Mother

Happy birthday, Sass/Arby. Miss you!

I’ve been here since 2005 and I don’t remember him. Nor can I find him listed in our membership. I’m sorry about that as he sounds like someone I might have liked to know. I was hoping to read some of his posts. Please give his family my condolences if you are able.

Jeepers, tomatoes do not have to show up as an allergen to cause IC. A urologist should know about IC. An allergist may or may not???

Sourdough is a culture very similar to bread yeast. Freezing does not kill it but preserves it to thaw and use again to start another batch. You could even consider keeping a started mixture in the refrigerator, perhaps in the door where it is usually warmer. Start your dough as normal and let it work. Make sure it has a nice yeasty smell and is ‘working’ (a bit bubbly). Use some to set a batch of dough/sponge overnight, ( that is the historic way bread was made), feed the rest and let it work a few hours and then refrigerate. When needed again take it out to warm, use some for bread and repeat. As for having trouble with bread you might check to see if he has the same problems with quick breads made with soda or non-aluminum baking powder. (Baking powder biscuits or soda bread) If not then suspect the yeast. If yes, suspect the flour or perhaps gluten.

You might want to look into IC. Interstitial Cystitis (IC) is a chronic bladder condition resulting in recurring discomfort or pain in the bladder or surrounding pelvic region. I have had it for many years and it can feel much like an infection. The disease often follows a virus or bacteria like Covid or Lyme disease (as mine did). Unfortunately the OTC like AZO do not work for everyone. Stress and certain foods can trigger the symptoms that feel like an UTI. Tomatoes and many fruits do it to me every time but other foods can as well. You might want to do some research.

Hi, Mt_R. Nice to see you back. You forgot this one!

You might want to start with a boughten specific sour dough starter to get the culture established in your kitchen. Some areas are just not conductive to continued culture growth. Heat kills cultures though in our temperature controlled AC home environment you wouldn’t think it would make a difference but the culture has to get there somehow. But remember, once established it could affect other breads you might want to make. The old ‘49ers’ didn’t have a lot of competing cultures so had a pretty consistent product but also lived in an area that wasn’t overly hot. Even then, when a person got a really great tasting and working culture it was treasured and protected.

🌹 Miss you! Hope your day was great!

Annarchy. No need to try to find humor in this crisis. Just find the love that comes from us here.

I have severe allergies and have had since infancy. My reactions are varied and change from time to time except for those anaphylactic ones like chocolate, certain medications, certain chemicals, and she’ll fish. MSG is one of them and I am careful not to get it. Strangely enough, I haven’t gotten poison Ivy even though I’m around it a lot. Yet. My mom was not bothered by it and even fell off a horse into a huge patch of it. Then in her 70’s she got it from the smoke of burning a pile of it she’d gathered earlier in the year with no reaction. Euphrasyne, my sister in law is like you. Can’t even walk near it without needing medical attention. The human body is complex for sure.

What LS said! ^ I have encouraged a lot of people to write, Jeepers, but seriously, I believe you should be writing a book. You have a wonderful humorous way of looking at life’s events and if you even just went back through your posts on Mrs S and compiled them into a book it would be a best seller. You teach us all that life can be really difficult but humor soothes the rough spots and that when life gives you lemons you make lemonade. From the depths of my ❤️ I thank you for those lessons.

Only Jeepers! ,!! Or maybe me… Thanks for the comic relief. I was laughing too hard to even read this to DH. He’s had some tough times lately and it even got a chuckle out of him.

Ambergris,,,,

Happy birthday, Blessed. I hope your day was super. 🌹🎂🍦

We have a small spring fed pond with only a few fish and lots of duck weed in it. We use Dunks. They are a biological mosquito control that doesn’t harm the animals or etc. They are donut shaped and float on the top as they slowly dissolve. We use pieces of them in my self watering grow boxes, in our fountain, and in any area that might get water in it. The pieces can even dry out and then still be usable when they get wet again. We have voracious mosquitoes here and these really do help.

Happy birthday, Little Sister. Have a SUPER day.

I do hang some herbs, especially woody ones, to dry, mostly for the nice aroma in the house and to use as aromatic fire starters or additives. Most of my tea or medicinal herbs and greens I dry in my dehydrator. When I had my herb shop with its extensive herb beds I dried herbs in a cabinet sized home made solar dehydrator but finished them off in the oven to ensure sanitation and dryness. Something to think about is how to dry herbs in a SHTF situation. You can buy or make hanging mesh drying racks similar to the cylinder type that they use for toys in kids rooms. They can collapse to almost nothing to store and are enclosed enough to keep bugs off and keep the drying leaves from blowing around in a breeze.

For those making your own teas, in case you don’t know, there are dozens of ways to prepare your leaf teas. There are all sorts of disposable empty tea bags. (Easily found on Amazon or ?) Most have drawstrings to close them but some are heat sealed. There are wonderful tea ‘spoons’ or ‘balls’ to fill and all kinds of tea strainers to use. You can make tea in most coffee makers using coffee filters and if I’m making a large quantity I use my very old non electric drip coffee pot. My favorite way to make tea is as sun tea in a jar. Root or bark teas often take some simmering though and are better prepared loose in the water and then strained. How do you prepare your home grown or foraged teas?

The chocolate taste doesn’t come through strongly but I do enjoy its brighter flavor. The orange and pineapple mint are very fruity tasting in my opinion. The problem with mints is that grown near each other they often take on a similar flavor or are taken over by the stronger mints. Still, it is so much fun to grow some of the dozens of varieties of mint. 😁😋

Ambergris, how very interesting.

Dogmom. I hope this day is special in every possible way!

HPPY BIRTHDAY, MIKI. I hope your day was filled with joy and love!!!