The Very-Many-Questions-Not-Worth-Their-Own-Thread Thread XLI

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I wasn't being entirely serious but it could be a factor.

I'd say it is mostly seasonal supply and demand - these were traditionally the hungry months when stored food had run out or rotten and the new season stuff wasn't available.
It is not like during the summer fruit is loads cheaper than that. There will be more choice in the summer, but 77 p/Kg is cheap any time of the year. Supply and demand would cause you to expect everything to be more expensive?
 
I wasn't being entirely serious but it could be a factor.

I'd say it is mostly seasonal supply and demand - these were traditionally the hungry months when stored food had run out or rotten and the new season stuff wasn't available.

I'm going to guess late summer was traditionally worse. Harvest is still relatively fresh, it having been cold, at the end of winter. Animals fattened are slaughtered early winter, maybe December-ish, to avoid feeding them through the season, and meats and animal products would be about. At the end of summer you probably have milk from cows and eggs still coming in, but there's a window before your major grains come in where your staple calories(the grains) have been stored for a long time and are probably off, as well as it not being a long-term sustainable time for butchering to make up the shortfall.

Unless I'm way off. Winter has the effect of being cold, and that makes everything harder in its own rights. Then again, it is probably the starvations we remember the most, and a failed harvest followed by slaughtering running out by spring followed by desperate foraging probably sticks in the collective memory. But those would be catastrophe.

Now that I think about it, malnutrition is a winter problem. May run short of certain nutrients. Things like sauerkraut are best explained by a context where they are a low-infrastructure winter storage method of consuming greens.
 
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How on earth is the cheapest fruit I can buy pineapples imported from Costa Rica? These are 77.2 p/Kg, the next cheapest I have found are oranges at 94 p/Kg. It is possible apples are cheaper, but I do not like them so have not calculated the price/Kg.

Thing about pineapples is that after cutting them, there is higher wastage,
so in terms of £ per what goes in your mouth; those oranges may be cheaper.
 
How on earth is the cheapest fruit I can buy pineapples imported from Costa Rica? These are 77.2 p/Kg, the next cheapest I have found are oranges at 94 p/Kg. It is possible apples are cheaper, but I do not like them so have not calculated the price/Kg.


Cheap to grow. Easy to harvest. Easy to ship. Many fruits do not harvest or ship well, and spoil rapidly.
 
Fresh fruit is why Canada is still letting truckers cross the border without any covid-related restrictions. It's winter here and will still be winter here for another two months (in a normal year). Dunno about May; we've had snow here in May in recent years, too.
 
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I saw in 2019 a TedX talk about the topic, and I think the answer was "it's pretty hard".
There is at least one label which certifies ethical clothing, but I don't remember the name :blush:.
Patagonia makes a serious effort.
 
You could probably get local knits.
 
You could probably get local knits.
You may be able to answer another question, totally different. How much soil on top of chalk hills would you need to grow a maise hedge, if you were liberal with the chemical fertilisers and water? Or how to find out?
 
Questions like that belong in the Rush Limbaugh thread, Samson.
 
A hedge. You want the crop right? The phrasing here for hedge would suggest like... a windbreak or something for visual privacy.
 
What's the wattage output of the signal of a cellphone or a typical walking talkie or handheld radio?
 
What's the wattage output of the signal of a cellphone or a typical walking talkie or handheld radio?

Many cell phones have two signal strengths: 0.6 watts and 3 watts (for comparison, most CB radios transmit at 4 watts). (sideband CB radios 12-20 watts, and some illegal 'kickers' to CB radios can transmit 100 or even up to 1000......if you ever hear voices you should not be hearing coming from your home phone, AM/FM radio, TV (before everything was digital), audio speakers, baby monitor, etc. it could be someone on a CB radio with an illegal kicker (or antenna is poorly grounded).
Cell phone Towers transmit 10 watts, sometimes 50 in urban areas.
 
How much soil on top of chalk hills would you need to grow a maise hedge, if you were liberal with the chemical fertilisers and water? Or how to find out?
How much soil is there already? How is the land across your property line used now? Would you like a year round screen or just in summer? How thick would the barrier need to be?

IIRC corn (maise) is only tall for a short period of time. In New England it is said that a good growth rate is "knee high by the 4th of July."
 
I usually lean on the University Extension services for information myself, such as https://extension.unh.edu/resource/growing-sweet-corn-fact-sheet

I guess I'm not totally certain on how much depth you need. If you aren't as concerned with the yield you'll get, I think sweet corn will grow and still yield crop with as little as a foot of soil. It could probably grow with less, but it will start getting vulnerable to dry spells and wind.
 
How much soil is there already? How is the land across your property line used now? Would you like a year round screen or just in summer? How thick would the barrier need to be?

IIRC corn (maise) is only tall for a short period of time. In New England it is said that a good growth rate is "knee high by the 4th of July."
This is purely about getting out of my flat over the summer, it will be cut down in the fall. Not being completely obvious there is a bloke and a fire and a van in the middle of a field from about 200 yards is the aim. I have not visited yet, but it will be thin and well drained, classic sheep country because nothing else would grow there before chemical fertilisers.

I think it and the land around it is completely unused, the fencing visible on google earth does not look like it would take stock and it is not ploughed.
 
Many cell phones have two signal strengths: 0.6 watts and 3 watts (for comparison, most CB radios transmit at 4 watts). (sideband CB radios 12-20 watts, and some illegal 'kickers' to CB radios can transmit 100 or even up to 1000......if you ever hear voices you should not be hearing coming from your home phone, AM/FM radio, TV (before everything was digital), audio speakers, baby monitor, etc. it could be someone on a CB radio with an illegal kicker (or antenna is poorly grounded).
Cell phone Towers transmit 10 watts, sometimes 50 in urban areas.


Good info. Thanks.

Side question, since you know things on the issue, I am occasionally off hiking where there's little to no people around. I seem to recall that when I was a kid, the kid type walkie talkies were CB. But now the walkie talkes being sold all seem to be marine band. Which is OK if you have a partner you're talking to, but if you're out in the woods calling for help, who is listening? What handheld 2 way radios should a hiker consider carrying?
 
This is purely about getting out of my flat over the summer, it will be cut down in the fall. Not being completely obvious there is a bloke and a fire and a van in the middle of a field from about 200 yards is the aim. I have not visited yet, but it will be thin and well drained, classic sheep country because nothing else would grow there before chemical fertilisers.

I think it and the land around it is completely unused, the fencing visible on google earth does not look like it would take stock and it is not ploughed.

Hrm. Sweet corn isn't always super tall, but you could plant staggered. Usually you want several rows or hills planted at the same time that it will pollinate. Sorghum may work too, but you would want to look up the maturity height and timeframes there as well. Are there the equivalent of Extension Services Master Gardeners? They'd be much slicker on local conditions and dates.
 
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