David Huang

Tommy Bullard,
I have merged your topic into this topic. I hope that helps.

Pole

I've been following Chris Martenson's work since about 2008.  I often like to say that Peak Prosperity tends to focus on the 3 E’s (Economy, Energy, Environment) from more of a macro level where Permies tends to deal with these issues on a more personal/household micro level.  

I should probably add that from what I can tell this seminar is aimed at bringing the macro concepts down to the actionable personal/household level.

Silo

Wild

Yesterday I was gone all day, eating out, and failed to consume anything I grew or foraged myself.  Today though I set about finding ways to use a monster green cabbage from my latest CSA pickup.  I did a big pot of cabbage soup and used garlic and some dehydrated Jerusalem artichokes.  Then flying by the seat of my pants I tried making a vegan cheesy cabbage casserole.  As part of the cashew based vegan "cheese" sauce I used some fennel seeds and dried sage from my garden.  Surprisingly the casserole turned out really good.  I think I've got to tweak the soup some to make it better yet.  Regardless I'll be eating these for at least a few days this coming week.

I was quite happy to realize I had the dried Jerusalem artichokes as I had forgotten about them.  They will make it much easier for me to do this challenge until spring and new growies!  I also saw I have dried kale and mustard I've been neglecting to use, not to mention a pile of hickory nuts I've gathered but not set about shelling.  Oh, and then there is the acorn meal I worked to hard to harvest and process a few years ago but then never really developed ways to use.  This challenge should provide some motivation to find ways to start using all this food!

Meld

I've never used one of these so I don't know for certain, but I think you are right Pearl that the barrel pole could be shorter.  He does say that this pole could be weaker wood where as the lever pole needed to be sturdy.  So that would confirm that the barrel pole does not get a lot of leverage requiring force on it.  

My mother used to use slivers of old soap bars like Opal just mentioned, to mark fabric for sewing/cutting.

I use the bits to make laundry soap as several others have already mentioned.  The one tidbit I'd add is that I find trying to grate it into tiny bits rather challenging with the thin brittle scraps I get.  I found instead that if I take them to my cutting board and use a large knife to try and slice off thin pieces I can make those tiny pieces much easier.  The soap doesn't really cut off in thin pieces because it is hard and brittle.  Instead those thin strips just shatter into bits rather like the gratings would be.  These seem to melt easier than larger chunks esp. if I first heat them in a pot with just a little water.  Once it's all melted I'll add more hot water as needed for my laundry soap.