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I read with interest the uses for old socks...it takes more time to darn than to wear new holes. Udder wipes make sense, but I only need so many dust rags. Are there more uses for a sockpile stockpile? Hate to just throw them out.

I would have checked off all of the reasons, though the order keeps changing over time. I live in a very small community, a long way from a supermarket, and at a nearly two-hour drive, the less I go in to town, the better. The local store doesn't have much quantity or variety of "fresh"...

While my friend was melting clean snow to conserve tank water, we discovered quite by accident "Douglas fir tea". The snow collected included a few tree needles, which flavoured the water in the pot of snow, as it simmered on the back of the stove. It only took a few needles to make a...

I did for five years when I didn't have a washer. I'd wash small stuff in the kitchen sink and hang it on the line, arranged by colour in a rainbow spectrum (who said laundry can't be fun?) or on a clothes rack by the fire in winter. It was not a good stove and threw little heat, so sometimes...

I should say that in the photo above, that is clear plastic roofing in the middle of the roof, not a gaping hole! That allows light in, as there is no power to the goat house. I have since filled the venting space at the top of the wall with wire, to keep out birds and anything that could...

Good information from Marianne. I have a four-walled goat house that I can shut securely at night, as there are too many predators here to leave them in an open shelter. I have a four-foot wire fence which is fine to keep in Nigerian Dwarf goats, but before spring I will be increasing that to...

I've heard of these used as makeshift medical collars for goats, used like cones for dogs, to keep them from reaching around and re-irritating wounds that need to be left alone to heal. Cut off the bottom, make a vertical cut from bottom to top, and make lacing holes an inch apart on each side...

Good grief, I haven't been on this site for ages, and here there's a fresh message! I thank you for your thoughts; mowing a little difficult now that it's under snow. :lol: Depending on which neighbour, it'd vary from "thanks!" to "you missed a bit, and trim the trees too, will you." But...

JesseJames, I am sure that I was reading Unschooling Our Lives just a couple of months ago. Although I don't remember the author's name--or should I say the editor? he was Vancouver-based. A very compelling collection of essays. If I had kids, I am sure I would be unschooling them. What you...

Just to be a stinker, :P I'm starting this thread--hope it doesn't overlap another one--after seeing Annmarie's good thread on How I Saved Money. This is not to boast about wanton waste, so much as to address expenses that are irksome, which there ought to be a way to avoid, but we haven't...

I would boil them until soft, discard the water, put them in the crock pot with fresh water, and add whatever else you had in mind. I have done this with those big red beans--kidney or navy?--and it has worked fine. Haven't used black beans in ages, so I don't remember if they cook comparably...

Doritos. Unjustifiable on any front, but my mouth loves them. So I only buy them on "town trips", and only if they're on sale. And I don't stock up. When the bag runs out, that's it. What's wrong with good quality chocolate, or coffee, if that's your tipple? Or good quality sheets? Would...

Me too, please. Bralorne, BC--your northernmost member on this continent, at least according to the map! (Really, not that far north at all.)

I'm new here myself, so I feel odd extending the welcome where I still feel like a guest--but, welcome! Funny, I wouldn't have thought that canning was something that wouldn't travel well over the Atlantic. I know for a fact that there are canners in the UK! Except I think you say "pots"...

If anyone else has access to these... We mixed one part black currant wine to four parts saskatoon wine, and got something kind of like a merlot, which is great--can't grow grapes here. I'm vinting that mix in that proportion on purpose. Hope it works!

Canned some black currants Thursday in jam form. I mixed them with saskatoon berries, which around here are a little bland, but the currants are really punchy and are still flavourful with an extender. I got 7 or 8 pints, with what I picked from the bush out back. A neighbour said I could...

Free hot water? Do the dishes! (That'll go over like a lead balloon, I'm sure.) :D My personal tipple is a nice hot cup of tea, even on a hot day. It makes everything else seem cool by comparison. So, less electricity to use heating the water to boiling. And I've noticed that my plants...

According to "The Organic Gardener's Guide to Natural Insect and Disease Control" (Rodale Garden Books, ed. Barbara W. Ellis and Fern Marshall Bradley): "Eggs or adults overwinter in bark crevices or garden debris, emerging in early spring. Eggs hatch in 2-3 days, nymphs develop to adults in...

Big Brown Horse, I'm not an expert, but my chickens have gone through bouts of scratching and fidgeting with their feathers, while they were in intermediate growth stages, which they have gotten over without any intervention. I'm trusting that the same thing is likely going on here, so while...

I don't know if this up your alley, but when oranges are cheap up here I sometimes make orange wine. It is wonderful, dry, and palate-cleansing, like an after-dinner "stomach bitter". I have toyed with the idea of using other citrus fruits for wine, but they don't go on sale. Wine making uses...