Care and feeding of septic systems

A reader posted the following comment:

"Off topic comment/request: We are moving in 3 weeks to our new-to-us rural house/cabin. Neither my husband nor I have ever before lived in a home with a septic system. I've watched YT videos and read a wide variety of contradictory comments about what to do/not to do.

"I would greatly appreciate suggestions from those here with the experience we lack. I've purchased a deodorizing container for toilet wipes (can those things be burned?). I've read not to use anti-bacterial soap. I need some practical, middle-of-the-road advice (not an absolute ecological purist and I'm not planning on making my own laundry detergent right now).

"The septic tank was cleaned out just last year (by previous one year owner who purchased it from original builder and 24 year owner) and it's located beneath a small, rock-lined pond (formerly filled with Koi) so we really hope not to need to do this again any time soon. Any reasonable suggestions greatly appreciated."

One reader already chimed in with her two cents' worth:

"At 86, I have owned 4 homes. Three of them on septic. My current home is one of them. "Pro's" for septic are many. No sewer charge and independence from city for service are the greatest. "Cons" are more in the caution area. Remember that everything liquid in your house goes through septic. That includes washer, dish washer, bathroom sinks, disposal, etc. Don't flush Kleenex type products as they tend to float rather than dissolve. No or very little antibacterial products as they will kill your good bacteria. Good bye Clorox. Learn to check for "safe for septic" in the fine print. Depending on the size of your family, cleaning every 3-5 years is the rule. Living alone, I don't think I will ever have to have it pumped out again. Good luck and relax. It's no big deal. - Julia"

C'mon, folks, let's help this reader out. Chime in with your experience and expertise on the care and feeding of septic systems. One ... two ... three ... GO!

Surest sign of spring

Along with the rest of the country, we've been feeling restless and cooped up. Spring is on its way, and at this stage we get a lot of "teaser" weather: beautiful one day, cold and rainy another, usually with bursts of snow for good measure.

But the spring birds are returning, and I'm documenting them as I see or hear them.

On March 4, I heard the first robin.

On March 6, it was the first killdeer.

On March 13,  the first evening grosbeaks descended en masse on the feeder.

But the surest sign of spring? I hung some laundry outside to dry.

Yes, really. It was a minor thrill to hang the flannel sheets outside rather than draping them over the indoor clothes racks and waiting a day or two for them to dry.

At 58F, it took them all day. But still, it's a promise of things to come.

Yep, spring is on its way.

Pretty twinkling lights

The outside lighting on our new (to us) home is, well, sub-par, especially on the back porch. For whatever reason, whoever built the porch installed this massive oversized lamp in the rafters wired to an inside switch.

I mean, look at this monster! Not only did it take forever to turn on (it needed a "warm up" period of about one minute), but whenever we flipped it on, Don's computer screen would suddenly go black.

We speculate this lamp was bought (cough) on sale or given free. Why else install such a monstrosity?

One of the projects Don wanted to accomplish was to get rid of the durn thing. But rather than replace it with a conventional porch light, he decided to install white Christmas-style lights.

He ordered some lights and used wire holder-clamps to screw them to the rafters.

He also installed a toggle so we could alternate between one string of lights (for a very dim ambiance) and three strings (for when a brighter light is needed). The strings of lights are wired to the inside switch.

The results are so pretty! Here's one string of lights illuminated.

And here are all three.

It's so much softer and less harsh than that nasty old monster light.

The other night, Don had a late meeting. What a pleasure it was to flip on the switch and make it easy for him to see his way from the dark driveway to the lit-up porch.

Itsy bitsy spider

I was doing dishes the other day when I noticed a black spot on our white kitchen cabinets. Closer inspection showed it to be a jumping spider.

I scooped it up with a cup and put it outside, but then had the notion to try out my camera's macro-zoom feature. Here are the results.

This little gal was fearless, watching me with her bright eyes. Notice the blue-green chelicera and yellow-orange pedipalps. Who knew these things were so colorful?

As she walked across the surface of the table, she left a line of silk behind her, secured at intervals.

Altogether cute in an ugly spider sort of way. I'm glad she was only half an inch across.

Bank failure

I've been following the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank with great concern. Not because we have any money in that bank, but because it may trigger a cascade of other bank failures.

Do any of you have an account with SVB? If so, let us know what's going on!

Financial strategies

This morning I read a finance piece entitled "A Nation's Heavily Indebted Consumers Face a Painful Margin Call." The article focused on the Canadian economy, and opened with the following paragraph:

"At the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, with his job as a delivery driver bringing plenty of overtime and the cost to borrow at record lows, James Kebe went on a spending spree. He leased a boat and an all-terrain vehicle, and when his bank offered him a bigger line of credit, he maxed it out.Then interest rates started rising at their fastest pace in generations. And because Kebe’s line of credit had a floating rate, his monthly payments soared, too. The cost of his debt has now outpaced his take-home pay by C$900 (U.S. $660) a month, leaving him with little choice but to enter a form of creditor protection that will see his toys repossessed and keep him on a tight budget for the foreseeable future. 'I've always been able to squeak by until now,' he said by phone from his home in West Kelowna, in the Canadian province of British Columbia. Now when he's at the store, Kebe says his new mantra is: 'Do I need this? No I don’t.'"

I confess I blanched with horror when I read about this man's actions. The phrase "spending spree" tends to do that to me. Why? Because we've been in debt and hated it.

During our child-raising productive years, Don and I were desperately trying to keep the woodcraft business afloat while raising and homeschooling the kids. Money was always tight, and our income was wildly unpredictable. The result? Our savings were practically nil, and we got in over our heads with credit card debt (purchasing necessities, not luxuries). It took us years to climb out of the financial hole we'd dug and start putting money away for our older years.

As a result of our earlier experiences – even now, so many years later – I have a near-pathological fear of owing money. We refuse to ever take on more debt: no auto loans, no credit card debt, nothing. It's cash all the way, baby.

Then a few days ago, I read an article by Daisy Luther (The Organic Prepper) on the subject of FDIC bail-ins.

The article was fine, but as always it was the comments which followed that were even more interesting as everyone chimed in about his or her financial preparedness efforts.

One man wrote: "Our fin [financial] advisor was against us taking $ out of our 401k and paying off our property. We did it anyway. Our peace of mind is off the charts right now."

However a critic replied as follows: "No one thinks they will get 'old' and retirement seems an eternity before it happens, then suddenly it does, some are glad. Then what will your income be? SS [Social Security] can’t meet all expenses. U.S. T-bills now can be bought below par, then 6 months or a year later mature, then take the interest, get more bonds bought at less than value reinvest. They are paying 5% now. Only ones living on SS retirement only are in subsidized housing. Muni bonds are tax free."

Later she added: "Most retirees I know have CD’s in a local bank or credit union they need money to live off interest, also in gov. bonds, muni’s. Nothing else can give an income. If everything goes digital, gold and other metals can only be bought and sold among other collectors. Stores will only take digital like debit cards. 401k’s best be in US treasuries 100%. cashing a 401k will be a big tax hit."

Hmm. Is this woman a spokesperson for government bonds and other traditional investment strategies?

These comments sparked a lively discussion between Don and me because it touches on our own financial reality. Because of the financial uncertainty we experienced in our younger years, we never put money in "traditional" investments. Instead, we've done our best to squirrel away as large a cushion as we could manage on a tight budget. However we did learn the art of frugality to the nth degree. Coupled with our long-term goal to reduce our expenses to the point where we could live on very little, we're far more comfortable than we've ever been.

This touches on one aspect of financial management few people ever discuss (or adopt): The radical concept of drastically lowering one's regular or monthly expenses as a preparedness strategy.

When we had the opportunity to purchase our new (to us) home when we downsized a couple years ago, we leaped at the chance to pay cash and have no mortgage. While it would have been nice to find a place with more acreage, we deliberately limited ourselves to properties we could purchase outright for cash. Now, having lived without a mortgage for two years, I fully understand the "off-the-charts peace of mind" mentioned by the man mentioned above. It's true.

But just because we don't have a mortgage doesn't mean we've eliminated frugality. Yes, we've spent the last two years spending money buying things to turn this property into a homestead – lumber and other construction materials, fencing, and of course our plumbing woes last fall – but that's spending, not monthly expenses. We've continued whittling down our monthly expenses with a "how low can you go" attitude. If the financial bleep hits the fan for us, we can exist on as little as $800/month. If we were completely strapped for cash, we could drop that to about $500/month, possibly less.

Right now Don is receiving a very modest amount of Social Security. I won't be eligible for Social Security for another couple of years. However you can bet we'll keep our living expenses within the range of our anticipated income from these sources.

What did the critic above write? "Social Security can’t meet all expenses. ... Only ones living on SS retirement only are in subsidized housing." Excuse me, but that's baloney. One of the reasons we've whittled down our expenses (including having no mortgage) is to be able to live comfortably on Social Security, or far less if need be.

So what about the strategies mentioned by the critic above? Should we invest in T-bills and other financial opportunities? In our book, no. We don't trust the government not to mismanage itself into insolvency. The repercussions of a government-orchestrated financial collapse are vast and far-reaching, and it means the death of not just Social Security, but all the fancy T-bills and other financial vehicles this woman touts. What will she do once she can't withdraw income from her investments?

In the event of a financial collapse, everyone will be in the same boat regarding economic hardship, and traditional investment strategies may no longer apply. When and if this happens, everyone will have to cope as best they can. But those who are used to living low on the hog at least won't be faced with owing money on things they can no longer afford, or feel deprived when they can't go on a "spending spree."

In other words, considering our past, I feel we're in about as solid a financial position as we can manage, despite our lack of "traditional" investments. (You might say we "invested" in frugality.)

Perhaps a question to ask is this: Are your finances in line with a preparedness lifestyle? Is your lifestyle and spending habits in line with preparedness? Are you financially prepared to lose your job or weather an economic downturn?

The whole idea of financial preparedness is being able to handle, to the best of one's ability, economic blows ranging from the personal (job loss) to the international (a worldwide economic collapse). While we can't make much of a difference on the international platform, there's a lot we can do on a personal level to prepare.

My $0.02.

Bwahaha – sure, Jeff

Spam emails can be so funny! Consider one I got this morning from "Jeff White," formatted exactly as received:

DEAREST ONE

Am MR. White  of the Claims Department with a bank here in London, United Kingdom. I wish to notify you that you are clear to

claim the total sum of Twenty Five Million Five Hundred thousand British pounds in the codicil and last testament of a deceased

customer (Name now withheld for security reasons). Kindly Contact me for more details on E-mail: [redacted]@citromail.hu

I look forward to your response, treat as most confidential
sincerely

>>Mr. White

Bwahahaha. I'm certain every banker in the U.K. addresses random strangers as "Dearest one."

Sure, Jeff. I believe every word. (/sarc/)

UPDATE: Reader Rozy Lass sent this video. I laughed so hard I cried.

 

Podcast with Mother Earth News

For years, I worked with a wonderful editor for such magazines as Backyard Beekeeping and Goat Journal. Then last year there was something of a shakeup at Ogden Publications (the umbrella organization), and this particular editor also took on the responsibilities of editing Mother Earth News.

Mother Earth News! I've wanted to write for that magazine since forever. I gave the editor a few months to settle into her new role, then sent an article on spec. She accepted it, but warned me that due to a backlog of articles (apparently everyone wants to write for Mother Earth News) it might not see print for a year or more.

That was fine, and next thing I know the editor had several assignments for me – not for the print version of the magazine (at least not yet), but for the website. These articles may take a while to show up (again, there's a backlog), but I'm honored to play a small part of this venerable publication.

Then about a month ago I got an email asking if I'd be interested in participating in a podcast. You bet! The interview (on the subject of hatching mixed birds) took place two weeks ago. It went live a couple days ago. Feel free to click on the link and listen.

Trimming trees

We have a gnarled overgrown grove of black hawthorn on our property, right next to the road.

It's the only grove of trees in this field and (in theory) will offer a superb patch of shade when we get livestock. However it was so heavy with dead and low-hanging branches as to be almost unusable.

Black hawthorn is well named; they have vicious one-inch thorns, something you really don't want slapping you in the face.

It was clear someone before us had made some attempt to thin this grove and bring it under control, but for whatever reason they stopped only a fraction of the way through. As a result, we had downed branches on the ground as well as endless deadwood in the trees themselves. Coupled with the rockiness of the ground, it was a formidable mess.

We have a county program coming in sometime during March to thin some underbrush (for fire-control purposes), and the county representative who walked through the property with us said if we wanted to trim the hawthorn grove and pile the branches to one side, the county workers would chip the pile. That was all the motivation I needed to arm myself with a variety of saws and nippers. Time to get cutting!

I don't know what spirit of optimism made me think I could get the whole thing done in a couple of days, but let me tell you, it didn't work that way. Each gnarled tree was such a tangle of living and dead wood that I had to carefully excise what needed to be trimmed and what didn't.

But hawthorn wood is gorgeous. Look at those colors! (Don ended up taking chunks of some of the larger branches back to the shop to play with later on.)

A few of the dead branches I removed were so heavy that the best way to pull them out of the grove (without stumbling over the rocks or getting slapped in the face with other branches) was to drag them out with a rope.

I tried to keep the twistiness of the trees intact while trimming away deadwood. The more I worked in this grove, the more charmed I was by its organic qualities.

I debated taking this branch off at all, despite the fact that the dead portion was dragging the ground. I mean, it has such character, doesn't it? Besides, it had a living branch growing upright which I didn't want to get rid of.

I ended up cutting the dead portion off while leaving the live portion intact. It hangs low, but not slap-in-the-face low; and it preserves the character, I think.

Some of the dead or broken branches were way too high for me to reach. I finally got a stepstool and a long-handled arborists saw (which we bought at a yard sale) which helped a lot – and was also much safer. I didn't want any thorn-filled branches falling on top my head.

It took me about two weeks of hard labor (working when weather permitted) to get everything done, but the results were splendid. When spring comes and the leaves fill out, it should be a lovely spot.

Here's the view from the road. Looks like nothing, doesn't it? Certainly it doesn't look like it should have taken me two weeks to complete. (That's an old magpie nest in the branches.)

The pile of deadwood destined for chipping is certainly formidable.

There are still a lot of branches on the ground in the grove, but I plan to conscript both Don and Older Daughter in helping drag them to the slash pile.

Meanwhile it was time to yank thorns out of the bottoms of my shoes...

...and clean up all the flesh wounds.

Another project, done.

How many cows?

In response to a post I put up a couple weeks ago on how our neighbor's cows just had calves, a reader asked: "Is there a general rule of how much acreage a heifer would take? We're thinking of getting one next year, but not sure we have enough. We have about 10 acres, but most of it is wooded, so we would have to supplement the 2 - 3 acres of pasture with hay."

There's no cut-and-dried one-size-fits-all requirement for how much land a cow needs, because it depends on whether you're planning on grazing your animals year-round, confining your animals to a paddock, or something in between. It also depends on whether you live in the lush croplands of Virginia or the dry Mohave Desert.

Yet another variable is whether you must feed during the winter, or if your winters are mild enough that the animals can graze year round. If you live in Tennessee, your pasture and available forage will be far different than if you live in North Dakota.

Obviously there's no easy answer to how much land a cow requires. The important thing is not to obtain more animals than your land can comfortably support. Work with what you have, and be prepared to supplement with purchased hay as needed.

Remember, a cow's "job" – what she does for twelve hours a day – is to eat. It is surprising how quickly a cow or two can eat down a small pasture.  But just because you only have a one-acre field shouldn't preclude you from getting cows. However, you will need to purchase hay to feed them, because one acre is not enough land to support anything bovine.

Cows can indeed be kept on small plots – an acre or two – but they must be fed. We used to own a home with a two-acre pasture on which we kept three bovines (cow/calf and yearling steer). We needed to supplement their feed about nine months out of the year.

Additionally, the reader mentioned he/she was getting ONE heifer. Please don't. Get two. Consider getting a steer or another heifer as a companion. Cows are herd animals, and a solitary cow suffers from loneliness and may act out with behavioral issues as a result.

Old business, new owner

Older Daughter, as you may recall, is taking over our woodcraft business.

These last couple of months have been very busy for her. Ever since moving back in, she's been working part-time at a nearby store until such time as the tankard business was off the ground with enough volume to support her.

The trouble is, working retail four days a week doesn't leave a lot of time (or energy) left over to put into the woodcraft business. In January, she was slamming to get an enormous production run (150+ pieces) to a customer by the end of the month, while still juggling her hours at the store. That's when Don and I stepped in to lend a hand.

Now that the sales season for wholesalers is ramping up, she's been contacting some of our old wholesalers and inquiring about their tankard needs. And wham, she got slammed with orders! Orders coming out her ears!

So she happily gave two weeks' notice at her store job and is now fully immersed in the shop on a full-time basis, filling orders. I don't think I've ever seen her as happy. Her hours are her own, and if she wants to knock off early or take a day hike, she can.

Even better, she's making money – far more than she earned at the store.

She bought a large year-at-a-glance wall calendar and is writing what we call "drop-dead ship dates" on it, to plan out her year. She's working at a steady-but-not-insane pace and is quite pleased with her output so far.

Don is still helping her in the shop for a few things (showing her how to change the band-saw blade, how to pin the lids on lidded tankards, etc.), but otherwise it's her gig. We're so proud of her!

UPDATE: Just a note, this is a wholesale-only business, with a minimum order of 30 pieces. She may have individual sales in the future, but she isn't set up for that now.