dcarch

Thorns ! Thorns! Vicious! Gloves! Gloves! dcarch

Life is good! Garden is producing nicely, despite problematic weather. Today's blackberry harvest . Yesterday's is in the freezer blackberry ice cream. You know those blue dots in store so-called blueberry pancakes and blue berry cupcakes? I made blueberry pancakes with real blueberries. dcarch

For microwave oven selection, look into " Inverter technology". dcarch

Slugs, snails are the bane of all lovers of hostas. I love hostas for my garden. They are beautiful and require no care. I have hundreds of them. Fortunately I don’t have a slug/snail problem. Snails are a boon and a bane for me. I love snails, the French kind. I wish I could import some live French variety of snails, but there are laws forbidding that. You can only get canned ones here. I love hostas also because they are delicious. Hosta is a common vegetable in some countries. So I decided to make a dish with Hosta blossom scapes, some French escargots and some shrimps and dungeness crab legs. dcarch

There is a law against child-labor. But I will not report you. Wow! He is a tall boy! He can reach in the cabinet just like that. dcarch

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe said, "Less is more", that is more or less true. It all depends on the recipe. Plate everything the recipe calls for. Don't hide anything just to be "less". Plate everything that is in a large dish for a family. Another architect, Frank Lloyd Wright said, "Form follows function". Respect the natural shape and color of each ingredient. Don't tourne a potato to look like a football. A well prepared sushi dish is "form follows function" as well as "less is more". dcarch

Harvested a lot of garlic scapes. Lots. Made BBQ (SV) country style ribs with scapes and asparagus (also from my garden). dcarch

To bang a big nail, you need a heavy hammer with a long handle. That is the physics, weight plus speed. Here is my bone chopper, Heavy - three times the thickness compared with a regular kitchen knife. Speed - long handle swings faster as it hits the bone. Also, long handle allows you to use two hands for extra power. I have to be careful not to chop the cutting board in half! dcarch

Garlic scapes !!! Got a great harvest today. What are your best recipes for using garlic scapes besides making pesto? dcarch

Take a magnifying glass and examine the back side of the leaves. Looks like spider mite damages to me. Bean plants = invitation for spider mites. dcarch

I have a 700,000 BTU torch like this one that I used to clear weeds before I plant my vegetable garden. https://www.amazon.com/AUSAIL-Propane-Flamethrower-Trigger-Charcoal/dp/B08M6GFBW8/ref=sr_1_9?dchild=1&keywords=blow+torch&qid=1623035756&smid=A2EIN88G2MB33B&sr=8-9 I also use this torch for BBQ and after sous vide. Very nice except can't use it indoors. Too hot and too noisy. dcarch

Impressive camera / photographic work! I mean technically and artistically. dcarch

A cordless power drill, and a 3.5" x 24" auger ($15) lets me dig a deeeep hole very quickly. By manipulating the auger, the hole can be much wider than 3.5", 10" or more, depending on what you are trying to plant. dcarch

Let me put it this way, a BMS is like a nutritional doctor for your whole family (battery pack). The doctor will not allow any member to overeat or under eat, based on each's physical capacity. Work load is limited based on strength and the doctor will stop work if temperature gets above normal (BMS has temperature sensor). dcarch

Come to think of it, Some BMSs can go bad. When that happens, the cells can go below charger voltage and the charger will not charge a very low voltage li-ion cell. BMS can be very small for a few low power cells. The space between the three cells is more than big enough. I am installing a BMS system for my 24V LiFePo4 100A batteries for my solar panels. dcarch

Many battery manufacturers use the battery body color to indicate power. For instance, the Kitchenaid blue color cells should indicate 2000 mAH. dcarch

1. Make sure it is not the battery charger that is giving you the problem. 2. Get a volt meter and measure each battery. Typically only one of the three batteries is bad, especially this battery pack does not appear to have a "balancing cell charging" design (cheap!). 3. Lithium cells are always spot-welded, but you can easily ply the weld open. The difficult part is soldering stainless steel. You need to get S. S. flux and low temperature solder. 4. There are tons of fake brand name 18560 cells out there. Buy carefully. Check youtube and user ratings. There is no need to get extra powerful cells unless you are replacing all three. The one weak cell in a series of three determines power rating (same as a link in a chain). 5. Another thing to look for, if you have a volt meter. Measure each battery (around 3.7v) and total volts. If you get total volt around 12V, then the blender speed control may be bad. Definitely worth trying to repair. dcarch

Actually, those shoots are a couple of weeks old. There have been in the refrigerator. I also have a few in the freezer. They are not bad from the freezer. dcarch

Harvested some hosta shoots from the garden. Made hosta, pineapple, cauliflower & SV steak. dcarch

Why not? They may be cooking a whole cow. dcarch

It will do the same thing as this gadget: https://www.amazon.com/Rose-Gold-Cake-Extruders-Types/dp/B01M7XBJ19/ref=asc_df_B01M7XBJ19/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=219491607334&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=1053038144961134863&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9004223&hvtargid=pla-360124723378&psc=1 dcarch

Thank you! dcarch

Happy Mother's Day to all!! Saw some recipes on Google some time ago, Lamb, clams and ramps. Sounded very interesting. So I made my version for HMD. Sous vide lamb chops, mussels instead of clams. I happened to have ramps in my garden and I added asparagus also from my garden. Got some fiddlehead fern from farmers market. So the lamb chops were perfectly done, that I am not proud of. Because timing and temperature were electronically automatic perfect with sous vide. But I am proud that I was able to get the amaryllis to bloom exactly on HMD. It was not easy to get the timing and temperature right for several month. dcarch

I did some Googling. No. Not to look for recipes. This apparently is not a bad duke. Both the larva and the adult only munch on wood, and only decayed wood. dcarch

I was chopping some wood for my fire pit to make some ash fertilizer for the garden and found many this. Look, don't give me that nonsense. Many parts of the world treat this as delicacy, sushi style. OK Moderator, I should post this on the Dinner Forum? dcarch