Alli Sheldon

How can anyone teach a quality knowledge filled class in a week's time & expect to be able to teach all there is for someone to become a "master gardener"? And I'm not talking about including any chemical related stuff in there. This would have to be an all day every day thing. I didn't see the link for more info on said class. Is it in person only? Is it online & in person for tours? Is it online only? What's the cost?

As for the Poll. I would suggest before people start planting crops, whether in their homes, greenhouses or in the ground. Or after they've done cleaned up the garden & prepped it for the next year, that way they can focus their attention on the course, especially if it's only 1 week. I unfortunately couldn't attend in person, I don't have the kind of money it takes to take an expensive course, lodging for said course for the entire time, etc. But always up for learning more.
So, I am up for a non-rushed course, that happens before or after my irrigation/gardening/harvesting/process/starting seedlings, etc. )

Destiny Hagest wrote:

Alli Sheldon wrote:so is that a yes it can be used, as long as your not using normal laundry detergent? or no it can't be? Kind of confusing.

It's really unclear to me too, but I'm guessing no, it can't be. The way I see it, I would't put it on my plants, so I'm sure it's not good for them. I use very specific detergent that's extremely eco friendly and still gets diapers clean, but even then, I'd feel funny about it. I'm not sure what the solution is to this problem.

Yeah, that's what i'm thinking too. I mean......when i was taking some Ag classes at my local college (years ago) we did a tour of a "pond" area on our campus where they created a (BIG) area where they used various plants to "filter" water to get rid of sediment, toxins & a variety of things (I forget now what all this other group was doing) but they had great success, but also wasn't grey water that they were filtering. I've read on other sites that filtered grey water & had it going off in one area to be pumped elsewhere. But looking at the run off from our grey water (which includes some mighty gross stuff from the sink) & what comes out when we have had to unplug the drain (its either due to a broken pipe with roots growing into it or way too many elbows--which is my thought) I can't picture using this water without a big huge area to let the water to gather & have a lot of water loving plants (like cattails, etc) that also are known for filtering water before using it & that's not going to be a small task or a quick one to accomplish & definitely not one most people would be able to set up on a small place. I know we can't even though we've got a good size are that we could create a pond, getting the landlord to use their backhoe to create a good size pond for us for this to be a useful thing, just isn't a possibility.... I could use a different source of laundry soap, but i haven't found anything that works with our very hard water to get our clothes clean yet. I guess i'll go do some more searching on this topic to see if i can find something more specific on this topic

I had to giggle as i read some of the pros & cons......my chickens from the time they basically out grew their saw horse A framed "coop" (which once they matured didn't take long) became 100% free range. They still used their A frame (which held 6 sort of) to roost in. But as the flock grew, they chose other places to be. Which turned out to be the carport LOL We did Egg hunts daily because we also didn't have a nesting box for them (waited on hubby to build it, my dad finally did it a few yrs ago) so for about 6 yrs they have been 100% range free. The only predator problem has been my landlord dogs. One dog he had killed my first bunch of hens leaving me with only 3 just as they were starting to lay, then a few yrs after that, he finally got our only rooster taking him right in front of my kids, which was the last straw for this issue. Then they got a couple more dogs that once they got bigger started causing issues (we're surrounded with birds of prey, coyotes, foxes & even a skunk on occasion & a lot of wild & feral cats). But it was just their dogs, well they started messing with the landlord's & his sons cows too. But since they no longer had dogs...I've only lost a few to the deep freezes. And I think our (new) landlord has confiscated a few that have wondered over to his (used to be his dads) house.
My dad turned our old RV into a chicken coop, complete with their own entrance & one for us. And when we move, we'll be able to drive off with it too I put in tiles to make the floor easier to clean (its too slick for them, so i have to find a way to scuff it up a bit). Some go back in on their own, the rest go on the old nesting boxes under the carport to roost on of a night so we have to carry them back to the RV. We still have to do an egg hunt or will, they are just now starting to lay again. They have some protection from the weather in the RV, but i think they prefer to be outside completely & outside of having one heck of a mess on the carport to get cleaned up......i think they did better outside. I'd like to make tunnels for them to access my garden without eating my plants or the seeds, but haven't got that creative yet. Maybe with making raised garden beds, it'll be easier to protect the crops & then i won't have to worry about creating tunnels

so is that a yes it can be used, as long as your not using normal laundry detergent? or no it can't be? Kind of confusing. We rent too & I don't know how the new landlord would feel about us altering things. His dad (the original landlord) already had the grey water (kitchen sink, dishwasher, wash machine) separated from the septic, why he didn't separate the shower & bath tub from it too is beyond me. He told me one time that the grey water would fill up the septic too fast (& I'm thinking so would a tub & shower) & the chemicals from the dish soap & laundry soap will kill the bacteria in the septic (& I'm thinking, so would the soap for bubbles & washing ourselves). Ideally, i'd like to re-route the tub & shower water to the grey water pipe, but i think that'd be a huge mess to pipe into (for some reason the kitchen & washer, etc. pipe goes from the east side of the house back to the west of the house (at least 1/2 way back of the house) & then out to the north before going back to the east & at some point going north again to the field. And drains openly.....
I'd like to change the piping if we get our own place that way we could divert all grey water out of the septic & filter it naturally (cat tails & other similar plants work great on filtering such water)& be able to use it on the garden or even the yard, but chances of convincing my husband to do something like that will be next to impossible, UNLESS we have to do repairs on said pipes
I did not marry an "adventurous" man when it comes to such "changes"

I was wondering if anyone had commented here anytime recent (shows 3 yrs ago as the "beginning" LOL) finally made it back to a more current post I've never really had an issue with peeing outside, as a kid or as an adult, I've always tried for a little privacy when i've had to do it. The only issue or concern i had, was if i had to poop. If my 15 yr old read this forum he'd probably give me a "See, I was fertilizing the yard with what i used to do" sort of look. LOL Of course if i would have found this blog 11 yrs ago, we would have been right on track.
I taught all 3 of my boys to "water" grandpa's tree when they were old enough to hold their hoses, grandpa (my dad) has a "spot" out by his shop that he pee's at (we all pee at) when we're out & can't wait or don't want to go clear into the house to do the deed. As a kid/teen, I used it frequently....height of laziness some would say. But that's how they all got potty trained, by going outside to water the weeds or the trees & then we worked on 'aiming' inside using the toilet. My daughter......try as i might, she adamantly hates to pee outside in anything other than the outhouse (if we're out on an adventure), she'd rather burst a bladder than to pee out in the wilderness. I've tried since she was a little bitty thing too. One time we went out on an adventure & we both really had to go, but the forest toilet's were too far away to walk to & i wasn't going to try to get back to the truck squeeze my bladder into a seat to go to a stinky outhouse. So i told her to suck it up & let's do it over there off the bank by a tree. Of course........her brothers thought we found something great & had to come investigate. I told them unless they wanted to see their mom's big bare butt, they best relocate themselves. So for my daughter she's totally in need of privacy & less of an obvious "splash" area than i am. As long as the wind doesn't come up the wrong direction & make things splash on my pants (which has happened ) I'm good. I seemed to have had a bigger problem when i was doing long haul trucking with my x-husband & had to go, the only "hidey hole" i had was the tires & they weren't very supportive if you were using the rim to lean against or hide in LOL That was the first time I had an issue with privacy LOL I didn't want to have a cop pull over behind us (especially while i was in the midst of my work) to question what we were doing & why were we doing it LOL At night wasn't too bad, except when it was windy & cold....not good times then LOL
I might have to see if i can get one of those "shewee" things (i hate the name) for my daughter to see if it'd help her any. Could have used one of those when i was over the road LOL we only had the bottle or the hose & the hose wasn't exactly created for women to be using