Blutranes, I am glad to answer on your questions. First of all, Ovsinsky did not use charcoal, he used compost and emphasized the role of humus but is other theme. So Ovsinsky is out of topic. Its better to make new thread of Ovsinsky, but let it be left here for a while. I understand, its difficult to read computer translations and even more - a book was published in 1900 and some words are outdated. Ill try to clarify the text and answer any questions. Torture. Ovsinsky didnt like to torture plants. LOL. He begins the book with the reasoning and examples of that though the plants dont think, they react very reasonably in many complex situations of their life. It sometimes even looks that they have "emotions". There are examples in the book and I shall not repeat them here. There are 2 main reasons in their "motivation": 1. To survive 2. To reproduce. These 2 main reasons are basic "laws of nature" of any alive being including us. Ovsinsky noted that plants do not try to reproduce themselves (by flowers, seeds, fruits etc.) if they live in good conditions. They try to thrive themselves instead. (The same is often true about a man. During the wars (bad conditions) the birth rate is often higher and frequency of baby-boys is higher than baby-girls.) When plants live in too good conditions they may not produce seeds and fruits at all. This is the often situation in growing tomatoes. But if plants feel that they may die they began to produce fruits to pass on the baton of life to next generations. So, Ovsinsky writes that good nutrition and conditions are not uniqe anxiety of the gardener if he wants obtain fruits from plants. And he must to bring up and force plants to give seeds/fruits. How to make it? There are many ways and Ovsinsky write about them. Think about to stop watering for a while of tomatoes or strawberrie that feel themselves so good that give no fruits. There are many oportunities in the way of planting. 1. Planting plants densely so they bother each other. It forces them to "struggle for life" and competition. 2. At the same time plants have to have enough free soil space near them so they "feel" that seeds will fell on beneficial soil. Think about this way of planting trees: So this is a basis of Ovsinskys way of planting cereals in rows: 15 inches in row (double dense), 15 inches of free soil space. Distance between seeds was 5cm in his work. Dense-empty. I use this way for planting potatoes sometimes. I make double density rows of potatoes and leave more wide space between rows. It works. Yeilds 1.5 times higher. The next part of the book is about 2-inch plowing and harm of the deep plowing. It is an excellent understading of what is going in the soil which pass ahead its time for the century at least.

I couldn't disagree more!! Potting soil or soil suited for growing in containers has very different requirements than soil necessary for inground growing conditions. This is primarily because container culture is a closed environment requiring frequent, often daily, watering, offering a limited root run and with a need for exceptional drainage. Too much organic matter (in the form of any kind of compost) will eventually adversely impact drainage, as it continues to decompose and compact, reducing pore space. The best container soils generally contain no real soil and very modest amounts of OM. Peat or coir (cocoa fiber) is a good base (yes, they are OM but very slow to decompose) and you do need the addition of pumice or perlite to facilitate drainage and provide porosity. High fired clay (Turface) is a great substitute for these if available in your area. Bark fines will help with moisture retention plus provide necessary texture and pore space. Check out the Container forum for many excellent DIY potting soil recipes, especially any of the posts by Al (tapla). If you have access to Gardner and Bloome products, look for their Blue Ribbon Potting soil. I've used this product for years and it is an excellent medium for any kind of container growing, especially for long-term containers, which can be a challenge to maintain with quality soil conditions and fast drainage.

With respect to background, it sounds to me as if you're about as prepared to be your own GC as anyone. I know there are folks on this forum who will insist that you should "let the professionals do it" but... As far as I know, there are no colleges or trade schools that teach how to be a general contractor. Nor do I know of any formal apprenticeship programs anywhere although there may be a few somewhere. Many states don't require that GCs even be licensed. Some require a license but getting one is a matter of sending in a form with your name and address, a signed avowal that you don't have any felony convictions, and a small licensing fee. That means pretty much every "professional GC" out there learned on the job. Many of them started out as laborers in a particular branch of construction, decided they could run a business in that branch for themselves so started up their own painting/framing/roofing/foundation/whathaveyou business, and from there branched out to general contracting. Basically the GC's job is to keep the work flowing along, he pull permits, secures insurance, schedules inspections, hire subcontractors (and, IMHO, SHOULD make sure the subs work is done correctly), order materials and make sure they're on site when needed, handles the cash flow, and keeps records. If you need financing for your build however, you will need to find out if your bank will work with an owner-builder. Many won't. A few will. If your bank won't work with an owner-builder, find out what you must do, if anything, to get licensed as a builder in your state. Then set up a "building company" and contract with your own building company to do your build. As for whether it is a good idea to be your own GC... ARE YOU AN ORGANIZED PERSON? Can you keep up with names, addresses, sales slips, bids, contracts, warrantys, timelines, material's lists, etc. Do you know how to make and use spreadsheets? Are you willing to spend time learning everything you can about housebuilding? Are you willing to spend time checking references of potential subs? Are you willing to spend time everyday at your site checking the work of subcontractors and keeping up with use of materials so stuff doesn't "walk off" - at least without you knowing it? Will your real job suffer from neglect while you build? Can you be tough when necessary without getting emotional? Can you deal with people who lie to your face without losing your cool? Have you ever fired anyone? Have you ever run a complex project of any sort? Have you ever supervised a dozen people all at once? If you can answer yes to the above questions, I'd say go for it. It sounds as if you have a support system in place (parents) who can help guide you thru the order in which things need to be done and figuring that out is one of the more intellectually difficult parts of being a GC. Having worked in many phases of construction yourself, you probably know enough to at least be able to tell when most jobs have been done correctly but you might look into hiring a GOOD third party inspector with experience inspecting new builds at various phases. Getting subs is NOT that difficult and my experience when I took over GC-ing my own house after firing my sorry-a55 builder was that subs/suppliers were as willing to give me builder discounts as they had been to give them to my builder. After all, unlike my builder, my credit scores are good and I was willing to actually PAY for materials when they were delivered and pay the subs as soon as the job was completed. And the money I saved stayed in my pocket instead of going into my builder's. I found that the most difficult aspect of getting subs was getting them to actually show up when they said they would. When you're a homeowner building a single house, subs will often put off finishing your job in order to go start a job with someone else. Basically, they want to "lock in" all the work they can and they figure that once they've started your job and have some of your money in their pocket, you have no option but to wait for them to finish the job. The way to handle that is to make sure they never ever have any of your money in their pocket and that your agreement with them gives you the right to rescind the contract without notice to them and hire a replacement if they fail to show up. Email me and I'll send you a list of the terms that I started insisting be into every Sub's contract when I got fed up with being the "lowest priority job."

I have been making and selling candles for ten years now. When I started, I was using parafin but within a year I switched to soy. That was about the time they had introduced soy. I use a crock pot. My husband drilled a hole near the bottom, on the side, and put a spicot on it. I melt the wax in the crock pot. I have it set on the dial where it wil heat the wax to 150 degrees. I then pour the amount of melted wax that I want (let's say 14oz) into a glass measuring cup. I then add the scent. Usually about 1oz. It also depends on how strong the scent is, so take a wiff while your stirring. That will be about how strong it will be when the candle is burning. Then I add the coloring. I've tried different ways to color and I liked the liquid color the best but now I don't use any coloring. My label for my jars are the color the candle would be. As soon as I have added the sent and color, I pour it right into the jars.(I use 8oz mason jars) I don't heat my jars first but I do have my wicks already 'glued' into the jars before I pour in the wax. I put a dab of hot glue on the wick tab and attach it to the bottom of the jar. That way it stays centered and in place while the wax is cooling. The 14oz that I mentioned above plus the scent will fill two 8oz jars just right. Once the wax cools, I cut off the wick and put on the lid. I have not had any problems with the scent of my candles. I have repeat buyers. My question to you is what kind of wick do you use. I use a hemp core wick that is already tabbed and dipped in wax to stiffen it. It sounds as if you might be using a zinc core wick. The zinc core wicks will cause alot of the same problems you're having. I tried to use up the zinc core wicks that I had left over from when I made parafin candles and they do not work in soy wax. I was trying to save myself some money but that didn't work. I buy my supplies from Bitter Creek Candle Supply. A link to their site below. I would recommend them to anyone. They have alot of helpful ideas and they do have live help on their site. I don't know what time of day but they usually have someone on there everyday. You can also call them on the phone and there is always someone available. They love talking about candles. I hope this has helped you. Keep trying, you'll get the hang of it. Cindy Here is a link that might be useful: Bitter Creek Candle Supply