Juniper and the art of evaporation
There’s a traditional toffee, that was made in Norway in the old days. It was called “Treak” and made by collecting a ton of juniper berries (Juneiperus communis), boiling them in water for three hours to make an extract, three times over – that’s nine hours of boiling – before the filtered extract was … Read the rest
Some mad shampoo genius
You wouldn’t expect shampoo to be a very complicated thing to make. You know, three or four ingredients, five at most. After all, it’s basically just liquid soap and liquid soap is the simplest form of soap, just oil and alkali + something for the scent, I guess. The process of making soap is a bit … Read the rest
Chasing the Devil
There’s magic in St. John’s wort. The flowers are yellow, the buds are yellow and the leaves are green – but if you rub a bud between your fingers they turn deep red, or purple. This strong colour is seen as small black dots on the flowers and especially on the buds. Folklore in christian times will … Read the rest
The scientific point of view, is held in high regard. Many like to think of themselves as men and women of science and I’ve heard people say stuff like: I’m feeling depressed, but actually it’s just a chemical imbalance… As if there is an ultimate, in this case chemical, reality more real than other realities. I guess it’s easy to … Read the rest
Figuring out what’s what and how the bloody hell things work, can be quite the challenge. Most of what’s written, whether on the web or in books, are just echoes of echoes of echoes. This poses no small risk to the “truth seeker”. I’ll give you an example: I was trying to come to grips with the edibility of lichens. … Read the rest
The right stuff
I’m really kind of mad about this berry. I always drink the juice and eat the berries quickly and regret not having picked more. I never liked them much as a child, but now that I’ve acquired the taste for them, I can’t get enough. It’s an autumn treat, for sure.
You can find Lingonberry or Cowberry, … Read the rest
Wild Garlic
Ramsons is one of those plants that inspire a great deal of hope for a life outside of the supermarket. Once I tasted it, going back to store bought garlic and leek and spring onion – it replaces all of them, in my case – just seems wrong. You can use the different parts of the plant, the … Read the rest
The natural “artificial” sweetener
Refined sugar is such a beastly thing, but life is rather dull without a little bit of sweetness, so finding alternatives has been one of my priorities the last two years. Since we’re concerned with self-sufficiency, here at sympractic.org, just buying a healthier alternative won’t do. Now, I do usually make birch syrup in the spring, … Read the rest
Finally, after much work, sympractic.org is ready for launching – a self-sufficiency blog with the emphasis on video howtos. To celebrate the occasion, I’m posting a video on my experiences in my first season of growing and using stevia, a natural replacement for artificial sweeteners. Soon, there will be more.… Read the rest