Lara Mig

I just bought a house with a completely empty back yard.  I think the prior owners used it as a dog toilet.  There’s nothing there, not even grass - just dried out, compacted soil.  It’s rock-hard.  What tools do you recommend for cultivating that soil and what should I be doing to it to prepare it for planting?  I’m a complete newbie and the only gardening I’ve ever done before was in pots.  

Julie Reed wrote:

Lara Mig wrote:I’m not sure which ones of those “natural shampoos” could actually be safely eaten, or how “non-toxic” they really are.  For that matter, I wouldn’t eat soap either.  But if I use something on my head that can be absorbed through the skin, I want to know exactly what’s in it and how it was made, and I don’t trust the manufacturer to disclose all the relevant information.  

I use diluted Dr Bronner’s soap to wash my hair, followed by diluted apple cider vinegar, which gets me perfectly clean and smelling good.  There never was a transition period either.  Sometimes I use diluted baking soda instead of Dr Bronner’s, which works just as well.

My point was not that one should be eating soap, merely that the ingredients are safe enough that you could consume them. Everything in the Dr Bronners bar soap I buy is ‘edible’. Maybe you did not have a transition period because you did not go pooless- ie- only water? You say you don’t trust the manufacturers yet it seems you trust Dr Bronner? Isn’t that a manufacturer?
They are not cheap, but there are several high quality non-toxic natural shampoos similar to Bronners, and yes, I trust those companies to disclose all the ingredients. Why wouldn’t they? It’s to their advantage to market honestly, because anyone paying $20+ for a bottle of shampoo is going to be someone who knows what they want it to do, and what ingredients are acceptable or not. And of course by law they have to (ironically, laws for labeling cosmetics, including shampoo, are stricter than for processed food). I realize not everyone can afford expensive non-toxic shampoo, and baking soda and ACV are probably good alternatives, just as ‘water only’ may be perfectly fine for some folks. But my comment was addressing the idea that there is no harm to your body or the environment when a soap/shampoo has simple, natural ingredients that one could even ingest without harm. So you don’t need to feel guilty. Or greasy or icky either!

I’m just not sure why I need to bother.  I know that plain Castile soap, which is what Dr Bronner’s is, is safe.  I know that apple cider vinegar is safe.  I know that baking soda is safe.  Ditto for lemons.  All of these things keep me clean and unsmelly and keep my hair looking good.

I guess I could do a whole lot of research on the various chemicals used in all those all-natural shampoos, find a whole lot of articles about all the fragrance ingredients and detergents and preservatives, read up on each ingredient and learn about what it does to my body, learn about their interactions, find out what the long term effects are, and keep track of any changes in their formulations, but it kinda sounds like a full time job and I already have one.  Maybe I’ll find a wonderful shampoo that doesn’t do anything bad to me, but the minuscule improvement in my looks really doesn’t seem worth all that research.  

I had to post an update - I decided not to throw away the infested mycelium.  Instead, I put it outside so the fruit flies wouldn’t be in the house.  

Well, I’m getting pinning.  Tiny little baby mushrooms with tiny little baby caps.  I have no idea what will happen with them, but for now I’m terribly impressed and surprised.  

Julie Reed wrote:

I understand the desire to avoid chemicals, but I’m really baffled by this obsession of going ‘pooless’. I’m quite happy with natural, chemical free shampoos, which are non-toxic and could be safely eaten. Ditto for soap. I don’t like fragrances, aside from essential oils, but I also don’t like to feel grungy or smell bad.

I’m not sure which ones of those “natural shampoos” could actually be safely eaten, or how “non-toxic” they really are.  For that matter, I wouldn’t eat soap either.  But if I use something on my head that can be absorbed through the skin, I want to know exactly what’s in it and how it was made, and I don’t trust the manufacturer to disclose all the relevant information.  

I use diluted Dr Bronner’s soap to wash my hair, followed by diluted apple cider vinegar, which gets me perfectly clean and smelling good.  There never was a transition period either.  Sometimes I use diluted baking soda instead of Dr Bronner’s, which works just as well.

Having tried all sorts of natural deodorants, the only thing that has ever worked for me is a simple lemon slice.  Anything else either hurt my skin or didn’t cut the odor.  The lemon slices work as well as commercial deodorant.

I have a NutriMill I bought on eBay a while ago.  It’s a great mill, and has held up quite well.  

I’m growing my “garden” in an urban apartment, all indoors.  I already harvested one potato plant.  Now, I’ve got a tangled mess of cucumbers and some tomatoes in progress (both about to bloom), some kale, a couple more potatoes, black-eyed peas, and some miscellaneous herbs.  I also have some king oyster mushroom mycelium growing on some cardboard and coffee grounds in a couple of buckets.  My apartment gets a lot of sun, which seems to make all these plants happy.  As for the mycelium, I have very little clue what I’m doing, but what I’ve read is that oyster mushrooms like to eat paper products, so I guess we’ll see what happens.

I just cut my wife’s hair yesterday, for the first time.  She has a very short hairstyle (basically a man’s haircut), so I was very nervous.  It actually turned out OK, and all the mistakes are on the back of her head where it won’t show up on a Zoom call.  I plan to do better next time around, and we definitely won’t be going back to the hair salons even after they reopen.

These are King Oyster mushrooms.  I grew some from a kit and now I’m trying to keep the mycelium going.  

So I’ve been growing mycelium on cardboard to prepare it for some sort of happy life in a substrate.  It’s just a few sheets of cardboard. I left it too long, alas, and now there are white dots in the cardboard mycelium.  Does it mean it’s getting ready to fruit?  And what kind of fruit will I get on three small pieces of cardboard?  (Presumably not much).  Would I get any sort of mushrooms at all?

Mostly, can I still throw it into my bucket of soaked cardboard, coffee grounds, and wheat bran, or would it mess it up?