I suspect it will result in a odorless breakdown process, whether or not the end product could be consider soil or simply a soil amendment is my question.
Will it "work?" I think yes, if you are loose in your definition of "working"
My attempt at using 1/2gallon milk jugs with jute wicks was inconsistent with some jugs draining quickly and some still holding a bit of water a year or two later... not a single one kept the trees near them alive and created a mess that I had to clean up later. My gpa tried to make 5gal buckets with air tubing going into the soil as a wick, predictably they drained too fast and blew around
Maybe the paper pulp option would work, but at this point I think perhaps they are simply to be used to reduce irrigation chores...
I remember when groasis boxes were less than 10 bux each, now they're like 50-75 each iirc from the last time i looked, a part of me wants to try some still but I also have concerns about not having seen any established systems now that it's been a decade or more since they were released... you would think that would be great marketing material
So fun for me to watch more people start to come Into the permaculture world, how has the greenhouse been for you now that you've had it a while? With any build there is usually things that we wish we'd done different, what's the biggest "mistake" you felt like you made?
Also is miles going up there and helping you out or yall just friends over the web?
I did consider trading my dewalt in for a new one but upon reading reviews I found it is common for dewalt to have the same problem mine had, so not worth the risk imo to get an exchange only to have the same problem shortly thereafter, maybe I'll try battery powered again in the future but not until I can justify the greater investment in batteries, getting 20 ish cuts on pine logs before I had to charge the battery for 3 hours wasnt very efficient for me
By the time I get back into one, hopefully they've improved all the more because I did enjoy using it while it lasted
"I found the secret of gas engine tools is to drain the gas when you finish using it, even if you plan on using it again tomorrow, then start it up and run it till it quits. Then try to start it a couple more times. Then put it away. I’ve had a cheap Poulan chainsaw I’ve had for 30 years and I’ve never had a problem starting it. It actually has the same spark plug all those years I’ve never changed it and I’ve used that saw a bunch."
-- Thanks for the quick tip! i can tell you i havent ever done this so likely what my issue is, perhaps this will be invaluable information for me in the future, should i get myself another gas saw, if not, invaluable for others reading I'm sure!
"Devon, it looks like you need to get a Tesla truck. Plug in outlets in the bed"
Funny you mention that... don't tell my wife(cus shes tired of hearing about it) but I've had a little love affair with the cyber truck already, even wrote a very detailed article on whether or not it shook out to buy one or not, you can find that article here:
https://cackleberryfg.wixsite.com/blog/post/cybertruck-worth-it
I've met guys that were quite good with small engines and have no trouble maintaining a gas saw, I'd say if that describes you a gas saw may be the way to go
( I'm not so great with engines myself though)
Im definitely not a gas saw hater and think they make great tools, but it all boils down to personal context
My solution does come with it's own hazards, such as dragging a cord behind me as I work, I need to constantly aware of its location to avoid dropping a tree on it or tripping myself
Plug in saw likely wouldn't compete with gas saw imo so if I were to scale up my firewood sales I would have to find another option I think. Anything over 30 cords a year I think would be worth considering a gas saw or something more efficient than a plug in
But matter of personal context
I personally look for what works best for me rather than looking at net fossil fuel consumption
I have never had a gas saw that didnt give me troubles with maintenance and startup after a long period unused, electric saws work every time without issue as long as the motor is good and for ME that is worth it alone
I also dont have to mix fuel and the same can Is able to be stored for generator, or truck use or to help someone stuck on the highway
I find it easier to contain spilled fuel in the truck bed, rather than wherever I happen to be filling a chainsaw and with the larger opening there is far less spillage anyhow, so though it may not be best for the whole globe, it is a better choice for the localized environment that I am working in, and local is most important to me as it is most manageable to care for.
And honestly, the generator I've been using has been very fuel efficient, I can work all day on pess than 3 gal of fuel, not that I've ever measured but I've never seen much used out of the tank
As with any saw you dont HAVE to use petro bar and chain oil and I've used rancid olive or veggie oils before which is cool, I did think my poulan used an awful lot of b/c oil and I think that may be typical of plug in saws
I do think I'd get out-cut in a firewood yard but when felling and pulling trees from the woods I've kept up with guys using gas saws many times so what I lose in cutting power and speed I FEEL is worth the trade off of convenience and not having a Petro leaking machine in my face and on my hands all day
Thanks for your response! Hopefully good conversation for someone looking to get into a saw for themselves
a couple years back i bought a Poulan ES300 plug-in from someone on facebook for $20 and fell in love with electric chainsaws, much less vibration and noise than a typical chainsaw plus less stink and your typical hippy benefits
well this fall, it crapped out on me after i got on the mountain to cut some wood, no warning, motor just burned up, on the day i hired an extra hand for assistance no less... shut down for the day and paid for someone to hang out with me basically lol
so i replaced it with the dewalt battery powered saw that i had envied for some time and took that saw up the mountain the next day
by starting early morning i was able to harvest nearly 3 cords of wood that day using the saw, it cuts like a DREAM but two things have stopped me from owning one now
first the battery didn't last near as long as i wanted or charge as quick as i had hoped.so realistically, you'd have to spend nearly a grand to get a saw that would work all day
that i could work around, though not ideal, but what really killed it was i was cutting some wood on like the 10th charge, when the saw was still practically brand new, with a newly charged battery, SPARKS FLEW OUT, the saw smoked and NO LONGER WORKED.
After that experience, i have a hard time trusting battery powered saws, so now i am using a craftsman plug-in and when i go to the mountain, i just throw a generator in the truck and bring some extension cords and i find im able to do all sorts of work, not as fast or impressive as the dewalt on the cut, but much more reliable, and at the price point, you can afford to have two plug in saws in case one fails -- Two is one, one is none
lots of beautiful pictures of fencing in this thread, i linked to it in my recent podcast referring to junk pole fencing specifically, but i see now that there are good examples of other kinds of fencing included in this thread, glad i linked to it!
elle, not sure if there is as many honey locusts down there as in Casper, but it wouldn't surprise me, if so, that is one tree that i've found a plethora of viable seeds for, so far i've had no trouble getting them to sprout, but gettign them to survive their first year and really put down roots... thats where i've struggled, i think im going to transition to keeping seedling trees in a nursery area until year 2 or 3 and then transplant
also did you see on another thread that someone says there is a pinyon pine next to the holiday in at the 25/80 intersection? i didn't know pinyons could grow all the way up here, hoping i can check that out for some seeds while im down there
a little more on the update side... check out my blog and website, I've since moved to Casper area and am renting a 10 acre spot north of town, my grandpa has 40 acres just north of me that is very exciting terrain, but I've since learned that money doesn't flow as readily as the wyoming wind, and its hard to justify a whole lot of time and money invested into a property i dont own, so much of my stuff is done with temporary conditions in mind.
hey everyone, wierd to come across this thread this many years later, hows about a little update?
years ago, probably not more than 3 after this thread was published, my uncle lost the land in a divorce and i haven't been back to it since, it is interesting however to look at what the design ideas i had in my head were, certainly based predominantly on the dreams of a young man. I also find it interesting to compare my design ideas then to my design ideas now and how they've changed.
There was some great suggestions in this thread for how to deal with this property as well and it is neat to see some local names in the responses, some of whom i've met and some of whom i've known of but only heard on a podcast... I wonder, 8 years later if it would be fun for those who responded to this thread to do a little mock-up of what they would do with this property if they had it, a little designers challenge if you will?
Not sure if racial wood chips need to have actively flowing sap when chipped but if you harvest in june/July then you might could feed the leaves as tree hay and then chip the branches the following spring or over the winter
One advantage this would have is the branches would likely gather beneficial soil microbes during their time in the dry stacks and their interaction with the animal yard and manure when fed
That would be one of my main reasons to coppice or Pollard my own trees whenever I have some
Thanks Hester! I like the diagram idea and the larger leaves and brighter stems are important selling points!
My thoughts for developing this market is because I would like to do some wattle/woven fencing installation jobs but around here you cant just buy willow staves at home depot, you have to harvest them yourself
Elle, hope the bs isn't getting you down too bad, i wanted to stop by and leave a few words, as well as ask for some updates, if you're willing.
A few years back i remember coming out for a quick tour of the young prioperty and i remember a few things that I thought were particularly unique about your site, the first being that you used a trencher as a quick way to form water harvesting features and to help keep the driveway dry during wet periods, hows that working out?
second was the collection of "pit gardens" that you had about and the few swales around, have those done ok? perhaps green grasses near the botom and struggling plants on the sides or is everything doing well?
third, i know you had a good collection of young trees about the place, has survival rates on all of them been terrible or have a few survived? p.s. where I'm at in the plains north of casper, i tend to consider 5-10% survival rate a raving sucess lol! for example I placed over 100 cuttings and bare root plants in the ground last spring and I'd be surprised to see any of them come up.
I will say that the trees that tend to transplant the best for me are 3-5 years old, thye seem robust enough at that age to develop a root system and survive, the one years tend to die during their first summer when the droughts come.
and i remember that you were growing osage orange, are those still alive and kicking?
Your greenhouse, btw is looking much better than mine and definitely more ready for the 2021 season!
Keep your head up, from one wyoming hippy to another!
Something I am attempting this year to protect plantings from the wind is debris fencing and planting trees within that, perhaps thats an option?
Thanks for the idea heather! Scale I can figure out I think, and no problem with having a variety of species, just matter of figuring out how to make it economically viable for them and me...
Hey permies! I would like to start charging to harvest coppice and pollard wood and am curious if there is anyone out there charging for this?
Obviously there are a great many tree service compnaies but I'm talking about specifically harvesting coppice and pollard wood and finding a way to finance the activity.
It seems to me that people who pay for tree service are looking for specific things, such as tree removal, or eliminating a dangerous situation caused by a tree growing over a roof or leaning over a house or driveway. occasionally there are people that simply want their shrubs pruned or cut to a specific shape or for better production, but what I am having trouble thinking about is how does it benefit a home owner for me to show up and cut a tree/shrub down to the ground or to a specific height at the trunk every 3-8 years?
as a homesteader, i see the value of doing this to my OWN trees for the harvest, but alas i don't have trees/shrubs to harvest from as of yet. but what would a typical suburban homeowner gain from this action? if a plant is cut to the ground, many homeowners expect that plant to die and are not happy to see it vigorously regrow. If a tree is topped for pollard a homeowner may not be happy to have a tall stump with small shoots coming off it... not the typical look of suburbia
anyway, i could ramble, but are any of you charging for this service or coming up with some creative way to finance the harvesting work?
for reference, i really would like to get a steady supply of willow and honey/black locust for wattle fencing, if i can figure out how to finance regular supply of this material, i'm confident i can install such fencing for money
Ok good to know, the remesh I've worked with is pretty light so I would expect it to move in my environment, but perhaps stakes as you say or a low wire would be sufficient
Actually I'm wondering how you prevent critters from simply pushing low and causing the fence to swing upwards if it's not attached somehow at the bottom?
I have found that sheep are damn near as bad as what the interwebs say goats are when it comes to getting out. I had to cull one expensive breeeding ewe i purchased this year because she was extremely flighty and skipped the fence left right and sideways.
I have also found that even pos/neg netting was not sufficient to keep them in this year. right nwo they are penned for the winter and I am thinking about what I can do to continue working with them, I've kinda come down to two options
1) i can search out a very high power fence energizer and HOPE that it is sufficient deterrent for the animals against testing a fence, i know that the energizer i was using was enough to make me second guess ever touching a hot wire, so it'd have to be pretty damned strong i think.
2) I can invest a lot of time and/or money into developing physical fencing that is sheep proof, this is not ideal as it is not as flexible as wire or netting and I am currently renting my property so it would be an additional hassle in the event that i move.
I HATE moving netting so it would sure be swell if i could keep them in with polywire, but unfortunately with our dry and sandy soi... sand, electric has not proved effective in the least with sheep
i have begun to experimetn with utilizing debris fencing to protect my planting area from wind, sun and browse, as in a great many perennial endeavors i wont knwo results for some time, but I am hopeful that this can be a good strategy as well and perhaps cheaper than tree tubes, though likely a little less effective.
I'd like to take the opportunity to start a discussion about stick-built fencing here on permies, i would like to start the discussion the easy way, by sharing a link to a blog article i recently wrote. But I would like the discussion to deepen a little bit, good tidbits may make the podcast episode if I see them fast enough.
have any of you experimented with any of the types of fence discussed in the article?
any other fencing you have done with salvaged or harvested material? I'd love to see the work that other permies have done, and if you cant tell from the blog, I find wattle fencing to be quite attractive and modified debris fencing to be simple yet practical so I'd love to see what everyone has done with those options!
I like your shop! as guy who's not much into wigs and such, I'll be looking at the skeins and such when my wife runs low on yarn (shes a little overstocked right now!)
That could be worth looking at, I wonder if the size of the ferment would generate too much heat for germination, or it may cause some seed to germinate in the process
Though drying seems sufficient for sprouting
Searched the forums didn't see any threads that addressed this so I figured I'd start one
When cleaning pumpkin seeds last night it occurred to me that the material had some similarities to cocoa seeds and pulp, which got me thinking about my visit to puntespina farm in mindanao and how cocoa seeds are fermented in large bins prior to drying and sorting etc.
Has anyone here ever had any experience with fermenting pumpkin seeds in a similar fashion prior to roasting? Would this perhaps make them less prone to having splinter-y hulls when roasted due to a breakdown of the fiber? Would it improve flavor?
I've only just started with my sheep operations as well, I did 3 lambs this year, katahdin/dorper crosses, compared to the neighbors horses, they hardly ate anything, especially the first month or so of my ownership, but giving them enough space to be comfortable and moving daily, they went through probably close to 3 acres IN MY ENVIRONMENT
I think that if I do not graze horses next year I can probably manage to utilize the 10 acres I have access to without a large amount of hay feeding through the winter with 2 ewes and a ram, but of course time will tell
the sat photo makes me think that you raised pasture raised poultry just south of the house there, is that true? if so, what did you notice about the grass in that pasture? did it regrow within the same grow season? how long did that take? how tall did it get when ungrazed? how tall after the birds were on it? answering these may help you to understand whether your land can handle a second grazing or not
