@flbr I'm certain you'll enjoy this. Let me know if you have questions about some of Ken's experiments, we've put a bunch of them to the test.

Have you tried making solar stills yet? I feel like that would take a lot of deck room, but I find the idea fascinating.

@cathos yeah, and I haven't been able to use them efficiently, the boat would have to be perfectly still, otherwise the brine contaminates the output too easily.

We prefer to capture rain water, it's easier.

That makes sense! Keeping it simple, so long as there is rain. I'm so curious about food storage without refrigeration, too. I read this a while ago, but I have very little idea where to start: https://wiki.lowtechlab.org/wiki/Garde-Manger/en

@cathos the lowtech lab relies on the idea that you can go to the store and get fresh oranges. But that's not really the way we do it, especially not in the summer up north. We tend to prefer lactofermentation and sprouting. We also carry a mill, so we can have whole wheat flour that has not oxided, and like coffee, we grind as needed. This way, it keeps longer.

https://grimgrains.com/site/sprouting.html
https://grimgrains.com/site/lactofermentation.html

@cathos a mill sizable enough to carry on a boat yet productive enough to maintain the flour supply? is it by any chance automatic or you grind the wheat by hand?

@masakepic Kenneth wrote the book around the idea of having to resupply as little as possible. It's a very interesting approach to food, this little book alone advised our entire philosophy of cooking and preservation.

We have lived without refrigeration for 6 years and we've reached a point where I can't even remember why we ever needed one.

That's an interesting idea about having to resupply as little as poss. Vital on boats!
Yeah, my mum lived without refrigeration and offgrid for almost a decade in a stone barn, with just a wood burner. I lived without refrigeration in my flat for over a year (renos).

It's very interesting seeing how different climates, environments and situations deal with food preservation etc. And vital to keep these skills going for the future, too.

I come from generations of farmers, grew up on 2 1/2 acres of smallholding, self-sufficient in all food except grains, hands on, using every part of everything (not vegan, so nuff said!). Gathered own wool from our iron age sheep herd, spinning, beehives etc. My only experience of sea life was a few years as a v young kid on my stepdad's catamaran, & he was a cruel man.

I'm in awe of sailors from a distance, with a very healthy respect for that. I'll stick to rivers and the coast. 😀

@masakepic I totally get that, Rekka and I have been spending way too many hours in the nowheres to know that humans have no business crossing the ocean in the first place ha!

It sounds like you've had the opportunity to accumulate lots of green skills, it's unfortunate that this has gone out of fashion, being thrifty is looked down upon, making up for the loss of that know-how comes at a cost :/

It sounds like such an intense journey. CC's the only other sailor I know, you're all so hardcore for that!

Yeah, that knowledge will come back through necessity and a different vision, I'm sure. The more people keep the spark of that knowledge alive and spread it, the better.

That's a very interesting book, thanks for sharing.

@andia yes! totally agree. has a very desert solitaire feel to it.