Barbara Kochan

The way I save the most water is to realize not every dish I use needs to be washed. I can often re-use a dish for several meals or even days before needing to wash it. Same for pots/pans.  The second thing I do is to catch every bit of water I use for hand washing and dish rinsing: that water gets used to pre-treat dishes that do need to be washed.

Has anyone tried an instant pot in a hay-box yet?  I am thinking to just bring it to pressurized (in the box while open) then put a top on careful to not bump the pressure relief features. .... I had a (sorta) hay box a couple years ago and loved it. Not sure why I put it out of commission. Will make myself another soon and test it with the Instant Pot/pressure cooker.  

I am thinking that it will come to temp notably faster in the hay-box:  coming to temp often takes longer than the actual cooking (I have only an outdoor kitchen, so oftentimes it is 40F and sometimes colder).  Since I am usually cooking for just one (tho making leftovers for a few meals) I have just a 3 quart pot. Mom got me an extra liner so now I can keep leftovers in the original pot and still make popcorn that night :-)

thank you Jay. It is the lack of sun this month that leaves my room so cool and humid (it is well insulated and I get great solar gain in the winter). So while I have access to a car, and have my own, self-built solar dryer, ... no sol. Shinshu are a very large bean: the well developed ones are twice the size of the fava I grew this year.

I will take the beans to Mom's house on my next visit and find an out of the way spot I can stash them there for a few weeks: her home has the typical heat and temperature so I expect they will dry nicely there.

I left some shinshu runner beans on the bush as they were not ripe enough yet for eating, much less to be viable for next year's crop. I paid over $1 each for the beans to start 3 plants  so I REALLY want to make sure I have beans to start more plants this coming summer.

My question is: how do I tell when the beans are dry enough to seal in an airtight container for use in the spring?  I removed them from their pods as those were soggy and moldy. I have them laid out in my driest spot which is my room that I heat to just above 50F. It is less humid than outside but still fairly humid. Do I need to take them to my neighbors to finish drying?  

I also just harvested and gleaned some blue lake beans which I also want to get dry enough to store until next year. I presume telling if they are dry enough would be the same as for the shinshu?

Thank you for your help.

Even tho I live in the Pacific North Wet I have utilized gray water since the mid 90's. When I started I would catch the rinse water from the clothes washer in buckets and haul it out to the garden in the summer/watering months. I did the same during my decade in an apartment in Berkeley tho additional watering was needed in the yard.

Now the only indoor room I have is my bedroom, so it is simple to catch the gray water from my sink and put it on the plants. Since I haul all my water for drinking and washing I am frugal in its use so have minimal gray water, but it is enough to water most of my non-food plants. Most the rest are planted in a way that they make it through our dry months with no added water.

Meetup is an online place where one can find community. Not sure how well it is used in rural areas. Look for and or post at the library bulletin board. Nextdoor is a way to find/create community; again, not sure how great it is for more rural areas. As has been mentioned churches (bulletin boards) can be a place to find groups for engagement.  In my quite rural area bunko and pinochle are played by small groups (4, 8, 12) on a regular basis and these groups are a good start at meeting people.  Find like minded folk by helping out with your local fair committee/board, and or the 4H and Future Farmers, volunteering at the library.

grease pencils are much friendlier to our ecosystem. Think of putting the waste from dry erase pens into your veggie garden, then think of the waste from a grease pencil ...

I'm concerned (and bet I'm not alone in this) that the "couch sized mass" I would need won't be supported by my old floor/infrastructure. Would you add the weight of the couch sized mass that would "warm me for days after"?  (I am sure that hugely depends on the size of the room it is in, and the ambient temperature, and ... ? but "couch sized mass" has been stated). As a person who's watched a lot of the rmh movies I don't remember that discussed, and/but want that info before I would (as a new purchaser) invest in the movies.

Another concern: I am remembering that the rmheaters I saw "built in a weekend" (in/from permies videos) were done by a team of people led by an expert or two. Can a novice who's watched some videos hope to build one in a weekend?

Thank you.

Here in the PNW (Pacific Northwest) planting new trees just when the rains start is a good way to go. That time varies some, but mid October is fairly reliable for regular/routine/reliable-for-watering type rain.  Then the newly planted trees have all winter to develop roots before it is time to start sprouting leaves or new needles.

I like the idea previously suggested of adding edibles that grow in marshlands: arrowheads and waterlilies are just a couple more.

I repeat the question: how big is the marsh area?   I'm curious how many years you've been around to see what the marshland does throughout the year. I have a large patch that is very marsh-like but only for several months and then it dries up and does not seem to grow things differently than the areas that are not soggy in the winter.  I did build a low hugel berm through one part and it seems to need less watering than my veggie garden (Only in our drought period, and then once every couple weeks as opposed to once a week) but I have different plants in the berm, too (mostly perennials as opposed to mostly annuals).