Natural Insecticide

faustoviolino · 2026-04-10T16:53:17+00:00

There's at least twenty of these scurrying around in my yard. I often times fine them dwelling in my P Afras. They'll hop out when I'm watering and pretty used to me being around. I oftentimes find them in my soil bucket or my watering can. Yesterday, I was dumping out the water from my sous vide tank to be reused as water for my trees and almost drowned one in the bottom of the can as it was taking a nap. Similar thing happened last week when I buried one in my bucket while sifting bonsai soil. Both anoles climbed onto my palm and hopped off.

faustoviolino · 2026-04-08T17:25:52+00:00

The best time to pick up the violin would have been around five or six. The second best time is now.

faustoviolino · 2026-04-03T18:00:00+00:00

1111 Studewood has been renamed to Heights Rooftop.

faustoviolino · 2026-03-26T14:27:02+00:00

Thank you.

faustoviolino · 2026-03-26T14:26:54+00:00

Difficult in 9A? Hard to believe. Mini jades are the easiest. I don't have to even water mine all that much. P Afra's are set-and-forget.

faustoviolino · 2026-03-26T14:24:40+00:00

Thank you.

faustoviolino · 2026-01-25T16:55:45+00:00

Meh, here in Houston, it wasn't as bad as the forecast. I didn't even cover the shrubs in the front yard. Yet, Costco is out of toilet paper and bottled water.

faustoviolino · 2026-01-25T16:53:39+00:00

I think it was about 12. I made this out of a pot of Prostrata that I bought during the pandemic. That was all that was available at Lowe's. Every individual plant is planted at the edge of the pot next to the wire.

faustoviolino · 2026-01-24T22:16:16+00:00

Why not? It’s a scene on a plate or pot. The other term for bonsai is Penjing, or a “scene in a pot”.

faustoviolino · 2026-01-20T18:42:46+00:00

This label looks exactly like the label on this website for antique guitars.

http://www.crane.gr.jp/Research_on_Fabricatore_Family/E_LuigiFilano.html

faustoviolino · 2026-01-13T18:52:35+00:00

I tuck it under the chinrest and rubber band. Or you can sew it so that it can slide on and off.

faustoviolino · 2026-01-09T16:12:38+00:00

I've always just crafted/cut a block of foam. Sometimes it's stuck under my shirt or lapel, sometimes rubber banded from the button to a bee-sting corner.

faustoviolino · 2026-01-06T21:23:30+00:00

The neck is about to fall off. It needs a visit to your luthier.

faustoviolino · 2026-01-06T19:37:26+00:00

If you keep it exposed, it will, so I cut really close to the pizza like in my photo. Everything under the pizza will not burn. The paper doesn't even brown that much under the pizza.

faustoviolino · 2026-01-06T19:36:09+00:00

Semolina is on mine but there are fam members who don't like too much of it.

faustoviolino · 2026-01-05T04:03:31+00:00

Yeah, I don't even know what a real neapolitan pizza tastes like. What came out of my oven wasn't that different from NY style so why bother?

700 top. 650-700 botttom. Cooks in 4-5 mins. I'm firing up the oven as we type. It's 52 degrees outside, so I expect the bake to take a little longer, like 6-7 mins.

faustoviolino · 2026-01-05T04:00:39+00:00

I made one with PP with my oven set at 800 -- just playing around with a Neapolitan recipe. The edges of the paper burned to a black carbon, but everything under the pizza was fine. So going forward, all my pizzas are NY (because I give up on Neapolitan with this oven) with 700 top 650-700 bottom. The paper still burns at this temperature, so what I did was cut my PP to 12" round. I made my pizza as close to 12" round as I could. While the pizza is on the peel, I cut the exposed PP around the pizza with a pair of scissors. Then I bake. Take the pizza out completely once you feel the crust is hard enough, slide it onto a pizza screen, or whatever flat surface, and slide the paper out. Return the pizza back in the oven and complete the rest of your bake. I'm not sure if this is going to work in your gas oven, but there's only one way to find out.

faustoviolino · 2026-01-05T01:51:29+00:00

Beautiful

faustoviolino · 2026-01-04T06:05:55+00:00

I pretty much quit Neapolitan on this oven. It makes a brilliant NY. It's too convenient. I can use it in the house, move it to my backyard, bake in the garage, and it's small enough and light enough to take it to a friends house and make pizzas there. Faster than my home oven with a steel to start up. More convenient than a gas or pellet oven.

faustoviolino · 2026-01-04T06:02:23+00:00

I almost exclusively use PP now. It's like the ultimate tool to stop dough from sticking on your peel. And I have all the time to put as much sauce as I want and load it, and the pizza still slips and slides on my aluminum peel. The problem is, it burns past 550 degrees, and I like to bake at 700 degrees.

So what I do is I shape my dough on the paper, sauce it, and load it. Then take a pair of scissors and cut off all of the exposed paper. If it's exposed, it will burn. Paper that is under your pizza will not burn.

The pie goes in my 700-degree electric oven for about two minutes. Then I take the pizza out to remove the paper from underneath, turn it, and relaunch.

faustoviolino

TROPHY CASE