Sat, 30 Oct 2004

Too Much Choice
There has been recent interest in the idea of ‘too much choice’ and the negative effects this can have on people. This interest has been spearheaded by the book “The Paradox of Choice” by Barry Schwartz. The New Yorker has a nice review of it here. I think he’s on to something.

posted at: 14:14 | path: /living | link

Science Fair Biogas Digester
I’m back on the biogas digester quest. This time I’m thinking a bit more small scale. With that in mind here is a very small, very simple biogas digester. Now I get it!

posted at: 12:14 | path: /living | link

Mon, 18 Oct 2004

Backyard Orchard
Growing fruit trees in limited space.

posted at: 12:10 | path: /living | link

Sun, 17 Oct 2004

Pictures of Berries
bearberry
barberry
bunchberry
crowberry
elderberry
hackberry another hackberry
mulberry
partridge berry
juneberry
juneberry/service berry/saskatoon berry
huckleberry
red currants
gooseberries
northern wild raisin
chokeberry
another chokeberry
nannyberry
high bush cranberry - not related to bog cranberry
bog cranberry
rosehips

posted at: 17:53 | path: /living | link

Families of Edible berries
There are certain families of berries that are edible. I think it’s easier to remember the edible berries if they can be grouped together that way.

First of all there is the Vaccinium genus. This is the genus that contains blueberries. Some of the vaccinium plants also go by the name Gaylussacia something (e.g. huckleberries).

Then there’s the amelanchier genus- a juneberry is an example of this. These and several other berries are also listed under the pyrus genus. Wintergreen is from the genus gaultheria, which includes a number of edible berry plants.

Genus rubus includes blackberries and raspberries. Genus prunus includes wild plums and cherries. The pyrus genus includes crabapples, apples and pears- there appears to be some labeling crossover with the amelanchier genus, as mentioned above. The ribes genus includes currants and gooseberries. Genus rosa includes rosehips.

Okay- so what isn’t captured by this list? Barberrys- genus berberis, bearberry, bunchberry, crowberry, elderberry- genus sambucus, hackberry/sugarberry, mulberry, partridgeberry, strawberries

Put these all together and you get most of the edible berries in Canada. To look for berries under the genus names you can use the search page from the plants for a future database.

posted at: 14:48 | path: /living | link

One more red berry
pin cherry - edible, a type of wild cherry, along with chokecherries and black cherries

posted at: 13:42 | path: /living | link

Some Red Berries
honeysuckle- somewhat poisonous.
virginia creeper - poisonous. chokecherries - not poisonous, but, like all members of the rose family (apples, peaches, etc.) seeds contain cyanide, so the seeds should be avoided. baneberry- poisonous.

posted at: 13:20 | path: /living | link

Pictures of black berries
Buckthorn - poisonous.
black currant - not poisonous.
chokeberry - not poisonous.

My edible plants book points out that the buckthorn berry is fairly smooth on the bottom, whereas the other two have more prominent calyx lobes (the star pattern on the bottom of the berry- like the ends of rosehips.)

posted at: 12:43 | path: /living | link

Poisonous Plants of Canada
Here’s a convenient list provided by the government of Canada. Thanks, government.

posted at: 12:08 | path: /living | link

Fri, 15 Oct 2004

I was just wondering-
Why do we cry?

posted at: 16:11 | path: /living | link

Thu, 14 Oct 2004

No Link?
I’ve been feeling like I’ve been neglecting my blog. That’s never happened to me before- usually I’m always surfing the web and finding links to put into it. At first I thought I would just have to make an entry with no link. What! That seemed wrong, so I decided to be inspired while writing. I was inspired to find a link about problems with authority. Instead I found the Work Relationships newsletter. It’s about how people interact with each other at work. Or, to read only slightly between the lines, how companies can avoid law suits when interpersonal relationships heat up in various ways. Pretty interesting!

posted at: 17:28 | path: /living | link

Sun, 03 Oct 2004

Rosewood Studio
I was looking for local furniture makers when I came across the Rosewood Studio website. It’s a woodworking school, located in Almonte, Ontario. It sounds really cool.

posted at: 19:25 | path: /living | link

Organic Cotton Clothing Revisited
It’s been a while since I posted an organic cotton clothing link, so here’s one with links to a number of different on-line stores. I think that organic clothing styles are getting a bit more in sync with my styles now. I won’t say they are getting ‘better’ since I know styles are a matter of taste, and all… but for the record, I particularly like the stuff at Blue Canoe, Under the Canopy and some of the stuff at Cottonfield.

posted at: 10:56 | path: /living | link

Sat, 02 Oct 2004

Hankettes!
Now that I know there is a fairly easy way to sterilize them, I can get serious about finding organic cotton handkerchiefs. And the first site I’ve discoverd, Hankettes,looks perfect. They even have a product that comes in a box exactly like Kleenex. I’ve even been daydreaming about a product like this -yes, I’m not kidding, I really do daydream about handkerchiefs that come in kleenex boxes… and now I find out that it already exists. I’m so excited! Oh yeah- and they’re Canadian, too.

posted at: 13:12 | path: /living | link

Sterilizing vs High Level Disinfecting
I thought that this site provided some useful information on the distinction between Sterilizing and HLD- which I’m just guessing stands for High Level Disinfection, based on how it’s used on the page. The page highlights the important difference between steaming something not under pressure, which counts as HLD, and steaming something under pressure, which counts as sterilizing, due to the higher temperature attained by steam under pressure.

posted at: 12:59 | path: /living | link

As for those other disinfectants
In case I don’t already have one, here’s a link to the other disinfectant options.

posted at: 12:53 | path: /living | link

Steam Power
As I’ve said in earlier blog entries, I’ve been looking for a good way to sterilize stuff that doesn’t require the use of dangerous or environmentally unfriendly chemicals. While looking at linen services in Ottawa, I finally stumbled upon something that might work- steam cleaning. People that sell dry steam cleaners make various claims that their steam cleaners kill germs and molds. That looked promising, but I wanted something a bit more official. The search for more official information led me towards pressure steam sterilizers. These are stand alone sterilizers that will sterilize cloth and metal. Of course, the one listed there is quite expensive, but that made me realize that we have ready access to home steam sterilizers, except that we call them baby bottle sterilizers or pressure canners. Eureka!

posted at: 12:48 | path: /living | link

All material copyrighted by Jen Schellinck. All rights reserved.