Alaskan's Journal

AmberLops

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Well.... getting cold enough, I was thinking maybe I would start up some heat soon....

So I had the boys take apart the stove pipe and clean everything out.

I need to get new screws tomorrow to put the pipe back together.... but then when it threatens to go below 35 in the house... we will be set to light her up!!!
35 degrees in the house?? :ep That's freezing!
 

Mini Horses

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I'd have those 5 boys put the driveway markers in !!! Sure you will need them in a couple months with snow out there.

below 35 INSIDE??? Oh, no. Not here. Low 60s & I'm cold inside. Can't imagine close to that temp and thinking it's ok but, you all are acclimated to it and I am not.
 

farmerjan

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I had the same reactions as everyone else about 35* in the house. Sorry, I know my blood has thinned since I moved south from Ct to Va nearly 40 years ago..... but below 60 + and I am cold too.

One thing, I got a book called the Calcium Lie and it is very interesting reading. About how we have become so focused on "calcium in the bones" that we have totally ignored many/most/all of the other minerals needed to keep up healthy. And after "always" being cold, I am really rethinking some of my nutritional supplements and such. Although I do not take additional calcium, I do love my milk.... but it talks about the lack of mineralization of our soils, and how the food we eat is not near as healthy as it was years ago before we started using chemical fertilizer.... which I know and agree with. And why many on here grow their own and try to enrich the soil and all that, that most of you know well.

The thing with my "episode" last week, which really scared me because of the eyesight "lock", then this book coming in the mail from the company that I have been getting a supplement that is systemic enzyme formula that is supposed to help with joints and stuff. I am finding that I really am wondering about some of what I have been taking and if it is really doing any good .... because by taking stuff by its' self, you may be helping, but you may be throwing the balance of what is in your system even further out of balance. Anyway, just something that some might want to read and ponder the things that are pushed by doctors because so many just tell you to eat a balanced diet, and lose weight and really don't know what is actually going on in your own individual system. I have thought a few times of having a hair sample analysis done, as I have come to understand that things don't always show up in the blood stream in tests run.... this may be the trigger I needed to just do it. It may cost a bit, don't know how much, but I have spent plenty over the years with a nutritionist doctor, all kinds of blood profiles, then money on supplements, that never have really produced any results. Maybe the hair/ mineral test would be better.
 

Alaskan

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Are burned hands not normal? :lol:

Freezing is 32, and you just need to keep the house far enough above that to keep the water in the pipes liquid. Burst pipes are bad.

And yes, I like heat... but I have to save money somewhere.... and this is where I choose to save! :old

As far as minerals etc.... I find lettuce fascinating, I think better more balanced soils equal sweeter lettuce.

Alaska grown carrots are the sweetest that I have EVER tasted. After having just them for so long I find all other carrots a bit bitter. :hu

But, with that said...I know our soils up here have close to zero selenium and copper. Goats up here need a high supplement of both. I would also get fancy kelp meal for them, which they loved.

So.... not really sure how soil mineral content relates to crop sweetness.
 

farmerjan

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I agree with the soil making different crops taste different. Some of the sweetest cantaloupes I ever grew were from ground that I had run the hogs on the year before. The ground had been well roooted up, turned over, and the hogs did a fantastic job of composting everything that they were given. They demolished the weeds and after just a quick tilling in the spring to even out all the "holes and wallows", I planted and mulched and was done.
I have had lettuce that was bitter tasting too, from soil that was pretty poor. Tomatoes seem to taste better from well fertilized soil.
I saw a report on some studies that Mother Earth News had done, and the vitamin/mineral levels in certain vegetables, from different plots with different soil fertility..... and some where I read a study comparing the health benefits of todays vegetables to the ones that were studied in the 1950's (?) and how much more nutritious they were. I fully believe that the healthier the soil, the healthier the food that comes from growing in it.
 
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