Did you maybe run out of swap space?

Yea thats my worry… but if they stop growing they stop growing so 🤷‍♂️

I was hoping for beer! Im cultivating multiple varieties both named types and ones I found around the country. I think I’m close too, might harvest tomorrow morning since we’re about to get blasted with heat again.

Is this hobby you want to start actually something you find fun or something you think you’d enjoy if you were the person you think you are?

My tricks to get going; Talk to people about it, this gives me external accountability. It then becomes ”I said I was gonna do it” and I don’t want to be someone who just talks shit. Or the person joins the activity and that makes it much harder to skip.

Think about the end goal or find a critical point. If i want to be a hobby farmer, i need to do the boring part of soil prep. Otherwise summer comes and Ill again be a shit talker. If i don’t sow these seeds now, theres nothing to farm later.

Prepare a work station and leave stuff out; In place and in the way. I make little specialised toolboxes or work stations. Its about lowering the barrier to getting started.

Simplify your ideas. You don’t need to see A-Z. Just reaching B can change circumstances and create inspiration. I employ ”donkey mode” by briefly considering the consequence of doing a bad job, how poorly others have done it but still succeeding, and repeat the mantra donkey mode donkey mode. I can deal with the consequence of my poor labour after the fact. Someone already made it worse than I did.

If things feel insurmountable; just focus on a small thing. I have many projects running in parallel and taking just a single step forward is great. When all the pieces are in place: execute. Dig that damn garden, don’t worry what gets planted.

And don’t be afraid to cut projects loose or shelve them. Having an infinite todo list where hobbies usually get knocked down, prevents the brain from feeling ”done and settled”, which keeps me from getting into something fun.

Cheers and good luck ✌️

In a few weeks we’ll know how microbe friendly the diluted soap is :) made sure to smudge my dirty hands in each dish for maximum yuck. Then exposed them to the air for a few hours before lidding them up. I wonder how to measure surfactancy and general soap efficiency tho if anyone knows :)

I’ve heard of this brand, but I already have soap. When it runs out and the bins stop providing more I will consider it!

Oo this is interesting! What causes this degradation? Does regular liquid soap also degrade in it’s bottle or is it concentrated enough to last/effects to be negligible? Thanks for adding information!

Obviously I’m not willing to risk anyones health, I posted to ask about if it might be a problem. So I’m not sure where you reached this conclusion. But the aggressive tone seems quite unnecessary and adds absolutely nothing 🤷‍♂️✌️

Haha idk why you gonna be so stingy and throw around definitions of words, especially when using opinion sources rather than a dictionary. Don’t you know that language is defined by how it is used? Regardless,

• Frugality is Strategic: It involves planning, research, and aligning spending with personal values and financial goals.

This post is the research.  One of my values and goals is to consume as little as possible, let alone buying unnecessary stuff in a world of over production of garbage. I actually have a soap dish and hard soap for those that prefer it. Personally I tend to get terrible pimple breakouts from it tho.

The financial goal of this little project is to not spend more money than necessary in general and as most soap just gets put down the drain anyway I thought it a decent afternoon project to look into.

• Frugality is Value-Oriented: The focus is on the overall value received, not just the price tag paid.

Arguably the value added by diluting the soap is very small, but if successful would double the range of a soap bottle, which has intrinsic value in consuming less and producing less garbage (packaging and soap dishes) on top of the fact I don’t have to buy any soap 🤷‍♂️

On the other hand your solution is generating more garbage in form of packaging and a soap dish, whilst adding absolutely nothing of value to my bathroom nor does it adress the issue of wasting soap.

> *Frugality is Empowering: It gives you control over your finances, reducing stress and building wealth.

I have very good control of my finances because I chose to not spend my money where it can be avoided. Hence the dumpster diving to acquire said soap. I spend it on beer instead :)

Now, looking at merriam webster dictionary, which is the definition I actually when deciding where to post my question, it gives much simpler answer than the capital powerhouse you shared.

the quality or state of being [frugal]  : careful management of material resources and especially money

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/frugality

Cheers

I’m not doing anything but asking questions to find out if its doable or not. I too can see the consensus is it’s a bad idea ✌️

For sure, figuring out solutions to silly problems to save pennies can be loads of fun :)

Yea perhaps looking into making the dispenser foaming is a better approach.

I’ll maintain that soap from the trash is much much cheaper than buying soap and a soap dish tho. Frugality is making things reach further with small means no?

Thats what i was worrying about, which prompted me asking! Thanks :)

Getting a new dispenser also spending tho. I tried modifying my old dispenser with a ziptie around the neck but the dispenser broke very quickly, which I think was due to the force you expect to put into it. But thats just a guess, could’ve been a bad pump too

But thats what lead me to looking into dilution/gelling.

But yea buying gum is another purchase whereas i already have plenty of starch.

I already have a lifetime supply of corn and potato starch, and my thought was that it wouldn’t require a lot to gel it up again. Time is not really an issue in my life so I don’t mind boiling some dilution water every now and again.

That works for me but my spidey senses say if that I can’t be instructing guests how to use the soap. I tried modifying the pump to have a shorter stroke, but the pump broke surprisingly fast, I think due to the downwards pressure people expect to need.

Haha yea, hay can be great! But, if you cover your land with hay as mulch it needs to be thick enough to starve out itself from growing. I know this because last year i turned my garlic field into a very dense lawn… The grass seeds really loved that fresh soil and took off like nobody’s business The garlic on the other hand suffocated under the mulch layer. I think the lesson is, mulch out, then cut holes in the hay carpet and plant in those holes. Don’t just cover your crops…

Yea, i get cow manure from my neighbour but i am very paranoid about bringing in slugs, an abundant pest in most of the country but absent here. Which is why I’m so stubborn on making soil from only local ingredients. I have my own gravel pit so thats no issue, and an abundance of trees. Rotted birch has been good but finding and hauling it in any quantity becomes too much work.

Yesterday was a very frustrating day as every blend I made just turned to poorly draining muck in my pots. Even though my last mix has been perfect for my seedlings. So posted here to get inspiration for soil additives to help with that. I think i will up the quantity of wood chips and try again. Good advice tho, for those leas scared of slugs!

Sounds close to what in doing, but with cow manure. Im very paranoid about bringing spanish killer slugs which are abundant all over Sweden, but we are one of the few areas that don’t have any. So the only external material is from my neighbour, who also don’t have slugs.

But my problem with the manure is drainage, which is what prompted this question. On the no dig garden its fine when mixed with whatever, but for things that live in pots it just turns to muck and takes hours to drain. Based on your information i will try a significant increase in wood chips tho.

Thanks for chiming in!

To my understanding, high nutrient soils can burn baby seedlings. This is especially true for blends of peat moss with artificial fertiliser but also uncomposted/poorly composted manures.

I usually go for last years, ie depleted, soil. For small seeds i just pulverise it with my hands for the top centimeter. This year I used soil made of composted manure mixed with sand/fine gravel, crushed terracotta, charcoal and woodpulp i took from some decomposing tree in the forest.

Tomatoes, kale, cauliflower, oregano, sunflower, paprika and chili all took off no problem. No signs of life from my cucumbers and artichoke, tho I think at least the cucumber got eaten by mycelium that spread from the composted manure.