Takaya Chi

Hi again,

Not to fear monger, but...

I'd be really very absolutely extremely sure of what input(s) may be upstream of your river where you get your water, BEFORE you use said water. Anything could be in it, you'd be surprised what people (commercial or private) will "dump" into the water table.

I have no idea where you live or your situation, just be aware and make informed decisions!

Best to you.

Takaya Chi

This probably means your tea has gone anaerobic,
More agitation, i.e. stirring, air stones, water pump, fountain. Anyway you can add more oxygen into the environment will help keep your tea aerobic.

Best of luck permie!

What a problem OP, with land so expensive these days it's frustrating to see any going to waste.

- mushroom cultivation: very difficult. You would need to control the temperture, light, and humidity for your fungi brethren which could be very difficult depending on what climate zone you occupy. I suggest doing a little background studying and starting small perhaps with a "kit". However, not trying to put you off if you want to try, mushrooms are one of my favorite foods and near impossible to find where I live (Hawaii) as in very very expensive so I understand if you wanna try and grow your own. That said many mushroom growers create miniature man made "caves" which enable them to control the environment much easier.

- about the subject of your original post disregarding mushrooms, I'm not aware of any edible succulents but if you'd be into raising some succulents / cacti many varieties require awkwardly low amounts of light and perhaps you could get into cultivating these types not edible but definitely fun and beautiful results! Great for gifts or if your space is large enough perhaps you could even sell to local coops? I often see those places have displays of some botanists handy / artwork : )

-cheers
Takaya Chi

Yes Yes Leila introducing microbes into your garden is the best choice you could make and the little critters are perfect for supplying all those nutrient and minerals locked in the soil which are otherwise "bio-unavailable" for your plants. The micro - herd concentrates on eating all these bio unavailable pieces which are their main food source anyways. The poo or waste from this process provides all the essential AND micro nutrients you could ever want!
I've seen / heard people say for YEARS "this" isnt in my soil or I don't have enough of "that" where I live! Chances are you totally do! The form (molecular body / cohesion of molecules) is just not available to your plants (root system) "as is". It is these microbial fauna which enable us to become sustainable and negate our reliance upon feed stores and commercial ammendments

Please follow Leilas excellent advice and find a copy of:

"Teaming with Microbes"

This is the perfect laymans introduction to: bacteria, microbiology, IMO, EM-1

Best of luck saving those trees!

Cheers
Takaya Chi

Hello Jim,

After reading about your issue and plan, it appeared to me that perhaps there is another alternative that you had not yet considered.

Do you have a compost pile yet?

If not why not start one and add these tips into your compost pile, then once your compost is ready you can apply that to your garden ultimately achieving your end goal of re utilizing the plants your cutting down.

Best of luck saving those trees!

Cheers
Takaya Chi

Hello Gabriella,
A standard permaculture, organic, natural way to deal with fungus is to use a natural fungal predator! If you had a problem with mice or rats in your house what would you do? Maybe get a cat!

A natural predator of fungus happens to be bacteria! Bacteria is a good thing unlike many in the more "developed" countries of the world seem to think! A sort of "war on terror" , "war on drugs" , "war on bacteria" fear mongering mindset is in place to trick us into buying cheap and environmentally irresponsible chemical alternatives to the all natural little tiny critters who live in tribes of millions and billions all around us! These microbial creatures or bacteria can be utilized in so many helpful ways, from pickling your cucumbers to spraying plants with mold or fungus in a concentrated bacterial form known as "AACT" or Actively Aerated Compost Tea, this stuff is the stuff of legends and deserves the term "miracle grow" more than the actual corporate entity.

AACTs can be made with many different ingredients but typically they include sea kelp, worm castings, fish poo(emulsion/hydrolysate), and maybe bat guano or some type of meal. Alternatively nearly anything can be added in addition, such as root stock from a previously healthy crop, a freshly harvested, or dry amount of comfrey or nettles. You name it: cow manure, alfalfa, dandelions, rosemary, cloves, neem, garlic!

Unfortunately I'm not sure what type of ingredients would be best for the particular type(s) of fungus on your precious mangos Gabriella, but I'm sure that any bacteria rich AACT will feast upon your fungus immediately. Just some may be more effective than others. One last hint for AACTs, adding more, sugar, molasses, etc increases the bacterial content of your micro herd !

Best of luck save those trees!

Cheers
Takaya Chi

I agree with many above that you can compost virtually anything and normal rules apply, dense hard materials compost faster if broken up or shredded like bones from an animal or a log. A fast way to speed up the rate of composting is to add liquids and microrganisms to ferment the composting waste some ideas for ferments are vinegar + sugar or lactic acid bacteria sometimes called EM-1 or perhaps just a well brewed AACT(actively aerated compost tea) any of these to add microbial life and help ferment will work well just make sure to cover the compost after applying your microorganisms for fermentation. It is these little critters that will greatly increase your rate of composting!
Hope you have fun reusing your waste!
Cheers

Hello, if I may ask what material are your catchment containers made of?

I understand that hydrogen sulfide is quite acidic, and my friends catchment water where I happen to be right now is made of concrete via the ferrocemment construction method, I believe that the alkalinity of the cemment container reduces the ph of the water from the hydrogen sulfide in the air. So unless you want to get a concrete catchment you could maybe try adding something alkaline to your water.

I don't know if you've ever been but the Big Island of Hawaii has some incredibly cheap land in the area known as Puna, this area has a rain forest amount of rain every year, extremely fertile soils from the volcanoes, and has lots of agriculturally zoned lots that you could do almost any permaculture practices on.

The main animals I've seen raised in Puna so far are:
-chickens
-Muscovy ducks
-goats
-cows
-sheep
If you can afford land closer to the coast you can grow cool stuff like Mangos and Lychees but if you buy land farther from the coast in between the coast and the two large mountains, Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa, the elevation increases dramatically and the temperature drops as well which is definitely appreciated by your larger types of animals, some people have llamas and al paca but most just goats, sheep, and cattle.

The area of Puna is full of natural farming practitioners who follow Cho Han Kyus teachings, as well as other more conventional organic farmers, and your terrifying university funded GMO sprayed papaya farms! Yikes. Anyways I digress. If you've never considered it look into the Big Island Hawaii in the Puna district, lands cheap and the people are "punatics" : )
Hope you find the right place to buy land, Yummykissy

Cheers,
Chi

Hello Rebecca

I have a couple thoughts concerning boosting your income given the information you provided about your farm,

First, I think you could consider finding a neighbor, friend, or family member who has fruit trees of the same variety already in production, it is a common method to graft from established trees onto younger trees to reduce the amount of time new trees take to grow fruit.

Second, I heard many times in my sustainable agriculture classes that products with "value added" ie canned stuff, jams, pickles, sauces, etc. provide much more income than just the raw food. About this idea of value added many areas have local CSA kitchens which you can rent by the hour after your harvest to process/cool your produce.

Well hope these ideas help best of luck to you Rebecca!