Pj Maddox

Laura Jean Wilde wrote:Welcome to our forum. this is an area I seriously want to know more about. I have been trying to get some bees here for several years, but no beekeepers are interested and I dont know why. theres is 13 acres of biodiverstity with lots of flowers and fruit trees but they will only put a hive on my place if I pay them grrr!

You need to make your own hives. I built Warre Hives an bought two packages of bees and installed them. They are easy to make and are a cozy home the bees will love. After installing them I found out I wanted to observe them and made more boxes with windows, using a little plastic. Your friends and family will all want to look at them too. All your plants will thrive. Look in your local Ag Societies for adds and you can get the things you really need. Using natural beekeeping you do not need a lot of the Stuff they sell.

The "professional" beekeepers you contacted are large. They place numerous hives on farms and get their income for pollinating Orchards. They cannot be bothered moving hives around for single individuals. They deliver them for spring, and pick them up to harvest the honey, which they process in bulk. You will be better off with happy naturally raised Bees. I am an old Gal and I can do it, So I know you can too. Just go to the Warre Website and you can find out what you need to know. (Feel free to write me) Have Fun honey!

Some time ago I saw an article about small towns giving away land for settling there.
So when I started reading this thread, I looked up some info. Here is what I found

http://www.dailyfinance.com/2010/10/19/click-here-for-free-land-five-places-where-land-is-free/

This one, I copied, looks good:


(4) Marne, Iowa is giving away what appears to be attractive-looking lots with well-established trees -- either that or someone went a little crazy with Photo Shop. The town, settled in 1875, has 149 residents -- down from the original 617. The city of Marne's website features the winners of the apple pie baking contest, as well as a call for a community prayer for a resident deployed to Iraq and the news that someone's nephew from Australia was visiting. You New Yorkers are just lining up, aren't you?

It has a small enough population that a group could very easily control the government fairly soon.

A lot of the FREE land places want a recipient to build a house within 24 months. But the real problem with those is that you need to have a contract with a contractor.

Good Luck you guys.

SHAME, SHAME, SHAME! The poor little things.
They have such a short . hard life, and here you all want to murder them

Whatever you do, you should not put off buying land until you are well healed. In the 8 years since I started
buying my small acreage the price per acre has gone up from $500. to $1300 an ACRE. That rise negates a lot
of the savings. There are a lot of Forest property owners who have started selling off lots, that have been partially cleared.
You can choose your acreage amount, with payments and a low down payment. Their market is people who want "to move
to the country", some time in the future, but want to start buying now.

You can find these parcels, besides looking for adds, by just driving around undeveloped land in the Counties of your choice.
Going up & down County highways or turning on a few dirt roads, you will start to see signs saying "Southern Forest
Properties" or "Wild Lands" ect. If there is a phone number they are OWNERS selling. Give them some cash and they will start
you with payments. No Brokers and they will usually have their own agreements made up.

You need to check the Deed records,encumbrances and chat with the County Clerk, to get more information. You need to make
certain who really owns the land and make sure the whole acreage is not on a blanket deed, that could cause you a problem
getting a clear title when you pay it off. If you are not sure about how to search those things, get a lawyer to look things over for you.

There is a lot of fairly unimproved land available. Some has Electricity available, and some Well and or Septic.
But it is going up all the time.

Karen Crane wrote:As an older person with little income and no savings
it seems this topic is of great value to me.
I would LOVE to win the tickets.

Hi Karen, That is two of us poor old gals. I am glad to see another older Gal struggling to become some of the things we wish we had learned and started doing many years ago. I hope we can get to know each other. If the tickets come in pairs, and I win, I will be happy to share mine with you.

I am also too poor to take those wonderful trips and classes. Thank you so much Eric for making some of your content available for those of us who have the desire to learn, but lack a lot of the means. The information might help us in that area too.

I have only been here a few years, and I was afraid to cut anything, because I did not know what all I already had growing here, that I might want to keep. I was sure a lot of my "weeds" are beneficial herbs and plants. I have ordered mostly perennials for Spring and hope I can get some of them started amongst the trees and shrubs I already have.

I can't wait to learn more.

I would without a single doubt want the 53 Acres of forest. First, It would take many years to obtain such mature foresting.
Adding a Network of fruiting Trees and bush would branch it out in only a few years, and working on the terraces year by year.

If you watch the new Josef Holzer Video an see the perfect integration of the natural parts of the Permaculture System working.
He explains it so well, even for those of us who do not speak German. You cannot help but be inspired and your mind filled
and rushing with idea to idea, to turn your acreage into a paradise like the Holzer Farm. I know it inspired me and I only have
a little less than 5 acres. Rather than trying to build something from depletion, it is far better to work with the thriving forest
you have now, and ENABLE it to thrive. Joseph, like his father outlines it beautifully. Good Luck! I envy you the wonderful opportunity.

I finally got rid of all the electric pots, and use the kind of pot I grew up with.

The old 4 piece metal Drip Coffee Pot. If you are young you may not know what it looks like,
It has a Base (the Pot) a cup (for the ground coffee) with lots of tiny holes, that firs on top of the pot.
Then it has a tall cylinder that fits on top of that, (for the water) It also has tiny holes, but not as many,
for a gentle flow. and a lid to cover it all. You heat the water, pour it into the top and let it drip through
the coffee, giving it time to clear the coffee. There are two types: aluminum, or metal coated with spackle
(like "Granny Ware") They still make the best coffee, in your house, or over a camp fire.
Go back to the old ways.

When I first moved to Georgia I thought we did not have mosquitoes here.
Really! Hot and humid Summers. But then I found out my Daughter a Mile &
half away had tons.

Come to find out I had Two different plants that REPEL Mosquitoes. Small under forest Sassafras Trees.
Also "Beauty Berries" Look these up and find out if they can grow in your area. They are all over here,
and you can just dig them up and move them any time and they thrive. They are a bush, with a leaf much
like Hydrangea leaves and round clusters of florescent pinkish/purple balls of berries along the stems.
The Extension guy says that although they are not too tasty, they still feed the birds in winter when the
more desirable berries are gone. They REALLY REPEL Mosquitoes (but not gnats) I have been giving them
away and the next summer after digging some up they are working their magic. One plant also covers quite
a large area. But I also have quite a few little Sassafras Trees, So the complete lack of mosquitoes may be
due in part to them.

What a beautiful place. It does not look at all like a farm, just nature at it's beautiful best.

Is that Sepp's Son or Grandson? He is a charming young man. I do wish he would wear a darker sweater,
if the notes are in White. Guess I need to learn to speak German.

It is a real inspiration to work on few little acres of rag tag little woodlands. It would be great to have a pond
trickling down my slopes.

Tyler Ludens wrote:Don't know if anyone mentioned it but livestock will graze the "spineless" prickly pears.  My sheep love them!  I'm growing a whole lot of them.    They are reasonably tasty for humans also.



I LOVE Prickly Pears! When I was a kid, we used to:
knock them off with a stick, poke them onto the stick end, and roast them over a fire.
The skin and prickles would crisp up and pull off and we ate the warm YUMMY fruit!
My mouth is watering just thinking about that.