Kathleen Sanderson

On noise and ducks, I've got around a dozen Ancona ducks, and find they are only noisy if they are talking to me (usually to let me know they would like to be fed now, thank you very much!).  Otherwise, if I hear a duck I check on them, because something is probably wrong.  

I've had both chickens and ducks, and like both of them.  My ducks have been a little messier with their water than the chickens were, but not really a lot -- I just move the ducks' water bucket and pan frequently.  I don't have chickens anymore because we found out that my daughter was really sensitive to their eggs (eating even just the yolk causes her autism to get bad again, which we only realized when we hadn't eaten any eggs for a while, and then tried them again).  So I sold the chickens and got some ducks, and -- after waiting several months for them to get old enough to start laying -- found that my daughter was just as sensitive to their eggs.  I still have some of the ducks (sold a few of them); I enjoy having them around.  But currently have a pack of puppies that think it's fun to chase a flock of ducks, so the ducks are penned up, which isn't so great.  I'm going to try to get the rest of them sold this spring, since we aren't able to use their eggs.  

One advantage ducks do have over chickens is that -- if you can let them free-range -- they will pick up a much higher percentage of their own diet, at least during warmer weather.  

If you need heat (I have an electric foot warmer on top of a raised footrest under my desk -- that is SO NICE in the winter!), hot water bottles would do the trick.  Put something down under them to keep them from losing heat into the floor, and cover your feet and the hot water bottles with a towel or a blanket or something.  You'll have to change the hot water bottles out when the water cools off, but it's a good non-electric solution.  Alternatively, if you have a wood stove, you could keep a few bricks on top of it, and use them the same way as the hot water bottles, just change them out when they cool off.  

A Cullman wrote:Unless steps are taken to seal the chamber/bucket, or a fan is added to the vent stack, would a draft be created? Are there any articles on this?

Given that a typical toilet seat is less than airtight, and that there is going to be an airgap between the bucket and the seat, it seems like the system is basically open. I checked my toilet seat here at home, and there is a 5/16" gap between the bowl and the seat, and a 1/4" gap between the seat and the lid. My toilet seats would have approximately 17.5 sq in of ventilation just at the bowl/seat/lid area. A 3" vent pipe would only add 7 sq in.

I guess my question is whether the juice is worth the squeeze. A lot has been made of the fact that composting toilets don't smell. The prevalence of vent stacks seems to suggest otherwise. I guess I can try without and always add one later.

The one outhouse I've been in that had no odor, also had a 12" vent pipe directly from the poop chamber up through the ceiling to the outdoors (this was a government outhouse at a roadside rest area, with no electricity).  So I think it is a valid concern to have a large enough diameter vent pipe.  However, I've also used humanure bucket toilet systems several times, for up to a year each time, and found that if enough organic material is used to cover deposits in the bucket, there was little to no odor (usually no odor, as long as the bucket was cleaned after it was emptied, and left out in the sun for a day or two to disinfect).  So probably, the combination of organic material added on top of deposits and a smaller vent pipe would be sufficient.

I'm not going to look it up, but I wonder if the jump in food exports in 1972 might have been related to sending food aid overseas (to Russia, for example)?  That would give someone another angle to research, at least.  

And I've got things to do, may check back in later!

thomas rubino wrote:Hi Kathleen;
Shorty started on a cement board put down over the original floorboards.
There is no access under the cabin at all.
I debated cutting through the floor to add shoring and decided to risk not doing it.
There is over 2500# in Shorty (A big girl) but it is spread over a 4x4' area, and the original floor is double-layer sitting on cedar logs.
I gambled that it would be fine and as far as it seems so far, I was correct.
Although that is a lot of weight, it is dispersed quite well.

I always have the option if, in ten years, the floor starts tilting.
I can cut an access hole at that time, and add extra support...
OR better yet the boys who will inherit this property could do so while I sit back and watch...
Yeah, I like that option best!

LOL!  I'll have to consider this -- and do some measuring to see if I can make a 4' square fit into the space.  Our house is small; the living/dining room is only about 12' square.  But I really, really would like to have a masonry stove in here, instead of the little Vermont Castings Aspen stove I have now.  (Despite it's diminutive size, with the hardwood we burn here in Kentucky, it does hold live coals all night.)  Hmm.  I'm also not sure the underpinnings of this house are as sturdy as yours.  We do have a crawlspace, but I think the floor boards are only one layer thick under a very thin layer of plywood subfloor (1/4").  And the floor joists are standard lumber rather than logs.  

Thanks for the speedy response.

Did you build Shorty on the floor, or cut a hole in the floor and build a foundation for it?  Wondering, because I'd really like to do something similar in my old house, but don't want to have to cut a hole in the floor (and shore up joists, etc.).  

I rode a bike a lot when I was younger.  The first few years of married life a bike was my primary transportation when my husband wasn't home with the car (I didn't learn to drive until I was in my thirties).  I was able to keep that up until we had three children -- I had been able to manage with two, with one in a bike seat behind me and the baby in either a front pack or a back pack, depending on her age.  My husband built me a bike trailer, so I could carry all three of the girls, but the first time I took it out, the right tire caught on the edge of the pavement as I was starting to make a left turn, and the trailer flipped over, spilling all three of the girls out into the road right in front of an oncoming car!  The driver managed to stop in time, and the littlest one was strapped into her car seat and unhurt, but I never took the trailer out again.  I had a bike again a few years ago, but couldn't go far with it because youngest daughter, who is severely handicapped, still lives with me.  She can't ride a bike, and is too big to carry as a passenger, and I can't just leave her alone at home.  So, we either walk, or we take my truck.  The roads around here are too narrow, with no shoulders at all, to be safe for riding bikes, anyway.  I've thought about going Amish and using a horse and buggy -- maybe someday!

I hate that type of survey, too.  I've never taken one about alcohol, but others, including at the doctor's office, or the social security office, can have some very ambiguous questions.  If there's room (and it's a paper survey) I'll try to make explanatory notes, but I don't know if anyone pays attention to those.  There was one I had to fill out recently (can't remember where) that wanted to know my nationality -- European, African, Asian, etc.   I wrote in American, which wasn't even on the list of possibilities!  I think they were after race (there is only one race, human), but why they would expect someone whose ancestors have been in North America for four hundred years to identify as European, no matter what their skin color is, I will never understand!

I have a Lehman's wringer, and have used it a few times.  The rollers did crack more quickly than I expected -- my mother used a wringer washer when I was young, and I don't remember the rollers being cracked at all, even after many years of use.  The wringers are helpful, though, especially for stuff that's hard to wring by hand, like large towels and blue jeans.

Hi, Luna!

I would recommend two YouTube channels for you.  One is Huw Richards.  He's in Wales, but he started his YouTube channel when he was twelve (he's now in his early to mid-twenties, I think).  I suspect his YouTube gardening channel may be most of his income now!

The other gardening YouTube channel I recommend is David the Good.  He's a bit odd sometimes (like any of us have any room to talk, LOL!), but he has gardened in Florida most of his life, starting out in south Florida.  He's in southern Alabama now, but you could still get a lot out of his videos.  He talks about what to grow in that soil and climate, and how to grow it.  

My youngest daughter (who is now 44) is autistic, too.  She's pretty severely handicapped, so doesn't post, but I sometimes amuse her by reading something from here, or showing her pictures.  Don't worry about being autistic -- we know what it's like, and are glad to have you here.

And, just a thought, but the best thing that has helped my daughter was making some drastic changes to her diet.  Basically, all we eat now is meat.  She doesn't tolerate eggs (and I don't tolerate cow dairy).  We are both in much less pain, and much more functional, and she is a much happier person than she had been for a long time.  Worth a try!