Riva Gustafson

you could also try http://www.boostapal.com/ it's an online shopping thing, but instead of ad companies getting te revenue, you do, when the shoppers set up an account for it. good luck!

MMC11 McCoy wrote:There is a video on Youtube of a permaculture guy who used fridges for growing containers.

The freon thing I regard as another scam. You might tell refridge repair places you will pick up old ones and see what they say about the gas thing, and how the bureacrats regard the situation.

in the us, older fridges had freon but in 1987 the montreal protocol banned production of hcfc's including freon r22 and started a phaseout process, that will be complete in 2020. most fridges nowadays use ammonia as the coolant, but if you're only doing ten or twenty fridges, you can take the whole thing apart without opening the pipes up, i've done it with minifridges before, not too difficult, there's probably some youtubing to do there, but here's actual data on the freon stuff

"January 1, 2010: By this date there would be complete ban on the production and import of R22 and R142b. However, there is exception for the on-going servicing needs of the existing plants and equipment.

January 1, 2015: By this date there would be ban on the sale and use of R22. There is exception for certain cases, including the serving needs of the existing refrigeration and air conditioning equipment." this is from a quick google search. good luck, and keep us posted!

yeah, be careful on that board. I saw your posts, and I can tell you, people will get crazy about you letting your animals breed. They don't like breeders on that forum. Also, they seem to want people to have a guinea pig vet on hand and buy pellets and stuff. I've seen it mentioned several times that guinea pigs should never be outside and should have a pelleted diet. They obviously would get mad if they knew you were eating them, so leave that part out.

Some of these pet forums are truly fanatics. And they have some terrible device. Like surgery on a guinea pig! WHAT?!?!?! do not do that, put the poor animal down, out of its suffering, don't operate on a rodent.

so with the operating on them, usually that's a pretty noninvasive procedure involving bladder stones, second domestic(pet) guinea pigs live on average seven to nine years, depending upon breed. the cuy live three to five. i personally know someone with a hamster that has only been handled when transitioning the cage from the pet store, and it's 18 years old. she got it when she was six. stress does a lot to these animals, and breeding them calmer(as pets) has lead to longer lives as well. that site is pretty fanatical, but the operating isn't like if they have cancer or kidney failure or something, it's mainly the bladder stones. and nine years is a reasonably serious pet. sure, it's a rodent, but... it lasts longer than most relationships do. if you're raising cuy, obviously that's silly, but it's worth pointing out that the biggest cause of bladder stones(which usually happen right around nine months of age) is when someone doesn't transition from high calcium for growth alfalfa pellets to timothy hay pellets. same goes for other veggies. sorry if i came across as rude, i just wanted to explain the like... lifespan basically. i mean, i keep oscars and turtles, and oscars are "just a fish" but they live right around fifteen years normally, and they're aware of the world outside the tank. if my oscar got sick from something i could have prevented, i'm gonna do my best to help it get better, because i'm not eating it, and it could have lived another ten to twelve years if i had provided for it like i should've, you know?

Miles Flansburg wrote:Sounds like the work of a mouse or chipmunk? You might have everyone be extra vigilant for signs of where they stashed the seeds. Might be able to recover them.[/quote[
i'm not sure about mice, but around here squirrels and chipmunks will bury acorns and maple nut/seedpods under bushes and forget/lose them, then come spring and summer i get to pull and cut all the baby oaks and maples out at work(groundskeeping with schools). anyways, if you don't find them, maybe you'll be lucky and suddenly have a patch growing somewhere come spring or fall!