Douglas Alpenstock

Hey folks, following up: I picked up a Lee Valley digger/broadfork a couple of weeks ago. Probably good timing -- the price just went up.

And today [*warning, long story ahead*]: I sold an old 3.5HP rototiller to a neighbour. One owner, built before planned obsolesence, regular oil changes, starts, easy to handle, but needs a little carb love. He had been chasing rentals for days -- no luck in this busy season. I loaned it without conditions but mentioned I might want to sell it. After he did his mom's town garden he made an offer and we made a deal.

Bottom line: The sale of the rototiller basically covers the cost of the digger/broadfork.

I wonder how bus glass (safety glass) compares to standard (cheapest, untreated) window glass in terms of transmitting the full spectrum of sunlight. Any thoughts?

In the good old days you could purchase a case of dynamite and take it home with the rest of your townie purchases. Alas, no more, it's complicated.

One trick I use when I want to remove an entire stump out is to leave 4-6' of the tree trunk when I cut it. This gives one hell of a lever to work with, even with a small tractor or hand winches.

Joshua Myrvaagnes wrote:Also it’s AI slop, partly accurate info and partly hallucination. Still, really beautiful images in there. And I learned of a construction style I hadn’t known about.

Yeah, I get it. There's an exponential increase in AI slopumentaries. While they seem quite interesting at first glance, after I mull over the content I find them damnably irritating because so many things are incorrect or omitted or misunderstood. They sacrifice useful knowledge in favour of a slick narrative (product) that sells clicks and views. This is truly toxic ultra-processed mind food.

Coydon Wallham wrote:Labatt? I'm surprised you aren't using it for some form of target practice...

Tempting, but I will allow the keg to rehabilitate itself and regain its honour by cooking up anything that is not "Blue." I believe in second chances.

Coydon Wallham wrote:So anyone looking to follow this path might want to double check that the keg is a legitimately discarded one, if for no other reason than to make sure it isn't damaged in a way that would affect the intended converted use...

Fair comment. My keg is embossed with "Labatt" which is a massive brewing behemoth now likely absorbed into a multinational. Plus I drank their lousy beer when I was young and foolish. I have zero qualms about cutting this keg -- I see no substantial harm being done.

A previous discussion on the topic of controlling and eliminating mold:
https://permies.com/t/246961/permaculture-home-care-cleaning/Mold-unfinished-home

One option that seems to be fairly non-toxic and long-acting is a commercial product called Concrobium  
https://www.rustoleum.com/product-catalog/consumer-brands/concrobium/mold-control  .

But there are inexpensive homebrew concoctions modeled after it and are said to work.

Sources for recipes:

https://www.practical-sailor.com/blog/homemade-mildew-preventers-that-really-work

https://www.reddit.com/r/HomeImprovement/comments/rkrj1w/mix_your_own_mold_and_mildew_killer_for_cheap/

https://stingysailor.com/2025/04/19/remove-and-prevent-mildew-for-pennies/

Rez Zircon wrote:Want to raise red meat that will eat pretty much anything, doesn't take up much space, and produces enough fat? Mice, or rats. Trouble is keeping the little buggers contained, and the amount of processing per pound. Chickens are easier, don't escape as easily, and can be kept in a smaller space. (I've eaten roast field mouse. Tastes like fine beef, and you can eat the bones, but what I could catch wasn't really worth the trouble. Kinda like crawdads that way. Needs to be thoroughly cooked, because of the parasite load.) Livetraps may be worth the effort, tho.

Good points. The underlying principle that the most caloric value in a landscape is available at the simplest end of the food chain has always held true -- for wild animals and humans living on a subsistence level.

I recall that the mighty Arctic wolf does not subsist on caribou alone, but gorges on lemmings in season because of the fat they carry on the inside of their skins.

I also recall a David Attenborough piece where grizzly bears were gorging on hibernating moths for their high fat and protein content.

With both insects and rodents, there is of course the "ick - eww" factor to get over. Irrational of course, but many would be literally starving to death before considering these options that have been proven timelessly effective in the natural world.

Interesting discussions above. This thread seems to have shifted a bit from "increase of cost / loss of buying power" (which I think assumes goods are still available) to more of a survival scenario. Both interesting, but different topics.

The question of fats gets me thinking. One challenge at my particular lattitude (and this increases greatly as you go north) is that options to produce/harvest plant fats are increasingly scarce, and animal fats take on greater importance. In an extreme hypothetical example, in a closed system, I'm not sure I could ingest enough home-grown carbs to produce more home-grown carbs as well as plant fats -- I wouldn't have enough energy. Other animals have the digestive capacity to do this from plants we cannot eat, which is why we hunted some and domesticated others.

Returning to the 10x scenario, as Tereza wisely notes above we are not in a closed system. Community and local trade open doors. Anyone up for a pig club, c.1940's wartime Britain?

Excellent post, thanks Val! I like the idea of a adding a tap.