Carla Burke

Kenneth Elwell wrote:Make sure it is legible from 50 feet away...people are viewing this from across a street or from a moving vehicle. I have taken photos of lettered trucks for future contact.
Make the lettering large enough, and easy to read... small details (fancy serifs, shadows, outlines) all confuse the letter forms and make it difficult to read.
HIGH contrast, like black on white/white on dark color, is easier to read than something lower contrast like green on yellow, or worse like yellow on white. Squint or take a black and white photo, and see if it still works well.

Consider those posts on the walls of the trailer. From an angle, they block the view of some of the rest of the panel. I might make a sign on a panel or a banner that mounts over the posts to have it flat.
Side benefit of this is if the box is damaged, you can save the signs. You could also use the sign the other 10 months of the year as a jobsite sign, or at a tradeshow or fair; or you could demount it for safe storage so it lasts longer. (also easier to paint it? not on the trailer, indoors, on rainy days...)

Small details/narrow spaces (like in the A H of the roots in your logo) are hard to distinguish. Exaggerate the spaces, and/or narrow the lines of the A and H, make some sketches and try out some different versions.

If you use the same logo other places, it might need further adjustment (level of detail, B&W only).

THIS! Just yesterday, I finally (after a month of trying to see it, driving past, at 50mph) stopped to get out of my car and walk 3/4 of the way around a sign painted on a 55gal drum, to get the information from it, to do business with the guy. It was a scary thing, getting out of the car on a 50mph road, with no shoulder, only a gravel road, to read the phone number that was wrapped around it, as the ONLY contact info. If I hadn't actually become desperate for the product, and unable to find it anywhere else, I would not have every bothered to try.

Very cool! Thank you for reviewing this, Dave! This author wasn't even on my radar, before... ~wandering off, to check out the book~

Damn, Travis. I'm sorry to hear your cancer struggles aren't over. You know we're all rooting for you! If you haven't already done so, there are some very good herbs you can eat to help bolster your strength, while you fight this thing...

Btw, I used to live in Downers Grove, too! From June '08, until Oct. '16. I've lived about 39 - 40 yrs of my life, in DuPage County.

My (admittedly, very limited) experience with the drop spindle, is that experience is everything. As you do it, you learn how to feel what you're spinning, as you're spinning it. I'm sure there are tons of tricks that I don't know about, but other than paying attention to how much and how fast you're feeding the spindle, it seems to mostly be 'feel your way'.

Kc Simmons wrote:I'd just provide access to them as a component of the feed, and trust the animals to know if it's safe, and in what quantity; as they'll avoid toxic stuff(usually) if they have other options.

I don't know every plant on my land. (We've only owned it for 14months, and only lived here, for the last 10, with traveling, some truly crazy weather, and a my physical 'schtuff' keeping me for getting out there as much as I wanted.) So, I don't know what-all my free-ranging critters are getting into - but, my instinct tells me their instinct will tell them, 'nope - yuck!'. Since I don't know, I just refrain from throwing things into their food supply or bedding, that I've foraged. I don't restrict them, though, when they're free-ranging.

Ball & Kerr are cheaper than Weck, and, along with their lids & rings vs the rubber gaskets, more widely available, here. I had never even heard of Weck, until I was in my 30s, and mine were a family of putter-uppers. That said, for many years, my family also used paraffin, instead of lids, for jams & jellies. I never did, because by the time I started doing it, on my own,  I knew I didn't like the way it felt in my mouth, when I missed a bit, opening it up. Then, I learned about the rest of the reasons it was never going to be used. But, most commonly used, in my family, were old mayonnaise, pickle, jam, and other jars. I remember asking my Great Aunt once, why she didn't have new jars, like my mom bought. She asked me why mom wasted her money on new jars, and rolled her eyes, when I told her mom read something somewhere, about the government saying it wasn't safe to use old ones, from store bought food. I save & reuse jars, unless it's mostly for gifts, then I buy the 'jewel' patterned ones, to add a little sparkle. Sometimes, I like to use the standard ones, for uniformity, for storage and measurement. Someday, if I decide to upgrade, I'd really love to have Weck. But frankly, right now, it just feels like 'free' makes more sense, for me, than buying any of them.

Hubs used to have one, and he actually could call and text from it - I think that's just part of the package, with most cell companies, at least here, in the USA. It was either a Samsung or LG, but I'm leaning toward Samsung. That was with TMobile, though. AT&T no longer offers that service. I've no clue about service in CA.

Currently, only water kefir, saur kraut, mead, and purchased cheeses & pickles. We hope to get back to doing raw milk yogurt and kim chi, soon, as well as adding a variety of our own cheeses and pickles. We can't seem to find anyone locally, who sells raw milk, so that and the cheeses probably won't happen until after my goat freshens, in the Spring. Hubs is planning on a batch of kim chi, and more kraut, next week.

As far as not saving anything but time, I think that might depend on both your timing and whether they free-range. If you are buying rapid growing meat birds, and time the flocks so they hatch in early to mid spring, & are ready to harvest before winter wipes out the good, easy forage, then you're saving money, by not having to feed them over the winter. If your birds are going to be primarily laying, then I don't think the rapid growth makes much difference, financially.

Thank you so much, for sharing this, Nicole! Beautiful work! 😍😍😍