Cristobal Cristo

"Full sun" recommendation for most trees and vegetables means it's a spot with full afternoon shade at my location. Even some cultivars of full sun classics like grapes and figs struggle in my conditions.
It looks that the full sun is the Midwestern or West/Central European sun.
I have noticed that morning shade/afternoon sun will have the same effect like full sun - I have transplanted my blackberries and roses from full sun to morning-and-noon shade location. They got more frequent irrigation. They got scorched the same as in full sun location. I may try to transplant them again to 90% shade spot.

I need to use this translation for vegetables:
full sun = afternoon shade
partial sun = complete shade
shade = not for me

Some trees would gain from having half day shade, but it' not an option for me.

I have researched it a bit. Usually it's recommended to use the same amount wood ash as water glass by volume. So assuming we have the aforementioned 100 kg of ash (from one cord used for yearly heating) it would be volume of 60 l (assuming specific gravity of 1.6), so we would need 60 l of water glass (40%), which is around 16 gallons. I saw 1 gallon on amazon for $20, so it would need at least $320 of water glass to make equivalent of 4 bags of cement (worth $80).
If we purchased water glass cheaper (amazon includes shipping), let's say at $10 per gallon, it would still amount to $160. So only if water glass could be sourced very cheaply ($4 per Gal), it would be cheaper than cement.  It's possible that if purchased in barrels (or tanker trucks) it would be quite cheap, after all it's a simple material made of most popular elements.
Of course wood ashes come in all flavors and they could react differently resulting in different final product.
It's an interesting topic. I need to experiment.

Emma,

For rough off grid life cast iron is the best. I have various Lodge pieces, and my favorite is 13.25" skillet. I use it on gas and on direct fire.
For soups I like my Guisson 5 l and 10 l enameled cast iron.
I also have a lot of Staub enameled cast iron, but I find it too delicate for rustic life, but once I finish my house I will start using them again.
For stainless, for over 20 years I have been using Matfer Burgeaut Excellence series - no gimmics, no rivets, no nooks for grime, no glass, smooth handles that can be perfectly washed. Professional cookware from France - my favorite.
Guison, Matfer and especially Staub do not belong to "not spending fortune" category, so the winner is Lodge, but for soups I recommend at least one enameled cast iron pot.

Manufacturing 1 m3 of cement (around 1500 kg) needs around 3 GJ of energy. So 1 kg needs around 2 MJ, which is caloric energy in 0.2 kg o firewood. 0.2 kg of firewood will at best case provide 20 g of wood ash. So the same amount of energy produces 1000 g of cement and only 20 g of wood ash. I understand that the wood ash would be a byproduct of heating a house for example. If someone is using 1 ton of firewood (weight of a cord) in the heating season it would produce 100 kg of ash. Assuming 1:6 mixing ratio with aggregates, it would be enough for pouring a thin floor (2 cm, 3/4") of a small 10 m2 (110 sq ft) room.

Ray, you have high calcium lime, very good. Are you mixing it directly with water or you prepare lime putty first? I remember, long time ago, I have made limewash with dry hydrated dolomitic lime and it dusted off the surface. When I use lime putty it hardens rather quickly and it does not dust. It would be best if you did it when temperature is around 65 F. Misting in your case may help, but you would need to do it several times per day.

MIG (wire fed) welder is the most user friendly, but at the same time it can not be purchased too cheaply, because it has mechanical parts and cheap mechanical parts will fail and jam. Welding high carbon steel and cast iron is not easy nor pleasant, so it may be a turn-off.

I plant watermelons every year. 2 years ago I got around 50 watermelons of various kinds from good to the best. Last year I had nothing. This year they grow, but worse than 2 years ago.
I have improved the soil and set them on irrigation and it seems like it was a counterproductive move. Deep irrigation attracted gophers. Watering manually did not penetrate the soil deep enough to attract this formidable pest. Harder soil was also acting as deterrent. Every few days one watermelon or melon is being destroyed. I have used urine and also poison (yes, I'm desperate) and it did not seem to change much.

Being desperate I have invented a protection: next year I will purchase stainless 1/2" chicken wire. Stainless so it will survive years of abrasion and watering. I will cut squares 30x30 cm or 40x40 cm (depending on roll size) and will put them on the ground and plant the seeds between the openings. Gophers always destroy my watermelons above the ground and close to the center of the plant. They do not seem to be attracted to the roots.

The key is timing - if I plant them too early they seem to lose any will to grow when nights are too cold. When I plant them too late, by the time they develop flowers it may be too hot for the fruit development. This year was very gentle, and spring had wonderful temperatures for very long time which helped all my fruit trees. It's still cooler now than previous years.

Around 60% of masonry heater heat is emitted through radiation, remaining being convection. If the heater touches a masonry wall, part of energy would leave as conduction and it would eventually be emitted as radiation.

So in theory at least half of the energy output will stay in the basement. Depending on the floor/staircase design, the remaining convection heat may penetrate to the upper level. It may work in light construction systems that have very low thermal mass and allow the energy to pass through.

So you just white washed the walls with six layers, not plastered with lime/sand plaster. According to your profile info you are in Georgia, so it's rather (too) sunny and (too) hot for any lime operations at this time of the year. I'm assuming you did it outside.

For anything lime related I recommend high calcium lime, it simply reacts better than dolomitic lime.
Preparing lime putty also helps, because it will assure that the lime got fully hydrated and it's ready for receiving carbon dioxide to form calcium carbonate.
The lime wash mix should be very thin, like milk and not a bit more. If it's thicker then it deposits too thick layer of lime and flakes off - even in cooler temperatures (60 F).
I would not lime wash a wall in direct sun and if the wall is warmer than 70 F.
For lime wash no misting is done.

So if it's powdery, or peels off it means that:
-material was not good (not reactive dolomitic lime or too old lime)
-mix was too thick
-temperature was too high

In sunny/warm climates I would wait for a day/nigh temperatures of 45-60, with completely overcast sun. I it's not overcast I would use shading tarp/cloth/etc,
When I lime wash I use two layers applied with a large brush (4x8") and then do touch ups with s small (2") brush. When I'm done with the first layer, it's usually dry and ready for the second one.

Ray,

What lime recipe have you used?
Were you plastering in hot weather/direct sun?
Were you misting the walls st least once per day for few days per one layer?
How thick are the layers?
Why six of them?