Tag: Patience

Discover How Coffee Lovers Are Growing Coffee

Farms that have been growing coffee for years, sometimes as long as two centuries, have the growth, cultivation and processing of coffee down to a fine art. But some coffee lovers like the challenge of do-it-yourself, or their interest in coffee leads them to try their hand at growing their own coffee plants. You can grow coffee from seed or purchase small plants, if you want to give this growing hobby a try.

While it’s unlikely that you’ll grow enough to keep yourself in coffee year round, growing coffee can be a fun and rewarding hobby. Unlike fruits and vegetables, you can’t simply pick the coffee and drink it. When coffee growing, your satisfaction will come more in that you actually grew a beautiful coffee plant, than the coffee it produces. And it is a hobby that requires a great deal of patience, as it can be years before the coffee berries appear.

Growing coffee isn’t difficult once you coax the seed to germinate, so even someone who hasn’t quite developed a green thumb can probably produce a lush and beautiful coffee plant. Coffee is easy to take care of, and is quite a lovely and dramatic plant to grow. The most ideal way to start is with a freshly picked coffee cherry, but it’s unlikely that most of us will ever have to access to one. Instead, purchase green coffee beans, the freshest and most recently picked as possible.

The reason the beans need to be fresh is that coffee can only be germinated from about 4 months after picking. While it can happen after that, it’s unlikely. Fresh seeds generally take between 2 and 3 months, so it’s a lengthy process that requires patience, even if you manage to find fresh beans.

To start growing coffee, soak the seeds in water for about a day then put them in damp sand or even vermiculite which you can find anywhere you can buy seeds. Make sure it’s wet but well-drained with no standing water. After the seed has germinated you can replant it in good soil that will drain well, and fertilize it. Water it every day to make sure that the soil is moist, but beware it staying too wet. A little too much water, or too less, and the seed will die.

When you first begin growing coffee, germinate several seeds and keep track of your watering each one so you can get a feel for the right amount of waterand you’re more likely to end up with a plant instead of just a few dead seeds! Artificial indoor lighting works great for coffee plants. Once you have a plant, water about twice a week and fertilize once. In two to three years, if you care for the plant properly you can expect flowering and cherries, and if you choose, you can learn the rather detailed process required to allow you to drink the coffee your plants provide. If not, a coffee plant makes a wonderful conversation piece.

Tips on How to Become a Chef

The common image that we have on chefs is brought about by popular media. In the movies or in television, we see chefs as people who wear tall white hats, white clothes, and talk in a strange accent. However, you should realize that all people have the potential to become chefs. If you want to know how to become a chef, here are a few tips:

1) Patience The key to cooking is patience. Many people find out that if you follow a recipe without hurrying anything along, you will end up with something delicious or at least, edible. People who want to learn how to become a chef need to learn patience as this will help them cope with the wait that comes with great food preparation.

Patience is not only useful in cooking. It is also very useful in learning how to become a chef. Many people who are eager to become world-class chefs tend to try and skip ahead to the more complicated lessons without first mastering the basics. Patience is essential since many of the advanced cooking techniques require people to master the most basic steps first.

2) Study Of course, an important step in learning how to become a chef is learning how to cook. You need to be taught in order to become a chef. Some people think that you need to go to a culinary school in order to do this. However, you should realize that going to a culinary school will merely enable you to become a certified chef. That is, a culinary school will allow you to have a piece of paper which says that you are a chef. However, the heart and soul of being a chef still lies within your cooking. Because of different media like the internet and television, a person today can learn how to become a chef without the need for certification. You have at your fingertips different networks which tell you how to prepare dishes from different parts of the world.

3) Practice Of course, knowing how to become a chef entails practical as well as theoretical knowledge. You need to practice what you learn in order to truly master it. Do not expect to become a chef after watching one episode of Iron Chef. You need to learn from experience. The key to becoming a chef is becoming a chef. In order to learn how to cook, you must cook. It doesn’t do you much good to read cookbooks and then declare that you know how to cook. You might be able to recite the entire procedure of cooking Jambalaya but the question is: would you be able to do it?

4) Honest judgment In order to learn whether you can cook a dish properly, you need to have it tasted. People like to try it out on their family or themselves. The danger in this is that they might not receive a clear image of how good (or bad) they cook. In order to truly learn how to cook, you need to make sure that you receive honest feedback, whether it is positive or negative. You need people to tell you what you did wrong in order for you to do it right the next time.

5) Passion The most important ingredient in learning how to become a chef is passion. You need to pour heart and soul into a dish in order to call it truly yours.

Surf Fishing

Surf fishing might look like a great deal of calm and easy fun. Some people make it seem easy, but surf fishing is a lot harder than you may think. There are many calculations that you have to make in order to have a successful day like the wind, the current, wave height, floating kelp, and the positioning of the rocks. All of that information needs to be calculated in before you can cast your line and get started.

The first thing that you need to do before you attempt surf fishing is to prepare ahead of time. Most places will require you to have a fishing license. If you get caught without one, the fine will more than ruin your mood.

You will need to find out as much information as possible about the best times to go surf fishing. The best time to go surf fishing is high tide, before all of the beachgoers that scare fish come to the beach. You will need to learn to develop a great deal of patience when you go surf fishing, so bring lots of bait and get ready to settle in for the day.

You do not need to buy a special type of rod to surf fish. The rod that you use should be determined on how well you cast. When deciding how well you cast, be realistic about what you can accomplish so that you can catch the maximum of fish that you want. The advantage to a shorter rod is that it allows you to be more mobile so that you can continuously move from spot to spot. You do not necessarily need to cast out very far because the fish are usually swimming just at the break line feasting on dead and decaying matter.

If you can find them, sand crabs will be your best bait for surf fishing. If you are surfing in the summer, you can find the deep holes that they have dug into the sand and fish them out. Many times, you can find them washed up on the beach, and this is fine because the fish will swim to the surface to catch anything dead or alive. If you are all out of crabs, you can use frozen anchovies, salted anchovies, shrimp, mussels, or some clams.

Make sure that your bait is somewhat firm, otherwise it may slide right off of your hook. For a rig, you will need something that is capable of sinking the line without putting undue pressure on it. The fish can be scared off if they can feel the weight on the line. Many people will use a sliding sinker rig when they surf fish.

There are many good reasons to consider going for a day of surf fishing. You can catch perch, corbina, stingrays, bass, rockfish, and sometimes even hammerhead sharks. It is also a good way to spend a day at the beach. However, if you decide to fish when there are many beachgoers, try to find a spot where there are not many people in the water. Many times surf fishing will attract sharks and they will swim right up to the shore for fresh food. Unfortunately, sharks do not see very well and they will often mistake surfers for tortoises or fish because of their legs hanging off the wooden board.

Blue Marlin Fishing

Marlins are characterized as big game saltwater fish. The average weight of a blue marlin is anywhere from one hundred to five hundred pounds. Their bodies can reach the length of ten feet and they are mainly found in the Pacific, Indian, and Atlantic Oceans. The blue marlin is known for its ability to fight, so you must be willing to match the marlins will to live in order to take the sport seriously. Just like any other fish, the importance of learning the habits of the blue marlin is essential before trying to make them submissive to a hook.

When marlin are in their primitive habitat they will feed on many things including mullet, cero, whole ballyhoo, dolphin, flying fish, bonito, skipjacks, squid and Spanish mackerel. The reason for understanding the marlins eating habits is to know what bait will be useful to catch these mammoth fish. Any combination of the aforementioned fish will be more than sufficient bait when trying to catch your marlin.

A simple technique used in marlin fishing is the lure of the bonito bait. You take the bonito and hook it through the tops of their eye sockets. The bonito will stay alive for hours, making your job more about patience.

Make sure that you have half of the line on your reel because marlin have a stubborn streak and they will try to fight you until you are tired or are dragged under by the weight and persistence. Wheel in your line consistently after the marlin first takes a bite of the bait. If your line seems to be too tight, loosen up the slack in order to give the marlin a little more room. This technique will also allow you to take a small break here and there. Loosening your line will also decrease the chance that the line will break, which is a common cause of anglers losing their game.

Another traditional method for finding marlin is the study of their behavior. Marlin will usually follow schools of fish. They will also be more susceptible to trolling. Trolling is simple enough if you employ logic when you use the method. For instance, if you spot a marlin following a school of fish, do not drop your bait in front of the fish because they will scatter and scare the marlin. If the sun is positioned in front of the marlin, he will be oblivious to your bait because he will be unable to see it.

The best way to find marlin is through the use of modern technology. An ultrasound sensor is a tool that is used to spot marlin. However, the gadgets for fishing are not cheap. Unless you are someone who is dedicated to solely fishing for marlin, be careful of the purchases that you make. Often times companies will make products that are specifically designed for a certain type of fishing, in a certain location, or even a region. Make sure that you do your research before you buy any electronic fishing tool.

The one thing to keep in mind about marlin is their will to survive. A fight with a marlin could last for hours without the slightest bit of relief. If at any time you feel like you are becoming exhausted and the fish is still going strong, cut the line.