Lynne Cim

We divide and conquer. Oh so many bins (1) we compost most food waste in a pallet compost bin outside on side of the house (2) paper recycling in a large reusable white bag (3) metal and plastic recycling in another large white bag (4) glass recycling goes in sturdy cardboard box (5) plastic films, bags to go back to the store (thanks NY) goes in a metal trash bin and (6) then there is the freezer garbage - any food items that we don't want to compost / ie smelly stuff goes in an old wax food container that cannot be recycled (7) humanure / separate compost bin situated far from house - not due to any odor, just the local bear likes to push it over occasionally.  ( one large paper bag that collects any other garbage - ie vacuum contents, stickers, old rags etc. which takes us about 6 months to fill.  Best part about our system is that I only need to go to the dump about 2-3 times a year to recycle and don't have to pay anyone to take away our trash. The white bags store under the stair to the loft and blend in with the white wall so it looks clean. We wash all our recycling so it can never smell or attract ants. I drive by the bins that line the streets and get spread all over the woods by animals and I'm so confused.

Sweet Woodruff - Galium Odoratum maybe? I don't currently have it growing because I cannot find it. If I could find it and make a vanilla extract substitute with it I would find it to be invaluable for personal use + for resale. Can anyone help me with a known source - seed or plant to purchase?  Every plant I've found for sale labeled as Galium Odoratum turns out to be just the non-scented bed straw.  I know you have to completely let the plant dry out until the scent is discoverable. Been hunting around old estates for it, so far nothing dries to become fragrant.

Our straw bale house is very tight. It rained on the inside of the windows until we installed our HRV. We went with a smallish unit just to pull moisture from the shower area now the glass is dry in the winter. Never had a mice issue and we live in a place where mice are abundant. They don't chew through bales. Bats made a nest between 2 bales on the exterior right under the eave, we let them stay. We have not finished our exterior plaster - upper  half the house is still the lime plaster scratch coat. Has not been a problem. We had our garden hose leak, it sprayed up and on the exterior wall of the house for 24 hours. It dried very fast and no issues found yet.  

I have it, it can be embarrassing.  If I see someone every day in a certain setting like say the local librarian and then I see them at the supermarket my brain goes haywire - I recognize them but I cannot place from where or what their name is. I feel terrible when I cannot recognize aquaintance's kids or remember their names, but they know my kid's names and everything about them.  

Best purchase I ever made was my All Seasons Solar oven. My husband calls it my easy bake oven. I bought it used / missing a panel but easy enough to make the replacement.  My goal was to recreate it double the size. Unsure if it will be double the heat, but pretty sure it will make it much hotter. Right now I can certainly bake cookies (do this too often) and roast veggies and potatoes but it takes all day. I can almost boil water. Trick is to use an all cast iron pot and lid inside a completely enclosed glass bowl - 2 large round pyrex bowls work but I had an old convection oven that was all glass so I use that topped with a large glass plate from an old microwave. I decided not to buy the internal parts new so I'm now always looking around like a hawk for the just right cast iron pots and pans to fit it.

https://youtube.com/shorts/sQ4RWXSpsW0?si=ZsvBgLVN7T17YgnB

I would probably add a few flying saucers type sleds into to the mix to reduce friction. Having a pivot point would be helpful if you have to make many turns along the way.

A light dusting of snow could make the job easier too!

Stacy DeRemer wrote:Thank you Lynne! Great advice about the snakes, especially because I have some nice rocks that I’m sure they will love. I’m excited to learn that yours are doing so well, considering we are in near the same climates. I’m certainly going to employ the narrow path trick on the deer, fantastic idea.
I would love to know what you have planted in your bed?

On our hugel we have rhubarb, horseradish, strawberries (the little wild ones), and raspberries.  A nice surprise crop of rocket mustard just showed up. Next year it will probably be all raspberry at the rate they are spreading.  Last year I planted potatoes all around the perimeter and they loved it there.  Planting sesame seeds and skirret this year on my second hugel, so excited about these 2 new additions!

Nice job Stacy!  Snakes by us seem to love the inside of our hugel or find it a good place to curl up and hunt for the small mammals visiting.  Just don't want you to be surprised by the ecosystem you built!  I stomp and shout "coming snakes" before entering mine Hugels are great, rarely needs watering here in Upstate NY. We fenced ours in with minimal walkways around them. Deer will jump anything but they won't jump into a narrow path between a fence and a hugel so we've learned. I'm growing only perennial edible plants in ours and WOW, once it warms up a fully grown garden just appears out of nowhere.  Best thing we did on our property. New line of felled trees are stacked and ready for our next one, which won't be fenced as I am growing only deer resistant perennial edibles in that one.  Good luck!

Something I always wanted to try is a personal mosquito trap. I am a mosquito magnet. we live upstate NY USA. Sitting with a group of people and I'm usually the only one they will bite, I can easily get 10 bites in 10 minutes. Since they are always around me, I've noticed they have a typical behavior - they fly toward you and then land on something behind you. Then they attack. I've always wanted to set up a landing behind where I am sitting and coat it with oil. If their wings touch the oil they can no longer fly. Another idea is to use cedar oil on my skin to mask whatever is attracting them to me. We used to not be able to go outside due to mosquitos unless drenched in deet, but that recently changed in the last 2 years. I think it's the dragon flies, we now have some the size of birds. I get so happy when one buzzes by me!  Our new neighbor may also be treating the sitting water next to his house with mosquito dunks too.

I recently learned I can borrow a pressure washer from my library, ha!  Went there to see if I could borrow / use a high powered microscope but they did not have one, but found they had pressure washers on lend.