Crazy Useful
Your Guide to Natural resources, products, and cottage industries
Tag: crazy useful things
Word of the Day: Strake
A strake is a section of iron laid around the rim of a wooden cart of wagon wheel. The purpose of the strake is to protect the wooden rim from damage. The manufacture of the strake is the domain of the blacksmith, where the…
Crazy Useful Thing of the Day: Sorghum
Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor), also known as great millet or durra, is a domesticated species of cereal crop in the grass (Poaceae) family. It is the single cultivated species within the genus Sorghum. Wild sorghum is native to Africa, where it was originally cultivated and…
Crazy Useful Thing of the Day: Cod
Cod is a name that refers to the two species of fish in the genus Gadus, in the Gadidae family. They are the Pacific cod (G. macrocephalus), and the Atlantic cod (G. morhua). Of these, the Atlantic cod is by far the most intensively…
Crazy Useful Thing of the Day: Mangosteen
The mangosteen is a species of evergreen tree in the Clusiaceae family, native to Southeast Asia, but now cultivated in several other tropical areas. It is cultivated for its edible fruit, the purple mangosteen. It is the most widely cultivated species within the Garcinia…
Crazy Useful Thing of the Day: Alunite
Alunite (hydrated aluminum potassium sulfate) is a naturally occurring mineral containing alum. The name “alum” is used for several different compounds, but usually refers to the double sulfate salt of aluminum and either potassium, ammonium, or sodium. Most commonly, it refers to potassium alum….
Available now:
Crazy Useful Things: A Dictionary of Natural Resources and Their Products
This is the book that started it all, available now on Amazon.
