I wonder how to take on the efficiency question when considering waste heat. Would and older model generating more heat be the better choice? Has anybody started to dig into the complexities of calculating efficiency for circular systems?

Hmm I would personally categorize both the portable hydro as well as the capsule as junk gimmicks. I would want something reliable and farm-worthy for permanent use.

I’ve looked into some models I can purchase, but haven’t played with them. I like the rams because they are so low tech even a stupid like me can handle them, and the energy supply is direct. The one I’ve set up the other day (dumped into the river and tied to a stick) is still pumping.

I also love solar thermal, for the same reason. To me it just seems to make more sense to develop tech that doesn’t transfer energy from one form into another a million times, because that is something pitifully underdeveloped in our electrical monoculture. That’s why I keep building and advertising the rams.

For my daily life micro hydro power would be a useful addition, really want to get into that when I have time.

All my parent’s bookshelf when I was little is there, plus a lot of the fantasy novels I read later. I just can’t help but wonder wtf is left for the kids to read? The Bible and the Very Hungry Caterpillar?

tested it to determine the amount of potassium hydroxide

Oh shit I read ‘tasted it’ and was like ‘these people are so determined to science they even taste nasty old oil!’

Great project, thanks for sharing!

My holy book here says it was me

Now imagine a room with an infinite number of computer chimps, at least one of them is going to make the machine work again. Another one is going to write the works of Shakespeare in soldering tin all over the motherboard, etc.

We built pig shelters from pallets, and I’m almost finished knitting a plant-dyed pullover from local wool, just in time for winter. Other than that the rain has been putting me off doing much. I wanted to mount the ram pump back in the stream to try out a new approach for feeding it but there’s water everywhere 😅 Maybe I should buy proper waders if I want to play in the stream in winter.

both the headline and the insect, yes

Recycled/repaired a sofa and a workbench, next planning to build better kitchen furniture with the materials I have left so I can replace the old bedside table with a plastic box on top that currently serves as drying station for washed dishes, preferably before it dissolves into kindling.

Finally ordered parts for a new ram pump and laid out my existing but dismounted pump to reassemble and offer to others for testing and use. I really should get the one left in the stream before autumn rain makes it impossible.

Happy DIYing everyone!

I do not recommend using new one-way-bags. They are expensive, and there’s plenty of material around that we usually throw away to end up in a landfill. There are a few bags that are (at least in Europe) marked with that triangle-symbol with a number 5 inside and the letters PP (polypropylene). Often bread comes in these bags. There is also rectangular food packages made of this material, and buckets. All of these can survive the pressure-cooker, or can be filled with steaming hot pressure-cooked substrate, and that’s good enough for oyster mushrooms.

I’m still unhappy about all the pressure-cooking, and have been looking into using wood ash for pH-pasteurization (was that the word?). Can’t say I had much success so far, but might try again in the future.

One or two crops usually per substrate container, but then you can just refill the bucket with new substrate. The smallest usable container I had was 1-liter milk packages - I just filled them with a straw/manure mix straight from my horse stable and pressure-cooked them (my pot fits about 6 of them). Then I take them into my still air box to add grain spawn. Close them and leave them for about a month. Check if they are all filled with mycelium and smell shroomy, cut two corners of the milk box and keep in a humid environment (can be a large plastic box regularly sprayed with water or a shower cabin with a humidifier). Then it takes about another week to grow mushrooms. I did this with pink oysters because they are quite forgiving about my DIY setup and had a regular small supply of shrooms to add to my food.

I guess that would the smallest workable setup, but it does take regular work to fill these little packages, and ultimately I’ve had too little time to keep this up among other farm duties - wild mushrooms will be out soon and hunting for them outside is just way nicer than boiling straw and shit indoors. I might make it a seasonal thing as well because finding the right temperature can be difficult throughout the year (some rooms too hot in summer, some too cold in winter), and mycelium can be kept over months in a liquid culture or on agar in the fridge.

Just scrolling and consuming content is very bad for body and mind. If you feel numb like this, try to find one or several forms of self-expression that works for you.

Can be drawing, dancing, singing, petting animals, programming, staring at trees, knitting, gardening, making memes, recording videos. And even better: you’re permitted to do all of it badly and just enjoy yourself, no rules need to be followed.

Smaller groups of humans (villages, households, …?) could decide among themselves whether they prefer to live together by capitalist or communist principles. These smaller groups could function within a larger federation - a bit like the fediverse with its smaller instances where each can decide their own internal rules.