Heather Sooder

My children were born in the early 70’s. Everyone I knew used disposable diapers. But, finances were really tight for me and I was able to find cotton cloth diapers second hand. I kept a covered bucket of water with borax by my changing station and dropped the urine soaked diapers in it. Bowel movements were removed in the toilet and the diaper was dropping into the borax solution. When the bucket was full, I drained the borax solution off the top and dumped the whole load into the washing machine. I felt the system was easy because I had a washer and dryer. I carried my bucket to the washer. Women with disposable diapers took them to the trash. Once I was working the system I felt that disposables were not that much of a convenience. I did not use plastic covers. They hide the wetness. It is harder to know when the diaper is wet. And, they tend to create rashes. If you have a washer/dryer disposables are totally unnecessary.

I have a wood fired bar-b-cue grill shaped like a 55 gallon drum turned on its side. It has a chimney that can be closed off. Could I make bio-chat in that?

I am more interested in anything I could learn about how the First Nations actually did agriculture. Is there any literature on this subject?

Great idea! Yes, I do soak them after I put them on the ground. If I plan on planting the area I put down well aged cow manure before the cardboard.

I put cardboard down first, then mulch. It’s really helpful at keeping down weeds. I use only cardboard with black ink. I take off the tape if it is easy. Otherwise I pull out the tape later when I am working in the garden and the cardboard has begun to deteriorate. I pick up cardboard boxes on garbage collection day when I am walking my dog. If someone puts out a huge box from an appliance, I do a happy dance. Small boxes need to be overlapped to cover every opening for the weeds.