William Bronson

The only success I ever had was growing grapes on my souther facing fence.
Then my southern neighbor sheared them off flat with the fence.
My wife was so angry, she asked me to build an opaque fence, and the grapes never recovered.

Hey John, I see you used angle iron spacers under the lid with the wider chimney.
Did you use themwith the narrow chimney as well?

After scouting some potential locations, I think I know where I'll try this idea.
At my yarden I  have a 8 foot across stock tank that I am using for water storage.
It has a bunch of buckets in it, that are being sub irrigated.
Almost 20 feet away I have a box elder tree.

At the yarden today I wanted to tie some saplings upright.
Before


After


Before


After: Note, the ziptie secures knot in the grape vine. It had been used previously, so it was too short to secure the tree directly.

Im at work tonight, but earlier I went shopping at Cincinnati Recycling and Reuse Hub
 
 
They offer amazing value for those of use who are dedicated to reusing.
I went looking for more tile, which I am using to line raised beds.
I picked up some tree pots and buckets as well as a tool bag and a fancy pooper scooper.
I only take things I have definite uses for because otherwise, I would take the whole place!

This was today:

Like a lot of people, I shop as therapy.
My shopping looks a little different, but it's a very similar phenomenon.
This was yesterday:

I occurs to me that stone and plastic count as mulch.
While they do decay, they are pretty terrible compost.

No judgment here, but loads of plastic seems to be key to no till/no spray commercial operations.
I am interested in basalt fiber fabric  as an alternative, but I don't have the funds to try it out.

I do have an unlimited supply of tile, which I'm looking at for its weed suppressive possibilities.
I have a yellowhorn tree that can't seem to compete with the plants around it, especially poison ivy, so maybe I'll  mulch it with tiles.
I tried flat stones but the gaps in between them are too large.


One really weird idea I had was petrified hessian or burlap-crete.
It wouldn't last forever, but it should offer great protection, and eventually it would return to the soil.

Great post!
The cholesterol information alone can be life changing.

Animal wise, I'm in a urban setting,  but I would love sheep or cattle for the milk.
When I think of goats, I think of escape artists who devour anything and everything.
Pack goats do fascinate me, but that's for another thread.

Geese are often overlooked as grass-fed animals.
I've heard their harvest age coincides with their most annoying behavior.

I am holding out for retirement ducks,  Muskovey in particular.
They are said to taste like beef, but we don't eat  animals we know,  so I'll make do with eggs.
I feel like duckweed is probably pretty balanced on the omega3/6 ratio.

I wonder what is the best way to preserve meats for a carnivore diet?
Confite seems like an obvious choice, as does salting.
Drying and smoking also seem OK.
Canning is a relative modern form of preservation.
Hard to beat freezers for preserving nutrition.
Is preserving meat in vinegar a thing?
What about a lacto ferment😅
Clearly some sort of fermentation happens when beef is aged.
This leads me to a question I've had for a long time.
Do all cultures bleed their carcasses, and if so, why?

Thank you for the first hand feedback!
I am notorious for using purses as toolbags,  so it's no wonder I  see lunchboxes the same way.
I will have to experiment with them to get it right, but right now I'm thinking of double end closed head wrenches for the handles.
The could be part of the set that is being carried, or extras.
Umbrellas as source of cloth is a great idea, I was thinking of canvas or the cloth they make hammocks out of.

I wonder if we should even call them "handles".
Most pictures show the furoshiki being held by the knotted cloth, indeed the wood "handles" often have magnets in them, so they stick to each other.
They are more like a clasps than handles.
The strap and the hoops are definitely used as handles, but I'm less attracted to those.