Other hobbies.

[soaplady30]

I have been very interested in getting into growing hydroponic vegetables. Are there any resources you recommend that I should read to learn more about this? I would love to grow some vegetables that would not be eaten by all the squirrels in my back yard.

Yes I do have some recommendations. Keep in mind that I am new at it and still finding my way. I got a lot of info from a trade paper book titled Hydroponics The Kratky Method. There is no author listed. It just says "Demeter Guides" and was reasonably priced online. Second do a search online and on you tube for "hydroponics the Kratky Method. There are many great videos on the topic but I am partial to a lady, "Tikki O" on youtube. She speaks slowly and puts the cookies on the bottom shelf. I have pretty much killed everything I have grown till I tried aeroponics and hydroponics which I am just gathering materials for. I began aeroponics right after we were grounded for the pandemic and have grown all my own smoothie greens indoors and am.still cutting them daily. I am learning as I go and having a great time. There are several Kratky groups on facebook and I learn good info there too.

 

[KimW]

Yes I do have some recommendations. Keep in mind that I am new at it and still finding my way. I got a lot of info from a trade paper book titled Hydroponics The Kratky Method. There is no author listed. It just says "Demeter Guides" and was reasonably priced online. Second do a search online and on you tube for "hydroponics the Kratky Method. There are many great videos on the topic but I am partial to a lady, "Tikki O" on youtube. She speaks slowly and puts the cookies on the bottom shelf. I have pretty much killed everything I have grown till I tried aeroponics and hydroponics which I am just gathering materials for. I began aeroponics right after we were grounded for the pandemic and have grown all my own smoothie greens indoors and am.still cutting them daily. I am learning as I go and having a great time. There are several Kratky groups on facebook and I learn good info there too.

We're in good company here I see! That book is about the method developed by Dr. Bernard A. Kratky, and it is the growing method my Hubby uses.
ETA On youtube: "Hydro Haven"

 

[soaplady30]

We're in good company here I see! That book is about the method developed by Dr. Bernard A. Kratky, and it is the growing method my Hubby uses.
ETA On youtube: "Hydro Haven"

I will check it out for sure. Saw a lady the other evening on a kratky facebook group who is growing full up beautiful kale in 1020 trays using just plugs in a starting tray which is suspended in the 1020 and of course in nutrient. I use most of my greens for smoothies and the like so I am in pursuit of the components. I have 50 rooter plugs on hand so want to get started before my current crops which are in Aerogardens bolt which will be soon.

 

[Zing]

I also do a little gardening. There is a strip of "grass" between my house and my neighbor's that never would grow proper grass, always weeds. So I pulled out the weeds, put down weed blocking fabric and mulch, and put big planters spaced out along the strip. I have an olive tree, some flowers that my grandfather planted for my grandmother at their house (which we dug up and kept after my grandparents both passed away and the house was sold), jasmine, honeysuckle, hibiscus, and lots and lots of aloe vera. The aloe vera propagate so quickly that several times I've had to tip out the pots and transplant all the babies into plastic cups of dirt which I gave away at work. I did have two kinds of lavender but they both died, unfortunately.

Yes, uh huh, a "little" gardening., gotcha.

 

[Quanta]

Yes, uh huh, a "little" gardening., gotcha.

This is the extent of my garden. The whole thing:

 

[beckster51]

Yes I do have some recommendations. Keep in mind that I am new at it and still finding my way. I got a lot of info from a trade paper book titled Hydroponics The Kratky Method. There is no author listed. It just says "Demeter Guides" and was reasonably priced online. Second do a search online and on you tube for "hydroponics the Kratky Method. There are many great videos on the topic but I am partial to a lady, "Tikki O" on youtube. She speaks slowly and puts the cookies on the bottom shelf. I have pretty much killed everything I have grown till I tried aeroponics and hydroponics which I am just gathering materials for. I began aeroponics right after we were grounded for the pandemic and have grown all my own smoothie greens indoors and am.still cutting them daily. I am learning as I go and having a great time. There are several Kratky groups on facebook and I learn good info there too.

Thank you!

 

[beckster51]

We're in good company here I see! That book is about the method developed by Dr. Bernard A. Kratky, and it is the growing method my Hubby uses.
ETA On youtube: "Hydro Haven"

Thank you!

 

[Peachy Clean Soap]

Love reading all of your hobbies' so impressive & so much talent. My only true Hobby which I want to turn into a business so I can support this Expensive Never Ending Magical Hobby called Soaping . Ive tried many different potential hobbies' but soon grown uninterested. Soaping Captured The Very Depth Of My Soul.

 

[Jersey Girl]

Sourdough - Keys to my eventual success in Sourdough, and making a soft sourdough loaf with a soft chew:
1.) Feeding starter at same time everyday and finding the right storage spot (a spot with a consistent environment of temp, humidity, etc, throughout the day/night). Turned out a kitchen drawer was the best spot in my house.
2.) Feeding my starter at least twice, with an hour or so between feedings, before making bread.
3.) Using the right amount and right types of fat. Can't find the article now, but there was a study done, I think in the 1940s, which showed an equal amount of solid fat and liquid fat up to total of 3% Baker's Percentage, provided the most rise.
4.) Preferment. Half the flour, all the water and all the starter of recipe. Mix well, cover. Allow to sit it the same location of the starter (in my case the drawer) until it at least doubles. This can take anywhere from 2-4 hours. Mix in remaining flour and other ingredients.
5.) I stopped using other people's recipes. LOL
ETA: These loaves are 100% sourdough - no commercial/store-bought yeast. I made a store-bought yeasted bread for the first time ever the other week. I used the same method I use for Sourdough, and the bread was so soft as to not be desirable. Too funny!
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These are beautiful. I tried to make a starter using Rye flour 4 times...I am a sour dough failure...

 

[KimW]

These are beautiful. I tried to make a starter using Rye flour 4 times...I am a sour dough failure...

Ah, yes. Just getting that silly starter to start can be quite the challenge. I too struggled with just making a starter.
Here's the video that finally made sense and worked for me. My starter is now three years old, having been used the first time for bread on 2/11/2018. Hint: I now feed my starter with unbleached AP Flour and a small spoonful of wheat germ. This way, I have just a small bag of wheat germ in the freezer instead of the freezer being full of whole wheat flour. If I ever need to make a new starter again, I would use that same combination.


ETA: P.S. I had made sourdough starters in the past that sort of made bread, but not good bread and not with consistent results. This lady knows her stuff.

 

[DKing]

My other hobbies include refinishing furniture, veggie gardening, hiking and fishing. I just came back from sleeping in my tent on a lake ( Canim Lake... frozen obviously) in the Cariboo region of BC, for 2 days. My friend and I decided to go in search of burbot, which are a fresh water ling cod, and are absolutely delicious! (my apologies to all vegetarian and vegans) I managed to catch 3 and my husband and I have plans to go back next week, if the ice is still safe.

 

[Jersey Girl]

Ah, yes. Just getting that silly starter to start can be quite the challenge. I too struggled with just making a starter.
Here's the video that finally made sense and worked for me. My starter is now three years old, having been used the first time for bread on 2/11/2018. Hint: I now feed my starter with unbleached AP Flour and a small spoonful of wheat germ. This way, I have just a small bag of wheat germ in the freezer instead of the freezer being full of whole wheat flour. If I ever need to make a new starter again, I would use that same combination.


ETA: P.S. I had made sourdough starters in the past that sort of made bread, but not good bread and not with consistent results. This lady knows her stuff.

Thank you! I will try this one!

 

[Adobehead]

Wow, a lot going on in this group, I have read with interest the many posts. I am lucky to be old (?) so I am retired and have time to do the hobby things when I feel like it. Unfortunately I am even more lazy (ahem, relaxed) now than I am old, so who knows when I will feel like it.

Besides soaping for these many years, the lip balm, sunblock and body lotion I make, I take care of my home and garden or yard, which is pretty big. I devote the space mostly to cactus because I live in a desert and rely on an aquifer and don't want to be a water hog. Not many come here, so I don't share it a lot, but it is a hobby for sure. I add elements of mosaic tiles here and there to parts of the house or the surrounding walls.

Others travel with their time.

There are a few fruit trees, peach, lemons and a fabulous pomegranate. I get about 100 pounds of pomegranates each season. So one of my friends taught me to dye fabrics with procion dyes and then later I got into more natural dyes.

The pomegranate skins are all saved for dyeing after I drink a whole lot of juice. The color can be a kind of yellow or dark green, then I dye cotton fabric and sew it up into kind of lounge wear (I love lounging). I do the same with indigo sometimes using banana skins in the process.

And I think photography is a hobby, too. i am def an amateur but have been doing snapshots since I was about 13 (wait, did they even have cameras in those days?) I promise to master some of the complicated settings on my new camera. One of these days.

You all shouldn't start threads like this, I could fill up the whole darned data base with my rambling. If I could make sourdough bread like some of you, I would be so heavy, the hammock would come crashing down.

 

[KimW]

Wow, a lot going on in this group, I have read with interest the many posts. I am lucky to be old (?) so I am retired and have time to do the hobby things when I feel like it. Unfortunately I am even more lazy (ahem, relaxed) now than I am old, so who knows when I will feel like it.

Wowiee!!! How I wish I could come and just sit quietly by your side as you do all these fantastic arts. What skill you have and what beauty you have created in and from the desert. Thank you SO much for sharing. I am entranced by it all.

 

[MaryinOK]

I am kind of scatterbrained. One of my main hobbies (apart from soaping) is I love to knit. I love the beauty of lace so I mostly do lace shawls. I also do quite a bit of 3D papercrafting, some jewelry making (but I am not very creative) and I used to enjoy showing dogs (did that professionally for a while).

 

[Tara_H]

I love the beauty of lace so I mostly do lace shawls.

That's something I love as well! I find it weirdly has something in common with soap, in that you have to concentrate and do the calculations right but then you end up with something really beautiful at the end

Do you have any pictures of your lace to share?

 

[Adobehead]

(but I am not very creative)

Hey! I resemble that sttement!
I mean, really! Are you crazy, this is way creative! It all counts!
It's all creative and you are a prize.
Who teaches us to talk to ourselves in this manner?
Sorry, I just went off because this is a pet peeve of mine.

 

[Misschief]

Hey! I resemble that sttement!
I mean, really! Are you crazy, this is way creative! It all counts!
It's all creative and you are a prize.
Who teaches us to talk to ourselves in this manner?
Sorry, I just went off because this is a pet peeve of mine.

Amen to that!! My eldest daughter (middle child) always said that her brother and her sister got all the creative genes. Until she tried wire wrapping stones and making jewelry. Humans are creative; we were made to be creative. Thankfully, we're not all creative in the same way... now, THAT would be boring!

 

[Misschief]

I am kind of scatterbrained. One of my main hobbies (apart from soaping) is I love to knit. I love the beauty of lace so I mostly do lace shawls. I also do quite a bit of 3D papercrafting, some jewelry making (but I am not very creative) and I used to enjoy showing dogs (did that professionally for a while).

Lace knitting is amazing! I love it, too.

 

[KimW]

Amen to that!! My eldest daughter (middle child) always said that her brother and her sister got all the creative genes. Until she tried wire wrapping stones and making jewelry. Humans are creative; we were made to be creative. Thankfully, we're not all creative in the same way... now, THAT would be boring!

Stealing this "Thankfully, we're not all creative in the same way... now, THAT would be boring! " So well said.