Marek Vincenc

The presence of our cat seems to keep our mouse problem to the individual visitor, few and far between. Our primary strategy is direct capture (and release), coupled with denial of access to food specifically. The front door is often open for the cat, so they'll sometimes wander in (and sometimes get brought in by said cat).

In terms of food, store things off the ground and ensure food cupboards close well and don't have gaps open to under/behind. We've previously stored rice under cupboards (bad plan), and once had a cupboard back damaged providing access to the very safe behind-cupboard void. Saw a mouse just chilling in our bag of flour one time!

Did a walk-around with a pest controller at a food factory once, and they told me mice can squeeze through a small gap - if you can pass a pen through it, a mouse can squeeze through. I've also found that at least some mice can really jump, so carrying them in an open bucket will just result in flying mouse.

For catch and release, we've got a small piece of extension tube for our vacuum, which is used to connect the corner nozzle, that long thing that tapers to a flat point. We've found that when cornered and illuminated, mice will generally be open to climbing into the open end of the nozzle. I speculate this is because it's dark (safe) and sufficiently roomy for the mice we get and they can see the gap at the other end so they don't consider it a dead end or feel trapped. Once inside it's a simple task of stopping both ends (not that I've ever had a mouse try to leave voluntarily) and carrying it to a hedge. Dislodge mouse by shaking, removing the nozzle from the extension if necessary.

I've seen a handful before, but nothing near an infestation. I believe common spiders will happily eat them, so if you've been dutifully evicting them you might want to keep a few around. A quick check says that spiders, earwigs, and centipedes are natural predators.

With the 32+ forecast we had for today, I had a go at the solar oven BB. Alas, to no avail. Either my crude improvisation was simply inadequate or I'll need to fork out for a piece of commercial kit. I was able to hit 70C in the rice, but certainly failed to cook it by the time I ran out of sun. I may have also shot myself in the foot by opting for rice as my grain adventure, as the B. Cereus hazard makes it unpleasant to get wrong.

I would also suggest Vintage Story, which is a sort of offshoot of a Minecraft mod. I liken it to the old TerraFirmaCraft MC mod which was more based on survival and a more realistic progression through technology (flint knapping, pottery, metal-casting), but it has far outgrown any mod it might have once been based on. It is highly modifiable in its own right, and highly customisable (I personally highly recommend turning off the temporal mechanics, as the crafting/farming/exploration is plenty for me). One big boon that this game has which might translate well into a teaching experience is real seasons - days get shorter, temperature drops, the snow and ice move in. Can provide a link if anyone's interested, but a search for the name will find it all the same; just don't want to take away from the original post's intent.

I personally don't consume a lot of Minecraft content, but I'll certainly come and check out your series!

Edit: An hour of my workshift and three episodes later, I'm enjoying your content - the presentation style is relaxed and inviting, and your application of concepts to the world is creating a natural growth that Minecraft creations often lack.

At first I was thinking I might try for the PEA program, being a renter and lacking space and equipment for most of the things PEP requires... Then I saw there's forum badges and here I am. Louise said it - these little badges are absurdly motivating!

Let's see, I'm pretty sure I counted 5:

Food - Sand - 2 Loaves of Bread
Food - Sand - Stir-Fry
Food - Sand - Stovetop Grain
Food - Sand - Soup
Textiles - Sand - Quick Darning

Yup, that's 5
Here's to many more!

Hi Folks!
I'm in Exeter, down in the South West. Glad to see there's fellow Permies in the country.

I'm in a rented property with no land to speak of, so I'm doing my best to take part in SKIP with what I have. Any folks nearby also having a go? How's your adventure going?

I spotted this BB when I was scoping out badges within reach, so when Adam Ragusea posted the below recipe, I knew it was time to finally try my hand at baking bread. Sure we baked some bread back in school, but that wasn't a whole load and this would be my first foray into it all on my lonesome.



It wasn't all flour and rainbows though, and there was some sort of mishap in terms of bread rise. Or more to the point: lack thereof. Threefold, I think. The recipe calls for OO flour, but I used plain because it's what I had, and this is noted to cause reduced rise; the yeast was a bit past due, so its efficacy may be reduced; and finally I was clearly mistaken as to what constitutes "a pinch, maybe two". The result was a bread as dense as a housebrick, but nonetheless it was bread. Still-warm bread, sliced and topped with salt and pepper, and it disappeared just as quickly as my second attempt.

The second attempt fared better, having spotted the transcribed recipe denoting two pinches of yeast as an eighth of a teaspoon. With that measured, I tried again. Another excellent crust, and this time a much better rise. Still not perfect I think, and a longer final proof will likely help with that, but it's almost there. Again, half disappeared on the first day topped with nought more than salt and pepper. Wrapped the bread in a tea towel to help it not go stale, and on the second day we topped it with butter and pate. It certainly disappeared much faster than any bread we've ever bought from a store, and I fully intend to bake again. I might even try for once a week!

Frying in a pan is my go-to form of cooking these days, though SKIP is helping me expand my abilities, so I figured I'd give this one a go!
For stir-fry in particular, I tend to go with chicken/bacon, mushrooms, peppers and spinach. Soy sauce, chinese five-spice, sesame seeds also tend to feature. Then the whole thing gets buried in egg noodles, stir up and serve.

Went for a slightly different approach. It's not entirely clear if dried noodles count as pre-prepared or if the ramen reference is to sauce packets, but out of an abundance of caution and a healthy desire to try new things, I went with rice. I also made the sauce, a mixture of reduced salt soy sauce, vegetable stock, honey, sesame oil, fresh garlic, and some ground ginger. For similar reasons, I even made the vegetable stock (first attempt doing so) from onion, celery, carrot, and past-their-prime tomatoes.

As with my soup entry, this recipe served primarily to use up the fresh ingredients in my fridge, in this case primarily (3 whole) peppers and (2 or 3) carrots, the remains of spinach, and a whole bag of radishes. The meat comes in the form of "cooking bacon", an inexpensive bacon that appears to be offcuts that couldn't be used for rashers - which is perfect for me since I'd typically cut up my bacon into little strips anyway for frying into various meals. I've become a fan of it due to the long shelf life and low price (and also it's bacon).

For the sand badge in tool care, as part of the bicycle set, we could add adjusting cones and replacing/regreasing wheel bearings. It’s not hugely complicated but can be quite important, as loose or improperly adjusted cones will render a bike largely inoperable and could cause damage. As I have just discovered the hard way, not even buying a new wheel is safe from this particular pitfall. Could probably be a half-point same as the other items on that list, as while it is more involved than adjusting the brakes, it’s less routine. Both adjusting the cones and the replacing of bearings would be the same item, as while you’re in there fiddling with the cones, you may as well replace the bearings and grease.

As a side note, I’m rather curious why all the bicycle BBs require video whereas most of the BBs I’ve looked at have video as an option.

Time to start my grain-cooking adventure. Lacking equipment for some of the others, so here's the electric stove for now. If any of our UK Permies are in the southwest UK and have a rocket stove, I'd love to hear from you!

Rice, water, salt, boil. Enamelled cast iron saucepan. Nothing too wild as it was going into a richly flavoured sauce.