Brigitte Picart

Forest Viridiana wrote: have been stuck on the issue of shoe soles. They usually cost double what it would take to buy a new pair of shoes or boots outright. I can’t afford that.

You're not very clear on what type of soles cost double a full pair. What kind of shoes do you buy that cost less than a pair of soles?
You can buy leather sole blanks that need to be cut to the exact size and shape of the shoes you're working on. Those are special-treated for soles, and about 4mm thick.
You could ask this nice fellow on Bedo's Leatherworks LLC Youtube channel, he's very willing to help.

Those boots are superb! Excellent job! Heartfelt congratulations.
To all who mourn the demise of the village shoemaker business:
Do you by any chance, own any pair of sneakers or any other shoes made of synthetic materials, like Crocs or ....
There you go.
I believe the market for shoes made of natural materials will be reborn soon, including wooden clogs for working in the garden.
One can't be green only down to the ankles. The feet must be green too!

David Huang wrote:Awesome!!

Do you happen to have and suggestions for particularly good YouTube videos or other places to learn how to do such work?

There are excellent videos on YT on shoe making and restauration or rebuilding, not all of them in English. A guy named "Bedos" is repairing and rebuilding leather goods of all kinds, including expensive men's shoes and women's designer bags. Fascinating to watch him work. Very nice fellow in NC.

On ebay UK the seller named "judelawlor" is selling a CD described as follows:

SHOES & BOOTS 18 Old Books on CD Antiquarian Shoe Making Mending Book Collection
Collected together on this unique CD is a fine selection of 18 of the best antiquarian, old and vintage books on the history of footwear and how to make and mend boots and shoes.

These books were originally published between the mid 19th century and the first quarter of the 20th century. They cover the history of footwear and how the boot and shoes industry developed and became mechanised in UK, Europe and America and provides information on how to make and mend shoes and boots by hand and much, much more.

The books are written by some of the top industry experts and specialists of their day, including Frank L. West, Thomas Wright, F.Y. Golding, W.C Morgan and many others. Many of the volumes in the collection are illustrated with useful diagrams, drawing and photographs that help explain the text.

The Shoes and Boots Book Collection is a wonderful resource for anyone who wants to find out about the footwear industry and for home or school projects.

Here are the 18 titles and authors of the volumes you will find on the CD.

Book of the Feet. A History of Boots and Shoes. Joseph Sparkes Hall
Boot and Shoe Makers Assistant. A Treatise on Clicking + a History of Feet Costume. c.1853
Boot and Shoe Patterns. Designing, Cutting and Grading. J. Van Ness. 1899.
Boots and Shoes. Henderson & Co catalogue.
Expert Shoe Repairing. Learn at Home. J.M. Levinson, 1919.
The Finishers Manual. 1891.
Foot Care and Shoe Fitting. W.L. Mann and S.A. Folsom. 1920
How to Bottom a Welted Shoe by Hand. F.L. West. 1912.
How to Repair Shoes. F.L. West. 1912.
Kimball's Classified Measurements for Lasts. John Kimball. 1882.
Manufacture of Boots and Shoes. F.Y. Golding. 1902.
Retail Shoe Salesmanship, Training Course. G.F. Hamilton. 1920
The Romance of the Shoe. History of Shoemaking. Thomas Wright. 1922.
Shoe Factory Efficiency. John E. Kirwin. 1910.
Shoe Making Old and New (history of) Fred A. Gannon. 1911.
Shoes and Shoemaking (history of) W.C. Morgan. 1897.
Streeter Bros. Chicago. 1886 Spring Review of Shoes.
The Shoe Industry. Frederick J. Allen.
Each book comes as an Ebook (electronic book) in PDF format and has been professionally scanned from books that are no longer in copyright. These books are printable and are fully searchable so that you can enjoy the 100's of pages of original content on your computer today.    

I have it, it's a great find. The CD will play only in a computer internal CD drive.
I've tried to link to the object but the link I have is from France and doesn't work outside of it.

Any plant will die after it has been deprived of sunlight long enough, so to fix your problem you could cover the weedy ground with anything opaque that you have laying around: tarps, flattened boxes, sheets of roofing, etc. If you don't have enough you can look for empty boxes in the back of your usual supermarket or open your wallet and buy a roll of black plastic.
For keeping your grounds covered at all times you could plant creepers that are sold at gardening stores. And since you have a mediterranean climate you could grow anything that grows in the Provence, where there are already olive groves. Some of those plants are very aromatic and are used in cooking: thyme, savory, and others used in perfumes or phytotherapy: lavender, hyssop and others. Those plants produce their aroma as a way of adapting to drought.
Just last week I discovered a farmer who grows a wide variety of tomatoes, zucchinis, bell peppers, melons etc. from ancient stocks he has improved. He has selected the most drought-resistant and wet-resistant seeds and is very successful, and has videos on Youtube and an online store. Name is Pascal Poot.
I don't know if it's ok to give a link to his online store but I'll try:
https://www.lepotagerdesante.com/en/

Travis Johnson wrote:Another extremely cheap floor to make is one made out of wood rounds or squares.

The other way to do it, and is more refined, is to cut logs into square beams...8x8's, 6x6's, 4x4.s etc, and then crosscut them to 2-4 inches in thickness. Then place them end grain up nailing them to each other and the floor as you work across the room. This can be left natural as they did in the old factories, or sanded and sealed with polyurethane.

Great idea! Also instead of using new logs, if old beams can be obtained then those can be sliced into wooden tiles. It would be an excellent way of recycling them!

Hello all,
I'm looking for ideas on how to clear land invaded by thorny bushes of blackberries etc. I visited the property last week and the bushes are so thick I couldn't go around the house nor open the door to another building, so of course all remedies are of interest to me, especially those that use no motor.
While researching the topic I've learned that it's best to remove and uproot bramble when the sap is dormant, i.e. from November to March.
To prevent re-growth, cover the cut area with opaque cover like flattened cartons or black tarp. Also bramble hates potato plants, so plant spuds where you don't want bramble to grow.
To uproot bramble after cutting, use an asparagus gouge. Works great. Or buy or borrow a few goats and let them clear the land for you but watch out, they are not selective and will eat everything within reach.

There's an approach to eating that may be a little too hedonistic when you're the one growing it. I've read posts on this thread that made me think folks are still carrying the city-dweller, indulgence-seeking mentality, craving fast foods, fried stuff, variety in ethnic origin etc.
Whereas once you live in the countryside and you shop for veggies in your own kitchen garden, you need to have a change of focus: you need to think of food as nourishment and preventative medicine first. Your fibers, your greens, your carbs, your vitamins and minerals.
The taste of home-grown everything being a lot better than store-bought, flavorful veggies can be prepared with minimal processing, most of the time boiling or steaming, and a dab of butter will do, or added grated cheese, or a bechamel sauce flavored with anything (curry spices, tomato paste, meat or fish broth etc.) poured over the veggies, or for added oomph, a generous sprinkling or grated cheese on top and a short stay under the grill will make a delicious gratin, what you in the US call a "casserole".
Long ago ountry folks had a more down-to-earth attitude towards meals, that could help in reconsidering one's approach: during the week they ate the same thing over and over, the same soup, the same potato dish. Some are so good that it doesn't matter if one eats them almost every day of the season. Variety is brought by salads and desserts, but the main dish is the same, and nobody thinks of complaining.

Have you by any chance tried borsch soup? It uses beets and is beautiful and delicious, as the taste of beets is mixed with other veggies and a meat broth, a dash of vinegar and a blob of smetana cream.
You can also eat it cooked and cubed cold as a salad.
Maybe you could trade some beets for veggies you really want?

Hi everybody,
Very interesting subject. Old problem. I've learned that chestnut is almost rot-proof and for that reason is used for picket fences around pastures. If not 100% rot-proof it will be good for many years before needing replacement.
Another option is to give the buried section a good coat or *used* motor oil. *Used* because it's free, I guess but new would work as well. Or of tar. In the countryside, pine telephone posts are covered in tar at ground level and below.
Charring repels insects but does not protect against rot.

A neat thing to do that I've been thinking of, would be to make similar domes but in a natural material like hemp-crete, that is, concrete made with hemp and lime. A mold must be made first, which could be dug in the ground and properly shaped, then the hempcrete would be poured, and the structure would either stand on its own, or rest on a https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=bamboo+star+dome (bamboo star-dome) structure.
Another approach would be to make blocks like when making an igloo.