Nanadina, thank you very much for your report. Great job! So your formula is: 6 tbsp rye flour + 2 tbsp molasses + 1 gallon water, sit 3 days. Yes, it seems to be the golden mean. Less than 4 tbsp rye flour may spoil, 8 is too much (not economical), 6 is best! It is possible to pour out the liquid in separate container to separate from sediment. Without airspace in the top and under the tap it may be kept long time, some months. Sediment may be used for next batch as starter to make fermentation faster. When I use sediment from previous batch I make sometimes fermentation during 1 day. It is also possible to add molasses after fermentation again in the same amount and during 1-3 days it doubles the amount of bacteria. Then it is possible add molasses again. And again. And again. But this is details. Well, good news! As for antioxidants, if green tea has antioxidants in it then its good idea to try it against pests. If it works then its more good idea do dissolve (ferment) green tea bags (or tea leaves) in kvas. It will give more antioxidants. It's just for making experiments. Tea is not cheap and thus not practical. Ordinary weeds works the same. Hope this topic will continue.

That certainly fits. Thank you saltceder.

Dragonlady, I agree. We have been to so many fires that were "probably" started by cigarettes tossed from windows. We try to keep the grass cut short along the roadside on our street (the county only mows it a couple of times a year) but even short grass burns, if only more slowly. We also have been to many, including Monday night's fires along I-35, that are started by arsonists. It is very frustrating. This morning the smell of smoke is heavy in the air, but there weren't any big fires in our county yesterday, so I assume the smoke is from other counties. The scary thing is that our true wildfire season here runs roughly from March through May, so the worst could be yet to come. As a gardener, I always look at our Mesonet and other weather data on a daily basis. Nowadays, though, I tend to check all the fire weather forecast pages first. The lack of hydrants IS a problem. The closet hydrant to our house is almost 2 miles away....too far away to be of much use to our neighborhood in the event of a fire. Our firetrucks do have suction systems to suction water out of ponds, stock tanks and creeks....and it has helped our fire department save a few homes....but those sources of water often dry up during drought. When we moved to a very rural area, fire protection and wildfire were not a huge concern. (Having always lived in the city, I guess we just weren't aware of the dangers of wildfire.) We are older and wiser, now, and very involved in the local VFD (if we don't protect our own rural neighborhoods, who will?) Dawn

So funny. I have to add some. When you fill your pots and/or pot your plants behind your car in the parking lot because you don't want to have to carry whole bags of potting soil up stairs. When you park in a sunny parking spot just so you can claim the rest of the space for your plants for the afternoon. When you use a tarp under your planting/potting activities so the neighbors below you don't have potting soil all over their patio. You store plants under the staircase so you can put them out in the sun without having to carry them up and down stairs. You have counted carrying 5 gallon buckets up and down stairs as your workout for the day. You have stolen every plastic folding table in the house to give plants access to better sun. You have hit your downstairs neighbor dumping water out of a drain pan. Your balcony is now secluded and enclosed almost entirely with plants, which you use not only as a pleasant place to sit, but also as a hidden vantage point from which to spy on the goings on in your remote part of the complex that has recently been hit with car break-ins and has been attracting all kinds of shady people lately. You have had conversations with multiple people through your tomatoes and snow peas about why they need to park in the guest spots rather than taking the spots of the people who actually live here. You interrupt your gardening to do any of the following: write down a license plate number, ask people if they live here/what their business is, tell the teenager(s) from other apt complexes who park in the corner to get high to get out, tell the teenager(s) from other complexes who are "just hanging" in your neighbor's bushes to get out, tell that shady guy to clean up that big mess of wires and junk that he left in the middle of the parking lot when his car caught on fire last week, write progressively more angry and sarcastic notes explaining what is and is not a parking space, talk with maintenance men, contractors, or movers who are working on other units about your plants, or if you have ever said something along the lines of "I don't care if you get high/kill each other/worship satan here as long as you don't litter, make noise, or touch my plants." You have had to explain to a dozen drunk partiers from downstairs why you are sitting under the staircase at midnight wearing a headlamp so you can squish blackflies. You have ever hidden behind the plants on your balcony to avoid saying hi to the neighbors because you are grungy, in a horrible mood, not wearing a bra, hate everybody today, etc. Your plants compete with the cats for sunny windowsills. With respect to plant "requirements," the "I'll do the best I can" attitude becomes a "you're not the boss of me, plant" attitude. You have grown tomatoes in the shade and greens in the summer and you are not. apologizing. for. it. Because your garden is gangsta and it doesn't give a $%&*. And I have to second the using kitchen utensils in the garden thing. Just the other day I decided that I shouldn't be using my wusthof kitchen shears out there because I an't afford to replace them. Also seconding searching the forums for that one person who says it's okay to grow tomatoes in part shade. lol And I have to put this in there for any other knitters. You know you are a city knitter when your neighbor's guests park their bicycles on the lace shawl that you have blocking.