Tabitha Elliott

Sad to hear of your troubles. What was using your propane if you weren't using the wall furnaces or floor heat? Fireplaces are often deemed damaged and unsafe when inspected. Just for ambiance, fireplaces without working chimneys can house a set of candles (real or battery powered). It won't provide heat but it will make it more comforting as it has some life and flame that way. Importantly, non-working fireplaces can be sealed up better to prevent heat loss. Dampers that don't close tight (many of them) are like leaving a window open and will suck cold air in through drafty windows too. I agree with the comment that window film you shrink with a hair dryer would be a quick cheap help for your windows. They can also be installed over fireplace doors when you can’t use the fireplace anyway. A fireplace like you have are considered to lose as much heat as they produce anyway.

steffen bertelsen wrote:I live in Saskatchewan (next door to Manitoba) in an off-grid house with a cistern in the crawlspace which is kept above freezing from an annualized geo-solar system which takes hot air from the attic space and stores the heat under my house. I have a black metal roof and there is rarely snow that stays on the roof for more than a week. Although it will still be below freezing outside, the black metal gets warm enough to melt the snow. Having some heatline like this http://www.heatline.com/kompensator.php in the gutters and downspouts will allow the melted snow to be collected inside the house for storage. This can be run from an off-grid PV and battery system which will only turn on when the sun is shining and melting snow anyway. You would have to do some calculations of the precipitation vs water usage to determine the roof area needed to collect enough water. I would guess it would be a lot of roof area/person and a storage tank to get through the winter. Best option would be to diversify your water sources (well, rain/snow, water truck delivery) and use rain/snow as mush as possible to save costs and pumping power.

This is helpful info about your black roof. Does it slopeto the south? Would a black roof sloping to the north not collect enough sun in winter to melt the snow?

You can buy mycorrhizal fungi root powder to colonize your tree roots. It is required by our local nursery for them to warranty their trees. I don't have a get it at home or for free solution for you, unfortunately. But you can get it in a powder that dissolves in water if you want to add it to an existing tree. I would probably inject it into the ground in a few places.

Hello All,

This is my first Permies reply. Love this forum. The key may be to look at the superfat level in the soap recipe. Superfat is the amount of fat that remains in the soap once all the lye is converted. If there is a lot of lard left in your soap I would suspect it won't leave a clean finish. The Brambleberry lye converter online includes the superfat level. Set it to be 0 to get a recipe for the amount of  amount of lye to add to any fat you have to get a clean cutting soap recipe. If you use wood ash you will get inconsistent results as the amount of lye varies. If you have lye leftover in your soap it can irritate skin.

I use my homemade barsoap on my dishes and it cuts grease like a charm. I usually save the center that starts getting squishy at the end in a little ramekin, pour hot water just to cover and it makes a gel. I keep a little dish brush in it that is always ready to go for pots and pans.