I would agree. Biochar and charcoal are fundamentally different, and it’s unfortunate that the two get conflated. Biochar is produced at higher temperatures then charcoal and doesn’t add to atmospheric carbon dioxide levels during production (if produced correctly). On the other hand charcoal is produced at lower temperatures and is not clean to produce so does add to atmospheric carbon dioxide levels.

this seems like a pretty good general overview: https://rosysoil.com/blogs/news/biochar-vs-charcoal

I bought a random one at the thrift store a few months ago, it’s some no name brand. My only requirement was finding one that didn’t have any scratches on the Teflon nonstick coating on the pan.

It has been amazing, it takes literally 5mins to measure and throw the ingredients in there and push start. Took a little while to fine tune the recipe. It’s nothing like baking bread but I completely stopped buying bread after getting the machine. Now I can still bake when ever i want, but its an easy way to make sure I always have bread around.

I read on r/BreadMachines that the brand really doesn’t matter, just buy one for 20usd or less and get started. So far it seems to be true for me.

I agree. skip the generator and skip batteries for now.

Put some ice blocks on your fridge that will help it stay colder longer and run less often. Also add some rigid foam insulation around the outside of it and the door (don’t cover any cooling coils or fans or anything like that) OR get a small chest freezer and use it as a fridge, you can often find them used for cheap or free. Freezer tend to be better insulated also a top opening chest freezer is less convenient to store/organize stuff in but it holds cold better because it doesn’t dump out the door every time you open it.

I’ve only ever lived in Oregon and Washington, in both those states its legal if you are just doing it off existing rooftops and using it on your property. I think, in both those states you could run into issues (or at least need a permit and water rights) if you build a system specifically for catching water.

I think Colorado is the only state with the 110gal rule.

Maybe some specific state, county or city, but definitely not a general rule in the US.

Yeah they really last a long time in the fridge. I second this. Man I wish I had a too much avocado problem. 😛

Thanks for the review. Might give it a try.

Are you trying to be permitted by the county/local gov?

It’s definitely possible to do graywater separate and compost human waste. I’ve done composting in the past and it can work great. But getting the county (I’m from the US) to sign off on it is really depends on your local government.

One great resource in general is the The Humanure Handbook By Joseph Jenkins

yeah i can understand that. I think every group of people can feel uncomfortable around another group of people. my general stance is to let everyone create the community that they feel comfortable with. although I think that stance can be used in the wrong way, and is used to perpetrate patriarchy and toxic culture. its complicated.

Interesting. Never heard of it. Seems overly complicated to make it gender based. But I like the idea.

I like the idea of a Random Folks shed lol

That’s so cool! Such an amazing resource. I wish more library’s did that.

Yeah as with everything the idea more nuanced then it’s slogan, “NoLawns!”. I appreciate the NoLawns sentiment and simplicity of the slogan (for lack of a better word). I can see that maybe “Less Lawns, More Native Plants” isn’t quite as catchy. :P

Looks interesting. I just gave it a spin. I’ve been mostly using Cheogram on Android.

Yeah it’s definitely a process. I’ve been trying to expand all the places I have natives and plant more. Also I keep expanding our garden. But I’ve 1.5acres that was “lawn” when I started, so still lots of mowing for now.

I use my OG pixel phone plus syncthing for unlimited photo and video backup on Google photos. Think I’m going to move away from this soon though, trying to slowly get away from Google.

First those nasturtiums are beautiful!!

I’d would be curious how others feel, but for me #nolawns is a long term goal or process and a part of that process is actually mowing.

I tried stopping mowing and I loved all the different flowers and grasses that grew. But we were quickly over run by a rat sized vole that loved the habitat. Then I also noticed I wasn’t keeping up with topping or pulling all the different plants that I didn’t want propagating (thistles and other invasives).

Anyway I think having lawn is on my path to nolawn. I can onnly take on so much space at a time, so I just keep converting areas to no lawn areas and I continue to mow the rest.

Yeah that HAT looks pretty sweet, haven’t found a place to buy it though.

Power supply of those 3.5" discs will be the main problem, as you can’t do that over USB.

Yeah I would have to come up with some other way to power the drives, the OWC enclosure has a power supply, but not sure I could harvest what I need. I’m going to have to open it up and see how useful it might be.

Another thought is this m.2 to sata adapter that I could put in the NUC5. I would still have to figure out power though.

edit: link to adapter https://www.ebay.com/itm/285219307946

thanks, yeah I’ve been looking into the ROCK Pi Dual/Quad SATA HAT but it doesn’t seem super available in the US. I’d also have to buy a raspberry pi. Could be worth it though

that has been my general experience as well.

seems like people often want to debate a vegan. I’m not sure if it vegans that really feel the need to debate their food choices.

I do think vegans tend to want to analyze and think critically about their food/life choices. So that way they might lean towards debating or at least being willing to debate.