Amy Berry

Stephen, this plot is very well thought-out. Were you going to have a rmh anywhere ? Or a fire pit /biochar area? These may be available near the Abbey, etc. and may be unnecessary duplication. Montana always gives me a vested interest in heat sources.

I am experimenting between open barrel burns and tin man two barrel retort system. Biochar's qualities fascinate me, and if I can have a big old carbon fit and perpetually improve my soil for hundreds of years very inexpensively. No brainer. Where do I sign up? I can do this myself? Huzzah!!
The next conundrum has been innoculating said char.
I have quail in a multi level tower. I have automotive drip pans between the layers, that I usually fill with a layer of pine shavings. The quail are in the garage, and the weather is getting warmer, and Jack Spriko had it right. If you fed a quail a pound of food, it gives 2# of manure. I don't want the garage to get ripe this summer. So last night, I filled the trays with ground up char. I have plenty of shavings in the compost pile, so a few rounds of char and poo should kick up the pile. I want to incorporate char this Spring in the garden beds. I have David the Good's Fetid Swamp water fertilizers barrel going as well. Soaking the char in this may also be an option. It seems difficult to figure out a good way to marinate the char and be able to retrieve it out of the voodoo juice. Some of my char is ground really fine. This is the coolest and most empowering amendment I have ever dealt with.

Hey 6a/6b here!
My grandfather grew black raspberries like they were competing for Olympic fame in this area. Primary 34" tall, then cut it off. Grow between 2 t- shaped posts (not to be confused with T-posts) that have a 3-4' top bar span and 3-4 wires running horizontally between the t-posts at either end of the row. Lay the secondary branches over the wires, so they don't root and become a thorny mass. Cut them to 2 ft. long at the end of the season and get ready for new growth next Spring.

I grow Chicago Hardy fig, which I found out are water hogs with shallow fragile roots that really love fertilizer. It will be 3 years old, and is a consistent producer. I have a second baby fig. We'll see if it makes a showing this year.

I grow pixwell gooseberry if I can save it from the birds. It seems happy next to the fig.

I have had poor success with thornless triple crown blackberries. Gonna try again this year.

My question is, can I use store blueberries to grow from? I thought I'd try it this year.
Please advise.
Thanks,

Oh the irony.
My name is Amy Berry (really)

I tend to be a crochet pragmatist. Kind of an oxymoron, but I make it work.
I had a friend whose mini donkey foaled on the Full moon, Shabbat and Epiphany day all in one, the other night. This is one special little Jenny. Since it has been unseasonably cold and I am a sucker for a cute face, I dusted off the crochet hook and did a white and black strands held together for more bulk and my favorite stitch for quick volume, the HDC. It isn't fancy, but it is expandable for a growing donkey, and will get her through until Spring.

I'm so glad this ended with a Python quote. I kept looking at the photos of the tall trees saying,"the Larch........the Larch". I guess you had to be there.   And glad you came through your malady. Missing out is one of the worst side effects of being sick.

I have "the list" I ask potential mates
Job that pays your bills
Collections
Debt to income ratio
Home that isn't Mom's basement
Is it a third world country I wouldn't take my shoes off in
Does it contain all utilities in expected areas
Substance addictions
Molested as a child by parents, siblings, or someone outside the family
Sexual addictions /pornography addiction
Do you eat real food
Favorite 3 meals
Criminal record, all of it, not part
Children you may or may not know about
Liens on property
What do you consider an "acceptable" amount of debt
How many jobs have you had
What are your top 3 vacation destinations
Do you own a suit, and would you wear it if you weren't dead
How do you show affection
How do you fight /argue/disagree
Are you the asshole who won't dance?

More are added to the list all the time.

Joe Bonamassa

Mountain time

Asking around for you

The steep canyon rangers, best bluegrass with amazing harmonies

Come Dance
Every river
Caroline (done with THE Steve Martin)

Funny, I didn't see Crowded House "Can't carry on this way". It was the theme song of a divorce.

...I need to free myself, from the burden of inaction
I want to raise myself, to any plane I can imagine.

Buddy Guy "Too broke to spend the night"

Surf, sun, sand! We've got it all here folks!
The most amazing varietals of this toxicodendeon!
A veritable permaculture bonanza awaits right outside the back door, into the 5 acres of paradise that the bank and I have mutually agreed I may inhabit. (I am winning that war)

Seriously, for a bit. I credit the amazing bounty in my garden this year to my neighbor's 9 skidsteer scoops of cow manure that I overwintered and then planted in/on after doing the mycorrhyzaly inconceivable act of tilling. Seems like the 2022 garden year was full of total failures for many. I have never been a prolific gardener, but instead I am a lukewarm enthusiast. A good squash bug outbreak can really "squash" my gardening enthusiasm. This year, however, was a different story.  I realized that to be an amazing gardener, I really had to work on soil nutrition. (Translates as, I'm the shit😉😋) I don't have any medium or large stock, but I have the quail, the chickens and a rabbit with an anger problem, that are used to fertilize everything and everywhere I can. I really got interested in composting and have made some lovely stuff this year.

The permaculture dream solution to my 60 year old pond that is filling up with leaf debris and fish poop is to have it dredged deeper and spread all that gold around the property. This excited me more than words can say, and I have a penchant for sesquipedalian verbosity.  It is the next big goal. It may happen in stages, so I don't lose all my bullfrogs. Summer evening roll call around the pond is always the best.

The deer bit two 7 foot tall apple trees in half and concertina wire is not out of the question. It is offered on Craigslist every day (who buys that stuff, anyway?) They also really enjoyed the tops of the young sunflowers. How convenient to grow them high enough for easy noshing. The rabbits preferred the peas. I saved a few pods to eat, but those were rewards for spending time in the garden.
Can we discuss cherry tomatoes? I didn't plant a single one this year, but it was an early spring seedling genocide to pare down numbers and densities to a less unmanageable level was impressive.  Spring beets flopped, but my fall crop is putting on a good show. Carrots may be my undoing. I will soldier forth. I am getting a few this fall, which is better than ONE spring carrot. Squash and cucumbers were equally epic.
15 meat chickens are in the freezer. Fall butchering is just bliss. No bugs, no heat, no bird stress. Pretty boss.  
Thanks for tuning in to the hello portion of the show.
Please stay tuned for next week's exciting episode.
Paul, you are doing exactly what you should be in life, and I thank you for it. I may be trying to rocket mass heat my greenhouse. This could be really interesting.