Thekla McDaniels

Two things about line drying:  the clothes are “stiffer”.  I have found that if I hang them over the line so that the two halves rub against each other, and turn them at some point, they get softened.

The other:  the lint never gets filtered out or blown away, nor the dog and cat hair.

I used to run them 10 minutes without heat, but in my current homeless state I have been doing laundry here and there, and am finding that many new and modern dryers don’t even HAVE an ‘air only’ setting!

Anyone have any suggestions how to clear the lint from time to time?  The best I can figure so far is when I take dry clothes off the line is to shake them, if possible producing a snap, as in shaking a rug…

Looks like an income opportunity for someone!  
I think the spring clothespins are still commercially available, but those handy metal helpers, i have never seen before.

I think I could put some to good use!

Could you show the backside, please, so I can see how they are attached to the wooden pin?  glue? rivet? screw?

Thanks😊

One of my clearest memories of first moving to Western Colorado desert as newly wed 27 year old, was hanging clothes out to dry on the line and it started to rain.
The clothes dried anyway.   I was astonished to say the least.

It wasn’t a downpour by any means, more like a drizzle.  And it didn’t rain long, and hadn’t been raining for days…. I think the air was dry and the world around us dry, canyon walls and roads and roofs and tree leaves… everything desiccated, and a bit of a breeze was blowing, and I guess the rate of evaporation from the clothes exceeded the rate the rain was wetting them.

And they DID smell wonderful.

Hi Prasenjit, and good luck with your project!  I only wish I could understand what it is you are intending to build!

Conversion of atmospheric heat to electricity sounds like a fabulous idea to me, as we seem to have an excess these days 😉!

Just a word of caution on fermenting the chicken feed.  I knew a woman who tried this.  A couple of her hens got what she thought was botulism, became paralyzed and died.

I knew her, saw the afflicted , then dead chickens.  The rest is what she said about it, so I can’t speak for the validity of her assessment.  

Botulism toxin is created in an anaerobic environment.

We have a pretty rough winter. I feed the chickens their organic soy free mash, and let them free range, and give them kitchen scraps and ripening tomatoes that were brought in before the frost. I like the idea of sprouting grains, so that the hens can have fresh greens. I think I will give that a try.

I have never felt good about trying to force hens to lay eggs through the winter. I think they deserve a rest. I think it is hard physiological work just to be alive when it’s so cold and it’s dark so long. I think humans should take it easy during the winter months too!  It does not make sense to me, that we would expect the same productivity during the winter as during the summer, both for ourselves and the hens.

I save eggs as winter darkness increases, and I don’t eat as many eggs in the winter.

There is a great thread here on permies all about preserving eggs!

Yes, I second the request for a nettle soup recipe that tastes like spring rain!

Fannie Flagg hasn’t been mentioned.  She wrote “Fried Green Tomatoes “ and many other books.  A couple of my favorites are “Last Reunion of the all Girl Filling Station” and “Can’t Wait to Get to Heaven”

And i just finished listening to “Lessons in Chemistry”, which was very very very very good.  

I wholeheartedly agree with Charlotte!

And there are so many benefits to not using toxic compounds…. Like children, chickens and pets are not getting poisoned.

Congratulations, Inga!
What a mile stone for you.
It looks beautiful.