M Ljin

John Suavecito wrote:Many people on this list crush their biochar to make it smaller before inoculating it.  There have been findings that the inoculation doesn't go very deep into the biochar, so if it's a big chunk, it's mostly not inoculated. It might take much longer to really behave as a microbe hotel in a homeostasis with the soil.  

So is this maybe the difference between biochar and terra preta—that the former isn’t fully inoculated and biologized, but the latter is?

I am not at all savvy with computer.  I live simply and would like to post
something on the intentional community site?  Happy Abundant Spring To All!
I am looking for a permie community in the Western Mass area to live with.
I would like to post in the appropriate forum.  Blessings

Welcome to Permies and happy spring to you as well!

Our intentional community forum is here:

https://permies.com/f/6/intentional-community

Somewhere in the upper right hand corner you should see a button that says “new topic” where you can make a new thread. I hope that this helps!

As I understand it, bar soap might not be older. Castille soap is made from olive oil and potash, and it takes a liquid form. Potash is much easier to obtain than lye, as it comes from wood ash.

I don’t use soap typically except on my hands but sometimes wash off with an herbal/medicinal infusion of some sort if I feel the need, which is liquid but homemade and not packaged. Another source of “soap” is the wild soapwort, which grows on river edges, disturbed habitats, & roadsides. They can be used like bar soap—rubbed until they start to release their soap-filled juices and then used for washing. You probably have seen them around—big white five-petalled flowers, opposite leaves with conspicuous veins.

Birch bark roofs, covered or not, I have heard that the bark sheets are layered six to twenty times first, so that is a lot of protection! Additionally, the sheer weight of the soil on top might effectively seal the sheets together. For more of a vapor barrier, caulking with pitch or other natural sealants seems like it could be beneficial. But then again, maybe we want some exchange of gas between soil and home. It’s a long topic so will leave it at that and not veer too far off topic…

As a side note, Plains tribes made their earth lodges with earth on top of big bluestem grass thatch, which is a lot less of a moisture barrier! On the other hand, most pre-modern societies always had a fire going, which would likely dissipate the moisture and smoke would preserve and make the thatch resistant to excess moisture. Someone told me  that in parts of Ecuador, smoke is intentionally used to darken and “impermeabilizar” (impermeabilize/“waterproof”) a new thatched house before it’s used, otherwise it would rot in the tropical, humid climate.

I have also heard that in Iceland, some houses do not even have birch bark in between the roof and the soil. And they’re well insulated enough that the main heating source is the human body! (Iceland being a wood scarce region.) Or at least no one said they used it in the video…

I suppose it depends on the kind of wood fuel, too. Would charcoal be more heat-producing for its weight?

I think it’s the inner bark you would want to save, not the outer—most of the time that is better since it is still alive, whereas the outer layer is dead.

Do materials matter?

Another recording. Two strings! And doesn’t sound as much like a wheezing calf! (If that is even what a wheezing calf sounds like? Not a sound I have heard before)

I am in awe.  To make an instrument, then know right away how to play it.  This is a skill beyond my understanding of the world.

It is essentially muscle memory for the scales, and what sorts of distances make what sorts of sounds—figure out what note you want and move up or down until it sounds right. It is fretless too.

Do I need to care about distance from bridge to nut?  

This makes no difference for a fretless instrument. This one doesn’t even have a nut, just a tuning peg!

Do materials matter?

Maybe? I didn’t think plastic would sound very good but then I jumped in and tried and it was fun, at least. It still sounds like plastic, not wood. But it makes musical sounds.

Where is the library book to tell me what to do and how to play? How many strings do I want?

This only has one string. You could start with one and add more too! I’m thinking of adding a second drone string today.

There is also this page on musical instruments: https://mudcat.org/kids/bongos.cfm It might be close-ish to a library book for this sort of thing.

r ransom wrote:An inspiring sound.

So now I have to make one.

Is it my lack of music knowledge or is there a delightful Chinese sound in there,  Chinese bluegrass?  Is that a thing?

I’m not quite sure where it comes from—maybe it’s easier to play pentatonic scales when not quite confident with an instrument? But then again I gravitate towards them anyway. Chinese music does use a lot of pentatonic scales, but maybe it’s something about the rhythm. I don’t know very much about Chinese music but maybe I would find it familiar.