tuffy monteverdi

Tereza Okava wrote:

tuffy monteverdi wrote:how does a bike wheel keep out rodents?

If anyone hasn't seen the beginning of this thread (I know it's old) you really should scroll up to the top to see pics. I thought this was a fabulous reuse solution.

I read from the beginning; but wasn’t able to see the chicken wire on the actual wheel. Just on the sides.

For reuse of the wheel, we incorporate them in brick walls as “windows” to let in light in select areas.

For a garden bed in the above situation, I’d just put the gopher wire (not chicken wire) across the bed top and afix w wire, instead of using the wheel also, personally. To each their own.

William Bronson wrote:
I add chicken wire or hardware cloth to a wheel, then use it as a lid.

Ah ok thanks
I can’t see the chicken wire on the wheel - only in the sides!
Got it! Thanks

William Bronson wrote:, because she has rodent and deer pressure.

Interesting!
But how does a bike wheel keep out rodents?
Actually deer could likely fit their muzzles in there too.. 🤔

M Wilcox wrote:

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.

Ok yes, this is the link in my previous post above!
If that’s what you used, great!
Yes I’ll be using rendered sheep fat mixed with whatever rendered bacon fat we have….
Thanks
I’m going to try this! 👏👏

M Wilcox wrote:

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.

Thank you
I tried your google terms and also tried Mother Earth news search.
Nada zilch zip, re British vintage soap lady. If you can just copy and paste the link, not the video, that would be great.

And Mother Earth News has a paywall now, so it’s a no-go there too, now.

I did find an article on lye and tallow and a little water only for soap, which I should try. https://homestead.noredfarms.com/soap-making-guide

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

M Wilcox wrote:
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.

I have never made soap, but REALLY really want to.
I’ve already got the (sheep) tallow rendered. I just need to flip them out of the glass jugs and cut the ‘crud’ as you say, off the bottom.

What I want is a recipe that will give exactly as you experienced and describe - bar soap that works to clean hands (even in moderately hard water), and which LASTS!!

I experienced this recently from some homemade soap I bought recently by chance (at a random farmers market - on a x-country trip so I can’t ask the soap maker for recipe). I bought several bars last year, we all use them several times a day, and I don’t think I’ll need to buy more til next year or two! They really last!
I’ve been really intrigued ever since, that it’s possible to make great soap at home!

This has not been the case for many homemade soaps I’ve purchased in the past - they feel gooey or greasy or they shrink really quickly-wasting a lot of material going down the drain, or they don’t clean hands that well or they’re too harsh (and I’m not talking about lather really, just simply cleaning up my dirty hands from being outside, without feeling stripped or conversely, greasy)…

Feeling that I don’t know enough to choose a *simple*, effective soap recipe that will avoid the above and accomplish the former, is why I haven’t started making soap yet…


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 🙏

Jay Angler wrote: Are there fruit vines that are low maintenance in your ecosystem?

Well there is a beautiful little shrub that’s not quite vining but IS sort of fountain-y - the Golden Currant. Tiny, but truly delicious sweet yellow-orange berries - it’s native and better than Scandi varieties in my opinion. It likes to grow on the edges or just under shade canopy of Oaks and other native trees (in fact it grows and *produces* in almost full shade!) so a perfect planting companion…

There are also wild grapes, the fruit is ok, not great.
And it’s prolific near riparian areas ONLY.
We’ve grown the temperate Concord Grape too, with great success and very little care, no disease or pests  (except our sheep😂)… But, it does require a lowland area with a somewhat high water table.

Ground cherries are drought tolerant and do well and self seed year after year if seed allowed to stay.. but it does t climb really. More of a ground scrabbler…

There’s always Himalayan Blackberry, another fountain-y shrub, but I can’t in good conscience plant that here. It’s super thorny, fire-prone, takes over entire landscapes within a few years, and it’s nearly impossible to eradicate😬
There are native varieties of raspberry/blackberry but they require forest-like situations. Not great for more urban settings…

Another shrub is Manzanita. So easy to grow and an outstandingly beautiful plant with great wildlife supporting qualities. The fruit are…meh. Ok, edible, even medicinal, but most folks would not eat more than one or two of the tiny fruit.

Cactus - Opuntia produce marvelous fruit but the cactus thorns are a barrier no one wants to hazard (except me). And they require no trees, full sun.

Olive trees (not a shrub or vine) do well here, no care, but fruit is not readily edible (tho easy to brine) and it’s plagued by the olive fly and related pests…still it’s a simple, no care tree.
Feijoas and oranges do well too. These are not large trees, or vines, though.

I can’t think of any other edible easy-care fruit or berries

I think the biggest, easiest, shade & food producing plants here are Oaks and Walnuts, honestly…

That’s a great idea Jay
I love it

I must say fruit trees are absolutely plagued by gophers or Fireblight here in this part of the Mediterranean world. They require more than regular care..
Perhaps some walnut or butternut trees or some Oaks best of all…even if acorns aren’t readily edible they do provide great wildlife support, fantastic cooling shade, are fast growing and huge, and acorns can be processed for starches and flours if really needed…

Best of all, Oaks and Black walnut survive on rainfall only here and require no care.

Jay Angler wrote:  the only way I can water is with our deep, calcium rich well water. I think that's what did in my blueberries when I tried growing them. I'm thinking I will try putting some Fir needles on top as mulch, but maybe even more, put some Fir needles in a bucket, fill with well water, and let it sit a couple of days and then be watering from that bucket?

Hi Jay
FYI
We have the same issue as you, with acidic soil, and calcium-rich deep well water. Our water is even pH 7, due to minerals like manganese, but it STILL is a problem for plants that don’t like alkalinity.

Same as you wondered about:
we tried pine and fir needle mulches around blueberries and huckleberries. We even added acetic acid (compounds produced by fermentation anyway) to our watering of these plants and tested the water pH so it was Exactly 6.0-6.5. And it still didn’t work.
We concluded Acidic plants just plain ol’ need acidic conditions. We found the watering water to be really significant.

Very cool Anne
It’s great to know folks are thinking like this at governing levels 🙏