Off Topic

[heartbone]

I haven't been doing much programming lately. Been waiting for the Linux compiler to be a bit more friendly for my uses.
However I think that I'll get back into it a bit, to finish a 98% completed project that I want to deploy where the compiler works good enough.

That's not why I made this thread.
I want to share a few of the many things that I've been recently working on.

1) Saturday was planting day for my basement salad garden. Eventually I'll be growing everything for my salads year round but the croûtons, feta,
salad dressing, and the occasional olive. I'm using three 48" window planters and four 8" plant pots. Totally organic.
The $325 garden equipment and supply investment would take a few of years to recover... if good health were not a factor.
$189 LED grow light https://smile.amazon.com/VIPARSPECTRA-R ... ref=sr_1_4
$36 48" window planters (3)
$10 8" round planters (4)
$10 veggie seeds (used about $2 worth, so a packet has enough to use for many growing seasons)
$20 organic 3-month auto feeding potting soil (96 quarts)
$10 plant food & seedling tray
$15 seedling heating mat
$30 2 (4') fluorescent light fixtures & 4 bulbs (already had these)
$5 watering can (already had this)

2) Cool Homemade Toothpaste
Ingredients:
6-7 tbsp distilled water
2 tbsp bentonite clay
1 tsp baking soda
4 drops tea tree oil
7 drops liquid stevia (or xylitol to taste)
12 drops peppermint oil
1/4 dram Himalayan pink salt

Equipment:
wooden chop stick
4 oz glass jar

• in glass jar combine warm water with clay
• mix well with wooden chopstick utensil or flat ice cream spoon
• add everything else and continue mixing into toothpaste

3) I recently learned how to make one of my favorite dishes, Pad Thai.
One of the dish's ingredients is palm sugar, something that was new to me.
It is truly a splendid sugar. I've already used it for something new, my no-cook chocolate chunk treat.

• Mix 3 parts 98.6°F organic coconut oil, 2 parts 100% cocoa powder, and 1 part palm sugar.
• If desired, add some drops of vanilla extract.
• While mixture is above 76°F stir.
• Place in refrigerator until cold enough

Oh yeah.

[IdeasVacuum]

I suspect it would be uneconomical in the UK, though with our weather we probably need it more than you do

[Dude]

Cool Homemade Toothpaste

Yep, this is definitely the most off-topic post I've ever seen.

[djes]

Love it! Thank you for the tips! I make my own shampoo with ghassoul (clay), some drops of tea tree oil and another one for perfume, a little of argan oil, and 50% water. It's really different from chemical shampoo, and absolutely not aggressive.

[blueb]

.........1/4 dram Himalayan pink salt

Couldn't find a dram of sea salt so I used a few drams of Scotch.

[Nituvious]

Hey I do this too! A couple of years ago I bought some cheap LEDs on ebay and built two 40 watt arrays for about $30. They are powered with an old PSU and some buck converters and lm317's to keep them alive and under maximum forward voltage and current. I also have a CFL in there because of the limitations of LEDs.

I have 3 types of tomatoes, some okra, cherry tree seedlings, butter leaf lettuce and two other species of lettuce, beans, strawberries, some carrots but they were planned poorly and look like a giant ball of yellow, lots of peppers in fact way too many and various other herbs for spices.

FYI, if you make your own chili sauce... violently scrub your hands before touching parts of your body.

I plan on starting my outdoor crops soon to give them a head start for the summer season.

[netmaestro]

FYI, if you make your own chili sauce... violently scrub your hands before touching parts of your body

I'm not going to ask... but it sounds like something that would go well in a funny movie

[djes]

[heartbone]

Hey I do this too! A couple of years ago I bought some cheap LEDs on ebay and built two 40 watt arrays for about $30. They are powered with an old PSU and some buck converters and lm317's to keep them alive and under maximum forward voltage and current. I also have a CFL in there because of the limitations of LEDs.

I have 3 types of tomatoes, some okra, cherry tree seedlings, butter leaf lettuce and two other species of lettuce, beans, strawberries, some carrots but they were planned poorly and look like a giant ball of yellow, lots of peppers in fact way too many and various other herbs for spices.

FYI, if you make your own chili sauce... violently scrub your hands before touching parts of your body.

I plan on starting my outdoor crops soon to give them a head start for the summer season.

You are definitely my sort of person. Coincidently I'm growing apricot tree seedlings, my first time growing any trees.

As a degreed EE, I guess I'm supposed to be building stuff like what you did, but I always take the easy and lazy way out, and look for good deals on the pre-made electronics.
Everything has sprouted but the sweet peppers, due any time now.
As far as I'm concerned no news is bad news, and as quiet as it's kept a food crisis may be approaching...
Last year: https://www.iceagenow.info/extreme-crop ... -due-cold/
This year: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/201 ... consumers/
Clif High's WebBot says that we are going to have wild swings in temperature, with harsher winters and summers, and next to no spring and fall.
Last Thursday's 46°degree temperature swing has become the norm, and even though it's the dead of winter, all my bedroom windows are still open as I type this after 7 PM it's 68°F.

Besides the normal Federal Reserve inflation, over the next year imported food will likely cost more, mainly due to the US dollar recent loss of its reserve currency status.
Add to that, the fact that this country has largely abandoned growing locally under globalist manipulation, unless it is the GMO poison that no one wants, therefore our markets actually RELY on the same imported food that Europe needs.

I expect that items associated with growing your own food (like fertilizer and lights) should increase more than average inflation.
Bottom line, if you're even thinking about it, and you can swing it, it's probably a good idea to procure the equipment now before price increases or supply problems.

Below is my selection of what I consider the current best grow light setup for the money.
I believe this kit will create excellent lighting conditions for any 5' x 5' grow area.

The 240W LED is to hang overhead, with one 48W LED bulb mounted at each table corner.
If all LEDS are turned on, then it'll use approximately a max 450 watts.
At 8.3 cents a kWh, running all lights 24 hours a day, it comes to about 90¢ a day.
Running them for only 18 hours a day keeps the energy cost under 70¢ per day, and it keeps the veggies once mature from producing as prolifically.

1 250W (600WEQ) LED $189.99 https://smile.amazon.com/VIPARSPECTRA-R ... B019ETLC7M
4 48W LED bulbs @ $15.88 each https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B01MQCDS3U
4 lamp sockets with 8.5" reflector/shield @ $8.99 each https://smile.amazon.com/Simple-Deluxe- ... B01E9IY6US
4 lamp brackets @ $2.99 each https://smile.amazon.com/Chauvet-DJ-Lig ... 0002FODKQ

At just under $300 it seems like a lot of money for some grow lights, but back in the day the equivalent lighting would have been over twice as expensive, consuming over twice as much energy.
And these dollars are not as valuable as the old ones were. So in several ways this is a good deal.

I ordered these rooted strawberry plants on Friday evening, and they were in my mailbox on Monday morning!
I had to go and get some garden supplies to make a home for them as I wasn't expecting them till right about now, not that quickly!
Last Tuesday I planted them, and I've kept a photographic record of the rapid process that I've emailed to my mailing list.
I was surprised to see my first strawberry blossom bud today!!!

BTW, do you know that hydroponics is the best way to grow many veggies indoors?
Next time I'll detail the parts list and construction details for a complete DIY $170 hydro kit.
One that has the exact same growing area as this $367 unit https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01IK7PX88?pldnSite=1
except it has much better light, although my kit doesn't have a computer to tell you when to add water.
It has IMO much easier use and upkeep methodology, that is based on my experience.
And better yet, my kit has everything needed for years of crops but the seeds, air, water, light, and electricity.
If you already have adequate grow lighting, then the hydro kit is only ~$80 complete ordered on Amazon with free shipping.

Yesterday I found an apparently newly available kit that is substantially similar to what I have cobbled together for $80.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00VW6PYES?psc=1
It also comes without free shipping, or the years of plant feed, or the essential pH testing and adjustment supplies, or any support for my easy maintenance original hydro upkeep methodology.

[Nituvious]

If I lived any where other than Vermont, US I would switch to hydroponics but it gets too cold in the house during winter for a water substrate. I guess I could heat it up some how, but space is limited for me.
I depend on wood to heat my house, so it's difficult to maintain temperatures.

That's a very good read, thank you. I originally started to produce my own food because of rising costs in fresh vegetables. There is definitely a change in the wind.

[heartbone]

If I lived any where other than Vermont, US I would switch to hydroponics but it gets too cold in the house during winter for a water substrate. I guess I could heat it up some how, but space is limited for me.
I depend on wood to heat my house, so it's difficult to maintain temperatures.

That's a very good read, thank you. I originally started to produce my own food because of rising costs in fresh vegetables. There is definitely a change in the wind.

Yes sir, and thank you for taking the time to read and providing the feedback.
it's after 8:30 PM and my windows are still open, so there is definitely a change in the February wind.

I was having a problem germinating seeds in my too cold basement, so I had to turn on a space heater last Thursday to speed the in dirt seed sprouting along, which worked nicely.
For the seeds in the seed starter medium, this item was a big help before using the space heater, and it may help you with keeping the hydro solution at an acceptable temperature.
They work well for their intended use, as well as for wintertime kombucha production..
https://www.amazon.com/Seedling-Plant-I ... B016APOOIC
When I bought mine last September, they were $11.48 each.
That 48% price increase may be a seasonal thing, or as I suspect, these items will increase in price due to our love of eating.
If only 1% of people make the decision to insure their fresh food supply, many if not all of these things will be back ordered here in America, where we no longer make much of anything.

I was able to buy some inexpensive pots and potting soil at the Dollar General today. I could not bear to kill the tomato, sweet pepper, and kale seedlings that I needed to thin out. If they don't survive the transplanting, at least I tried.
I had so many and Spring seems so near, that I plan to put them outside in a few weeks and hope they make it.