J. Brown

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since Mar 20, 2020
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Recent posts by J. Brown

If you find your mate and begin your travels, you could keep us in mind. Stone Garden Farm & Village. Richfield, Ohio. An Intentional Community, and so much more. farmerSGF@yahoo.com
3 years ago
I had a guy who lived here off and on for 20 years. He had a large mobile home. Every Fall he would build a stick and 2x4 frame around his "house" and cover it with plastic on the sun side and tarps to the north and west. It made a nice wind brake and envelope around his mobile home. He would keep a small wood stove burning between the frame and home which made the heating of the interior of the mobile much cheaper and easier. And it gave him lots more "outside" storage and sitting space, particularly on sunny days. It made living "up north" much more winter pleasant and affordable. It cost almost nothing to do. Just a suggestion if you stay where there's four seasons.
4 years ago
Interesting video.

Every building is different. Some I take down board for board. Some I cut the complete walls into ten foot wide sections, then haul the sections home by stacking them up like pancakes on the trailers (In Ohio you don't need permits at 10' wide. Bigger than that and it can get expensive). Some others I cut the corners and lay the whole wall down, then just pick them up and load them. I've never used cranes or scaffolding, just do it all by hand, ~along with the help of tractor jacks, come-alongs and broom sticks for rollers, and occasionally gin poles I set up. I've moved and rebuilt and restored somewhere around 40+ buildings, including two houses, a number of barns, two forty foot silos made of 2 1/2" chestnut, and a couple of windmills. Generally I do 3 or 4 buildings a year.

I mention all this because in the video the folks took off the siding and then removed the roof. I guess that's ok because that was a relatively small barn. And like I said every building is different. But usually I take off the roofs first. I find that usually the siding helps to keep the barn stiffer and more safe when peeling the roof. When the siding is off sometimes the structure can sway pretty good. Another thing I noticed was that in the video, they let the main beams free fall. It didn't look like they cracked. But it happens. Usually it might be better to lower the beams, if you are going to reassemble the building. Nice job though.

I've kept most of the buildings I've moved, and used them to establish a village. The museum is open and free, seven days a week/daylight. Stop by anytime. Some of it you can see on the website:

www.ohiofarmmuseum.com  
4 years ago
RR ties are injected with a variety of poisons to resist being 'eaten' by bacteria and ants, etc. The poisons kill the ants and bacteria's before they can do any harm. Did you know that humans and various bacteria's share from 2 to 20 % DNA? And ants and humans share 30%? I can't at the moment cite the science to prove poison used on RR ties will kill you. But, logically, if something kills something and you are made up of the same stuff as the dead somethings, you can probably expect a bad day. I can not think of one single reason why anyone, especially a permaculturalist, would want to import poisons onto their land or into their life. To do so would be a very foolish short term decision to solve a long term problem, thereby creating a much longer, bigger problem later on.

P.S. This is the same reason I believe that using treated lumber or car tires are also a bad idea for building, ..anything. Tires are made of very toxic stuff, so is treated wood. The tires may take a hundred years to rot away. Maybe even 2 hundred. I don't know. But sooner or later, somebody is going to have poison in their soil from something we did in our time. And that just isn't very nice.
4 years ago
Using cash, which is really just a representative of something else of actual value, is just a convenience in a world of many people and interests. There is nothing wrong with it. It just makes trade easier.
But to go further than that, ...a story.

An old Elder once said to me, "Why do these folks bring me so much tobacco? I have tobacco coming out of my ears. Sometimes cigarettes, sometimes American Eagle in a pouch. I appreciate the gesture. They are trying to do a Spiritual thing. But don't they realize I have bills to pay also? Sometimes I like to go to town and buy a sandwich. Sometimes I would like to put gas in the truck. That costs money." He went on to say, "The tobacco is a sacred gift, but sometimes I wish they might also think of what I might need other than what they think I might want."

It's a hard thing. Many of us would like to live pure lives, lives of abundance and lives to self-sufficiency. But the Gov't likes their taxes. The chain saw likes its gas. And once in a while, my wife likes flowers in the middle of winter. The none of us "pimp ourselves out" by accepting money for goods or services we provide. We only behave poorly if we misuse the money we give or receive, or take advantage of others when engaged with them. Live your life well. Live honestly. Give and receive, as you would receive and give from others. Then the exact mode of exchange doesn't really matter.
4 years ago