Steph Walker

+1 for digging holes

I have a few things I do, especially because people are getting madder both online at each other and in person. I am super sensitive emotionally which is awful for dealing with news, social media, road rage, etc.

What helps me most is trying to do something that helps the local people around me directly. I go through my house and make a free pile in the front yard almost once per week for anyone to come take what they need at no cost. I don't care if they sell the stuff, they need the money more than I do. I sell items on eBay and get things from house clear outs so I'm starting to put extras out for free instead of funneling them through goodwill. 99% of the items are gone by the end of the day. Clothing is always gone. People are definitely in need. Food items and decor also go.

I also try to be actively nicer in public on a daily basis. Making sure to pay compliments I would otherwise maybe not say, or helping someone with a heavy bag etc. I had an elderly lady help me with carrying my multiple bags to my car one day and I still get good feelings from it. I think I get stuck in being quiet and "just getting through it" when a little kindness to others would go a long way for both them and me.

I also reduce or disable social media apps entirely. They are addictive and meant to exploit anger for the attention economy. I'm still trying to figure out how to navigate having a feeling of community without it. But moderated forums like permies certainly help!

Playing physical DVDs of comfort shows/movies in the background without ads or tracking from nefarious companies also helps.

Lastly I try to do things I CAN control. I finish some sewing repairs, clean the chicken coop, visit with my animals, batch cook some food for later, do small fixes or cleaning to the house etc.

It's still pretty awful out there but you're definitely not alone in your feelings. Sending care your way.

The unfortunate thing about AI right now is that it is effectively a parrot for whatever it has scraped online. It is often wrong. It is not thinking, it is copying/meshing all of that potentially bad information together and pretending it is confident in it's answer. I have heard AI described as something like "the most confident 8 year old answering your questions." We all have met those precocious 8 year olds who confidently give you wrong answers. AI company practices have also often been unethical about how they gather and use data for their models (scraping copyrighted material, etc.).

AI would be extremely valuable for assistant-type tasks (like translation) but you have to have enough expertise to be able to correct it when it is wrong, which isn't fair for people trying to learn a new language.

I personally would avoid AI and try using translation-specific apps that have been around for awhile. One I have been using for many years before this age of AI is Google Translate.

It may be worth searching online for "translation turkish to english" and avoiding the AI results (for now).

I only recently had the "human living time is finite" epiphany when reaching middle age after several years of different careers. Now, I have to compare the time something takes to complete/work for with the amount of enjoyment/long term benefit I will make out of the activity/purchase. I do have the benefit of having my own business and working from home so I have a little leeway when it comes to what I do with my time and energy.

For "free" chores that only take my energy and time, will it benefit me / my home / my environment for me to spend time on this in the long term? Will it make my house work better or make me, my spouse, my animals, or my community happier? On the flip side, will I feel like it "wasn't worth it" after I finish? After a bunch of life experience I usually have a good radar for things that I *will in the future* feel are worthwhile. I realize this is different based on your personality, but I think everyone has something unique that they find valuable.

For things I have to buy, I have to trade money for these which means trading my time working. Most of the time I try to reduce the amount of money I spend because it does chain me to having to work for more money, which I dislike! I am ok with the concept of working "enough" to make "enough" money to pay my bills/put some money away for later so I have plenty of time to do non-monetary-based enjoyable activities (see above).

I think if I didn't have to worry about healthcare (I'm in the US) or basic bills like electricity I would likely be ok with a barter/sharing economy. At least my "time" doing what I'm best at could help others that can't or don't like to do what I do (saving things from the trash/repairing for reuse).

This is the long way to say my time is infinitely valuable *to me* and I want to do things I enjoy.

Another suggestion that I use: selling used/repaired items!

I sell on eBay and FB Marketplace (I hate FB but it is a necessary evil for selling/giving things away). Craigslist has been good for giving away items. You can build your own personal knowledge of what people like to buy, clean it /restore it, and sell it. Knowledge of art styles, material quality, and repair tools helps. I steer heavily into the "saving items from the trash" - buying on the last day of estate sales, the Goodwill bins, hoarder house clearouts, etc.

I need a flexible job because I burned out in the corporate environment. This also lets me align with my permaculture-ey values (recycling / upcycling / low-waste) and slowly work on building my garden, taking care of the house, etc. On good months it makes me an income of around $2-3K/month, but it is also a lot of physical work. It also takes a lot of self motivation which I struggle with, but everything is a process.

I also am able to effectively "glean" items for free from house clearouts/auction lot purchases, which lets me distribute a lot back directly into the community. Items like clothes, kitchen tools, small decor items, house repair items are not worth a *ton* on the used market, but they are useful for someone - especially if I'm giving it away for free.

Good idea! Label label label!!

I unfortunately have the brain that needs to "see" what food I have in store in order to know it exists, so labeling and clear containers are key. I'm lucky that our two person household has a pretty simple diet and can live off of a lot of foods that store as dry goods.

Something that's saved me many times is keeping nuts and flour in the fridge/freezer right after buying - helps reduce bug issues and get a little more longevity out of the food without needing to eat it quickly.

I have to remove a lot of labels and I use warm water/soap and a glass scraper commonly used in hardware stores. Best option I've found, takes 1-10 minutes depending on the label size. In my experience theses scrapers don't damage glass. Pic below:

I've definitely done this (the very lazy way) where when I pruned some unwanted trees that had gotten out of hand I formed a little teepee with the larger branches and put the smaller cut branches in piles around the teepee. Its is now a favorite hangout for my chickens, cats and wild birds! This was a local suggestion from our Marion County Soil and Water Conservation district to help local wildlife by making natural hidey-holes / habitat for them. If you look closely at my photo there is at least one wild bird in there

I've been putting tight mesh shade cloths and tarps on the outside of our uninsulated exterior walls and it helps a lot! Anything that can prevent the direct sun from hitting the house is a win for me during hot days. The key to preventing house heating during summer is preventing light from hitting the house/entering windows (the other is not having a hot black roof). For cold days blankets and quilts are also in the windows but I have to be careful to check the window/quilt gap space for mold because condensation can hang out in there. My dream is to have shaded porch/greenhouse areas around the entire house and a white/reflective roof but those are long term plans. Photo (not mine, from www.sevendaysvt.com) for inspiration:

I have an imperfect and sometimes ugly-looking system for all types of "trash"!
1. Any natural products (hair, paper, wax etc.) are mixed into a long-term compost bin OR are burned depending on whether it's dry season (compost) or winter season (burn).
2. I've been using the mail-in envelopes from Ridwell to handle thin plastic films and layered plastic films, though I try to reuse the bags when I can. Sometimes the films just go into the trash bag.
3. Food scraps are composted.
4. Layered paper with plastics/coatings/etc is put into the recycling bin, I have an old kitty litter bucket for this. Loose (not bagged) recycling is easier to separate (so I've heard).
5. Metal pieces (random metal cut-offs, rusted screws, foils) are collected and brought to the scrap metal recycler/given to someone who wants to take it in for cash.
6. Our county takes food cans in the recycling bin, I put them in the same kitty litter bucket as before and then pour it outside in the curb can.
7. Aluminum cans are given away at the curb for anyone wanting the 10 cent per can recycling money (we're in suburban Oregon).
8. Glass is reused as much as possible and our recycler takes the rest in a small bin outside.
9. Any specialty items (batteries, lightbulbs with mercury, electronics etc) are taken to the local dump recycling area for those categories.
10.  Leftover bits considered "true" trash are put in the trash collection curb bin. I've been using paper grocery bags for awhile as small trash bags because I hate the idea of buying more plastic garbage bags just to throw them away. My thought is that paper will degrade eventually (theoretically).

My setup is a mixture of kitty litter buckets, paper bags on the floor, big yogurt tubs (metal bits) and old bowls/buckets (compost/burn).

Writing all of this out I am realizing this is easy to manage now but is definitely more to keep track of!

William Bronson wrote:We have a growing population of "Lazarus" Lizards.
I think they are why we don't have more slugs than we do.

I think other inflexible, modular, biologically inert items might work as mulch.
Aluminum pans, or ceramic plates, for instance.
Aluminum flashing,would be more flexible but still ridgid by comparison to black plastic mulch.

Petrified hessian/ concreted burlap is another possibility for a ridgid mulch.

Ceramic plates sparked something in my brain! They're everywhere and I often can get them for free. Going to think on this more