Cole Tyler

This thread is awesome and inspiring for someone like me who has went thru some years of vegan, vegetarian, back to eating meat, "sometimes" eating meat, only eating it if it's offered, and overall just a concious conscience mess inside about the whole thing.

Once I swore that if I ever ate meat again, it would have to be me as the killer and the prep. So then, I learned that speaking and judging too much can easily make oneself a hypocrite.

Would be good practice, and good service at the very least to fetch a roadkill and learn something with good intentions, and I guess while the blood will literally be on my hands, metaphorically it won't be.

Indeed scavenging is the spice of life!

Pallets from a construction company
Glass doors sitting at the curb out for trash
Bathtub tossed in a dumpster

These things helped along the vision of my bath house build (obviously with some new bought things)

A pickup truck makes it happen on impulse sightings...but that can be dangerous as I have definitely grabbed things to take home that have been more trouble than use :)

If it helps to reassure you, I sprouted Paw Paws, Persimmon, Oak, etc in pots that ended up growing successfully in some home made stuff that consisted of a few handfuls of sifted decomposed wood chips, forest soil, and clay-ish topsoil all from the land I'm at - no sterilize as I follow the same thought process as you about the microbiome.

I've also unsuccessfully sprouted Paw Paws and others this way! So who knows!?

Are you able to sterilize some and "feralize" (haha) some to see what happens?

I do whatever comes my way thru the small circle of amazing people I've been lucky enuf to encounter around my area.

It wasn't always this way tho, spent a couple decades in the full-time trenches of the general labor realm doing landscaping, concrete, masonry, residential construction, and mechanics in a city/suburb setting. I've since moved rural several years ago.

I have invested most the $ I made into vehicles, equipment, tools and storage to take care of my own place and own stuff, and be able to be hired on for watever help someone might need.

Really a complete jacka** of all trades, king of none but I'm happy to modestley squeak by as it seems the more $ and jobs I get tangled up in, the less happy I become.

Nothing like cooking up old potatoes on the wood burner and just heading out to the woods at my "camp" to do some bush honeysuckle maintenance because I'm low on $ and low on work :) It's bliss but I'm fortunate in many ways with limited bills - although there are drawbacks which are clear as a few people (one my brother) have realized the freelance/permie etc lifestyle is not what they imagined and moved out or moved on after just a few short weeks.

The key for me is having a home on wheels since it's true I often drive 1.5 hrs for work in the more urban areas...I just stay a few days in my box truck typically, and it works out for the dogs and I.

I watch/listen to loooots of vids, so I may be confusing something here but I think Joseph Lofthouse recently mentioned something about microlife and nitrogen nodules on some corn roots he was growing?? Who knows, he might have been reffering to someone he knew?

This makes me think of Hopi corn which is grown in rather extreme conditions with minimal to no input based on todays ag standards...of course lots of spiritual and personal input goes into it though. A fella named Ahkima has some videos on youtube where if you search enuf can hear and watch him go thru the entire process from seed to lush green plants in essentially desert soil.

Good to see some actual scientific results from educated people because even if I or other peasant/hippy/permie types don't require such well documented scholarly convictions to see the value in old ways and old varieties, the rest of the world does in order to take things seriously!

Good job on the pumpkins/squash guys and gals!

I really dropped the ball this season and while I seeded well over 100 for a fall/winter selection I lost every single one. It was super hot and dry and put my efforts elsewhere in the gardens and landscape after running my water bill way up and exhausting myself with an off-farm job on top of it.

I still manged to squeak out some garlic, onions, greens, cabbage, corn, beans, tomatoes, peppers, sweet potatoes etc so not a total fail and funny enuf, the only halfway decent pumpkin I DID get came from some I found on the side of the road last winter and set in a pile for the crows and critters to eat lol. They were closer to the house so they got some watering. Vine borers put the hurtin' on it tho so it could have developed a bit more for good seed production :/ We'll see if they sprout next year.

The good thing is yes I learned something, lots of things actually - mostly revolving around precious water... and hopefully next season I'll be able to report back with some good results. Thanks for the posts on this topic it's inspiring!

In summary, yes I basically live in a storage shed, and if you try to kill mice with a bb gun don't use a Red Ryder I'd say get something at least double the power like 650+ fps.

Good posts here, and an issue here for several years at my place.

I keep all my seeds and most food in glass jars, metal tins (like you can get popcorn or coffee in) and some of those small metal "garbage" cans w/lids found at Rural King.

If on a FLAT floor, certain filing cabinets are mouse proof...too bad mine was on a very crooked wooden floor for a bit :)

Clean clean clean, sweep sweep sweep, and move furniture/shelves/crates/etc, often...open and check drawers for signs of food hoarding or bedding.

Looks like you are already trying your best to seal things up!

Heres a story, it's sad so don't read if you love mice :(

I do love mice, but I can also be shifty and turn to hate mice when suffering from insomnia due to thier ruckus. I'm not a fan of snap or sticky traps, if I'm going to kill something I want it to be personal. I've tried "friendly" traps in the past but sadly have forgotten to check them quick enuf and thats a bad thought to live with. My brother came down to stay for a bit and while I was kinda just dealing with the mice thru non-violence, he wasn't having it.

So I opted for a bb gun. Red Ryder to be exact. We ziptied a small flashlight to the barrel for nite stalking and I also had a flashlight (e have no electric here). Thought this would be a quick way to do the dirty work.

My brother took the first shot around 11pm... well it sent the poor mouse flying off the shelf but he ran away - we were on him tho and found him in a corner, another shot, ran again under the wood stove, 2 more shots nearly point blank...he was hurt bad but managed to scurry under a dresser. Another shot, I was holding my flashlight right on him up close, he took the hit, still alive, albeit slightly different looking and such a horrible look in his little eyes staring right at me from only 1ft away, I took the knife I had in my hand and had to let out a grunt and finished him aggressively with a thrust to the neck as hard as I could up against the wall. Wow, super traumatic I'll remember that mouse forever. I feel so bad but it definitely improved human living conditions here as that mouse was getting very bold due to the slack I had been cutting him. I gave him a proper burial outside, a real trooper.

Get this tho- 2 days later what appeared to be a female and 3 young were dead in my makeshift sink that I happened to forget to fling outside (think stainless steel bucket with acouple inches of water in it) I think they might have killed themselves out of missing or possibly witnessing the death of thier male father/partner?? I think about them nearly every day, this was about a month ago...a stray mouse or 2 have come in since then but not nearly as bad as the one I ended up killing.

I do know that I never want to kill another mouse again, just gotta do better at living clean and kept!

Noticed some reminents of flower/seed heads still on the yarrow scattered about my place, decided to grab a few and give a chew...wow! They were soft and still absolutely full of zesty/citrusy flavor...a nice natural "wake-up and recharge kick" on a mostly calm, cloudy wet day here in Kentucky.

Also grabbed a mullein leaf to dry...I just love the vitality of some of these "weeds" as a couple recent freezes have put the hurt on some of the crop gardens, but these still stand strong.