Jackie Frobese

Stacy Witscher wrote:Mike - While I generally agree with you, consumer debt is only stressful if you let it be. Most of the time, the only consequence of not repaying credit card or other unsecured debt is a lower credit score. If you don't care about that, why worry? One of the things that I find so freeing about not having debt and not using credit, is that I don't have to care about my credit score. So if I feel like a bill is unreasonable, and I don't need to continue doing business with a certain company, I just don't pay it. It's such a relief. I never understand people who feel like paying an unreasonable bill is a moral duty, so bizarre.

As far as education, I encourage young people to look around. If you are open to different options, you can often get through college, undergraduate and graduate, without going into debt, and without joining the military. I think a lifetime of PTSD is a very high price to pay for a college education. There are better ways.

Stacy,  I agree that for anything stress is a matter of your state of mind. I remember hearing a quote once, something to the effect of “if stress is real than please show me by filling a cup with it.” I’m sure I didn’t get that quite right, but you get the idea.

I am a bit concerned about your statement of not paying a bill if you feel it’s unreasonable. All bills are something you take on voluntarily. Perhaps your choices are limited such as in the case of a medical emergency, but it is your choice to undergo treatment at that facility. Bills are a commitment you chose to agree to at the time of purchase. So to change your mind and decide not to pay, after committing, just seems a bit unethical to me. As much as I may be mad about a bill, its really my past self I have to be mad at, not the company I owe.

I appreciate hearing everyone’s stories of how they have achieved financial freedom. My husband and I only have a mortgage and student loans and have our plans to paying them off. We too are debt averse.

One last point I want to make: just imagine how much we could change the world if all of us were putting the money we spend on interest, even just the interest from our mortgages, into doing good I our own communities. When we pay rent there is a chance that the money is going to someone in our own community rather than to a big bank. That alone is worth the years it takes to save to buy a house in cash. The banks don’t need anymore of our money, our community does.

Nick Mason wrote:Here is a much too simple fix for remedying this problem. Perhaps we should start lobbying the manufacturers to stop using labels which are impossible or very difficult to remove? It is pertinent to note that a lot of these labels are plastic based. Why do the labels need to be plastic which requires an adhesive which is probably petroleum based? Having to shred these labels to remove them must be contributing to plastic contamination of the water used in the process. Let alone the use of alcoholic solvents to deal with the adhesive residues. Much better to use a paper label with an appropriate adhesive which allows easy removal by the hot water soaking method. Am I being too simplistic?

You are right Nick! I’m not much of an activist so I’d would love a step by step explanation of how we would go about this. It may be small beans in the scheme of things but look at the list of chemicals people have posted for removing these labels. So not only is there the toxic gick put into making the ‘fancy’ hard to remove labels, but then there is more used to remove them later on. I’m sure if enough of us put some effort in we could get some more consciously minded companies to change this.

I don't know about you, but I don't always have an easy go of it when trying to get my family to eat more greens.

A trick that I have found is that greens in the form of a powder seem to be less visible and less strong in flavor and therefore I can get way with putting them into a wide variety of meals.

The problem; show me a greens powder with wild edibles, and the wide variety of greens that I can grow in my own yard. So here is my solution: Make your own greens powder! Not only does this make greens easier to get into my families bellies, it also is a super compact way to store greens through the winter. As you will see once the greens are dried and powdered they are a fraction of their original size!

I hope this helps some others to live more healthy!

PART 1


PART 2

Staci Kopcha wrote: finalize cob mix recipe.
   
1:4:4 dirt: clay:sand,  not strong, crumbles apart.

Stacie, in the pictures it looks like the crumbled brick has written on its paper 1:4:4 clay:dirt:sand

I only ask because I'm trying to better understand cob. I was inspired by your post and wanted to try making a few bricks with my property's dirt to see how they come out, and knowing how the wrong mixes act can be useful in troubleshooting.

I also wanted to say I'm so very impressed with your dedication and willingness! Its very inspiring to myself and hopefully to many others. Its great how the thread has become literally a step by step walk through a RMH build!

Gerry Parent wrote:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tf7JwmWpBA8

Maybe not quite as pretty looking as a commercial pair of crimpers but it does the job. Just don't make them too big or it could add a bit of drag to the exhaust flow.

The technique in this video of using sturdy pliers and twisting to kink the pipe end is what Ernie Wisner did at the workshop I attended, so I would consider that a thumbs up for its effectiveness. Ernie also said that to save time you don't have to do this all the way around the pipe just do some equally spaced clusters.

My sister likes to do a custom version of Sheppard’s pie. She layers in a baking dish: ground turkey, frozen mixed veggies (I substitute chopped fresh veggies par boiled) and puréed pumpkin or butternut squash. Bake at 350f until just browning on top.

It so delicious I think I need to make some again soon.

I too used to think urine should be diluted, but as is shown in the original link applying it undiluted is not harmful, in fact the effectiveness of urine as a fertilizer diminishes if it is diluted more than 1:1. Remember that nitrogen (the part plants love and that we don't want in our waterways) is water soluble, so the more water involved in its application the more likely the nitrogen is carried away bypassing the plants and going straight to the waterways.

There are also some major drawbacks to diluting urine before use:
1) this uses water, which in some areas is a scarce resource.
2) it adds to the weight of urine, wich can add up to huge amounts if you are looking at collecting from multiple housholds to fertilize with. One gallon becoming two gallons, or worse yet 20 gallons becoming 40 gallons
3) its an extra step requiring extra labor and time, making it less likely to be a sustainable practice (in terms of time efficiency) when compared the very simple model of pee, flush and done.

That said, if you are diverting your urine it matters far less how you are doing it and far more just that your ARE doing it. So just keep doing it in whatever way is working for you.

Jackie

Someone is now producing a urine collection systems similar to what is pictured above. It looks like they are hesitant to ship, but maybe that will change.

Here is the link: http://livinglandpermaculture.com/sitzpee/Sitzpee

Hi All,

I recently came across a catalog with steel and stainless steel drums for sale. This piqued my interest as I plan to one day build a RMH. The ad raised a number of questions for me. I don't plan to purchase anything now, I just figured these answers would be of use for others as well and I couldn't find them elsewhere in the forums.

1) Does it matter if I get a 55gal or a 30gal barrel? The 30Gal is $150 cheaper not including shipping

2) The steel drum is rated for 250F whereas the stainless steel is rated for 600F do you need to use the stainless for this reason or is 250F enough for the barrel?

3) The removable lid has a rubber gasket, I imagine this is across the board for steel barrels so how does that work with the heat from a RMH?

Thanks for your help and input.

Jackie

This was on an email from my credit card company.

If you’re wondering why the formatting is weird it’s just becauseI opened it on my phone.