Category Archives: 5 Gallon Bucket Articles

For years since I moved to the Pacific Northwest, I have tried various methods of light therapy in the cold, dark winter months. And I’m pleased to share with you a setup that actually works at a very attractive price.

What I’ve Tried

My earliest attempt was a CFL full spectrum bulb. I bought one while living in the dormitories at college around 2009, and used it in my desk lamp.

Read to the end to discover the the 100-year old lost technology that ranks 5 out of 5 suns! 

I’d hoped it would wake me up in on sluggish mornings during the winter months where it was so difficult to get out of bed and to class. The idea is that unlike standard indoor bulbs, the spectrum of light emitted more closely resembles natural sunlight.

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I bought an emergency kit last year for my car. It gave me “peace of mind” and all that warm fuzzy marketing crap – but I ran into a problem when I actually had to use some of the stuff from the kit during a camping trip.

Specifically, my kit had one of those hand crank flashlights – and the lever part was so crappy that the handle broke off after -literally- two minutes of use.

Good thing I only had a midnight toilet emergency and not a real emergency.

Lesson learned, I’m all about quality over quantity in my emergency survival kits from now on. In fact I have a trick for identifying a low quality emergency kit:

When half your kit by weight is cheap as dirt packets of water, you’re not looking at good value for money.

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This post is a continuation of our guide to growing oyster mushrooms here. If you haven’t read it yet, please check it out first, as we go through a lot of vital information, demonstrating how to grow oyster mushrooms using old coffee as a substrate.

You might wonder after reading our guide whether there’s a low cost alternative, one that doesn’t require you to buy spawn on the internet. The answer is: Yes there is. The pay-off may not be guaranteed, but it’s certainly worth a shot.

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