jackie woolston

Food for Thought? Listening to our bodies is often akin to talking to a pet...You have to pay close attention to either to really know what "they" are asking/saying. If a dog is whining at the door, good chance they need to go potty, "not" getting this request by a poop-laiden pet could result in an undesirable outcome....if our bodies have  cravings, say for sugar...maybe we "mis-understand" the need for certain nutrients??? ...Starving your body because you don't get what it is asking for, might not be the best way forward. Perhaps learning your "body language" might be important?? I'll take proper nutrition over fasting any day.

https://www.livestrong.com/article/496016-sugar-cravings-are-a-sign-of-which-mineral-deficiency/

"Craving sugar means your body needs certain minerals that are involved in the metabolism of glucose or the production of insulin. You can still avoid sugar by eating the foods that supply the minerals you need.

Certain trace minerals, such as zinc, magnesium, vanadium and chromium are important for your body and various metabolic processes. When your diet does not include foods that contain enough of these minerals, you will naturally experience a deficiency in them.

This can be the result of frequent dieting, which can often lack these foods. In fact, when dieting, cravings for foods like sugar, which you are likely to be avoiding in the first place, can cause you to abandon the diet altogether and go back to eating such foods. You could then end up in a vicious circle of adopting diets and then abandoning them almost as fast. Sugar cravings causes could be caused by a mineral deficiency."

https://nutritionstudies.org/masai-and-inuit-high-protein-diets-a-closer-look/
This is interesting. A potential word of caution on low calorie and fasting "diets"...The person consuming less calories might not realize that they are at risk of becoming increasingly "irritable and petty"...not saying all are but my experience around the "calorical challenged" is they can become very " challenging to love". This has been my personal observation, take it or leave it.

Ann Miller,
Yes, I try to keep the PTSD  in "a box"...it is a funny thing though...we can be driving along and all is fine, then seemingly out of the blue I get floored with a huge adrenaline dump. I have tried to keep track of any similarities from time to time so I can nip it in the bud, but so far it is pretty random, seems to be "flash back" triggered. Like a weird parallel road trip that was horrific and floods into the moment. Sometimes it is almost like something in the corner of my eye or just a slight weave on the road. Once it hits, I am scrambling to back it off and nail the box shut again, takes some serious focus. Thanks for the info, I will check it out. If I drive there is no issue.

Please use natural materials, recycled old style furniture etc as much as possible. This is an amazing comparison, could be a matter of life or death in a house fire. WORTH WATCHING!

My grandmother grew up on a homestead in the Lakota Territory. The family had a small sod cabin. Water was scarce where they were. She told me that to conserve water, at the end of every meal, everyone would wipe their plates/bowls  clean with a piece of bread, then turn them upside down on the table. Ready for the next meal. She lived to be a sharp 102.  HMMM?

Bogdan, My father used to say,"Necessity is the Mother of Invention!" Something I found interesting as a kid, in the cold of winter, when I had no mittens, loosely crumple up a piece of paper, hold it in your hand in your pocket. You can also tuck in a shirt and use wadded up paper to insulate around your body...or in pant legs with the bottoms tucked into boots. Stay Safe!

One of my biggest "what do I do with this?" is baling twine. The heavier twine I use to prolong the life of metal pipe gates that have poor welded "mesh" panels. Wrapping the horizontal pipe and knotting the mesh for re-enforcement around the "mesh" and pipe, holds it together really well. I have gotten years more use out of these "built to fail gates".
The other life span hack I do on these pipe gates is to find wood dowels that can be pounded up inside the upright ends of the gate. This strengthens the hinge side and latch side.
In my construction projects I use heavy twine to help hang headers and beams. This is usually a 2 person job, but can easily be done with just one little scrappy woman. Drive a sturdy nail into the back side of the post a bit above where the beam goes, make a loop of twine, good knot, around the post and catching on the nail. For the other post , do the same but leave the twine untied, 2 dangly ends. Lift up the end of beam and put through the tied loop...this does not have to be way high, easier to lift this way.. Then go to the other end of the beam, lift as high as you can, balance it on a ladder or such or just press it against the post, tie the loose ends of twine around the beam. Beam should be hanging in two looped twines. Go to one end , push up on the beam and slide the bottom of the twine loop towards the center of the beam. Repeat on other end. Do this until you get the beam where you want it. As the twine loop is "moved further towards center", the beam rises.
The big round bales have snarfy light weight twine and lots of it. I am using my circular knitting loom to make dish scrubbers. The small twine knits really well. A "tube" about 6 inches makes an amazing, tough, scrubber pad. These might be a good market item? Twine is polypropylene.
I have also braided twine together to make lead ropes and halters for calves and alpacas. Adding metal rings and D rings where needed.

Thanks for "re-visiting" this topic. When I was a little girl growing up on my Great Grandparent's homestead. Bathing was at best once a week, we had no indoor plumbing. This is where I am again years later, now on my own homestead. The thing that I have noticed in "getting clean" is that getting wet, actively rubbing the skin to stimulate pours, then vigorously towelling off...it seems to be the towelling off that is perhaps the "real cleaning" part. Same goes for washing hair. I have also noticed that the "cleaner" I eat, the less I stink. Body order is down to, this is "my scent"...not stinky sweat dumping toxins and my hair does not get dingy greasy between cleanings.
An interesting observation from years past. I spent a year in the deep South and being a girl of Scottish and Slavic ancestry, and coming from Northern Wyoming, I was trying to take in as much cultural wisdom as possible from the peoples of the South. One thing I noticed was that folks with afro type curly/kinky hair wore shower caps out in the sun on blistering hot, humid days. I ask about this. I was told that to keep such "hair" manageable, vasoline was worked into the hair after wetting/washing, then the shower cap helped to "dry" the oil into the hair.  Not a big fan of petroleum based vasoline but perhaps there is something to be learned here. Maybe say, coconut oil which melts around 78 degrees, on the hands, worked into wet hair might have a similar impact? Have not tried this, just thought about it. My hair is very thick and mostly straight, but if I do not "Poo" it , there is an interesting body with a bit of curl.

Amy, I don't know where you live...but what if you approach...State Engineer's Office and check into acquiring a water right for the water in question? May or may not be an option, here in New Mexico there is a thing called "Beneficial Use"...??

I have a similar situation here where I live, but I actually have irrigation rights to the water and it has to be run from the acequia (ditch) down the road track, cross the road to get to the land with the water right. To get "my" water I had to think about how to divert it off the road, getting it on the road was not a problem, just block the culvert. The road goes to the forest and has a lot of 4 wheeler traffic in the grazing season and hunting season. And a goodly amount of truck traffic from folks cutting fire wood. A big solid bump or a ditch was out of the question...knocks firewood off trucks. My solution is manure dams. They totally divert the flow, are soft enough not to cause a "clunk" and can be adjusted with a rake or pitch fork. I lay a diagonal little ridge of manure across the road way, only about 3 inches tall and about a foot wide. The manure will pack down when someone drives over it but appears to plump back up when it reabsorbs water, like squeezing out a sponge.