Tereza Okava

Ulla Bisgaard wrote:If you cut them before they have died down, you remove an important source of food, from the plants. Both the asparagus and the rhubarb.

Yeah, neither of mine die down. Individual leaves die off but it's never the whole plant. I just don't cut either, hopefully I'm not doing anything wrong. We just had a frost last night and they're both happy, so I have no idea.

Sarah Joubert wrote:
When you say "parafin" I presume you mean  "liquid parafin" which is a lubricant  and not "lamp oil" used in storm lanterns for light

I actually have a lamp that runs on liquid paraffin, so now I'm confused!! This stuff was a wax, it was solid and had to be melted in a heater-bath type thingy.
This explains it, you can probably figure it out from there.  https://www.kingstonandrichmond.nhs.uk/patients-and-families/patient-leaflets/paraffin-wax-hand-therapy

Burra Maluca wrote:the work is too great for the return and there aren't enough hungry people around to do it.

If the cost of food goes up 10x that will change!

We are at a time right now (and also considering, in this thought experiment) a situation where the calculations of whether something is worth our time or not may be shifting.
I make a point of growing only things that aren't dirt cheap to buy, but as things change that cost/benefit shifts. This year when the price of olive oil went sky-high we started using a lot more home-rendered lard and schmalz from the meat we buy. We don't get buckets of it, but we have enough to cook with.

Even if olives aren't an option climate wise, I have seen videos of people pressing sunflowers to get oil, or making oil from peanuts or coconuts.

But the most permie option, I think, is community. Trading a rabbit for some lard, trading some oil for some potatoes. Whenever people talk about self sufficiency there's always concern about not being able to get everything off one's own land. You truly can't grow everything, or make everything, or do everything. But knowing who does/has/knows, and having something to offer in return, fills in the holes.

awwww. this time of year between this and your gift thread (do teachers get the best gifts or what) i am feeling nostalgic. i don't often miss teaching, but i had a great time teaching high school (due to the fabulous students i was lucky enough to work with).

Jill Dyer wrote:Am I allowed to have pen envy? .

No kidding, here I am with my tactical pen that can break a window if my car goes into a frozen lake, but it doesn't even have a flashlight. I want my money back!

I have to agree- learn skills. Trades, how to do things. Many employment agencies have information about trade schools and often the trade unions have apprenticeship and training programs for people under a certain age (I seriously looked at a bricklayer apprenticeship when I was in my 20s and sometimes wonder what life would have been like....).
Agroecology has components that include plumbing, electricity, heavy equipment use, etc. I think the more you know how to do, the more options you have.

Sarah, my dog and I both had severe arthritis at the same time (his hips, my hands), so i feel your pain. I did give the dog the special cartilage pills and some sort of "ocean oil" that was supposed to have all the goodies in it. He didn't show any difference, but I also don't think that at his advanced age new cartilage was going to grow. I eventually stewed up chicken feet for him (he was too old to eat them raw, kept getting hurt) and at least he was a stew-eating happy old man for his final years.
I did use the capsaicin cream and drank a lot of turmeric tea for myself. (there are a few good threads about turmeric for inflammation, with people having good results). I also can't recommend highly enough temperature therapy- soaking the hands in very warm water, especially with Epsom salts. Massage with warm oil or cream. My physical therapist set me up with paraffin soaks one time (you simply put your hands in warm paraffin, keep them there for a while, and later take it off) and it was absolutely magical. My one hand has since been surgically resolved but today is starting our southern hemisphere winter and as I type I can feel the other hand getting grumpy, and I'll be doing a warm soak later this morning.

(in case it's not clear: the racket is not to whack the donkey with, it's to make yourself look bigger. Suddenly you're a third taller than you were a minute ago, making scary noises, and the donkey thinks maybe he should go find somebody else to pick on. It works with dogs that come at you on the street too.)

i to some extent agree with Douglas, because the donkey is no dummy and will start pushing you for food if he knows he'll get it from you.

You have a few options. One might be to take the carrot/apple and toss it far from you. He may not go after it (in this case he's looking more for interaction), but he may learn that he'll only get it if he's far from you.

I went back and reread your original post and realize that going around isn't really an option, and the situation already seems complicated enough. Bear spray and shock prods work but may be more than you want to get into. I would give you two other suggestions.

First, the donkey is probably bored to tears (if not murderous). Could you find an old soccer ball, dodgeball, etc and the next time you go in there, bring it with you, and send it rolling away from you. A bored horse will go investigate and maybe go play, distracting him from you. I imagine a donkey is no different.
Later you can recover it, maybe, or maybe he'll keep playing.

The other thing you can do is get yourself a badminton or tennis racket, something big that you can wave around that effecively makes you taller. Horses rear up to make themselves more intimidating. If he's feeling you out to intimidate you, even just raising up your arms and giving a yell will probably get him to move back. When he starts getting into your space, if you do that he'll probably back off a bit. He'll most likely keep insisting, so you need to keep an eye on him and do it again.

Ulla Bisgaard wrote:When it starts to die down, I cover it with straw mulch like I also do for my asparagus.

Ulla, does yours die down according to temperature or drought? I haven't really noticed a pattern with mine. (much like asparagus, it never dies back and I never know if I should just cut it down or what)