M Waisman

What did you end up doing? I've taken pigskins and sheepskins to Stern's in Milwaukee and they will do nearly anyt animal but they chrome tan. They will take them fresh though for a very small additional fee (I think he charged $10 a hide for fresh or frozen- not fleshed- I drove straight from the butcher). This probably isn't practical for shipping because of the weight.

We harvested some sheep this morning and I saved a sheepskin. I asked an acquaintance that used to be a part owner of a nearby organic tannery how to get started. Per her directions, I fleshed the fresh hide and she said I did a great job and to salt it. I did that. The hide is laid out, flesh up, over a big table with salt all over it (in a covered but airy shed) and to dry for a week to three. The tannery has a video on how to prep hides to send to them for tanning and this is what I've done. I could keep bothering this nice woman but I don't really want to do that.

All the tanning tutorials I'm seeing have you salting first, then fleshing and tanning. Can anyone with experience tell me if I have my salted hide stored properly (in the open shed). We are supposed to have 1"+ of rain tomorrow but it's been generally dry and windy. Maybe I should move it indoors during the rain; it won't get rained on but more than a couple drips depending on where the holes in the roof are, and the humidity will, of course, be high. And what are my next steps? supplies I need to gather? I want this soft in the end, not stiff.

Thanks all. Your wisdom is certainly helpful. I know there's a lot of good and I do believe love is greater than fear.

I'm categorically a highly sensitive person and don't like feeling fatalistic. I relish caring for my sheep and garden and doing house projects and can easily (and intentionally) envelop myself in our piece of Earth. Somehow when major stuff happens (usually farther away) I can get sucked in, almost obsessive...earthquakes in Turkey, wildfires in California, pharmaceutical mandates. I see how corrupt human actions contribute to enormous catastrophe and I'm disappointed in humanity for fueling it. This incident is enormous in that it's touching on so many failures of our society. Knowing the huge number of good people doing good things across the globe is...IDK...I guess the mentality of "you do you" helps as I progressively distance myself from the institutions society steers.

We homeschooled our kids until high school so as not to play any of the public school institution game when they needed sleep, nutrition and nature. We taught our boys from day one that when anyone says "no" or "stop" you listen. Period, no teasing, no negotiating. Stop. I must have repeated that daily for YEARS. They are very masculine and empathic teens with good relationships. We also didn't get cell phones for our kids until high school.  I do feel like we've done right and that's the best we can do. Then I think, those parents probably did their best too.

There was a gofundme for the driver's family shared on our school district facebook group. It was short, no names or details, and had raised 10K in just a couple hours, with no nasty comments (on FB?!?), before his suicide or much of the back story was out. That felt really hopeful to me. There seems to be a lot of forgiveness and support in our community.

My usually quiet town has been turned upside down recently with a tragic event that keeps getting worse and worse and worse. It's really getting me down. I'll share what has developed and hopefully can glean help for dealing with this personally; the gross failure of our schools, rape culture, disregard for mental illness, cell phones and social media and more, converge into a nasty mess of everything foul. I'm sure I'm not the only one that feels beaten down at times.

Monday evening a man was driving and hit a mother, father, son and dog out for a walk. Two other sons were home. Then we learned they were neighbors and just down the block from their respective homes in this nice bedroom community. The mother and dog died within a couple hours, the son was hurt and released from the hospital a few days later, dad was okay. Then we learned the driver was suicidal and "having a very bad day." The driver went from the hospital to jail (his car was upside down after driving off a huge retaining wall). The charges implied there was intent. The mom was a beloved local doctor, mother of 3 boys, religious, active in the community, white, etc. She ticked all the classic boxes of a good and likable community member. A couple days after the driver's arrest, we learn the two families have kids similar ages and their middle school boys were/are close friends. Due to a "sensitive crime" perpetrated by the dead mother's son that was on the walk, the families stopped speaking in early spring. Then we're told the driver received the police records he'd requested associated with this crime, of which his child (younger daughter) is the victim and it's a sexual assault, 2-3 hours before he ran them down. Most recently the driver, one week after the homicide, is found dead in his jail cell. Presumably he ended his own life during the night.

The son is out of custody (which apparently is what triggered the victim's father's rage- seeing him leisurely walking in the neighborhood) and is tagged "rapist" at the age of 12 or 13.  He had videos of his crime that he was sharing on his phone at school. They were in the throes of juvenile court proceedings.

This all happened just a few miles from my home. The driver's last name is uncommon and the same as my maiden name. We have many mutual friends.

It's such a hurdle to get over and heal from. How does one overcome the dreadful feelings that our society and institutions are so, so, so broken that we cannot recover? The awfulness of each new piece of information is overwhelming.

I have a mini Nubian doe in milk for sale but moved away from Nigerians a couple of years ago. I'm in Wisconsin though. You may have a hard time finding them bred but usually craigslist or facebook is fruitful for livestock sales. Good luck!

Hi Daphne! I have an 18 yo family friend much like you that I'd love to introduce you to but she likely would not spend time on this site. She's in WI and shares your interests. She's really interested in everything horticulture, ecological restoration and regenerative agriculture. If you send me a pm with your email address, I will introduce you two via email. I think you two could relate to each other very well!

What do you plan to do after high school? Are you familiar with nature connection programs around the country? We have one here called Wild Harvest Nature Connections that is very popular. Perhaps you'd find something near enough that you could participate in, or attend a week long camp or something. You may also find foraging or minimalist groups on meetup.com if you'd like to meet others that way.

We free range homeschooled our kids through grade 8 so they could discover themselves and the world without industrial pressures of school. It makes me so happy to see young adults like yourself have such a solid sense of who they are and their personal values. That's a lot to accomplish at your age in this world. Very cool.

Shaving is one of my least favorite (female) tasks ever.  Shaving wins sometimes (rarely) but I've chosen waxing most often. It's not permie (the wax and garbage, but it's not toxic or plastics) but a heck of a lot cheaper than laser and I find it relaxing. It's self care, which is all about Zone 0. For many people, waxing thins hair and hair pulls easier over time, unlike shaving which is just like mowing grass- when it grows in thicker and quicker.  Waxed hair grows in softer and more unevenly so it's not as coarse and pokey, which is better for me.

Reddit says facial skin is too delicate and hair too strong and course for waxing. I would absolutely consider laser if it would make your life better. 100% !! You've outlined pros and cons and I see pros winning...even though you weren't asking to be convinced.

We bought a radon detector which helped immensely to figure out the areas of our home that were consistently problematic. We used it for a month or two then sold it on ebay for about 30% less than I paid. Easy, accurate and helpful. We also hired someone because they can do it so simply and we were new in our forever home with young kids. If I recall, they sealed a crawl space under an addition that was dirt with heavy plastic and installed the big vent thing and I think that was it. The detector readings dropped dramatically and we called it done and done well.

If you like learning and DIY'ing new and very particular things like this, I'm sure you could do it yourself. You can also call or have a pro out to get an estimate and to learn from. Without wasting their time, or maybe paying to consult for an hour, you can learn so much from the pros. Either way, a digital detector is a big help.

If there's a magic bullet, I'd love to know!  

Beyond some companion planting (usually bulbs and clover, but they all get eaten here) some things we have done that I think help include these:
- place wood ash for several inches around the base of each tree
- graze ruminants and rotate chickens/ducks under trees, especially in the fall
- Michael Pollan's holistic spray regime

That's all I can think of. Of all of these, I think the chickens/ducks is the most impactful.

We have had chickens for 20 years and have done exactly nothing for avian flu. We usually have 15-20 and they are mostly outside except in the coldest winter days, which keeps them robust.

I agree there is a lot of Big Media and Big Pharma and Big Ag behind a lot of the fear hype. As we have always done, we avoid pharmaceuticals for ourselves and our livestoock and use plenty of immune boosters like what has been mentioned already (ACV, garlic, mushrooms, probiotics, etc). Finding ways that work for you to relieve your worry will probably do a great deal of good too as stress is not good for health. A simple mantra for you could be "I am clean, careful and feel good."