Save Our Skills - Latest Comments

Re: Thank You

John W. Gardner — Mon, 14 May 2012 12:56:17 -0000

I would like a chicken coop plan for 3 or 4 hens. The plan should have a small walk-in building and a fenced run for the hens.

Re: Working with Pallet Wood: Breaking them down and project ideas

saveourskills — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 09:06:45 -0000

what is it?

Re: Working with Pallet Wood: Breaking them down and project ideas

Wolflax44 — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 08:02:16 -0000

This is awesome, I have made many projects with pallet wood, here is the latest one.

Re: How To Build a Cheese Press for ~$10

Loganrich — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 07:19:08 -0000

I've heard u can make vegetable rennet from scotch thistle

Re: If You Want to Fix Things – You Are Going To Need Some Tools

Patrick Roehrman — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 18:04:58 -0000

Great post, although I would say I disagree with you about the channel lock pliers they are great for many applications. However many people use them wrong. They are meant to be used in only one direction like a pipe wrench which will get a stronger grip the harder you push. I have watched many people us them wrong. Knowing the right way to use a tool is a "skill"

Thank You,

Patrick
MT Knives

Re: How to Change Your Car’s Oil at Home – DIY and Save $

Shrly — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 17:22:22 -0000

So you save a whopping $9 hoo hoo, is that $9 worth getting your hands all greasy and yuky lol

Re: Episode 31: My experiences buying local grass fed pasture raised beef. Verdict: It’s awesome!

Prepping 101 — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 16:34:26 -0000

We just bought ourselves a pastured pork and beef. My wife commented the ground beef was the best thing she has ever had. We have not even had the good stuff yet.

Re: Make Your Own Gravity Fed Home Water Filtration System

Onsitem — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 06:34:56 -0000

i would love to buy a berkey system but i live in Thailand and have looked hi and low for one. however i have see the filters here.. they must be being used on some home systems

Re: Make Your Own Gravity Fed Home Water Filtration System

Onsitem — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 06:26:06 -0000

the only problem with tis home made filter system is it is plastic.. the whole reason i want to have a gravity filtering system is to stop drinking from plastic bottles....

Re: How to smoke your own homemade beef jerky!

Farseer — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 21:40:38 -0000

We make lots of jerky in the oven and dehydrator and smoke our fish so thought we'd combine the two and give smoking jerky a go. Thanks for the video and laughs, Nick! :)

Re: Urban Hugelkultur Raised Beds

saveourskills — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 16:44:31 -0000

Thanks, I kept my existing raised beds and just added new ones...

Re: Urban Hugelkultur Raised Beds

Mil — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 13:30:44 -0000

I just learned about hugelkultur after listening to Jack talk about it. I wish I had known about it when we put our raised beds in back in 2008. If I ever "revise" our raised beds, I plan to do this.

Nice one!

Re: Episode 1: Dennis McClung showcases his amazing backyard aquaponics operation

mario gutierrez — Sat, 24 Mar 2012 20:43:40 -0000

hi dennis i am very impressed on how you did you pool , i would love to have a chance to talk to you ,or email me how i can do what you did with the pool..i live in san antonio texas,im getting ready myself i love the set up you have, i would like to do the same thing my email is gutierrezm69@yahoo.com or creativestucco9 @aol.com

Re: Urban Hugelkultur Raised Beds

Curt — Sat, 24 Mar 2012 08:29:59 -0000

Cool, thanks. I imagine that the "dirt" that is created by the breakdown of the wood is pretty good stuff too.

Re: Urban Hugelkultur Raised Beds

saveourskills — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 09:49:48 -0000

Oops... sorry my fault. It just dawned on me you were talking about hugelkultur.

We Paul says it can be 10 to 15 years for that 2. Since mine are smaller scale I'm thinking 6 to 8

-Nick

Re: Urban Hugelkultur Raised Beds

saveourskills — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 09:42:07 -0000

They are pressure treated. I would guess at least 10 to 15 years

A deck cared for properly will last 25 years...

Re: Urban Hugelkultur Raised Beds

Curt — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 09:36:05 -0000

Very nice write up. The beds look great. Any idea how long they will last before you need to "recharge" them with more wood? I would love to see periodic updates on whether you need to water them at all during the summer.

Re: Urban Hugelkultur Raised Beds

saveourskills — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 08:21:23 -0000

apparently it's caught in their spam filter. If you login you can see it. Otherwise you'll have to wait till they get to work this morning.

Yeah it really pisses me off because their site said "published" and urged me to send out the link via social media/ email/ blog

I'm totally fine with going to moderation but *don't tell me it's live when it's not* Argh!! So frustrating

Re: Urban Hugelkultur Raised Beds

Donotreply — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 07:44:40 -0000

Your url doesn't work.

Re: 20 sure-fire tips to make your child fat

Miranda — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 14:22:47 -0000

I'm sorry you find it sad. You're not my son's parent. I am also 27, I've dealt with the same generation of people you have. I don't know if you have kids yet, but you'll notice that every child is different and needs different techniques to be taught successfully. A book that I LOVE and has helped me deal with my son in many ways (not just how picky an eater he is) is "Raising Your Spirited Child" by Mary Sheedy Kurcinka.

I'll add that my mother NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER made me eat anything, she never sent me to bed without supper, and I eat a fabulously healthy diet. All she did was just encourage me to try new things; I'd balk sometimes, but sometimes I'd try it, and she set a good example for me by eating healthy foods and loudly enjoying them in front of me. My husband's mother did things similarly, and he is also a very healthy eater. We raise our children lovingly and prayerfully, and what works for our kids isn't always what's best for another kid. I just wanted to put some ideas out there in case other parents are struggling like we did.

As far as him learning a "What's in it for me?" attitude, it's pretty easy to see a small child learning how to manipulate. They get a little grin and say "What will you give me for it?" I've seen other kids do that, but my kids don't (at least not with food). If they ever do, we'll handle that then, but they just don't have the personality that is inclined to manipulate others.

Re: 20 sure-fire tips to make your child fat

Cowboyb1985 — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 11:32:30 -0000

I find it sad that you barter with your children. Going to bed without supper IS NOT THE END OF THE WORLD.I myself have endured this many times as child. All you are setting yourself up for is a life time rewarding your child for something they should have done because you told them to period. I dont mean to make anyone one angry but i am 27 and have had to deal with the (whats in it for me for me) generation my whole life. Do me you and your child a favor and teach them that respect is earned not given. If we can tackle that first veggies are a piece of cake

Re: Excellent collection of free shop jigs and other woodworking plans

table saw — Sun, 18 Mar 2012 15:00:08 -0000

however usually include added wheels which permit easy access and very easy to carry. The best part about this table saw is that they may be plugged into an ordinary electric powered circuit.

Re: 20 sure-fire tips to make your child fat

saveourskills — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 16:14:32 -0000

Good points, there of course is no, one size fits all prescription. Our son is only 9 months and we already have to mix in plain yogurt with his veggies sometimes in order to get him to eat them.

The key is to be mindful, and that is what this exercise was about more than any specific rule, be aware of your decisions and why you are making them. It's not about creating a set of inflexible dogmatic guidelines.
-Nick

Re: Building a Rabbit Hutch

Kwsokol — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 14:03:51 -0000

I live in southwest PA and it gets cold here - what wlii the rabbit sleep in at night or something to block the wind

Re: 20 sure-fire tips to make your child fat

Miranda — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 15:07:23 -0000

I do slightly take issue with not offering sugary treats as a reward for trying veggies. We do this and it works. My son truly is a picky eater; we've raised him and my daughter the same way and she'll try foods he refuses. But if we offer him a reward for trying something he doesn't want, he'll often discover that he does actually enjoy the food we're offering him, and will eat much more of it than we asked him to! The trick is to make the amount of sugary treat directly dependant on the amount of vegetable he eats: one bite of veggie, only half a bite of treat. Ten bites of veggie, five bites of treat. (This also gets him to flex his math skills!) He's also learned by experience that the treat is only offered to get him to try something new; once he knows if he likes it or not, there's no treat on the table. If he likes it he'll eat it and enjoy it; if he doesn't like it he only has to suffer through two bites of it per meal (and we enforce this one by saying "You're welcome to leave the table after you've eaten 2 bites of your vegetables," and then he has to pick another vegetable from what we have on hand to substitute for what he didn't eat.) We DO eat and enjoy our healthy foods, but our son is just not an adventurous eater. By employing a few tricks, we've enlarged his palate to include enough fruits, veggies, and whole grains, that he eats a much healthier diet than the average 5-year-old :D We do laugh when he eats a "kiddie meal" while his sister and Mommy and Daddy all eat "grownup meals" but as long as his kiddie meal is based on whole grains and veggies, I'm cool with that!

Oh, one more thing. Kids will eat ANYTHING if it's dipped in ranch dressing. Concerned about the unhealthfulness of every ranch dressing available on the shelves? Make your own from scratch! It literally only takes 5 minutes and is SO much yummier than what you can buy, and then you can serve it to your precious children and watch them devour raw spinach, tomatoes, snap peas, bell peppers, celery, broccoli, carrots, etc. to your heart's content!