Christin Winniford

Mick Fisch wrote:  A more serious problem would be what to do during a menstrual period.  Comfort, ease of use and lack of impact on activity are really vital in this situation.  (I don't speak from experience, but I've been married a long time and have six daughters, (the youngest is 16), so I have had some second hand exposure to this problem.  

I think that's why menstrual cups (the ones with medical-grade silicone) were invented! 1 or 2 for a whole lifetime of fertility cycles... and technically, it could be autoclaved if one were so inclined to use a single cup over multiple generations.

Some women empty their cups over a toilet, and that is likely to require some sort of wipe (water + fingers might work - but it takes a LOT more water than just feces, because of coagulation and the nature of the opening - ie not a sphincter), but that's once or twice a day.... but the easiest thing is to empty it as part of a shower - if one showers daily (or more).

Folks who like more "natural" materials might appreciate sewn reuseable pads and crocheted tampons. Most folks find them on Etsy, but even Walmart is carrying these now in some places. I've read that many folks soak through quite a few of these during a single period, so there's a fair amount of water used regardless of which method of menses management you choose.

This is another discussion about menstruation on permies:
https://permies.com/t/40/37417/personal-care/purity/shark-week-pads-tampons-cups

Crisis averted. No herbicide will be sprayed. Huzzah!

I would still love to hear from anyone who has ideas or experience that might be relevant to helping these conifers grow to maturity.

Hello,
I have an opportunity to help advise a group of people who share a coniferous forest farm which suffered a great loss in tree stock during a windstorm in summer 2014. The forest has already been restocked with conifer seedlings as part of a reforestation grant available through the state. The forest service agent said that in order to fulfill the obligations of the grant, the "weeds" had to be cleared from around the base of each seedling to give it a fighting chance. The agent suggesting applying RoundUp. It became the plan to be implemented this weekend until a minority of the group found out and expressed concerns. Now there is an opportunity to change their minds about how to sustainably manage the establishment of these conifers.

I'm hoping for some permaculture alternatives to present to the group (who are not permies), so that they can make an informed decision (hopefully one that takes the whole ecology of the land into account). The site is several acres (so hand-scalping (aka weeding) has already been eliminated from the options, because they are unwilling/unable to perform the necessary labor).


More about the site and situation:
Temperate Climate: located in North Idaho. USDA 6a.
The land slopes to meet a large lake on one side. Part of the concern with applying RoundUp is its negative effects on aquatic environments, including amphibians who also live terrestrially, and there is a possibility of surface water or herbicide-containing groundwater reaching the lake or the wetland areas near it.
The mature conifers that are left are currently showing signs of heat and drought stress as Idaho has been in a drought since before the windstorm occurred (2014).

One of my thoughts was to plant a guild (lily of the valley, daffodil?) ring of flower bulbs which would suppress competing grasses without interfering with the seedlings' resources, but most of the examples of planting under conifers that I've been able to find are only with existing mature conifers... not companion plantings which help a conifer get established.

Does anyone have experience helping conifers get established without the use of herbicides? What worked well? What didn't? Any ideas are welcome.

Thank you for reading and considering solutions to this challenge.

Hi All!

With the approach of the 2015 United Nations Climate Conference in Paris, scheduled to start in a couple of weeks (Nov. 30th), an opportunity for the global community to collectively communicate a message of hope, peace, and support for rapid and equitable progress towards a fossil-free future has presented itself.

Global Climate March: the weekend of November 28th (the two days prior to the conference), "people everywhere are coming together for two weeks of action calling for climate justice and an end to carbon pollution. There are going to be thousands of events around the world culminating in a mass mobilisation in Paris on Dec 12th" (the day after the conference ends).

Types of events include: marches, rallies, and candlelight vigils (such as the one scheduled in Missoula on Nov. 29th)

http://globalclimatemarch.org/en/ is where you can search for events near your location.
http://350.org/global-climate-march/ has additional information about the purpose and the specific goals of this action (scroll towards the bottom: under "what we hope to achieve in Paris").

I know we all like our individual solutions, because we're always working hard on them, but collective action can be a helpful boost, especially when we are talking about influencing the behaviors of large for-profit corporations.

If nothing else, it's a good excuse to spend more time out in the fresh air and get to know other like-minded people in your area. Maybe we can even educate a few people who have never heard of permaculture!

I hope to see some fellow permies representing (with some pro-permaculture signage) in at least a few of the 2150+ events scheduled worldwide...

Hi Jesse!

From my understanding of the Transition Towns guides, you don't have to have official town status or anything, but you do need to identify your community and approximately how many people are in it. The idea being that whatever community you start building and transitioning, it will affect the surrounding communities.

They specifically state that in order to become official you must meet the criterion: "a recognition that although your entire county or district may need to go through transition, the first place for you to start is in your local community. It may be that eventually the number of transitioning communities in your area warrant some central group to help provide local support, but this will emerge over time, rather than be imposed."

https://www.transitionnetwork.org/support/becoming-official and the Transition Network (.org) website has a lot more information, resources, and guidelines in how specifically to build and achieve your community's Energy Descent Action Plan.



I love that they added "16. and finally, we recommend that at least one person on the core team should have attended a permaculture design course... it really does seem to make a difference."

I hope this helps answer your question, if you haven't found the answer already.

Dan Boone wrote:

Thekla McDaniels wrote:I find that whole blame your parents thing pretty shallow & tiresome.

... they can form bitter resentments in response to arbitrary-seeming exercises of parental power...

That sounds more like resenting an authoritarian parenting style, rather than it actually being about candy.

Explaining the problem and your reasoning, giving kids an alternative option, asking them for suggestions or their preference on solutions, and/or letting them participate in the decision-making process goes a LONG way in preventing resentment of parental decisions. Depending on the age and maturity of the child, it might be appropriate to allow them to experience the negative consequences of a sugar binge... just be sure to help them form the connections between the sugar high, the crash, and the hangover. If you homeschool, it could be a great time for a lesson about the human body/metabolism (depending upon age).


I've heard of some parents making special treats (can be non-food) which their kids can "buy" with their collected halloween candy... as the parent, you can set the "price" based on how much they collect (amount of walking) and how much of whatever treat is healthfully-appropriate (if food-based).

If the only thing your child resents you for, once grown, is restricting candy in a way they didn't understand or agree with: you're probably not doing too bad of a job. (From the perspective of an adult who felt resentment as a kid for having my "hard-earned" halloween candy pillaged by my parents' sweet tooths prior to being allowed to sample any - a wholly different motive than any health-related ones)

Children are whole people: treating them as such, by respecting their feelings and thoughts, will go a long way in easing or preventing long-term resentments. Pretty much all my resentments are based on my parents failure to treat me like a human being, or to provide appropriate care (i.e. healthful foods). Halloween candy, though? Nah, it's just candy. I still got to dress up and go out with friends, and that shared cultural experience is what holds long-term value for a lot of kids.

If you practice bokashi composting, you can:
Crush the candy and sprinkle it with the inoculated bran at your next bucket addition to give it an extra microbial boost. I've heard you can also get rid of green/blue mold in your bucket by adding sugar with extra bran and essentially overpowering the mold. Obviously, if this doesn't work because the mold was too established... dump it in your yard and start again with a clean bucket.