Toilet paper in the woods: a rant and some advice

...s and sits, flapping in the breeze, basically immortal. Paper lasts a long time! Think about it. There’s probably toilet paper dating back to WWII floating around Joshua Tree. If it gets wet and dries up again, toilet paper turns into this sort of crusty papier mache, clinging to the land like a contagious skin disease. Eventually, with enough water and time and maybe some helpful trampling by animals, it will darken and break down enough to be un...

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Checking in on Kelly’s projects

...e soon. Graham is a wizard with natural dyes and shibori technique, so any time spent working with him over a dye vat is time well spent. We’re growing three indigo plants for him, and I’m looking forward to harvesting and dyeing. I suspect that if I take dyeing up more actively, it will be after I get better at sewing. Pottery: I did not post about this, but I got it into my head that I wanted to learn ceramics, so I can make ollas, a clay tippy...

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Camping on Halloween Night

...eard water and ran to the stream bed. The day before it had been dry, now it ran with water. I knew it was a temporary flow, but the sight of running water after a long dry summer brought tears to my eyes, and I remembered that Halloween is the Celtic New Year. It’s a time of darkness, and a time of death (the traditional time for slaughtering stock), but in death there is renewal, and I felt that renewal in the moist loam beneath my feet and the...

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2015 Resolutions

..., so there’s no excuse not to be modeling my uniform for all you folks sometime this year. Design and produce a ceramic oil lamp Take up archery again. This is not a very specific goal, but I’d be happy if I got my equipment in order and went out stump shooting a few times before the weather gets hot. I’m committing to daily exercise, and exercising more than once a day–breaking up my exercise into shorter intervals so I don’t have those sedentary...

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The Root Simple 2016 Holiday Gift Guide

...ploy my leatherman rebar at least once a day and wear it on my belt at all times. Solavore Sport Solar Oven Consider this thing a solar-powered slow cooker. We were sent one by the company for testing and what I like about it, over other solar box cookers, is the ability to cook two pots of food at once. Civilized people need some rice with their stew. SolSource Solar Grill We did a video on this cool solar grill recently showing how you can use i...

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