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[Bill Jones <billj AT harborside.com>]

SISU! wrote:

> If
> you acidify the broth just a bit with vinegar, you extract even more
> calcium,
>  
What a fantastic idea.  I'm thinking about the likely numbers, and 
without going into details, I can picture broth that's as calcium-rich 
as milk, just using 1:8 wine to water.  Fruit acids probably work 
better, and it's really the normal procedure anyway to add some wine.  I 
really enjoy the Chinese chicken broth recipe I have, but I haven't 
experimented much with lamb.  There's a recipe in an old English 
cookbook for mutton broth, but it has turnip...  Maybe I should be more 
open-minded.  Can broth be made from rabbit bones, and is it worthwhile, 
I wonder.

>  
>
> > In answer to the question, "why not look into the Chinese diet?" I 
> > can only say that countless Asian staples will not grow here because
> > of the cool climate: peanuts, sesame, soybeans, not to mention rice.
> > Actually I retain hope for growing all but the latter in
> > greenhouses, once we've got it all together, but there's still zero
> > data on that.
> >    
>
> I would think you would be able to grow peanuts and soybeans there, at
> least.  I live in zone 7 along the border of 7a/7b, but my microclimate
> is almost like a zone 6 because I live in a horseshoe shaped valley that
> acts as a cold sink in the winter.  I can grow peanuts here.
> Peanuts, depending on variety grown, take about 140 days of growing from
> planting to harvest, BUT you can germinate the seed peanuts in flats in
> your house or greenhouse, and then transplant them once danger of frost
> has passed.  You can grow them in flats for 2-4 weeks before you
> transplant them, and if you do that, you will need only about 120 days
> until harvest.  Peanuts need a minimum soil temp of 60 degrees for plant
> growth, and grow best when the air temperature is between 65-85 degrees.
>   They need higher soil temps for seed germination, but if you start
> them in flats, you avoid that problem. One of the things I did that you
> might consider doing was to make an artificial 'bed'.  I transplanted my
> seedlings, then laid  paper feed bags along either side of the row of
> peanut seedlings creating a 6 foot wide 'bed'.  Then, I put waste hay
> and mulch on top of the feed bags.  The bags kept the weeds out of the
> peanuts, and as the vines grew, then fell over onto the feed bag area.
> When the time came, the vines 'pegged' into the mulch/compost and the
> peanut grew in that on top of the bag instead of in the soil.  Harvest
> was a simple matter of pulling up the plant.  The ground around the
> roots was soft since it had been covered by the feedbag, and the peanuts
> were clean from growing in the mulch instead of soil.  To make sure I
> got all of the peanuts with the pulled plant, I just lifted the remains
> of the feedbag.  It was easy and weed-free.  I have pictures if you are
> interested and the above doesn't make sense.
>  
This is good because even though I did grow some peanuts in the 
greenhouse one year, I had trouble with them rotting in the shell, when 
the peanuts grow into the same medium that waters the plant.

This site is just particularly cold.  There's no obstacle to the cold 
north wind that blows all day long in summer, on this north-facing 
slope.  Of course, with memories of my childhood in inland S. California 
still vivid, that's the way we like it.  We've adapted pretty well.  My 
new bed design will allow a greenhouse cover to be installed easily on 
any bed, just by threading the ends of a PVC hoop down into permanent 
metal cylinders placed at intervals around the bed (which will also 
support an aluminum flashing barrier).  Mostly we'll end up growing 
potatoes and sunflowers, which do just fine.

Bill
S. Oregon coast