Morana Revel

Anita Martin wrote:A question not only to Jen, but all US-Americans:
Help me understand why normal families would use disposable plates and cutlery.?

Honestly,  absolutely no idea.  I grew up in rural KY.  Cloth diapers,  handkerchiefs... the only paper in our house was TP.

We would bring home disposable plates and silverware if we went to a cookout and they were there.  She would wash them and use them if we gave food to a neighbor or took something to the funeral parlor.

"Like using the bags pet food come in for garbage"

I use my bags to set reusable bags and totes for groceries

I went paperless. I don't buy anything paper.

Handkerchiefs instead of kleenex

Unpaper towels, tea towels and flour sack towels instead of paper towels

Family cloth with a portable handheld bidet

I don't buy any cloth.

I'm also investing in silicone bags so when my plastic containers die,  I'll already have replacements.

[I bought a small kerosene stove. It is TINY....barely 8 inches tall. It will run for about 8 hours on 1 pint of kerosene. I put my dutch oven over it and let beans or a roast cook in the summer so I don't heat up the house. Do a lot of my summer cooking on it actually.

Hans Quistorff wrote:This stove could be mounted in a masonry structure with a small barrel above the smoke going around it to make an oven. If it is convenient to feed the fire from the back of your structure then put the stove pipe above the door. Then the front cooking area can be shielded from the heat on the side of the barrel by the masonry. If the fire must be tended from the front then put the top on with the stove pipe opposite the door. If the stove can be mounted on the end of your structure then you could have two sides shielded from the heat. That opens the possibility of multiple ovens above your cook surface and grill.

I hop this gives you some idea of the possibilities.

It does help.

The closest I have found is
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AmZjK1VHxvs

While the bench would be great in the winter, I mostly use the outdoor area in the summer. So I would need some way to block off the bench during the summer so it doesnt gather and store the heat. But it does open up the area for a lot of cold weather use.

As for feeding from the rear or front, I have plenty of space, so I can place it about anywhere - that would not be an issue. I am thinking more along the lines of having a very large meal all layed out at once. Bread in the cob oven, several pot boiling type deal.

I am planning an outdoor cook area. I would like a cob oven and some form of grill area. I would like to incorporate a rocket mass stove into the design.

Eventually, this area will become an outdoor kitchen and all around entertaining area.



Anyone already have something like this? plans? idea on how to arrange things to take the most advantage of the wood/heat?

My dream has been to build a greenhouse for many years.
I am moving this fall to a place where I can actually build one!

Morana Revel

Fantastic!. My college roommate is from RockCastle and I can visit her! Nice.

Natasha Turner wrote:Yeah, I found a cob cabin in Berea, KY http://www.helpx.net/hostlist.asp?page=8&search=&host_region=507&host_ccode=&host_state_id=&host_category=&radio=or&network=5 Hope this helps.

GREAT! My mother in law lives in Waco, KY. That is near there. I will have to schedule a visit when I visit her. I plan on building a COB house in the future and wanted to see how one weathered in KY.

paul wheaton wrote:I wonder if you could boil it down to something that is more concentrated and lasts longer.

A lot of the soponins are naturally available in many products..so why would they need to last longer? http://www.zombiehunters.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=39&t=76536

I usually always can find a yucca plant and often find bouncing bet (soapwort) along roadsides where farmers haven't killed it off yet.

While soponins are good for humans, they can be dangerous to livestock. http://www.library.uiuc.edu/vex/toxic/bucinbt/bucinbt.htm

The extraction of the actual soponins need alcohol to extract the agents.

Since I make lye soap, I only use the bouncing bet as a curiosity. I am experimenting with learning to make lye soap from wood ashes and not buying lye. I dont really worry about the lye. Lye is a naturally occurring substance. We have just chemically made it stronger and more stable with modern chemistry, but lye soap can still be made with ashes, water and grease.

Morana