SurvivorMama Miller

We have allowed our cats to be indoor/outdoor creatures for years, The neighborhood, once becoming overrun with moles, mice and other small vermin, is pristine. This year, our two hunters left 320+ corpses new the front steps. Most were moles (including many 2" young and up to an 8" King Daddy Mole). We needed to stop feeding squirrels (sorry, soft spot for me) as the cats began killing them, too. Those were always consumed, but the moles and mice were usually left for us to find. The neighbors are appreciative and welcome visits from the cats -- they save $ on traps and hassles!

Whenever a feral cat finds us, we have it neutered/spayed and return it to our neighborhood where it can live unencumbered with lots of food and some insulated winter huts (see pic)

Have any of the forum members build their coops using passive solar techniques to better control thermal gradients? Yes, roost placement, thick litter (thermal mulching), but South facing windows with overhangs to control seasonal sun contact? Even thermal windows on tractor style coops/runs make a huge difference. I have not seen this here. We routinely use solar to keep our animals safe, comfortable and healthy. Even our Sulcata tortoise maximizes his winter outdoor time with the use of a greenhouse-garden with high thermal mass and extra insulated cold frame spaces. He does not seem to care that he is living in his own pseudo solar oven…he is just a warm and happy Sherman Tank Cow.

As a healthcare professional (and through first hand experience) I would advise a wider stance, dip a bit lower and push out that booty. The position will help older women better empty their bladders (positions change with weakening muscles after childbirth, menopause, etc). The position also makes aiming more accurate. Yes, I can urinate standing up and maintain clean hands (a bit of antigravity pressure above the mons works for this, ladies), after 12 natural home births and at age 58.

A physician, 45 hers ago, told me that women should not wear underwear whenever possible. Keep the temple aired out, fee of conditions predisposing to infections and bacteria buildup. So don't tell your macho guy that Commando isn't just for them


We owe Mother Earth to give back to Her what She has generously given to us -- it is refreshing to see many people discussing a natural process without embarrassment. Kudos, all!

You can make "gutters" or rain channels in a variety of ways. If you want to use flashing, get someone to bend the coil stock into a shape something like this it will minimize large debris from entering your water trough. Sure, you could add screening, but a flushing system before the collection pint should keep everything pretty clean. Basically you are making something close to a gutter helmet system.

Or, you can cut a part of the arc out of pvc pipe and secure that tube to your roof edge. When you get to the end you can either use rain chains or more pvc.

It is difficult to gather roof rainwater without something there, and you want to keep water from pummeling your foundation area, anyway.

I am working on setting up my matrix configuration for storage of water. I have attaché my initial plan that shows the matrix configuration, what is needed to store given amounts of water, etc.

I have two water cachement areas: one is roof fed with an initial diverter that first fills my water barrels and overflows into store!ge cistern. The other is a very heavy duty and very large tarp based system that can be deployed during rainy season and put away at other times. The system is very simple, and utilizes a matrix inside a big pond/pool-lined hole (sand below it). With a simple filtration and pump, and the addition of a solar operated aerating fountain, the storage tank is topped with a water permeable fabric and extra gravel/rocks to 'hold in' the moisture naturally.

While I only need to store about 1000 gallons at this time in the cistern to keep up with my minimalist needs, the system is easy to enlarge/daisy chain should I need more (for irrigating plants during dry spells, etc).

While I was looking for matrix block options, I found that there is a commercial version of this very concept…so I knew my idea was solid and practical.

.. or Northern Virginia!

OK, so I am preparing to build a home. I have been blessed with clay soil from which to make brick and cob. There is plenty of wood everywhere.
the big box hardwares provide me with a lot of free culled lumber and thanks to friendly relationship with some construction supervisors I am being given about 8 pallets worth of cinderblock and another few pallets of brick (wire, rebar, yadayada too). I have two beautiful glass tabletops for winter sun windows, 2 leaded glass panels for accents, and crank-opening casement windows.\, in addition to a few thick glass jugs that will be corked and set in as lights. I do need urbanite fill, sand and gravel, and I know that will also come. Yay to CL for that.

So, with that background, I need advice. I have heard such horrid things about cement…does that include the blocks? I plan to fill them with cob slip and use for the foundation walls, adding structural supports to tie in the cob. There will be a trilevel earthen floor, passive solar design (adding solar panels for battery power) ), and a mass heater with cooktop, a fireplace (where I will add a rocket cookstove for cooking fuel conservation) and two ovens. (As a mom of 12 - pus grandkids, friends and partners - I still use my great-grandmother's iron cookware and dutch oven, will continue to be serving many great meals in my new, purposefully SMALL abode).

The basic interior footprint will be a diminutive 600 sq feet (20 x 30), open on the main level with tree post beams for support and function (will have hooks for curtains, drying rcks, coat hooks, etc.) with a 200 sq ft walk-up (stairs, not ladder) loft comprised of two sleeping areas and closet wall dividers. There will be a bathroom/shower inside that uses solar heated and purified rainwater which drains into a gray water collector for use elsewhere. There will also be 2 humanure composting toilet systems. There will be a covered patio and outdoor seating/entertaining/fireplace-kitchen that will have another heated bench and can be used as a sleeping porch for anyone choosing to hammock over.

I was planning on using some of the cinderblocks to make cold frames, a solar oven, and perhaps a shed, but most of the cinderblocks were going to be dedicated to the house foundation. Bricks will be used around the entry and hearth. Will the plan result in headaches, draftiness and moisture problems? I plan to use bluemax coating inside and out on the cinderblocks and attach chicken wire to secure the cobble outer layer (for aesthetics and mass value).

I have built wooden-framed cabins in the past using local rock for piers and a pier/beam construction. I am excited about this hilltop retreat with an exquisite view, which will be my forever home (unless I am selected to go to Mars in 10 years s my backup retirement plan). Advice from this community will be greatly appreciated.

My retreat is in an area accessible only by a 500 ft clay trail. When it rains or snows itisimpossible to drive in or out.

While the weather is nice, can I add sand and straw (and perhaps even some quickcrete) and turn this into an adobe driveway? I am willing to work it section by section if need be. I just need advice. Last winter I (my car was, that is)was "stuck" there (too stubborn to walk out as I had everything else I needed) for 3 weeks.