Tess Daniels

Oh my! Do you have a sweet tooth ever? I like to freeze banana slices and then serve them in a bowl with some tahini spooned on top. Or! How a bout make your own halvah....super easy. Look for recipes on line. I've made it several times and been very happy with the results.

Well...I'm not building. I bought ( about 25 years ago) the only house I could afford. It was built by a drunk clam digger and he did a decent job considering he wasn't a pro carpenter, worked with scavenged materials and had no plan....as far as I can tell. He put in dinky windows and the house is in the middle of the woods. As soon as I could afford it, I bought 2 skylights each 2'x4' and had them put in for some light! It's dark at 4:30 here on the coast of Maine and these skylights are still going strong and do not leak. I am planning to put bubble wrap over them (inside) as an extra measure of insulation for the winter which we have just entered. I vote for light but as you are planning to build in the future you have many choices.

Hey! I have a leak coming down my wall under some circumstances. I thought it was a skylight, but now it looks like maybe some flashing issue? I gooped really well around the skylight earlier and I still get water on the wall below it. On the roof, which is nearly flat, there is some flashing that may need to be taped and gooped...may be the problem. Any suggestions on the pros and cons of the various goops available? They really run the gamut in price. Rubber vs tar wannabes, etc. I'd take a picture but my 'puter skills are so limited. How to put it up here? I'll see if I can enlist some help with that. By the way, I'm so grateful to have a roof in any case!

Hey all! Thanks for all the input because it 's really helped me make up my mind! I'm sticking with my 5 gal. bucket system .

Guess I'm leaning towards continued use of my trusty buckets. I have never had a smell issue with them and have used a variety of cover materials. My gardens have been happy with the results. I just had been wondering  if while I wasn't looking some newer happier version of a composting toilet had sprung up that didn't need a fundraiser to buy.

HOWDY! so years ago I ripped out my flush toilet and began a bucket system composting of human waste. My system was pee indoors, poops outdoors in a telephone booth size outhouse. Both buckets empty into a composting pile. I've done this for at least 20 years with no problems on the coast of Maine. Now I am considering a composting toilet for indoors for the whole shebang, but would like the simplest one. I've read that non electric can be smelly and that is not acceptable. The reason I'm considering this is that I'm concerned about not slipping on snow or ice if I'm in  a hurry to get outdoors to the poop shack. Maybe just doing all  the business in one bucket isn't such a big deal? I can still safely empty my bucket into the compost daily if needed. I don't want to put out the expense for an indoor composting toilet if they are more trouble than they appear to be in their advertising. Gimme some feedback here please!

WOW!!! I'm so grateful for all the advice received over night for my question about a solar generator. since my primary concern is for the pump to my well, I clearly have some more thinking to do. Seems like in my case the well system and my other objectives (modem/laptop/phone) need to be dealt with differently. I want to thank everyone for all the advice and taking the time to answer my question.

Howdy. I'm on the coast of Maine and have a small house and don't use much electricity. I'm thinking of getting a'portable solar generator' for blackouts. I really wanted a Bison hand pump for my well, but the cost of it and installation would be on a par with a small portable solar generator. A generator could handle a lot more tasks than a hand pump. I'm just starting to gather info. Anyone out there have one they like ? My needs are : pump the water, power the laptop which my phone works through, maybe run a light. I heat with wood and use candles or flashlights now when the electric goes down. Longest it was out for was 5 days. Generally the electric goes down during winter storms, so keeping food cold is not a problem. Thanks for any info you can give me on this.

WOW! on the repairs of your fave jacket. How much are you selling it for? JUST JOKING. The beauty  of it's history is there. Our ancestors philosophy of 'waste not, want not' comes into play. Best of all, it can still be your personal favourite work jacket.

Sweet job on the repair! I'm getting ready to redo a long wool coat that I've had about 33 years by cutting off the bottom and making it into a thigh length jacket which I am sure I'll use much more often than the way it is now.