Eric & Will get an email asking should one leave Facebook.
Will and Eric,
I respect you both highly and love following you both.
That said, I have always been suspicious of FB and was going to pull the plug regardless of the latest news.
My only hesitation is being able to continue to follow both of you which I know I can get through podcast and YouTube. I suppose I can still go to your respective Websites? The GardenFork discussion group has really been valuable for me.
I would truly appreciate your respective thoughts.
Lifehacker has some good articles on how to secure your data and still use Facebook. The simplest ways to limit how much data FB collects is to not hit the Like Button or Comment on anything. And don’t post anything. Just scroll through. Use Facebook on your computer, not your phone. The app can collect all sorts of data.
Eric tells about Charlie Pup losing control of her back legs, full story here, and her visits to the Animal Medical Center in Manhattan. Rick is a walking example of the success of modern medicine.
Rick had cataract surgery in one eye and will have the other done soon.
Charlie Pup had an MRI and x-rays to figure out what is causing her leg dysfunction.
We read two viewer mails. One from long time listener Kevin about maximizing the heat generated from the DIY maple syrup evaporator, and one from Jonathan about making the steam pan file cabinet maple syrup evaporator.
Will visits to tell us about his working behind the scenes at the Super Bowl. Then talking about replacement windows, and whether its possible to slide the new windows in from inside the house.
Troy-Bilt, a GardenFork sponsor, sent Eric a new snowblower. A discussion about single stage, two stage, and three stage snowblowers happens, complete with what are shear pins.
Eric insulated the back door of the apartment and made a video about how to insulate a door with spray foam, and a discussion on how to use spray foam happens, along with spray foam hacks from Will.
Viewer Mail:
Hi Eric, I love your radio show and watch your YouTube videos in batches when I head over to YouTube on occasion. If you haven’t heard of this show, I recommend taking a watch of it. It’s Alive with Brad is a bon appetit affiliated show about fermented foods and other things that are alive like oysters. I find it very entertaining and watch it about as regularly as I watch garden fork! Keep up the great work and thanks again! Daniel
Jimmy of Hollow Books joins Eric to talk about the Space X Falcon Heavy rocket launch the day after the spectacle happened on the same launch pad as the Saturn V rocket took off to the moon. Jimmy questions the wisdom of putting a Tesla in orbit around the sun, but in general we are in awe.
The Space Rocket History Podcast is a favorite on GardenFork Radio, wondering whether the host of the show attended the launch of the Falcon Heavy.
We check back on Jimmy’s Growing tobacco project, the leaves are drying and he has used it in a pipe.
We then walk through gardening topics like Rabbits, Morning Glory, Hummingbird Vines.
Rick and Eric start out the show trying their hand at guiding a meditation for you all listeners. It starts out well. We talk more about meditation here.
What is good to buy from Harbor Freight? Hand tools and the like seem like good things, but what about gas powered generators? How does one get parts for them. Eric has one of their inexpensive flux core welders, and it works well. Its not perfect, but for $100 it does the job. Good for fixing lawnmowers.
Troy-Bilt has sent Eric the Storm 2690 Snowblower to test out. (GF is sponsored by Troy-Bilt, FYI) Video will happen with next big snow storm.
Is it ok to buy a refurbished computer? If its from Apple, we say yes. Its time to upgrade the 6 yr old iMac and Apple has a refurbished section in their online store, with a good savings off a new model. Rick suggests buying the best one you can afford to future-proof as much as possible. Additional RAM was ordered as well. Buy as much RAM as you can afford, is our expert opinion, for what its worth…
Erin from The Impatient Gardener blog has a post on 5 Flowers That Are Dead Simple To Grow From Seed. Great list for easy seed starting. Nasturiums are an easy one that Eric has grown, and the flowers are edible. We see the flowers for sale at the Farmers Market. The last flower that is easy is castor bean, be careful with growing this one, you don’t want your pets eating this one, if they are plant eater pets.
Rick sent Eric an envelope of tomato seeds from the Klee Lab at the University of Florida. These tomatoes have very good resistance to common tomato problems. Will they grow in Eric’s yard? We will see.
Rick and Eric both have big love for Goya Food products, especially the Pardina Lentils, Canned chickpeas, and the spices. The grocery store near Eric in BKLN has a whole aisle devoted to Goya, and its a beautiful thing.
Eric talks about how changes at Amazon are affecting GardenFork. Please do not use a GF link that takes you to the main page of Amazon. You can check out GardenFork’s Amazon Shop Page here, on the GF Amazon Page, I have listed a bunch of tools, books, cool stuff that is GardenFork approved.
Making yogurt in the Instant Pot is super fun, how to make yogurt video here. Rick uses the heirloom yogurt starter from Cultures for Health . He also adds in probiotic capsules from the health food store. Kefir is also good for tuning up the biome.
A recent Science VS. podcast talked about obesity and touched on the biome in your gut and how that affects how much people weigh. It seems a lot of weight issues are not what we think, and the biome in your stomach has a lot to do with weight issues, and how come it is hard to lose weight.
Rick got a new Apple Watch for Christmas, and he likes it. Rick finds he looks at this phone a lot less now, he can dictate Notes into the watch, and the world globe showing weather patterns is for the geek in all of us.
More info on how the near field communications chip in new smartphones is a good secure way to pay for things. Rick can talk about this more, and he does on the show, but its sounds like its hard to hack, which is a good thing.
Eric’s new cookbook is Deep Run Roots by Vivian Howard. She also produces a show called A Chef’s Life you can watch on the PBS app.
GFR listener Kathlean writes in about using acorn flour, we hope to have Kathlean on the show soon.
Erin from The Impatient Gardener tells us about the Jumping Worm that is moving its way across the country. Not many have heard about this, myself included, but its not a good thing.
These worms, which hang out on the upper layers of soil, are massive digesters of soil. This is not a good thing. What they leave behind is loose soil resembling coffee grounds and largely devoid of nutrients. Give them a little time and they destroy the composition of the soil to the point where plants are no longer anchored.
They reproduce without mating, laying impossible-to-find cocoons in the soil that overwinter even in cold areas, and oh, by the way, they mature so quickly that two generations can be produced in one season. They do their damage quickly.
Eric and Rick talk about Olive tree problems due to climate change. Flies are ruining the fruit because it no longer frosts in Southern Italy. Listen on the GastroPod podcast
Andrea asks on our Facebook Discussion Group about growing apple and pear trees from seed. We suggest checking out the Fedco Seeds Tree catalog for great info and plants.
Instant Pot issues Eric is having with cooking Pork Shoulder. What are we doing wrong?
Kathlean suggests sending Acorn flour for Eric to experiment with.
Rick and Eric love the 99% Invisible podcast and their blog posts. And Eric likes the WebUrbanist site
Starting a market garden in your yard, both the front and backyards, is what Curtis Stone did, who has a great YouTube channel that Eric has learned a lot of gardening tips from. His website has books and video classes and in-person classes.
Erin of The Impatient Gardener is reworking her most excellent website and has a very good post on the new invasive worms. You can also hear her on a recent GF Radio show.
Eric tells of his negotiating techniques for buying something from Craigslist.
Eric is going to modify his maple syrup evaporator firebox, Maple Trader has a great discussion group:
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Storm and Disaster Preparedness, and what emergency supplies to have is a running theme on GardenFork. Today Rick and Will take over the podcast to what to be prepared for and how to create a simple plan. This is National Preparedness Month, after all.
What kind of storms and natural disasters happen in your area? The most common of these should be the focus of your emergency prep. Keep these items dry, you may want to put them in zipper plastic bags. You can pretty large zipper bags, btw.
Duracell batteries now last 10 years, according to the manufacturer, so I buy a large pack of D and AA batteries. Keep these batteries in their packaging. If loose in a bag, they can contact each other and possibly drain power.
Will has some good points for keeping kids busy during power outages, with a pack of fun items that are only allowed to be used during a blackout. Smart of Will to have this.
3 must have tools to prepare for power outages.
For more on what items to have in an emergency what Eric in this video.
If you like to play with fire, and get your kids learning about how to make do with what you got, here’s a fun vid:
Will from The Weekend Homestead joins Eric today to talk about growing and harvesting garlic, and Will’s lessons on home renovation. Will talks about when to hire the experts and when to do the work yourself.
Rick and Eric talk more DIY and how to projects like Eric’s electrical re-wiring. But first we touch on home made wind turbines. We get an update from Dave in Texas about the Klee Univ. of Florida tomatoes has grown.
Eric is still getting over the stomach flu, aka an acute gastrointestinal event, and we talk about how its probably not the last thing you at that made you sick.
Rick tells about a simple water filtration system called the BioSand Filter. you can help fund this to bring clean water to people in need here: http://friendlywater.net/ also check out Water.Org
Garden Fails and Success comes next. Be careful of free compost! Wise words we should have heeded.
