One of the things I always suggest to people - which usually gets quizzical or disbelieving looks - is a good vegetarian cook book.
You grow stuff (or will be) - may as well make it fun and interesting to eat. Salads get depressing fast, and don’t really fuel you.
Agreed on the still. Raw shine is rough on the throat, but is amazing as a disinfectant. As you said - both inside and out!
Curious about something, was married to a lady of German ancestry and once a year she would cook cabbage and drop a penny in it, in spring if I remember correctly, figured it had to had to do with the bodies need for trace amounts of copper. Just wondered if that was the reason or just good luck, she didn’t know why her family did it but a lot of old traditions seem to have practical reasons. Eating of polk in the spring in the mountains also comes to mind.