Kit Collins

One point about Japanese personal (one-person) hot-tubbing that might be of interest to hot-tubbers elsewhere: the water (and its heat) is largely conserved a few days at a time. People there shower and wash well before getting into the tub each night. The whole family uses the same tub water for a few days before it is drained and replaced. A cover is put over the tub when not in use so that a lot of the heat remains. In this manner, not so much energy is used in heating.  Also, when people shower, they are often very conservative with water. They'll wet themselves, then turn the water off when they are soaping and scrubbing and shampooing themselves. They'll turn the water on again to rinse. Not everyone does like that, but a lot of them do.

Ideas:
1. Simple unscented castile bar soap for washing hair (like kirks or bronners hard soap bars) works very well for both hair and body and does not dry out scalp. I use this once or twice a week. My facial skin under my beard gets itchy if I don't use soap on it say once a week.

2. Pine tar bar soap also works. I believe it is a good remedy/preventive for head lice as well. Used to use this once in a while when kids were small.

3. People used to oil their hair in lieu of washing it so much. Olive oil or coconut oil is fine. This might prevent dandruff too. Hair oil fell out of fashion after the "greasers" of the 1950s. It's been all about "body" (puffiness) of the hair since then, it seems. Time to change to a simpler fashion?

4. Saponins can be extracted by boiling horse chestnut meats, This can be used as a light body soap or shampoo. I've done this once, just as an experiment, and it worked, but it doesn't keep long before molding. Natives used to use this brew to stun fish in rivers for easy fishing.  I could be mistaken, but might acorns also have similar saponins?

Amount of Lime +  Vinegar pickling without refrigeration

(1) I've done lime preservation once, following online suggestions for quantity of pickling lime and water. It seems that most of the lime I added to the water precipitated to the bottom, and simply stays there. I doubt that the lime on the bottom is really doing anything other than perhaps providing a "soft bed" for the eggs on the bottom. Might it be possible to use, say, half the lime and get the same preservation effect?

(2) In some restaurant supply groceries in my area, they sell hard-boiled eggs in big gallon jars. I believe these are in an acidic liquid (like vinegar or citric acid). They are not refrigerated. If I remember right, one brand said "refrigerate after opening" and another brand didn't. For people interested in non-refrigerated acidic-pickled boiled eggs, it might be good to look at ingredients list of these types of commercially sold eggs.

About six months ago, I preserved about 3 doz eggs for the first time using the slaked-lime (pickling lime) method. So far, so good. Eggs have tasted fine and haven't had any rotten ones yet.
One question: Can you reuse the significant amount of lime at the bottom of the jar?

One post here said that the slaked-lime method is no longer recommended because of links to botulism, but it appears that FDA's "dissing" of slaked lime pertains to the potential for less acidity when pickling veggies like cukes, for example (see this link https://www.thespruceeats.com/what-is-pickling-lime-what-s-a-safer-substitute-1389134).  Because the egg preservation has no later need for acidity, I'm guessing that any concern for botulism may be unfounded, but it would be nice to be better informed on the possibility or on any ways to recognize it in the eggs if it happens.

BTW there is a very informative and entertaining video on traditional egg preservation on youtube, and it has a lot of insight. In addition to slaked lime, the video has gotten me interested in trying to preserve using fireplace wood ash. The maker of the video took a very systematic approach to comparing the effectiveness of six different methods:  

Red plums are a good substitute for tomatoes, especially if they are a bit under-ripe. I've made pico de gallo with them a few times, and it tastes and looks very similar to regular pico de gallo with tomatoes. Like tomatoes, the plums are acidic. I suppose they would make good ketchup too, if blended, and in that case they could be fully ripe too, I think. Good luck!

I've never raised chickens or ducks, but roughly 40 years ago my family bought a commercial 12-pack carton of chicken eggs from a major supermarket. Most of the eggs in that particular carton had double or even triple yolks. Very doubtful they were from one bird, so a lot of birds on the egg farm must have been doing this at the same time. That would argue for diet or environment (such as chemical exposure) as being a major factor. So I'd be inclined to believe some other notions expressed here, such as lack of calcium in the diet, or feed that is high in estrogen.

William--Now, why didn't I think of that? (Don't answer that question!)
Great idea. I can try to put those nasty bits of fluff to better use.

Thanks Gerry--It would need to "take the heat" in places, so I'm guessing some "perlite" mixed in for a high-heat fiber? Any other fiber that could work? I'll prob try it with just the sand first, though, as you suggest.

Just found this thread and have been wondering about the same issues, as I started using a Jenkins-inspired system last Fall. Have tried medium-small leaves, but the problem of Fall moisture in the Seattle area does make them a bit stinky, not to mention buggy. Just couldn't get them dry enough outside in Fall, even under cover, although they were better than nothing. Tried also fairly dry fallen needles that I had gathered in summer from my Hemlock tree. Those were pretty stinky, too, when they were "moistened" in my bucket loo. Ash from the fireplace has been the best so far in terms of odor, but it's kind of impossible to avoid breathing in some of the dust as I sprinkle it on, plus I generate ash only seasonally. Have also tried sawdust generated by moistening fireplace pellets--admittedly a commercial solution--and it works OK with the odor but not as well as the ash. Recently kept some self-generated sawdust from sawing up some fallen tree limbs due to recent snows. That sawdust sat in sun for a while and was pretty dry, and worked well. Coffee grounds--even moist ones-- work well too for loo odor, but it takes at least a few day to generate enough of them in my family to cover even one solid-waste "event". I should try saving grass clippings from mowings this summer, as some posters suggest, as well as just digging some soil (after it's dried out a bit here).

Overall, I've learned that you can use a variety of what's available, and that some things work better than others. I really like the idea of just digging soil out of the yard and trying it for loo cover material, because when my compost piles have matured, I'm going to need some gaps in the yard to put the compost in!

BTW I came across this youtube vid (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUzTVs8iDPE) that shows an "ash flush toilet" from perhaps 50+ years ago. It's basically just a hopper for ash that might have very conveniently covered your business in its heyday. Might have worked with sawdust too. Seems like basically a large "bulk bin" type hopper mechanism, like those in some supermarkets that deliver bulk flours into plastic bags, except with a pull chain to dispense it.