William Bronson

Pies.
It started at Christmas when I made my family  tradition pumpkin/sweet potato pie(punkpotato!) that represents of my mixed race family.
I'd always used store bought crust, but not this time.
My mother can make a great pie from scratch,filling and crust.
I never could do a decent pie crust,  I always overworked them and ended up with something hard enough to cut glass.
At Christmas  I tried recipe for  "press in pie crust" and it works great!
Made a cherry pie, even used the same crust as a top crust by pressing between parchment paper and chilling it.
Took it to my brothers house for "tea".
He made brisket,  starting the night before.
Home made Cherry pie,  ice-cream,  melt in mouth brisket,  good times!

I find my self eyeing everything as potential pie filling.
When I've run out of butter, I switched to coconut oil and it's still good.
I'm going cheesecake next,  since they are actually cheese pies, anyway.

Honey Do Carpenter uses waterglass in his forge.
He probably does the same with his rocket stove.
It is way cheaper than duct for supporting a ceramic fiber  riser,  and if you are building in it anyway, why not use it?
If you can get aerated concrete to take the heat,  it can replace expensive refractory cement or firebrick.

The tree bog outhouse, built over an enclosure of strawbale,  is a thing.
Thing is,  straw is more absorbent ,and breaks down easier.
I wouldn't want to count on logs and mostly whole wood to absorb the poop moisture and urine much less grey water.

My friends at Carriage House Farm accepted spent grain from a local brewery called Mad Tree.
They've composted  the waste on their fields, improving the soil.
Recently they gave formed a new partnership with the brewery.
In a venture known as Mad House, they are producing artisnal vinegar from what was formally composted.

I think that this is a higher use for the brewery waste.
Fermenting a it into a small beer, letting that go to vinegar, or distilling it into harder alcohol, or both.
You will still have residue to feed or compost.
Or bio-digest.
This stuff would be good feedstock for a biodigester.
It could mix well with woodchips for compost.

Is it worth the trouble?
Probably not.
I grab autumn leaves for biomass,  I have trucks of woodchips delivered,  but those are on my terms.

Over at Donkey's Rocket Stove Boards they shared a discovery, that risers need not be so long!
Essentially,  3 times the diameter, half the usual height,is tall enough.
It's explained  here: http://donkey32.proboards.com/thread/1845/scandal

Here is a nice hot plate rocket stove, very similar to what your going for,but at a nice cooking height.

http://donkey32.proboards.com/thread/3349/hot-plate?page=1

A video of it in action:
https://youtu.be/LCyAS4XHR5Y

Right now I'm preoccupied with the idea of moving heat via steam.
I've figured 300 gallons of ground tempature water heated into steam, carries enough heat to keep my house warm for 24 hours.
If I could use  Fresnels to boil the water,  that would be great.
We would like to have sun tracking in order to maintain the focus.
But what if we could set up multiple Frensels to do the same thing?
What about a geodesic dome skinned in Frensel lenses that focus on a single spot in the center?

Ah,  you paint a very clear picture.
It's  tough spot your in.
We can coach you through it, if you like.
Cast iron yields to concussive force and/or abrasive cutting.
Seems like it might be more than your up for, understandably.

A note on your remodeling plans.
Old houses will often have 1.25" drains for the bathtubs and bathroom sinks.
Sizing them up to 1.5 or even 2 inch drains will substantially improve future performance.

I would definitely consider using a lye based product.
If you do, and it doesn't work, be certain to give it time to neutralize itself before you open up the plumbing.

About the plumbing, do you have a basement, crawlspace or slab foundation?
What floor is the bathroom on?
Is the bathroom sink backed up or is it only the tub and toilet?
If there is a basement, is anything backing up down there?
The answers to these questions can help you know where to insert your auger or snake(or hand! Gloved of course...), and what kind of tool will work best.
A hose or bucket of water can help you know for certain when the drain is open.
Even after it seems to drain freely, test it with a bunch of TP.
Even something as simple as dental floss can cling to the sides of a pipe  and catch debris.
This is why the rule is"#1, #2 and TP are the only things you should put in a toilet bowl"
An auger can sometimes punch a hole in the debris and the water can flow through,while the original obstruction can remain.
Only by putting more debris  down the toilet,and testing for function, can you be certain the job is done correctly.
I usually flush 5 heavy loads of TP down any toilet I've augered.
If it can take that without backing up again, its fixed.


Drain pipe replacement, when necessary, is generally a dirty filthy job, but not actually difficult.

Good luck, keep us posted!

I think the OP is trying to gt them hooked on plants as a way to divert them from the garden.
I doubt they would feed exclusively on such plants, so it might not be worthwhile.


Here , farmers can get a nuisance licence to shoot deer out of season, in order to protect their crops.
I've known a few farmers that use this to keep their freezers full.
It seems likely that  a nuisance licence isn't an option in the OP's  part of Canada.

Seems like you have some good solutions, but let me throw in some ideas.
Do they grow rice near you?
Rice hulls could be added to clay earth to create a insultaive voids.
The rice hulls are largely made of silica and are very porous.
If they are exposed to high heat, they will pyrolyse in their little cavity, leaving behind an even more insulative cavity.


If you could make a mold from paper , cardboard, steel or aluminum cans, etc. you might be able to eliminate the bricks and build an all insulative riser, which i think would perform better.
Common fiberglass insulation has a melting point of 1300 degrees, or less due to the binders usually used in it's manufacture, so I haven't ever tried it in direct contact with high heat.
I have used it in a soil/cement/perlite mixture to abate cracking, and I think it it works great for this.