Side Hustles

 As a child in the 80's especially early 80's (I was 5 in 1980) I remember a lot of people doing side hustle jobs.  The area I grew up in was killed economically in 1979 (fuck you UAW union) and never really recivered. Economically and culturally the area remained 1970's well after the coasts did the 80's thing 

I saw my father doing and I also did hay baling, cutting and selling fence posts, firewood, candle making, clock making, and various farmers market activities.

One thing that could earn in.say a midwest farmers market is fish.  Commercial licenses in many midwest states are really cheap, unlike the coast states, with Florida being a exception.  

Charcoal at the farmers market could be a good seller if you undercut the supermarket price.  

Wood/grass pellets for stoves is another one.  Couple thousand dollars and you turning what is essentially grass and weeds into fuel.  Just a guy mowing/bagging his lawn grass and pelletizing it could pretty much cover his entire winter heat bill.

Briquetting the grass  and weeds you are making fuel that works in any fireplace.  

Grass pellets and wood chipd make a great feedstock for mushroom growing also. 

Do not wait for permission from the gov that will never come to take care of you and yours.

Built a deck

 

Does not seem like much.. Except every single board I made from recycled plastic I shredded in a mahcine I designed and built and then that was made into boards using a machine I designed and built.

Unfortunately there is a problem here

 This only works if the population has basic home economics and food safety in school.  It is something Americans take for granted because it is taught in American schools.

Where this falls apart, is when Pajeet and Juan show up at the American farmers market with untreated parasite infecitons and related bad habits fresh off the jumbo jet or fresh outta the human smuggler truck.

Article Below:

When Wyoming passed the historic Wyoming Food Freedom Act in 2015, government regulators and skeptics warned of an impending public health disaster, predicting that deregulation would trigger a wave of widespread foodborne illness. Instead, the catastrophic health emergency NEVER ARRIVED. Over a decade later, there has not been a single documented outbreak tied to the law, proving that neighbors can safely buy raw milk, farm-fresh eggs, and homemade meals directly from neighbors without bureaucratic overreach. The program has been a massive economic success, causing the number of local farmers’ markets to soar by nearly 70%, creating vital income for hundreds of rural families, and serving as a triumphant blueprint for “food freedom”. This undeniable success has sparked a nationwide movement, inspiring states like Montana, North Dakota, Utah, and Maine to pass their own versions of the law and empower home kitchens across America.

Check out the comments section for the full benefits of this programs and let us know your personal experience/preference—have you or would you buy homemade food?

DIY Charcoal machine Cheap

 

This video has been circulating on Faceborg content farms. The design works. A buddy has built several units.

Wood is loaded into a metal drum that is then sealed. The gap between the chimney and the drum can be packed with wet mud. A bolted flange and gasket is the better seal if the unit will be used more than a few times.

The fire is started in an internal rocket stove. Dry kindling or a small amount of cooking oil is the cleaner way to light it. Used motor oil will work, but it burns dirtier and leaves more residue.

The rocket stove heats the charge. As the wood carbonizes it gives off gas. Moisture plus those volatiles commonly account for 60 percent or more of the original weight, more if the wood is green.

A metal pipe returns the gases to the rocket firebox. Once that loop is established, the process is largely self-fueling until the volatiles are spent. What burns is a mix of tars, wood vinegar, carbon monoxide, and light hydrocarbons such as propane and butane. Combustion in a simple drum is not complete, but it is cleaner than venting the same gases to the air.

Clean, dry, untreated wood is the intended feedstock if the goal is charcoal or biochar. Other dry organics such as paper or chlorine-free plastics can be run in the same vessel; that is not the same as clean incineration. Do not use PVC, vinyl, or ABS. Food waste is high in moisture and is a poor charge for this design.

The same gas stream can supply heat to a boiler or a grain dryer. Tar and uneven gas quality remain practical problems for heat-exchange surfaces and for temperature control. If you was planning on making large quantities of charcoal, you can roll some steel plate (or staineless steel) for a more durable machine.

Keep the drum sealed until it has cooled. Opening it while hot admits air, can ignite the charcoal, and releases carbon monoxide. Thin drums fatigue after repeated high-temperature cycles. DIY High temp paint

This is a paintable sodium-silicate / red-iron-oxide coating. It is the closest homemade equivalent to a heat-stable red oxide film.

Dry mix (by volume)

• 2 parts red iron oxide powder (Fe₂O₃, rust pigment, or finely ground red oxide primer pigment if you can isolate it)
• 1 part fine silica flour, fireclay, or bentonite

Binder

• Liquid sodium silicate (water glass), about 37–42 °Bé, SiO₂:Na₂O ratio around 2.0–3.2

Mix

1. Blend the powders dry.
2. Add water glass until the mix is like thin cream. Typical starting point is about 1 part liquid silicate to 1–1.5 parts dry powder by volume.
3. Thin with a little water only if it will not brush. Do not make it watery; a thick film flakes.

Use the batch the same day. Silicate mixes skin over and gel in the pot.

Application

1. Wire-brush the drum. Remove loose scale, oil, and old flaking paint. A slightly rusted but sound surface is acceptable.
2. Degrease (hot water and detergent, then rinse and dry).
3. Brush or roll two to three thin coats. Let each coat dry to a hard film before the next. Total dry film should stay thin—roughly 0.1–0.3 mm. Thick coats crack and peel.
4. Air-dry at least 24 hours.
5. On the first firing, heat slowly. The silicate must lose water and begin to vitrify. A gentle first run is better than an immediate hard fire.

This film is a glassy silicate loaded with Fe₂O₃. It reduces scale growth. It is not a permanent enamel and will need touching up after hard thermal cycles. Red iron oxide powder is sold as cement coloring powder. (Also works in thermite)

You get what you pay for.

It is very hard to find the tiki style tropical vacation getaway in the Philippines anymore.  It is all the same sachet factory food, shoddy cement block construction and litter everywhere.  There are nice places, however you really have to work hard to find them and it will cost you.  Either in travel effort to get there or money in room rates. 

Ironically the so called 'new construction' that is the favorite style here.  IE a clone of a crappy Tondo slum  shanty, cost exponentially more to build than the tiki resort.  Tile imported from China, cement from Cebu, substandard rebar made in a Chinese owned foundry in Mindanao, and plumbing made with imagination rather than skill.  Whereas Bamboo, coco palm, and handcrafted furniture is cheaper to aquire but requires upkeep.  Something resort owners do not care to do.

 Upkeep or making things nice is not on the menu with a absentee owner who is just in it to make a fast buck and place to stay when they travel in from Manila or abroad.

Alona Beach looks fine in a photograph. Two blocks away a marching band played all night. The property was concrete-block buildings masquerading as old bamboo huts. The toilet tank was broken; the bowl flushed with a bucket. Breakfast was yesterday’s rice, a scoop of canned CDO corned beef, an overcooked fried egg, and instant coffee. All for a nightly price more than a decent hotel in Manila. After 12 hours I could not wait to leave.

A CHB box on a muddy road with the word resort in the name does not a resort make.