Fiber from the Lotus Flower

The lotus flower can be used to produce fibers and yarn. I am collecting information about this topic here.

From Sheep to Wool - Vom Schaf zur Wolle

1) English
2) Deutsch

EN: First of all I would like to introduce you to my favourite sheep breed, but then again: all sheep are great. So these below are Coburg Fox Sheep:

Erst mal möchte ich Euch meine Lieblingsschäfchen vorstellen, wobei: alle Schafe sind toll.
Das sind also Coburger Füchse:

Stachelbeeren - Einkochzeit

Einkochzeit bei Stachelbeeren: 30 Minuten

Owly ... Eulchen ...

1. English
2. Deutsch

English

A friend of mine asked me if I could make her one of "my owls" - well, and here it is. For me working with wool also is part of selfsufficiency and by making decorative stuff a set of skills is required. And: it is fun, simply fun. The owl is crocheted, filled with sheep's wool and the eyes and the beak are needle felted.

Deutsch

Eine Freundin hat mich gefragt, ob ich ihr eine "meiner Eulen" mache - na ja, und hier ist sie. Für mich gehört das Arbeiten mit Wolle zur Selbstversorgung und wenn man dann solche Dekoartikel macht, braucht man gleich mehrere Fähigkeiten. Und: es macht Spaß, ganz einfach Spaß. Die Eule ist gehäkelt, mit Schafwolle gefüllt und die Augen und der Schnabel sind gefilzt.

Flour Dumplings - Mehlspatzen

1. English
2. Deutsch

English

This is an old recipe of my grandma, that is: it is from her cook-book of 1927 with adaptations by her.

• 500 g of flour
• 250 ml of water or milk
• 1 tbsp of salt
• 2 eggs
• if you have it: a bit of fresh yeast (how much that bit is, nobody knows ... well ... I take half a teaspoon of dry yeast - it works fine)

Chickweed - Vogelmiere

1. English
2. Deutsch

English: 

Chickweed grows a bit all over my garden beds and pots. It's a great addition to my salads and one can also make pesto with it, just substitute basil with chickweed and you will be astonished how great this tastes. Remember to cut it into small pieces before processing it in a blender, since the centre of the stem has a little string that is not easy to process in there. Chickweed also grows in winter under the snow, so it's definitely one of the few fresh winter plants. It has also a number of medical properties: it is said to reduce inflammation and to be beneficial in the case of fragile superficial veins, just to mention two.

Further reading:

• Plants for a Future
• Wikipedia

Deutsch: 

Vogelmiere wächst irgendwie überall in meinen Beeten und Töpfen. Es ist eine super Zutat zu meinen Salaten und man kann auch Pesto damit machen. Man ersetzt das Basilikum einfach durch Vogelmiere - und: es schmeckt wirklich toll. Bitte nicht vergessen, die Vogelmiere klein zu schneiden, bevor sie in den Mixer kommt. Ihre Stängel haben einen Faden, der im Mixer nicht zerkleinert wird. Vogelmiere wächst auch unter Schnee und gehört somit zu den wenigen frischen Winterpflanzen. Die Pflanze hat auch medizinische Eigenschaften: man sagt, sie sei entzündungshemmend und sie helfe bei fragilen Venen an der Hautoberfläche, nur um zwei zu nennen.

Mehr lesen:

• Wikipedia

International Mother Language Day fan page on facebook

I think about this fan page over and over again. It comes alive once a year, only to "sleep" again until the next 21st February. Many people caring about their mother language. Well, there was a time when we reached near 10,000 people with a group. We then were 15 admins and also there the main activity was around International Mother Language Day. The group was then deleted by facebook for whatever reason.

But why do we care only once a year? Why don't we care every day or at least once a week?

When one of the languages of this world gets lost, loads of wisdom gets lost with it. Wisdom not only about words, but also about living, medicine, plants and so much more. Is language loss and biodiversity loss correlated? What if everything from poisoning our planet to using materials that pollute our environement is correlated as well?

What if we start to preserve each day a bit? A bit of a language, a bit of our planet? Hmmm ....

Image from Pixabay:
https://pixabay.com/illustrations/letters-school-learn-alphabet-abc-3704026/

Paprika - Einkochzeit

Man findet viele verschiedene Angaben, von 30 Minuten bis 90 Minuten bei 100 °C. Von nur mit Essig bis ohne Essig.

Ich persönlich koche Paprika bei 100°C 60 Minuten ein.