Janeen Reavis

Potatoe poultice worked great for me for new burns and left no scars. I have tried Bag Balm and it worked for an older scar but it was quite small. I have experimented with cold pressed hexane free organic castor oil with different essential oils (like Francinsence, etc) and also a combination of other oils with and without castor such as carrot seed oil, jojoba oil, black seed oil, sesame oil (was great), shea butter, batana oil {palm). I have skin cancer scars and scars from an operation on my face. The castor oil worked wonders for some of the wrinkles and is very deep penetrating and I feel it helped my cancer scars but I first had to get all the cancer out from under the skin. Now it is in the process of healing. It was quite deep. Beef tallow cream although a little oily for me, has improved the skin a lot. I have heard about Tepezcohuite for burns and restoring skin, but it is hard to find natural organic versions of it. I found some powder but haven't been able to mix it and try it yet. My biggest problem is time and consistency with self care. I travel and am too busy and I need to make time for self care and be very persistent with it. Aloe Vera has been good to me. It used to burn my skin, but I think because I make it myself and I found one organic one that I purchased, that the "real" stuff is helping me. I put that on first and then apply either the beef tallow or other oils. I have not revisited bag balm for my face. I used that on an old scar on my arm years ago, so maybe I should try it. There are two things I want to try : Hyssop and the other one is Helichrysum (maybe mixed with geranium) essential oil.  I have very fair skin with freckles and I used to burn in the sun often as a child. Good luck to you in your efforts!

Amit Enventres wrote:I have the opportunity to help design a school garden. We are getting input from the stakeholders (kids, teachers, community) but the more input the better.

I do garden design and work with another school garden, which is why I was put to the task. Since we can do about anything that fits in the designated area, I am looking for input.  Especially on the aspect of setting up raised beds by class or by subject matter.

At first we talked about having it by class because that's how most public schools are organized, but we are fighting a battle of "garden" is not a subject that gets tested, therefore unless the science teacher has it in their curriculum, it's not useful.

We also plan on using the produce during summer to create a CSA and fund the garden, thus growing enough edibles is a constraint too.  We will be trialing one garden CSA this year.

As for the organization:
Art is subject easy enough to make a bed for.
Ecology could be a small food forest.
Lifecycle could be some quail.
Math could be a square foot bed and the produce stand.
What about English, Political Science, History, etc.?

Thanks!

History could be about the historical/traditional plants grown in your area and their uses, so you can plant native or historical plants. English for the correct spelling/labeling of the plant names and have a display that has a sentence or two about the nutritional or medicinal values of any plants.

I only have a large city lot to work with but we are allowed a small amount of chickens and bees. But i can still create 3 zones in this space.

Question: I have a "conventional" home in Cary NC where it is extremely humid in the summer and snow in winter. My house has a sloped crawlspace (where water heater, dehumidifier and furnace/a/c and furnace vents , plumbing are located. It is a concrete block foundation and brick exterior on the main level, then siding on the 2nd story. Timber framing. I want to remodel my home one room at a time by removing the sheet rock and insulation and mixing just hemp hurds with clay (not lime) and water to form the walls/insulation and then put clay plaster as the finish. Is this doable? Is it ok to put the clay/hemp right up against the exterior brick and timber framing? Is there any moisture issues with doing that? Eventually I want to remove the flooring and fill the crawlspace with rock, sand and earth and top with hemp/clay ?? for a finished breathable earthen floor and relocate the water heater and hopefully remove the dehumidifier. Since I have timber framing for the structural aspect of it and I understand hemp is not structural (although the clay should be sturdier than lime) would this be ok??? Is it possible to do this from the inside out? Since it is winter now, I would like to do the interior walls and save any exterior projects for the summer. Thoughts???

Im going to start experimenting with hemp hurds and clay. Ive read some articles on it and it seems like it works, even more structurally load bearing than hempcrete/hemp lime...?? It sounds like the biggest factor is just drying time. I want to rip out all the sheet rock & insulation in my home and replace the insulation and walls with this natural product and put 3 coats of clay plaster/paint (?) on it. I have a brick exterior on the lower half of my home, timber framed house (also needs some plumbing and electrical work). I want to make cobb showers/baths, I had read somewhere that cobb can be waterproofed, so if anyone has any information on remodeling an existing home to a cobb or clay hemp home I am very interested. I just want to live in a natural healthy home, that breathes. I have a lot of clay soil right in my backyard. I also want to permaculture the front and back yards and have a food farm. I live in Cary NC if anyone has resources, ideas , I would appreciate the help. I also have some trees that need to be removed, but dont have a budget for that yet, I would like the trees to be used for wood projects/products or given to someone who needs them.
I read about a company in NY that is putting hemp clay or cobb on walls inside old brick homes...covering up the brick on the inside...is that doable? Does there need to be a gap/vapor barrier  between the brick and the clay/hemp??

Oregon born and raised on a farm of 180 some odd acres with gardens, orchard, chickens, pigs, sheep and then beef cattle. Left it all and life took its turns, now wanting to return to the good life after living in the city all these years. Currently living in California, the Monterey Bay Area and travel to Santa Cruz, and the SF Bay area depending on work. I discovered Permaculture a few years ago and signed up for Geoff Lawton's Permaculture course, which I haven't been able to finish yet, but which is one of my goals for 2015 , so I 'm a Newbie. I'm currently "stuck" to this part of the world my for about 2 more years (last kid will be going off to college about that time). I have a large family from my previous marriage, all grown and starting their families, a few still in college and one last one to go...
So farm girl, worked in customer service, then family, then back to work in Technology, then Real Estate and trying to figure out how to get out of the rat race I've been living. I'm in my 50's. My current hero's are
William McDonough (architect who believes we can solve all our problems with correct design), Geoff Lawton, Sepp Holzer, Paul Wheaton, Bill Mollison. My dream is to create "Heaven on Earth" via Permaculture, help build homes that are TOTALLY off grid self sustaining and aesthetically pleasing (or instead of building new, just take the crap we have now and re-do it to that standard) and in my really old age, I'd like to travel the world and help rejuvenate our world and teach others how to live via permaculture. So this is me.