Diana Marmont

Angel Hunt wrote: If you do not find a life partner in school, it becomes infinitely harder to do so after you graduate because there are few places where an adult can meet other people with enough regularity to develop intimacy and affectionate feelings. There are very few adult community groups that allow for pressure-free socializing where dating is not the over-arching goal.

This is so true. Even the activities the local library used to host that were in-person are now almost all online. They host things for teens that are in person but nothing for adults.

If you don’t work outside the home or drink at bars regularly or attend church regularly the odds of meeting an interesting adult to date are probably astronomical.

What’s wrong with dating?

So, so many things.

The last time I turned on my dating profile I turned it off again within the week. I got my first blatant wanna f- message in under an hour, an all new record.  I’m pretty open minded about things but if we don’t have the same life or relationship goals it’s not going to work and I'm not interested in investing a bunch of time and emotional energy into something that isn’t going to work.

Chatted with one guy and in the course of the chat he told me he’d “have to” “Jedi mind trick” me into doing something that I've had ample opportunities to do but very definitely don’t want to do. Ummm…gee thanks for letting me know you don’t respect boundaries right off the bat. I told him it was cool if he wanted to do the thing but I wasn’t going to and if he couldn’t respect that I wasn’t the girl for him. 🤷🏼‍♀️ I wasn’t the girl for him.

Honestly, I think that’s what’s wrong with dating and society today. People aren’t willing to accept and respect other people’s decisions and boundaries. If someone is actively anti- something I’m pro- (or vice versa) in their 40s and beyond, I assume it’s *highly unlikely* that anything I say or do will change their minds. Maybe they’ll get new information or have an experience that will change their mind but arguing my pov is not gonna do it. That’s cool. I’ve got people in my life who I absolutely, totally disagree with on some core issues. I’m not gonna date them but I love and respect them because I know where their pov comes from and they aren’t trying to manipulate me into changing my mind.

I’m not everyone’s cup of tea but I’m possibly someone’s shot of whiskey. And if not someone else’s, I like whiskey. 😉

Definitely. I spent weeks a couple years ago digging through the USDA GRIN looking for seeds from around the world at the same latitude and similar altitudes. Short growing season plus a zone 5 is fun to try to plan for.

Definitely not the most fun I’ve had but it was interesting and hopefully some of what I earmarked will be available when I’m able to actually work on the project.

Happy Hill is available via GRIN just search here : https://npgsweb.ars-grin.gov/gringlobal/search

Not suited to where I’m growing though because it is 116 days from emergence to flower… no chance it will get done in the grow season I’m facing. :-/

Who/what is the us source for happy hill rice?

Happy Hill is actually the result of a cross of an ancient Burmese glutinous rice crossed with a Japanese non glutinous rice per The Road Back to Nature p156. Based on the square meter he’d cultivated, he expected a metric ton of rice per quarter acre presumably via do-nothing methods. If those numbers proved accurate a small scale farm could grow enough rice to be marketable locally or provide for one’s family without dedicating your entire garden to the effort.

I just happen to be working on finishing Road Back to Nature, so had the info at my finger tips. Least favorite Fukuoka book ever, but there are still gems buried in it.

Taking Happy Hill with its potentially high yields and crossing with a local variety may yield the best results in the end. I’m thinking a cross with a shorter season variety (if such exists) would be good for where I’d be growing it.

My mother and I own property in Northeastern Washington state. USDA Zone 5b and situated at about 3200 feet in elevation. Trying to figure out a few things so we can make progress on the build this Spring/Summer. Winter temps can be as low as -20F and summer temps have reached 109F on occasion. Property is on the grid but it is a vulnerable grid which has been taken offline for several days at a time during the summer for maintainence. It’s also been down due to major storms, wildfires, etc. There is a small, dry hunting cabin on the property but we’ll be building something more substantial for full-time occupancy.

Geo-thermal (with appropriate insulation) seems like a good option to help keep inside temperatures within liveable ranges should the grid fail.  That said,  I’m wondering how deep we’ll need to dig and if there’s a way to figure out how deep our actual bedrock is. The properties above and below us have very little topsoil ( like less than 12”) but our property seems to have acted as a catchment for a lot of the soil from above us. I know I’ve been able to dig several 2 foot holes in the past and the company that installed our septic system didn’t have any issues.

Is there an online resource that has average earth temperatures at various latitudes and depths?  Any low tech  tricks for determining how far down your bedrock is? What’s the cheapest way to do a geothermal system? I really liked the geothermal system the Raney’s did on Homestead Rescue but not sure how well that design really performs. We’ll want to have a way to power any fans with solar or battery due to the previously mentioned grid issues.

I'm looking forward to getting my hands on this book. We are using "loveable loos" on our new property. We currently have one small dog and a puppy, who won't be so small for long.

Given the amount of aging and the volume of 2 adult humans (sometimes with 2 almost adult humans) vs 2 very small dogs (who do most of their business where we can't find it), I've been tossing it into the humanure compost. No pet food here, they eat people quality food, so no concerns about heavy metals.

I'd originally planned to compost their waste separately but realized it would take forever to have a big enough volume for hot compost.

Like the idea of a worm bin for it, but does the bin smell initially? Moisture control is an issue right? As well as temperature (not too hot, not too cold)?

My new property is in Zone 5b, Northeastern WA. Half of the precipitation we'll get is in the winter months and I'd like to come up with a way to catch/store as much as possible to use during the summer months for crop production/livestock.

We have a well that will provide us with sufficient water for in-home use, but during the peak growing season we're not sure how we'll get by. The well is a lower flowing well, yielding about 0.33gpm. Enough for a few people living without flush toilets, but not enough to be frivolous with it.

I've thought about a 'pond' that snow can be shoveled to and snow melt can be routed to with trenches, but something that requires less regular effort on my part would be greatly appreciated. I'd like to not have to rely on the well for irrigation needs at all, given WA state 'legalities' regarding water rights, but rainwater catchment is legal.

Based on historic averages, we're looking at about 8.5" of precipitation from October to March, months where it is highly likely to be frozen. We'll get about 8.4 from April to September.

Is it worth the effort to try to capture at least a portion of the water from the snowfall?

I'm in a similar situation, although my climate is not as severe as OPs. Zone 5b. Most of the precipitation we'll get is in the winter and I'd like to come up with a way to catch/store as much as possible to use during the summer months for crop production/livestock. We have a well that will provide us with sufficient water for in-home use, but during the peak growing season we're not sure how we'll get by.

I've thought about a 'pond' that snow can be shoveled to and snow melt can be routed to, but something that requires less regular effort on my part would be greatly appreciated. I'd like to not have to rely on the well for irrigation needs at all, given WA state 'legalities' regarding water rights.