Dakota Brown

Love hearing their calls as I then know that one set of the mosquito eaters are on duty until the night shift bats come out and start work.  :)

Ron Helwig wrote:
There are apps now where it doesn't cost that much.

I use the free Intuit program Mint.com to track my money and keep myself mostly on budget. A year ago they told me about Stash and I have been using that to play with investing.  Don't have any money to put in, so my investments are tiny.  I really wish these type of apps had been available to me when I was in my 20s.

Why?  I am a single 60+ year old woman living on social security so have an extremely tight budget.  I live up north like you and that means summers are extremely busy getting things done that can't be done when it is freezing.  Plus I have a huge garden.  I live alone and have no funds to hire help so I have to do everything myself and that is slow going sometimes.  And I need to figure out how to get a new roof put up on part of my house cause it is leaking and some of the decking needs to be replaced.  I have more time for learning new stuff and social media, forums etc. in the winter when I am stuck inside more.  Summers I am inside as little as possible.

Would love to have an outdoor oven, but if I get other projects done - like the bathtub moved inside and the roof - if there were any money at all available for anything I would get Erica and Ernies latest RMH stuff 'cause that is what I really, really need.  

I have two geese, but really don't know anything about them.  They just hang with the chickens and ducks and make noise.  Have not had any health issues to deal with.

Nicole is right to make note that the chick starter needs to be non-medicated.  Can't think of anything I would do that you are not already doing.  If the chick is still alive, then you might try moistening the chick starter with some of the electrolytes and maybe add a bit of molasses for energy.  Ducks and geese also need more niacin than chickens so if you have some capsules around for yourself you might open one and add that to a daily allotment of chick starter - though I doubt seriously that is a big issue this early on.

Good luck!

Grew up on a central TX ranch and we used sulfur around the yard to help combat ticks and chiggers and repel snakes.  My older brother had a close encounter with a snake while camping with some friends and after that, a container was kept in the bins where we stored our camping gear so it made it on every camping trip.  A ring of sulfur was dusted in a big circle around the campsite and designated bathroom area to keep rattlers away.   Was told that they smell with their tongues and don't like the way the sulfur smells/tastes.  

I am up north now so chiggers are not a problem, but started to use it again for snake during the worst of snake season since I seem to attract rattle snakes and getting bitten once was more than enough.

I do have a horrendous problem with ticks - or I did, but my guinea fowl and Muscovy ducks seem to have taken care of the worst of it.  Used to be between the middle of may and end of June, I could walk into the back yard and back into the house almost immediately and still have a tick or two on me.  Stay for any time and I'd have 5 or 8.  This entire season I've gotten only a total of 4 ticks on me so far and that I believe is because my guinea team is down to one.  

Good luck!

Mick Fisch wrote:Another insulation possibility is straw with a clay slip applied to reduce flammability.  

Exactly what I was going to suggest as I am doing some right now for the interior walls of my new outhouse.  I got free slabs of pine from the saw mill  - the sides they cut off before making boards - to do the outside so it looks like a little log cabin and am finishing the interior walls straw, clay slip.  May or may not finish with a clay/manure paint.  

How exciting! Love the look of cordwood exteriors.   Congratulations on your start .

Mamaro Folesi wrote: Lots of houses have a leaking roof, could this process be used on the roof?

Have you looked into latex cement?  I read it was used for some inexpensive roofs.

No experience with earthbags or earthbags in hot climates - I have a strawbale up north - but this family has lots of experience with them in AZ and still build with them so they must work pretty well  ->

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCr9ib9quyHJkEchOck4PG2w

INFP-T here.  A lot more extroverted 20+ years ago.