Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Native garden plants update and a question

I planted a few native melons on one end of a bed with the beans in it, and on the other end I planted some cantaloupe for comparison. Nearly all of the native melon plant seeds sprouted immediately, about a week or 10 days later the cantaloupe seeds sprouted. However, something bird or bug decided they liked the native sprouts as those dwindled to three and then today I checked on them and there were no more left. :( The cantaloupe is doing fine. So much for that plan, I think I'll wait until next season and make a stronger effort, though that seems counterintuitive, it should be EASIER to grow the native plants.

Secondly, groceries cost a whole lot of money. I'm grateful that our eggs and most of our produce come from the back yard. Hopefully the skyrocketing expense of food will nudge new people into starting their own Victory (from oil and The Man!) gardens.

Thirdly, I've noticed a trend growing in the underground urban homesteader movement--- use (reusable) cloth toilet paper. Really? I guess it's not that different from using cloth diapers, but for some reason it seems much more strange to me. Does that mean you have to wash out the soiled cloths every time you go to the bathroom? If not, where do you keep them? If so, how do you clean them? I don't want to clean waste in the same sink I brush my teeth/my husband shaves in and I'm not going to go marching though the house holding toilet cloths..."Oh, I'm glad you could make it over for dinner, pardon me I'll just be a second while I wash my feces out of this cloth." I'm just curious about all of this. Hopefully someone can help me understand.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

I'm not sure that the total resource requirements for these reusable cloths is less than toilet paper. Why not just skip using any cloth and jump in the shower right after?

A proper lady should only go once a week at the most and should be timed right before a shower in any case.

On the same lines check out the Diva Cup which I highly recommend.

maventheavenger aka jamie said...

I've heard that rumor too about reusing toilet paper, but I've also heard of getting a hose attachment for your toilet to make it into more of a bidet. I suppose you could either rinse yourself off or you could use the hose to rinse the toilet paper.
And the Diva Cup totally rocks. Although one of my best friends prefers reusable pads.