Nicole Alderman

John C Daley wrote:Is Milk Paint the stuff you speak of?
'Milk paint is an ancient, eco-friendly, and non-toxic paint made from milk protein (casein), lime, and natural pigments.
Sold as a powder, it is mixed with water for a durable, matte finish ideal for furniture restoration, "shabby chic" rustic looks, and children's toys.
It is zero-VOC, breathable, and provides a unique matte look. '

I used milk paint for most of the kids houses, and have made it frequently in the past (even painted my whole den with it). But, one of my students is allergic to casein, so I need something else. She's also allergic to nuts and probably other things, so I'm going to veer away from using wheat paste, too, just in case.

Thus, I'm trying to make "milk paint" without the milk/casein for a binder. I'm trying gum arabic as a binder, but I don't think it's as strong as a binder as casein. So far, though, it seems to be working.

---

This Frequently Asked Questions covers these topics:

Titles and Terminology:

Forum Policies:

How To's:

---

Titles, Terminology, Icons and much more: 

What is permaculture?
Permaculture means, literally, "permanent agriculture." It's the application of ecology to growing food. It's a way of looking at the world and designing things based on their properties. It's so much more. Find out what others have to say, HERE.

What is homesteading?
Homesteading is the act of trying to be more resilient by learning to grow, raise, and making things by yourself. See HERE for more definitions, and HERE for the etymology.

What do apples and thumbs and pie mean?
Apples and thumbs and pie are given to post that people think are excellent. Only Pollinators and moderators (Gardeners and Stewards) can give out apples. Anyone can give out a thumb on any post. People who have Pie can give out two thumbs-ups. Pie can be given by anyone who has pie or wants to buy pie. If you have pie, you have access to a secret forum, as well as the ability to block ads and much more. Pie can be bought, given, or earned (at the time of writing, your first 20 apples will earn you one piece of pie.) Find out more about PIE HERE.. Find out more about apples HERE.

What does Gardener, Steward, Pollinator, Pioneer, etc mean?
These are our shiny, gardening-related titles. Pioneers (like pioneer plant species) have completed the scavenger hunt. Pollinators are helpful and lovely posters that get to give out an apple a day. Gardeners and Stewards are our forum moderators. Find out more HERE.

What is this "Scavenger Hunt" thingy?
The Scavenger Hunt is a way for you to learn more about our forum and how it works. AND, if you complete it, you get the shiny title of "Pioneer" (like pioneer plants). More about the Scavenger Hunt HERE. And here's a tutorial for the Pioneer Scavenger Hunt.

Who is this Paul Wheaton guy and why is he so great?
Paul is the creator and owner of this forum. He gives away all sorts of free stuff and has run countless successful kickstarters to make the world a better place. Find out more about him (and our other staff) HERE.

Who are all these other Stewards and Gardeners?
We have a staff bio page Here! We try to update it every few months.

What's up with the tiny ads?
We put these on emails and at the bottom of threads. They are our silly way of doing advertizing without--hopefully--driving you insane. If you don't like them, you can opt out by getting some PIE (Find out more about PIE HERE.). If you want to laugh at some of the silly lines about our tiny ads, go HERE. If you spotted a typo, thank you! You can report it HERE.

What's a gir-bot and why does it love tacos?
Paul Wheaton, the creator of this forum, is a fan of the TV show "Invader Zim." And so, when it came time to name our little forum bot, we named it Gir Bot. Gir Bot likes tacos and piggies and all sorts of things he's programed to love. He choses who gets the monthly "Master," sends out automatic email notifications, helps picks winners, and so much more! Here's pretty much the personification of all permies forum programming. To complain about Gir--or better yet, to give him tacos--go HERE.

What's this apple core thing?
Ah, so our forum has apples. These are signs that someone who can give out apples--Pollinators and moderators (Gardeners and Stewards)--thought your post was worthy of an apple. Apple cores can only be given out by moderators. They are usually reserved for posts that just plain aren't nice, but sometimes moderators will use them for posts that they strongly don't agree with. Basically, if you got an apple core, it means that someone who can give apple cores, did not like your post.

How do you get those badge thingies in your signature?
Perhaps you've noticed someone with a pretty little picture in their signature that looks something like this: . You, too, can have one and learn useful homesteading/permaculure skills in the process. There are 22 Badges--you can learn about them  HERE. And you can learn how to apply for one HERE. HERE'S the forum all about the PEP badges (PEP=Permaculture Experience according to Paul, and it's a guided way to learn permaculture skills and show that you know them!).

What are the blue icons under people's names?
Those are Bumper Stickers! They're fun ways to show what you're interested in. There's Bumper Stickers for everything from foraging to sheep and woodworking. Find out more HERE. To get a Bumper Sticker, just go to your profile. People who have PIE can have even more Bumper Stickers! To request a new Bumper Stickers, go HERE.

Is there a profile list?
There is not!

What's a Purple Moosage?
A Purple Moosage is our equivalent of "Private Message." We call them Purple Moosages because--like on most social media--they're not technically private. Steward-level moderators can read them when necessary--like when figuring out if someone is spamming other people. We really don't have time or desire to go reading everyone's inboxes, so chances are, the only person who ever reads your inbox is you.

---

Forum Policies: 

What do you mean by "Be Nice"?
You can find our more HERE or HERE. One important aspect of being nice is to not infer that anyone else is less than perfect. State your position and why you think it, rather than trying to tell the other person that their position is wrong.

I don't want to use my real name--can I please use a fake one?
Of course! It just needs to SOUND real. Find out more about that HERE. If you're making it up, please use one that isn't an "edge case." If everyone has the last name of "Forrest," the person who really has that last name doesn't sound very real, do they? More information about "edge cases" HERE.

Why did you delete my post?
Maybe it was spam? Maybe it was a duplicate post? Maybe, just maybe, you weren't following our Publishing Standards. Permies is owned by Paul, and it's his publication. He decides what gets published. He might not decide to publish your post, usually because he doesn't think it's nice. Find out more about stuff being deleted HERE.

What's up with all the censorship?
We want permies to be a place where gentle souls can share their experiences and ideas without being lambasted by other posters. As such, we censor posts that aren't nice. You can find out more about censorship HERE. You can find out more about being a safe place for gentle souls HERE.

The gir-bot asked me to edit a post, but I don't understand what I did wrong. What do I do?
Usually the "hint" about what needs to be fixed is in bold. If that clue doesn't make sense, please start a thread in the Tinkering with this Site forum.

Why can't I type the letter "U"?
We have an international forum, and a lot of people posting here know English as a second (or third or fourth...) language. Words like "thanx" and "U" are hard for these people to understand. So, we avoid them. Find out more, HERE.

Ahh! I've somehow found myself in a flame war--what do I do?
Flame wars are nasty. They're when everyone gets angry and starts yelling about how right they are. We don't like flame wars here on permies. In fact, if you see one happening, hit the report button on the flamey post. You can walk away, knowing the mods will don their capes and come to the rescue. You're also more than welcome to try to deescalate the situation (preferably without quoting the flamey posts, that way we can delete those posts easily.)

Why can't I reply to some posts due to having no apples? (Also What is the Cider Press and why can't I  post there?)
Apples are given by Pollinators and moderators (Gardeners and Stewards) for posts that they like. The Cider Press is our place to talk about controversial subjects. To keep internet trolls and flame wars from feasting on these topics, we limit them to the Cider Press. Basically, if you wouldn't talk about something over a big family dinner (religion, politics, parenting, toxic pollution, etc) don't talk about it in the main forums. You'll need apples--and now a slice of pie--to post in the Cider Press. Make a bunch of great posts, and soon you'll meet the requirements be able to post there. Be warned, though, the Cider Press is thusly named as it's a great way to lose apples if you make unkind posts. More about the Cider Press HERE.

---

 How do I __________???

How do I find stuff that I bought or gift codes that I have?
Look at the top of your screen where the "My Profile" and other buttons are, and click "My Stuff." You can find links to all your gift codes and stuff you bought, there! If you are on a mobile device, scroll to the bottom of your screen and click "desktop view." Then go to the top and find "My Stuff."

How do I post a picture or video?
You can find a tutorial on how to do that HERE.

How do I reply to a thread?
We've got a tutorial on that HERE.

How do I start a thread?
You can find a tutorial on how to  do that HERE.

How do I change my profile picture?
To change your profile picture (or cover picture), first you'll need to host your image somewhere on the internet. If you don't have any place to host them, then attach the picture to this thread. Just make a reply and add the picture as an attachment. Once the picture is hosted (either on permies or elsewhere), you'll want to "Copy Image Address" (this might also be called "Save Image Address") and paste that image URL into your profile settings. A full tutorial can be found HERE.

Can I ignore threads? Certain posters?
You can "unwatch" a thread by clicking the link at the above and below a thread that says "Stop Watching." As far as I know, there's no way to block a poster.

Permies is huge.  How do I find my way around?  
There's multiple ways to navigate permies!

You can go to the Main Forum Page, where you'll see the most popular threads on the left, the most recent threads in the middle, and the majority of our forums and categories on the right. You can modify this page to show the threads in a traditional Recent Topics view.

You can go to a list of ALL our forums, so you can easily select the one you want to read or post in.

From most anywhere on the site, there's a list of links on the left side that lead to our different Categories (categories are things like "growies" or "community" and inside those categories lies our forums like "chickens" and "financial strategies"). In mobile view, I believe there is a drop down menu at the top left that leads to our categories.

If you have PIE, you can go to Recent Topics to see threads in order of reply. If you don't have PIE, you can get a recent topics view by modifying your forum home page view.  

Where do I ask if I need help with this website?
We have a forum just for that! It's called Tinkering With This Site. You can start a new thread to ask your question there!

I think Permies could be organized better if it had a new forum or category or an entirely new way of organizing itself. How do I make that happen?
First off, it's important to know that permies is run by volunteers. It takes a LONG time and effort to make a new forum, and new categories (things like "Growies" and "Ungarbage" and "Monies") are even harder to make. Also, rearranging Permies could seriously hurt our SEO (Search Engine Organization--aka how much Google loves us and sends people to us). We only make new forums if there's a really good reason and a lot of threads that fit in there, and it won't make another forum too small. If you want a new forum, category, etc, please read, I want a new forum for... How do I get it?, and follow the instructions there.

I want to write a review--how do I make it show up on the Review Grid?
There's a tutorial on how to do just that HERE!

How do I change my email settings?
You'll want to go to "My Profile" link at the top of your page, then scroll down to "Email Settings" and you can subscribe or unsubscribe to thread notifications and the dailyish and weeklyish. If you unsubscribe from the MONTHLYish, know that you will have your account automatically closed. You can reopen you account at any time.

How do I delete my profile?
To close your profile, you'll want to go to your profile and unsubscribe from the monthly-ish email (here's a shortcut to your email preferences). This will make it so you no longer get any emails from permies. If you change your mind and want to use your permies account again, you'll just need to log back in and re-subscribe to the Monthly-ish email. (You can learn about the history of the monthl-yish, here) If you're worried about privacy, and don't want your name linked to your posts here, you can activate stealth mode by changing your name to a different, real-sounding name. Here's a direct link to submitting a name change request. Please chose a real-sounding name. If you chose to change your name to a non-real, "edge case name," it is likely to be denied.

Can I edit or delete my own posts after I hit "submit"?
Not necessarily.  So before you hit "submit," be extra smart, kind, and careful about what you are sharing with the rest of the world! More about editing and deleting content HERE.  

Why can't I edit or delete my own posts?  Aren't they my posts!?
There are a variety of reasons for the low/no editing policy.  Ultimately, this site is hoping to achieve perennial discussion about permaculture, and the low/no editing and deleting policy helps achieve more of a permanent culture experience, rather than an ephemeral experience. Here is more about our policy on Deleting Stuff.

I'm not a spammer! How do I promote my stuff?  
We have a thread all about promoting your stuff HERE! You can even make a thread (or more!) to sell both digital and even physical items in our Digital Market. One important part of not looking spammy is to have ONE main thread about your product/service/etc, instead of multiple threads in various forums. One thread can be in many forums if you have PIE or pay for Thread Boost. Multiple threads look spammy. The other advantage to having one main thread is that you can post all your updates to that thread, and that will "bump" your thread up in the Recent Topics. This makes it so more people see your thread.

Another important aspect of not-being-spammy, is that the thing you're promoting matches our values. If you are selling asphalt shingle roofing, or blow-up dolls, or porn, or pesticides, we will assume you are a spammer. But, if you're selling your wool yarn, or metal roofing service, or your organic chicken feed, we are far more likely to not assume you are spam.

Wandering around the internet, I've noticed a few things. This article, by the Mud Home about limewashes, sums it up pretty well:

The Mud Home wrote:Note: You need a binder like wheatpaste or casein to help seal the limewash, otherwise your whitewash may remain dusty, and can leave marks on clothes. If you can source good quality mature lime putty, a binder may not be necessary.

(1) If you use high-quality slacked lime, made from quicklime and not from hydrated lime, it might not need a binder. High quality slacked lime is really expensive (I know, because I've bought it before!)

(2) Common binders are wheat and milk/casein.

I'm trying to avoid things that kids/parents might be allergic to with this recipe, so both the wheat and milk/casein are out. This mixture is supposed to be an alternative for the kids who are allergic to the milk paint. Both wheat and milk add as natural glues to stick the pigment to the surface. Gum arabic has that roll in watercolors. While it might not be as good, I'm thinking it's decent enough  to be used as an alternative. So far, it's testing pretty good.

Looking online, the biggest problem people have with clay and lime paints is that they dust off. When I'd made my little Egyptian cartouche boards, plastered with lime, that was the biggest problem: it dusted right off. When I added the gum Arabic to that paint, it didn't dust off.

Cartouche with a background of lime + gum arabic on wood. Hieroglyphs made with water color and pencil

I went over to test the paint on my little house. I also compared the tests to the milk paint I painted my den's walls with almost two years ago. I'm expecting the milk paint to be stronger, since it's had nearly 2 years for the lime to calcify....compared to just 10 hours for my lime + gum arabic paint.

Test 1: I rubbed on the white, red, yellow and purple paints with my finger. I could not see any paint coming off. But, they're all pretty close to my skin color, so it's hard to tell.

Test 2: I scraped the paint with my fingernail, and it did come off...much like if you scrape at chalk or limestone. But, if I scrape at 2-year old milk paint on my den wall with my fingernail, it comes off, too, with about the same amount of effort. Most paints come off if you scrape at them, honestly.

Test 3: I rubbed at the paint with a black cloth. I had to rub hard to get a faint amount of color. That seems pretty good! The red paint (no clay) seemed a bit sturdier than the yellow (which had clay)--probably because there was less gum arabic percentage in the clay paint. I then rubbed at the milk paint on my den wall with the black cloth. The paint came off, but I needed to rub more and the amount of color on my cloth was less.

In summary: My 10 hour old lime + gum arabic + pigment is about as good at my 2-year old milk paint on my den's wall.

I haven't tested them against water erosion. But, honestly, my milk paint doesn't hold up against more than a season or two of outdoor weather, especially if it doesn't have an "outdoor fixative" and isn't sealed with oil (see me repainting my milkpaint sign. The homemade milk paint did not do as well as the store-bought Real Milk paint. And, all of it did better than milk paint I've made from scratch and painted outside. I'd made milk paint with a Forest School group, and they'd painted LOTs of surfaces, , and nearly all of the paint was gone after a year unless it was sheltered from the rain.)

Maybe there could be a poll response for "I wish!" Because I wish I had a root cellar. But, my ground is wet and digging by hand is hard.

I finally got some time tonight to test things out. I wish I'd had time earlier more than a few days before when kids will be painting with it. But, life is busy and I've got too many class projects going all over the place!

Anyway, what I tried today was:

• 1 part: Gum arabic + water mixture (about 50/50 mixture of gum arabic and water)
• 1 part: Slacked lime! (After my adventures in frescos, I put some hydrated lime in a big yogurt bucket and covered with water. That was March 17th. There's some nice slacked lime in there now!)
• 1 part: Pigment
• (optional) 1 part: Kaolin clay

All those numbers are really hazy, as I eyeballed everything. I applied the paint to my old wattle and daub miniature house. I really should have taken a true before picture, as a lot of the daub had cracked and some paint was chipping off. Alas, I did not. Here's a waaaay before picture (before the daub and paint cracked...2 years ago).



Here's some of my observations:

• It's really easy to make this mixture way too watery! At first I was matching the amount of gum arabic mixture to the amount lime + pigment. This made a super runny paint! It was more of a lime wash...which would be really hard for kids to use!
• Adding more pigment fixed the runniness issue. This is what I did for the purple color. It made for a much more vibrant color, which was nice. I'm hoping the gum arabic is strong enough to hold both the lime and the pigment together and to the wall!
• When I mixed up new white, I made it too runny again. This time, instead of adding calcium carbonate (white pigment), I added kaolin clay, figuring that clay paint is a thing. Of course, clay paint is usually done with wheat paste to hold it together. But, gum arabic does holding/sticking, so hopefully it'll work. This mixture was nice and thick, and helped smooth over cracks and (maybe) stick some cracked daub pieces together. We'll test whether it actually stuck stuff together tomorrow!
• When I made the yellow paint, I used both kaolin and yellow ocher. Yellow ochre is a a clay, too, so this made for a nice, thick paint. It made things very smooth. The daub, even when not cracked, was still very rough and bumpy. The kaolin clay + pigment made a nice thick paint. The kaolin did lighten the color, though.
• When I did the red, I used red iron oxide for the pigment, and didn't add any clay. I wanted a bright, vibrant red. This was  roughly equal parts pigment, gum arabic mixture, and lime. This mixture was pretty nice, and not made too light by the lime. This red got painted largely over the top of the milk paint.
• I wanted to test the lime paint over the milk paint for a few reasons. (1) some kids will probably want to paint over their milk paint. I should make sure nothing bad happens! and (2) I just really wanted to fix up my little house! Painting is addictive!

I also painted all four colors on a piece of raw daub that had cracked off. We'll see how that does!

Please excuse my terribly un-aesthetic pictures, taken after midnight on my freezer. But, hey, it has my milk paint walls in the background, so that's something!

Another type of food preparedness/pantry is the one we keep outside.

I really like perennial and self-seeding plants, like kale, berries, sorrel, alliums, and fruit trees. They don't take much work, and they survive when life gets crazy and I don't have time to care for them. They also usually pack a lot of vitamins and are expensive when bought in the store!

I really like the edible "weeds" that grow on my property. I can easily encourage them to multiply and create more food/medicine. The nettle is delicious for dinner. The mint helps my husband's Crohn's. The cleavers are good for my psoriasis. The dandelion is good for pretty much everything. Even if I don't have a chance to try and preserve them, I still can eat them for months of the year without much effort at all.

My garden this year might just end up being perennials and some peas, carrots, kale and radishes and potatoes....because they're all like to grow well here and my kids will go outside harvest/eat them without much help. Some years I can do more. More would be better. But, this year is my disaster, and I'm going to be grateful for what I can do, when I can do it.

At this point in my life, I've basically been in survival mode for the past 6 months. Having the extra food stores of food we like to eat and that I can quickly cook has been super helpful.

There's totally ways to level-up my pantry use. I really appreciate Erica Straus' Food Storage For People Who Don’t Hate Food article. It has great advice for organizing and improving food storage for food people actually eat. Writing dates and prices on cans would also be super useful. I'd also love more area to store food.

But, right now, I'm still in the throes of disaster (It's why I've not been on permies much this year). My husband's Crohn's flared up right at the beginning of the school year....the same school year that I increased the amount of classes I'm teaching from 2 to 7. It's been me taking care of my husband, cooking all the meals, homeschooling my kids, creating all the curriculum for my classes, prepping for all my classes, maintaining the house, and teaching my classes. I'm barely able to juggle all the balls I need to juggle. It's a lot like the year that inspired me to write The reality of homesteading has dissolved my "prepper"/homesteading fantasies.

When I prep, it's this sort of life chaos I'm thinking of. Sure, we get 4 day long power outages every few years, and sure, worse things might happen. But, really, I'm preparing for when life goes crazy. When there's not enough money or time. Right now, I'm really grateful for the times I was able to get out to get groceries to buy lots of food my family will eat that's easy to cook. When we were all sick with some horrible crud for two weeks, I was super grateful for the coconut water, broth, tea, and crackers I'd bought when they were on sale.

Sometimes, life is too crazy to do really good food prep. Sometimes it's too crazy to grow a good garden or really organize the pantry. But, there's still stuff we can do that makes life better for "future me." I can buy extra food that my family will eat when it's on sale or at our local Grocery Outlet. Sure, that means I have a bag full of meat sticks sitting in my living room because I don't know where to put it and it's one of the few foods my husband can eat that isn't cooked from scratch. It's not perfect, but it helps!