Metal and Carbon Fiber Hiking Staffs – Another NO Good Idea
The sport of Nordic Walking, in which originally ski poles, once from natural materials, were used, has brought us this, often telescopic, hiking staff, also referred to as a hiking pole now and we seem to come across those things now everywhere, in parks, in woods, on the hills. What a silly and to the environment costly invention. What is wrong with the good old wooden staff or stick?
Yes, I do know that you cannot collapse a wooden staff into a short length to stick it into your backpack or such, but when using a wooden staff you also don't use something that took lots of energy and CO2 to produce. In fact, while the sapling for the wooden staff was growing it used only the energy of the sun and used up carbon, in fact.
OK! I will have to admit it, I am biased. I am, after all, a stick maker, amongst other things, but still.
You cannot beat the beauty, character and especially strength of a natural wooden (or bamboo, if need be) hiking staff. In no way can you put the weight on one of those modern metal and plastic thingies that you can on a standard walking stick or a hiking staff made from a sapling. That is, however, something that you may have to do when traversing difficult terrain and not only difficult terrain. The stick or staff is the third leg to the walker and hiker, it is there to steady you on slopes and on rough ground and to make your passage easier and, should the need arise, it can also be used as a weapon to defend against two- and four-legged attackers.
You cannot, however, do that efficiently with the aluminium or carbon fiber hiking pole. I am sure that, should you have to put lots of strength on it or have to use it as a weapon, say, against a ferocious dog, the staff would break. In fact 99 out of a 100, of that I am nigh on sure, definitely will break if too much pressure is brought to bear upon them. May of those one can, nowadays, find broken in parks and on the hills because people had to put weight on them and one or both – when used as a pair – have failed. This could also be rather dangerous to health and safety of the walker using such staffs.
This is not something that I have ever, as yet, encountered with a natural grown and carefully crafted stick or staff. The grown wood, often purposely grown and trained into this or that kind of outdoors stick, can never be bettered by man-made “stick”, a “stick” made from a metal, light metal at that, which is not all that strong to start with, e.g. aluminium, or made from a plastic, even if it is carbon fiber. While carbon fiber may make great fishing rods with a great breaking strain, because it flexes well, this material, in my – biased, I hasten to add – opinion, does not a great walking stick make. I have tried them and found them all wanting. I guess this simple may be because I am used to wood for a staff but then again...
...Food for thought!
© Michael Smith (Veshengro), March 2008
Artificial Flavors
Ice cream manufacturers are not by law required to list the additives in the making of ice cream. Chemical additives are much less expensive than the real thing so that the manufacturers usually take the path of least resistance to higher profits. Consequently, the majority cheaper, pre-packed (especially half gallon and gallon) ice creams are synthetic from start to finish.
Laboratory analysis have shown the following:
Diethyl Glucol – a cheap chemical that is used as an emulsifier to substitute for eggs. It is identically the same chemical used in anti-freeze and paint remover.
Piperahol – extensively used as a substitute for vanilla. This widely used by exterminators as a chemical to kill lice.
Aldehyde C17 – used to flavor cherry ice cream. This is an inflammable liquid which is used in aniline dyes, plastic and rubber.
Ethyl Acetate – used to give ice cream a pineapple flavor. It is used a cleaner for leather and textiles. Its vapors are a cause of chronic lung, heart and, especially, liver damage to those two industries.
Butyraldehyde – used to give ice cream various nut-like flavors. It is one of the common ingredients of rubber cement.
Amyl Acetate – used to give ice cream a banana flavor. It is used commercially as an oil paint solvent.
Benzyl Acetate – used to give a strawberry flavor. It is used as a nitrate solvent.
This is just a small list of whats used in ice cream.
What are they using in other foods? We have decided not to buy anything that says artificially flavored or colored. Yes, it has cut down on what we can safely
buy. Better that than feed our bodies something that could cause cancer or other health problems.
A couple of books that you can read to get more information on this are: CONSUMER BEWARE by Beatrice Hunter, and THE POISONS IN YOUR FOOD by William Longgood.
O.W.C. Newman
N.B. While the above may hold true and be the case as to artificial flavors and such in the USA, in the countries of the EU, including Great Britain, each and every ingredient has to be listed and if E-numbers are used there is a list available that shows what what product is and does. There was once a great scare as to the E-numbers and people rejected or attempted to reject anything with E-numbers. However, every ingredient, even natural flavors, etc. have an E-number, simply because that's how the EU works and sometimes only the number is listed. In the UK, however, the entire name of the ingredient must be in the list.
In the main, in Europe, the ingredients for ice cream have to be natural, and vanilla flavor means flavored with vanilla essence. However, ice cream does not have to use milk fats in the UK and still can be called ice cream while in some other countries this is not the case. Ed.
Easy to make cleaners
ALL PURPOSE LIQUID CLEANER
1/2 cup white vinegar,
1 cup ammonia
1/4 cup baking soda,
1 gallon warm water
This can also be used in a spray bottle
WINDOW, GLASS & MIRROR CLEANER
In a spray bottle,mix:
1 cup Isoprpyl (rubbing alcohol),
2 tablespoons liquid dish detergent,
2 cups water
A SECOND WINDOW CLEANER
Use equal parts water and white vinegar in a spray bottle. Crumpled newspaper can used to dry windows
FLOOR CLEANER FOR VINYL
1 gallon water,1 cup white vinegar. No need to rinse.
HEAVY DUTY FLOOR CLEANER
1 gallon water, 3/4 cup ammonia. Use on heavily soiled floors – NOT on wood.
EFFECTIVE CLEANER – ANY HARD SURFACE
2 cups water
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon liquid dish soap
tablespoon baking soda
1 teaspoon borax
Store in spray bottle, shake before use.
LAUNDRY PRETREATMENT
In a spray bottle, combine: 1/2 cup white vinegar, 1/2 cup ammonia, 1/2 cup Wisk, 1/2 cup of water. Spray on spots, wash as usual.
ANOTHER LAUNDRY PRETREATMENT
Wet stain and rub with a bar of Fels Naphtha soap.
PERSPIRATION STAINS
Mix in a spray bottle: 1 cup salt, 2 cups of water, 1/4 cup liquid laundry detergent. Spray stain and wash as usual.
BATHTUB CLEANER
Pour 1/2 cup Dawn dish washing liquid into a spray bottle or other bottle. Fill the bottle with white vinegar. Spray on the tub, scrub & rinse.
TOILET BOWL CLEANER
Sprinkle baking soda in bowl and drizzle with vinegar. Scour with a brush. Cleans and deodorizes.
OVEN CLEANER
1 teaspoon each-liquid dish soap, lemon juice, vinegar, borax, 1 quart warm water. Apply liberally to inside of oven. Let set for at least 30 minute then scrub.
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Contributed by Owen Newman. Taken from the latest issue of "Plain Interests", a monthly paper put out for the Amish and other old order people.
A better mousetrap
Having mice move in with you is one of the worst things that can happen to spoil domestic tranquility.
You could put out traps,but then you have to empty them and reset before putting them back.
Sticky traps work quite well,but again,you have to handle them to dispose of them in the trash.
Cats do not always do a good job. Just how many mice can a cat eat? Besides,there's the litter box problem. No thank you.
Poisons are dangerous. Especially if you have little ones around. So,what's a person to do?
Well,take one Alka Seltzer tablet and grind it up as fine as you can. Mix it with an equal amount of whole wheat flour and put it in a container [a jar top works well]. Place where there seems to be a lot of mouse activity. Place another jar lid with water along it.
What happens is the mice eat flour-AK mixture, drink water,and die from bloat. You see,a mouse cannot belch.
They go to the nest and die,our if they die in sight, just sweep them up and dispose in the trash.
You don't have to worry the dangers of poison or touch the rodent itself.
© O W C NEWMAN, March 2008
Credit card data stolen from supermarket chain
A computer hacker or computer hackers stole thousands of credit card numbers after managing to breach security at two U.S. grocery store chains owned by Belgium-based Delhaize Group SA, the companies admitted.
Nearly 2,000 cases of fraud have been linked to the breach, but no personal information such as names or addresses was accessed when the hacker broke into the Hannaford Bros. stores in Massachusetts, New England and New York, and Sweetbay customers in Florida, Hannaford claimed in a statement. The question is, how do they know that no other information was accessed.
According to Boston's WBZ radio 4.2 million credit and debit card numbers were stolen. Company officials were not immediately available to confirm the number of stolen card numbers. In other words, officials of the company were not prepared to admit that the is so large. They are working on so-called “damage control”, I am sure.
Hannaford, headquartered in Scarborough, Maine, said that it had become aware of unusual credit card activity on February 27 and began an investigation. It said the data was illegally accessed during the credit card authorization process. And how is this possible? If it is that easy to access such information then, maybe, we better all went back to cash payments and, maybe, checks. This definitely does not make for inspiring confidence in the systems that are in place to safeguard information that companies (and governments) hold on us. Time to put the breaks on this, methinks.
Hannaford Chief Executive Ron Hodge offered an apology for the intrusion. There are 165 Hannaford stores in the U.S. Northeast and 106 Sweetbay supermarkets in Florida.
"We sincerely regret any concern or inconvenience this has caused," Hodge said in a statement. "We have taken aggressive steps to augment our network security capabilities."
The breach is the latest at a big U.S. retailer and comes after U.S. retail group TJX Cos Inc disclosed last year that data from 45.7 million credit and debit cards were stolen by hackers over a period of 18 months, as well as personal information for 451,000 people.
A group of banks later asserted in court documents that the number of consumer accounts were affected was closer to 94 million, a charge Massachusetts-based TJX denied.
But, how can this be? The data we give out is supposed to be so secure. Yes, I am being sarcastic; a trait I am well known for. Our data is simply NOT secure on an such systems that can be accessed from the “outside” so to speak, whether business or government. This is yet another reason for for us all not to trust the governments with our personal data for any kind of national ID card scheme, whether in the UK or in the USA. With all the information in digital for cloning it is all so much easier and NOT harder, as they try to tell us all the time.
Michael Smith (Veshengro), March 2008
California Court Rules That Homeschooling is – basically – illegal
A California appeals court has made the decision that only parents who hold teaching credentials can legally homeschool their children.
"Parents do not have a constitutional right to home school their children," Justice Walter Croskey wrote. The ruling was unanimous.
Many parents in the State are most upset about this ruling, which means they could face potential prosecution if they do not comply with the law. It is estimated more than 160,000 students are homeschooled in California, but, unless the parents hold a teaching degree they break the law under Califirnia's penal code.
The ruling comes from a California child welfare case where two parents homeschooled their eight children without either holding a teaching certificate.
The children were also enrolled in a private school, which considered them a part of their school, although in independent study. The school reported that they visit the children several times a year.
Legitimate Schools, Unqualified Teachers?
The appeals court said the state law on education has been clear since 1953, when another appellate court rejected a separate challenge by parents.
Education officials theorize that some homeschooling parents avoid that law by registering as a private education institution with the state, then only enroll their children.
But to become a teacher in the state, a person must have a bachelor's degree and pass a battery of certification tests.
California's Teachers Union said they were pleased with the court's ruling. One board director said that they believe "students should be taught by credentialed teachers, no matter what the setting."
I do not think that there is any surprise here that the California's Teachers Union and state brainwashers are pleased with this ruling. It would hardly be otherwise.
Homeschooling Effectively Banned
The president of the Home School Legal Defense Association says the ruling would effectively ban homeschooling in the state.
"California is now on the path to being the only state to deny the vast majority of homeschooling parents their fundamental right to teach their own children at home," he said in a statement.
One parent told the San Diego Union-Tribune, "if homeschooling becomes illegal, then it's just going to become underground."
Well, the other option would be, and that would soon teach – pun intended – the State's lawmakers, and that is for those who wish to homeschool their children legally to leave California. A mass exodus of thousands of people would soon, I am sure, carry the message even to the lawmakers and judges with the thickest of skulls.
One legal expert on children's law says the court did not change the law, they only upheld it. She said that "if they want to send them to a private Christian school, they can, but they have to actually go to the school and be taught by teachers."
I do not think that the question here is about a “private Christian school” but about parents exercising their God-given right to teach their own children, and I am saying that without even believing in the God of Abraham. I do, however, believe that the God or the gods, have given parents or guardians the right to teach their own children in the way that they see right and not having to send them to official state brainwash institutions.
© Michael Smith (Veshengro), March 2008
The Storm Kettle – Product Review
Originally, the Storm Kettle was handmade in Ireland - often by travellers who produced them in copper - for fishermen, itinerant workers and tourists. John Grindlay, who with his wife owns and runs the Eydon Kettle Company, modified the design and implemented modern manufacturing techniques in the early 1960’s.John Grindlay borrowed an original copper kettle and took it to England during the winter. Tooling was manufactured and the first 10 kettles eventually produced. These were very quickly sold for £10 each in 1979, the assembly work being carried out by Mr Grindlay’s children who were then 8 years and 10 years old. Popular demand meant that production had to increase. Since 1979 the numbers sold have substantially increased each year.
Mainly these Kettles, whether sold in the UK, Germany, or elsewhere, are used by sportsmen, holiday makers, expedition organisers and outdoor enthusiasts. They have even accompanied the explorer John Blashford-Snell, while he was searching for signs of early civilisations on a trip to Central America.
Nowadays they can be found in the Solomon Isles helping remote islanders boil water to purify it, in remote parts of Southern Africa, where dried cattle dung is used by the Zulus as fuel, or in the Sahara Desert on expeditions.
I am always amazed though that they never seem to have found a take up by the still travelling Romani in the UK and elsewhere. The Storm Kettle does away with the need for a fire for just the purpose of brewing a cup of tea or coffee or even for the making of some other hot beverage.
Using a Storm Kettle means you can boil water easily, in the wettest and windiest of weather, both rapidly and safely. They are also environmentally friendly as you only need a sheet of newspaper and a handful of twigs as fuel. So the simplicity of the Kettle ensures that boiling water is always available, without the need to use gas, petrol or any other artificial fuel.
Storm Kettles come in two sizes, the Original and the Popular. The Original will boil up to 2.5 pints (approx. 1.5 litres) the Popular up to 2 pints (approx. one litre) – that should ensure more than enough hot water is available for you within minutes - at any time.
The water boils rather quickly and can be kept going by just adding further small sticks into the fire that is going in the burner beneath the kettle via the “chimney”.
One word of warning even though it is mentioned more than once in the literature and also on a sticker on the kettle itself: NEVER EVER use it with the cork in place. While the cork is very handy for carrying the kettle with water in it when heating the water the cork must be taken out of the spout.
The Storm Kettle & the cook set that nowadays is available for it is the ideal kit for forestry workers, countryside conservators, and other such like, such as Parks & Countryside Ranger, especially those working on maintenance tasks away from the main base.
While the Storm Kettle and accessories do not come cheap I can but recommend them.
The Prices for the kettles are: £43.00 for the Popular and £44.50 for the Original. Prices include V.A.T. and carriage.
Reviewed by Michael Smith (Veshengro), February 2008
The BoGo Light – Product Review
The BoGo Light is a concept that brings light into the darkness, and here especially in the developing world, but not only there, as the BoGo Light is also great as an emergency light source. I received the review sample of the cute orange BoGo Light in the beginning of February 2008 and due to the lack of sunlight in our areas at this time of the year to fully charge the light is a slight problems as, theoretically, it requires a full day of sunlight to fully charge the replaceable rechargeable batteries (three at, what I would assume to be, 1.2VDC each). Otherwise, however, the light is brilliant, literally, and this pun was, also, by the way, intended.
The first thing that I was taken with was the fact that when opening the battery compartment to install the three supplied Ni-cads that there was a proper waterproof seal present that stayed in place and resealed the compartment once the cover was screwed on again. Having had some bad experience with a cycle light that took water during rain and then having pointed out that the instructions state that the light must not become exposed to rain and wet it is rather refreshing to see those seal in this flashlight. Then again, we must not forget that Mark Bent, the CEO of SunNight Solar is a former Marine and we military guys know how things need to be in such cases.
In addition to this the BoGo Light is the ideal for general preparedness and for survival situations, whether floods, hurricanes, ice storms, or what-have-you. Even in the event of a “normal” power outage such a light would come in extremely handy. The light can sit, until it is needed, quietly, on the windowsill soaking up daylight and is therefore always charged and ready to go as and when needed for a number of hours without, like with wind-up lights, having to crank a handle every thirty minutes or so for around a minute. By no means am I trying to diminish the idea and invention and concept of the wind-up/dynamo charged lights, far from it; I am just stating a fact while making an observation. They equally have their place in this world as does the BoGo Light.
The term BoGo stands for Buy one – Give one, and it is this principle upon which the light is being sold. You buy one for US$ 25 plus shipping from SunNight Solar in Texas – only via their website – and another one will be sent to the charity of your choice in Africa or to US troops serving in Iraq or Afghanistan.
Having now had the unit here for a couple of days, and, having allowed it to get charged on the windowsill in our dull winter daylight plus from electric light in the evening at home I have been able to give it a little try and am very favorably impressed. The six LEDs are extremely bright and the light, with even the low powered charge that the Bogo Light could obtain from this very dull daylight around here, lasts for a number of hours. It would, I assume, require the real amount of sun hours to obtain the six hours or so of light from the BoGo Light.
All in all I can but recommend this light to anyone, and I mean anyone, however, those that are preparing for the eventuality of an emergency of whatever kind and for homesteaders and such the BoGo Light is a light that should be on the shopping list as a stand-by for the as and when or even for general daily use.
The BoGo Light is a scientific, eco-friendly breakthrough that is making an impact worldwide. From Cairo to Cape Town, from the Caribbean to the Amazon, it is improving the lives of individuals, families, and entire villages by replacing costly kerosene, candles, and disposable battery flashlights with an affordable, long lasting, solar flashlight. BoGo means Buy one, Give one. Mark Bent and SunNight Solar Ltd want their lights to benefit the less fortunate; therefore, with each light purchased in the developed world, a second identical light will be donated to an organization that will distribute it in the developing world with the company's direct financial support. Give the Gift of Light, and Help Change the World!
So, go to the website and buy one and donate one to a worthy cause, whether this is for some of the poor in the developing world (and maybe we could even get a Romani NGO equipped some day with those) or for the US troops serving abroad in Iraq or Afghanistan.
Erm, and, erm yes, before anyone suggests it I must admit, I have fallen in love with the BoGo Light.
Some more information as to the history and such of the BoGo Light shall also follow soon.
Reviewed by Michael Smith (Veshengro), February 2008
Rainwater Harvesting in the USA
You would think that you can, without any problem, harvest the water that falls on your roof or land, wouldn't you?
Well, apparently in some federal states of the United States of America, the land of the free and the home of the brave, you cannot do such a thing and it is actually a crime.
Ever collected rainwater in a bucket to water the garden? There's a law about that in Colorado and, technically, it says you can't. Now a state senator from Denver wants to allow homeowners to collect water that drains off up roofs up to 3,000 square feet so ranchers and farmers could use it to water livestock and metro area residents could use it to water their lawns and gardens.
Democratic Sen. Chris Romer said the bill, which had its first hearing Thursday, could also be used to fight fires and eliminate the need for more dams and reservoirs by providing "microstorage" of water across the state. However, water interests, including Denver Water, are concerned about the proposal, and Romer asked members of the Senate Agriculture, Natural Resources & Energy Committee for another week to make some changes before voting on the bill.
I must say that I have never ever heard anything that stupid in my entire life. Oh, well, maybe some similarly stupid things have been heard and read but this is daft in the extreme.
"We shouldn't let 100 years of tradition and law avoid the common sense solution," said Romer, who wants to install a cistern at the house he's building in Denver.
Colorado's water law doesn't specifically talk about buckets or cisterns, but the principle of prior appropriation applies. That means water, including whatever falls from the sky and off your roof, must be allowed to flow downstream to those who have a legal right to use it. So, that means, someone “downstream” from me has more right to the water than do I on whose roof or land the water, in the form of precipitation, whether rain or snow, falls. What about my right as the owner of the property? Excuse me, but this is not just stupid and insane, this is not right – period – regardless of what the law and other such “ordinances” say.
"When it's in the sky it's fine. But as soon it hits the ground, or on the way to the ground, that's where it kind of changes a little," said Doug Kemper, executive director of the Colorado Water Congress. Sorry, I may be a little dense here but how does it change, precisely, Mr. Kemper?
It is time the State of Colorado and its legislators woke up to the fact that (1) the water comes from the sky and is free and you cannot put a price or a law on it and (2) that we must make use of all water that comes our way, rainwater – which could easily be used to flush toilets, graywater – as long as it is gray water and not black water, for watering gardens and lawns (gray water can, if properly collected be also used to flush the toilets), etc. to conserve the scarce resource of water in many places of the USA and elsewhere and even if we do not have a scarcity, as has been the case in the last summer and this winter – so far – in the UK we still should and must harvest rainwater and work on gray water systems.
© Michael Smith (Veshengro), February 2008
Buying from Thrift Store and Charity Shop
Too many people think that they HAVE TO HAVE this or that new.
Why?
Charity Shops, for instance, does not always mean that the things are post-consumer, that is to say that they have been used before. Many items that I have bought there for very little money were brand-new with their tags still in place. It is also now, it would seem, once again, becoming fashionable to buy at the likes of Oxfam and other Charity Shops, very much like it was in the late 70's, when it was also fashionable to wear military surplus and buy used – advertise as such – at the American store “Flip Clothing” in London.
However, I'd rather go to a store that is run for a good cause (yes, some of the money ends up in overheads, and I know that the goods are donated to the stores) than to go to the likes of “Flip” (don't even know whether they still exist). At least some of my money that I pay for the good that I buy goes to a good cause, unlike at the commercial secondhand stores.
I must say that I spend a lot of time and also money – but then it does go to a good cause – in such Charity Shops, especially as I do not have a TV and in order to relax I read. This is where Charity Shops come into their own with their books section and I have even found some books there being signed first editions and others that I had wanted to obtain for review for one or the other magazine I edit, such as one particular one about the Gypsies in the South of France. I paid less for it – well, near enough – then probably the postage would have been to send a letter to the publisher to ask for a copy for review. I must admit I am awful with books, I buy them by the ton, but then again this way the go to a good home – mine – where they will be read and often used further as reference, instead of ending up in a landfill site. Because, let's face it, not enough people even think of passing their read book on to another outlet so they can be read again (and again) by someone.
As far as clothes are concerned the only thing I do not purchase are Charity Shops is underwear and socks. I even buy footwear there most of the time but then ensuring that it is little or not worn, and often real bargains can be had.
Only the other day I bought a pair of lovely “Transport-brand” boots for £5 the pair and they are nearly new. If they have been worn then by a security officer, the are a patrol-kind boot, indoors.
The Simple Living Review would like to encourage people instead of buying new all the time to actually buy their clothes (and other items) used, often they are even new or as new, at Charity Shops, such as Oxfam, Save the Children, Cancer Research, for, while you are getting a bargain you are supporting a good cause. Our advice here goes even further then that is to use, ideally, more so even those Charity Shops that support local causes, such as in the North-East Surrey area where we are based, the St Raphael's Hospice Shops and those of the Children's Trust. Think local!
While there certainly are worthy causes in the Charity Shop realm – all of them in the main – it would be much better if we would support our local charities and their shops before we would the big national and even international ones. Think local!
© Michael Smith (Veshengro), January 2008
Tend to Your Garden in Winter
Although many of the perennials grown in the garden slumber through the winter months, the gardener is far from inactive.
In fact, winter in the garden can be as busy as any other season of the year.
Here are some essential gardening tasks that are recommend green fingers take care of when it gets frosty outside:
1./ Check in on your plants: Examine the greenhouse (or cold frame) regularly for any sign of pests or disease it could be harboring. Remove any dead flower heads, yellowing leaves, and other plant debris before mold starts to form, to cut the risk of infection.
Heavy snowfall can settle on conifers and evergreens with larger surface areas, causing the branches to buckle or break under all that heft. Knock the snow off to help reduce damage, because a torn branch leaves an open wound for infections in spring.
2./ Protect them from the cold: Insulate your greenhouse and cold frame with bubble wrap or similar insulation, because reducing drafts saves on heat loss and plant casualties.
Outdoor evergreens, container plants, tall plants, and plants introduced since the previous winter will need protection if the weather takes a nasty turn. (They can be severely damaged by wind, which can loosen roots.) Consider planting a windbreak or shelter to reduce the airflow.
Another problem caused by the wind is foliage drying out, which happens when freezing gusts draw moisture from leaves faster than it can be replaced. Erect a screen of woven plastic mesh or horticultural fleece on the windward side of vulnerable plants to reduce the wind's effects and protect the leaves. During heavy frosts, some plants may even benefit from being bundled up in protective fleece, which absorbs some of cold.
3./ Prepare the soil: Because winter frost can break down sticky clay soil better than any cultivation tool, it can be an ally when it comes to preparing heavy soils. This is the time to incorporate compost or other organic conditioners that will improve soil structure and boost plant growth.
4./ Deal with construction and landscaping jobs: Because sections of the garden will be bare, it's easier to see the garden layout and make changes for the coming spring. If the soil isn't too wet to be structurally damaged by foot traffic and wheelbarrows, you can take the opportunity to install or improve drainage systems.
5./ Handle repairs and maintenance, and that includes repairing handles: Consider the lack of vegetation a bonus, because this is an ideal time to drain and clean pools and ponds, as well as repair pond sides, walls, and liners. Or use this time to re-level, change the shape, increase the shape and size of borders, and reseed areas where growth is sparse. However, no work should be carried out if the grass is frozen, because footprints made on frozen grass can cause it to turn brown.
Repair, sharpen, clean, service, and otherwise maintain tools that are used in your garden, whether the lawnmower, the strimmer, bill hooks, secateurs, etc. A well-maintained tool or piece of machinery will give you good service for many, many years and will make life and work easier.
Michael Smith (Veshengro), January 2008
Self-Reliance
By Ralph Waldo Emerson
Editor's note: The great American philosopher, Ralph Waldo Emerson, wrote this essay in 1841, when individuals in his country were far more free, independent, and optimistic than today. When he writes about self-reliance he's not talking about digging our own wells or chopping our own firewood; all that was taken for granted in his day. He's talking about relying on our own minds and taking our own independent actions, regardless of what others may think, or what "authorities" may demand. Emerson's eloquent message is one that deserves repeating in this day when people are increasingly afraid to speak their minds or stand up for what they value.
Man is his own star; and the soul that can Render an honest and a perfect man Commands all light, all influence, all fate; Nothing to him falls early or too late. Our acts our angels are, or good or ill, Our fatal shadows that walk by us still. --Epilogue to Beaumont and Fletcher's Honest Man's Fortune
Cast the bantling on the rocks, Suckle him with the she-wolf's teat, Wintered with the hawk and fox, Power and speed be hands and feet.
I read the other day some verses written by an eminent painter which were original and not conventional. The soul always hears an admonition in such lines, let the subject be what it may. The sentiment they instill is of more value than any thought they may contain. To believe your own thought, to believe that what is true for you in your private heart is true for all men,--that is genius. Speak your latent conviction, and it shall be the universal sense; for the inmost in due time becomes the outmost, and our first thought is rendered back to us by the trumpets of the Last Judgment. Familiar as the voice of the mind is to each, the highest merit we ascribe to Moses, Plato, and Milton is that they set at naught books and traditions, and spoke not what men, but what they thought. A man should learn to detect and watch that gleam of light which flashes across his mind from within, more than the lustre of the firmament of bards and sages. Yet he dismisses without notice his thought, because it is his. In every work of genius we recognize our own rejected thoughts; they come back to us with a certain alienated majesty. Great works of art have no more affecting lesson for us than this. They teach us to abide by our spontaneous impression with good-humored inflexibility than most when the whole cry of voices is on the other side. Else to-morrow a stranger will say with masterly good sense precisely what we have thought and felt all the time, and we shall be forced to take with shame our own opinion from another.
There is a time in every man's education when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance; that imitation is suicide; that he must take himself for better for worse as his portion; that though the wide universe is full of good, no kernel of nourishing corn can come to him but through his toil bestowed on that plot of ground which is given to him to till. The power which resides in him is new in nature, and none but he knows what that is which he can do, nor does he know until he has tried. Not for nothing one face, one character, one fact, makes much impression on him, and another none. This sculpture in the memory is not without pre-established harmony. The eye was placed where one ray should fall, that it might testify of that particular ray. We but half express ourselves, and are ashamed of that divine idea which each of us represents. It may be safely trusted as proportionate and of good issues, so it be faithfully imparted, but God will not have his work made manifest by cowards. A man is relieved and gay when he has put his heart into his work and done his best; but what he has said or done otherwise shall give him no peace. It is a deliverance which does not deliver. In the attempt his genius deserts him; no muse befriends; no invention, no hope.
To read this piece in its entirety please subscribe to The Homesteader Magazine, an annual publication, the next number which will come out shortly in PDF.
Cooking with Cast Iron
I know that I am going to be preaching to the choir but nevertheless I am going to sing the praises of cast iron for cooking.
Recently I acquired a set of three cast iron skillets made by Wagner in the USA and although being of a Gypsy family and cast iron was used by my grandmother and mother in the form of the big iron pot and the griddles and skillets that hung from the “kettle iron”, I never used it myself, always haven chosen to go for the lighter options, such as enameled steel pans and pots.
Now, having laid my hands on this set rather cheaply as the prices for such cook ware go here, brand new, via a Charity Shop here in the UK, and having seasoned them, of a fashion, and begun to use them I am starting to become a convert.
First of you need very little fat for cooking and secondly the food seems to taste so much better.
For the first few times I made the mistake of immediately running the pan under the water tap of hot water (not a good idea, I have been told) and then using a metal scourer to get off the food residue. All that is, however, so I find now, required it to let the skillet cool by itself and any food residue can just be wiped off nearly.
Wow! I am beginning to love the stuff. Well, in fact that is an understatement. The problem is, however, that, generally, cast iron cookware of the kind that this set of three skillets are, are extremely difficult to come by here in the UK and when one can get them are extremely expensive.
If any readers have tips and hints for others that are looking to use cast iron cookware for cooking, baking, etc. please feel free to share them via the comments section. You may also, if you have an article or such on cast iron cookware – your own article please and not one taken from somewhere else (copyright infringements could cost us, I am afraid) – you are most welcome to submit such via the email link.
Now, let's here it for the cast iron pans and pots.
© Michael Smith (Veshengro), January 2008
Safe Can - Product Review
Store your valuables where thieves won't find them.
SafeCan is a ground-breaking product which makes it easy for people to hide their valuables in ‘dummies’ of everyday objects, like cans of beans or books. Branded products from household names, like Heinz or Collins Dictionaries, mean the dummy containers can be concealed with other household objects for maximum safety. The brands are fully licensed from their parent companies, so they look exactly the same! In other words, a very subtle low cost safe.
SafeCan is a exciting product that could help people protect their property, whether in their homes, their garage, in a caravan or a boat.
Recognised by Police Forces, Neighbourhood Watch Groups and Insurance Companies Worldwide as an excellent deterrent to theft. The SafeCan is the ideal place to hide money and jewellery.
Upon attending DIY & Garden and Totally Tools every visitor, including us media guys, were handed a goody bag at the door sponsored by Henkel which had a Can Safe in the form of a spray can of a Henkel product in it.
This is, I most say, the first time that I had a chance to get a closer look at one of those little low cost safe solutions and I can only say, “ingenious”.
More information on SafeCan, now part of the Sterling range of security solutions, can be found at www.sterlinglocks.com.
SafeCan is a ground-breaking product which makes it easy for people to hide their valuables in ‘dummies’ of everyday objects, like cans of beans or books. Branded products from household names, like Heinz or Collins Dictionaries, mean the dummy containers can be concealed with other household objects for maximum safety. The brands are fully licensed from their parent companies, so they look exactly the same! In other words, a very subtle low cost safe.
SafeCan is a exciting product that could help people protect their property, whether in their homes, their garage, in a caravan or a boat.
Recognised by Police Forces, Neighbourhood Watch Groups and Insurance Companies Worldwide as an excellent deterrent to theft. The SafeCan is the ideal place to hide money and jewellery.
Upon attending DIY & Garden and Totally Tools every visitor, including us media guys, were handed a goody bag at the door sponsored by Henkel which had a Can Safe in the form of a spray can of a Henkel product in it.
This is, I most say, the first time that I had a chance to get a closer look at one of those little low cost safe solutions and I can only say, “ingenious”.
More information on SafeCan, now part of the Sterling range of security solutions, can be found at www.sterlinglocks.com.
The Outdoor Kitchen
a.k.a. the Summer Kitchen
We are soon going to be headed for the warmer months, yet again, when those of us living with and cooking with wood could do without the added heat from cooking indoors.
For this very reason those especially in the southern States and other warmer climes, including the settlers in Australia, have built and used outdoor kitchens. Some of those are and have been elaborate structures, brick-built some even, some simple, often just wooden shacks or lean-to structures, and some folks simply cooked outside over an open fire, and such.
An iron cooking pot over an open fire and the deep skillet suspended from the iron tripod of the “kettle iron” was the way it was done with the poor Blacks in the South of the United States and with the Gypsy, and how it often is still dome with the Rom, the Gypsy, in Eastern Europe.
This way is not, however, a very fuel efficient way and method of cooking, even though wood is, theoretically and practically, a renewable resource and in some places, where many of the homesteads are, quite abundant. A well-designed and -constructed summer kitchen with the right kind of wood stoves is the much better option than just cooking over an open fire. Added to that the convenience of a roof of sorts just in case it should rain.
Anyone with his own permanent homestead, in my view, even if not in the warm and hot regions, might well consider an outdoor kitchen, even if just on the back porch, for instance. This way the cabin, the homestead, is not, unnecessarily, overheated in summer from the heat of cooking and baking, often either resulting in tThe outdoor Kitchenhe residents being uncomfortable and that's it or the use of air conditioning, ceiling fans and other fans and such like, all requiring energy to run.
By removing the heat from cooking and baking from the interior of the house to an outdoors facility, that is to say, into the summer kitchen, more than one bird is being killed with one stone.
Depending on the area, as in geographical area, of residence such an outdoor- or summer-kitchen will have walls or not and where there are walls to be used then ideally those should be wooden and constructed rather like large doors that can be opened in real hot weather, and when it is not raining, to make work over stove and oven a little less hot.
Now, before summer cometh, is the time to look at building or setting up your very own summer kitchen and, as we have said before, this can be an elaborate affair of a special building, just a porch kind of construction, like a car porch, a lean-to at the side of the house, arranged on the back porch (or the front porch even) or just cooking outside over and open fire or, using a stove, such as were used in Gypsy caravans of years gone by, the so-called “Queenie” stoves, or similar, just outside in the yard. My grandmother and mother cooked like that for years.
No, I am not about to give you – at least not on this here Homesteader Blog – detailed descriptions and blueprints for the creating of such a “summer kitchen”. This is because no two situations are ever the same as regards to where and how to put up a summer kitchen. All I intend to do here is to give you food for thought for a summer- or outdoor kitchen.
© Michael Smith (Veshengro), January 2008
We are soon going to be headed for the warmer months, yet again, when those of us living with and cooking with wood could do without the added heat from cooking indoors.
For this very reason those especially in the southern States and other warmer climes, including the settlers in Australia, have built and used outdoor kitchens. Some of those are and have been elaborate structures, brick-built some even, some simple, often just wooden shacks or lean-to structures, and some folks simply cooked outside over an open fire, and such.
An iron cooking pot over an open fire and the deep skillet suspended from the iron tripod of the “kettle iron” was the way it was done with the poor Blacks in the South of the United States and with the Gypsy, and how it often is still dome with the Rom, the Gypsy, in Eastern Europe.
This way is not, however, a very fuel efficient way and method of cooking, even though wood is, theoretically and practically, a renewable resource and in some places, where many of the homesteads are, quite abundant. A well-designed and -constructed summer kitchen with the right kind of wood stoves is the much better option than just cooking over an open fire. Added to that the convenience of a roof of sorts just in case it should rain.
Anyone with his own permanent homestead, in my view, even if not in the warm and hot regions, might well consider an outdoor kitchen, even if just on the back porch, for instance. This way the cabin, the homestead, is not, unnecessarily, overheated in summer from the heat of cooking and baking, often either resulting in tThe outdoor Kitchenhe residents being uncomfortable and that's it or the use of air conditioning, ceiling fans and other fans and such like, all requiring energy to run.
By removing the heat from cooking and baking from the interior of the house to an outdoors facility, that is to say, into the summer kitchen, more than one bird is being killed with one stone.
Depending on the area, as in geographical area, of residence such an outdoor- or summer-kitchen will have walls or not and where there are walls to be used then ideally those should be wooden and constructed rather like large doors that can be opened in real hot weather, and when it is not raining, to make work over stove and oven a little less hot.
Now, before summer cometh, is the time to look at building or setting up your very own summer kitchen and, as we have said before, this can be an elaborate affair of a special building, just a porch kind of construction, like a car porch, a lean-to at the side of the house, arranged on the back porch (or the front porch even) or just cooking outside over and open fire or, using a stove, such as were used in Gypsy caravans of years gone by, the so-called “Queenie” stoves, or similar, just outside in the yard. My grandmother and mother cooked like that for years.
No, I am not about to give you – at least not on this here Homesteader Blog – detailed descriptions and blueprints for the creating of such a “summer kitchen”. This is because no two situations are ever the same as regards to where and how to put up a summer kitchen. All I intend to do here is to give you food for thought for a summer- or outdoor kitchen.
© Michael Smith (Veshengro), January 2008
Happy New Year 2008 to you all
Happy New Year 2008
I would like to take this opportunity to wish all our readers, friends and associates, as well as our enemies, a very happy & prosperous New Year 2008.
Christmas crisis brewing
Apparently there is a Christmas crisis brewing...
According to a UK government think tank, Christmas should be downgraded unless other religious festivals are marked on an even footing.
The Institute of Public Policy Research has suggested various ideas to make the UK more multicultural. It also wants "national culture" barriers to be torn down to help immigrants settle into the UK.
In a report due to be published in coming weeks, the organisation said: "If we are going to continue to mark Christmas - and it would be very hard to expunge it from our national life even if we wanted to - then public organisations should mark other major religious festivals too. Even-handedness dictates that we provide public recognition to minority cultures and traditions."
Duh? I beg pardon! To this one could only say that this is a “predominately” Christian country, though I am not a Christian, and if people have a problem with that then they do have an option; and that is to leave. No one has asked them to be here or to stay here.
You do NOT have the right to never be offended. This society is based on freedom, and that means freedom for everyone -- not just you as an individual! You may leave the room, turn the channel, express a different opinion, etc.; but the world is full of idiots, and probably always will be. So, if someone says something you don't like either argue it out with them or leave it be.
You do NOT have the right to change our country's history or heritage. You do not have the right to impose Sharia Law on this country in any way, shape or form, or any other law. This country has a legal code and it is valid for all. This country has a freedom of religion, which means you are free, as is everyone else, to worship your God or no God; with no fear of persecution. You are given the freedom, nowadays, it was not always thus, to believe in any religion, any faith, or no faith at all; with no fear of persecution. You are not forced to go to church every Sunday, as once was the case in Britain, not even on Christmas Day are you forced to attend, therefore do not try to impose your rules on us.
Unfortunately, it would seem, that the people of this country are, in general, spineless, and will permit, for the sake of “peace” to allow themselves to be trampled upon by others who do not mean to be peaceful.
© M Smith, December 2007
The story of Sheep with a message...
Not so long ago and in a pasture too uncomfortably close to here, a flock of sheep lived and grazed. They were protected by a dog, who answered to the master, but despite his best efforts from time to time a nearby pack of wolves would prey upon the flock.
One day a group of sheep, more bold than the rest, met to discuss their dilemma. "Our dog is good, and vigilant, but he is one dog and the wolves are many. The wolves he catches are not always killed, and the master judges and releases many to prey again upon us, for no reason we can understand. What can we do? We are sheep, but we do not wish to be food, too!"
One sheep spoke up, saying "It is his teeth and claws that make the wolf so terrible to us. It is his nature to prey, and he would find any way to do it, but it is the tools he wields that make it possible. If we had such teeth, we could fight back, and stop this savagery." The other sheep clamored in agreement, and they went together to the old bones of the dead wolves heaped in the corner of the pasture, and gathered fang and claw and made them into weapons.
That night, when the wolves came, the newly armed sheep sprang up with their weapons and struck at them and cried "Begone! We are not food!" and drove off the wolves, who were astonished. When did sheep become so bold and so dangerous to wolves? When did sheep grow teeth? It was unthinkable!
The next day, flush with victory and waving their weapons, they approached the flock to pronounce their discovery. But as they drew nigh, the flock huddled together and cried out "Baaaaaaaadddd! Baaaaaddd things! You have bad things! We are afraid! You are not sheep!"
The brave sheep stopped, amazed. "But we are your brethren!" they cried, "We are still sheep, but we do not wish to be food. See, our new teeth and claws protect us and have saved us from slaughter. They do not make us into wolves, they make us equal to the wolves, and safe from their viciousness!"
"Baaaaaaaddd!", cried the flock,"the things are bad and will pervert you, and we fear them. You cannot bring them into the flock. They scare us!". So the armed sheep resolved to conceal their weapons, for although they had no desire to panic the flock, they wished to remain in the fold. But they would not return to those nights of terror, waiting for the wolves to come.
In time, the wolves attacked less often and sought easier prey, for they had no stomach for fighting sheep who possessed tooth and claw even as they did. Not knowing which sheep had fangs and which did not, they came to leave sheep out of their diet almost completely except for the occasional raid, from which more than one wolf did not return. Then came the day when, as the flock grazed beside the stream, one sheep's weapon slipped from the folds of her fleece, and the flock cried out in terror again, "Baaaaaaddddd! You still possess these evil things! We must ban you from our presence!".
And so they did. The great chief sheep and his court and council, encouraged by the words of their moneylenders and advisors, placed signs and totems at the edges of the pasture forbidding the presence of hidden weapons there. The armed sheep protested before the council, saying "It is our pasture, too, and we have never harmed you! When can you say we have caused you hurt? It is the wolves, not we, who prey upon you. We are still sheep, but we are not food!". But the flock would not hear, and drowned them out with cries of "Baaaaaaddd! We will not hear your clever words! You and your things are evil and will harm us!".
Saddened by this rejection, the armed sheep moved off and spent their days on the edges of the flock, trying from time to time to speak with their brethren to convince them of the wisdom of having such teeth, but meeting with little success. They found it hard to talk to those who, upon hearing their words, would roll back their eyes and flee, crying "Baaaaddd! Bad things!".
That night, the wolves happened upon the sheep's totems and signs, and said, "Truly, these sheep are fools! They have told us they have no teeth! Brothers, let us feed!". And they set upon the flock, and horrible was the carnage in the midst of the fold. The dog fought like a demon, and often seemed to be in two places at once, but even he could not halt the slaughter. It was only when the other sheep arrived with their weapons that the wolves fled, vowing to each other to remain on the edge of the pasture and wait for the next time they could prey, for if the sheep were so foolish once, they would be so again. This they did, and do still.
In the morning, the armed sheep spoke to the flock, and said, "See? If the wolves know you have no teeth, they will fall upon you. Why be prey? To be a sheep does not mean to be food for wolves!". But the flock cried out, more feebly for their voices were fewer, though with no less terror, "Baaaaaaaadddd! These things are bad! If they were banished, the wolves would not harm us! Baaaaaaaddd!". The other sheep could only hang their heads and sigh. The flock had forgotten that even they possessed teeth; how else could they graze the grasses of the pasture? It was only those who preyed, like the wolves and jackals, who turned their teeth to evil ends. If you pulled their own fangs those beasts would take another's teeth and claws, perhaps even the broad flat teeth of sheep, and turn them to evil purposes.
The bold sheep knew that the fangs and claws they possessed had not changed them. They still grazed like other sheep, and raised their lambs in the spring, and greeted their friend the dog as he walked among them. But they could not quell the terror of the flock, which rose in them like some ancient dark smoky spirit and could not be damped by reason, nor dispelled by the light of day.
So they resolved to retain their weapons, but to conceal them from the flock; to endure their fear and loathing, and even to protect their brethren if the need arose, until the day the flock learned to understand that as long as there were wolves in the night, sheep would need teeth to repel them.
They would still be sheep, but they would not be food!
More Make Do
In the last article I did mention that I could go on. Well, now I am.
This matter of “making do” can get to a passion, which is not a bad thing. If more people were “making do”, there would be less waste in this world.
Save your tin cans. I mentioned in an article some time ago a few things that you could use cans for1. Holding nails and screws, cleaning paint brushes, holding paint while you pretty some things up.2 Punch a hole in the center of the ends of two tin cans, attach a string and you have a boy's primitive telephone. I have two cans, one used to hold minced green chilies, the other is just a little bit bigger. I use them as biscuit cutters. They are just the right size for sourdough or baking powder biscuits.
Scrap wood can be gotten from building sites. Ask the foreman and he will probably tell you that whatever is in the dumpster, you can have. Wooden pallets can be used for everything from firewood to building fences. And same for the nails! You can buy wood such as slabs or tie ends pretty reasonable, also sawdust at sawmills.
The highway department went through this spring and trimmed trees and then ran the branches and such through a chipper. A lot of it was cedar. My wife and I went and got the equivalent of a pickup load and put those chippings around the bases of the trees in our yard.
We have two 100 gallon plastic stock tanks under the porch eaves to catch rainwater. There's room for a couple of more. Beats having to buy salt, not to mention the initial cost of a softener unit. We use it for laundry and baths. Just remember to cover the tanks to keep sunlight out once they are full.
Want to keep your wooden fence posts from rotting but don't want to use chemicals? Do what they did 200 years ago. Char the end that will go into the ground, and put then in small end first. Charred wood lasts for centuries. That's why archaeologists are so happy to find it at a dig. They can date it by scientific means to find out how long ago the site was occupied.
The books by Eric Sloane, “A Museum of Early American Tools”, “A Reverence for Wood” and “Diary of an Early American Boy”, should be on you bookshelf. Our early settlers were masters in making do with wood.
The editor reminded me of this one: save those cardboard tubes from paper towel and toilet tissue. They can be used for storing electric cord or, cut to length, filled with potting medium and used to start bedding plants. When the plants are ready you just put the whole thing into the garden into the ground. You'll have a cutworm collar and the tube will rot down enriching the soil.
The plastic bags that you get from grocery stores nowadays make good wastepaper basket liners. I prefer to ask for paper bags (paper bags are not in option in many countries – Ed.) because I can use them for patterns for making moccasins and other leather goods. They are also good for draining doughnuts and other fried food, after which the oil soaked paper makes a dandy fire starter.
Speaking of paper towels: they can be used to make your own seed tapes. Lay out several sections, spray with water. Place yours seeds down, lay another paper towel on top, spray with water, and roll up. Put in a bread bag or other plastic bag until you lay it out in the garden and cover it with a thin layer of soil. This is especially good for parsnip and carrot seed. We learned this trick from yet another boot that you should have on your shelf; “The Joy of Gardening” by Dick Raymond.
Another idea from “The Joys of Gardening” is to “multi-crop”. For instance, I plant carrots, lettuce and radishes together. They seem to help each other out. The I put trellises over the row and plat cucumbers at each leg. It makes a two-storey garden. Our tomatoes have carrots planted each cage. You can plant winter squash in your sweet corn rows.
There are many books that tell you about “companion planting”. It would not hurt to buy one. You can get two or three times the produce from the same plot.
In our area we have very high humidity in the spring. At least once a month I would have to clean all my leather goods. Years ago I used to shoe harness racing horses. The trainers would rub flax soap into the harnesses to keep them soft and mold free. So I bought some ©Murphy's oil lsoap and tried it. Sure enough, it worked. Now I only have to clean my saddles and boots and other leather goods about once a year only. I have tried other oil soaps but ©Murphy's works the best.
© Owen Newman, 2007
Simpler Life - In Praise of Paper-based PDAs
In Praise of Paper-based PDAs
Even in today's digital world paper still has its place, more maybe even than before, and I am referring here to such things as Filofax agendas and the like, and even such as being compiled by the users themselves rather than by purchasing such an agenda binder as a Filofax itself and/or the inserts for such binders.
The person who invented the POCKET Mod “Paper PDA” has had an absolutely brilliant idea, in my view, especially as one can use paper that is basically waste, printed on one side already and unloved and unwanted, often because it is spam post, to turn into a small notebook of eight small pages.
Personally I have designed my own POCKET Mod online with the tool provided on the website, then printed one, scanned it into the PC, made it into a word processor document and then turned it into a PDF file. When I need some need little notebooks – I use those especially for projects and articles – I print them out from the PDF, make them up and then carry a small number of them with me.
I tend to use those small notebooks for special projects and article drafts even though I also use a Filofax, though this cannot be carried all the time for its size. I use a POCKET Mod almost daily, I must say.
Why do I advocate low-tech solutions here many will wonder seeing that, obviously, I do use a PC, and I must admit more than one even, ect.? Why indeed?
For more than a year I used to carry and use a Palm Pilot PDA but I have had nothing but problems with hand-held devices and after the umpteenth time and also wiped its backup on the PC and Palm's customer service was simply non-existent, as many people said on the Internet forums about that company (BTW, that is OLD Palm and not the company that uses the name now) I decided to revert back to the use of pen and paper, in the form, initially, of the Filofax binder.
The great advantages of pen and paper, and paper-based notes, is (1) the fact that no batteries and no operating system or other software can fail and (2) that is it not a sensitive unit that might get damaged or broken if dropped or if water gets spilled upon it, and I have to say that, as I get my pens free from Trade Shows and other exhibitions, it to me is the most effective system.
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Paper-based systems still valid in the twenty-first century.
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Paper-based systems still valid in the twenty-first century.
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Also, I have to add, that the pages for the Filofax paper PDA that I carry are made at home by using an old Lotus Organizer program on Windows XP – the program does work on XP as well despite of its age (the age of the original program, not that of XP) which prints pages in Filofax size. I then cut the pages to the right size, more or less by eye judgement after lots of experience, making some blank (at least one side of it) pages at the same time, and then punch the holes. For this I did invest in a Filofax-specific hole punch – and they do not come cheap but then neither do the store-bought inserts. In fact I am sure that the hole punch has by now definitely paid for itself.
Pen and paper based notes, to me at least, work much better than do PDAs of whichever operating system, but then that is my personal view.
Yes, I admit, I do have to type my notes up on the PC afterwards and to a degree people may think this to be rather time consuming and a waste but considering the time it takes to input text and data onto a PDA by means of a stylus and the touch screen I do not think that it takes me more time altogether with typing up my notes.
It also give me the time, while typing them up, to already edit and make additions, etc. to my draft that I have written in pen on paper in longhand.
Using POCKET Mob notebooklets and the Scrybe online organizer (Iscribe.com), with its off-line facility, where pages can be printed out similar to the POCKET Mod, and definitely the same pocket size, one does not even have to lug around a Filofax, though the latter does come in rather handy for contact details and other such things, so, therefore, a lot of times I still have the Filofax binder in my briefcase nevertheless. When I go somewhere without the briefcase, however, then the other two little systems suffice and fit into the shirt pocket or hip pocket of jeans or other pants.
I am not saying that we should abandon modern technology and the PC and even pocket PCs and other electronic PDAs; I am no Luddite, but what I am saying is “ask yourself whether you actually NEED one.
While I am quite the gadget man and have several – five indeed – PCs I cannot see, as yet at least, really a need for having a (new) electronic PDA and definitely no benefit and justification.
When I bought my so far first and only electronic PDA, the Palm Pilot, it was the lure of the gadget, a new toy, so to speak, but I have learned the hard way.
For the time being at least, I personally, shall stick with a paper and pen based system for on the move and I will type up my notes and article- and report drafts into the computer when back at base.
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Will the hand-held PC displace paper-based systems? I do not think so. In the same way as e-books will not, I think, displace or replace proper paper books.
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Will the hand-held PC displace paper-based systems? I do not think so. In the same way as e-books will not, I think, displace or replace proper paper books.
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I have to say that with me the hand-held will not replace paper-based systems. I took a PDA a couple of years back now but with the problems I experienced with it, and the great – NOT – customer service from the company, I would not go back to one, that is for sure. It would also take a lot to persuade me to take up – unless someone, like a company, would give it to me for free (for review – wink, wink, nudge, nudge) – to go back to using a handheld computer of any kind.
Having used a Palm Pilot PDA for fourteen month, when it gave up its ghost finally, after six months of problem prior to it giving up, and, as said, a non-existent customer support from the makers, I went back to using a Filofax binder and the other paper-based systems for note taking and for contact details and I have not regretted this move one bit.
While I cannot transfer, that is true, my stuff electronically from my paper-based systems to a PC – for obvious reasons – which is obviously something that the electronic gadgets are capable of doing – the reliability and the robustness of the paper-based systems of the electronic PDAs and Pocket PCs outweigh those factors.
I just type my data and notes into the PC and often this gives me a change to make amendments right away or, as in the case of articles and such, to work on the piece by expanding the notes into a proper essay right away proper or at least into the beginning of one.
The greatest advantages of the ordinary and not so ordinary paper based PDA systems is the fact that, as said already, as aside from the pen running out of ink – that's why I always carry at least one backup pen – and fire, the notes are safe.
From an environmental aspect and that of sustainability any paper-based system, especially as I described them here as used by me, has a much smaller impact as paper is recyclable – and I am doing this already by reusing previously printed material – and also shredded can be put into the domestic composters where it will break down easily (though coated papers may not work too well or not at all). Electronic PDAs on the other hand require specialist waste facilities and treatment as neither the basic units nor their batteries can be put into landfill sites, which any way are running out at an alarming rate, due to the fact they contain toxic substances which could contaminate groundwater and soil.
I do know that some of the environmental movement might disagree with me in some respect as to advocating a paper-based system over a paper-less one, e.g. electronic devices, that is to say PDAs and Pocket PCs, but so be it. I believe that it is far more environmentally responsible to use paper, sourced, obviously, from sustainable forests and to, especially, us the backs of old printed emails, letters, etc.
© M V Smith, 2007
Cookie Jar Savings
Would you like to have a nest egg for emergencies? Here’s an old-fashioned savings plan that does not put a strain on your budget. Many a grandmother used to call it her “cookie jar fund.” It’s a simple and easy-to-do plan, and over a one-year period, it really adds up.
If, every day, for a year, say, one would place one's pocket change plus $1 in a mason jar the results would be rather noticeable. Here is how it adds up if you faithfully contribute every day:
Amount per day = one-year total:
$1.25 = $456.25
$1.50 = $547.50
$2 = $730
$3 = $1,095
Even if only the loose change per day is used it already makes for a considerable next egg. I do that all the time – that's why I never have any change in my pocket of a morning – in that every time that I come back from the stores or from going out I place the “silver” change in a jar to save for a nest egg and all copper change goes into another jar. The latter is for the Romani work that I do, as a means of showing that this, if everyone of our People would do that, a sizeable sum could be had at the end of the year with which to work for the cause.
The Art of Making Do
What, exactly is meant by “making do”?
It is the ability to create and make something out of limited resources. Ask any old timer that went thru through the Depression in the 1930's, or someone who has grown up in an impoverished area like the Southern Appalachians or Ozarks. That's what the Foxfire Books and other are all about.
For those of us who call ourselves Homesteaders, it should become a way of life. Too many, it seem, fail to recognize the benefits of such a lifestyle.
You want to build a house but the cost of materials are way out of reach? People have made houses out of railroad ties, old telephone and power poles, cord wood, recycled lumber, old schoolhouses, adobe, and much more. They have nice snug homes that have only cost a fraction of carpenter-built ones.
Making Do covers every area of your life; food, clothing, housing, transportation. Many times my wife and have had to make do because that was the only way we had in order to make it through a particular situation, and we were very glad that we had the necessary skills to do it.
How about some examples?
My wife has gotten fabric from yard sales, thread, boxes of buttons, etc. Most motels are willing to sell old bed linens. Get to know the head of the laundry and ask. My wife has used a lot of old sheets to make clothes out of. Some of them are good enough to go on your own bed.
Yard sales, secondhand stores, and farm auctions are good places to pick up furniture and appliances. Just know what your top dollar will be and don't get beyond it? People can get crazy at farm auctions and will pay ridiculous prices for junk.
The last auction I went to I bought a box of stuff for $6; it seemed nobody wanted it. In the box was an unopened can of water seal which sells for at least twice what I paid for the whole box.
There was also three cans of lye which were sold for $6 - $7 a bottle (these were the 18oz, not the 13oz) before it was outlawed. Also there were several boxes of old-fashioned starch. There also was some home-made soap, three bottles of bluing (which my wife uses), three cans of Sterno fuel; in all about $50 to $60 worth of stuff. We have so far made three batches of soap with the lye and have enough for a fourth batch. That, by the way, is added value.
We have a practically new push mower that a neighbor sold to us for $20 because he had no use for it. He was cleaning out a garage for an individual and they told him to take it.
which brings me to another aspect of making do, Dumpster Diving and salvaging. I have known several people other than myself that see salvaging as a viable way to get things.
The have gotten chainsaws, power mowers, weed whackers and lots of other stuff. All in decent shape. Maybe all it wanted as a spark plug replaced or some tinkering.
In our area, the towns will have a clean up day. Pile stuff at the curb and it will be hauled away. My wife could always embarrass me on this one. If I had a pick-up following along behind her, believe me, she could fill it.
With food, you will probably need a truck. It is amazing what is thrown away by processors. Go to a custom butcher that is not government inspected. Many times, more than you might think, people don't want the tongues, hearts, livers or other parts of an animal. Soup bones are many times thrown away. If you can trade some work like I did sharpening their knives, they will probably give you what the people bringing in the animal do not want.
I have gotten sausages, hamburgers, smoked sausage; enough deer neck to can up 50qts of deer meat.
If you live in an areas that grows a lot of vegetables for a canning company, see if you can glean the fields. We have gotten potatoes, sweet corn, sweet peas that way.
If you are in an area where they raise a lot of chickens for butcher, when they load them out onto the truck they leave a lot behind that are not big enough. They can normally be gotten for little or nothing. It saves the farmer the expense opf having to destroy them and dispose of them.
I could go on and on but I hope that I have given you, the readers, some ideas that you can use. Look around you and see what you can come up with.
Write to me at:
Big Ox Enterprises
P.O. Box 112
Old Appleton, MO 63770
I would be interested to hear what you have come up with.
© Owen Newman, 2007
Green up your garden this Autumn – Gardening Tips from Ecover
Spending time in the garden is one of the most relaxing ways to spend a weekend. It is also a great way to lower your food miles (by growing your own vegetables), encourage biodiversity (by planting for wildlife) and reduce your kitchen waste (by composting!). You might already be reducing the amount of chemicals in your home but why not follow some of our top tips for greening your garden
Read on...
Read on...
Brits gave up their gun rights...
...is again and again the slogan that we hear amongst members of the survivalist and patriot communities in the USA and the same slogan is now being taken up by the NRA as well, it would seem.
Nothing is further from the truth.
Read on...
The Bicycle as Transport for Survival and Backwoods-Living
>One of the best modes of locomotion in the backcountry is on a bicycle. I'd be where I was going, settin' in the shade while someone else was still chasin' their horse across the pasture or gettin it saddled up. <
Is the bicycle, the bike, whether mountain bike or other, a viable option for survival transport and for transport in the backwoods? I should say so. More than viable even, in my view. It does neither use fuel nor does it require fodder. Requires no catching in the morning in the pasture or taking out of the stable, currying, feeding and saddling. Can be maintained by anyone with a wrench and a few other tools… The bicycle also has quite a load carrying capacity (depending on how well the bike is made) in itself with the right kit and with a trailer for it you can carry still more. Although often laughed at by other units, the bicycle corps of the Army does have a much greater ability than it is often charged with. No snorting horse to accidentally give your position away (unless your bike ain’t maintained and squeaks) and there is no need to tie or hobble the bike when you have to get down into position to observe an enemy or such. All that is probably also a reason why many police forces and ranger services and such once again are using bicycles in patrols.
Okay, I admit, you do not have the range with a bicycle than you would have with a car or truck but then you hardly ever hear of a bike getting stuck somewhere in the mud or running out of gasoline. Yes, there is much less speed with a bicycle and it all depends on you pedaling and your stamina and such. But then you get exercise, which is good for the cardio-vascular system. A horse is even faster than a bicycle, you say. Sure it is, on short spurts but generally its sustained speed unless you have staging posts where you can change horses is just a little faster than a person walking. So, the bicycle probably wins again. There is one advantage with a horse and that is that you can go thru mud with it where probably you would have to go round it with a bike and that you may be able to swim a river while holding on to your horse swimming. Bit difficult with a bicycle, I know and admit.
He who gives his child a bicycle give him the best toy ever and one that they will not grow out of. It will keep him occupied for hours and gives him good exercise at the same time. It also gives him some mobility with which to explore the “world”. And he can also range further in the pursuit of some kind of economical activities, such as earning money by going door-to-door sharpening knives and scissors or selling goods, such as recycled knives or even such humble goods such handmade clothespins.
© M V Smith
Put a Light in your Cabin
The humble Bottle Lamp, the one that you make for yourself from scrap, is probably one of the easiest and cheapest ways to put some light into the darkness, whether that is in your home during a power outage or in a cabin or cave. It is also something that the homesteader who needs to be frugal but needs some extra lights can make use of. At the same time one recycles old glass jars and short squat glass bottles.
Some vendors of survival goods and equipment do sell what I would call a 'glass jar' with a wick, which burns lamp-oil, and call it a "survival candle", but those things ain't no candles as such at all; they really are nothing but bottle lamps. And bottle lamps you don't bother to go out and buy and spend good hard-earned dollars on; you make 'em yourself.
In other places similar lamps were used in days gone by, and in
some case that ain't even that long ago as in the case of the homesteads, the squats, and outstations, in the outback of the big island continent of Australia. There the Bushmen (in no way to be confused with the Bushmen of South Africa) used to use such lamps in various ways and they were known among some of them as "slush lamps". I have made such a small lamp from and empty (obvious, you say) glass bottle (see picture) that contained once an orange drink called "Orangina" and have used it on many an occasion when the light went out or when I was living in places without electricity. But there are also various other small bottles with metal screw top lids that you could use and which are equally suitable for conversion into a bottle lamp. The metal screw top is important, though if you haven't got one on the bottle then that isn't the end of the world yet either but I'll come back to that one later on.
some case that ain't even that long ago as in the case of the homesteads, the squats, and outstations, in the outback of the big island continent of Australia. There the Bushmen (in no way to be confused with the Bushmen of South Africa) used to use such lamps in various ways and they were known among some of them as "slush lamps". I have made such a small lamp from and empty (obvious, you say) glass bottle (see picture) that contained once an orange drink called "Orangina" and have used it on many an occasion when the light went out or when I was living in places without electricity. But there are also various other small bottles with metal screw top lids that you could use and which are equally suitable for conversion into a bottle lamp. The metal screw top is important, though if you haven't got one on the bottle then that isn't the end of the world yet either but I'll come back to that one later on.The little bottle lamp that I made for myself took about ten minutes to make, and no more than that, after I had drunk the drink and cleaned and dried it. I made a hole in the center of the metal screw top and fitted a hollow rivet into it and afterwards I made a wick for it from a strip from an old 100% cotton T-shirt. It does work. You can use kerosene, JP4 high-grade aviation fuel as that used by helicopters, coal oil, lamp oil like citronella and such, as well as liquid paraffin. If you find a little glass jar or a bottle that is nice and suitable to be made into a bottle lamp but it hasn't got a metal screw top then don't despair. Use a 2p coin (that is a British copper coin of 1inch diameter) or a metal disc of similar size and especially one that fits well over the neck of the bottle in question, drill a whole thru the center, put your homemade wick thru this hole and, using this coin or metal disc in place of the metal screw top, your little lamp is ready to light your home.
Only small bottles can be used for making bottle lamps. The wick cannot draw the kerosene up from, for instance, the depth of a big bottle such as a wine or whiskey one. Ideally the bottle should be short and squat; no more than 5 ½ to 6 inches high and the wider, e.g. the squatter, the better. Whiskey pocket flask, the so-called quarter bottles, that can often been found laying about having been thrown away by some wino, are fine in height but their bases are too small and you would have to make something into which you could firmly "plant" the bottle so it won't fall over once it is alight.
© M V Smith
Vegetarianism & Animal Welfare
Most of who have become vegetarians, except for those who follow a vegetarian lifestyle for reasons of religion, such as some of the Hindu faith, have done so because they think that eating meat is cruel because animals get slaughtered for it.
I wonder, however, if any of them have ever considered what would happen if all the world would suddenly go vegetarian. Have they ever considered what would happen to all the cows, chickens, sheep, pigs, rabbits, etc. that are kept for food, if we all suddenly would give up the eating of meat and meat products? I doubt that they have.
Due to the fact that the pasture land for cattle (and horses) would, if we all would go vegetarian, would have to be ploughed up as it would be required for the growing of vegetables, grain and such, in order to be able to feed the world. Those animals, bar a few, would all be the very first casualties. They would be killed and disposed off, probably as dog and cat food.
It can also be assumed that they would soon be followed by wild animals, such as deer, rabbits, and such, which would be bothering the crops.
People must wake up to the fact that, as soon as deer, rabbits, hares, etc. are no longer managed and culled for meat, they will become rampant and will invade the fields and gardens and either destroy the crops, causing famine, or they will be shot, trapped or even poisoned. Not such a fuzzy and cuddly prospect, is it now. And no, fences will not keep them out in the long run. I have seen deer jump so-called deer-proof fences in forestry and that with absolute ease. Such fences were over six foot tall.
I would suggest that we all, but especially the vegetarian lobby, took a reality check.
It is always amazing how many people do not have a cue of what they are talking about but try to “educate” and “convert” the world.
© M V Smith, July 2007
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