ferndale Hatfield

i have a 3 y.o. and a 7 m.o.  the older has never been stupid around fire.  he was warned early and often about heat.  i suspect your children have an innate fear of pain, as well.  you may not need to worry about he kids in your planning.  they'll figure it out probably easier than anyone.

sounds like being on a slab allows for maximal benefit from the cob/masonry mass.

the michigan cottage food operation law allows for easier selling of home-produced goods.  your location may allow something like this.

i kinda wish paul stamets would engineer mycelium that would eat asphalt.

we will try harder to advertise for apple trees and grapes to be picked next summer.  it'd be nice to eat free food!

Jen0454 wrote:
Latex = Rubber
natural rubber is tapped from trees.
Henry Ford set up plantations to supply rubber for tyres of his autos.
They were later adandoned.

wouldn't vulcanizing rubber take a lot of energy? 

wesleyds wrote:
A question for Wesley...how much do you use per load of laundry?

Sorry I haven't been on in a while.  We use about a quarter cup.

dude, it's just pennies per load, so feel free to play around with the amounts.  i use a couple cups (bar soap, washing soda, borax recipe) and it rinses easily.

we used this same mixture for our dishwasher for a time and found it left a residue.  i plan on making a bar of deoderant this weekend and will experiment with other products in the future, too.

TheDirtSurgeon wrote:I haven't pulled a weed since June.

this is where suburban types like me have to compromise.  all my food is in raised beds.  i've dug down and done some hugelkultur-ish ammendments under the beds and work in lots and lots of compost from the hens.

weeds get you a ticket from the city.  i use a lot of cardboard mulching along paths to keep weeds down and around the raised beds too.  it saves me a lot of time and effort.

i think rock borders and other salvaged materials can be aesthetically pleasing.  trellis beans, cukes, and squash.  dumbell weighting and wooden A-frames for tomatoes; play with levels that way.  chop and drop techniques are going to be a bit more difficult (compost in bins and then scatter on beds?).

i do not like them.  i've built my own.  the design was great.  it was highly functional and sturdy.  i was proud of the work, but just can't bring myself to like having to tumble.

it seems like the original poster is trying to square newtons' first and second laws with the permaculture theories of abundance.  i'd suggest that the OP consider the timeline underwhich entropy occurs and the potential for species and biomass accumulation from the surrounding areas based on providing a healthful environment.

my friend has a deli.  he gave me several buckets of pickles that had been in his garage for 1 year.  i wanted the buckets for storage (bad idea, the smell is permanently in the plastic).

i buried them next to the compost pile and only covered the pickles (worst smell ever!).  no smell the day after.  no city critters dug up the pickles.  the soil keeps it's secrets!

i say bury it!!!