Trace Oswald

I went with chickens, and I'm glad.  They are lots of fun, supply eggs, are about as easy to care for as an animal can be, they create soil, they can be used to create new garden areas, they process compost for you.  If you want more of them, you can just hatch your own.  They are just a great addition in my mind.

Dr. Redhawk gave some recommendations and sites on this permies thread:  Microscopes

I'm in my late 50's.  I try not to live my life worrying about how much time I have left.  Who knows what will happen in 10, 15, 20, 25 years?  My own view is, keep adopting, do your absolute best to give them the best life possible, and let the cards fall as they may.  Maybe, probably, as you said, that one would have died.  If you can only give it 6 good months, is that not better than letting it die miserably, sad and alone, right now?  Maybe a kitten you save gets leukemia (hopefully not) and the year you gave it when you were 94 years old was a wonderful year for you both, and maybe the last year either of you had?

Not at all trying to invalidate your question, because it's an important one.  I just think there are too many variables to consider, and each person can only do their best, and hope it's good enough.  And I'm glad you adopted the kitten.

"grabbed him right by the tallywhacker"

Like Elle, I've used pine shavings for years.  I've never seen any adverse effects.  I also raise baby chicks on them with no issues that I can see.

I will say that after reading that article, I may switch to wood chips for bedding.  I can't see using sand.

You could put a little DE on it just in case.  It can't do any harm.  Just don't put enough to make a cloud that she could breathe in.

bruce Fine wrote:just wondering what is the difference between biochar and charcoal?
I saw one video where biochar was made in a sealed barrel with very small hole in the top, this seal barrel filled with pieces of wood was placed in a larger barrel and the space between them was filled with pieces of dry wood and set on fire to cook the wood in the sealed barrel.
is bio char and charcoal the same?

People argue this pretty strenuously, but my view is that charcoal is just charred wood. After it is inoculated it becomes biochar. So in the video you saw, I would call it charcoal when it came out of the retort, and biochar after it was inoculated by compost, compost tea, urine, chicken manure, or whatever.

Jen, that would work fine.  You can use plain old charcoal and inoculate it any way you like, whether by compost tea, or throwing it in a compost pile, or in the chicken run, or peeing on it.  I don't think the people that created terra preta worried about any of this anywhere near as much as people do now :)  I make charcoal all sorts of ways at all sorts of temperatures.  I inoculate it in any way that strikes my fancy at any given point.  It's all helpful in my opinion.  One of the best things that anyone ever told me was "don't let perfect be the enemy of good".  Since then I strive to do things that are good and I accomplish far, far more than I did when I tried to get everything perfect.

I personally give apples when people post pictures or good explanations of things they have built, are building, ideas for something I haven't seen or heard of before.  If the process is shown step by step it gets extra points from me.  I like to see things people are actually doing on their land.  That seems to me the way to spread permaculture and homesteading.  It's a great way to actually reach people by showing them ideas of what can be accomplished, or things they can adapt to their own land.  Post personal experiences and you will get apples quickly.  

Be careful sharpening it.  I took the tip of my finger off faster than you can imagine.