Joseph P. Bubile

06/19/26--Hello to all newbies....
I am a sometimes poster, but a long time " recyeler of naturally" grown plants....and we, WE all can do this all year long, I think.... You just have to think *outside the box*.....but I really mean INSIDE THE BOX.....
OR THE CAN, garbage can that is....
Find an old one in your area, from alongside the street that is going to the dump.... Snitch it and take it home.....drill some holes in the bottom, a dozen or so, all over....
Now, find a secluded spot in your yard... Between a bush, behind a rose bush.... Anywhere it can HIDE from prying, snooping neighbors...
Even a married member of a family,
wives don't like eyesores.... BUT ...
if you hide it, who's to know.... Get a box or some loose cardboard... Large enough to place the dirt you are going to remove from between the bushes you are going to hide the can behind.... Dig down 12 to 18 inches a hole large enough to place the bottom of garbage can in....save the dirt you excavate, to put in can, ABOUT 4" worth... Now start layering your compost bin with kitchen scraps, chopped up weeds from your yard, broken small branches... Grass clippings, dirt, leaves, dirt, shredded cardboard, dirt, newspaper, dirt.... OH, THAT BEAUTIFUL DIRT.... it has your local worms in it, so now you can build your worm bin in the same container..... anybody, ANYBODY can do this..... Now, remember at the start of this "rant" , I said recycle.... I recycle old broken refrigerators..... MY FIRST recycled frig was in my back yard, in the city.. and NO ONE WAS THE WISER.. I screwed FENCE PICKETS to the visible sides of the frig, painted to the matching decor of the yard ... I currently have (4) of these with compost working and finishing..... These 4 compost units sit under the trees, at back of property line, there are 12 acres a neighbor has that are there....
You leave the doors covering the openings, with or without the hinges connected.... It stops stray dogs, skunks, raccoons and other vermin from accessing....THERE ARE NO SMELLS ...
SIDE NOTE.. Yes, I have the freon,the coils, the compressor removed... I just let the refrig tech carry them with him... MONEY IN HIS POCKET...
THE REFRIGERATOR LIES ON ITS BACK... EASY TO LOAD -- easy to unload...
The composter still operates in cold weather, chugging along, even with snow on it....AND OH, ANOTHER USE FOR A REGRIG....
Now a days, refrigerators come with glass doors... Especially the commercial units that are used in restaurants.... Find one, broken of course, strip it out, legally with a service tech to cut out the "stuff"
NOW, DIG THAT RECESS IN YOUR BACK YARD and place your **seed starting box ** in a sunny place where you can start your coming years plants earlier that anyone else.....

05/30/26--
I just obtained 5 trk loads of power-line chips by one of the big powerline cleaning crews....
Thank you guys....
But my question is, to my world wide teachers here on *permies*...
What mushroom types can I use to help speed up the decomposing of the piles, and be sure they are edible mushrooms for me....
I thought I saw somewhere, that someone is using purchased raised beds of fresh chips to grow edible mushrooms for myself....
This would be even greater, if, said teachers had some good recipes that use other herbs, veggies, and such to add to this thread.....

(Eric Hanson)
I maybe hi jacking but please move or change as needed
Everybody may not know that horse manure most probably has "GRAZON" in it because I found that the hay feed sellers (growers) use it to kill any broadleaf in its fields..
Myself-- i received 45 farm truck loads of stable droppings, from a show stable local to me....I had it spread on a new lot that I purchased that former owner only grew sweet potatoes on it, and only added dry granular fertilizer...
So, needless to say, the rain ran off to the ditches alongside property..
My thought, add wood chips, I did also about 40 or so loads then the horsehocky.....It being 3 ish years, I just found that I can use microbiology to help kill the grazon...
The grazon web site, the half life of the chemicals is around 3 to 6 months, but tilling and adding biologicals kills it even faster....the grazon stunts veggies, as per their website....
So, my question to you, can you put any more light to this trail....your mushroom knowledge might just be the straw that breaks this wide open...
The lot I'm re-building, was a grey-,ish color, sorta course in textures...
Last year, the self seeded plants, grass ?? , grew to about 24" to 30"
tall, a most beautiful green....
And I mowed that over, to hopefully help add tilth to the soil....

Thank you in advance,
Tell me which mushroom type I might use and how...
Thank you
Joe B
joeb082214@gmail.com

Go "Grainger" online, search mineral insulation...
Their # 19NE76 is sheet 2' x  4'  x  
1-1/2"  R 4  sheets...must buy (7) package at about $ 25.00 each...
They have many listed..

I bought some 1" sheets, several years ago for work pads.... They were rated at  (1200 °f ) ...

I work on pizza ovens, can you imagine the heat on your upper arms , if you have to reach in across the open lay-down door ...
I took one sheet, cut in 4 pc,  ( each was 12" x 24"... )  I purchased some cheap cotton pillow cases,  that were 25" wide inside.. by about 30" long.... I placed a 12" pc of insulation inside, had a seamstress sew it up, placed the second piece of insulation in remaining pillow case, and sew it up.... The I had seamstress sew a similar pillow for me out of some hd canvas material I found at Wally world....
Final results, a 2 section heat shield, soft, flexible, about 24" square...
I place a 12" panel on open 500°f door, and I can work easily without burning myself...
NOW, I'M NOT SITTING ON THESE , SO I DO NOT KNOW HOW LONG THEY WILL LAST IN THAT APPLICATION, BUT... THIS MAY WORK FOR YOU..... I love my heat pads... Even though I had to buy a box of 10 pieces, I've used a lot of the insulation by now, best $200.oo spent on my work tools....

03/08/26
Being a service person, the first thing I would check, ( if you purchase) would be the terminal wire connections to the element... Or the other end of those wires feeding the element... A lot of times the terminal ends over heat in a closed & confined space, this heat allows the tension of terminal grip to be lost, and it being loose, causes arcing between terminals and element connector....bam, it's broken....simple fix.....
BUT... If the element is really bad, most commercial parts suppliers have a mfgr code number stamped into the steel sheath.. It will normally be near an end... If you can find that number, it is sometime s possible to get one from a *element manufacturer*...
BUT,,, at $67 for a new element sounds good....
BUT..
If you buy the ©broken machine ©
the test with an ohmmeter should read around (10 ohm)...
I'm guessing the unit plugs into a standard wall outlet... (1000 WATTS) at 120 volts..

On my part, only guesses...
Shipping of broken machine, shipping of parts, ease of disassembly...

Hope this helps....

Joe B.

I am starting to use a ""new"" type apena machine, with a different nose/mouth mask....
My problem is the head band...in 2 hrs, I have woke up, have to remove headband, and go *tinkle*. ...
Then I cannot get back to sleep because I can't get headband re-positioned correctly.... And wearing glasses is a definite problem...with to old mask... The new mask allows use of glasses.. so if I need to read a little bit, I can.....
I also wonder if anyone here, has any info on the "superbeets" being advertised on the *tube*  It says to stop high BP by allowing the veins to grow again, reducing the restrictions of blood flow and pressure....

Thanks for any information...thoughts....

Joe B...

Well, I just recently got to start on my 8th decade a few years back...
And I remember the night time runs as a youngster helping my siblings and my parents to made " honey-pot" trips to the backyard of the 2 acre lot they owned, to bury the semi-solids in the bucket about every other night.... Dig a hole, empty bucket, cover it up......
I can say this is my first HUMANURE adventure.... I just didn't know....
When I got married to my FIRST, I built her a primitive greenhouse...
We sold our first house with the gh, we bought about 3 ac... It was a un-planted, weedy lot......
I mowed, I tilled, I added leaves, grass clippings, "granite dust" ....
   I could not understand why anyone would add poison to their growing space, ( say round stuff, say chemical fert.....
    When I started, the 'dirt' was Carolina orange, no tilth to the dirt..
About the 2nd year, the dirt started changing color to a nice brown, the dark brown....about the 4 the year, I could walk anywhere in garden after a rain, and not worry about muddy shoes..... And beautiful produce, no bug bites, succulent g.
beans..... A 5 gal bucket I would take to farmers market, and get $55.00 a bucket.... They (the vendors) wanted all I grew....
    In the last few years, I bought the land next to my property, I have covered the planting area with 45 or so long bed dumptruck loads of horse stall droppings and another 45 or so truck loads of "" power line "" chips....
    That growing area grew "beautiful" green*chop&drop* weed of some plant.... The most beautiful dark green weed....
     I had my neighbor use his 2 bottom JD, plow it under after I mowed it.... I let it set, had him plow it again after a few rains, and 2 more later I had him disc it.....
.....
A most beautiful planting area this year,   I CAN JUST SEE IT IN MY MINDS EYE.....

I cannot wait till we start ....
Maybe 50 tomato vine, okra, g beans, squash, yellow crock neck,

So I'm off to dream......

This is a heads up to anyone in any city or town of any size that uses "finds"  in their daily life... The FREE things that restaurants throw away as normal trash.....
Here in "Carolina" I service kitchen food processing equipment... When I need a container for storing bulk nuts, bolts, screws, nails & etc...
I can stop on my way out the back door, and remove 1 gallon jugs from the garbage can... MOST ARE CLEAR SEE-THRU PLASTIC for food products like pickles, chow-chow, etc.. Glass gallon jars are used for mayonnaise & etc....
If you want the large #10 can, look to a pizza restaurant.,
But almost any restaurant will have the metal cans, in "fish-house" restaurants, a lot of plastic
see thru containers are used...and find the garbage can when emptied..
Just like the ""coffee shops"' give away spent grounds, if you GIVE ,
YOU WILL GET A POSITIVE RESPONSE....

   DO NOT LEAVE A MESS FOR THE RESTAURANT TO CLEAN UP..

  They have to pay for garbage service to pick up the cast-aways


Have a blessed 2026

Nina Surya wrote:Tell us why where you live is the best place to be (for a permie)!

Is it community? Climate? Culture? Spaceousness? Peace and quiet? Or something else? Let us know!

Nina. 12/28/2025
I have resided in my final earthly location ( Piedmont NC) for over 40+ years... I have changed this section of earth from "orange colored clay/sand ground" to beautiful soil that has TILTH to it...
Smells great, asorbs the falling rain, and you never get muddy shoes if you walk in the garden after a rain..

It depends on what & how motor is used... If we are speaking of a little muffin fan to move equipment cooling air, by all means, verify that it is free spinning, and rotor bearings are not "dragging" or that fan blades are not overloaded with dust & airborne grease residue....IF YOU CAN SPIN FAN BLADE WITH NO POWER ON UNIT, AND IT SPINS FOR A LON-N-N-GGG TIME, I would not change motor... Unless you had other problems like the capacitor...
Oh, here we go testing.... And the meter steps into the mix ..... The BEST one, is the one you understand... But in the homeowner trying to save a buck, it will take you a long time to recover the tool (meter) cost....
LET ME EXPLAIN:: I am a repair technician..... ABSOLUTELY NOT ON ANY FREON OPERATING SYSTEMS...
I repair restaurant equipment, ovens, fryers, dishwashers, grills, booster heaters, heat lamps.... Exhaust fans, can openers, KitchenAid mixers @ 5 quart, to mixers of 140 quart size, pizza dough rollers, dough dividers, meat tenderizers, hamburger grinders....
Getting back to your trouble shooting, the motor you are testing, what are you looking for
All motors draw current, oh heck, here we go, there is also voltage, and circuit resistance.... All part of the motor being operated.... SO, WHAT METER ?? In this scenario, I would go with the least expensive "amprobe" style meter, with the newer digital upgrade....
From Lowes, the Ideal brand, is a *backup* I carry in my tool arsenal on my service vehicle... It reads AC amps, ( amp-clamp )volts ( test leads), & resistance (test leads), plus DC volts( test leads) but no "amp-clamp" for the DC...
This will provide all the information you need for household testing...

Now, back to the troubleshooting...
1. You need to know *run amps*
2. Start amps
3. Voltage supplied
4. Voltage drop, running...
5. Voltage under load
6. ""Rating plate"" max loading amps..

The little "muffin fan"" will draw a very, very small amount of amps...
Any amprobe style meter will barely be able to display it....but,.. you can see it if you will put an amplifier in the test set-up....
(Now comes the magic of being a little bit hocus-pokus) involved...

Get some nylon zip ties, about 6" size...
Get about 36" of insulated, stranded wire ( 14 or 16 gauge )
Make a coil with exactly 10 turns or loops... About the size of a toilet paper tube....zip tie the loops to make a coil DO NOT TWIST THE WIRES TOGETHER IN MAKING THE DONUT SHAPED COIL....
Now remove insulation from last 1/2" of coil leads....
Disconnect ONE of the wires going to muffin fan motor (it doesn't matter which wire....) and connect your magic coil to the wire you removed, and other end of magic coil wire to where your muffin fan was connected.... (Use wire nuts, if you have some) If no wire nuts, tape so nothing touches any bare wires and surfaces...
NOW, TAKE YOUR AMPROBE, squeeze the clamp arm, put open "snout" thru the coil, and release clamp handle...
Set your amprobe to the lower scale, now turn on the muffin fan....
If the muffin fan was drawing
.1 amp, (which you could not see meter deflecting) before, now with magic coil, will show about 10x the reading... Or maybe 1 amp.....


Have I twisted your mind around....

We always look to see if the motor draws current. ... If not, go to next item to test..

In the larger motors, say 1/4 hp, 1/3 hp...
With your amprobe, open jaw, include ONE wire of motor you are testing...

((normally you want to see the meter display up to about 3X the RUN current, when the motor first starts))

Where do we get the "run current" number, from motor data plate...

The 1/4 HP motor with a squirrel cage fan blade would draw about
5 amp... So starting amps would be around 15 amps ... ""And this is just for the initial start of the motor rotor turning...""

Hopefully you understand my way of explaining just one little nugget of troubleshooting....
Joe B...