Radishrain

I read somewhere that the third degree of ramifications on cucumbers (I think that was the species of cucurbit) was more prolific than lower degrees. I kind of wonder if going out more degrees of ramifications increases production for all cucurbits, given a long enough season.

With tomatoes, people usually either prune to a Y shape or prune every single sucker off (just letting the leader grow). I kind of wonder if pruning off everything else in order to get to a certain degree of ramifications faster would produce more fruit in tomatoes, too, given as much time as the plant needed.

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I'm pretty sure this is western salsify (it has yellow flowers that look like that), and I know that's a bunching onion with it (possibly Crimson Forest). This picture was taken on 18 June 2020.



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Today, I was reading on my Kindle Fire HD 8 sixth edition via Word Runner on the Kindle app. When you pause Word Runner, it has a mode where you can just scroll the whole book left to right, with your finger, on one line. I decided to try reading like that (even though it's probably intended as an intermitent mode, rather than a viable way of reading large amounts of text. I discovered that I could read a lot faster that way! I guess new lines really get in the way of reading or something.

The problem with using that feature of Word Runner is that the font size and brightness changes for the focus word. It's not just a scrolling line of text. This has the effect of making it look blurrier when going fast, and being kind of disorienting/dizzying. Also, it doesn't give you a cue to let you know where new paragraphs begin. It only lets you use Word Runner in portrait mode.

So, I propose the following feature for e-book readers:

Have a mode where you can scroll the text on a single line (with your finger, or similar, from side to side). Make every visible word the same brightness and size, and put a paragraph symbol by new paragraphs: ¶

Also, make it so you can go in landscape mode.

Another idea is to fill the whole screen with flowing text, flowing up to (and away from) the current line as you scroll side to side, back and forth, so it looks like one big long snake moving, sort of.

It would also be nice to be able to increase the refresh rate while in this mode (where possible), as that would make it flow more clearly.

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https://www.hhmi.org/news/tomatos-hidden-mutations-revealed-in-study-of-100-varieties

The above article explains a discovery. They now know how to use genetic engineering to change tomato traits, such as fruit size. They figure it'll work for other plants, too, such as ground cherries.

How many copies of that gene can they give a tomato, I wonder. I also wonder if they taste like typically larger tomatoes, or if they taste just like the smaller ones. Now maybe we'll get watermelon-sized alpine strawberries, house-sized pumpkins, boat-sized bananas, and James and the Giant Peach.

They could genetically engineer weeds to make them commercially viable fruit crops. I mean, like the common mallow found in the USA, for instance. The fruit is tiny, but good (it's not sweet; it's kind of a green bean like flavor). Imagine if it were huge.

They could probably give the gene to plants that don't even really produce much of a fruit. Maybe they would.

Cherry trees and bushes could get substantial fruits. Elderberries could be big. Cornelian Cherries could be enormous.

One problem is that GMO plants tend to have utility patents (not just plant patents), which means most plant breeders may not have the legal right to breed with the results. Home gardeners may never see them, legally. Of course, many would consider that a good thing, considering the fight against GMOs.

https://www.newyorker.com/culture/kitchen-notes/dont-throw-away-the-marcella-hazan-tomato-sauce-onion/amp

This is a news article that tells what you can do with the leftover onion halves from making Marcella Hazan tomato sauce.

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HymnWiki.org is a large project that pre-dates this website by about twelve years. For a number of reasons, HymnWiki's old forum is being retired; the new one is part of this website. The HymnWiki forum is primarily accessible via its subdomain, and via a link at HymnWiki.org. This merger may or may not be permanent.

Here are some reasons why this merge has happened:
• It helps both sites to advertise each other.
• The old forum had a different version of the Nabble software with less functionality. The additional functionality is important for the goals of the HymnWiki forum.
• Many things are already set up here.
• The old forum required too much participation to be very useful. The new one is useful if even one person participates.

There are probably other reasons.

This post is an attempt to describe my ideal food dehydrator:

• Ideally, it would also be a *large* electric convection oven (like the size of a regular kitchen oven, and usable as one), and an air fryer.
• It would have at least ten fine mesh stainless steel racks, the huge size of oven racks.
• It would also come with oven racks (but ten isn't a requirement).
• Temperature could range from 0° F. to at least 550° F., with increments of 1° F.
• I don't care if it's not digital, as long as it's accurate. Digital is fine, as long as it doesn't have imposed limits that non-digital ovens lack.
• The ability to run it without it automatically shutting off after a certain amount of time.
• The ability to run it with it automatically shutting off after a certain period of time.
• A regular electric stovetop, with metal burners (not gas; not flat-top)
• The ability to run the fans at any temperature, including 0° F.
• The ability to use the heat with the fans off (and have it cook like an oven that isn't a convection oven)
• The fans should be placed at the back (not on the bottom, nor on the top).
• It should have a regular oven light.
• If the door is more transparent than a regular oven door, it should be sturdy and high quality like an traditional oven door, without a manual latch, and without letting heat escape.
• It should have the option to have only the top heat on (for broiling and such), only the bottom heat on, only the side heat on, or all at the same time. Or any configuration not mentioned.
• It should be lined with a reflective surface inside to increase the heat, via infrared.
• The fans should be able to be quite strong, and there should be several, or else large.
• The fans should have different strength settings.
• Vents should be able to open to release more moisture.
• Vents should be able to close to lock in the moisture and heat.
• It should come with fruit leather inserts, but if it doesn't that's not the end of the world.
• It should have a lifetime warranty.
• Ideally, it would heat in a fashion that you couldn't actually see the heating element. This would allow for other features here, and would be easier to clean. It would make using it safer, too.
• There would be a clean setting that can get hot enough to completely strip the seasoning off cast-iron pans in one clean, as some ovens have been known to do.
• The sides of the oven should be able to produce heat, too, just as the bottom and the top. The back should have the fans.
• It should be free of materials that would necessitate a California prop whatever warning.
• It should be affordable enough to become mainstream, rather than a luxury oven.
• It should tell you both the actual temperature inside the oven, and the temperature it is set to become/maintain.
• Any feature combinations that I referenced with safety issues should be addressed to ensure it runs safely.

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Here is the list of things I specifically look for in a food dehydrator. I'd love to see them all in one spot so I can more quickly evaluate it:

* tray dimensions
* heating element watts
* fan watts
* tray material (i.e. stainless steel)
* temperature range (in Fahrenheit)
* space between trays
* where the fan(s) are located
* a picture of the dehydrator and the trays with an average-sized person next to them for scale.
* timer length

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I've been researching food dehydrators a lot lately. I've decided they're overpriced, even if they're nice and/or very effective. Some of them cost twice as much as a kitchen stove.

Yeah, they don't all cost anywhere near that much, but most of them are still overpriced. The round stackable ones are currently usually between about $40 and $120. The rectangular ones with trays like ovens usually cost between $150 and $400, although there are some that are less expensive, and some that are quite a bit more expensive.

Here's what a typical dehydrator is: A container with trays, a fan, and low heat, which normally ranges between somewhere around 95° F. and 165° F. some of them have timers that automatically shut them off after a time (usually 12 to 24 hours). They usually take between 300 and 1000 watts.

Stainless steel tays for dehydrators tend to cost about $11 a tray. They're only available when the trays are rectangular, as far as I've seen.

I thought aboht making my own instead for a while, using a vented wooden box lined inside with reflective foil, one or more infrared heat lamps, fans, and oven trays with silicone mats.

But, I have another idea! I live in a semi-arid climate with lots of sun during the growing season. Sun-drying food shouldn't, in theory, be particularly difficult. However, we should be able to speed up the process significantly, without a lot of effort. Here's the idea:
* Focus primarily on fruit leathers, vegetable leathers, and sauce leathers. We can basically stew and juice the tomatoes before dehydrating, and dehydrate the paste, or we can do it raw, without juicing it.
* Add extra salt to the sauces where that wouldn't hurt. Salt should help to bring water out of the sauce, so it can evaporate more easily, and help it preserve better during the drying process.
* Get a high velocity fan (like the sort used to dry floors) to blow on the dehydrating leathers. This should speed things up a lot. The food just needs to be anchored into place somehow. Yes, the fan would be operating outdoors, only on days without rain, and the fan would probably be sheltered by shade. Such a fan might work well for dehydrating indoors. I read that someone dried dishes with one, rather quickly. Anyway, the reason for doing leathers is so they stick and don't blow away with high velocity currents easily.
* Potentially dry stuff in the shade for a better (not necessarily faster) result.
* If it would deter cats and insects (I'm not sure if it would), you could add some vinegar. This would probably help preserve it better as it dried, too.

Anyway, we could do a whole lot of fruit leather at once, this way! We could dehydrate it on parchment paper, or silicone mats, or even tempered glass cutting boards.

So, I had the idea to make ketchup leather. I looked it up and found this article, which gives the even better idea of eating it on hamburgers (I was just thinking about eating it plain): https://www.themanual.com/food-and-drink/ketchup-leather/

Anyway, it's fruit leather made out of ketchup. You could do the same with BBQ sauce, or whatever.

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