A sandy texture of mostly uniform aggregates suggests the soil sample consists primarily of its original mineral particles. It lacks organic content, including vegetal, fungal, insect, and microbial activity. Without this variety of shapes, sizes, pores, or biological activity, the particles don’t hold moisture and provide no avenues for soakage. Meanwhile, a chunky texture with large aggregates, hard clods, and/or a thick crust suggest soil compaction, again resulting in a loss of bio-pores. These issues are often man-made, resulting from excessive tilling, or from tilling/harvesting/planting in wet/dry soil, all of which break down natural soil aggregates. A healthy soil texture contains a variety of aggregate sizes, thus supporting a variety of pores. Ideally, good soil texture no longer requires tilling for the purposes of artificial pores. The best solutions are to increase organic matter, especially compost; introduce cover crops to create pores, attract biological activity, hold moisture, and prevent leaching/erosion; and reduce tilling.
Soil color reveals clues about soil health, too. Heavy rainfall soaks through paling topsoil and pulls clay and nutrients into the darkening subsoil. This separation of soils may call for a season of deep-rooted cover crops to bring nutrients back to the surface, hold soils together, and add organic matter. Grey or whitish soil (gley) in waterlogged areas indicates soils high in iron. The loss of oxygen leaves iron colorless and soil color visible. Patchwork grey and brown suggests waterlogging during part of the year which has now drained and regained some color. (Note, anaerobic activity releases hydrogen sulfide for a tell-tale swampy odor. Mounding up soil can help in waterlogged areas. Try a percolation test, first.)
While loamy soils are dark with humus, soil color is also heavily affected by mineral content:
Know your minerals. Iron oxides, sodium, and calcium can disrupt soil structure or kill plants outright.
Professional soil tests may be necessary if learning about and adapting to your soil doesn’t seem to increase fertility. All testing centers have their own requirements for collecting and sending samples, and not all labs offer the same types of tests. Unfortunately, most soil tests don’t look for heavy metals like arsenic, cadmium, copper, lead, nickel, selenium, or zinc. But this one does!
Soil pH describes a measure of potential (/power/percentage) concentration of hydrogen ions in a sample. The higher the number on a scale of 0.0 to 14.0, the fewer number of hydrogen ions available in the soil. Soils with a pH under 7.0 are have more hydrogen ions, making them acidic or “sour.” Soils with a pH over 7.0 have fewer hydrogen ions, making them alkaline, “basic,” or “sweet.” (Note, while a soil pH of 7.0 is considered neutral, a slightly acidic range from 6.0 to 7.0 is considered ideal for most garden soils.) Hydrogen concentration affects the mobility and availability of nutrients to plants and the structure of the soil itself due to the interactions between mostly negatively charged soil particles (anions) and mostly positively charged nutrient particles (cations). (Note, not all soil ions are anions and not all nutrient ions are cations, but many of the most important nutrients like calcium, magnesium, potassium, and hydrogen are cations.)
Cation-exchange capacity (CEC) is the amount of positive charge (most major nutrients) that can be exchanged per mass of soil. Specifically, the CEC of a soil sample measures how many nutrients can be retained on soil particle surfaces. CEC levels are higher in soils rich in organic matter and clay because these negatively charged particles have more surface area to attract positively charged nutrients. Therefore, CEC levels also indicate the soil’s quantity of negatively charged ions. Soils with a low CEC are low in organic matter and clay, and therefore nutrients won’t readily magnetize to the soil particles, leaving them to leach away from plant roots whenever water passes through. Furthermore, different nutrients have different quantities of protons and electrons and thus different bond strengths. With its neutral charge, hydrogen has the lowest cation, and so it tends to bond with soils only if there aren’t enough other cations available. Higher hydrogen bonds means there aren’t enough other cations bonding with the soil anions, resulting in lower pH and higher acidity. Ideally, hydrogen only fills “excess” bonds and otherwise moves freely in the water. For example, adding lime (calcium carbonate) to soil introduces more calcium, which has a stronger charge and thus can knock hydrogen ions loose from soil particles. Loosed hydrogen bonds with the carbon in the lime, producing H2O and CO2, which washes readily out of the soil and leaves it more alkaline than before.
Organic matter is a vital part of healthy, fertile soil. Diseases, fungi, poor water retention, and even pests are less likely to cause problems in healthy, living soils rich in decomposing organic matter. While small/weak plants can often be attributed to low nitrogen or improper pH, both issues tend to be caused by a paucity of organic matter. Nitrogen gets used up/washed away in the dirt quickly, but decomposing matter releases nitrogen constantly, slowly and steadily feeding plants and microbes alike. Soils need only be composed of around 5% organic matter to produce around 100lbs of available nitrogen per acre, per year. Perfect for veggie gardens.
Organic matter breaks down faster in hot, sandy soils, so it’s harder to sustain healthy levels and may require more. Organic matter is so active in cooler climates that the slower decomposition produces less nitrogen, and so faster-acting nitrogen amendments (diluted urine, compost tea, etc) may be necessary.
While soil’s cation exchange capacity only concerns positively-charged nutrient ions, the organic matter used to increase these nutrients will also improve soil’s ability to attain and hold onto negatively charged nutrient particles, too. Good soils have a CEC of at least 11 mEq/100 g. A milliequivalent is 1/1000th an equivalent, which is the measurement of the number of ions needed to total a specific quantity of electrical charges in another substance (100 grams of soil). These CEC levels may be difficult to attain, as they’re affected by ratios of passive, slow, and active organic matter:
Passive organic matter is very stable and takes a long time to decompose, sometimes hundreds or thousands of years. This includes the “browns” in compost, like the cellulose, lignin, and even charcoal of woody debris. Fungi and bacteria convert these into the humic substances in humus. Lingering passive organic matter affects texture and helps the soil water nutrients and prevent nutrient leaching, making it vital for maintaining CEC levels. Tough-stemmed cover crops are helpful.
Slow organic matter includes finely divided plant tissues high in lignin and other materials that take decades to decompose. These provide “slow-release” nitrogen and other nutrients, and feed the soil microbes that affect the breakdown of active organic matter.
Active organic matter breaks down readily into nitrogen and other nutrients. This includes the “greens” in compost, which provide sugar, starches, and proteins. They have high carbon-to-nitrogen ratios and break down within a few months to a few years. Decomposition of active organic matter also feeds the microbes that help determine aggregate variability and therefore soil texture. AOM includes living biomass, detritus, most of the polysaccharides, non-humic substances, and the more readily decomposed fulvic acid.
Sustainable soil amendments of organic matter (especially nitrogen) essentially run in two phases: development and maintenance. Development consists of adding large quantities of slow-acting organic matter, including burying logs and other organic debris; extensive cover cropping for the added biology, interactivity, and green compost; and at least an inch of compost before every planting. Depending on soil conditions at the outset, it can take anywhere from 2 to 10 years to reach the maintenance stage. At this point, maintaining around 5% organic matter in the soil just requires adding enough to replace whatever’s lost to decomposition each year—that is, approximately 2,000lbs (one cubic yard) per acre. A well-planned garden can eliminate wasteful amendments around low feeders (beans, peas) and ensure greater quantities for heavy feeders (squashes, tomatoes, garlic, bananas).
Whew! This post may be updated as I amend relevant info for my own records.
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