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People don't understand the difference between different kinds of soil offered at retail stores. The following video does a great job breaking down the differences, which ones are worth buying and how you can "convert" from one to another:

I love doing this for stores that I frequent. I've even been able to stack a couple of times. I buy a "Happy" gift card that offers a 10% bonus and then use it to purchase a Panera card that periodically offers a 20% bonus. Lowes offers discount gift cards periodically, though I consider them...

They fixed that problem by eliminating both Home Econ and Shop classes in many schools. Eliminating practical skills is not exactly an improvement considering current curriculums. I had a milder version of that as a young kid in the '60s. I hated grilled cheese, but my mother made it fairly...

We've grown *very* complacent and soft as a society. Almost no one knows what it is like to go without luxuries that weren't available to kings from years past. The peasants of those times had it much harder. Long-term storage of dried rice and beans can keep them for 25 years. Oxygen...

Yup. When you eat some, try to replace it and keep the rotation. For some dark humor, try to compare old to new prices when you do this. :rolleyes:

I'm convinced that these are mostly being sold to people who know *nothing* about gardening. Way too much money and too little capacity for any serious garden.

I use one of those totes as a brooder and for chicken-stuff storage. I can vouch that they are heavy duty and good quality.

Yup. Any with that "blocky" head should be reusable. You can also use a knife tip (be careful!) or sometimes your nail, but a small screw driver works best.

@gtaus - If you want to be more frugal, then reuse the zip ties. They are designed to be re-used. I just use a small flat-head screw driver as in this short video (mute before playing due to loud music):

I've had a Berkey for 5-6 years. It is expensive up front, but in the long-term is much, much cheaper than bottled water. Assuming you are using a Big Berkey (2 filters), it costs about 5.8 cents/gallon over the first 6,000 gallons when the original filters are shot and 2.8 cents/gallon for...

Yes, they have to jump through a lot of hoops to prove themselves to the government. The organic certification also defines which pesticides, herbicides, etc. are "organic" and which aren't. I use cabbage moth decoys to drive them away from my cruciferous veggies (broccoli, cauliflower...

My eggs and fruits/vegetables are better than organic (far fewer chemicals), but I would spit blood before I payed for government certification.

Just FYI for anyone using the 5-gal buckets- There is a product called Gamma Seal lids (there are also knock-offs) that are fully resealable. Basic lids are cheaper, but if you use them to protect food for longer-term storage, once you break the seal you can't trust them to fully seal again...

I definitely agree with this last point. In addition to human & chicken feed storage, I use buckets for general storage and making self-watering planters. They fit well inside each other, so it is easy to keep extras in a single stack. FYI- Some people use the larger kitty-litter buckets in a...

You can sometimes get free buckets from bakeries or delis. Just ask. They often get frosting or pickles in those buckets and don't have any good use for them afterwards. You just have to clean them out. The #2/etc. is necessary, but not sufficient to be "food grade". It is important that it...

Definitely try selling it. Not only will you get rid of your excess, but there are a lot of newbies getting into backyard gardens now and many are trying to use more natural inputs. Win-win.

Yes, there are multiple variations on this idea. The problem is that you lose a huge percentage of the original energy this way. Electricity is the least efficient way to heat air or water. Every cycle from electricity --> hot water --> electricity compounds the losses. Effective large scale...

The vast majority of us use the current electrical grid. I have a generator, but that has some limitations. This tweet that I saw yesterday really got me thinking:

I like the basic idea. Most people don't really need off-grid power. They need something to get them through power outages- whether for a few hours or multiple days. It is possible to build a cheaper DIY version of that setup with marine deep cycle batteries, but that looks like a nicely...

Yup. Try to minimize waste by keeping up the rotation in whatever form you choose. One thing to be aware of is that those expiration/best by dates are only minimally useful. Many foods, particularly canned foods are actually good and edible long past their labeled expiration date, so don't be...