Sadie West

R Scott wrote:
But we still have way too much that ends up at the landfill. Ours is free (built into our property taxes) so there isn't a huge financial incentive for us to change, just our conscious.

I comfort myself about landfills, remembering that oil is being pumped up and used regardless, and putting it back in the ground as plastic is better than it being burned as fuel.

A few more ideas about rolling a barrel.

With a suitable incline and barrel, you could fill the barrel at the top of the incline, roll it down for agitation. At the foot of the incline, drain the water; then you carry the empty barrel and the clothes back up to the top and fill it again. With a longer incline and a barrel that had drain holes in it, by the time the barrel had rolled to the foot of the incline, the water would be drained and the rotation of the barrel would be 'slapping' the clothes around to give some 'wringer' action.

Having plenty of water pressure at both top and foot of the incline, instead of a second roll for rinsing, at the foot of the incline I'd spread the clothes on an old bedframe or something, hose them down as a rinse, and then let the sun and air bring them on to dry enough for easy handling.

Hm, all this has got me thinking....  I have an exercise device that can lift a several gallon container of water up to about 20' height. The problem is that it would not agitate as I lower it. It is just a rope and pulley, so it can only lift the weight straight up. I wonder if I could add something that would let it down in jerks

Chuck Zinda wrote:There are many sizes of bags available. Working on trail maintenance crews, we hung our dishes from a hook. I think this is the simplest method.

With the bar mounted on a swivel, this could hang over the sink while actively dripping, then be swung off to the side while using the sink for something else, then swung back for getting the dishes out as needed.

With two bags and two bars (and maybe two swivels) while one finishes dripping you could start another bag filling with freshly wet dishes.

And/or, the full, finished bag/bar could be lifted off and stored somewhere else.

It's at https://www.riversports.com/rs/product_detail/365/DRE-Dish-Drying-Mesh-Bag-Camp-Kitchen-Rafting-Camping

Dale Hodgins wrote: I had a dog who enjoyed the job immensely. She spread vegetable waste all over the floor and pushed dishes clear across the room with her tongue. Worst of all there was a slimy "dog spit" residue that is just as hard to clean as grease.

When I had a dog, I just set the dish/skillet outside*. Occasionally the dog didn't finish one in a day, so I left it there a week or so till something else did. Probably slugs; it was polished super spotless. Or raccoons, as I didn't feel slug-track slime. I rinsed them good in hot water just in case.

* Unless there was a lot of oil in the skillet, in which case I set it in the kitchen trash to drain most of the oil off, before offering it to the dog.

I've been using a more or less Jenkins loo and pallet-bin for about a year with no problems. Lazy and cutting a lot of corners.

In the bathroom instead of loose sawdust etc I'm using sawdust pellets, sold for fuel or animal bedding. Not dusty, but as soon as the pellets get wet they expand and fill the gaps between them.

I line the bucket with Al-Pack compostable 13 gal bags available from Jenkins's site. When the bucket is about half full, I tie off the top of the bag to prevent sloshing and just in case of me dropping the bucket. At the bin, I set down the bucket, hoist out the bag, sling the full bag on top of the pile, and then add some fresh straw to cover it. The bucket doesn't need cleaning.

I haven't tried including kitchen garbage or wet green matter. In rainy times I partially cover the bin. Using all the pee,I figure the danger would be too wet a mix if much rain came in. As is, I haven't noticed any smell or flies or leakage all year.

Larisa Walk wrote:Here's a PDF of our system: http://www.geopathfinder.com/ASimpleBucketSystemForHumanWastes.pdf

Thanks, Larisa. Can you tell about what happens inside those recycled plastic bin composters? Does any liquid leak out? Can a large rolling trash bin of similar size be used instead? Without separating pee and poop, could more (dry) carbon take care of the extra liquid?

I'm downsizing but leaving a non-working fridge and microwave in place as kitchen storage. What should I be prepared for in the way of mold, etc? A dish of rice pudding in the microwave quickly developed mold. After I clean out the totally moldy fridge, can I treat it to keep mold from coming back? Or are there certain items that can never be stored there, such as fresh veg, salad dressings, and other wet things on the "don't need refrigeration" list?

C. Letellier wrote:My mother when she lived on the mountain had what they called the spring house. It was simply an insulated building over a small spring that always ran. It maintained about 45 to 50 degrees. In the summer the water cooled the building and in the winter it heated it.

I've noticed this winter that my unpowered hot tub is constantly about 46F. It sits on the ground with only about 3" of insulation. This has been a mild (Seattle) winter, no snow, occasional frost, lots of ambient lows around 25-35F.