Burra Maluca

Here's an article with more information...

China's Xinjiang reintroduces rare horse subspecies to the wild in Inner Mongolia

Sometimes trees aren't enough to re-green the desert.

Most domestic livestock graze by pulling at the grass which destroys roots. Horses, however, nip it off and leave the roots behind so grasses re-stablish more easily.

Join us as we take a fascinating journey into China’s ambitious conservation effort to reintroduce extinct wild horses back into their natural desert habitat. Five years after their return, the landscape, ecosystem, and the horses themselves have undergone remarkable changes.

Please ignore the ridiculous AI thumbnail - the actual info in the video is much better

I would have thought that 1200 calories would be too low for most people to maintain weight on.  Maybe a small, sedentary woman but most women would need 1600 calories as a bare minimum. Which would mean 40 grams of protein minimum. And most men would need over 2000 calories, so at least 50 grams of protein using that 10% thing.

I'm curious why anyone would need to know the minimum amount of protein for long-term survival though. Are you planning a survival stash of food? I would have thought if you were planning anything it would make more sense to plan for more protein than bare survival. And if you're caught out without plans then you eat what you can get!

I treated myself to an old one off facebook marketplace.



It's a handmade Arraiolos rug from central Portugal and cost less than a similar sized new rug from a chinese shop.

The best part was that when I went to fetch it from the seller, he took one look at me and recognised me as a customer from the bank he used to work at twenty years prior then told me the history of the rug. It had originally been made by his great grandparents, who would sit opposite each other and work from one end of the rug until they met in the middle. I think the base fabric is linen and the embroidery is pure wool.

Here's a close up...



And a view of the back, showing the fringe which has matted up with age...



Here's a Brazilian video showing some of the techniques used, including some modern ones that aren't used here in Portugal.

Three 5 cent coins have been procured and testing is happening!

We put the coins in place and positioned the funnel on them so that air can easily pass under the funnel, heat up, and then rise. Within a minute or two it was obvious that heat was being sent up, though Austin didn't burn his hand like he did when he tested it above the gas flame.

Photos and write up to follow when the results are in.

Judith Pi wrote:The oven works on a convection principle, and should work on the solid stove top if the hot air is allowed to rise and circulate. Try placing three coins or washers under the funnel part. I've read that it works with the Hajka camping oven.

Ah now THAT is the kind of tip I was hoping for. Thankyou!

I smell another experiment in the making...

Of course the silicone might leach stuff too. But I'm a bit limited in choice if I want to test stuff that shows up in rubble piles...

I wonder if anyone makes a stainless version?

Toxic gick would be my concern too.

We do occasionally score whole truck loads of wood salvaged from renovation jobs and if we're sure it's toxin-free we'll bring it home. Here's a load we got a week or so back.



There are enough rotten bits we're sure it's not been treated in any way so we were happy to accept it. But there are so many nails in it it has no real value for anything other than burning. We just saw it, split it if necessary, feed it to the rocket mass heater and sieve the ash later to remove any nails.

I also have these bits of old barrel staves that I need to finish turning into a fruit tray, if the dragons don't pinch it to go sledging with...

Parsnip soup with linseed rolls.

Possibly the best soup I've ever had in my life!

I think so.

The way I'm imagining it was that a young family moved onto the land, built themselves their very own home with their very own hands, then over the years, maybe generations, they started to construct the terraces. Then the family grew and one of the offspring got married and built a near identical 'hovel' that is the original house here. Then as they developed more skills at cutting stone they built the house up. Then around 80 years ago another generation decided to upgrade and built the brick house we now live in, in the traditional style of animals-at-the-bottom people-on-top.

People still live in these conditions here, especially older folk who have always lived in these old houses and have no desire to live anywhere else.

This is a photo taken four years ago of a member of the national guard delivering christmas supplies to an elderly gentleman in a house very similar to what others might call a hovel.



There's something so incredibly Portuguese about this photo.

From the policeman with a gun and the prettily wrapped pressies, to the totally unmodernised house with the guy inside who looks quite happy to live his life out there thankyou very much, to the huge stash of orange peels on the doorstep that have been collecting over the last few weeks since the oranges have ripened.

Also that nail above the door with the blue baling twine. I guess that's where the chickens get hung before they're brought inside to go in the pot...