factory manufacturing engine-generators in 1955 ran on automatic-pilot.
American Steel Export
Company on the tenth floor at 101 Maiden Lane New York City had an
exclusive on South American
sales---did a hell of a good job and I gave them an extra five percent
discount because I had no
advertisement, no payroll overhead in South America .) Your export sales
generally occur in a lot
less competitive climate than your sales in the United States---I did
have to educate my clueless
banker how to handle export documentation and getting paid by their
affiliate foreign bank---once
the stupid SOB paid my supplier in Taiwan without confirmed loading
documents, while the load was
still sitting on the wharf, having been bumped by someone bribing port
officials to load their
cargo ahead of mine. I learned all about export documentation from
Citybank---still have the huge
and explicit instruction manual around somewhere.)
http://www.sba.gov/ga/ Georgia is a good place for "halfback" refugees
from Florida to start a
business---and may have the best upper-education guarantee in the nation
for yourhigh-achievement
high school kids. Just stay away from Atlanta---head for a small town
with good road access and
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sasha wrote:
>On Monday 06 September 2004 12:29 am, Tvoivozhd wrote:
>
>
>>I'm pretty sure the prior Hypertufa post didn't make it into the
>>archives. Hypertufa products are, however a very good home business.
>>
>>
>
>
>
>
>
>Can paper (like in papercrete) be used instead of peat mos?
>
>Sasha
>
>
>
tvoivozhd---I think it could, at least in part, and there are other
natural fibers which should work better than paper, which has very short
fiber. Papercrete is very easy to produce, all you need to do is whip
newspaper and water together with a motor-driven propellor or
multi-bladed mixer, drain off excess water and add Portland Cement.
Peat moss has ideal characterists for hypertufa product appearance, but
almost no tensile strength, other fibers are used to provide tensile
strength where required, and acrylic latex lends strength also.
It seems to me that various kinds of grass, straw or cornstalk leaves if
chopped or run through a powered shredder having a large-diameter
screen, three-quarter or one-inch, would produce a fiber that could be
used as a substitute for peat moss.. Any of these grasses etc., would
have to be dried before shredding.
You would have to experiment to see what variety grass would work
best----I don't know what kind grasses you have in Serbia, here we have
a waxy-exterior very strong and resistant to weather-degradation fescue,
finer and less strong orchard-grass, (clover and alfalfa which probably
wouldn't be worth a damn). Farther south they have Bermuda Grass whidh
would certainly merit experimentation, as would perennial ryegrass or
rye stems---don't know whether you would have to remove the rye leaves
or not.
Make up some six-inch square test plaques of different thickness to
abuse with a wire brush to see how closely they resemble peat-moss mixes
in strength and appearance. You might come up with something better.
Updated hypertufa
OK, we're sliding toward spring and it's time you were thinking about a
side business selling something to craft shows
and flea markets. I like hypertufa, though demolding is slow and unless
you have a lot of molds it's not a high-
volume businessl
Nevertheless the profit margin is good and you are more likely to get
hit by a meteorite than run into competition.
Some repetition here for you folks with a short attention-span, and a
few new thingsl
[Homestead] Home business, more hypertufa links
Tvoivozhd tvoivozd at infionline.net
Sun Sep 5 19:58:07 EDT 2004
[ author ]
Probably some duplications of links on previous post. I
.com
The Mango City: Urban Agriculture in Belém, Brazil
"It is a tribute paid to a hard working and ingenious
people, who against all odds survive in one of the poorest
metropolis in Latin America, frequently complementing
their monthly income with fruits, herbs, spices, medicinal
plants, and all sorts of animals, cropped or raised in
front and backyards, in idle public and private plots,
existent either within the urban tissue or in the wider
peri-urban areas." Posted September 24, 2002
. A favourite book on quail which I'd recommend is
entitled Quail, Their Breeding and Management by G.E.S.
Robbins.
Preparing the birds for the dinner table
The usual method of slaughtering the birds is to sever
the head in one quick movement. The most effective tool I
have found are a pair of sharp pruning shears. The bird is
then placed in a plastic pail with cover and allowed to
bleed. After preparing enough for a meal, which for our
family consists of a dozen birds, I take the bucket inside
the house. The bled birds are immersed in scalding water
(148 deg. F) for five seconds and then put in a large
bowl. After being scalded, the bird is skinned starting
from the neck down to the wings and the legs. Cut the
wings and legs just below the joint. To gut them, a pair
of scissors is used to slit the bird down the back. Don't
slit the breast because that's where the bulk of the meat
is located. Once gutted, with the neck cut off close to
the body, the birds should be chilled. I normally dump
them into a large bowl filled with cold water and some ice
cubes. After I have skinned and gutted all twelve birds
and left them in the bowl to be chilled, I pick each one
up again and give it a thorough cleaning picking off any
pin feathers left behind or any organs that didn't come
off during my initial gutting. I then either put them in
the fridge, freeze them, or prepare them for a meal. There
are all kinds of quail recipes available. The thing to
remember is that the meat has almost no fat so that if the
birds are roasted in the oven it is important to wrap them
in something like bacon.
The feathers and guts are taken to a local veterinary
clinic and incinerated for a nominal fee.
A favorite recipe of ours is to put a dozen birds in a
slow cooker with a couple of sliced onions, salt and
pepper and the whole thing topped off with water. Leaving
the birds to cook overnight or during the day while you're
at work allows the birds to produce and cook in their own
broth. Cooked this way, the birds are very tender and
absolutely delicious. We also use the broth for making
soup and as a base for fish chowder.
The eggs are consumed fresh. After they've been
refrigerated for a couple of days, use a steak knife to
saw through them and cook a dozen or so for your kids for
breakfast on the weekend. Quail eggs have long been known
as a good substitute for people who cannot eat eggs from
poultry and for people with allergies. They can be hard-
boiled and pickled also.
List of suppliers
Berry Hill Limited, 75 Burwell Road, St.Thomas, ON N5P
3R5.
Tel. no.:1-800-668-3072
Cutler's Pheasant and Poultry Supply, Inc.
1940 Old 51
Applegate, MI 48401
Ph: (810) 633-9450
Fax: (810) 633-9178
E-mail: cutlers AT greatlakes.net
Web page:http://www.cutlersupply.com
G.Q.F. Manufacturing Company, PO Box 1552, Savannah,
Georgia, USA 31498.
Tel. no.: (912)236-0651
Ranch Cunicole G.L.R. Inc., 515, Rapide Plat Nord, St
-Hyacinthe, Quebec.
Tel. no.: (514)799-5170
Seven Oaks Game Farm and Supply, 7823 Masonboro Sound
FeathFancQuail.html
For those wanting specifics on hatching Bob White Quail
eggs:
1. Eggs take 21 to 23 days to hatch.
2. Temperature: 99.5f., turn down to 99f. the last 3 days
3. Humidity: 85%, raise up to 95% the last 3 days.
4. Turn eggs twice daily.
view&_rn=20001020> 9commit this to memory---ISO 9000, you can't live
without it in the manufacturing business)
>>
>>
>
>Thanks, Tvo. Nosey Rosie here worked with it
>for a company once, here's the main link :
>
>http://www.iso.org/iso/en/iso9000-14000/index.html<http://www.iso.org/iso/en/iso9000-14000/index.html>
>ISO 9000 and ISO 14000 - in brief
>The ISO 9000 and ISO 14000 families are among ISO's most widely known
standards ever. ISO 9000 and ISO 14000
standards are implemented by some 634 000 organizations in 152
countries. ISO 9000 has become an international
reference for quality management requirements in business-to-business
dealings, and ISO 14000 is well on the way to
achieving as much, if not more, in enabling organizations to meet their
environmental challenges.
>
>The ISO 9000 family is primarily concerned with "quality management".
This means what the organization does to
fulfil:
>
> - the customer's quality requirements, and
> - applicable regulatory requirements, while aiming to
> - enhance customer satisfaction, and
> - achieve continual improvement of its performance in pursuit of
these objectives.
>
>The ISO 14000 family is primarily concerned with "environmental
management". This means what the organization does
to:
>
> - minimize harmful effects on the environment caused by its
activities, and to
> - achieve continual improvement of its environmental performance.
>
>The vast majority of ISO standards are highly specific to a particular
product, material, or process. However, the
standards that have earned the ISO 9000 and ISO 14000 families a
worldwide reputation are known as "generic management
system standards".
>
> a.. "Generic" means that the same standards can be applied:
> - to any organization, large or small, whatever its product
> - including whether its "product" is actually a service,
> - in any sector of activity, and
> - whether it is a business enterprise, a public administration, or a
government department.
>
>"Generic" also signifies that no matter what the organization's scope
of activity, if it wants to establish a quality
management system or an environmental management system, then such a
system has a number of essential features for
which the relevant standards of the ISO 9000 or ISO 14000 families
provide the requirements.
>
> a.. "Management system" refers to the organization's structure for
managing its processes - or activities - that
transform inputs of resources into a product or service which meet the
organization's objectives, such as satisfying
the customer's quality requirements, complying to regulations, or
meeting environmental objectives.
>
>Latest update September 2003
>
>
>
tvoivozhd---good-oh, you came up with something I knew I should have
included, but was too lazy to accomplish. It's so nice to have
slave---er-r-r, accomplices.
[Homestead] Home manufacturing business data ((#1, several others may
follow)
Tvoivozhd tvoivozd at infionline.net
Sat Sep 18 01:33:47 EDT 2004
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As everyone on this list knows, manufacturing is my schtick, mostly in
metal and plastic products. Don't much care for wood products except
craft show and flea market products like twig Lincoln Log kits and log
furniture with your home foundry-cast K-D connectors so you can ship in
a compact shipping carton, and avoid labor cost by customer-assembly.
But all businesses have a lot in common, as illustrated by the following:
http://www.grants-loans.org/ (nothing wrong with a business in Canada
either---should write Sasha on this---Canada is more friendly to
desperately needed small business, some provincial governments will flip
over backwards to help you (and them), good idea to enlist help from a
newspaper editor or columnist, who in turn will influence governmental
departments, officers and possibly trade groups.)
http://www.myownbusiness.org/s7/ (accounting, cash-flow are your
lifelines in starting, running a small business---a big company can
record them quarterly, a small startup almost has to construct a daily
balance sheet because you have little or no capital reserve to absorb
shocks)
8FAF5F7F41FAC3D1
(Fed, State startup requirements, permits, tax I.D.'s---don't forget how
to legally get rid of your toxic waste.)
http://www.business.gov/business_development.html (managing your
hazardous waste---and definitely plan to use "Score" and SBDC services,
maybe a business incubator which provided joint accounting, guard,
janitorial and other services in the building complex)
http://www.thinkkentucky.com/kyedc/bguide14.asp (Kentucky business
incubators---Kentucky has a reasonable climate, low cost land, and for
raw material, finish product transport is central to the East Coast and
Midwest population.)
2000plan.pdf+startup+small+manufacturing+business&hl=en
(Except for Alpine, Austin area Hill Country,around New Braunfels, Texas
is a terrible place to live---but money flows like wine from individual
investors and government. Stay the hell out of sauna-bath Houston with
its cancer-inducing polluted air and water.)
Final note on this post----there is blizzard of new patents which you
should research to see what you could profitably manufacture. Damn few
inventors make a dime on their patent, for those who have become
resigned to this fact, it is fairly easy to draw up a licensing contract
that offers the inventor some hope. It can be exclusive with a
performance clause, or non-exclusive, take your choice.
http://www.sbomag.com/articals/pitfalls.html (avoiding 101 startup
pitfalls get your product liability, fire, auto insurance---don't bet
the farm on the fallacy "it can't happen to me")
http://www.nhsbdc.org/ (New Hampshire---low tax, mostly local control.
Find a friendly town with an empty, properly wired deserted factory
building with water and sewer, The small town will most likely give you
reduced or free rent with purchase option--cultivate neighbors and town
officials first, then move in and crank up your production line and
marketing program.)
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[Homestead] Home manufacturing business recent post #3
Tvoivozhd tvoivozd at infionline.net
Sun Sep 19 23:30:03 EDT 2004
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Home Manufacturing Business, recent post #3.
http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=5472 (Mother Earth
News on he busineses in small Emporia, Kansas, notation of rural
manufacturing on the rise---almost no homesteaders relies on ag-related
income, though it is a good one if you set up a PYO near a town of ten
thousand or more---no more than fifteen miles from the city limits.)
http://www.arc.gov/index.do?nodeId=294 (Appalachian manufacturing
startups---my down-the-road machinist buddy, has almost no overhead and
an unbeatable electric power rate---he can kill any Northeastern or
Mid-Atlantic job shop on job bids, while still maintaining a very
profitable margin of profit. The only trouble he has had recently has
been American Electric Power bumping up the voltage with no notice
whatsoever---kicked off the machine switches and caused him to spend
$1200 to have a local electrician build him a new supplementary
transformer to drop the voltage back where it should be.)
http://www.alliedfoamtech.com/Appconc.htm (if I could look forward to a
few more productive years one of the products I would manufacture is
BBTBB (better than Butler buildings). K-D two-foot wide foamed and
fibered lightweight sections to bolt together at the building
site---pre-assemble them if they are fairly small, like for storing
lawnmowers, lawn tractors, tools, and take them to the building site on
a tilting flatbed trailer.)
Sell them to flea market dealers at a larger-than-normal discount---and
put them on a rretractable-wheel trailer to haul in and out on a
towbar. They can use the foam-concrete structure both as a display
booth for their other wares, and as a highly visible model passers-by
can look at and buy---have some literature printed for handouts, print
the dealer's name and address on it---you must assure them they will be
paid for their efforts and you will not steal the sales commission from
them. For a small startup manufacturer, honest is not just the best
policy---it is the ONLY policy.
Make fiberglass molds and spray the foam in them with a cheap Tirolessa
hopper-sprayer to start, shift to higher-capacity foam-sprayer after a
couple months in business.
If cheaper and better than Butler, this is a hell of a
business---year-around sales and a huge market. Fiberglass molds would
be your chief investment to kick up production. You first make a "plug"
(wood or molding plaster) pattern, hand layup glass fabric and polyester
resin on it (use a parting compound on plug surface), when cured lift
the mold off the plug. If it is hard to hand-strip, leave some tiny
holes in the plug and use compressed air to blow the mold away from the
plug. Do the same thing with the molds when pulling lipped-foam
concrete sections out of the molds.The purpose of the lips, beside
creating rigidity ane more strength is to seal out rain---you use either
a commercially-available flexible plastic cap-strip or buy a cheap metal
mold you can take to a plastic extrusion shop and extrude a UV-resistant
plastic cap-strip.
Again, can speed up fiberglass mold-making by using a fiberglass/resin
and catalyst-spraying chopper gun---we used to have one, think it was a
Binks, but can't remember what we did with it when making fiberglass
tanks lost its charm.)
You should use hand-retractable waxed wooden pins inserted in the
lip-mold---locate them accurately and pull them when the foam concrete
is pretty well set. You can drill (or better, use a hot piece of metal
rod (propane torch insert) to melt holes through the cap-strip through
which assembly bolts are thrust.
Figure out the cubic feet of foam fiber, the weight factor. Ideally the
individual sections would be light enough for one man to sdt them up and
bolt them together, but in any event don't build them so heavy two men
can't easily handle them.
Don't think it is the above, but be sure to incorporate pozzolans in the
concrete mix if it is available. Pretty cheap stuff from a coal power
plant ash residue. Also incorporate acrylic for stronger, tougher, more
shock-resistant polymer-concrete. Lots of fiber additives, aramid,
polypropylene, alkali-resistant glass---just be sure it is
alkali-resistant for long life.
Mearle was the first foam chemical supplier in the U.S.---forgot who
bought them out. Was pretty pricey, so I analyzed the foam chemical
once, mostly cheap hide glue. I presume there are equally cheap foam
ingredients now. Had a five horsepower gasoline engine foamer made in
Waukesha, retailing for $800 that worked fine, but they couldn't sell
dollar bills for fifty cents, so sold out to a Canadian firm which did
nothing with it either. such units at quite low prices now come from
Europe---Czechoslovakia if my memory is correct.
concrete&hl=en
(Columbia University concrete research---HTML because I couldn't
download the pdf version.
http://home.att.net/~gallgosp/architec.htm (FINE third world cheap
housing website---most concrete small home manufacturing prodects in the
U.s. would be better classified as third world projects, third world
tooling and manufacturing techniques coupled with the limited capital
available to most homesteaders.)
[Homestead] Home Manufacturing Busiiness, recent Post #4
Tvoivozhd tvoivozd at infionline.net
Tue Sep 21 14:32:09 EDT 2004
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But you are a rural resident, you don't have to subordinate YOUR needs
to anyone elses---get on the stick and crank up YOUR rural enterprise,
get off the employee hamster-wheel.
Self-employment is a mindset, hard to break because the emphasis has
been on being a good, docile, loyal (hah!) wage-slave. But the mindset
is breakable and all the tools needed to become self-employed are now
the most numerous and effective the world has ever seen---you may and
probably will take a job as a quickfix to a very thin wallet, that's all
right, but plan to get out of Dodge as quickly as possible on your
self-employment horse---try to double-dip, take home some kind of
paycheck and at the same time learn something useful in your own business).
http://www.ers.usda.gov/Briefing/Industry/FreeFall/ (manufcturing
decline in the U.S. affects ALL sectors---who cares about the
biggies---you aren't going to manufacture 747's in your backyard anyway,
imagineer your home manufacturing business---get there fustest with the
mostest.
in+rural+manufacturing&hl=en
(a farm or farm community that produces only a commodity is doomed, and
so is a farm-factory. Pick a profitable niche-market and you can sleep
soundly at night and leave your kids comfortably well-off---wel not TOO
comforbly, the Idle Rich Syndrome that afflicts this society is very bad
for it.
(OK, there is a countercurrent of people moving to to rural and
small-town areas---you know all about that, you are part of it. furn it
to your advantage with a rural manufacturing activity---something you
don't have to feed and currycomb, and that can be made just-in-time---as
soon as you have the credit-card payment safely in hand.)
manufacturing&hl=en
(yeah, the bankers want to get in the act---screw 'em, their only use is
to handle Letters of Credit and transferring the money from their
foreign affiliate banks to you if you are exporting your product (as you
certainly should) Be sure your banker knows what the hell he is doing
in handling export papers---most of them don't and to keep your pockets
from being picked, YOU will have to educate them---DON'T ever depend on
someone else to do what is really YOUR job or you will lose your tuppy.)
http://www.oycf.org/Perspectives/2_110299/dogmatism.htm (interesting
historical aside---you know my passion for history---Stalins fixation on
giantism instead of bfoad-based small, priately-owned, privately run
small business.) We still have Stalin's fixation on giantism in the
U.S.---stupid in the Soviet Union and stupid in the Oval Office.
http://www.danieldrezner.com/archives/000748.html (outsourcing will
kill you, but only if you let it. Your rural location is a gem for more
than one reason---not just a better way to live, but a better way to
make a living---if you give it serious thought and DO something about it)
in+rural+manufacturing&hl=en
(rural Minnesota analysis---but the Dum-Dums don't realise the necessity
for broadband in jet-propelling their business ahead---when Rob ran
away, maybe those he left behind were damaged-goods.)
http://www.agmconnect.org/libserv/sample_cover_letter.html (OK, OK, I
know it is unfamiliar territory, and the time expended might be a waste
compared to expending that time in other directions, but let me tell you
a story. My excessively smart and resourceful oldest daughter created
her very large income and, until graduation, permanent employment at the
University of Wisconsin (I won't even mention the Athetic Dept. paying
her $30 an hour for tutoring footboll and basketball players to keep
them eligible to play.)
However her main source of revenue was as a grant-rainmaker. Arch
Haller was head of the Brazil section of the Sociology
Department---budgetless of course until my daughter brought in grant
funds from the Brazilian Government, after which Arch could wallow in
money---a good share of which was diverted to care and feeding of my
daughter. Go thou and do likewise.---you simply can't believe how much
grant money is out there for the little effort expended in finding and
harvesting it---think about a good use for it, and study grantwriting
techniques and illustrations)
http://www.keysheets.org/red_14_non_farm_income.html (hell, get a grant
for your spin-off rural manufacturing business(they won't know about
until ex post facto anyway). Get a grant for lowering the cost of farm
and small town utility buildings, even residences by using my
previously-suggested concrete/foam/fiber/acrylic/pozzolan bolt-together
sectional panels. It doesn't even have to be a success (you can make it
so), merely offer the prospects of success. Change the external
appearance of a foam/fiber residence (no big deal, change the plug),
where esthetic appeal is as important as maximum economy.)
http://www.cityofwheaton.com/thewallstreetjournal.htm (The Wall Street
Journal is heavily under the heel of the National Association of
Manufacturers and biased beyond belief---but as any kind of businessman,
you absolutely must read it.---this time they've got it right for you,
the rural entrepreneur.)
[Homestead] Home Manufacturing Series, recent post #5
Tvoivozhd tvoivozd at infionline.net
Tue Sep 21 20:07:41 EDT 2004
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Home manufacturing, recent post #5
http://www.planetaryrenewal.org/ipr/ultralc.html (a little more
esthetically appealing than a modular-panel foamed concrete quonset, or
simple gable-roof (at least make it wide-overhang), but though this
design envisions use of a polyester-resin mix, it could use
foam/fiber/acrylic/pozzolan mix just as well---with a lot better
insulation factor.)
http://www.northcoast.com/~tms/stone.html (Northcoast has always been a
fine source for building low cost homes (and other buildings), still is,
and has some new books worth reading (at you local library first).
Buy the Ken Kerns of course, and you've GOT TO Own the Christopher
Alexander books on "Pattern Language"---no more boring,
marriage-destroying ninety-degree, unlit, no-vista Indiana Boxes.
"Making Concrete Ornaments' is a failsafe source of home manufacturing
income, and not discussed here, give real consideration to the cheap and
excellent India compressed earth blockmaker---nothing cheaper and few
things better that the dirt under your feet.)
http://www.earth-auroville.com/index.php?nav=menu&pg=auram&id1=7 (the
Auroville CEB press to which I referred to above. Makes lovely buildings
at cost little more than plain adobe, and much stronger,
insect-resistant, impervious to rain if a little asphalt is mixed in.)
This is the manual press version---used to cost about $800 laid into a
U.S. Port of entry. There are engine-hydraulic press versions for lazy
Americans---or those who want to make a business of seling compressed
earth block to building contractors at a fraction of the price of
concrete block) The engine-hydraulic presses as I remember, use a
rotary table to put earth mix in the molds, press it in next stage, and
eject the molded part in a third. A note as added economy, besides the
interlocking block, you only use one centimeter of earth-mortar between
blocks---same mix as the boocks are made but slightly wetter.)
http://www.northcoast.com/~tms/wood.html (Old Northcoast photo of
cordwood masonry that any little old lady in tennis shoes can
build---especially if the house uses few posts, is round or hex, and has
a bond-beam to tie the cordwood and provide a component to which roof
members are attached (imbed L-bolts or steel plate tiedowns.) Someone on
the Homestead List built a cordwood masonry house, forgot who.
[Homestead] Subject: Get your small town while it is dirt-cheap, worth
repeating
Tvoivozhd tvoivozd at infionline.net
Tue Sep 21 16:40:30 EDT 2004
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From:
Tvoivozhd <tvoivozd at infionline.net>
Date:
Tue, 21 Sep 2004 12:05:00
-0700
To:
homestead at lists.ibiblio.orgPP
Be the next John Jacob Astor
who clearly saw the opportunity in Manhattan---as a one-time tract-developer
and mass-builder of houses, I assure you the same opportunity exists in
temporarily
downtrodden and decently well-located small towns---not in housing or
buildings
suitable for factories (they have a surplus), but in rural manufacturing
itself.
Entrepreneurs are often slow on the uptake before understanding
of new economics registers on grey matter, but a huge opportunity now exists
to buy low, sell high in small-town America. Of course, you need to put
small-town purchsaes to use immediately or have unlimited capita; You aren't
going to put housekeepers in many of them---put manufacturing buusinesses
in them. Local Chambers of Commerce, old property owners wanting to provide
local opporunity to keep their kids and grandkids nearby, and
bargain-hunting
manufacturing entrepreneurs and your natural allies---put together a
coalition
and keep a good piece of the action.
Be the next John Jacob Astor who clearly saw the opportunity in
Manhattan---as a one-time tract-developer and mass-builder of houses, I
assure you the same opportunity exists in temporarily downtrodden and
decently well-located small towns---not in housing or buildings suitable
for factories (they have a surplus), but in rural manufacturing
itself---buying up buildings fof that purpose---put your own or
coalition manufacturing enterprises in them, or rent the buildings to
out-of-town manufacturers looking for a nest..
Entrepreneurs are often slow on the uptake before understanding of new
economics registers on grey matter, but a huge opportunity now exists to
buy low, sell high in small-town America. Of course, you need to put
small-town purchsaes to use immediately or have unlimited capita; You
aren't going to put housekeepers in many of them---put manufacturing
buusinesses in them. Local Chambers of Commerce, old property owners
wanting to provide local opporunity to keep their kids and grandkids
nearby, and bargain-hunting manufacturing entrepreneurs and your natural
allies---put together a coalition and keep a good piece of the
action---snowball your asserts..
[Homestead] Home Manufacturing Series, recent post #5 addendum
Tvoivozhd tvoivozd at infionline.net
Tue Sep 21 20:47:01 EDT 2004
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Wanted to make sure nobody overlooked the fact that the first #5 post on
Botswana earthen block, was Botswana #2, here is Botswana #1 so you
don't forget to click on it. This is very valuable information.
[Homestead] Home manufacturing business series, recent post #6
Tvoivozhd tvoivozd at infionline.net
Wed Sep 22 12:45:49 EDT 2004
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A lot of red meat here, I will confine the subject to the Critical Path
Method---applicable to almost any business behone use of an Irish Steam
Shovel---round-point shovel and wheelbarrow.
Home Manufacturing Business Series, recent post #6
Management tool---the Critical Path Method writ large on your office
wall. Those annoying little laptop screens have their place---you don't
have to carry around a box of records with you, but as reference to what
you have to do for the day, the week and month, they are damn near
worthless---what you need is real visual impact and nothing provides it
as well as a huge wall-chart. As a 1950-s tract developer and builder
of mass-housing, I found CPM to be invaluable, even in its early stages
where less than a dozen tract builders in the United States adopted this
style of project management.
Of course, you can still buy four-foot high and wide sheets of paper at
your local office supply store, but when Hewlett Packard came out with
its capacity for printing banners in color, it made life much easier for
Building Contractors, to whom a wall-mounted Critical Path chart is a
lifeline.
method&hl=en
DON'T FORGET THAT CRITICAL PATH CHARTS ARE ESTIMATES!!---THEY HAVE TO BE
CONFORMED TO REALITY!!
That means hurricant-proof, fire and flood-resistant---you can
self-insure a really safe house and your unspent insurance premiums will
pap for any added construction cost---and you don't have to fight a
promise-to-pay insurance company in court to force them to pay, either.
[Homestead] Houses, tiny and solar collection
Tvoivozhd tvoivozd at infionline.net
Fri Sep 24 00:40:18 EDT 2004
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Divert from the home manufacturing business series momentarily---to
housebuilding, preferably small ones.
http://www.wauu.de/Arts/Architecture/Minimum_Cost_Housing/ (houses are
too damn big to economically build and maintain, to say nothing of
taxes---make tiny houses act and feel like big ones by opening up
angles, vistas, getting rid of interior partitions and those cursed
second stories, basements with their space-robbing staircases, and
occupant-killing hot, poisonous gases if a fire starts. Make any and all
houses wheelchair-accessile---you may be in a sheelchare next week and
for the rest of your life. Use large,insulated-pane windows (think
French Doors) both to contain heat and provide ventilation---and don't
forget a tall window will only throw light inside twenty feet---beyone
that you should think about transparent roof panels and piping light
inside with fiber optics or cylinders containing reflective mirrors)
http://www.fsec.ucf.edu/bldg/fyh/ratings/why.htm (minimum cost means
passive solar heat and protection against unwanted summer heat, both
requiring a good insulation factor. Don't forget termite protection
too---you don't want wood elements collapsing around your ears.)
http://solarsensedesigns.com/ (small, 1040 sq. feet passive solar,
passive cooling house---don't use cooling air tubes any place except a
dry climate---think mold, allergies and Legionaires Disease)
http://www.ourcoolhouse.com/designs.htm#plan2 (open up the angles,
don't be afraid to enlist a college professor and his architectural
student class, or post on an architectural student bulletin board a
first, second, maybe third prize for redoing your favorite house design.)
http://www.lib.snow.edu/ageofcollectionaug2002/augage2002Page921.html
(long list of houses you can get from your librarian on interlibrary
loan---don't know a thing about them, except every time I hear Frank
Lloyd Wright my ears prick up---spent a lot of weekends at Spring Green
talking to Olga in Russian, and FLW in English.)
http://www.ibiblio.org/london/renewable-energy/solar/general-info/msg00255.html
(Nick Pine, one of the quickest and most competent numbers-men I have
ever run across, expert on solar chimneys, thermal storage in concrete
septic tanks under a house. Back in 1997 and for a few years later when
I was on many energy and construction forums, I had voluminous
correspondence with Nick) Look him up, he has lots of stuff in his
persoal archives.)
http://www.metroactive.com/papers/sonoma/03.13.03/greenbuilding-0311.html
(465 sq. foot portable dome---I like cluster domes---used to be a
cluster at University of Wisconsin that friends lived in and
loved---lots of light, views and idiot-simple, cheap to make---lot
easier to make and much more useful than a giant, single dome.)
[Homestead] Homestead survival plan
Tvoivozhd tvoivozd at infionline.net
Tue Sep 28 12:57:59 EDT 2004
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clanSkeen wrote:
>I have reread TVO's survival plan and can say that to a certain extent
I can
>verify that it is on target. We paid cash for this land and moved up
an old
>(older than me but made of good materials) mobile home that I overpaid
$800
>for and lived in that for almost three years. The first thing we built was
>a workshop into which was hoarded tools and every sort of materials
>(electrical, plumbing, fasteners, wire, etc.). We built the house with a
>stone foundation, stone and brick for several feet around the stoves
in all
>directions, and an enameled metal roof (over top of 1" sheeting). It is
>under a grove of huge oak trees which requires constant vigilence but
it is
>cool all during the summer. We are in the middle of huge forest (the
>Cherokee National Forest) where dead standing wood is free for the taking
>(asking and then taking) so the house is heated and food is cooked with
>wood. We are twenty miles from small cities and almost 140 miles from
large
>cities (Roanoke and Knoxville). Taxes (at present) are cheap and insurance
>is cheap. For example the property taxes on the 20 acre farm and house
went
>up hugely this year to $280 ( a year).
>
>
tvoivozhd---the $1000 mobile home that HAS to be moved keeps
recurring---not often, but periodically in the newspaper ads. but you
can always find them by visiting trailer parks and talking to residents
or managers. Two days ago (I keep watching for such things), in the
Roanoke Times, there was an ad for a 72' x 14' foot mobile home in good
shape for $1000. The principle cost would be moving it. Since you as a
new owner would not be under time-compulsion to get rid of it when your
new house was built, you will at least break even, more likely make
money on a resale. Not a bad idea of using it as a cheap workshop or
storage for tools, stuff you don't want in or around your new house either.
>We seem to have been attending the Tvo school of homestead survival
unawares
>even in some of the small details. For example, my father and I are
amateur
>radio buffs and I have two of the old Heathkit HW-12 trancievers that
>operate off a 12v car battery (just about forever). If I can find a few
>more, I'll get them. In the event of a meltdown, they provide periodic
>communication even globally. In the event of a meltdown, we will be little
>concerned about licenses. Gotta keep that code up to speed though. Used
>to do nearly 50 wpm but I'm not in that much of a hurry now of days. (That
>is, I couldn't do it now!)
>
>
tvoivozhd---I really HATED IT when Heathkit shut down. They produced
some marvelous kits, the construction of which was an unmatched learning
experience. There were a couple of other kit-producers too that no
longer exist---I built quite a few to test electronic circuits that were
helpful in the days when I was scavenging for old radios and restoring
them to their original condition, and when I had a small side-business
repairing the easily-repairable black and white television sets.
>Also we are located in a "holler" whose access is a narrow mountain
road if
>it should ever need defending, and our own "driveway" is 2000' through a
>notch so deep and narrow we call it "the Valley of the Shadow of
Death" ...
>all according to the Gospel of Tvoivozhd.
>
>So Tvo isn't just blowing steam with his plan. It is the backbone of a
>workable life's plan, we are in some way the workshop of same.
>
>I'd add a couple of things: don't trim your homesteading boat so that any
>wave or wake will upset it. What I mean by that is that you need food and
>fuel and water on a continuous basis. Even a short time without them puts
>you at the mercy of things outside your infuence. So I want to make sure I
>can grow corn next year and have kale and turnips this winter (and
milk and
>eggs and such too). I am happy to rely on wood for fuel since I can go out
>to the woods any time and renew it. But clothes, nails, tools, pipes, and
>such are much longer term prospects. It is easy to keep your boat even in
>the water for a very long haul with a little planning. When times are
good,
>put away blankets, jeans, shorts, towels, shoes, nails, wire, etc. so that
>if evil (or interesting) times come, you can ride them out for years until
>better times come. Better times always come just as evil times always
come.
>That is, prividing youself with coveralls is not the same thing as
providing
>yourself with soup and bread.
>
>
tvoivozhd---the gospel of Tvo certainly has its counterpart in the Sgian
episode. I don't think anyone on the Homestead List is better prepared
for all exigencies, while maintaining a reasonable, if reduced cash-flow
while he eyes the horizon for storm clouds or clearing skies. He and
Denise have done exactly what I would be doing if I were twenty years
younger and wiser. Chasing , and occasionally catching the multi-million
dollar rainbow all over the world was exhilarating and I would regret
missing the experience (even of getting shot at in the less
financial-rewarding Air Force), but in balance I now feel the Sgian
plan and course is the best to follow for them and their family.
>Plan for 94% of your life. People used to ask what we would do if a storm
>filled our notch full of snow, how would we get out? The answer is "we
>wouldn't." The world won't come to an end if we bow out for a few days.
>Planning for 100% of your life is ten times more expensive than
planning for
>94% of it. The other 6% isn't that important. This holds true for the
>question "What will you do when you are alone on that mountian, all your
>children are gone - not interested in homesteading, you can't garden
and you
>can't do your luthier work, you are too old to look after chickens and
milk
>the cow and make bread (or - gasp - run a pint of 'shine) .. what will you
>do then? The answer is: then? We will die. But by the gods that other
>94% is gonna be something!
>
>One more thing. You have to have a vision. Now Tvo is very good a plans
>and with him not being all that far away I've been tempted once or
twice to
>shamelessly pick his brain more than decorum would deem seemly. For
example
>I've got this plan for an injection molding system using recycled soda
jugs
>I want to set up for my eldest and can you even imagine what Tvo has
already
>forgotten about that! Tempting. But all that Teultonic and Slavic
>precision must also have a vision. There's no doubt it's there, but it
>isn't the side of equation that is as easily expressed as the
quantitative.
>It is summed up in this:
>
>
tvoivozhd---there he goes again below with the word-music that I so
envy. If I could reorder my education I might attend Jesuit school too.
>A vision without a task is and empty dream
>A task without a vision is drudgery
>
>In the survival plan, have the task honestly laid out before you and
>evaluate it coldly; but have a vision as well. Then you won't need that
>last 6% ... or more likely you will get that last 6% with interest. Now
>there's MY investment plan.
>
>
>James
>
>
>
>_________________________
[Homestead] Homestead survival plan
Tvoivozhd tvoivozd at infionline.net
Tue Sep 28 13:04:22 EDT 2004
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clanSkeen wrote:
>Oh, I forgot to add that Tvo's best point on the survival plan was that
>part about lots of red wine. The wisdom is irrefutable!
>
>"The grape whose logic absolute
> The two and seventy jarring sects confutes
> The enchanted alchemist that in a trice
> Life's leaden metal into gold transmutes"
> (From the Rubbaiyyat)
>
>James
>
>
>tvoivozhd---uncanny---the Rubaiyat is all that got me through Primary
flying school in Tulare, California. I had the
best of instructors, world-renowned acrobatic pilots, even the best
parachute-rigger I have ever seen. But the washout
rate was over 50% which was demoralizing. I carried a copy of the
Rubaiyyat in my left rear pants pocket at all
times.
>
>
>
>
[Homestead] Homestead survival plan
Tvoivozhd tvoivozd at infionline.net
Tue Sep 28 00:16:26 EDT 2004
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Gene GeRue wrote:
> I changed the subject line so this material is more easily found in
> the archives and copied Tvo's present post below this next piece,
> which he wrote earlier and I saved. Some redundancy of course, but
> that just underlines importance.
>
> Earlier post:
>
> tvoivozhd---as I said before, building a mostly self-sufficient rural
> homestead is the most drastic political statement you can
> make---providing you really do it.
tvoivozhd---Just back from tanking up at the VA----fortunately
AB-Positive is a near-universal recipient.. The post and repost are
generic advice. I have been only in verbal stage of survival planning
(the income problem) with my oldest son, who acts as an information
relay-station to his two brothers. He was down here for a week, and
flew back to Wisconsin last Sunday.
The three boys have a lot of similarities, but have different
businesses, which I suspect will affect their receptiveness to my
advice. However the oldest "lived engines" when he was eight or
nine---did a better job of disassembling and rebuilding them than I
thought possible---a gratifying surprise, since I did not teach him
anything about model aircraft engines, or for that matter, about
automobile engines..
If I can batter this computer into submission---(problem with RAM sticks
and slots), I'll see what I can come up with MY preferred integrated
rural income solution, allocation of always limited capital and time,
and from which income comes creeping back---both using the Critical Path
Method---don't know if I can post the last, since I have never had the
occasion creating charts on my computer---maybe my oldest daughter will
help me, she does this all the time in her line of work.
I like diversity, so I will include both rural manufacturing and quick,
plus quicker high-profit ag endeavors. have to remind myself that these
have to include the insufficiently emphasized packaging and
advertising flyers, advertising on the package too. Selling ag
commodities to middlemen was no intellectual challenge, but put the vast
majority of farmers out of business.
[Homestead] Innumeracy and housebuilding
Tvoivozhd tvoivozd at infionline.net
Sat Sep 25 14:45:39 EDT 2004
Odds are meaningless to the general public---the idiots build
stickbuilts in Hurricane Alley and where they can expect both high
storm-surges and and waist-high flooding for weeks.
If people are stupid enough to build in in such areas, their houses
should be concrete domes or hexagons. Those who don't, find out that
stupid people and their fortunes, stupid people and their lives are soon
separated.
[Homestead] need new and different construction skills
Tvoivozhd tvoivozd at infionline.net
Tue Sep 28 13:38:15 EDT 2004
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nationalgeographic.com/cgi-bin/pod/PhotoOfTheDay.cgi?month=10&day=31&year=03>
>
>
tvoivozhd---Gaudi and Nervi were and are heroes of mine.
[Homestead] Home manufacturing, some workshop tools and kitchen table
jewelry startup
Tvoivozhd tvoivozd at infionline.net
Wed Sep 29 14:41:26 EDT 2004
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The Chinese workshop tools relate to more ambitious rural manufacturing
than the kitchen-table jewelry busines, but useful if your vivid
imagination encompasses larger projects.
http://www.aardvark.co.nz/pjet/tools.htm (ostensibly on making a small
jet engine, but focussed on the workshop tools necessary to that and
similar machine shop work.)
I do not like jewelry, although a friend running a welding shop and I
cranked up a great piece of coin-bracelet jewelry, and a magnificent
color-brochure samples of which I am certain are somewhere out in our
West barn..Our bracelents had a gold and chromium option, and I got the
electroplating cost down from almost three dollar quotations to nine
cents. Was prepared to do our own electroplating if the final jobshop
bid had not gone to nine cent---too cheap to consider our alternative
labor and tooling costs.
Jewelry has been popular and profitable for thousands of years, it has
an enormous number of variants---metal-based stampings, centrifugal
castings, lost-wax, , ceramic-based (baked or unbaked) jewelry,
decorated by many means, electroplated, paint-imprinted.
Its major virtue is that it can be started on the kitchen table with
near-zero investment, your knowledge and tooling expanded as far as you
want to go. Like every other jewelry product it has to be artistically
good, preferably novel, and well-packaged. A single product is usually
insufficient, you have to make and package related jewely to create
real sales volume.---and make or buy a foldout modular, well-lit
craft-show booth-display for jewelry and literature, dealer-contracts
etc. Make dealer display booths too, in several sizes they can
buy---the more you do for dealers, the more they will do for you. Craft
shows and flea markets is where you start out, of course you will
progress to a website and mearchant-dealer credit card acceptance (with
a SECURE site to protect customer records and your records)..
Everything and everything about jewelry is available in jewelry supplier
catalogs, in thousands of books, and on the Internet.. The number is
overwhelming---you have to cut the information flow down to a size you
can digest, and to a sub-section of jewelry that meets your initial home
workshop level of skill, tools and your initial investment, production,
marketing capital.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
I've always loved earrings, and this love has turned into my dream
career. It has also led me to great experiences and personal growth,
along with a nice income.
Several years ago, after two decades of buying earrings everywhere I
went, I received the birthday gift that changed my life - a book called
"You Can Make Your Own Earrings". I was electrified at the realization
that I really could make earrings for myself!
Obsessed, I sent for dozens of jewelry supply catalogs, ordered jewelry
making supplies and tools, and began turning out dozens of pairs of
handcrafted earrings. I made far more earrings than I could ever wear
myself, so I gave earrings to everyone I knew and kept on making more of
them. It was the most addictive hobby I'd ever had!
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Finally, when my earring supply reached critical mass, my husband said,
"I think you're going to have to either stop making those earrings or
start selling them." And so my jewelry business was born. It's been an
enjoyable process that has brought me experiences I wouldn't trade for
anything. Thanks to my jewelry business, I've learned new skills,
created my own solutions to challenges, and met kindred spirits.
(Almost) every step of the journey has been fun!
I started selling my earrings at small art and craft shows, and
consigned my work to gift shops and galleries. I made a lot of mistakes,
and also had some early successes.
One of my earliest lessons was that you have to make what people want to
buy, not just what you like to make! I found that I could make a lot
more sales by offering other pieces of jewelry to match my earrings, so
I diversified and began designing bracelets, necklaces, and pendants
too. And although custom orders are not my favorite work to do, they can
be very profitable, so I began accepting them too.
After doing a few shows, I learned that a professional looking display
can sell ten times more jewelry than just a scattering of earrings on a
table cloth. In the process of making that discovery, I found out that
elaborate displays are a pain to set up and take down, and require a lot
of closet space to store at home! So gradually I evolved my displays to
my current setup, which looks professional, is lightweight and compact
to store and transport, and stays loaded with my inventory and ready to
go at all times. It takes me only half an hour or so to set up and take
down my booth when I do shows, and if a customer calls wanting to come
to my house to look at jewelry, I can just whip out a nice display on
the guest bed in only a few minutes.
Offering my customers free gift wrap increased my sales, so I provide a
selection of different types of elegant pouches, boxes, and bags. This
is an especially important selling point around the holidays, when
people are so busy. They appreciate my beautiful complimentary gift wrap
so they don't have to go home and hunt for a tiny box and wrap the
jewelry themselves. I even offer to ship the gift for them if the
recipient lives out of town. Anything you can do to simplify your
customer's life will make them remember you the next time they need to
purchase a gift!
Other jewelry packaging is also important. I found that the earring
cards and jewelry hang tags I designed myself give my pieces a much more
professional appearance, and I print my contact info on them as well as
specific information about the stones used in the jewelry.
Another crucial selling point is accepting credit cards. I found that
was my ticket to really big jewelry sales and profits. People will buy
more if they can put it on their Visa or MasterCard instead of shelling
out the cash right then and there, and many customers don't have their
checkbook with them anyway. So if you're serious about making money from
your handcrafted jewelry, it's essential to accept credit cards.
I dabbled in selling my jewelry on eBay, and had some spectacular flops
along with some thrilling successes. Jewelry is a very competitive niche
on eBay, and success in the online auction market takes time to develop.
To be a successful eBay jewelry seller you need to have a constant
presence there, with at least a couple of auctions up at all times for
your repeat customers to find. Clear, closeup photos of your jewelry are
also crucial for eBay success.
I learned through a great deal of trial and error how to get
professional-looking photographs of my jewelry. I finally figured out
that my cheapie digital camera just isn't designed for close, clear
pictures of jewelry, so I've mastered jewelry photography with my
computer's flatbed scanner. You can get some beautifully artistic
jewelry photos with a scanner, and it's a quick and simple way to get
great shots for your website, auction listings, or other literature.
Home jewelry parties are one of the most profitable ways to sell
handcrafted jewelry, and I spent some time figuring out how to make
parties rewarding for the hostess without cutting into my profits too
much. I also found that an open-house type of party with just light
snacks and no party games gets the highest attendance and sells the most
jewelry. And the number-one way to increase your home jewelry party
profits and attendance is to have the hostess call all guests a day or
two before the party to remind them about it and secure their commitment
to attend.
Customers and shop owners assumed that since I was in business, I would
have a website. So I learned how to build and promote my own site, how
to set up a shopping cart, and how to accept online payments. A simple
website design is best, so that your jewelry stands out. Although neat,
flashy website features are fun to play with, you should resist the
temptation to put them on your site. At best they distract visitors from
your jewelry, and at worst they slow down the page's loading so that
visitors on a slow Internet connection will give up and hit the back
button. And most especially, do not use any background images. They make
it very hard to see photos and read text. Just a plain, preferably
light-colored background is best for your visitors!
I discovered that keeping my jewelry dazzlingly clean and shiny catches
customers' eyes and increases the perceived value of my work, so I
bought an ionic jewelry cleaner and tarnish-prevention strips and
devised a tarnish-free way of storing my jewelry inventory. Now all my
pieces have that spectacular "jewelry-store" sparkle!
One of the opportunities my jewelry business has brought me is teaching
jewelry making workshops, which is very rewarding. However, I learned
the hard way that workshops are a lot easier for me if everyone works on
the same type of project at the same time, instead of each person doing
a totally different thing! From jewelry workshops I discovered the
market niche of providing bracelet-making birthday parties for girls,
which is a fun way to spend a few hours and make some good money for
your time.
I have to attribute the biggest leap in my professional development to
online jewelry-making forums, where I've been immeasurably enriched by
the professional information exchange and friendships. If you have any
interest in operating your own jewelry business, participating in
jewelry-making forums is a fun and important element of your success!
For your own jewelry business success, I encourage you to follow your
artistic heart and think with your business brain. I recommend that you
study jewelry trends and styles, learn everything you can about jewelry
making materials, set up your business recordkeeping so that you stay
organized, and concentrate on providing solutions to your customers'
problems. Don't try to make all jewelry for all people; focus on your
own style or niche and build a client base.
[Homestead] Home Workshop tools, homemade foam wire-cutter
Tvoivozhd tvoivozd at infionline.net
Wed Sep 29 15:08:53 EDT 2004
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and kitchen table jewelry startup
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For a lot of things like making your own wind-turbine propellors, a
hotwire foam cutter is the best way to go---what would normally take
you a couple of days is accomplished in an hour---and much more
accurately, which is essential to the balance you have to have to avoid
shaking your wind-turbine apart and having it fall (dangerously) to the
ground.
[Homestead] Home workshop tools, equipment, some distantly-related
Tvoivozhd tvoivozd at infionline.net
Wed Sep 29 18:14:35 EDT 2004
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Distantly related, but useful tools and products---the penalty you have
to pay for my disorganized mind. Some good moneymakers here though.
http://www.geocities.com/PicketFence/Garden/5461/ (homemade tools to
make lapstrake, woodstrip boats. No plans, just pictures, including
beautiful decked sailing canoe. These are rarities, bring thousands of
dollars when they come up for sale.)
http://www.stretcher.com/stories/970606a.cfm (kid stuff, play-dough and
bubblemaking recipies---latter great for a cheap, animated
attention-getter at flea markets and craft shows.)
&pba=adid=11043104
(more playdough and fingerlicking paint)
http://www.armorama.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=Sections&file=index&req=viewarticle&artid=404
(cam't repeat too often or too much about the utility of a homemade
vacuum-forming machine---the Armorama is tiny, larger two-stage
vacuum-pump and vacuum storage tank which I have posted in the past, are
more practical, more productive and more expensive---there are
occasional uses for a tiny cheapy though)
http://www.stuartnye.com/about.htm (dammit, should have incorporated
this article on Depression-Era jwwelrymaking in the previous post. If
you can make it in a home business during the Depression, you can make
it anytime, anywhere---six mile wide comet permitting)
http://www.righthook.com/fahome.html (if you're really pissed about Big
Brother and want to keep a low profile until D-Day, books on making your
own automatic weapons and gunpowder)
http://www.uniqueprojects.com/projects/paper/paper.htm (be a
papermaker, you are surrounded by free-for-the-gathering papermaking
supplies---the most beautiful paper is homemade and any thickness,
texture, color you choose+
http://www.sare.org/publications/core_info.htm (SARE data on improving
your soil, your garden, fields, farm income, pest-control, composting,,
the cultivation equipment available for the farmer, Creamline for the
small private-consumption or small commercial dairy. Try it, you'll
like it.)
http://pennswoods.net/~zigbug/ (for a lot of homemade woodlot products,
you've GOT to have a bandsaw, whether it is homemade or a WodMizer with
all the bells and whistles, or the take-it-to-the-log
I've had the Rake bandsaw plans for years---now vefy much improved and
more expensive at $1200 for materials---his first version cost $600.
http://nv.essortment.com/claytileshandm_rzfz.htm (homemade baked clay
tiles, stroll into Architects office with samples, into Interior
Designers studios with a picture-tile wall decoration under your
arm---my youngest boy with a large regional floor and wall-covering
business would be interested.)
http://www.flyrockets.com/websites.asp (I dunno, I posted plans and
prices on a %5000 cruise missile which is the equivalent of any
medium-range U.S. Military cruise-missile---the free plans are no longer
posted on the designers website, bu available for a reasonable fee.
Heres some stuff on less ambitios rocketry)
http://www.torotrak.com/variator.html (if ou run a speed-dependent
drive in your small factory, you will have to drive it with a variator.
You can machine a variator, but you won't save any money,these are
pretty cheap. Forgot the brand, but I used to buy them for my factories
as low as $17.95)
transmission)
(A Chrysler-assigned CVT (continuously variable transmission, no
drawings here, only claims, but you get the
idea)
http://www.gokartsupply.com/tcterms.htm Comet drive CVT used in
motor-scooters, as I remember Salsbury was the first, or at least one of
the first to do this.)
A CVT is used a lot in an air-to-air whole house heat exchanger, where
you want to fine-tune the the amount of air exhausted and bro brought in
for the correct number of turnovers across a twenty four hour
period---the flow volume depends on the cubic footage of the house)
Also used in stirring liquids where the viscosity changes, or it is
desirable to change the shear-rate of the blades---as in stirring papier
mache, papercrete, mixing paint etc.
Look for the dual-fuel woodgas and gasoline carburetor here in back
issues, designed by Clarence Goosen in the 1980's apex of MEN ingenuity
and usefulness.
The first book to describe in depth timber framing methods
used by most contractors, farmers and owner-builders today -
methods that use modern metal fasteners, special screws and
common sense building principles.
*Fish Farm with Cages!
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=3534>*
Aquaculture made easier with mosquito netting on all kinds of ponds,
includes obtaining fish and types: bullheads, catfish, trout, sunfish,
carp, eels, tilapia.
*Ask Our Experts
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=3530>*
Orchard ground cover; keeping a well safe from contaminants; finding an
energy source for a passive solar log home; judging wood shrinkage for
cordwood structures; earth sheltered building methods.
*Become an Eggs-Pert
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=3526>*
How to buy, store and prepare quality eggs with recipes for ham and
mushroom quiche, Swiss pie Florentine, stir fry garden omelet, confetti
scramble, chicken waldorf blossom, day ahead dinner salad.
*Country Lore <http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=3527>*
W.W. Donovan fixes a dead battery with Epsom salts; Norma Sizemore saves
rice thrown at weddings to cover her sprout jars; Thelma Mahoney
recommends dropping an expired driver's license in the car door to prove
ownership in case it's stolen; Virginia McQuitty stores spoons on her
table for easy access; Ron Bradshaw uses diluted battery acid to clean
brass fixtures; Sherry Miranda says vegetable bins make excellent barn
storage bins; Morrow Olcott suggests that discarded seat belts make
great gate latches; Owen Bradford makes fluffier omelets by adding a
pinch of pancake mix to the egg batter; Doug Smith stores his spare
hooks and leaders in a wallet-sized photograph holder while fishing; Don
Carroll suggests running jewelry through drinking straws to prevent
tangling; Mrs. Arthur E. Norah browns oatmeal in butter as a substitute
for nuts in food; Charlotte Pierce puts a colored light bulb in her
porch light so visitors are sure to find her home; John Onuska converts
the baskets of old grocery carts into rabbit hutches; Country Monia
discovered green and blue colors make eaters less hungry, while orange
increases appetite.
*If You Are Sprayed With Pesticides
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=3521>*
Preparation and protection from an insecticide accident, including
gathering evidence, reporting the incident, following up, taking it to
court.
*Country Lore <http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=3298>*
Daniel Warner uses an air pump to separate meat from the bone in hunted
animals; Doug Quail throws chicken feed around fencing to let the fowl
pick weeds for him; Eileen Jingo recycles sunflower stalks to support
string beans; Badger Stator reports sunflower stalks make great
shepherds' staffs in Christmas pageants; Linda Biracial grows seaweed to
feed to her goldfish; Mrs. Dennis Austin plans city travel by laminating
a map and drawing her route with a grease pencil; D. Leverets says a dry
ballpoint pen works well on carbon paper; David Ennis shares a honey
candy recipe; Gale Flag uses a cotton cloth and liquid lecithin instead
of no stick spray; Charles Craig makes his own reflective pet collars;
Nancy Perry uses rocks to support fence posts; wine vinegar can be used
to eliminate tobacco and other household odors according to Shirley
McHenry; Tom Kennedy finds vinegar handy when patching concrete; Billie
Durham dashes vegetables with vinegar instead of butter and salt; tire
inner tubes can be recycled as water hoses, gaskets and a variety of
other purposes; Fran Beckon saves money by having everyone in the family
use the same natural shampoo; Every Love grows tomatoes upside down in a
bucket; Zen Colterjohn wraps fragile gifts in disposable diapers for
shipping; Nancy Piccioni-Hann found masonry wire supports make excellent
frames for beans and grapes in the garden; Joseph J. Stearn drops an
alcohol/vinegar mixture in his ears to prevent infection after swimming;
Dixie McCullough trades her worn vegetable peeler to a friend who uses
the opposite hand; Ray Anderson rubs crushed garlic on his feet to keep
them dry; David Byrd sprinkles borax in his shoes to prevent athlete's
foot; Janis Simmons traps fleas in petroleum jelly; Dennis and Donna
Cheathem bath their dogs in crushed pennyroyal leaves to prevent fleas;
Emma Minors keeps her plants healthy by pouring water leftover from
boiling eggs in the pots; Patricia Vought brews tea in the sun in
two-gallon glass condiment jars she gathers from restaurants.
*A Home Business Business (It Pays to Advertise!)
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=3280>*
Advertising for home businesses, including pricing, directory design,
prospects, making contacts, promotion, assembly, distribution.
*Okara: A Meal for the Asking
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=3203>*
Making and cooking this tasty soy based food, including vegetarian
recipes for crunchy carobola, apple anarchy, soyburger supreme, raisin
soy cookies, no meat sausage rolls, corn bread.
*Ask Our Experts
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=3199>*
The effectiveness of superinsulated homes in the Southeast; keeping
creosotes out of the chimney from a wood stove; developing a healthy
vegetarian diet.
*Country Lore <http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=3200>*
Lance Mellon sows spinach in autumn for fuller growth; Gary Coffey lines
plant holes with potatoes before setting shrubberies in place; Charlotte
Pierce saves Halloween masks to scar away garden pests and birds; B.
Alice Shipley squirts light machine oil in rabbits' ears in the summer
to keep mites away; Barry Raygor soaks new jeans in cold water with salt
to add life to the material; Dave and Julie Piourde pour melted salt
free butter and peanut butter over popcorn instead of salt; Paul
Williams converted a dog house to a woodbox; Barbara Burr says an
animal's gum color can be an indication of health; Lisa Murray doesn't
prebake her lasagna noodles and they hold up stronger; Sara McGinnis
makes her own seasoning salts at home; Melvin Gates splits damaged doors
and uses them for storage shelves; Barbara Angersbach keeps kitty litter
in her trash can to avoid bad smelling garbage; Mary Siegert bakes
cupcakes in ice cream cones; Al Smith improves AM radio reception by
connecting the radio to a broken car radio and tuning both to the same
frequency; Russell Skinner reports cotton soaked in lard or bacon grease
is great mouse bait; Mrs. John Schwartz uses a plastic bag for bonding
in appliqu'^, hemming or other sewing chores.
*Buying an Existing Earth Sheltered Home
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=3183>*
Inspecting an underground home, including: structural soundness and
waterproofing, leakage, heating and cooling, code compliance, questions
and conditions.
*Canning Meat the Right Way
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=3189>*
Cooking and preparing meat for storage, including cleaning, facts and
recipes for canned roast, hot packed steaks or chops, cold or raw packed
steaks or chops, wild rabbit and squirrel, boned bird and hot packed
bird on the bone.
*Mother's Insolation Monitor
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=3192>*
Keeping track of the efficiency of alternative, passive solar energy
consumption, including construction, site surveying, power production
planning.
*Country Lore <http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=2663>*
Bill Ickes glues polyester scraps to sandpaper to give the abrasive a
longer life; Barry Atkins matches dipped in wax can withstand any
weather conditions; Gloria Robertson placed yarn bows around her house
to lure her curious toddler away from hazards; Phyllis Wolff recycles
Christmas cards by cutting the designs out of the covers and using them
next year; Ellen Siegler suggests washing doll's hair with fabric
softener for restoration and writing the manufacturer for replacement
parts when board game pieces have been lost; Rosalind Milliken says
stationary and paper goods make an excellent gift for the elderly;
Debbie O'Neal tries to learn at least one new thing each month to make
the year more rewarding; Scott Hoffman slides his firewood downstairs
using parts from an old swing set; Jamie Tackman splashes water on the
side of a propane tank to check its level; Walt Busky turns off the
lights and uses a flashlight to find a dropped contact, which should
illuminate when lit; Charles Wilbur recycles old hair dryers as bellows
for his fireplace and wood stove; Gregory Coleman uses crushed eggshells
to keep his coffee from brewing bitter; Blanche Berger says a cribbage
board may be used to keep track of rows and stitches while crocheting;
Dawn Bauer makes and stores her own biscuit mix; Mrs. Gordon Pullman
says leaving an old knife blade in an onion takes off the rust; Tina
Schriver keeps a plastic bag nearby while making bread to place her hand
in when doing other chores.
*Environmental Hall of Fame
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=2641>*
Biographies of inductees: David Ross Brower, Jerome Irving Rodale, Aldo
Leopold, Jacques-Yves Cousteau, Barbara Ward, Sir Albert Howard, Rene
Jules Dubos, Anwar Fazal.
*A Child's Play Center
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=2632>*
Building a wooden children's toy box and play desk, includes
instructions, materials list, diagrams.Building an alternative energy
generator at home.
* A Gallery of Winter: Craft Projects - A Mother Earth News Mini-Manual
How to Knit and Crochet
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=3134>*
Sewing your own garments including: scarf, afghan, hat, sweater,
slippers, pullover. With knitting basics for beginners like casting on,
knitting, purling, increasing, decreasing, yarn over, binding off,
crocheting techniques, materials lists, diagrams and instructions
*Country Lore <http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=3132>*
Paul Sheldon suggests hooking an electric clock to a water meter to keep
track of how often it runs; Susan Golombek says pouring water into a
candle holder will keep the wax from sticking; Bruce Klecka dips candles
in salt water and freezes them overnight to keep the wax from running;
Dennis Mulso states pouring water in a lamp when the oil is low and the
wick is short; Allyn Moise drilled holes in pennies when he ran out of
º inch washers and saved money; Carol Bank created a plywood tray for
her mailbox so letters were always handy; Pam and Donald Vilas save a
small piece of their Christmas tree trunk as a memento; Alfred Glenn
uses cornmeal to clean spots on suede; Jackie Joy Zandrews rubs snow in
her furs to clean them; Mary Seramur-Kraiss praises washing wool with
shampoo for preservation; Lynda Mason learned it is easier to prepare
garlic if you bruise the cloves before peeling; Susan Tran recycles worn
chopsticks to stir paint, pick out hot coals, and push fruit and
vegetables while canning.
*Mom's (Gardener's) Favorites
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=3129>*
A guide to the best flowers and vegetables for your garden, including:
beans, broccoli, cabbage, carrots, onions, peas, potatoes, calendula,
delphinium, Echinacea, poppy, valerian.
*Mother's Guide to Low Cost Outdoor Gear, A Mini-Manual
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=3075>*
How to buy the right equipment and a good price, including: sewing, used
goods, renting, comparison shopping, footwear, clothing, backpack,
shelter, sleeping bag, kitchen.
*New Ideas for the Old Farm Pond
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=3065>*
A guide to restocking the rural watering hole including small mouth
bass, catfish, chain pickerel, Northern pike, walleye, sunfish, crappie,
rock bass, bullheads, gizzard shad, mosquito fish, suckers, trout, carp,
goldfish, perch and stocking systems.
*Country Lore <http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=3064>*
Robert Grinarml suggests using a shotgun to dispose of wasps nests; Dave
Kooyers uses burning sulfur to rid buildings of hornets; Ross
Westergaard used flypaper to control pesky insects; Darlene Wagner
discovered sprinkling talcum powder on her hands allows her entrance to
a newborn rabbit's nest; Paul Moore dug a pit in the floor of his tipi
for additional cooling and living space; Shane Jones uses old T-shirts
to cover his car seats when the upholstery wears out; Elizabeth England
mixes water, chamomile and ginger root to keep dandruff away; Mary Leck
saves hair from her brushes to make pincushions.
*Biodynamics: the Other Organic Gardening Method
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=3055>*
Background and history on alternative organic agriculture, including:
compost starter, Number 500, techniques, preparation.
*The Pick of the Crop
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=3054>*
Preparing a garden in the winter ensures a healthy summer crop of
lettuce, radishes, turnips, greens, peas, cabbage, cauliflower,
broccoli, Brussels sprouts, onions, leeks, beets, carrots, corn
tomatoes, peppers, beans, melons, cucumbers, zucchini and squash.
*Thoughts on the Design of a Sane World: Part II
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=3039>*
Qualities of a sane world include: equity, environmental orientation,
sustainable economy, value and promotion of diversity, no war.
*Country Lore <http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=425>*
Kenneth Hubbard says the secret to a good lawnmower is having a balanced
blade, not sharpness; Clarence Nye uses an old tire as a log holder when
splitting wood; Roberta Forpahl uses a tire inner tube as a chainsaw
blade cover; Shauna Ellet uses a wire coathanger to keep a cookbook open
to the correct recipe; Oliver Jones shares a recipe for canned tomato soup.
*Investing in Change
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=422>*
The ways you save your money can help determine the quality of our
planet's future, including the record, profiles, using the system,
before you invest.
*They Don't Steal the Towels!
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=419>*
Ever thought of going into a horse motel business? The guests are great!
They don't carouse all night, complain about slow room service or make
unreasonable demands.
*Queen Rearing: A Beekeper's Primer
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=418>*
Many amateur apiarists are discovering that honey production is only
part of the challenge and reward of keeping bees, including variations
on a theme, queens for sale, bee business sidebar.
*Mother's Guide to Hazardous Household Substances
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=417>*
A look at emulsifiers, flavorings and colorings, kitchenware,
dinnerware, preservatives and antioxidants, cleaners and examining
chemicals in the kitchen, utility room, and bathroom.
*The Reclusive Villain
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=416>*
Beware the ubiquitous brown recluse spider. This seemingly harmless
creature is definitely dangerous, including recluse lore, orchestrating
the fiddleback's demise.
*The Marvelous Mountain Gorillas
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=415>*
On Mother's recent visit to Tanzania and Rwanda, we discovered,
surprisingly enough, that tourists may offer the best (and probably the
last) hope of saving this endangered species.
*Some Tips and Tools for Elderly and Handicapped Gardeners
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=413>*
Even physical impairments needn't prevent us from participating in the
joys of gardening, including extension tools, summary of ideas and sources.
*A $5 Macro Lens for Your Camera
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=411>*
You don't need expensive equipment to peer into the world of
larger-than-life photography, including building the converter, using
the lens, simplicity itself, not bad for the price.
*Home-Canned Milk
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=410>*
Making cheese and yogurt isn't the only method of putting up your
surplus dairy product, including from bucket to bottle, caramelly
pudding recipe.
*Homestead Handbook: How To Build a Simple Log-Bridge
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=397>*
Homestead handbook construction guide, including getting started, the
base, what will it hold?, stringers, flooring, step-by-step
illustrations, how long will it last?
*Ultrasonic Plant Stimulation
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=398>*
Though it's best known as a pest-control method, high-frequency sound
could find new agricultural uses, including accelerated plant growth,
results, the effects of ultrasound, graphs.
*Mother's $10-Per-Square-Foot (or Less!) Earth-Sheltered House
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=400>*
We're about to prove, once again, that energy-efficient housing doesn't
have to be expensive, with this $10-per-square-foot in-ground home design.
*Window Witchery: Stitchery!
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=396>*
Here's a bit of do-it-yourself magic that can make an ugly view look
bright and beautiful, including seaming, Mother's method, arts and
crafts, selecting a joiner, installation.
*A Fitness Center Made of Wood
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=395>*
Even if you're not an accomplished carpenter, you can build a home gym
for less than $200, including detailed diagram, materials list, building
instructions.
*To Repair or to Replace: That Is the Question
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=394>*
When that old, dependable household appliance sputters to a halt, you
may be confronted with a classic dilemma, including expected service
life of electrical appliances.
*The PVC Porch Glider
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=392>*
Slip-joint plumbing may have a place not only under your house, but in
it as well with this unique porch-swing design, including diagrams and
directions.
*Healing Gardens <http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=391>*
Fill your life with beauty, fragrance and time-tested remedies for
common ailments, including the essentials, ideal plants for shady and
sunny gardens, home health, alternative medicine.
*Herbicides and No-Till Farming
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=390>*
The agricultural industry is converting to this new and better (on the
surface, at least) better method, including how do herbicides work,
toxicity, persistence, ecological effects.
*The Good Life Get Together
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=387>*
Take a few country fields on the back roads of upstate New York, add a
selection of skilled homesteading instructors and a couple hundred eager
participants and you'll have this event.
*Medical Self-Care: All About Circumcision
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=385>*
A look at circumcision, including a 6,000 year history, medical facts
and fallacies, three techniques, possible complications.
*A Trio of Garden Helpers
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=381>*
Caring for your backyard growing plot can be as easy as one, two, three
if you have a hose guard, dibbles and cord and knee saver with you.
*An Alaskan Escape
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=380>*
Patience, persistence and planning helped this couple's dream turn into
reality as they retreat from the city to the North Star State to lead
the good life.
*Be a Back-to-Basics Bowyer
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=378>*
Any archery fan can add more enjoyment by homecrafting primitive
equipment, including the bowyer's bare essentials, bending to the task,
the language of archery, arrowmaking.
*Folks, Facts and Folklore
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=3022>*
Clay Kirkland suggests massaging skin friendly foods instead of using
hand lotion; Leona Burch explains how to can bread; Connie Forand has
found cinnamon a deterrent for carpenter ants; Graham Wright drops rocks
in cans of varnish or stain to prevent oxidation; Ronald Peyton offers a
handy homemade way to harvest berries; Raymond Downs dips his cats in a
chlorine bleach solution to rid them of ringworms; Dian Zwerink says
putting old dog bones in potting keeps plants' roots from becoming
waterlogged; Angie Ronald says putting vinegar on animal hides speeds up
the tanning process.
*Designing Sustainable Small Farms and Homesteads
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=3016>*
Detailed look at creating a small farm including zones and sectors,
location, function, resources, recycling, alternative technology,
function and budgeting.
*Intentional Communities: Some Inside Views
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=3011>*
Life in utopian communities in East Wind, Missouri, Harbin Hot Springs,
California and The Renaissance Community, Massachussetts.
*Reading to Sharpen Your Chain Saw Skills
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=6710>*
There's no shortage of excellent reference publications dealing with
every aspect of chain saw safety and we've collected a few of our
staff's favorites to share with you.
*Mother Tests Two Chain Saw Mini-Mills
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=6709>*
If you're building a log structure and have lots of time, but not much
money let Mother help you with these test results, including a Bushpilot
beam machine, Haddon lumbermaker.
*What To Look For In A Chain Saw Lumber Mill
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=6708>*
Their sizes range from small to tall - and so do their prices. But no
matter the style here's a guide, including vertical and horizontal mills.
*Deliciously Beautiful You!
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=371>*
Natural beauty tips, including curing bad morning breath with tooth
soda, face moisturizer, nightly refreshment, using milk to remove puffy
eyes, grapefruit baths, more.
*Practical Puppets
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=366>*
Bring back the smile to a child's face with a napkin, a character voice
and some downright fun puppetry, including diagrams, how to create the
puppets, puppetry techniques.
*Country Lore <http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=368>*
Doug Murphy shares how to keep from splitting fine woods when
cabinetmaking; Becky Porter cuts and pastes footprints all over the
house to remind her children where to store their things; Ronald Peyton
revises the berry-picking technique shared in the previous issue;
Hermann Gurfinkel uses an old rope as a touch-up paintbrush; Lester
Westlund covers furniture scratches by rubbing a walnut husk over the
blemish; Lynne Thomas provides tips to prevent chickens from attacking
each other.
*Environmental and Humanitarian Organizations
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=365>*
Here's a look at a few of the many groups working to protect planet
Earth and the freedom and diversity of her inhabitants, including
Akwesansne notes, Earth First!, Greenpeace, Amnesty.
*Life in the "Future Tents"
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=364>*
For a tent, its expensive. On the other hand, it'd be difficult to find
such a big, beautiful, unusual dwelling for twice the price. There are
other advantages to be found herein.
*Be a Professional Hunting and Fishing Guide
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=363>*
If you love people, love the outdoors and respect nature, you can turn
those assets into a paying business, including keep it legal, what to
charge for your service, paperwork, the rewards.
*Don't Give Up the Sheep
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=362>*
If you're considering adding some livestock to your homestead, take some
of this advice, including selecting a breed, dogs, bloat, breeding, fencing.
*Ravelings of a Nearly Continental Knitter
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=360>*
Europeans have used a fast, efficient knitting for generations. The
technique is revealed herein, including diagrams, knitting, troubles,
purling, increasing and decreasing, do it your way.
*Growing Organic Ginseng
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=358>*
Priceless on what may be the ultimate cash crop, including Oscar's
start, bed preparation and planting, care during the growing season,
harvesting and storing the seeds, digging the roots.
*Looking Into Binoculars
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=357>*
When shopping for long-range optics, its wise to employ plenty of
foresight, including the basics, image brightness, field of view, lens
construction, focus, parting thoughts, selector chart.
*A Well-Drilling (Customer's) Primer
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=356>*
Most well drillers won't deliberately give you the shaft, but don't call
one up before reading this, including pump comparisons, household water
requirements chart, work under pressure, Can You Drill Your Own? sidebar.
*Acorns: The Grain That Grows on Trees
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=353>*
A food-producing nut tree may well be growing, unappreciated in your own
backyard, including, acorns for eating, from the forest to the frying
pan, forager's guide, grow your own.
*Deno The Dinosaur
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=351>*
You can use old jeans, sewing scraps and a little imagination to create
this fun stuffed friend, including what you'll need, pattern, putting it
together.
*Become a Veterinary Technician
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=352>*
This job might be just the thing to help make ends meet on the
homestead, including description and qualifications, job sharing,
landing the job and do you really want it?
*The Classic Crossbow: You Can Build Your Own!
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=348>*
It was the hot setup during the Crusades, and it's going through a new
revolution today, including diagrams, piece by piece, fact and fiction,
patterns, assembly directions.
*Food Irradiation
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=346>*
The federal government may approve wider use of a controversial method
of preservation, including atoms for the pizza, health concerns, how
well it works, food for thought.
*Homestead Handbook: Field-Dressing and Skinning Big Game
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=344>*
Homestead handbook, including prehunt preparation, field-dressing, out
of the woods and home, skinning, how long to age, step-by-step
illustrations.
*Undercover Device: The Cloche
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=342>*
Increase your garden's productivity with low-cost, manageable,
season-extending structures, including belling the crop, from individual
to mass cover, an emergency tunnel, PVC cloche.
*The Saga of Big Pink
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=341>*
Moving a house can be an inexpensive - but often very bumpy - road to
home ownership, including learning from mistakes, the big move, a
manageable mortgage, things to keep in mind.
*Wood Stove Efficiency and Emissions: 1984
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=340>*
The time may have come if you have you put off buying a
better-performing wood-burning heater, including Shelton energy research
test results table, revulsion equals revolution, more.
*Copper Cowbells <http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=338>*
You can keep an ear on your good old woods-wandering Bessie with these
homemade cowbell designs, including pattern, making it ring, assembly,
photographs.
*Voltage-Surge Protector
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=339>*
Protect your sensitive electronic equipment from lightning damage by
building this device, including parts list, photographs, building and
assembly instructions.
*Compton's "One Pass" Peeling Spud
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=336>*
This particular spud's not meant for eating, thought it certainly peels
nearly as well, including how to build a long-handled bark peeler for
limbs, logs and felled wood.
*March to the Beat of Your Own Drum
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=337>*
This craft combines making music and creating beautiful things,
including collecting materials, constructing the drum, added touches,
ideas galore.
*Repair That Foundation'- You Can Do It Yourself
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=335>*
When you start thinking about weatherproofing your house, don't forget
to look down, including what you can do, what you'll need, getting
ready, mixing mud, pointing and plastering.
*A Look at Mother's Solar Wood-Drying Kiln
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=334>*
Using the sun to season wood can be a financially rewarding - but
challenging - experience, including cutaway, detailed diagram, top view
diagram, photographs, how it works.
*Triple Treat: A Pickup Body For All Reasons
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=330>*
You can expand your truck's versatility with this inexpensive, homemade,
haul-all conversion, including the stake bed, the lumber rack, the
camper, detailed construction diagram, directions.
*A "High-Amp" PV Charge Controller
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=325>*
Here's a homemade battery-charge controller that can handle more than
five amps of current, including circuit update, instructions.
*Hook Your Wind Machine to the Grid
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=321>*
With the help of a couple important federal financial incentives, it can
make sense to take the action outlined herein, including be your own
friendly local utility, tax incentives, energy future.
*Country Lore <http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=2976>*
Ron Spears tells how black pepper stops a radiator leak; Fay Lilley
suggests frying noodles for crispy chow mein; Tom Minor offers success
in shredding leaves in a trash can with a lawn trimmer; David Potter
proffers a safe way to control tree fall; Frank Barnett shows how to
turn worn out overalls into a bib or coveralls.
*Should You Become "You, Incorporated"?
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=2972>*
The advantages and disadvantages of the self-employed becoming
incorporated including taxes, medical plans, tax shelters, insurance,
establishing and paperwork.
*The Greenhouse as an Ecosystem
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=2964>*
Understanding the qualities of various greenhouses, improving light
quality, ventilation, using the best soil, crop planning, and insect and
disease control.
*Homestead Handbook: Erecting a Pole Building
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=2951>*
Detailed instructions for constructing a pole building, including:
materials list, site preparation, layout and pole setting, girts,
joists, rafters and trusses, roofing and siding.
*Economic Outlook
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=317>*
Various quotes relating to the 1929 stock market crash, World War II and
the economy, recessions between 1950 and 1980, how to fight inflation
and other political lies.
*A Build-It-Yourself Pine Pole Greenhouse
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=316>*
A greenhouse can be a reliable source of fresh winter foot. Many of
these structures, though, are beyond the limits of the average budget,
but not this new design from Mother presented here.
*Tap The Sun <http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=313>*
Learn an easy, low-cost way to add solar heat to your mobile home or
metal outbuilding, including planning for available materials, plan and
cut, ducts and dampers, bill of materials.
*Country Lore <http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=308>*
Gary LeDean shares a way to add warmth to a winter trip to the outhouse;
M.L. Parsons tells a way to recycle a broken-handled post-hole digger;
Olive Lammon tells of a healthy substitute for commercial cooking oils;
Richard Etheridge tells how to prevent chickens from pecking each other
to death.
*Butcher's Blades: Which to Own and How to Hone
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=303>*
Here's the last of our three-part series on gettin' in the winter's meat
without professional help, including bone saw, meat cleaver, knives,
four steps to a sharper knife.
*The Other Leaks <http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=302>*
You've insulated and caulked, but your house still fills cold and
drafty. It's time to inspect bottom plates, electric outlets and
switches, beam pockets and junctions, vanities and sinks.
*One Week Behind the Plow: A Greenhorn Goes to Draft-Horse School
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=300>*
Article in which a staffer finds himself behind the traces of some
massive work animals and lives to write about it.
*Economic and Efficient Gardening
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=299>*
It's seed catalog again, but before you order too much or too little pay
heed to the information herein, including how much you'll harvest table,
the savings of perserving.
*An Update on Breast-Feeding
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=298>*
These fascinating new discoveries about nursing should interest even the
most experienced mother, including disease prevention, drug usage,
advantages, when to start foods, when to wean.
*Woodbox <http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=296>*
This may be the perfect solution if you are tired of wood-heating mess
and late-night sojourns to the woodpile, including diagrams, materials
and preparation, assembly.
*Statice: Easy and Profitable
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=294>*
Here's a possible solution for those beating their brains out trying to
figure out a good homestead cash crop for this spring, including
choosing the seed, how to plant and harvest, selling statice.
*Mother's Microhydroelectric Plant Revisited
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=293>*
If you're interested in building a home-scale or larger AC hydroelectric
plant, this account of our successful - and not-so-successful -
experiences may help save you a lot of time and money.
*Leroy's "Power-Steering" Dump Bed
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=291>*
This homemade pickup conversion may very well be next year's hottest
Detroit option, including bed-building basics, simple geometry,
pictorial schematic, fluid drive, photographs, instructions.
*Wood-Burning Cookstove
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=292>*
Homestead handbook on the cookstove, including building and checking the
fire, using the range, cooking on top, oven use, numerous illustrations.
*Opening the Window of Hope
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=290>*
A country housewife turned peace worker shares some suggestions for
preventing nuclear war, including personal peace work, community work,
peacemaking resources.
*Make Your Own Emergency Power Plant
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=288>*
If you have a car, a moderate tool collection and good tinkering
abilities, why not try this, including materials list, two simple
circuits, helpful tips, pictorial schematic.
*A .09-Acre Homestead
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=287>*
This very enterprising Cape Cod family raises its own meat, eggs and
vegetables, including layout, limited-space livestock, soil building and
a herring-ponic rooftop garden.
*Intentional Communitites: Some Inside Views
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=286>*
Residents tell of life in Stelle, Ill., the International Emissary
Community, British Columbia, Roandoak of God, Calif.
*Custom-Made Garden Tools (From Old Saw Blades!)
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=285>*
In the never-ending war of human need versus weeds, it pays to teach an
old saw new tricks, including the brushwacker, swythes and sweeders,
patterns, conversion instructions.
*Mother's $10-per-Square-Foot (or Less!) Earth-Sheltered House
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=284>*
We're here to demonstrate, one more time, that energy-efficient housing
can be inexpensive, including building the bunk bed frame.
*The Starplate Connection
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=283>*
Would you like to build yourself a small, temporary home for a little
more than $1,000?, including bill of materials, frame, footer and floor,
loft, insulation and celotex, roofing, siding.
*Holistic Resource Management
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=280>*
If you're watching your livestock pasture turn to desert, there's hope
for greener times, including symbiosis, a new approach to an old
problem, good fences make good grasslands, cures that kill.
*Essentially Yours
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=278>*
With scented oils from flowers and spices, you can create an array of
perfumes, including fragrance families, experiment for the perfect
scent, formulas for fragrance.
*Passive Annual Heat Storage
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=277>*
Finally, a method for eliminating the serious drawbacks of passive solar
earth sheltering, including PAHS, the need, cross section, examples,
what's needed, back-to-basics heat flow.
*Build Your Own "Hamdolin"
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=275>*
It's amazing what you can do with an open mind and a ham can, including
building a unique musical instrument, the neck, body, tuning pegs, nut
and bridge, tailpiece, tuning, assembly.
*Make Your Own Cold-Weather Clothing
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=273>*
If you life the fill of winter wind on your cheeks but don't want to
spend your last dime, here are some sewing patterns, including making
pants and a vest, warm advice.
*Mother's Children
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=266>*
Young author recalls process of raising an orphan lamb, shearing and
preparing her wool, making and taking care of the comforter, selling and
snuggling.
*Easter Eggs, Southwest-Style
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=268>*
Add an authentic, distinctive touch of Native American culture to this
year's Easter festival, including dyeing instructions, how to spruce
them up, finishing touches.
*Country Lore <http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=261>*
Jackie Ivey shares a safer way to unroll spools of barbed wire; Ralph
Adams places marbles in his chicken feed to prevent the foul from
plucking each others' eyes; Clinton Cottrell reminds that a easily found
address marker can mean life or death when emergency crews are searching
for a home; Otto Maas shares an easier way to get the nut off the
crankshaft in a car engine.
*Plant a Premixed Salad
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=264>*
For guaranteed lunch and dinnertime delights this year, take a hint from
the French, including ordering mesclun makings, mixing and matching,
planting, reaping what you sow.
*Mother's Income Tax Mini-Manual
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=259>*
Self-explanatory article includes record keeping, the code and the law,
how much you earned, deductions for all and itemizers, the morass of
depreciation, income averaging, your home as an office, credits,
considerations for those over 65, in case of audits.
*Seed-Starting as Mother's Gardeners Do It
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=258>*
Guide to seed preparation, including materials, oversow and undercover,
moist and warm, start seeds warm, grow seedlings cool, timetable,
pricking out, damping off, garden time.
*Old Ephraim's Last Stand
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=257>*
The grandest and most powerful living symbol of wilderness America is
struggling for survival, including the grizzly bear, who needs bears,
the politics of extinction, how to help, hunting.
*Mother's Minigardens Experiment
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=256>*
Guide to which techniques are best: double-dug or rototilled beds, row
or deep-mulch gardening, including space, soil, time, fertilization,
long-term effects, plant spacing chart, why use BFI.
*You Can Play the Mandolin
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=254>*
Here's an introduction to a musical instrument that has a long history
and promising future, including getting started, a quick check, tuning,
picking , the wrist, chords, scales, technique.
*Mother Never Told Me That About Homesteading!
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=251>*
To help acquaint you with the trials and tribulations that often
accompany the joys and triumphs of pursuing a self-sufficient life in
the country, here's one homesteader's tongue-in-cheek account.
*Productive Raised Garden Beds: Six Ways to Make Them
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=252>*
You can get more from your garden now and later, perhaps even during the
winter months, including the cautious approach, quick fix, trench and
mound, double digging, deep compost.
*A Purple Martin Apartment
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=249>*
Construct a house for one of nature's most pleasant and effective
garden-pest predators, including detailed assembly diagram, instructions.
*Urban Homesteading in Florida
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=250>*
A former Mother editor has discovered the good life in an unlikely place
and shares it in this space, including alternative economics, hearth and
home, food for thought, making plans.
*Maintaining Your Gravel Road
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=247>*
If a long stretch of driveway is all that connects you to the outside
world, heed this author's tips, including maintenance basics, some
additional advice, an ounce of prevention.
*Homestead Handbook Beginning with Honeybees
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=245>*
Homestead handbook on starting and maintaining and honeybee farm,
including facts of bee-ology, working bees, inside the hive, questions
and answers, step-by-step illustrations.
*Extra Cash From Old Books
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=243>*
You can turn a love of books - and some knowledge of their worth - into
a part-time business, including what makes books valuable, a trade
secret, where to find and how to sell, info sources.
*The Flight of the "Red Baron"
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=241>*
At last, here's a screw together and stitch wind charger that anyone
with hand tools can build, including photographs, detailed diagrams,
explicit assembly instructions.
*The Double-Duty Ironing Chair
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=238>*
If you happen to be tight on space and cash, this $20 (or less) project
might be just the ticket, including photographs, detailed diagram,
directions.
*Forests in Decline
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=240>*
There's something in the air and it's most certainly not the fresh
breath of spring, including the toxicant hit list, I fear that we shall
no more see a thing as lovely as a tree, taking action against acid rain.
*All About the Osage Orange
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=236>*
This tree - once a favorite of American settlers - deserves a look from
modern-day homesteaders, including an extraordinary tree with a past.
*Log-and-Pin Framing
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=237>*
If you're long on logs but short on cash, consider these four practical
homestead projects, including log rail fence, hoisting derrick, swing
set, pole shed, diagrams, endless possibilities.
*Mother's Full-Sheet Cutting Table
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=233>*
Here's a real space-saving workbench that solves a number of problems
with one design, including frame, table and tensioner details,
photographs, instructions.
*Medical Self-Care: How Pets Keep Us Healthy
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=231>*
Look at health benefits of pets, including pets and heart disease, pets
as family, therapists, pets and stress, someone to care for.
*Mom's Self-Reliant Homestead
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=228>*
A varied, productive minifarm is rapidly evolving around our
$10-per-square-foot house, including labled layout diagram, the
household and horticulture today.
*Mother's Under-$30 Hearing Aid
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=227>*
If you're hard of hearing and need a hearing aid, this article may save
you hundreds of dollars, including hearing, aid design, limitations,
build it, see your doctor first, loudness and loss, schematic, circuit
board, parts layout and list.
*Country Lore <http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=216>*
Darlene Kistler shares how to turn willow scrapings into saplings;
Sherry Balkenhol grows sunflowers for winter birdseed; Arlene Raymond
shares a tip for minimizing plant transplant shock; Hanycaps Unlimited
share tips for the handicapped gardener; Craig Scharf stores his garden
tools in an old mailbox near the plot.
*Slipping Sweet Potatoes
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=213>*
Don't pass up on learning the secrets of growing this nutritious,
delicious, easy-to-grow vegetable, including for the home garden,
cultivation tips.
*Edible Landscaping
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=212>*
This mini-manual will give you the basics of a useful and decorative
plant-raiser's art, including vegetables, perennial edibles, taste
appeal, health, variety, new approaches to landscaping, tables.
*Climbing Okra <http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=211>*
If you want a decorative yard-and-garden plant that tastes as good as it
looks, investigate this vegetable, including a multitude of uses, how to
get the vine started, fighting disease and pests.
*Basic Skills and Lost-Proofing
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=210>*
Elementary survival skills for the wild, including how to prevent
getting lost in the deep woods, practice now, review of past At Home in
the Wilderness articles.
*To Save Money Backpacking
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=209>*
Guide for what to pack when spending time hiking, including foods,
breakfast, lunch and dinner, analyze your trip, cautions, treat yourself
kindly, be adaptable.
*Natural Flea Control
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=208>*
Follow this vet's advice for a flea-free summer, including biographical
sketch of the enemy insect, control, natural remedies, garlic cloves,
formulating a battle plan.
*Raffia and Cattail Sandals
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=207>*
This natural-fiber produces comfortable summer footwear, including
weaving sandals, crafting the sole, making the thong and band, viable
variations, a cornhusk substitute.
*The Incredible, Edible Beanbag Tripod
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=206>*
If you're a shutterbug on a budget, here's a camera support you can make
in just minutes, including beanbag craftsmanship, the ultimate in
portability.
*Preparing the Soil
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=205>*
Gardeners should give thought to these fundamental principles, including
cultivation, texture, life, hydrogen, inorganic elements, nitrogen,
phosphorus, potassium, trace elements, organic fertilizers.
*Curing My "Bed-Wetting" Garden
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=202>*
If you've got a vegetable plot with soggy soil, why not try this
grower's drainage methods, including spring test, a gardener's work is
never done.
*How to Live Well on Two-City Acres
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=203>*
This enterprising family from Atlanta has learned through trial and
error how to experience the good life on limited suburban land and
shares there experiences here.
*Mother's Bicycle Safety Flasher
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=199>*
When you're riding in the midst of cars 20 times your weight, it's wise
to have a bright light, including parts layout, positive of circuit
board, turn-signal switch, diodes, transistors, materials list.
*The Rural Art of Capping a Spring
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=196>*
Homestead Handbook for utilizing and relying on an undeveloped spring,
including step-by-step illustrations, spring quality, capping time,
other approaches and tips, reservoirs, pumps.
*The Shaker Lap Desk
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=194>*
Here's how to build a distinctive piece from the past that's useful even
in contemporary times, including materials list, diagram, building
instructions.
*The "Blue Max": Affordable Wind Power
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=193>*
Our second tool for harvesting power from the wind blends economy with
performance, including lists of materials, detailed assemblies diagrams,
building instructions.
*The Construction of Mother's Bioshelter Greenhouse
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=191>*
Here are the details on the latest addition to Mother's ongoing,
self-reliant homestead project, including notes on construction, growing
beds, diagrams.
*Publish Menu Guides
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=192>*
Telling people where to get a good meal can turn into a profitable
part-time home business, including estimates, bits and pieces, selling
yourself, how to do it.
*A Homemade Telescope
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=190>*
Here's a way to build yourself a front-row seat for the arrival of
Halley's comet this year, including optics, the tube, detailed diagram,
the cell, eyepiece and diagonal mirror, alignment.
*Build a Fringe-Area Antenna for $20!
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=189>*
If your television reception is poor to nonexistent, try making a stand
with aerial combat, including diagrams, assembly and installation
instructions, getting your signals straight.
*Bandcycle Built for Two
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=185>*
Take your bicycle out of winter storage and put it to use, when you
ingeniously combine it with a band saw, including diagram, photographs,
building directions.
*A Child-Built Cordwood Clubhouse
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=183>*
Tackling a little project like this may inspire you to build a full-size
cordwood house, including design features, personal innovations, masonry
mud recipe.
*A Homemade "Factory" Solar Collector
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=181>*
It is possible to slash the cost of solar water heating and still retain
store-bought quality, including bought and built, trial without error,
materials list, detailed diagram.
*Making and Using a Venerable Hand Sling
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=180>*
You don't have to anticipate facing a foe named Goliath to enjoy a whirl
at this sport, including manufacturing a sling, parts of the sling,
overhand throwing technique.
*An Herbal Medicine Chest
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=173>*
How to develop a home health cabinet, including harvesting, drying,
comfrey, Echinacea, garlic, angelica, valerian, using herbs safely,
chamomile, calendula.
*Year-Round Watermelon
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=170>*
Watermelon doesn't have to be just a summer treat; you can preserve it
in a number of ways detailed here, including pickles and preserves,
dehydrated watermelon, watermelon wine.
*Watering the Garden
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=169>*
Tips and advice for proper soil moisture levels, including soil and
water, when to water, how often and how much, tools, water-saving
tricks, strategies for conservation.
*Country Lore <http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=166>*
B.V. Alvarez uses a dollar bill as a six-inch ruler; Jim Payette uses
old baking soda to extinguish fires; Irma Wilson hangs a hook from the
ceiling to help her get out of bed; Patty Pritchett put cheese on foil
to alert her cat to a mouse's presence; Dixie Collum stores garlic in
jars filled with cooking oil; Bill Krumbein invented a swiveling hose
holder; Mike Carlos cleans his hands after automotive work with bacon fat.
*Can Your Tomatoes Carefully!
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=163>*
Pay heed to the new USDA guidelines for preserving tomatoes, and to the
author's heartfelt plea, including canning according to current USDA
recommendations.
*A Survival Kit You Can Live With: The Experts Choices
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=161>*
Outdoor survival kits from Boulder Outdoor Survival School, Outward
Bound USA, The Tracker, National Outdoor Leadership School, Mother.
*Solar Technical Training
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=160>*
The sun is just beginning to rise on the job market for men and women
who have the right expertise, including guide and mailing information
for solar training programs.
*Photovoltaics Today
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=158>*
Solar cell technology is in a state of transition, and now may be the
time to get involved, including home-scale PV matures, shopping for
panels, new technologies, Arco Solar's genesis.
*Building the Traditional Hewn-Log Home
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=156>*
Mini-manual construction guide, including bottom line, foundation,
acquiring logs, digging it, preservatives and finishes, the tools of the
logsmith's trade, hewing, peeling, notches, splicing.
*Three tip-Top Timber Tools
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=155>*
You might not be able to buy these tools at the store, but you can
certainly make them, including the log tong, pry bar peavey, safety
helmet, detailed diagrams, building instructions.
*Furniture Refinishing
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=153>*
Here's the scoop on a money-making enterprise that requires little
start-up investment and is welcomed everywhere, including getting
started, quickie course, pricing, repairs and restoration.
*The Essential Outdoor Barbecue
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=154>*
The cookout season is hard upon us, so why not build this cooker,
including materials and pricing list, diagram and layout, building
directions.
*Giardiasis in Paradise
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=152>*
Water you drink in the pristine wilderness may not be as pure as you
think, including beaver fever, transmission, disease, treatment,
backcountry protection.
*Ecoscience: Grazing Ecosystems From Theory to Practice
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=143>*
Grazing ecosystems from theory to practice, including exotic livestock,
multiple advantages, breaking traditions.
*A Landscape-Log Cabin
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=144>*
These readers demonstrated their determination to do more with less with
these construction designs, including diagram of floor plan, six easy
pieces, future dreaming.
*Burkholder's "Briefcase" Solar Cooker
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=146>*
You can let the sun heat your noontime meal while you go about your work
or play, including detailed diagram, building instructions.
*Research Update: The Blue Max
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=147>*
Mother put a little backbone between the blade skins and made a good
thing even better, including blade patterns, construction directions.
*Write Your Own Will
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=148>*
You may not be able to take it with you, but you can help control where
it goes if you follow this procedure, including buried in paper, how
should it be written, alternatives to wills, uniform probate code.
*The World's Best $6 Sawhorse?
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=136>*
Here's a horse of a different color that will look like pure gold to the
hassled handyperson, including diagram, building instructions.
*Chemical-Free Mosquito Control
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=137>*
Using nature to solve natural problems is a sound idea, including
physical control, biological control, betting on bacteria, permanent
pool, floodwater and artificial container/tree hole groups.
*The Solar Carriage House
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=134>*
A blend of superinsulation and earth sheltering is a promising option
for owner-builders, including Wallis carriage house, Merkel carriage
house, the future, photographs.
*Bits and Pieces <http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=131>*
News briefs on biological pest controls, puritan justice for polluters,
cheap dirt, sodium-free soil, the cost of pollution controls, life
expectancy.
*Mom Tests the Soil Tests
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=127>*
Right now is the best time to test your garden soil, but which earth
exam you should give is investigated here, including soil test results
chart.
*Choosing A Log Home Kit
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=126>*
Log homes are attractive, versatile and relatively energy-efficient and
range from summer-cottage-simple to palatial. Here's your guide to
finding the best one for your needs and budget.
*Country Lore <http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=124>*
Irene Kubica sprays water on plants after the first spring frost to
protect them; Joe Plaugh coats the bottom of his wheelbarrow with
leftover enamel; Helen Levchuk keeps bugs out of her home by filling a
coffee-bean bag with tomato plant cuttings and pennyroyal; Harold
Newcomb dissuaded rabbits from chewing on their hutches by giving them
untreated soft pine; Scott Garner, Bob Bailey and Larry Brown share
chainsaw tips; Elizabeth Elliott saves herb seeds in nylon stockings;
Ernst Erbe soaks rusted-together nuts and bolts in cola overnight.
*Extending the Season
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=123>*
How to lengthen the growing season without a greenhouse, with plastic
tunnels, including the tunnel cloche, the cold frame, how to use a
cloche or frame, the big hitch.
*Squirrel Hunting: Some Tips for Tyros
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=121>*
Hunting advice for beginners, also includes Sixty-Second Skinning
sidebar by Winnie Hodgson and Woodlot Squirrel recipe by Sylvia Bashline.
*A Mill-Slab Firewood Business
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=119>*
If you live anywhere with access to both rural and urban areas, a little
hard work and ingenuity can set you up in your own $10-an-hour business.
*A Roof-Over Retrofit
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=116>*
Family discovers that putting a new roof on their old mobile home pays
off in more ways that one, including how they did it, what they did and
cross section.
*Economy Solar' To Go!
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=117>*
Mother's research department mobilized its forces to produce a solar
collector that cuts winter heating bills, including local tuning, ducts
in a row, panels, diagrams and schematics.
*At Home in the Wilderness
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=111>*
How to construct two different long-term survival shelters, including
the thatched hut and the mud hut, plan before you build, thatching,
diagrams.
*Mother's Add-on Garden Toolshed
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=109>*
A central location and a few special features are the keys to this
structure's usefulness, including construction, instructions, building
tips, cross-sectional view, finishing touches.
*How Not To Insulate Your Attic
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=108>*
Illustrated guide to proper attic insulation, including vent areas,
gaps, right side up, puckers, loose or compressed insulation, animal
nests, mold, mildew and rusty nails.
*Ten Woodstoves Have Made the Grade
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=107>*
Only a few stoves have passed Oregon's emissions standards so far,
including reading between the numbers, performance, stove manufacturers
and specifications.
*An All-Purpose Straddle-Wheeled Hauler
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=106>*
This carrier suits heavy loads that should be carried rather than
dragged, including schematic, instructions, photographs, diagram.
*Mother's Radiator Monitor
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=103>*
Know your car's cooling system is in good shape, including parts layout,
circuit board, how it works, building the monitor, installation, bill of
materials.
*An Under-$10,000 Ozarks Home
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=102>*
Couple leaves the city in search of the good life and combined high
hopes and hard work to create their own Ozark oasis, including how they
did it and house design highlights.
*Root Cellaring <http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=101>*
Hoe to install a root cellar, including planning your cellar, building
an outside or basement root cellar, decentralized storage, stocking the
cellar and year-round harvest.
*Breeding an Epidemic Antibiotics and Meat
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=97>*
Modern agriculture is rushing us into an unintended but dangerous form
of genetic engineering, including antibiotics, how bacteria become
resistant, livestock, the animal-human link, regulatory stonewall.
*Country Lore <http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=86>*
George Earley's family stores winter supplies in shoe bags; Fred
Hargreaves uses a mixture of light mineral oil and kerosene as a honing
oil for whetstones; Bonnie Hamlin soaks cotton string before wrapping a
package for a tighter bow; Kathy Machotka uses a street sweeping brush
as a cattle backscratcher; Barry Churchill marks his chainsaw with the
appropriate length for logs for his stove; Josun shares that bubble wrap
provides privacy but allows natural light; Shirley Bredow says boiling
rhubarb softens lime deposits; Bob Filipovich writes letters to
relatives on the backs of his children's school papers to share their
educational accomplishments; Claudia Barber greases a measuring cup with
oil or butter to make pouring measured honey out easier; Shellinda
Hampton freezes butter wrapping papers.
*How To Buy a Business For Little or No Money
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=81>*
Even those a few dollars down may still be able to buy a profitable
business, including doing your homework, finding a business, making the
offer.
*Ni-Cad Battery Charger
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=79>*
Kiss wasteful disposable batteries goodbye by building this $6 charger,
including proper care a feeding, the design, circuit board diagram, cost
and materials list.
*Site Assessment for Alternative Energy
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=74>*
An in-depth look at the alt. energy potential of your land, including
solar, wind, natural factors and harvesting advice.
*Break into Print with a Newsletter
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=70>*
Writers tired of rejection slips might want to try starting their own
publication, including legalities, figuring costs, testing the waters,
printing, promotion.
*The Secrets of Organic Container Growing
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=68>*
Lush ornamentals, indoor herbs, year-round vegetables and colorful
hanging baskets can all be yours, naturally, including soil mixes,
culinary herbs, hanging baskets, care and maintenance.
*A Gift of Flavor <http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=63>*
Great Christmas recipe collection, including recipes for mulled wine,
herbed rice, herbed salad dressing, herb and fruit stuffing, super
seasoning.
*A Pair of Unpurchased Perches
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=62>*
A tree stand can open an new world to the outdoorperson, and this
article has the diagrams and instructions you need to make two types.
*Dress (Your Chain) for Success
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=60>*
If you're not to keen on manually sharpening your chain saw, try
building this tool that will do it for you, including detailed diagrams,
photographs, instructions.
*Shopping for a Home Computer
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=58>*
How to select the right computer at the right price for your home,
including making a plan, memory, where to buy, software, brands.
*Prefabricate Your Country Home'- In the City!
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=57>*
If you itch to own a place in the country or vacation cabin, but can't
afford to buy one ready-made and can't wrangle time away from work to
build on-site yourself, this may be an attractive alternative.
*Lightwood: Nature's Own Fire Starter
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=56>*
This wood means the end of crumpling up newspaper to light the woodstove
and wasting valuable Coleman fuel to coax a reluctant campfire,
including getting it started with pitch.
*The Backyard Jungle, Part XV: The Praying Mantis
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=55>*
This garden insect eats both flora friend and foe, and therefore isn't
as beneficial as a host-specific insect.
*Bits and Pieces <http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=53>*
News briefs on good news for elephants, pesticides, sheep labor, sweet
greens, children and handguns, the statistic impossibility of being a
rural yuppie and plants and light.
*This Woodburner Needs No Chimney!
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=50>*
There's a race on to meet woodstove emissions regulations and the
Collins Bio-Energy Pellefier may well be at the head of the pack.
*Country Lore <http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=48>*
Mel Borden shares a recipe for home cold and cough soother; Julie
Normand uses a grocery bag as a mitten to arrange wood in her stove and
start the fire; Mrs. Doug Hugar freezes milk in cubes for coffee; Leon
Jones uses instant coffee to clean car batteries; Jill Whalen puts
plastic bags over her children's shoes to get the rubbers on easier and
keep their feet drier; Georgiana Kotarski sprinkles salt on a cut lemon
and uses that to remove tarnish; Bob Hamer turns plastic film containers
into a handy stamp dispenser; Dave Barr cleans fireplace bricks with a
vinegar, borax and ammonia mixture; Judi Rothkopf keeps snow in the
freezer for efficiency.
*Shiitake <http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=46>*
A delight to the palate, the shiitake mushroom can turn waste wood into
$20-per-pound produce, including inoculating the logs, fungus, sources
for shiitake spawn, mushrooming profits, improving your woodlot.
*Dodging [Chimney] Draft Problems
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=44>*
The venting system for a wood-burning heaters is every bit as important
as the stove itself, including symptoms, problems and solutions.
*Ten Tidbits from Passive '95
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=42>*
A number of significant new developments and discoveries were presented
at this year's meeting of the Passive Diversion of the American Solar
Energy Society.
*Meet The Winners of Mother's 1985 Garden Contest
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=40>*
Profiles and garden layouts of competition winners, including Tre
Megown, Merle and Sherry Hill, Norbert and Linda Monohan, David Fisher,
Judith Hendrickson, Julia Jannings.
*Garden Record Keeping
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=39>*
How to keep track of soil responses to different crops, food
preservation, good varieties and their sources, timing, crop rotation,
succession planting, fertilizer records, garden areas, costs, techniques.
*Choosing and Using a Tractor Part II
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=35>*
How to keep the machine and its user, the farmer, in safe, working
condition, including safety, maintenance, repairs and troubleshooting.
*Cat-Proof Your Stereo Speakers
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=34>*
Bored cats find that fabric speaker grilles make excellent scratching
posts, but you can foil your feline without spoiling your sound by
following these simple preventative techniques.
*The Mountain Caribou
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=32>*
Few Americans in the lower 48 have been lucky enough to lay eyes on this
living anachronism, including the history, habits and habitat of this
animal.
*Death of a Classic
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=29>*
Feature examines the reasoning and consequences behind the Environmental
Protection Agency's decision to phase out the lead-based gasoline fueled
automobile.
*A Portable, Pop-Up Ice-Fishing Shack
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=28>*
When the frozen lakes call you to fish, this handy heated shelter will
rise to the occasion, including diagrams, instructions.
*Closing the Solar Circuit
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=26>*
Second installment in series shows how to put a homemade solar water
heater to work, including the equipment, a direct route, parts list,
diagrams.
*Waterpower Site Assessment
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=24>*
How to determine the hydroelectric power and possibilities within the
water source on your property, including playing surveyor, using a
flow-duration table and curve, correlation.
*Become a Weed-Eater!
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=5974>*
How to get more flavor and nutrition from your diet, reduce your food
budget, enjoy satisfying time outdoors and clean up your fledgling
garden in the process.
*Bits and Pieces <http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=22>*
News briefs on high protein wheat, gourmet crops, helping the rural
disabled, linking obesity and television, mail-order tax alert and seed
control.
*Miniature Fruit and Nut Trees
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=16>*
How to grow these tiny, fruit-producing wonders, including varieties
chart, the history and future of mini trees, the virtues of miniatures.
*Country Lore <http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=15>*
Cliff Truman shares how to make a device that eliminates stooping while
sowing; Kenn Roman uses coffee filters when transplanting; W. Gorka ties
fruit trees into an arc to ensure growth; Clinton Youts runs over
fertilizer with his tiller; Maragret Kucharek shares syrup-making
advice; Grace Haddad stores winter clothes in a water- and moth-proof
plastic garbage can; Pamela Colberg tacks twine to roof leaks to stop
the noise.
*The Digger: A Stream Pond that Carves Itself
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=13>*
This pond adds beauty and value to a country home, and here is a way to
create one without expensive and soil-damaging equipment.
*Controlling Erosion
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=12>*
How to prevent erosion, including how it happens, fighting erosion with
plants, vegetation, conquering the splatter, gullies, reading, cutting
and using willow stakes.
*Seed-Starting Secrets
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=10>*
How to ensure the seeds you sow produce healthy, productive plants,
including magic beans, a closer look, critical considerations and
potential problems, some specific seeds.
*The Wyman Elk Ranch
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=8>*
A Colorado ranching family has demonstrated for nearly two decades that
raising wild ungulates for the commercial market is more fun that
herding cattle or sheep and can be extremely profitable as well.
*The Dixon Land Imprinter
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=7>*
This machine may help rectify the damage done by dozens of decades of
overgrazing and overcropping our agricultural lands, including the
air-earth interface processes.
*The Deep Bed Farming Society: Breaking New Ground
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=5>*
The pioneering work of a dedicated group of biodynamic and
French-intensive horticulturalists promises to help improve the
productivity and weal of family farmers everywhere.
*Choosing and Using an Electric
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=6002>*
Guide to electric fence selection, including the fencer, how it works,
set up, planning a pasture fence, wire, posts, installation, hooking up
the wire.
*A Home Security Alarm
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=6004>*
How to build and install an alarm that will keep your home safer and
intruders at bay, including how it works, the system board, installing
the alarm, circuit board layout, output options.
*Death of a Classic Part II
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=6007>*
The Environmental Protection Agency's efforts reduce the level of lead
in the environment has controversial consequences for owners of leaded
gasoline-fueled automobiles.
*Ooze Who In Drip Irrigation
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=5999>*
The six beginner's kits can help you determine if a drip system will
improve your garden yield, including Shur-Flo, Submatic, Burpee,
Raindrip, Chapin, Irrigo, A Homegrown Soaker Hose sidebar by Lilah Pengra.
*A Medicine Cabinet That Reflects Good Taste
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=6000>*
Mother's bathroom cabinet design offers convenience with aesthetic
enjoyment, including dimensions, advice, photographs, instructions, diagram.
*Skimming the Garden
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=5996>*
Discover what may be one of the handiest all-purpose weeding techniques
around, including sharpening a spade and running it along the surface of
the earth.
*Bad Bugs <http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=5997>*
How to tell if your lettuce and other vegetables have been ruined and by
whom, including flea beetle, corn earworm, Colorado potato beetle,
Japanese beetle, control tactics.
*Buckwheat <http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=5998>*
Buckwheat is easy to grow and great source of high-quality protein,
including who has the varieties, how to grow buckwheat, kitchen and
cooking applications, a brief history.
*Pick of the Crop
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=5994>*
The best new vegetable varieties from a gardener who has grown them,
including lettuce, radishes, turnips, spinach, greens, onions, peas,
cole crops, beets, carrots, potatoes, corn, beans, peppers.
*An Afternoon with the Bears
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=5991>*
Author spends afternoon in the presence of black bears and relates some
of the species' history and habits, also includes The Bear Facts sidebar
by Lance Olsen.
*Country Lore <http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=5987>*
E. Noty cleans copper with catsup; Harla Estle uses an illustrated board
to tell her young, illiterate children where she can be found; Russ
Cockburn shares the secret to a structure surviving a flood is to open
the doors and windows and allow water to flow freely through; P.J.
Parziale nails roofing shingles to docks and steps to provide a cheap,
no-slip surface; Helen Puls shares how to replace worn carpet runners;
Christine Scheere records her broken clothes dryer and plays in the
appliance shop for advice on how to fix the problem; Diane Graves uses
egg shells to repel birds from her garden and mark rows; Leon Werdinger
says tossing an orange or apple peel out the car invites critters to the
road and creates road kill.
*Crafts as a Business
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=5983>*
Cashing in on the crafts circuit can be both profitable and fun,
including testing the market, costs, show selection, taxes and licenses,
self-promotion.
*Bits and Pieces
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=5979>*
News briefs on the zoning home businesses, households without a
television, the link between organopesticides and poisonings,
circumcisions, Chippewa tribe bands lead shot and beehive protection.
*Decorate Inexpensively'- with Stencils
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=5981>*
Adding a personal touch to any room in the house is done easier than one
might think, including pattern selection, cut, measure and paint.
*Mother's Bioshelter Greenhouse
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=6033>*
This quality greenhouse uses both solar and compost heat and houses
rabbits and chickens, including structure, notes on construction, cross
sections and floor plans.
*Heating and Cooling With The Sun!
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=6034>*
Author's home was designed for the California desert, but the attractive
and innovative structure incorporates features that would be a blessing
in any climate, including planning, how it works diagram.
*Learn How To Weld'- By Welding!
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=6035>*
An introduction to the useful and marketable skill that anyone can
acquire, including basic exercises, butt and tee welds, laying a bead.
*The "One of a Kind" Waterwheel
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=6032>*
The memory of a childhood paddle wheel helped this inventive gardener
get water to his plants, including instructions, very detailed diagram,
building advice.
*The Basement Built Wind Generator
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=6031>*
A low-investment windplant that's a backyard tinkerer's dream, including
make do and make it work, the chain's weak link, a sound investment.
*The Care and Feeding of the Swiss Army Knife
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=6029>*
How to maintain the handiest pocket companion you can carry, including
how to buy genuine, keeping blades sharp, screwdriver tips, to oil or
not to oil, expense.
*Tap The Sun <http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=6030>*
The easy, low-cost way to add solar heat to your mobile home or metal
outbuilding, including what it takes, how big, bill of materials, ducts
and dampers, framing.
*Woodstove Pollution
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=6023>*
In five short years, 28 manufacturers have risen to the challenge of
woodstove pollution, including emission requirements, five rules for
cleaner wood burning.
*Water <http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=6024>*
Making sure you are drinking enough, including little-known scientific
facts, how much is enough, consuming more than thirst calls for, medical
prevention by the gulp.
*The Gentle Art of Hunkering
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=6019>*
Many a country newcomer has to learn this basic and important rural
skill, including tact, body language, nonverbal and verbal communication
skills.
*Hazardous Household Substances
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=6022>*
Information is the key to consumer self-defense, including definitions,
food additives, kitchenware, household products, pesticides, cosmetics,
building materials.
*Country Lore <http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=6021>*
The best homespun advice from past issues, including killing garden
pests, ants, free mulch, recipe for gourmet mint vinegar, recycling
homemade ice cream brine, covering cauliflowers, egg tests, produce and
sharpening vegetable peelers.
*Land Buying: Do's and Don'ts
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=6018>*
Don't let your enthusiasm for an ideal piece of property lead to costly
mistakes, including access, water, sewer and drainage, utility
availability, mineral and timber rights, protection, community attitudes.
*The Salads of Summer
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=6015>*
Perk up your plate with these light - yet satisfying - single-dish
meals, including recipes for tabouli, Balkan rice, cucumber-yogurt, cold
broccoli, marinated bean and vegetable and chilled pasta salads.
*Don't Let Your Well Driller Give You The Shaft
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=6016>*
A customer's primer into well drilling, including pump comparison,
drilling methods, capacity and yield, standard household water requirements.
*Cutting Wood (Safely!) With a Chain Saw
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=6017>*
Guide to dimembering tree limbs (without dismembering your own!),
including hazards, how to handle a chain saw, bucking, felling large and
small trees.
*Conversations with Mother
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=6009>*
Quips and quotes from past interviews, including John Shuttleworth,
Peggy and John McMahon, Euell Gibbons, Jim McHale, Frank Ford, Norman
Cousins, Pete Seeger.
*Safe Homegrown Pesticides
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=6010>*
You can rid your garden of many destructive pests with effective natural
remedies, including pyrethrum, garlic, feverfew, marigolds and moles,
moderation is the key.
*Mother's Minigardens
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=6011>*
Discussion of which gardening methods are best, including double-dug
versus rototilled beds, straight rows or deep mulch, yields, space,
fertilization, long-term effects.
*Watering The Gardens
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=6012>*
How to get a sometimes confusing job done as efficiently and effectively
as possible, including soil and water, when to water, how often and how
much, tools, water conservation, water-saving tricks.
Copyright 2004, All Rights Reserved | Ogden Publications, Inc., 1503 SW
42nd St., Topeka, Kansas 66609-1265
[Homestead] Home Business, Startup, from concept to successful operation
Tvoivozhd tvoivozd at infionline.net
Thu Sep 30 19:23:52 EDT 2004
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OK, I'm starting to think about what is still a pretty hazy outline of
several integrated home manufacturing businesses with these
characteristics (possibly more, any advice is appreciated), not
necessarily in this order and I have un uneasy feeling I am forgetting
something---you have to get pro-forma contracts and bids to make your
numbers at least initially fairly reliable.
This will take a while and I have no idea how much longer declining
health will permit working on this---cross your fingers. I need to to
this for my kids as well as the Homestead List. Wish I had not deferred
it so long. No damned condolences---I'm not sorry for myself and I don't
want anyone else to indulge in histrionics.
I know this sounds like I am not adhering to the K.I.S.S principle (Keep
It Simple Stupid), but it is --K.I.S (Keep It Safe) is equally important.
a. Write a good, complete business plan---as much for following your own
business blueprint as for any lending agency or investor..
b. See how much business capital you have, stay within it---most early
business failures occur because the business plan is inaccurate and
capital is insufficient
c. Retain an accountant and a lawyer to handle initial paperwork, tax
returns, subsequent lawsuits, if any. You can go barefoot in business
for a while, but don't plan to do it any longer than necessary---don't
bet the farm.
d. Establish legal business format, Sole Ownership, Partnership,
S-Corporation (recommended) standard corporation
e. File for and obtain Employer I.D numbers, Federal and State, local
permits if necessary, Set up payroll withholding of taxes.
f. To whatever extent possible, the manufacturing component(s)should be
initially confined to the kitchen table or small home workshop.
g. A constant cash-flow throughout the year, even with seasonal imbalance.
h. Use of on-site raw materials, or others nearby and
free-for-collecting, buying them is the last alternative---compare costs
of the last, usually you can wring out a lot of water with careful
purchasing---which reminds me on things-forgot to which I referred to
above---a purchasing agent should yield a savings above cost. You want
a good one. If it is you, be a good one..
i. Minimize or eliminate payroll obligations---use subcontractors for
expansion of production---breakdown business activities to facilitate
use of subs. Draft a non-disclosure and non-compete clause with
subcontractors.
j. At startup low-level, you will keep all functions in your own hands,
move them out as sales level dictates. Last to leave would probably be
product-assembly, packing and shipping.
k. Keep control of customer orders and cash-flow.
m. Balance the books daily---you don't need any business-threatening
surprises---establish and pay taxes, payroll, subcontractor payment, any
other reserve requirements as they accrue into special bank accounts.
l. Use Critical Path Method wall-charts as a constant reminder of where
the (business(s) stand in order of scheduled events from startup through
regular production
m. Network your computers with suppliers, subcontractors and most
dealers to facilitate J.I.T. production, shipment, accounting and payment.
n. As soon as possible, convert payments from check to electronic transfer.
o. Establish a warranty policy.
p. Establish a returns and allowances policy.
q. Establish employment and subcontractor contracts.
r. Obtain all necessary insurance coverages, product liability, Owners
and Officers, fire, theft, windstorm, vehicle liability etc.
s. Market test and feedback is important to determining the value of a
product. The hell with market surveys, look at whether your dealers are
coming up with escalating repeat orders. If they aren't, do something
about it immediately, do a better sales job or drop the line for
something more promising. Look at your marketing first---attractive
packaging, presentation, accompanying sales literature, other dealer
sales aids are as important than a good product, maybe more important.
As soon as your product is in finished state, take it to a sales
literature specialist and have him make a brochure (with high-quality
photos) for your dealers and customers.
Start by selling to flea market dealers (who lust for a product the
booth next door does not have) , and give hime some degree of
exclusivity in return for his solemn promise to push hell out of your
product. Provide him sales aids to enhance his chances.. Making the
contract in writing (with a performance requirement) will give him
courage and guarantee his best effortsl Craft shows are good, but less
frequent and cost more money for you to attend.
Always remember that when possible, product animation is your best
friend---in a countertop display, in a craft show booth, in a flea
market booth. Make it flashy, make it noisy if you can, see if it draws
a crowd off the street, and see if it makes them buy. Sales is a
percentage business, if the crowd is bigger, the odds of a sale will
remain the same, but total dollar volume goes up.
Oh, yeah, don't make a child-dangerous product, and you might review
patents to see if you are in violation of any. If it is a really good
product but patented, it is rarely a problem to write a licensee
agreement you can live with.
Then expand your marketing network through your website, selected
newspapers and magazines. Fasten your seatbelt, it can occasionally be
an exciting ride.
I have not decided on the product mix, but am leaning toward kid-toys,
something for their parents or grandparents (hit them all at once while
you've got them together. Probably jewelry for women, don't know about
jewelry for men, it is not my schtick. Something for cheaply and
easily-reached specialty audiences such as readers of Audubon, Birders
World , some seed catalogs with birdhouses. I've had a novel and
patentable birdhouse kicking around for some time---given time I will
build models and tooling. And maybe something that satisfies my leaning
toward things mechanical.
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tvoivozhd---sniff, sob---can't find the magnificent rural farmhouse on
stilts that I lost on a dead hard drive---kampung or kampong should
bring it up on search engine, but it doesn't, only stilthouses over
tidall flats. Oh, well, may stumble across it by accident as usual if I
keep wandering around..
http://www.rcahmw.org.uk/vernacular/ (Wales---churches are pretty, but
small, well-designed buildings are more relevant to the small builder
and small homeowner)
http://www.museums.org.za/vassa/ (South Africa specimens are worth
examining, other sections of Africa have more diversity. See the
Publications section as a point of departure, from which you will have
to do a lot of digging.)
http://www.dirtcheapbuilder.com/bubyhavearar.html (Steen and Komatsu
"Built By Hand"---compendium second only to Paul Oliver
Encyclopedia---pretty expensive at $50 new, try e-Bay, or library on
interlibrary loan.---and look at the sidebar for specifics)
barnsbrowse1.html&CISOVIEWTMP=/qbuild/barnstemplate2.html&CISOROWS=2&CISOCOLS=5
(Nrvada 120 building collection not all that primitive---Nevada is not
blessed with rainfall and forests for building material)
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I.m pretty sure I sent in something about this Primitive Technology CD,
but dan't find it and don't want to risk something that should be done
on a bad memory.
file:///C:/My%20Documents/Primitive%20technology/Primitive%20technology.htm
*RESOURCES* <cid:part2.05090405.07080104 at infionline.net>* | WORKSHOPS
<cid:part3.05040908.00020007 at infionline.net> | FIRE
<cid:part4.07020404.06090902 at infionline.net> | TOOLS
<cid:part5.00070706.08050907 at infionline.net> | MUSIC
<cid:part6.06060405.06040803 at infionline.net> | SKILLS
<cid:part7.00060707.07040402 at infionline.net> | PLANTS
<cid:part8.03030107.07060507 at infionline.net> | EVENTS
<cid:part9.04090505.04050405 at infionline.net> | URBAN
<cid:part10.07060901.03070307 at infionline.net> | GALLERY
<cid:part11.09070307.00070606 at infionline.net>*
*RESOURCES* <cid:part2.05090405.07080104 at infionline.net>* | WORKSHOPS
<cid:part3.05040908.00020007 at infionline.net> | FIRE
<cid:part4.07020404.06090902 at infionline.net> | TOOLS
<cid:part5.00070706.08050907 at infionline.net> | MUSIC
<cid:part6.06060405.06040803 at infionline.net> | SKILLS
<cid:part7.00060707.07040402 at infionline.net> | PLANTS
<cid:part8.03030107.07060507 at infionline.net> | EVENTS
<cid:part9.04090505.04050405 at infionline.net> | URBAN
<cid:part10.07060901.03070307 at infionline.net> | GALLERY
<cid:part11.09070307.00070606 at infionline.net>*
E-mail your comments to "Dino Labiste" at dlabiste at yahoo.com
<mailto:dlabiste at yahoo.com>, "Bob Gillis" at shelter at best.com
<mailto:shelter at best.com>,
"Richard A. Baugh" at oldfellah37 at msn.com <mailto:oldfellah37 at
msn.com>,
"Norm Kidder" at atlatl1 at aol.com <mailto:atlatl1 at aol.com>,
"Chuck Kritzon" at chuckk at petroglyphics.com
<mailto:chuckk at petroglyphics.com>, or "Ken Peek" at
kspeek123 at earthlink.net <mailto:kspeek123 at earthlink.net>
* Previous message: [Homestead] Fine tool for learning vocabulary, spelling
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I.m pretty sure I sent in something about this Primitive Technology CD,
but dan't find it and don't want to risk something that should be done
on a bad memory.
file:///C:/My%20Documents/Primitive%20technology/Primitive%20technology.htm
*RESOURCES* <cid:part2.05090405.07080104 at infionline.net>* | WORKSHOPS
<cid:part3.05040908.00020007 at infionline.net> | FIRE
<cid:part4.07020404.06090902 at infionline.net> | TOOLS
<cid:part5.00070706.08050907 at infionline.net> | MUSIC
<cid:part6.06060405.06040803 at infionline.net> | SKILLS
<cid:part7.00060707.07040402 at infionline.net> | PLANTS
<cid:part8.03030107.07060507 at infionline.net> | EVENTS
<cid:part9.04090505.04050405 at infionline.net> | URBAN
<cid:part10.07060901.03070307 at infionline.net> | GALLERY
<cid:part11.09070307.00070606 at infionline.net>*
*RESOURCES* <cid:part2.05090405.07080104 at infionline.net>* | WORKSHOPS
<cid:part3.05040908.00020007 at infionline.net> | FIRE
<cid:part4.07020404.06090902 at infionline.net> | TOOLS
<cid:part5.00070706.08050907 at infionline.net> | MUSIC
<cid:part6.06060405.06040803 at infionline.net> | SKILLS
<cid:part7.00060707.07040402 at infionline.net> | PLANTS
<cid:part8.03030107.07060507 at infionline.net> | EVENTS
<cid:part9.04090505.04050405 at infionline.net> | URBAN
<cid:part10.07060901.03070307 at infionline.net> | GALLERY
<cid:part11.09070307.00070606 at infionline.net>*
E-mail your comments to "Dino Labiste" at dlabiste at yahoo.com
<mailto:dlabiste at yahoo.com>, "Bob Gillis" at shelter at best.com
<mailto:shelter at best.com>,
"Richard A. Baugh" at oldfellah37 at msn.com <mailto:oldfellah37 at
msn.com>,
"Norm Kidder" at atlatl1 at aol.com <mailto:atlatl1 at aol.com>,
"Chuck Kritzon" at chuckk at petroglyphics.com
<mailto:chuckk at petroglyphics.com>, or "Ken Peek" at
kspeek123 at earthlink.net <mailto:kspeek123 at earthlink.net>
[Homestead] Home Business---Nore on charcoal I think I forgot to include
in prior post
Tvoivozhd tvoivozd at infionline.net
Sat Sep 11 00:36:57 EDT 2004
You could make activated carbon by placing wood in a sealed
container with only a very tiny hole in it and heating it until the
wood is charred into activated carbon. Ideally, a tube leading
into the container would be used to force water onto the wood to
create steam inside the container though this is not essential.
(The main consideration is to not allow air to get to the charcoal
when it's being heated while having a large enough hole in the
heating container to keep it from exploding when the hot gases in
it expand.)
activated+charcoal,+steam&hl=en
(Standard Milling, K.C., custom produces Kingsford vriquettes---note
that charcoal is hygroscopic, must be packaged in impermeable bags or
charcoal picks up moisture from air and bag bursts---not good if you
sell to supermarkets who do not like bags bursting)
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This is supplementary to previous postings I made on engine-generator
welders (not sure they made it into the Homestead Archives)
http://www.huv.com/jon/jeep/Welder/portable-welder.html (Jon's Jeep
website, schematic, materials list to make a rotary lawnmower into a
welder, also refer to the old Mother Earth archives which had an article
doing the same thing.)
http://theepicenter.com/tow02077.html (epicenter horizontal shaft
engine generator, they also sell a metal plate upon which to mount both
engine and generator, easier than trying to fabricate your own.
See the easier-to-come by vertical shaft engine option, and the bracket
to direct-couple (no belts) engine and generator---it's not a
quill-mount where a tapered shaft fits into a tapered hole, uses
something like a Lord coupling to couple two, hopefully same-diameter
shafts.).
Back in the mid 1950's I used 7/8 inch tempered masonite as a base for
one of my engine-generator models---more rigid than plywood and a lot
more rigid than cast-aluminum. Also used a Lord coupling which didn't
pound out under two-stroke power impulses as some other brands did.
The above are intended for stick-welders, one battery is really
insufficient, as is 12 volts---better to put two batteries in series to
the welder cables, and charge the batteries via 12-volt parallel hookup.
And you should buy the Homepower archive CD's---Hp #77 describes a
pulsing desulfator circuit that is the only way to restore a battery so
dead and sulfated it has reversed polarity.
And you would get better performance from a wire-feed than from welding
rods. Two 12-volt batteries in series will suffice for most wire-feed work
Using a wire-feed welder will produce better welds. You can easily
modify a "wal-mart" wire-feed welder to run on 24v DC.
Use a heavy-current parallel mosfet bank in series with the high-power
inductor on the positive side (electrode).
The mosfets can be wired with all common leads in parallel. The
current-handling capability of the bank is the sum of all the mosfet's
current ratings. It can be built from almost any kind of mosfet as long
as you have enough total current handling capability and you have plenty
of heat-sinking capability.
Place a HEAVY CURRENT rectifier in series between the mosfet bank and
the inductor. Place another HEAVY CURRENT rectifier in REVERSE BIAS mode
between the GROUND and mosfet side of the inductor.
Drive the mosfet bank's common gate lead with a pulse-width modulator
built from two 555 timer IC's.
One 555 is in ASTABLE mode, set for a 50% duty-cycle (important), set to
the harmonic frequency of the heavy inductor. It's output trigger's the
second 555 timer chip. This frequency is adjusted ONCE and then FIXED in
position.
The second 555 is in MONOSTABLE mode and it's output pulse width should
be adjustable from 1% to 100% of the FIRST 555's output pulse-width.
This output goes to the mosfet bank gate lead. This 555's pulse width is
your WELD-POWER adjustment. Narrowing the pulse-width reduces the amount
of time the mosfet bank in on.
Here's what happens, in termes of "positive going" current flow. Don't
split hairs.
This is ONE complete cycle.
1. The mosfet bank turns on, allowing current to flow through the
rectifer, through the inductor and then through the electrode and
workpiece and back to ground.
2. The mosfet bank shuts off. The inductor's field collapses,
releasing it's EMF as a second current pulse that goes through the
electrode and workpiece. This field collapse pulse is routed through the
REVERSE BIAS rectifier.
This is the MOST EFFICIENT way to drive your wire-feed welder from a
pure DC source.
[Homestead] Home business, miscellaneous homemade tools
Tvoivozhd tvoivozd at infionline.net
Sat Sep 11 00:04:47 EDT 2004
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Aluminum air battery I probably included in a recent prior post,
papercrete or large quantity papier mache mixer,plans-list.
http://www.exo.net/~pauld/activities/AlAirBattery/alairbattery.html
(aluminum air battery---unique in that it actually produces a useful
amount of current, sufficient to run small electric motor. It requires
some activated charcoal, another reason for you producing it as a highly
profitable home business.)
http://starship-enterprises.net/Papercrete/Mixer/ (a
pull-behind-your-car-or-pickup truck papercrete mixer---uses a lawnmower
blade in a tub to do the mixing---might try this for mixing alternate
hypertufa fibers if peat moss is not available or too expensive---as
mentioned before, alternate grass, corn leaves, hydrilla, duckweed et.
al. would first have to be shredded to proper length in a screened
hammer-mill like an old WW.Grinder, Kemp, or newer McKissic---and be
dried before shredding.)
http://metalwebnews.com/poorman/energy-money.html (list of plans for
simple equipment, cement mixers, how to get emergency gasoline out of a
closed gas station pump, backyard pottery equipment, candle-powered
radio, hydraulic ram pump, swivel hoist for your pickup truck,
windpowered clothes-washing machine)
[Homestead] Home business, or just home use LED flashlight conversions
Tvoivozhd tvoivozd at infionline.net
Fri Sep 10 19:03:56 EDT 2004
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Long-life (LEDS will run 100,000 hours) commercial LED flashlights are
expensive---look on that as an opportunity. In the old days all a
would-be businessman had to do to select a product to make, was to look
through a Sears Roebuc or Montgomery Ward catalog and figure out if he
could make something at a lower price and still make money by selling it
to Sears or independent hardware stores---today to your hungry flea
market dealer who really needs something to sell that all the
neighboring outside stalls or inside booths do not have.
[Homestead] Home busiiness, making hand warmers
Tvoivozhd tvoivozd at infionline.net
Fri Sep 10 18:19:59 EDT 2004
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much more
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flashlight conversions
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You don't have to go the fuel-cell route to generate internal
heat----use a small platinum wire catalyst and a valve to expose
methanol vapors to it. The platinum wire will glow red hot as it
converts the CH_4 O methanol vapors into CH_2 O formaldehyde. Turn
off the methanol valve to turn off heat generation. Need a (tight) cap
on the methanol reservoir through which you can pour more methanol as it
is used up. No patents to worry about in this quite old application
Another, cheaper catalyst might work to replace expensive
platinum---haven't looked into it, or cost of small platinum wire either.
Any metal stamping shop could make the two-piece steel stamping per your
fairly crude hand drawings or a little more explicit written desires.
Several ways to assemble stampings, might join by resistance-welding,
spot-welding. A good shop might do a few trial-and-error runs to get
something that works and appears reliable, but probably not many. You
should conduct your long-term reliability tests before you put a lot of
them on the market, and product liability insurance would be a very good
idea in any event.
Good, if very seasonal, home business product. A note, once you
accumulate a dealer list it is fairly easy to shove other products
through it.
[Homestead] Home business, Activated Charcoal and much more
Tvoivozhd tvoivozd at infionline.net
Fri Sep 10 17:14:00 EDT 2004
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I wasted half a day trying to get Google and Yahoo to find the activated
charcoal producer---found it in my archived e-mail messages on the hard
drive---stupid google is as useful as teats on a boar hog---doesn't look
at solstice.crest.
You are fifty miles by dog team from your benevolent electric utility,
and the dogs are tired of hauling diesel fuel by sled, you are tired
just thinking about the cost of PV panels and batteries to run a
refrigerator and icemaker, you will find your economical answer below.
Oh, yeah, by this time you know all about the once easily available
archives from Homepower, now are on CD and have to be bought---your
fault for not downloading them while they were free. Still a bargain
though, get yours now.
Follow up on the full-spectrum solar cell, it is your best hope for PV
cells that are cost-competitive with fossil fuel to run your
steam-powered computer.
Go deeper into Baviotas Bogata engineers products which this time I did
not---do your share, and if you find something real good, post it.
http://www.bluemud.org/article/11606 (how to make bombs from household
chemicals book, and formulafor DIY black powder, for which you need
charcoal of course.) Good blow-up-the-world stuff, like the Anarchist
Cookbook I once bought at a bookstore, only to find when I got home that
they had scissored out all the good stuff---dirty SOB's should have
warned me and their other anarchist-customers..
http://www.dharma-haven.org/five-havens/gaviotas.htm (I suspect
Gaviotas Bogota engineers have come up with solar refrigeration, haven't
made a search for it, but anything Gaviotas does is worth reading and doing)
http://www.solarcooking.org/plans.htm (great solar cooker website,
Cookit folding you can carry under one arm, funnel cookers with no risk
of eye damage, increased collection area at funnel top, increases heat
at bottom, a scaled up solar cooker with a collector backing of clay,
two solar water sterilizers, solar food dryer, tracking box cooker,
Aprovecho Rocket Stove.)
http://solstice.crest.org/articles/static/1/1011975672_7.html (haw-w-w,
here it is at last, no thanks to unmassaged Google)
While there is a schematic to file under Activated Carbon in your hard
drive---don't trust bookmark links to remain unbroken and trust search
engines even less to find anything useful in recent years. You're going
to be generating superheated steam in the monotube spiral---212 degree
steam is useless for activating charcoal. You want to get 800 to 1000
degrees Celsius for high quality activated charcoal. Incidentally,
current wholesale price of activated charcoal is $3.00 a kilo,
astronomical if made into pills or filters.
This is a good image to save---never know when it will come in handy to
be able to product your own activated charcoal to use or in a homemade
product to sell, and you sure as hell won't be able to find it with
Google, even if it still existed..
The schematic should appear if you click the attachment in upper right
hand box.
And now the precursor search results on making charcoal (or gunpowder
for your DIY firearms and guided missiles if you have noticed this
a-a-ah, Rehnquist, Scalia and Thomas Supreme Court, true, blue
CONSERVATIVE Republicans who would NEVER, EVER interpret away entire
sections of the Constitution as fast as their little, tiny minds will
permit, have left the Constitution a tattered rag. Used to think
Survivalists were nut cases, not so sure any more)
http://forestry.about.com/treeincome.pdf (make your woodlot produce an
income better than just from firewood. As close as you will come to the
hunter-gatherer lifestyle in this society. You don't have a
woodlot---get a cheap license to scavenge in the nearest National
Forest, or talk to a neighbor worried about the fire hazard of downed
and standing deadwood in HIS woodlot---he won't pay you for reducing his
risk, but will welcome you with open arms if you provide the pickup
truck, chainsaw and sore back to alleviate his problem. Or visit the
closest sawmill who can get something for slabwood but not for small
slabwood pieces which keep piling up unless run through a grinder for
bedding---may keep piling up after that, too.)
Charcoal is readily saleable in almost any city. If you had enough
production capacity you could set up a little booth (and barbecue grill
samples) in front of any grocery or home improvement store and put
Kingsford and its lousy pseudocharcoal out of business. I wouldn't
reduce the price of real charcoal since it is totally unnecessary, the
bright exterior appearance and cleaner fire speaks for itself. Work out
standard quantities in imprinted plastic bags from any one of a thousand
bag suppliers---use a vapor-impermeable bag..
A little more work, woodlot essential oils are another homestead
product--sell direct in your own soaps, candles, kitchen extracts, or to
small soapmakers on the Web.
http://www.geocities.com/thejuiceuk/charcoal.html (you wondered how
those expensive handwarms from sporting goods stores work? Expensive
doesn't mean the ingredients or stamped container is expensive) And if
made from fine material like straw, your charcoal lends itself to making
rocket fuel without attracting attention from Mad Dogs Ashcroft and Ridge)
You aren't going to sell and handwarmers in the summertime (whoever
heard of a homeowner repairing a roof BEFORE it started leaking), but
maniac November duckhunters and ice-fisherman fill their pockets with
them. A low-cost-to-produce item with a very high markup. I think some
now contain a fuel cell you can give a liquid rechargd---haven't
researched the details or patent status. You do both, I may never get
around to it.
[Homestead] Lot of small manual, powered root, fruit, nut processing
machines
Tvoivozhd tvoivozd at infionline.net
Fri Sep 10 00:45:18 EDT 2004
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Did I sent this post earlier? Stripped a mental gear and don't remember.
Ran across them accidentally---wouldn't find them if I was actually
looking for them.
* Previous message: [Homestead] Bamboo, most valuable, fastest growing
tree-grass in world
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If you had the climate for it a small African Palm Oil plantation would
produce 6000 liters of biodiesel fuel per acre---the easiest and highest
yield of biodiesel fuel I know, with some useful human or animal feed
byproducts to sweeten the pot.
In a less tropical climate, like around Corpus Christie, jojoba would
fit in, not much oil until shrubs are ten years old, but they live
and produce for 150 years. Seeds do not all ripen at the same time,
very expensive to harvest.
910509.PDF+jojoba+oil+yield+per+acre&hl=en
(some other interesting crops, especially those that grow well in
extremely hot, dry conditions)
[Homestead] Bamboo, most valuable, fastest growing tree-grass in world
Tvoivozhd tvoivozd at infionline.net
Thu Sep 9 15:47:03 EDT 2004
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tree-grass in world
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Trouble is that the damned stuff blooms every fifty years or so and
dies. What needs to be done is genetically alter the dying habit.
Wouldn't hurt to make it more cold-resistant too. We can grow the
yellow fishing-pole bamboo in Virginia and do in a few areas, but that
has minimal useful or economic importance. http://www.jmbamboo.com/ (don't know why a nursery specializing in
cold-hardy bamboos would be located in Alabama, New England would be
more appropriate.
*By Matthew Power* | Contributor to The Christian Science Monitor
*NEW DELHI* - Seen from the air, the lush bamboo-covered hills of
Mizoram, in northeastern India, give the impression of an undulating
green ocean. But the beauty of the landscape obscures a looming
disaster. In the next several years, in a natural phenomenon known
locally as /mautham/, millions of acres of bamboo will burst into flower
and die.
The life cycle of muli bamboo, the predominant species in India's
northeast, is about 50 years. In 1959, the last time the bamboo forests
of Mizoram flowered, the abundance of seeds produced by the plants
created a plague of rats, which in turn devoured rice paddies, leading
to widespread famine in the region. As many as 15,000 people died, and
festering resentment over the lack of help from the government in Delhi
led to a violent separatist rebellion that lasted 25 years.
One suggestion offered by the state government has been the preemptive
harvesting of bamboo. But logistical problems, such as how to transport
or use the bamboo, are daunting, and the bamboo forests of the region
have become something of a ticking time bomb, say observers.
"It is a natural disaster of the same magnitude as a flood or an
earthquake," says M.P. Ranjan, head of the Center for Bamboo Initiatives
at the National Institute of Design (NID) in Ahmedabad, India. Professor
Ranjan is part of a coalition of botanists, engineers, architects, and
civil servants who are attempting to turn the impending catastrophe into
a source of economic opportunity.
The big question: What can you do with millions of acres of a plant
that's soon going to die? To listen to the bamboo faithful, there are
few things this "wonder grass" cannot be used for.
Lightweight, durable, and more easily renewable than wood, bamboo can be
woven, mashed into pulp, and pressed into fiberboard. Bamboo's utility,
and its ubiquity in some of the world's poorest regions, has led some,
including India's former prime minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, to refer
to the plant as "green gold."
The numbers speak for themselves: A single clump of bamboo can produce
as much as 10 miles of usable pole in its life cycle. The
fastest-growing species can gain a meter in a single day - almost enough
to see the growth with the naked eye. Nearly 1 billion people worldwide
live in some sort of bamboo structure, including 75 percent of the
population of Bangladesh.
There have been more than 1,500 documented uses for bamboo, and by one
estimate the annual economic value of total bamboo consumption is $10
billion. By 2015, that figure is expected to double.
Ranjan has dedicated his career to exploring innovative uses of bamboo.
He recently gathered 100 architects at the NID, who came up with 150
designs for objects including beds, chairs - and even an abstract bamboo
rocking horse. Another of Ranjan's concepts involves molding laminated
bamboo fibers into almost any object.
He suggests that bamboo car bumpers are not too far off. Ranjan takes
his cues from traditional methods: In a book on indigenous bamboo crafts
of northeast India, he documented 400 native designs, from fish traps to
musical instruments.
One of the more futuristic uses of bamboo was recently tested at the
Earthquake Engineering and Vibration Research Centre in Bangalore. The
center has a state-of-the-art "triaxial earthquake simulator" - a
computer- controlled 3-by-3-meter platform mounted on hydraulic shocks.
A prototype house built entirely of bamboo - with bamboo-reinforced
concrete walls and a waterproof, resin-coated bamboo roof - was
subjected to five consecutive 30-second pulses equivalent to 7.8 on the
Richter scale.
"We subjected it to the highest level of earthquake to be found anywhere
in the world, and it didn't even crack the paint," says Paul Follett of
the Timber Research and Development Association (TRADA), based in
Britain, which helped conduct the tests with funding from the British
government. TRADA's mandate on this project is to design safe,
affordable, sustainable housing for the developing world. Whatever
developments are made will be "open source" - freely available to
whoever wishes to use them.
According to Mr. Follett, this bamboo-based housing technology has the
potential to provide disaster relief around the world. Easily
prefabricated, the structures can be put up in three weeks, and last 50
years. At $5 a square foot, costs are roughly half of traditional
"brick-and-block" construction, and mass production would probably drive
the costs down further. With the wide variety of goods that can be
produced from bamboo, Follett sees it as being able to provide not only
housing, but a sustainable livelihood. He dreams of an entire social
economy based around the plant.
The Indian government, in an attempt to boost bamboo harvesting before
flowering begins, has eliminated all export duties until 2007. It has
also launched an initiative to invest $500 million in bamboo development
in the next decade, with the aim of creating 8 million jobs.
As ambitious as these initiatives are, the likelihood of staving off the
disaster is slim. "Will we be prepared to deal with this by 2006?" asks
Ranjan of the NID. "Unlikely. We must start planning now for the next
flowering of the bamboo in 50 years. These are problems that will keep
returning. They are part of the natural order."
Any time you want to build something on the farm, there are over 100
College Extension Services whose website you should click on. Other
useful sources of DIY farm equipment ate at the ATTRA, VITA and other
Intermediate Technology websites.
* Previous message: [Homestead] Land Grant College Extension Service
List, technology transfer groups
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http://www.ytmag.com/ttalk/messages/6206.html (1920's and 1930's saw a
host of homebuilt farm tractors, a lot of them better than commercial
ones. Model A engines and transmissions were favored because they were
lead pipe simple and hulletproof. The now more numerous VW Bugs would
work as well, as would practically any junked vehicle with a good engine
and transmission---you will need a truck rear end though, and its a good
idea to keep the front part of the passenger compartment (and install a
rollover bar inside)..
Any homebuilt needs an auxiliary transmission to increase engine torque
to rear wheels, or a two-speed truck axle should suffice. There are
commercially available hydraulic pumps and three-point lifts which you
would want to install on a homebuilt to make it useful. Also to get
sufficient traction you would want large diameter, heavily cleated truck
tires and wheels to match, plus wheel weights, or weights over the axle)
http://www.cadplans.com/ (every farm tractor, commercial or homebuilt
needs a front end loader, and a backhoe is almost equally useful. I
know the guy at Daleville and the quality of his kits or assembled
equipment from licensees is excellent)
[Homestead] Dr-r-r-r-r-um Roll, the Slepcev Storch
Tvoivozhd tvoivozd at infionline.net
Wed Sep 1 21:00:07 EDT 2004
* Previous message: [Homestead] Boats, the icing on the cake---twin keels
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If you want to live forever and your grandmother wants to take off and
land from her strawberry patch, this is the airplane for you---the
Slepcev Storch, a three-quarter scale replica of the WWII Fieseler
Storch---couldn't believe my eyes when I first saw it fly---it could be
throttled down so you could comfortably walk beside it in a twenty mile
headwind.
http://storch.com.au/ (originally the Fieseler Storch used by Germans
in WWII to ferry officers around battlefields, land and take-off from
roads, farm fields, fly backwards in a twenty mile headwind. A
thre-quarter scale version designed by Slepcev has the same flight and
stall characteristics---you can walk beside it as it flies in a fifteen
mile headwind---strong and the safest airplane in the world---fly into a
brick wall and walk away unharmed.
http://www.telusplanet.net/public/jbrmhall/useful.htm (Nestor Slepcev
suggested changes to his original Storch design---a lot of them and all
make sense, especially the switch to a four-stroke engine---a
homebuilder HAS to read this.)
[Homestead] Boats, the icing on the cake---twin keels
Tvoivozhd tvoivozd at infionline.net
Wed Sep 1 20:20:36 EDT 2004
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And of course, twin rudders and diesel engines. When your single engine
quits or gets a rope wrapped around the propellor on a rocky lee shore,
it can ruin your whole day.
http://drinian.homestead.com/files/twins.htm (a guy who sails twin
keelers, they sail more comfortably, more safely and in areas of
considerable tidal change can't be beat---they stand upright on their
twin keels at low tide, and as the tide comes in, stay upright all the way.)
http://www.kastenmarine.com/roll_attenuation.htm (twin keel
roll-reduction and stellar combination of Lore Riverdale and Naval
Architect Arthur Robb in the twin keep Bluebird of Thorne---the last of
which is in the U.S. at Lopez Island in the San Juan Islands of Puget
Sound---a steel fifty-footer owned by Jeff and Dianne Dyerl)
I like twin rudders for redundancy, and buried in the twin keels two
diesels, both for redundancy and the fact that nothing is better than
the ability to steer a boat in critical situations by differential
throttling of two engines.
http://www.mirage-mfg.com/html/lesson1.html (I also like twin keel
sailboats ao you can anchor them at high tide on a sand bottom, and work
on the exposed bottom, rudders, propellers at low tide. Anyone sailing
in warm waters knows how quickly barnacles collect on a ships
bottom---with a twin keel boat you can get them off in a couple hours
instead of having to go to a marine repair facility and winch them out,
and haul them out on a marine railway to a site where you can prop them
up and work on them---a slow and expensive proposition.)
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[Homestead] More boat stuff you can't liive without
Warren F. Smith WarrenSmith at PalmettoBuilders.net
Wed Sep 1 15:40:21 EDT 2004
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* Next message: [Homestead] Car; Kiekhafer
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tvo wrote:
"At the time I knew Carl Kiekhafer, owner of
Mercury Outboard quite well and I arranged for the two sons of the San
Blas Chieftain to go to school at the Mercury factory in Wisconsin."
He was quite a character from what I've read about his foray into NASCAR
racing. Did he ever discuss that period?
Also, I have burned some time the last two days browsing the boat links you
posted, thinking "hey, I could do that" Thanks
Warren
[Homestead] African Palm Oil and pigs
Tvoivozhd tvoivozd at infionline.net
Thu Sep 9 22:22:11 EDT 2004
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From FAO, one of my favorite sources of ag information---and when I had
a a seafood processing plant in Chorrillo, suburb of Panama City, Panama
(pre-computer days, the best source of information on catching,
procexsing shrimp, lobster etc.
Source: Ngoan and Sarría (1994); * plus 500 g/d of a 40% crude protein
supplement
Table 4.7. Performance of finishing pigs (50-90 kg) fed a restricted
protein supplement (RPS)* with energy from sugar
cane juice (SCJ) increasingly replaced by palm oil (PO).
100 SCJ 75 SCJ 25 PO 50 SCJ 50 PO 25 SCJ 75 PO 100 PO
Initial liveweight, kg 51.1 50.1 48.9 50.2 45.2
Final liveweight, kg 99.5 93.7 91.2 89.8 84.2
ADG, g 768 693 672 628 615
DM feed intake, kg/d 3.05 2.32 2.14 1.77 0.92
DM feed conversion 3.97 3.35 3.18 2.82 1.47
Source: Ngoan and Sarría (1994); Ngoan (1994); *The RPS was 500g/day of
91% soya bean meal, 6% minerals, 1% salt and
2% of a vitamin premix
Oil-rich fibrous residue (ORFR)
The residue which remains after the crude oil is separated from the
sterilized fruit by means of a screw-press,
represents approximately 12 to 15% of the fresh fruit bunch. The
chemical composition of this residue is presented in
Table 4.3. This material, reported to contain from 63% (Wambeck, 1990)
to 70 or 85% dry matter (Solano, 1986) still
contains from 6 to 8% of residual oil. It is of a deep yellow-tangerine
color, with a fibrous consistency, sweetish
smell and greasy-like texture (Ocampo et al., 1990a). It is used as the
main source of energy to run the plant.
ORFR has been studied as a complete replacement for the energy derived
from cereals. Diets in which sorghum was the
sole energy source, or where 25, 50, 75 or 100% of the energy from
sorghum was replaced by this residue, were offered
ad libitum to pigs from 20 to 90 kg, also fed a restricted amount of
fortified soya bean meal to meet the current,
daily, NRC (1988) requirement for crude protein (Ocampo et al., 1990a).
Preliminary results showed that pigs can grow
extremely well on this type of feeding system. Where ORFR replaced 100%
of the energy supplied by sorghum, the average
liveweight growth was 639 g/day. The pigs consumed a daily average of
0.75 kg of protein supplement together with 2.32
kg of oil-rich fibrous residue (Table 4.8).
Table 4.8. Oil-rich fibrous residue as a partial or complete replacement
for the energy in sorghum for pigs (20-90 kg
).
0% ORFR 25% ORFR 50% ORFR 75% ORFR 100%ORFR *
Initial liveweight, kg 19.8 20.6 21.7 22.2 22.6
Final liveweight, kg 89.7 91.1 92.5 92.6 94.2
Days to finish 133 119 112 112 112
ADG, g 525 592 632 629 639
DM feed intake, kg/d 2.1 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.8
DM feed conversion 4.00 3.59 3.49 3.75 4.47
Source:Ocampo et al. (1990a); * fed 0.55, 0.64 and 0.9 kg/day of
fortified soya bean meal (see Table 4.5) during the 3
phases of: weaners, growers and finishers, respectively
Following this initial trial, Ocampo et al. (1990b), attempted to prove
an observation of Sarría et al. (1990), that
when pigs are fed a restricted amount of a high quality protein
supplement, particularly when the required levels of
essential amino acids are supplied by soya bean meal, lower amounts of
total crude protein are feasible. This amounts
to approximately 200 g/day and can be provided in 500 g/day of a 40%
protein, soya bean meal-based supplement. The
concept had been first developed through feeding systems based on sugar
cane juice (see Chapter 3).
For this study, the basic diet was ORFR, fed ad libitum. Three groups of
growing/finishing pigs were fed constant
amounts (high, medium or low) of fortified soya bean meal throughout the
entire experimental period. A fourth group,
the control, received different amounts of fortified soya bean meal
(high, medium and low) to correspond with the
needs of each of the three developmental phases: weaners, growers and
finishers (Table 4.9). The authors concluded
that the two groups that received the least amount of protein exhibited
an inferior performance but gave the highest
economic returns. A more recent trial studied the effect of
supplementing this unusual feeding system (ad libitum ORFR
and a restricted amount of protein supplement) with methionine and/or
B-complex vitamins (Ocampo, 1992). None of the
experimental treatments produced significant results.
Table 4.9. Different amounts of restricted protein supplement (RPS) *
and free-choice oil-rich fibrous residue for
pigs from 22 to 90 kg.
Control ** High (0.64 kg/d) Medium (0.57 kg/d ) Low (0.50 kg/d)
Initial liveweight, kg 22.7 22.8 22.8 22.1
Final liveweight, kg 90.2 90.0 90.4 90.3
Days to finish 121 126 124 135
ADG, g 558 532 545 505
AD feed intake, kg/d: RPS
ORFR
0.70
2.33
0.64
2.44
0.57
2.22
0.50
2.56
DM feed conversion 4.80 5.20 4.60 5.40
Source: Ocampo et al. (1990b); * see Table 4.5; ** 0.50, 0.64 and 0.90
kg/day of RPS fed during three consecutive 40-
day periods: weaners, growers and finishers.
Palm oil mill effluent and palm oil sludge
The palm oil mill effluent, the final liquid discharge after extracting
the oil from the fresh fruit bunch, contains
soil particles, residual oils and suspended solids but only 5% of dry
matter. While Wambeck (1990) stated that it
represents 0.5 t/t of fresh fruit and can cause serious problems to the
entire surrounding ecosystem, Brezing (1986)
went one step further and estimated that a processing plant with a
capacity of 10 tons fresh fruit per hour would
require a water treatment plant comparable to that required by a
population of half a million inhabitants!
Palm oil sludge is the material that remains after decanting the palm
oil mill effluent (Devendra et al., 1981). It
can be either filter-pressed, before dried and ground to produce
dehydrated palm oil mill effluent, or centrifuged in
the wet state, after having undergone anaerobic, thermophilic and
acidophilic fermentation. In the latter case, the
product is known as fresh centrifuged sludge solids of 15 to 20% dry
matter and may be dehydrated to form dry
centrifuged sludge solids of between 94 and 97% dry matter (Table 4.3).
The composition of the essential amino acids
in palm oil sludge and palm kernel meal is given in Table 4.10.
Although, there is insufficient information concerning
the amino acid composition of different African oil palm products, data
from Table 4.10 suggest that lysine is not
present in an appropriate proportion in the protein.
Fresh centrifuged sludge solids have been incorporated in a concentrate
ration daily at a level of 14% total dry
matter for pigs from 30 to 90 kilogrammes. The average daily gain and
dry matter feed conversion for the maize control
group and one of the experimental treatments containing fresh
centrifuged sludge solids was: 700g, 3.36 and 650g and
3.83, respectively (Ong, 1982).
Dehydrated palm oil mill effluent has been incorporated up to 20% in dry
rations for growing/finishing pigs; however,
with increasing inclusion of dehydrated palm oil mill effluent,
performance was poorer and carcass fat deposition
increased (Table 4.11).
Table 4.11. The use of dehydrated palm oil mill effluent for
growing/finishing pigs (19-92 kg).
0% 5% 10% 15% 20%
Maize, ground 78.9 74.9 70.4 65.9 61.4
Soya bean meal 13.5 12.5 12.0 11.5 11.0
Dehydrated palm oil mill effluent - 5.0 10.0 15.0 20.0
ADG, g 730 700 690 720 650
AD feed intake, kg/d 2.24 2.30 2.34 2.38 2.34
AD feed conversion 3.04 3.31 3.38 3.34 3.60
Fat, % of carcass 16.7 17.9 20.4 19.9 19.5
Source:Ong (1982); all diets contained. 5.5% fishmeal, 1.95% minerals
and vitamins and 0.15% methionine
There have been numerous attempts to convert palm oil mill effluent into
a viable animal feed resource; however, most
methods have been discontinued due to the large initial capital
investment required, and particularly to the cost of
fuel for dehydration. In Malaysia, one method used to convert fresh palm
oil mill effluent into a potential feedstuff
involved concentration by centrifugation or decantation, followed by
absorption on other dry feeds like tapioca chips,
grass meal or palm kernel meal. The absorption process can be repeated
several times before final dehydration (Webb,
Hutagalung and Cheam, 1976, cited by Devendra et al., 1981).
Perhaps, one idea would be to promote the use of the fresh centrifuged
sludge solids (15-20% dry matter) for finishing
pigs which, compared to younger animals, have a greater capacity to
effectively use larger amounts of more liquid
feeds. To date, apparently, this material has only been used in dry,
concentrate rations (Ong, 1982). This approach
might require supplementation to increase the crude protein content to
that of a cereal, as well as some molasses to
improve palatability. It would have to be fed immediately, preferably
near the factory in order to avoid
transportation of a product that contains 80% of water. Interestingly,
this approach was indicated by Devendra et al.
(1981) for feeding sheep and cattle (Devendra, 1992); he referred to the
use of this residual product alone, or
combined with oil-rich fibrous residue. Perhaps, this same
recommendation might be applied to feeding pigs.
In Ghana, oil palm slurry (sludge) has been used to replace 15, 20, 25
and 30% of maize in ad libitum diets for
growing pigs to 70 kg. The control group was fed a maize-based diet;
performance was not affected by the use of
sludge. It was emphasized that with the exception of the loin-eye area,
carcass measurements were improved when pigs
were offered the slurry-containing feed (Abu et al., 1984). The use of
unconventional feeds for pigs in Ghana was also
studied by Hertrampf (1988), who reported using oil palm sludge in place
of maize at a level of from 15 to 30 percent.
An increase in the daily feed intake and the average daily gain, in
addition to a significant reduction in feed costs,
was reported.
Palm kernel meal
The palm kernel represents 5% of the weight of the fresh fruit bunch; it
contains approximately 50% oil (Beltrán,
1986). The meal is produced by extracting the oil from the kernel within
the palm nut. The resultant meal, sometimes
also referred to as "palm kernel cake", can contain from 12 to 23% of
crude protein depending upon the efficiency of
the process used to extract the oil (Table 4.12) .
As expressed earlier, the first oil palm by-product reportedly used for
feeding pigs was the extracted and non-
extracted palm kernel meal. It was first used in Europe as a substitute
for wheat bran in rations for growing/
finishing pigs. Currently, because of its poor palatability and high
fibre content, it is more commonly fed to
ruminants where it produces a hard, white carcass fat in meat animals
and a saturated fatty acid profile in the milk
of lactating animals (PNI, 1990).
In Nigeria, palm kernel meal was used for pigs but it ranked lowest in
protein quality compared to other local protein
sources and produced a loss in weight (Fetuga et al., 1974, cited by
Devendra, 1977). However, in Colombia, good
results have been reported (Ocampo, 1994b) when almost 40% of palm
kernel meal was used in the form of a restricted
protein supplement that also contained soya bean meal. Correct storage,
to reduce the risk of mould and the production
of aflatoxins, was emphasized. The chemical composition and
digestibility of palm kernel meal is shown in Table 4.12.
Table 4.12. Chemical composition/digestibility of palm kernel meal for
pigs (%).
average composition digestibility
Dry matter 90 -
Crude protein 16 60
Crude fibre 16 36
Nitrogen free extract 48 77
Ether extract 10 25
Source: PNI (1990)
Whole fresh palm fruit
The chemical composition of the flesh (mesocarp) which surrounds the
palm nut, and interior kernel, is presented in
Table 4.13. The whole fresh palm fruit constitutes a potential energy
feed resource for the small-scale pig producer
without access to factory produced palm oil derivatives, such as, crude
oil or oil-rich fibrous residue. In an
experiment to determine the performance of pigs from 27 to 90 kg, fed
twice daily with a restricted amount of protein,
and whole fresh palm fruit as a partial or complete replacement for
sorghum, Ocampo (1994a) surprisingly found that,
apart from consuming easily the fibrous material adjuring to the nut,
the pigs often ate the entire fruit including
the palm nut and the interior kernel. It was observed that first they
ate the fibrous material surrounding various
nuts, accumulated the nuts, then proceeded to crack and extract the
kernel within the nuts. One interesting
observation was that when the fresh fruit was stored for more than seven
days, palatability, and therefore voluntary
consumption, was noticeably affected.
Table 4.13. The chemical composition of the pulp (mesocarp) and kernel
of the fruit of the African oil palm (% DM).
pulp kernel
Crude protein 9.26 11.9
Crude fibre 25.5 31.6
Nitrogen free extract 31.3 25.9
Ether extract 28.6 26.9
Ash 5.4 2.5
Source: Ocampo (1994b)
Although the data in Table 4.14 show that best growth was obtained when
only 25% of the fresh fruit was used in place
of sorghum, it was emphasized that best economic gains were when 75 or
100% of the fruit was used. In a second trial,
Ocampo (1994c) used 4 groups to study the optimum amount of rice
polishings as a source of carbohydrate for growing/
finishing pigs, also fed a restricted protein supplement (500 g/day) and
whole, unprocessed African oil palm fruit,
fed ad libitum. The amount of rice polishings offered during the growing
phase (20-60 kg) was 100, 200, 300 and 400 g
/day, and during the finishing phase (60-90 kg), 150, 250, 350 and 450
g/day. During the entire experimental period,
the average consumption of the fresh fruit was 1.1, 1.1, 1.0 and 0.9 kg
AD/day; the average liveweights were: 485,
515, 492 and 497 g/day and dry matter conversions were: 3.20, 3.20, 3.30
and 3.30, respectively. Reportedly, the most
economic levels of rice polishings were 200 g/day during the growing
phase and 250 g/day during the finishing phase.
Table 4.14. Whole fresh palm fruit (WFPF) as a partial or complete
replacement for sorghum in diets for pigs from 27-
90 kg.
% WFPF 25% 50% 75% 100%
Initial liveweight, kg 28.1 27.0 26.7 27.0
Final liveweight, kg 89.3 85.7 90.2 85.7
Days to finish 98 98 126 126
AD feed * intake, kg/d: sorghum
Sarría, P., Solano, A. and Preston, T.R. 1990. Utilización de jugo de
caña y cachaza panelera en la alimentación de
cerdos. Livest. Res. Rur. Dev. 2(2): 92-99.
Solano, R. 1986. Principales subproductos de las plantas extractoras de
aceite. En IV Mesa Redonda Latinoamericana
sobre Palma Aceitera, Valledupar, Colombia 8-12 de junio de 1986,
ORLAC/FAO p 161-167 .
Wambeck, N. 1990. La experiencia Malasiana en el desarrollo de la
industria de la palma aceitera con la tecnologia
avanzada de Estechnik. In: VI Mesa Redonda Latinoamerica sobre Palma
Aceitera San José, Costa Rica 12-16 marzo 1990
ORLAC/FAO p 255-267
My note---the American chestnut tree at maturity produced the equivalent
of 400 bushel an acre corn---rots of ruck
trying to do that.
[Homestead] Cohune nut palm, most important to the Maya
Tvoivozhd tvoivozd at infionline.net
Thu Sep 9 22:42:37 EDT 2004
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And still can be the most important tree to residents of Belize for
biodiesel---need a mechanical decorticator though---too hard and slow to
remove the husk by hand.
[Homestead] Husking a coconut, removing the meat
Tvoivozhd tvoivozd at infionline.net
Thu Sep 9 23:50:43 EDT 2004
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Drinking the coconut juice is easier, if that's all you want---just hack
a piece off the top where the stem was, expose a hole and drink.
[Homestead] Home Business, partner with University, or other patent owner
Tvoivozhd tvoivozd at infionline.net
Sun Aug 29 16:32:46 EDT 2004
It will be a lot easier if the College has a fervent desire to turn
their research into income from licensing patents. It will be a hell of
a lot easier if the College has wider ambitions, like this Canadian
University that in addition to licensing, has on-site incubator and
shareholder options.
Generally, there is little to do for a business to exploit a University
patent---underlying the patent is a world of research to give guidance
to your business. You will usually have to do a lot of communication to
determine University licensing policy---is it oriented toward small
startups, or RBB (really big business), do they do exclusive licensing
or non-exclusive.
A similar approach is by studying the flood of domestic and foreign
patents that issue each year. If the patent is still owned by the
inventor, and not assigned to a big company, it is worth following up,
if it lies within your field of interest and manufacturing
capabilities. Patent issuing costs a lot of money---an invetor has a
strong interest in recovering some of it as fast as possible. I looked
at the Robert Green VAWT a few years back---not a huge market for it,
but a small steady income potential. Could have and would have made a
deal if my neighboring machinist buddy had not loaded up with so much
jobshop business that he couldn/t handle a proprietary item on top of it.
<http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/home/>
Sunday, August 29, 2004, 12:00 a.m. Pacific
/Permission to reprint or copy this article/photo *must* be obtained
from The Seattle Times. Call 206-464-3113 or e-mail
resale at seattletimes.com <mailto:resale at seattletimes.com> with your
request./
*
**A Canadian way to make connections*
[Homestead] Kitchen table (or closet) tissue culture operation
tvoivozhd tvoivozd at infionline.net
Sun Jan 16 17:28:24 EST 2005
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Basic need is to reduce airborne contaminants, and reduce them further
with a HEPA filter. A good way is to make and work inside a plastic tent.
http://www.omnisterra.com/botany/cp/slides/tc/tc.htm (kitchen table
tissue culture)
Go for the plants that seem too expensive---blueberries would be a good
choice, or outside the garden and orchard category, expensive flowers.
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More information about the Homestead mailing list
*By Luke Timmerman*
/Seattle Times business reporter/
VANCOUVER, B.C. -- If Angus Livingstone tried his freewheeling business
style at a university in Washington state, he would probably be fired.
Want lab space on campus for a business startup? Move into the
University of British Columbia. Want graduate students to work for the
company? No problem. Want to sponsor a university lab, direct the work
and leave a fraction of profits to the university? Go ahead.
Livingstone, the leader of UBC's technology-transfer office, can help.
Vancouver is a smaller high-tech or biotech center than Seattle, but the
city is gaining ground thanks in part to UBC's approach to
commercializing university inventions. Even though UBC gets one-fourth
the research funding of the University of Washington, the Canadian
school is spinning out more startup companies, winning more patents per
researcher and quickly increasing its income from technology licenses.
Livingstone said UBC's ground rules* *give him latitude to foster
connections between the public research university, where many
discoveries emerge, and the business world, which can develop them into
moneymaking products.
"We really have a lot more freedom to operate than our colleagues do in
Washington state," Livingstone said.
The UW, one of the nation's largest research centers, also has a
tradition of turning discoveries into businesses -- but under stricter
boundaries between public and private resources.
Alvin Kwiram, a former UW vice provost of research, said the university
has potential to spin out 10 to 15 companies a year -- not two, as it
did in 2002. But the UW's culture stymies cooperation with business, he
said.
"The attitude here is, 'Don't stick your neck out, because if you make a
mistake, you'll get hammered,' " Kwiram said. "It's an underlying,
systemic malaise."
Ed Lazowska, the Bill & Melinda Gates Chair of Computer Science and
Engineering at the UW, worries the situation isn't improving.
"Research revenue is as high as ever, compared to peers, so it's not the
research activity that's slipping. It's the licensing, the patenting,
the company formation," Lazowska said.
* UBC favors business links *
At both the UW and UBC, like university research centers everywhere, a
professor's research into a subject like AIDS may be sponsored by
government agencies, a foundation or a corporation. The university's
tech-transfer office may seek a patent to guard any discoveries.
The university owns most intellectual property created on campus, and is
responsible for licensing it to businesses who can hone it into
something useful, and profitable, like a drug. If the company creates a
moneymaker, some royalties are plowed back into the university.
<JavaScript:EnlargePhoto('2002018770','');>
<JavaScript:EnlargePhoto('2002018770','');>GREG GILBERT / THE SEATTLE TIMES
Livingstone shows off a new office complex on the UBC campus that is
available for a company to conduct research.
If the patent has unusual potential, the university may work with
outsiders to build a new company, and possibly make bigger money by
taking shares in it.
The United States has a federal law, the Bayh-Dole Act of 1980, that
encourages universities to connect with business to put inventions to
productive use instead of letting them wilt on a shelf.
Canada has no policy to encourage university-business connections, but
the University of British Columbia has a history of cooperation. For
instance, Nobel Prize-winner Michael Smith of UBC was a co-founder of
Seattle's ZymoGenetics in 1981.
As Western Canada's timber-based economy shrank in the 1980s,
Livingstone said, the university and region badly wanted to diversify
the economy. They saw an opportunity to turn UBC's basic research into a
biotech industry that makes drugs or diagnostic tools.
"This business activity has been considered to be good, and part of the
academic responsibility, rather than something that's frowned upon,"
Livingstone said.
Livingstone is a soft-spoken man who uses business lingo like "synergy"
more than most in academia. He started in technology transfer at UBC 16
years ago in an office of seven people. He now has a staff of 37.
<JavaScript:EnlargePhoto('2002018771','');>
<JavaScript:EnlargePhoto('2002018771','');>GREG GILBERT / THE SEATTLE TIMES
Julia Levy worked simultaneously as chief executive of Vancouver,
B.C.-based biotech QLT and as a University of British Columbia scientist
-- a dual role uncommon for University of Washington researchers.
To stir up business, he's been given tools that could raise eyebrows in
the U.S.
Campus lab space is made available for startups. Researchers are
encouraged to divide time between academic and business interests; there
is no need to risk losing a tenured job if a startup fails. Graduate
students, available at bargain wages, can work on company projects.
Livingstone said his office has focused on building companies locally,
instead of mainly licensing technology to global companies. When a
researcher comes in with an invention, the office gets busy: It can
match the scientist with a venture capitalist, recruit a chief executive
and even help shape the business plan.
If a faculty inventor's idea needs more polishing, the office can find
more government money to do it. In at least one case, when a startup hit
a speed bump, UBC has provided a bridge loan to keep the company running
while it tried to raise more capital.
With those policies in action, UBC spun out 26 startups from 2000 to
2002, compared with 12 at the UW.
Many UBC startups have flopped, but some haven't. QLT of Vancouver has
become one of the world's few profitable biotech companies by developing
UBC research into a $400 million-a-year drug for macular degeneration,
an eye disease.
Julia Levy, a Vancouver biotech pioneer who for years doubled as chief
executive of QLT and a UBC scientist, said few locals question UBC's
close business ties. "Maybe it sounds Pollyanish, but people here
believe it's good for the country," Levy said. "We have to go from
having a research institution to a knowledge-based industry."
**
* UW is more wary *
The University of Washington consistently ranks among the nation's top
five institutions in research spending, with $684 million in 2002,
according to the Association of University Technology Managers. The
funding that year put it in the same league as state schools like the
University of Illinois and University of Wisconsin, and behind private
institutions Johns Hopkins and Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Each institution has its own strategy toward tech transfer. The UW
focuses on licensing technologies to existing companies with ability to
develop them, while others such as Yale and Caltech are more focused on
turning ideas into startups. Some schools, like Harvard, have become
more wary about business involvement in recent years. These colleges
cling to their missions of teaching and research and to avoid being
co-opted by business.
The UW is by any measure among the most experienced in technology
transfer. The university earns more than $20 million a year from its
technology licenses. Two of the most lucrative involve a hepatitis B
vaccine and a technique for manufacturing drugs. About 195 UW-related
startups have been founded over the decades, employing nearly 10,000.
But UW's tech-transfer system is in a slump.* *Research spending keeps
growing, but patenting, income from licenses and startup formation have
fallen in recent years, according to the Association of University
Technology Managers.
The UW office was leaderless for 15 months in 2001 and 2002, and staff
turnover was high. In 2000, the office halted all licensing for four
months because varying interpretations of the state Ethics Law stemming
from the mid-1990s made some officials think licensing any technology to
a company in which a UW employee had an interest was illegal, said Bob
Miller, the former director of tech transfer at UW.
Ethics became such a touchy subject, campus legends grew. One was that
it was against the rules to use a university computer for any personal
use, like to buy a book on Amazon.com.
Much of that confusion has been clarified through new interpretations of
ethics law.
Nearly two years ago, the university tried to turn things around by
hiring Jim Severson, a national leader in tech transfer from Cornell
University.
He has won respect in and out of the university for being serious about
fixing things. His emphasis has been on improving the office's
customer-service approach, getting more licenses completed and working
with in-state companies. Severson said he wants the office to get better
at forming startups. The university has worked diligently with the state
Ethics Board to clarify what's in-bounds, he said.
But many in the business world believe Severson's hands are still tied,
because UW and state policies on business relationships are strict.
Severson said he would like to do some of the things UBC does --
providing lab space for startups, or getting government funding for his
office. He said the UW isn't able to write business plans or actively
create startups, because its staff of 50 is busy managing hundreds of
existing agreements.
But Severson says a line needs to be drawn on how far to go in
connecting with business, like with creating "virtual" companies that
pay to use university space.
He said handing off promising technology to businesses that put them to
work is important, but the UW cannot forget its other goals. He said
they are to teach, do research, and reach out to society, partly by
spreading knowledge through peer-reviewed papers.
**
* *
Severson said he wants the UW to be a catalyst for the knowledge
economy, but the university shouldn't be co-opted into being a "job
shop" for industry. University researchers, he said, should keep
thinking about ideas 10 to 15 years in the future, rather than the 2- to
3-year horizons of business.
Mac Parks, associate vice provost for research at the UW, said the
university wants businesses to support its work. But without strict
limits, the university could bias findings in favor of companies, allow
more secrecy in academia, or allow students to be exploited. Trust in
the university could be eroded, he said.
"It can start small, but over time what happens is a greater percentage
of work and payroll comes from the company," Parks said. "At some point,
it becomes apparent we no longer have a university lab, but a company
lab at the UW at a bargain rate that's not fulfilling its mission to
students and society."
Some business people who have dealt with the UW say it is overly
cautious, forbidding researchers from keeping a faculty job while
running a startup, or from serving on its board of directors.
Parks said that's a myth -- any of those conflicting roles by themselves
don't cross the line, he said, but if too many conflicts add up, as they
often do, administrators can say no.
At UBC, said Livingstone, rather than forbid certain relationships, the
university is careful to disclose and manage conflicts of interest, to
make sure the public interest is served. In his case, he serves on a
venture-capital board so he can better understand what investors want
from university technology.
But to manage the natural conflict -- so Livingstone doesn't abuse his
insider's view of university technology -- Livingstone cannot take
ownership in startups to line his own pockets. Because UBC manages its
conflicts, Livingstone said, the university has been able to prevent
people from abusing public resources -- the kind of scandal that could
sink the entire tech-transfer effort.
Miller, the former head of tech transfer at the UW and UBC, is now a
vice chancellor at the University of California, Santa Cruz. He said the
UBC system does a good job of balancing the public and private interest.
He tried to copy some of it at the UW in the 1990s, but couldn't.
"The Canadians by and large have a belief system that reinforces
government and believes in it, and Americans are much more skeptical,"
Miller said. "Canadians think, 'How can we manage conflicts of interest
and make this work?' Americans want to figure out, 'Who's the crook?' "
* Entrepreneurial edge? *
Miller said he doesn't think the different rules ultimately give
Vancouver a competitive edge over Seattle in the knowledge economy.
Canada poses other obstacles for startups in fields like biotech: high
[Homestead] Blueberry plants, kitchen table tissue culture
Tvoivozhd tvoivozd at infionline.net
Mon Nov 15 20:29:03 EST 2004
individual taxes, a shallower pharmaceutical talent pool, less venture
capital.
The UW isn't at a great disadvantage compared with other U.S.
universities, either, Miller said, because all are fearful about
conflicts of interest.
Others, however, do see the UW in danger of getting left behind.
Carl Weissman, president of Accelerator, a startup incubator in Seattle,
recently tested the institutions. He proposed building a company that
would use samples from human tumors for drug development.
The trick, Weissman acknowledged, is how to handle the tumor data,
without violating patient privacy and letting it slip into improper
hands, like insurance companies.
The response from a UBC affiliate? We've done something similar already,
and we'll try.
The response from UW Medical School? It's nearly impossible; federal
privacy rules won't allow it.
More than anything, Weissman said, changing the UW's tech-transfer
practices to allow more flexibility would make Seattle's biotech hub
competitive with leaders such as Boston and San Francisco.
Without changes, he said, investors will migrate elsewhere and
enterprising researchers could leave.
"You can't attract the most innovative faculty if they can't participate
in the wealth that comes from their ideas," Weissman said.
/Luke Timmerman: 206-515-5644 or ltimmerman at seattletimes.com
<mailto:ltimmerman at seattletimes.com> /
[Homestead] Dam design, was muscatel wine, tequila, Uuf da
Tvoivozhd tvoivozd at infionline.net
Tue Oct 5 16:22:00 EDT 2004
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Warren F. Smith wrote:
>Good luck on getting a dam permitted. It just ain't like it used to be.
>Maybe I could UPS you a few beavers; they avoid all the red tape.
>
>
tvoivozhd---they sure as hell did here last year, didn't ask my
permission for gnawing down a lot of big willows and pines I would
rather have kept as a source of log furniture, and the pines for shade
around a very good guest cabin construction site. Finally got rid of
them. The willows will grow back, the pines might, but it would take
fifteen years or more.
>Some fellows were trying to get a dam permitted on their 900 acre hunt
club
>tract near here and were initially turned down. They hired a "dam
>consultant" (retired US Corps of Engineers, naturally). He had a good
plan-
>made application to build TWELVE dams on the same site. Only got two
>approved.
>
>Here's an interesting site:
>http://crunch.tec.army.mil/nid/webpages/nid.cfm
>
>Warren
>
>
>
tvoivozhd---permitting varies a lot by State. In Florida, long after
digging ponds and canals was outlawed because of surface evaporation, a
friend of mine in Stuart got a maze of disconnected freshwater shrimp
and tilapia ponds permitted by describing them as a flood-control
project---and paid for it in advance by selling the underlying gravel to
the Florida State Road Department, which is always looking for cheap
gravel..
When our dam was built, any dam under fifteen or sixteen feet was exempt
from permits---anything over that was regarded as a burst-hazard to
dounstream residents. Since my (my daughter's) needs are to empty the
grandfathered-in pond, bulldoze out the 12 feet of extremely fertile
silt, and build a small silt-catchment pond at the upstream line fence,
with a road across the top of the small dam, I'd feel safe doing as I
dam pleased. Would look into it anyway, and figure my daughter wood
too, as would most earthmoving contractors.
TIV TEACHES US HOW TO BUILD AN INEXPENSIVE FARM HOME
(Hot from a list. BETTER THAN CHAT ROOMS OR BLOGGING, those ole
fashioned LISTS!)
I occasionally am known to stop by homesteaders' lists. The folks on my
farm list are generous. They give great info,
like HOW TO MAKE YOUR OWN ROOT CELLAR, HOW TO BUILD A HOUSE IN THE WILD,
HOW TO PICK A TRUCK and how to PICKLE a CUKE
and HOW TO PICK A CHAIN SAW. Or How city folks can move to the country
and get the oldtimers to like and trust 'em!
Many a highly top-secret file have I built from their list-posts
--mostly for my own perusing later, (fer when I get
some land.) Plus I pilfered a little charming frizz some goat keeper
wrote on her goats intended to whet cityslickers'
hearts to move to the wild, to make city folks see that the rural life
would have its charms. I confided in TIV, an
80 yr old Swedish farmer and one of the ancient doyennes of the list,
that I was doing this.
"But if we entice everyone out of the cities, who is going to make my
workboots? Or replacement rock guards for the
sicklebar? Or even those movies I never get around to seeing (the last
movie I saw in a theater was Jurassic Park--the
first one). Division of labor is the way to go...everyone does what they
like/do best and provides services and goods
to others. I for one don't want to have to learn how to do *everything*
myself. There aren't enough hours in the day
for the things I have to learn now! If I had to provide for myself 100%,
my standard of living would go down pretty
dramatically.
Would your friends really be happier planting a garden (and wrestling
their meager corn crop away from coons)? Or
milking a goat at 6 am? Or dealing with sick animals or bugs eating
their tomato plants or having snakes crawl into
their house?
Most people I knew in the city would be as miserable on a homestead as I
was in the city. Don't make it look TOO
charming. We don't want them thinking that homesteading is Club Med with
chickens. LOL!" TIV.
^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^
But there's constructive info too. Tiv recently answered a letter from a
POSTER ON MY FARM LIST who'd said "let's have
a contest. The rules are, construct a freebie cheapo house. What would
you use?
Before Tiv had answered, I'd shot back. "Well, it would have to be
totally art troveau in my case, because in my world
there's not a nickle of extra cash so old country fields with abandoned
lumber, or suburban alleys with same would
have to yield up my building materials. Could my fantasy county cottage
really be built from just stuff that's lyin'
about?
Then, Tiv stepped in. 'You'd be surprised how nice a house you can build
for almost nothing. The trick is, build your
barn first. The reason is that as you collect wood and other stuff like
a packrat you can store it in the barn. Offer
to deconstruct old barns that are falling apart and haul the timbers off
for yourself. Hell, you might even get paid a
little to do it, too.
Sometimes you can actually get paid to go through condemned houses and
remove any flammable accelerants and such, such
that when the house is demolished it won't blow up or catch fire. While
you are in there you can ask the owners if you
can use anything you need, such as plumbing fixtures, windows,
appliances, etc.
Just this week alone I saw about four ads on alocal for-sale news flyer
for free washer/dryer or free fridge. They are
pretty common. Other appliances can also be had this way.
My wife showed me her grandmother's house. It is a small cottage, but
has three(!) bedrooms and a library. From the
outside it looks quite small. Actually, most of the rooms *inside* are
quite small. But I did notice that the house
was built quite solidly. No drafts. No squeaks. No creaks. I then found
out the house was built entirely by scrounging
condemned homes back in the 1940's!!! Even the electrical wiring and
plumbing was ripped from other houses. A few
years later, they built a small gambrel-roof barn the same way. Over 55
years later, the house is still solid as
anything and will easily be around in another 55 years."
^*^*^*^*^*
THE WORLD OF CHEAP CONCRETE, as viewed by TIV. The resident genius, a
retired CONTRACTOR, now a FARMER. "Anything with
fibres in the mix. Steel fibre Dramix,
polypropylene fibres (more common and not so subject to clumping), glass
fibre (should have alkali-resistant
treatment), organic fibres (chopped straw, rolled and chopped tree inner
bark or
small branches, wood "excelsior), long, thin, curled strands produced by
concave-toothed cylinder rotating with, not
across the grain of a log, recycled paper products (cardboard, kraft,
newspapers etc. run through a garden shredder/
grinder), recycled and shredded carpeting, cloth remnants from clothing
manufacturers, hemp, sisal, kenaf, coconut
coir and a lot of other things I have forgotten. Alkali in Portland does
degrade organics over time, but if the thin-
shell wall or roof is overbuilt as it usually is, or if the
architectural form is one that depends on compression-
strength rather than tensile,-- fibre degradation should not be of much
concern. Examples, a dome, a vault (arch-
ceiling)
place the materials in compression. Horizontal flat surfaces would need
support in some form, either separate in the
form of a beam, or integral in the form of deep corrugation, folded
plate or channel, with rebar or asphalted bamboo
imbedded in the bottoms and tops. All concrete cracks because of 1/16
inch shrinkage per ten feet in all. directions
as it dries and sets. The addition of fibres turns otherwise visually
noticeable larger cracks into a myriad of tiny
ones invisible to the naked eye, and easily sealed against rain. The
tensile strength, elasticity etc. of various
fibres does vary, so the length, diameter and material would be of
concern to the engineer making his stress-
calculations in a large commercial building.
For the relatively small-scale homebuilder you need not do more than
make up several small samples using varying type,
density of fibres in the mix, and thickness of the membrane. Let them
set up, lay them across loose-stacked concrete
blocks, load them with sandbags until something breaks. If the breaking
point exceeds the dead and anticipated live
load, (double the latter as a safety factor), your chosen fibre-cement
mix and thickness is adequate to the intended
use.
A young farmer chipped in: "What if you made a wall the following way:
a) Stack concrete block, fill the cores with
rebar and concrete, and stucco the inside surface (strong enough for
tornadoes, etc., and good thermal mass on the
inside).
Tiv answered. "I love concrete in its many forms and uses, especially as
a binder in stone walls. I built the basement
under my kitchen with concrete blocks and a concrete floor. But this is
information we should all know: I'm going to
give it to you. It's from a book.
"One does not need to conjecture long about the negative, anti-life
characteristics of Portland cement. The harmonics
of natural lime is utterly destroyed by heating this rock to the
extremely high
temperatures of 2700 degrees F. and by grinding it to fine dust. There
is little wonder that the end product, cement,
is an unbreathing building material. Used to make concrete, it thus
becomes an
exceptionally hard, dense, heavy building material. For structural
integrity it is unsurpassed, particularly when
reinforced with steel. It is also fireproof, doesn't rot, requires
minimum maintenance, and spans great distance. Yet,
for all of these characteristics, it is inappropriate to healthy home
construction.
"The Portland Cement Association has been so successful in promoting
their product that we forget to ask pertinent
questions about its manufacture, cost, and impact on the environment and
human health. "Concrete housing creates an
interference zone which deflects and intensifies electromagnetic radiation.
"There are two features of reinforced concrete that contribute to its
undesirability as a building material. Steel
reinforcing rods buried in concrete create a Faraday cage inside the
structure. Also when depth aggregate is used in
the concrete mix this further inhibits any possibility of a concrete
wall's breathing. Depth stones, also called
plutonic stones because they are often carried up by plutonic or
volcanic forces from great depths in the earth, have
great hardness (e.g., granite), high specific weight (e.g., lava), and
low porosity (e.g., basalt). They also emit
considerable background radiation themselves. Stones from surface
deposits, called neptunic stones, are satisfactory
for use as aggregate.
"Concrete does not have to be made with Portland cement nor involve the
use of depth stone aggregate . . . I have
resorted to using vegetable-related building materials that are not only
organically healthy but less expensive and more of a joy to work with .
The most promising alternative to Portland cement is the return to using
lime cement. A house of lime is a healthy
house. There exists no empirical evidence to date that anyone has died
of living in
a house of reinforced concrete, although in Germany the term 'bunker
disease' is used to indicate concrete-related
illness."
That's from pages 75-77 of Ken Kern's book, The Healthy House, c. 1978.
As most of you know, Kern also authored or co
-authored The Owner-Built Home, The Owner-Built Homestead, The
Owner-Builder and the Code, and Stone Masonry. He was
an architect, a builder and a homesteader.
Another lister said he'd heard that "just pouring" won't work...so I'm
about ready at last to concede your strongly
grain-enhanced wisdom and adopt your suggestion.
One question: the "premix" surface bond cement (with the fibers already
in) is pretty expensive. I've heard that you
can buy the fibers and (obviously) the cement materials separately, and
make your own inexpensive mix. The question
is, exactly what "stuff" does one buy--e.g., bags of long-strand
loose-fill fiberglass insulation plus cement plus
sand (suggestions on "where" also appreciated)? And how do you mix those
materials (proportions, etc.)?
U.S. Army, Corps of Engineers developed surface bonding. A good formula
is as follows:
Note that the glass fiber should be treated for alkali resistance or use
polypropylene fiber.
Depending where and in what quantity you get the raw materials, this
goop applied at a recommended 1/8 inch thickness will probably cost all
of ten or fifteen cents a square foot, at a fraction of the cost of
buying, mixing and applying mortar-joints. As an added bonus besides the
increased strength, the wall will be practically waterproof. Another
wild thought. Every carpet contractor is surrounded by dumpsters full of
old carpeting---big disposal job. Take some of it off his hands, support
it with temporary arch or geodesic scaffolding, trowel or pump fibrous
concrete firmly into the nap. Safely lead elephants over it after it has
dried. Paint a coat of penetrating hydrophobic Xypex or equivalent on it
for waterproofing. Good for temporary housing and lot cheaper than tent
or yert while building your dream home.
^*^*^*^*^*^*
On Sun, 28 Nov 2004 15:43:35 -0500, tvoivozhd wrote:
> tvoivozd---Hybrid poplars, like hybrid willows like Charolais X Angus
> cattle grow faster than non-hybrids---a characteristic of hybrid vigor
> My observation (not research) is that poplar grows well wherever
> moisture-loving willows do, but not as fast, but the Matsudana X Salix
> Alba is not as brittle as the huge Wisconsin willow---good for making
> willow furniture. If you have acid soil the Tulip Magnolia would be
> much better to grow for construction purposes. It grows almost as fast
> as hybrids, and straight as a string, you don't have to continuously lop
> off branches to get a good sawlog---unlike poplars awillows. Lumber has
> to be treated the same way---works fine if kept under roof and dry.
> Tulip Magnolia is even good for vertical siding (not horizontal), as
> long as siding bottoms do not touch the ground where moisture can wick
> up. I prefer a thicker and cheaper 10/eighths siding if you buy it from
> a sawmill.
tvoivozhd---Grancrete may be one of the best building materials
developed since mud bricks with straw.
*“Spray-on homes” invented*
* *
*Technology may help the poor, its developers say*
Posted December 26, 2004
Courtesy Argonne National Laboratory
and World Science staff *
**
Researchers say they have found a way to build cheap, sturdy homes in
one day by spraying a quick-drying ceramic onto
flimsy frames. The technology could help the world’s poor, of which the
United Nations estimates there are 1.3
billion, they say.
*
Creating a home of Grancrete. (courtesy Argonne National Laboratory)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
*Scientists at Argonne National Laboratory, a U.S. government facility
in Argonne, Illinois, and Casa Grande LLC, a
Mechanicsville, Virginia-based company, developed the technology. They
say they will make it available worldwide after
testing whether the homes are earthquake and hurricane resistant.
The ceramic is called Grancrete. The researchers say that when sprayed
onto a crude frame made of Styrofoam, Grancrete
dries to form a light, hard surface. This creates a dwelling much better
than the flimsy structures in which many poor
people live.
Grancrete is based on an Argonne-developed material called Ceramicrete,
developed in 1996 to encase nuclear waste,
according to Argonne’s Explorer Magazine. Ceramicrete thus prevents
pollutants from leaking into the environment, the
magazine reported. Grancrete also netted its developers an award from
R&D Magazine as one of the “100 most
technologically significant new products” of 2004.
Casa Grande president Jim Paul told Explorer that his company became
involved with the technology because initially,
it was was looking for a concrete substitute for American industry. The
need arose because concrete erodes in acidic
conditions. “But as I traveled in Venezuela, I recognized the demand for
cheap housing, and I thought about how to use
our material for that,” he told the magazine.
Paul then collaborated with Argonne’s Arun Wagh to create Grancrete.
Grancrete is stronger than concrete, is fire resistant and withstands
both tropical and below-freezing temperatures,
the developers said; it keeps homes in arid regions cool, and those in
frigid regions warm.
To build a home, Grancrete is sprayed onto Styrofoam walls, to which it
adheres and dries, according to the
developers. The Styrofoam remains in place as an effective insulator,
although Wagh suggests simpler walls, such as
woven fiber mats, also would work well and further reduce the raw
materials required.
Using Grancrete in developing countries has additional advantages, says
Wagh.
“When you build houses in these poor villages, the materials you use
should be indigenous, and the labor should be
indigenous,” he told the magazine. “Every village has soil and ash, and
the labor and training requirements are so
minimal that two local people can build a house in two days.”
Workers only need two days of training to learn how to operate the
machinery, Paul told the publication. Casa Grande
typically assembles a team of five people who can start in the morning
and create a home that residents can move into
that evening, he asserted. The material dries in minutes, he added,
whereas concrete can take hours or days.
Grancrete is made from an environmentally friendly mix of locally
available chemicals, according to the developers. It
consists of sand or sandy soil, ash, magnesium oxide and potassium
phosphate, which is a biodegradable element in
fertilizer. So even if Grancrete were to decompose, Wagh told the
magazine, it would revitalize the soil.
It costs about $6,000 U.S. dollars to build a Grancrete home, Paul told
Explorer, several times cheaper than a
conventionally built home. The homes are more than four simple walls,
the developers added; for less than $10,000 U.S
., laborers can produce Grancrete dwellings twice of 800 square feet,
twice the size of a typical apartment in Bombay,
India.
Wagh’s said he aims to see Grancrete used throughout his native India
and the world to produce housing for the poor.
Born in the Indian state of Karnataka, Wagh grew up in a neighborhood
where even to this day the homes have walls and
ceilings made from knitted mats of palm leaves, and the floors are made
of dried cow dung, according to Explorer
magazine.
“These homes are regularly subjected to hundreds of inches of monsoon
rains and cyclone winds and therefore often have
to be repaired or even entirely rebuilt,” Wagh told the publication.
“Obviously such conditions can have a great
impact on the health, well-being, and longevity of the children and
adults living there.”
The spray-on cement now offers hundreds of millions of people such as
these the opportunity to have adequate housing
and live longer, healthier lives, he told the publication.
Argonne and Casa Grande have extensively tested Grancrete for structural
properties, post-application behavior and
production costs, the developers said. Their next step will be to test
it for earthquake and hurricane resistance,
after which they will make the product available worldwide. Wagh hopes
the United Nations and other international
organizations will subsidize mass-scale production around the world.*
Lisa Perry wrote:
> Architect Sarah Susanka, author of The Not So Big House series, was
featured this morning in an article in The
Roanoke Times. Roanoke was chosen as the city to host the international
C2C Home Design Competition (C2C stands for
Cradle to Cradle, from a book entitled Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the
Way we Make Things). She was one of the
architects to judge the winning design which will be built in Roanoke.
>
> www.notsobighouse.com/
> www.*susanka*.com/
>
> tvoivozhd---yeah, I wish I were in good enough shape to go talk to
her. I agree with Gene---the houses she actually
builds are two times or more larger than my mental picture of a good
small house, and the damned things have a too-
complicated roof structure, in addition to two stories---hardly a
Usonian clone. I suspect giantism is still too
firmly imbedded in the housing market for an architect to make a living
designing small houses in the 1000 to 1300
square foot range.. When I was in the land development and tract housing
business, most of my houses were 1000 to 1200
square feet. Used an onsite mobile home for sales, and it was so busy it
looked like a doctor's office.
Here is my favorite, which my oldest daughter will probably build on
this property---The view unfortunately is north,
so those windows will require some type of ihsulation---I favor double
glass with a foam-generator. Years ago I would
have gone for a Zomeworks beadwall. A foam-generator is a lot less complex.
I would make some changes---no basement and use the stair well as a pantry.
Also, take out the partition between kitchen counter and dining room.
The main entry should point straight south and a greenhouse wall run
from the corner of bedroom #2 to the far corner
of the garage.
The fireplace should be removed---and at the corner of that wall and
bathroom wall, a bricked corner to receive a
small backup woodstove, with double-wall stainless stovepipe going
through roof above. Nobody needs a fireplace stuck
in the center of the best view, and nobody needs a fireplace anyway. I
might add a tip-in firewood container to feed
the backup woodstove---but would add it later in any event. The
greenhouse and house slab thermal storage should do
sufficiently well to heat the house even in our coldest weather.
I would probably also alter the eyebrow ---the plan says it is a
clerestory (a good idea) but it really isn't.
Clerestories are great for light and ventilation, with enough overhang
to keep out the summer sun. I guess the
eyebrow thing is supposed to be cute---I do not find it to bel I would
extend it to light the interior better and
forget about being cute.
Someone wrote " I've heard that "just pouring" won't
work...so I'm about ready at last to concede
your strongly grain-enhanced wisdom and adopt
your suggestion.
One question: the "premix" surface bond cement
(with the fibers already in) is pretty expensive.
I've heard that you can buy the fibers and (obviously)
the cement materials separately, and make your
own inexpensive mix. The question is, exactly what
"stuff" does one buy--e.g., bags of long-strand
loose-fill fiberglass insulation plus cement plus sand
(suggestions on "where" also appreciated)? And how
do you mix those materials (proportions, etc.)?
Thanks as always for your exciting and insightful
moments of inter-brew lucidity.
tvoivozhd>>>na-a-ah, you'll have to wait too long for one of those
tragically brief moments of lucidity to reoccur.
^*^*^*^*^*^
U.S. Army, Corps of Engineers developed surface bonding. A good formula
is as follows:
Note that the glass fiber should be treated for alkali resistance or use
polypropylene fiber.
Depending where and in what quantity you get the raw materials, this
goop applied at a recommended 1/8 inch thickness will probably cost
all of ten or fifteen cents a square foot, at a fraction of the cost of
buying, mixing and applying mortar-joints. As an added bonus besides
the increased strength, the wall will be practically waterproof.
You may visit this list and may even find ole encyclopaedia with legs,
like our late TIV.
Reply-To: homestead AT listserv.oit.unc.edu
To: homestead AT listserv.oit.unc.edu
FARM GARAGE SALES YIELD USEABLE TIN AND WOOD
One day our Homesteader listers were talking about retrieving old wood
from nearby farms. One lister said that he'd
had a cabinet maker build furniture out of the rustic, aged wood, it was
that good.
Another l
[Homestead] L-o-o-ng compilation of prior posts---take warning,
tvoivozhd, 02/10/2005