FRC Forums highlighted posts of the week

230gr started this discussion
Uses for Wood Ashes
« on: July 02, 2009, 05:27:31 PM
Mixed with salt and water into a thick paste, it repairs ovens and fireplace cracked or loose bricks.
Garden fertilizer for K, P & minerals.
Add to hot water to remove hair from hides.
Add to hot water to wet feather and loosen feathers from poultry before plucking.
Add to compote for making Salt Peter.
Mixing with sand for chicken’s dust baths.
Add to outhouse to eliminate odors.
Add to henhouse floor to eliminate odors and preserve nitrates.
Place on snow to accelerate spring melting.
Spread on sandbur infestations to eliminate.
Glass cleaner: rub with newspaper cuts oils & grease
Fire Extinguisher - A large quantity of ashes dumped onto an out of control fire will help extinguish it, by smothering fires.
Insect Repellent - Sprinkle ashes beside the row crops and on natural paths thru the garden to help discourage slugs and snails
When making a concrete block and fire brick oven, ashes can be used in place of vermiculite in the insulation layer.

GM replied
I have found that wood ash in the garden will lead to scabs on the potato skins. coincidence? Is it just me?

230gr replied
Definitely not, potato scab is suppressed by low pH soil and wood ashes raise the pH quite well. I believe it is best to plant potatoes on ground that was treated with wood ash the year before unless you have very acid ground. Even then, the ashes should be worked in 2 to 4 weeks before planting.

GM replied
Thanks 230. I see the beginning of a plan. Dump this winter's woodstove ash on the snow where I want to plant taters in the spring. Might help kill off whatever plants are growing their naturally before it gets tilled in.....

Heyman replied
Thats the way we did it growing up dump the ashes all winter on the garden along with some of the manure we mucked out and let it compost on its own then tilled it under we never even rotated crops that i can remember.
Well not all the ashes went to the garden sometimes they were sprinkled at the end of the lane to eat through the ice.

230gr replied
Good point heyman. We often put the ask on top of snow drifted beds in early spring to help the sun melt it down to bare dirt in order to warm up the soil faster. Be careful about spreading ashes earlier in the winter on perennial beds as the snow is good insulation from bitter cold temperatures.

411man supplied this one
New Evidence That Vinegar May Be Natural Fat-fighter
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090622103820.htm
ScienceDaily (July 7, 2009) — Researchers in Japan are reporting new evidence that the ordinary vinegar — a staple in oil-and-vinegar salad dressings, pickles, and other foods — may live up to its age-old reputation in folk medicine as a health promoter. They are reporting new evidence that vinegar can help prevent accumulation of body fat and weight gain.
Tomoo Kondo and colleagues note in the new study that vinegar has also been used as a folk medicine since ancient times. People have used it for a range of ills. Modern scientific research suggests that acetic acid, the main component of vinegar, may help control blood pressure, blood sugar levels, and fat accumulation.
Their new study showed that laboratory mice fed a high-fat diet and given acetic acid developed significantly less body fat (up to 10 percent less) than other mice.
Importantly, the new research adds evidence to the belief that acetic acid fights fat by turning on genes for fatty acid oxidation enzymes. The genes churn out proteins involved in breaking down fats, thus suppressing body fat accumulation in the body.

eeyore replied
I have heard of people using vinegar to help desolve and pass kidneystones

Heyman replied
My sister just became an RN and she says that vinegar works on alot of things. I will try to get a list from her and post it

230gr replied
Vinegar is very effective at leveling blood sugar spikes from carbohydrate consumption; very useful for diabetics especially.