Pearl Allen

I cloth diapered 3 kiddos. Used prefolds for the first 2, and discovered bamboo-blend flats before the 3rd. I folded those into simple waterproof covers that had flaps to tuck them into (front and back). Flats can be folded into different sizes and thicknesses, and dry quickly in a clothes dryer or on a clothesline. Sometimes I used a thin fleece overlay to help wick moisture away from little bottoms.

Simple was best in our case, and definitely most reasonable.

We did have disposals on hand for the church nursery and any time folks might not be comfortable using cloth.

I used Dr. Boudreaux' Butt Paste (😂) when needed (they have a regular and a more natural formulation).

I'm looking at Matt Powers' online PDC course for my 14-year-old freshman, who homeschools. He's a fabulous reader and very bright (though of course I'm biased, LOL), and very prepping-conscious. When he was younger we watched a lot of Justin Rhodes'  videos, so he has some familiarity with the basics of Permaculture (but not in an intentional "student" sense).

It's sounding like this course would be OK for high schoolers (and above)? I have also wondered about the regular PDC course, but wouldn't want him to get overwhelmed in light of his other schoolwork. (Cost is something Of a factor, too.) Of course mom will be looking over his shoulder intently, as I want to learn also!

It would be lovely to see a PDC with something of a Christian angle, but I'm not sure that exists at the moment. I realize the Permaculture principles stand on their own, but a Creator God-centric lens would add a lot of depth, it seems.

Open to any input! Thanks so much!

Thank you, Trace and Robert! Yes, the idea was to stake a portable one into the ground so it could be moved as necessary, and to build the garden beds within its footprint so it could easily fit over them when needed. It would also need to have good ventilation when necessary.

There is one main area of my yard that is suitable for raised garden beds, on the south side of a fence. It's a space of about 30' by 12'. (We just moved in late July, and have the materials to build the beds, but have not done so yet.) This is in E. Texas, Zone 8a/b -- so normally down to 20s (13 last winter), and an early spring.

Would it be insane to pop a large hoop-house type structure over this area (20x10, or 30x10), and put the beds inside of it? I was planning to do a greenhouse already, but had this idea while trying to figure out where to put it and what sort of containers I would use inside of it. (Of course it would need to be removed or greatly modified once the weather warmed up in spring.) It would be protected from wind on 3 sides.

I am hoping to grow some cool weather crops, and with the insecure food situation accelerating, it seems prudent to get a bigger jump on things than just starting seedlings in late winter/early spring.

The other option is to do a smaller, free-standing greenhouse in the middle of the yard (awkward, but necessary for sunlight), or a lean-to greenhouse against the long south-facing brick wall of the house (which is mostly windowless). I like the idea of using the thermal mass of the house with a lean-to style greenhouse, but we occasionally get wild hogs on the property and I can't build anything solid right now. That would mean putting in a fence of some type to protect it, which gets a bit more complicated than I think I can handle at the moment. But if it would be hugely more beneficial, I would try....

I realize we could also do individual hoops with plastic sheeting over each raised bed, but I thought the larger structure might make things a little simpler and also provide a fun place for the family to hang out on colder winter days. (Although I realize that 20 F/-6 C is a laughable cold for many!

I would be grateful for any wisdom, suggestions, or even completely different ideas you might have!

John, Skandi and Anne, thank you so much for your replies, and the warning about planting near the leach lines. I will heed that! There is still space where the lines do not go, but I can see that I will really need to locate the lines with care and work around them. The area where I plan to put raised beds (a south-facing fence) is definitely not on the lines, thankfully.

Thanks to all who chimed in with more help and good thoughts after my last check-in: Lorinne, William and Cath. Totally love these ideas, including the small guesthouse that could be our own Air B&B in a grid-down, kerosene (of course...so appreciated your thoughts), geothermal, etc.

At the moment I have 2 Big Buddy heaters, and a wall/freestanding heater that can be used with either gas or propane. I thought of plumbing that one into natural gas to start, and having the propane units as backup. A friend also gifted us with a BriteLyt lantern, which I know can produce heat as well as light. So, we are getting there!

The 5K generator would be the next step, plus a bigger propane tank.

And maybe by next year, we can do a wood stove if that still seems worthwhile...

I guess if everything went off in the summer, we would just sweat like pigs...so that is another frontier to navigate! LOL.

So grateful for everyone's input!

In late July, we moved onto a property where cotton was grown 30+ years ago (East Texas, USDA zone 8a/b, gets down to the 20s F). The house sits on a flat acre, with an adjacent 2 acres that have a downhill slope crying out for swales. Nothing much has been done with the property agriculturally (except a LOT of grass mowing) since the house was built. Someone planted Crepe Myrtles and a few other shade trees, and called it done! Of course, I am itching to plant! The first focus has been choosing sites for raised garden beds within the backyard fence (heavy, clay soil not too deep down). But outside the fence, I am hoping to develop a food forest, starting on the acre the house sits on.

Two complications:
- Septic leach lines running through part of the planting area. I figure it's OK to plant on either side of them, but it's important to dig and place trees carefully. Any thoughts on this with fruit trees?
- Wild hogs. They do come by occasionally, evidenced by turned up dirt and droppings left behind. I'm thinking fencing will be necessary, but am not sure what would be effective yet economical. Would T-posts and 3-foot welded wire fencing on a roll do it, or will I need to get hog panels?

I know the fence had better go in before the trees do, although I'm not really sure how completely interested the hogs will be until there is actual fruit.
Also, can anyone see any issues with the past cotton production? I'm guessing the chemical impact will have been seriously diminished over 30 years.

Oh...and if anyone has some suggestions for fruit trees, etc. that would thrive here (other than the obvious peaches, nectarines and plums + a few apple varieties), plus timing on planting, I would love to hear!

Many thanks for your input!

True! Thank you so much for that reminder! So maybe plumb for both, and have the conversion kit handy.

In that case, would you recommend getting a heater that runs on propane rather than natural gas?

Thank you so much, all of you who have chimed in to the ongoing discussion. Obviously this is something lots of us have wrestled with.

Because the insurance situation isn't something I can change at the moment (the house belongs to an estate and isn't mine yet), I'm going to have to go the non-woodstove route for the time being. The decision then is to go big(ish), or go small(ish). What I am currently thinking:

Going big(ish): Getting a large, yet portable generator that can keep much of the house in power (i.e. gas furnace, fridge, freezer and some lights). Thinking of something like this: https://www.lowes.com/pd/DuroMax-DuroMax-12-000-Watt-18HP-Dual-Fuel-Portable-Generator/1003052264. It's about a 2,000 sf home. However, I can honestly live without the electric stove, washing machine, dryer, and even lights if necessary. We have other backups for those.

That said, David, do you think that size generator is overkill? I know the gas furnace with electronic ignition and blower would not use that much. But since the furnace is hard-wired and a transfer switch would be necessary (with the expense of installation), would it be wiser to spring for a larger one to cover more items, even if we could live without some of them?

It sounds like it would be best to get at least a 100 gal propane tank to run this. If the SHTF in a big way, an even bigger one would be better. Alas, I have some 20 gal tanks and even a 30, but I know they recommend at least 40 and these things run through propane pretty fast, it sounds like.

I do have a Generac 3300 (inherited) that runs on gasoline only. Not a great solution if the power was down for days, I'd reckon. But it could handle the fridge or freezer until we ran out of gasoline!

Going small(ish): Using the existing gas line to plumb in a ventless gas wall heater or stove of about 30,000 btu (as some have suggested). This would keep us and the pipes from freezing so long as the natural gas supply held out. We could live without the fridge (esp. if the outside was like a fridge), etc. etc. I could plumb into propane for this as well, but it would be more complicated.

Maybe...do both the biggish and smallish together?

Hmm...