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General Homesteading thread

Long story short: Some people near by me, (Non zoo) got a nice Fuck you from power company (they're supposed to read meter and warn if amount gets over 1k, they did neither) So they got a 3k bill out of no where due to lazy company. Well they know I told power company to fuck off years ago. So they wanted to do the same, being rural they don't need to grovel to a city or any thing.

So not having to deal with codes and policies meant to chain you to leaches and demand you bleed for them.

So with that, one can throw together a livable power system for apx 6k dollars. That will be 240/120 @ 6kw

2Kw's of solar in this area costed apz $1700 Cad (this is scalable, you can buy 1kw to start and add on as needed, all though it is ideal to build array in one go as less head aches matching panels)

Inverter, Chinesium Hybrid (Built in AC charger, and Solar controller) 6Kw split phase dual chargers
(How they make these is they take 2* 3Kw Hybrids and put it in one case and do all the seting up for you in the box)

- Flooded lead acid batteries, 2K dollars new 8 * 6v 225AH = 48V at 225AH, Now here where it gets complicated and some tricky balancing needs to be done, for best life, you never want to take your batteries much below 25% for flooded batteries, so 225 * 0.25 = you'd only have 56AH usable for best calendar life, that is not much at all, So most chose 50% depth of discharge, this will give you middle of the road life (Apx 10 years)

Type: Traction battery (True deep cycle) Can be paralleled up to 3 (As per manufacturer) Actual up to 4. ( 4 * 6v 225AH = 6V @ 900AH )

Options? Fork lift Batteries (Best bang for the buck, and sized right can last up to 20+ years)

Enhancements? Single point watering system, Strongly recommended ; Cell Balancers, Strongly recommended (Imbalance is what often kills a battery bank the fastest)

Pros of FLA? Resilient, hard to kill, tolerates rather good screw ups, not very sensitive to temperatures. a good beginners battery, and cheapest per watt.

Newer tech? Lithium Iron Phosphate

Pros: can be used to 80% depth of discharge with no affect on life cycle count so you buy a 200AH LiFePO4 you get 160Ah usable, Fast absorption of power from solar panels, Long lived, will not catch fire like other lithium techs.

Cons: Cost, High initial cost (slightly higher than lead acid now days) , more temperature sensitive, must be kept above 5c. Must have a management system (commercially made ones come with it)

So what is the best choice? Depends on what you have available, Lead acid is easy to get, easily to change around as needed as you learn how much power you need for your life style, As such I oft recommend people start with lead acid while they learn, once you hit a happy medium start saving money for a lithium bank when the lead acid finally fails.

Now days Inverters especially hybrids are getting cheap, So you want to invest the bulk of your money on a good reliable inverter, next will be the solar panels, third is wire, you want a good heavy gauge wire, this is the cause of poor performance of systems is under sized wiring.

My rule is no less than 2 awg for the system core, no matter the voltage, so that means 2 awg wire from the solar panels to the charge controller (if separate from inverter) to batteries to inverter. but practicalities come in here, higher voltage is your friend, most charge controllers can take up to 100 or better volts, this allows much smaller wire per watt from your solar panels to charge controller / Inverter.

but to get your feet wet, you can cobble together a workable if not enjoyable system fairly cheaply, in that case I can tell you I was rather comfortable off a 540w array and an 12V 1800w modified sine wave inverter, and 6 * 6V 230ah flooded lead acid batteries.

I call BS on LFP batteries not catching fire. I have a 30,720 Wh bank of them connected to my off-grid solar array system and it just decided to go up in flames one day after working fine for 5 years! It took the fire department forever to put it out. :( Thankfully they had a 10-year warranty on them so I got them replaced but my solar shed took some major damage.
 
I call BS on LFP batteries not catching fire. I have a 30,720 Wh bank of them connected to my off-grid solar array system and it just decided to go up in flames one day after working fine for 5 years! It took the fire department forever to put it out. :( Thankfully they had a 10-year warranty on them so I got them replaced but my solar shed took some major damage.
Well they can smoke and swell, but unlike Lithium Polymer they do not "explode in flames" this heat can spread to other flammable things, the plastic cases ones can burn if the fault persists

I'd love to hear more details of your set up to do a failure analysis.

ANY battery bank should be in an Isolated area from every thing ells, no matter the tech it should be in fire box. atm I am taking epic risk by not having my lithium polymers in a box, I am starting to make a fire box for them.

I have 3 cell banks, each cell bank is 48V at 384Ah, each cell bank will have fire breaks between each one, each one will be piped to an out side stack and insulated, so if one goes up will be going out side well away from the power shed!

When those go up it will be impressive! (Not if, when as this type that is the normal failure mode, IE the Tesla effect)
 
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Well they can smoke and swell, but unlike Lithium Polymer they do not "explode in flames" this heat can spread to other flammable things, the plastic cases ones can burn if the fault persists

I'd love to hear more details of your set up to do a failure analysis.

ANY battery bank should be in an Isolated area from every thing ells, no matter the tech it should be in fire box. atm I am taking epic risk by not having my lithium polymers in a box, I am starting to make a fire box for them.
As you can imagine mine cost a lot more than the system you described! I've done everything myself with help from YouTube and forums. ;)
 
As you can imagine mine cost a lot more than the system you described! I've done everything myself with help from YouTube and forums. ;)
Oh ya, that was a pretty penny, you get the pretty blue cells? what BMS did you select, I whent with the JK my self. I liked the functions and interface

Through a keen eye on auctions I paid pennies for mine, and yet my wallet is still limping!
 
Yeah, I don't want to hijack the thread talking just about solar but the fire was just at the beginning of February and I'm in the process of redesigning everything. The system was 12V and now it will be 48V. I just bought an EG4 3kW Off-Grid Inverter. I had Renogy everything before. The fire department destroyed just about everything I had in the shed. I'm so glad I didn't decide to put everything in my attached garage like I almost did. A fire cabinet or some kind of fire suppression system is definitely something I'm thinking about too. I think a cheap Chinese BMS is what started the fire in one of the batteries and because they were connecting in parallel and charging it just kept smoking and heating up until it burst into flames.
 
Yeah, I don't want to hijack the thread talking just about solar but the fire was just at the beginning of February and I'm in the process of redesigning everything. The system was 12V and now it will be 48V. I just bought an EG4 3kW Off-Grid Inverter. I had Renogy everything before. The fire department destroyed just about everything I had in the shed. I'm so glad I didn't decide to put everything in my attached garage like I almost did. A fire cabinet or some kind of fire suppression system is definitely something I'm thinking about too. I think a cheap Chinese BMS is what started the fire in one of the batteries and because they were connecting in parallel and charging it just kept smoking and heating up until it burst into flames.
If you are in the states you can get some Halon 1211 automatic system, clean agent and very effective!

and ya, I suspected the BMS would been the likely source, all ways want to incorporate a temperature fail safe, any BMS you get you want to have that feature.

 
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Yeah, I don't want to hijack the thread talking just about solar but the fire was just at the beginning of February and I'm in the process of redesigning everything. The system was 12V and now it will be 48V. I just bought an EG4 3kW Off-Grid Inverter. I had Renogy everything before. The fire department destroyed just about everything I had in the shed. I'm so glad I didn't decide to put everything in my attached garage like I almost did. A fire cabinet or some kind of fire suppression system is definitely something I'm thinking about too. I think a cheap Chinese BMS is what started the fire in one of the batteries and because they were connecting in parallel and charging it just kept smoking and heating up until it burst into flames.
Please side bar for solar if you want. It's a viable homesteading technology
 
If you are in the states you can get some Halon 1211 automatic system, clean agent and very effective!

and ya, I suspected the BMS would been the likely source, all ways want to incorporate a temperature fail safe, any BMS you get you want to have that feature.

Worked in tech. EXTREMELY EFFECTIVE FIRE SUPPRESSION. don't breathe it in obviously but it will make plastic brittle and easy to break so use caution and just be aware of the effects.
 
After watching a horse who had grazed under a black walnut (just grazed under it, not ate anything of it) literally take a step and collapse screaming after she literally picked up her foot and left her hoof sitting in the previous footprint, I'd trust that concept just about as far as I can toss the empire state building one-handed. (the horse was put down minutes later - she had no realistic chance of recovery without insane amounts of money for months, if not years, of intensive care and treatment to try to prevent infection from taking her out during the time the hoof wouldneed to regrow) Juglone (the chemical involved) is so bad for horses that you can't even stand one on shavings contaminated by (depending on which study you prefer) about 3-5% percent by weight of black walnut "scrap" - sawdust, leaves, bark, hulls, etc - for more than a few minutes without expecting nasty results.

Don't take my word for it, though - A quick google/bing/DDG for "black walnut toxicity horse" will turn up more material than you can hope to read in a lifetime on the subject - all of it agreeing that it's BAD NEWS for horses. The question among the experts isn't "IF" it's bad, it's "just exactly how bad is it?" The answer, unfortunately, is "anywhere from pretty bad to absolutely devestating".
I once saw a guy's head explode while he was drinking water from a canteen, clearly drinking water from a canteen is super dangerous.

I am confident grazing under the walnut tree was the only factor involved.

Any worming method is by definition toxic, most medications of any kind are toxic depending on dosage
 
I once saw a guy's head explode while he was drinking water from a canteen, clearly drinking water from a canteen is super dangerous.

I am confident grazing under the walnut tree was the only factor involved.

Any worming method is by definition toxic, most medications of any kind are toxic depending on dosage
If we could please, sight the sources for our perspectives and keep it civil. I'd be most grateful. We can tear each other up in the dumpster. Lets learn and share here together please.

Anyone speaking in terms of equestrian husbandry from experience has valuable anecdotal evidence that is admittedly out of my league, we can draw our own conclusions and go from there.
 
I once saw a guy's head explode while he was drinking water from a canteen, clearly drinking water from a canteen is super dangerous.

I am confident grazing under the walnut tree was the only factor involved.

Any worming method is by definition toxic, most medications of any kind are toxic depending on dosage
Well I did do some reading, seems horses are extremely sensitive to the compounds, even just that which leached into the soil.

Sheep are not as nearly as sensitive and will tolerate incidental contact.

Minimal issue with goats

I'll have to read more on effects with cattle.

As the main chemical can be made synthetically it would be of use if it is the active compound, co-administer with Ivermectin
 
If we could please, sight the sources for our perspectives and keep it civil. I'd be most grateful. We can tear each other up in the dumpster. Lets learn and share here together please.

Anyone speaking in terms of equestrian husbandry from experience has valuable anecdotal evidence that is admittedly out of my league, we can draw our own conclusions and go from there.
My source is 30 years of animal husbandry, I've owned at least one horse continuously since I was 5 years old.

Hoofs don't fall off due to poisoning in my experience that's either a symptom of hoof rot or severe infection or truly severe and massive trauma to the hoof.


Possibly from snake bite but that's an extremely unlikely case.
 
My source is 30 years of animal husbandry, I've owned at least one horse continuously since I was 5 years old.

Hoofs don't fall off due to poisoning in my experience that's either a symptom of hoof rot or severe infection or truly severe and massive trauma to the hoof.


Possibly from snake bite but that's an extremely unlikely case.
ya all I read that isn't even a possible symptom, Now looking at synthetic routes for it be a fun thing to make.


wikipedia so take with salt
 
I once saw a guy's head explode while he was drinking water from a canteen, clearly drinking water from a canteen is super dangerous.

Talk as much stupid as you like, the facts remain fact - A horse that escaped the pasture to the front lawn where a black walnut grew and spent some time grazing under it developed acute laminitis within 18 hours of the event - laminitis so severe that she literally stepped out of her hoof less than 24 hours later. Black walnut trees are *LONG* known to be dangerous to horses - whether they eat them, or just stand on shavings that include black walnut for a short time.

And then you come along claiming to actually *FEED* it to them?!?!? Are you out of your everlovin' MIND?!?!?

I am confident grazing under the walnut tree was the only factor involved.

And I'm confident that it's the only reasonable explanation for an otherwise healthy horse to develop such a severe case of laminitis in such a short amount of time. Especially when the many reports of horses exposed to black walnut developing the same symptoms within hours of such exposure match in every significant detail.

Any worming method is by definition toxic, most medications of any kind are toxic depending on dosage
When you can give me *EXACT* details of *SAFELY* using black walnut as a horse wormer, we can talk. Until then, I'll continue the current-best-known-practice of keeping horses as far from black walnut trees as practical, and using wormer that isn't likely to kill them instead.
 
Talk as much stupid as you like, the facts remain fact - A horse that escaped the pasture to the front lawn where a black walnut grew and spent some time grazing under it developed acute laminitis within 18 hours of the event - laminitis so severe that she literally stepped out of her hoof less than 24 hours later. Black walnut trees are *LONG* known to be dangerous to horses - whether they eat them, or just stand on shavings that include black walnut for a short time.

And then you come along claiming to actually *FEED* it to them?!?!? Are you out of your everlovin' MIND?!?!?



And I'm confident that it's the only reasonable explanation for an otherwise healthy horse to develop such a severe case of laminitis in such a short amount of time. Especially when the many reports of horses exposed to black walnut developing the same symptoms within hours of such exposure match in every significant detail.


When you can give me *EXACT* details of *SAFELY* using black walnut as a horse wormer, we can talk. Until then, I'll continue the current-best-known-practice of keeping horses as far from black walnut trees as practical, and using wormer that isn't likely to kill them instead.
Never claimed to feed it to horses and don't, horses are gastrics and have issues with many commercial wormers and some antibiotics that I use on ruminants but again something else was going on for the hoof to come off.
 
Never claimed to feed it to horses and don't, horses are gastrics and have issues with many commercial wormers and some antibiotics that I use on ruminants but again something else was going on for the hoof to come off.
What did you mean by sprinkling on feed then?
 
My source is 30 years of animal husbandry, I've owned at least one horse continuously since I was 5 years old.

Then you're roughly 20 years behind me, experience-wise.

Hoofs don't fall off due to poisoning in my experience that's either a symptom of hoof rot or severe infection or truly severe and massive trauma to the hoof.

While I'd generally agree, with a bad enough case of laminitis, which is usually the first and most obvious symptom of juglone exposure, the effect is the same as you trying to wear a too-loose slip-on shoe. If/when enough of the laminae are damaged/destroyed by the inflammation (Laminitis = "inflammation of the laminae", as an experienced horse-person ought to know) the hoof itself is no longer securely connected to the underlying structures. Which is why a laminitic horse MUST be monitored for coffin-bone rotation - Without the laminae attaching the hoof wall to the rest of the foot, the coffin bone tends to drop and rotate, and in a severe enough case, can cause the hoof to detach compeltely and fall off. Exactly as I saw happen - between one step and the next, she "stepped out of" her hoof, leaving it in the print that it had just made in the snad/gravel of the driveway. When she tried to complete the step by putting down the bloody mass that was now the end of her leg, she screamed like she'd been stabbed, and went down. She never stood up again - Gramps went white as a sheet, then ran for the house, cussing a blue streak all the way, and came back with the .30-30 to put her down on the spot minutes later.

Possibly from snake bite but that's an extremely unlikely case.
Even that would be doubtful, I'm thinking - Especially where the event took place. The only snake I can think of that's likely to cause that sort of damage would be the coral snake, and those simply don't exist in Michigan, unless they're in captivity - Winters are too cold for them to survive outside.

The only venomous snake known (I've heard many rumors over the years claiming that you can encounter the occasional cottonmouth if you look hard enough, but never seen any evidence to back those claims) to inhabit the area is what I grew up knowing as the "Michigan rattler", which I later learned is properly termed the Eastern Massasauga Rattlesnake. Supposedly, the entire lower Peninsula, and part of the eastern end of the U.P. of Michigan is "home range" for them, but I've only ever seen two of them in-person, and only one of those was "for certain" - That one was on display in a glass case at the Clinch Park Zoo in Traverse City, back in the 80s, and the tag said it had been captured near Cadillac. The other was a sighting that lasted all of about 5 seconds, and at enough distance that the identification is quite suspect. Saw it while I was slogging through the marsh near the south approach to the Sleeping Bear Dunes area - It was moving fast, and visible so briefly that I can't claim to be absolutely certain it wasn't just a young/small rat snake. Either way, it's a "shy" snake, and unlikely to be where the horse was (they prefer swampy areas, by all accounts I've read) and even if one had been around, everything I know about them says that they're more likely to flee than bite, and if they do bite, their venom is said to be comparatively weak.
 
Then you're roughly 20 years behind me, experience-wise.



While I'd generally agree, with a bad enough case of laminitis, which is usually the first and most obvious symptom of juglone exposure, the effect is the same as you trying to wear a too-loose slip-on shoe. If/when enough of the laminae are damaged/destroyed by the inflammation (Laminitis = "inflammation of the laminae", as an experienced horse-person ought to know) the hoof itself is no longer securely connected to the underlying structures. Which is why a laminitic horse MUST be monitored for coffin-bone rotation - Without the laminae attaching the hoof wall to the rest of the foot, the coffin bone tends to drop and rotate, and in a severe enough case, can cause the hoof to detach compeltely and fall off. Exactly as I saw happen - between one step and the next, she "stepped out of" her hoof, leaving it in the print that it had just made in the snad/gravel of the driveway. When she tried to complete the step by putting down the bloody mass that was now the end of her leg, she screamed like she'd been stabbed, and went down. She never stood up again - Gramps went white as a sheet, then ran for the house, cussing a blue streak all the way, and came back with the .30-30 to put her down on the spot minutes later.


Even that would be doubtful, I'm thinking - Especially where the event took place. The only snake I can think of that's likely to cause that sort of damage would be the coral snake, and those simply don't exist in Michigan, unless they're in captivity - Winters are too cold for them to survive outside.

The only venomous snake known (I've heard many rumors over the years claiming that you can encounter the occasional cottonmouth if you look hard enough, but never seen any evidence to back those claims) to inhabit the area is what I grew up knowing as the "Michigan rattler", which I later learned is properly termed the Eastern Massasauga Rattlesnake. Supposedly, the entire lower Peninsula, and part of the eastern end of the U.P. of Michigan is "home range" for them, but I've only ever seen two of them in-person, and only one of those was "for certain" - That one was on display in a glass case at the Clinch Park Zoo in Traverse City, back in the 80s, and the tag said it had been captured near Cadillac. The other was a sighting that lasted all of about 5 seconds, and at enough distance that the identification is quite suspect. Saw it while I was slogging through the marsh near the south approach to the Sleeping Bear Dunes area - It was moving fast, and visible so briefly that I can't claim to be absolutely certain it wasn't just a young/small rat snake. Either way, it's a "shy" snake, and unlikely to be where the horse was (they prefer swampy areas, by all accounts I've read) and even if one had been around, everything I know about them says that they're more likely to flee than bite, and if they do bite, their venom is said to be comparatively weak.
Ok now the terms have clicked the literature did indeed mention those and all the mechanics line up.

Being long term I do indeed want a breeding pair of minis, I'll deff be keeping any Black walnut well away from my pastures! Ivermectin been working just fine
 
Newer tech? Lithium Iron Phosphate

Pros: can be used to 80% depth of discharge with no affect on life cycle count so you buy a 200AH LiFePO4 you get 160Ah usable, Fast absorption of power from solar panels, Long lived, will not catch fire like other lithium techs.

Cons: Cost, High initial cost (slightly higher than lead acid now days) , more temperature sensitive, must be kept above 5c. Must have a management system (commercially made ones come with it)

Actually, I think lots of models come with the BMS (Battery Management System) integrated, even the cheap Asian ones. Keep in mind that the cheap Asian ones have a tendency to be undocumented - ie. if you manage to wire a medium-sized battery bank without help from the vendor, you get a prize.

Deployment of photovoltaic power production deserves a thread of its own. When people asks me about advice, I always start with the basics:

Basic 1: How much power do you use daily?

This is surprisingly easy to estimate if you are currently connected to the grid. Just pick the power bills of the last two years. Find how many kilowatts.hour/joules/whatever you were billed each month and then divide it by the number of days that month had. That will give you your daily consumption.

Basic 2: How much power can you produce?

This is a bit too complex for the regular Joe to do without some education, but what I do is to pick a regular solar panel from the catalog and find out the average power it may generate per day, on average, for each given month in the location I want to install it (so you get the average power production in January, the average power production in February, and so on).

Many vendors can help you with this and some even have pre-calculated production charts.

Basic 3: How much power do you really need?

Things get tricky here. What percentage of the year do you want to be covered? 80%? 90%? Solar power is subject to the law of diminishing returns, so don't get greedy if you don't need to. 99% coverage (ie. ~80-90 blackout hours per year) is insanely expensive to achieve.

Getting Ready

Now you pick a number of solar panels you think you can pay as a base for your calculation, and check if an array that size would serve you well.

What you do is to compare the average power consumption you calculated in step one to the power production you calculated in step 2. For each month. An spreadsheet is nearly mandatory. Something like this:

MonthDaily ConsumptionDaily Production per PanelNumber of PanelsDaily ProductionBalance
[...][...][...][...][...][...]
June202612-8
July192.3613.8-5.2
[...][...][...][...][...][...]

The negative numbers in the "balance" row indicate months in which your solar would fall short on average.

You can (crudely) estimate your yearly power consumption by averaging all the values of the Daily Consumption row and multiplying them by 365. You can also (crudely) estimate your yearly deficit by adding all the negative values in the Balance row and multiplying them by 30 and then by the number of months in which Balance turned out negative.

Your coverage (as a percentage) will thus be:

100 * (Yearly Power Consumption - Yearly Deficit) / Yearly Power Consumption

If the coverage you get from the above calculation is smaller than your target, repeat the calculation with a bigger number of solar panels until you achieve your target coverage or you break your budget.

Battery sizing

I consider Lithium PO4FE batteries here since those are the ones I use for big banks.

My official recommendation is to get a battery bank capable of holding 133% of your average daily consumption, but I am also aware most people can't pay that. My rationale is that such a big battery bank will still provide you with a 100% power capacity once 30% of it has disappeared due to battery age (ie after 10 years) and because a slightly oversized battery tends to do better during streaks of cloudy days. It only makes sense to use big battery banks if your solar is actually capable of charging them (ie +85% solar coverage per year), otherwise you are just wasting money in batteries that will never be taken full advantage of.

What do I do when power runs out and my grandma is connected to a life support machine she needs to live?

Buy a fucking diesel powered generator.

There are some cool solar setups that can be configured to trigger the generator automatically if the day is dark and the batteries are running low. You can source some cheap Asian inverters (2k USD) with an integrated port for the generator. These are great because you can also charge the batteries from the generator in order to use the electricity later. A 3KW generator should more than suffice for a common family house in a pitch, but I have seen good deals in the 5-6KW range.

I installed an array that provides 90% of coverage. Now it is summer, batteries are already 100% charged by 11:00 am. The sun is shining but all my productivity is going to waste. You scammed me!

You will have too much electricity in the best months of the year. That is the price of having barely enough the worst months of the year.

Get domestic appliances to make the most of the extra electricity. Well pumps. Air conditioning. A 1KW server rack.

Or just hire a electrician next time instead of believing a random internet weirdo. Just keep in mind that most electricians doing solar will just install a commercial kit on your roof without bothering to ask how much power you do use and without bothering to estimate how much power your solar will produce, therefore leaving you with a generation system of unknown performance. It is not that electricians cannot calculate, it is that oftentimes they don't care.


EDIT:


If you have a standby emergency generator, it is a good idea to check its fuel and oil level every morning. You don't want it to be automatically started if its tank is empty or it has no oil. I also recommend running it half an hour each month just to check it is still in working condition. Nobody wants a generator to sit unused for years only to fail to start the day you really, really need it.
 
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yup for ever watt you reduce in usage you save 5 bucks in generating, so start with becoming efficient in energy usage, this pays right away in savings on the power bill.

Now days batteries are still your largest investment
 
yup for ever watt you reduce in usage you save 5 bucks in generating, so start with becoming efficient in energy usage, this pays right away in savings on the power bill.

This is true, but some consideration I often share is this one:

It is often more economical, energy efficient and eco-friendly to keep using an inefficient machine until it breaks than upgrading an inefficient machine into an efficient one.

I mention this because oftentimes people tells me to upgrade my computers, vehicles, lights etc. because they are old and wasting energy. When I run the numbers I don't find they add up unless we are talking about stuff that see a whole lot of use. ie. an upgraded server rack that runs 24/7 may pay off in 2 or 3 years but an upgraded workstation you use an hour a day will become obsolete before it pays off.
 
This is true, but some consideration I often share is this one:

It is often more economical, energy efficient and eco-friendly to keep using an inefficient machine until it breaks than upgrading an inefficient machine into an efficient one.

I mention this because oftentimes people tells me to upgrade my computers, vehicles, lights etc. because they are old and wasting energy. When I run the numbers I don't find they add up unless we are talking about stuff that see a whole lot of use. ie. an upgraded server rack that runs 24/7 may pay off in 2 or 3 years but an upgraded workstation you use an hour a day will become obsolete before it pays off.
Oh ya, indeed, but the main thing is people have no idea how much energy they waste in a day just by not thinking in the order of which they do stuff, or leaving things on is my point there. Simple behavior changes can save large amounts of energy.

My computer is ancient according to most, but with fine tuning and maxing out the stuff that can be upgraded in it keeps it good for what I need.

Look how much energy a simple router uses, doesn't seem like that much till you do the math, since it is not used when not home, put it and computer and such on a power bar, switch it off so on.
 
If I’m using manure myself it’s usually cow. Seems to have less weed seeds in it unlike horse if it isn’t completely broken down. Also if you do have a good and hot compost pile it’s a good place to stick a jar of garlic to make that expensive black garlic you see on the market. It’s good to have a home remedy book as well. It’s not the Rx but it can at least detract a bit from illness while preventing it from the start.
 
If I’m using manure myself it’s usually cow. Seems to have less weed seeds in it unlike horse if it isn’t completely broken down. Also if you do have a good and hot compost pile it’s a good place to stick a jar of garlic to make that expensive black garlic you see on the market. It’s good to have a home remedy book as well. It’s not the Rx but it can at least detract a bit from illness while preventing it from the start.
i just downloaded an herbalist guide --- and as i type this, wow Sarah that will not be worth shit with no power.
I get small scoops of chicken poo to put in bottom of my house plants. by time roots get that deep it has broken down.
 
you cannot use the manure in your gardening if you do that. Black walnut is horrible for plants and can cause major damage for years.
Yep. Last time I looked in on the state of the research, the conclusion had been drawn that Juglone is a Black Walnut tree's version of "Agent Orange" - Keeps competing plants from growing (kills some before they even break out of the seed husk) near enough to the tree to suck up nutrients it wants. Basically, the ground anywhere within the "drip-line" of a black walnut is going to be nearly barren, other than a few particularly hardy weeds (Burdock being one of the main ones) and some grasses, and unless the top 10 inches or so of soil is removed and replaced with something else, will stay that way for years even after the tree has been removed. They've got nice wood for various projects, but overall, they're downright evil trees.
 
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