Dawn Hoff

Getting rid of the compost toilets is the best thing we've done for our marriage in years! Seriously it was a constant PITA and I just have so enjoyed having a septic (even if the builder who installed it totally bodged it and made an eyesore in my front yard, that I *will* have to move eventually).

And the time spent changing buckets and swearing at my husband can now be spent gardening. Seriously the best decision since buying our place.

Having lived 10 years off grid has made me *very* pragmatic. Sustainable is first and foremost, what you can imagine continue living with in the long term. Bc if we end up giving up on the whole project and moving back to a terraced house in town, nothing has been gained

I don't have any rabbits at the moment but plan on getting some again later on, so this is deg. Useful.

You are absolutely right - I didn't think of that back then, just jumped on the "Palm-Oil bad" waggon

Matthew Nistico wrote:

Dawn Hoff wrote:Palm oil isn't very permie though is it?...

@Dawn - I'm curious: why do you ask this?  From a nutritional perspective, palm oil is a good one, and a traditional one (in tropical regions, at least).  It is a tree crop.  Why shouldn't it be very "permie"?

I know that these days a lot of land is being cleared to make way for a lot of non-sustainable, monocrop, palm oil plantations.  But what else is new?  Which agricultural products can you name that aren't being mis-produced by industrial ag somewhere out there?  Doesn't mean that the same product can't be produced sustainably somewhere else as part of a healthy polyculture.

Very interested to learn if these are your misgivings, or if you know something else about palm oil that is new to me...?

BTW, here is a little guide to nutritional oils I picked up a while ago and have been living by ever since.  I would love to hear people's feedback, counterpoints to this info, or if anyone knows from where this chart comes (I lost track of its source, and would love to rediscover who published it!):

full size pic on freeimage.us

P.S.  I don't understand: why can't I get permies.com to actually display anything but the thumbnail image?

Morfydd St. Clair wrote:

Dawn Hoff wrote:

Loretta Liefveld wrote:

Thekla McDaniels wrote:I have heard of soap makers putting luffa pieces into the soap mold and pouring the soap over the luffa, so that the exfoliating luffa is incorporated into the bar of soap.  But I have never tried it

I experimented with that when I was making a lot of soap.   I used a crosswise slice of luffa and poured the soap over it.  They're a cool, unique item, but not as useful as they might seem at first.   Depending on which method you use to make your soap, the soap is fairly thick when it's 'done', and it doesn't penetrate that easily into all of the little nooks and crannies of the luffa.  Soap also shrinks somewhat as it cures, so it starts separating from the luffa.

But it makes a very interesting gift!

They are super sellabel on markets etc.

I like mine now that the soap on the outside has been washed away, so the loohfa sticks out and actually works as a sponge and increase foaming. But mine are also huge - so the sponge part is, well the size of a normal sponge one would use in a bathroom. But - when they are that big they don't look very pretty so as a sales item or gift item they don't work as well.

I was given one a long time ago.  If I recall correctly it wasn’t much bigger than two inches in diameter.  I really liked it, except: the center fibers were stiffer and uncomfortable when using the flat face for scrubbing.  I kept meaning to grab some scissors and cut them out, only to forget once out of the shower.  

So, definitely enjoyably memorable (this was 10+ years ago) , but I’d recommend using the smallest gourds and cutting out the middle.

Cutting out the middle would actually solve the problem of it being hard to get the soap in there, bc it is so thick and the space so small. And if you just pour it on the inside, you'd still leave the fibre exposed on the out side... hmmm

Loretta Liefveld wrote:

Thekla McDaniels wrote:I have heard of soap makers putting luffa pieces into the soap mold and pouring the soap over the luffa, so that the exfoliating luffa is incorporated into the bar of soap.  But I have never tried it

I experimented with that when I was making a lot of soap.   I used a crosswise slice of luffa and poured the soap over it.  They're a cool, unique item, but not as useful as they might seem at first.   Depending on which method you use to make your soap, the soap is fairly thick when it's 'done', and it doesn't penetrate that easily into all of the little nooks and crannies of the luffa.  Soap also shrinks somewhat as it cures, so it starts separating from the luffa.

But it makes a very interesting gift!

They are super sellabel on markets etc.

I like mine now that the soap on the outside has been washed away, so the loohfa sticks out and actually works as a sponge and increase foaming. But mine are also huge - so the sponge part is, well the size of a normal sponge one would use in a bathroom. But - when they are that big they don't look very pretty so as a sales item or gift item they don't work as well.

Thekla McDaniels wrote:I have heard of soap makers putting luffa pieces into the soap mold and pouring the soap over the luffa, so that the exfoliating luffa is incorporated into the bar of soap.  But I have never tried it

I do that and it works like a charm. I find that if I have less soap around the loohfa it is better at creating a good foam. My biggest issue is that many of them are so big they don't fit in my soap molds - I had to use drain pipe and ended up w. some huge soaps.

You can also cut the inside out and stitch up one end and put a bar of soap inside (or use as a glove).

Metok Vlasblom wrote:Hello

Do you also run PDc courses?

Peace, Ange

We don't sorry - but we have some friends in Coín who do

Sonny Hegarty wrote:i want to use the olla watering technique but i cant find any vessels that are adequate. we have a lot of clay here so maybe i should learn how to use it 🤔

I got at local potter to make me one - actually I have had 2 different ollas made (~10Euros each). I never really got it to work properly for me bc I wanted automatic irrigation... I live on the other side of Malaga. If you want you can try the 2 ollas I have?

Hello Abraham
We live outside Malaga (in Cartama) on 6ha of land. We should meetup one day.

/Dawn