M Wilcox

Mart Hale wrote:I am running a full sized fridge off solar.        But I have over 30 kWH of battery storage, and about 5,000 watts of solar which has me off the electrical grid, but not the propane grid.

The first limit you have is how much space do you have for a fridge....     This helps to limit down what you can have..


If you have lots of space,  then the Amish made freezers are good options.

Other options include converting a freezer into  a fridge....     Extra complication, but if you don't need the freezer function may be useful depending on the needs.

I had heard about this conversion and am planning to do it, but the video was good because I wondered about the best freezer model and external thermostat to use. Thank you for sharing!

Alina Green wrote:I stay away from synthetic fabrics as much as possible because I see the synthetic rope inside my clothesline degrades to teeny tiny fibers that go airborne every time it moves.

You can waterproof a cotton fabric by melting 1 lb of paraffin with 1 cup of mineral oil and ironing it into cotton with an old iron.
Wash in cold water, hang dry. Lasts for years.

Rico Loma wrote:. Waxing fabric is a long shot, it creates a stiff product which will be hard to wash.  

If you wax Fabric using all wax, you are right. However, if you melt 1 pound of paraffin with one cup of mineral oil, you will get a soft flexible fabric that is waterproof. It can be washed and cold water and hung to dry.

Gabe Smith wrote:

I harvest and dry goldenrod for a medicinal herbal tea.

The tops of golden rod, just the flower parts, make a wonderful yellow dye when they’re fresh.

Matu Collins wrote:I just broke down and bought a new plastic shower curtain, but it really bugs me

I used to work for a real estate flipper. He had bought one house that he was having trouble selling because the drainage around the property was bad and it kept getting mold up the walls. I decided to rent it from him because I knew how to keep that from happening. I wonder if this would work for you? I cleaned the mold off and then I made a solution of baking soda and water and painted it on the walls. It didn’t show because the walls were white. Then I put an air purifier in the house. The one I had included an ozone generator. There’s all sorts of hysteria nowadays about ozone generators, but I lived there for two years and all it did was keep mold from growing in the house. We never felt sick or got headaches or anything like that.
When I decided to move out, I took out the air purifier. Within a week or two, the mold was growing back. But it wasn’t as bad as before, because of the baking soda paint. I don’t know why baking soda retards or eliminates mold growth. I’m not a chemist. But anyway, I was thinking you could make up a solution of baking soda and water and put it in a spray bottle because spraying the curtain and shower area after showers is going to be easier than squeegeeing. Maybe if you got a small air purifier for the bathroom, it would eliminate the need to punch a hole through the ceiling for a vent fan. It’s not the moisture itself that is the problem, it’s the environment it creates for mold growth. Between the air purifier and the baking soda water, you should be good.
One more suggestion. Plastic shower curtain curtains sometimes need replacing just because they tear or get tattered. I just watched a YouTube video where this guy mixed a cup of mineral oil with a pound of paraffin and melted it all together. Then he applied it to a piece of fabric using an old iron and putting a mat of aluminum foil underneath it to keep wax from getting all over the place. That fabric was completely waterproof and much more sturdy than a plastic shower curtain. Plus you could use any fabric you want and end up with a very pretty and unique shower curtain.

[quote=tuffy monteverdi]

I get the impression there isn’t much lather there though? (Not that I need a huge lather, just enough to clean my hands).
[/quote]

Ok, i’m not sure if the following link will work, but I hope so. There’s a channel on YouTube called Soap School. That’s where I got this from. So if this link doesn’t work, go to YouTube and search for soap school. The video is called how to make soap out of lard.

https://homestead.noredfarms.com/soap-making-guide

Now, she’s using pure lard, but I didn’t. I just used whatever fat I had saved from the kitchen, whether it was beef fat or pig, fat or bacon grease or used cooking oil or whatever. And it turned out great. It makes a very fine lather (tiny bubbles) not a big lather. She says it has a very creamy consistency when used, but it is hard so it doesn’t just melt like some commercial soaps do. She says if you want more lather, you should use part coconut oil. She doesn’t give a proportion though.

tuffy monteverdi wrote:

M Wilcox wrote:
Is your water by chance somewhat hard?
If so, and if you still have the recipe, can you link me or copy & paste here, the exact recipe you used?

Thank you so much 🙏

Yes, my water was hard. I found a YouTube video that uses the same recipe I used. It’s so very simple, just three ingredients unless you want to add herbs or essential oils. The most important thing to know is to not use any aluminum pans or utensils. Use stainless steel, plastic, or unchipped enamel containers and utensils. Molds can be anything as long as they’re not aluminum. Like I said, I just used a cookie sheet, which I should have put parchment paper on I think. Anyway, I tried to post a link, but it wouldn’t upload. I went to Google and searched vintage soap recipe, and I got a YouTube video with an older lady showing you step-by-step how to do it. She’s British so you’ll know you got the right one.

Derek Thille wrote:
I would love to be able to have actual discussions rather than arguments over what is "right” or “wrong.”

Thank you for this well reasoned and intelligent response. I can’t argue with anything you’ve said. Thank you for putting so many things into reasonable perspective.

Deb Stephens wrote:I am another one who really wants a soapmaking forum, so here is my contribution to the cause.

I remember my first batch of soap back in the '70s. I found a recipe in the Mother Earth News. I started saving fat from all of my cooking. Bacon grease, ground beef grease, used deep frying oil, any kind of food grade oil or grease. I kept it sealed in salvaged glass jars in the garage until I had enough.
I very carefully followed the recipe. Per the instructions, I put all the grease into a great big canning pot with some water and vinegar, and boiled it for a long time outside on the back porch with a hot plate. Then I put the pot in the fridge to solidify the grease. I used a knife to separate the grease block from the pot, flipped over the cake of grease and scraped off all the crud. Then I had nice, clean grease for my project.
In those days, you could buy just plain old lye in the grocery store. People used it to clear their clogged drains.
I did all the ingredient mixing on the back patio to keep fumes and possible splashing lye out of the house. I'm very sensitive to smells, so I didn't put any essential oils in it. However I did want it to be pretty, so I threw in a block of candle color. I don't know if that was a good idea, but I ended up with beautiful pink swirly soap.
When the soap was ready to mold, I just poured it all onto a cookie sheet lined with wax paper. Not a good idea. Parchment might have been better.
When it was sort of set up but still somewhat soft, I used a butcher knife to cut it into blocks. No fancy molds for me!
Anyway, it turned out great. I wasn't sure how long to let it sit before using it, so I let it sit for a few months.
I'm not kidding, that one batch of soap lasted me for years.
It was fun, and useful, and the first/last time I ever made soap. I was really Susie Homemaker in those days. I always wanted to make another batch but somehow there was always something new to try; making my own tofu, making my own bread, making my own cottage cheese, sewing all the kids' clothes, baking, having babies, church obligations, etc.
Oh well, my one soap-making experience was fun and successful.

C. West wrote: my question is if I use it and drain the waste water onto my land, will it affect my trees, soil or well water?

I have similar concerns regarding my own homestead. I wondered if having my gray water go through a biosand filter would mitigate any problems with what's in the gray water. Biosand filters are not complicated or expensive to build.
We have a USDA office near us that will do water testing for cheap, so I was thinking of taking a sample of the water coming out of the biosand filter and having it tested. I think it's about $12 to have it done.
I've heard that biosand filters are really at their best after they've been running for a while, giving the microbiome a chance to become established.