We had amazing tomato plants last year with tons of great looking and tasting fruit. We started our tomatoes inside this year. The starts looked awesome and were beetween 6" and a foot tall when we transplanted them to the garden. We gave them a week of acclimation during the day. We transplanted them to a bed that had never had tomatoes before to avoid disease. The bed was layered with llama manure and maple leaves in the fall, which decomposed nicely over winter. We dug wide furrows to keep the decomposing leaves away from the new plants. The tomatoes immediately yellowed after transplanting. I dosed them with some worm compost tea to give them a boost, but they continued to yellow. Now they all look like this picture. What's up?
Druce, could you link to that pump? I'm not finding anything like that on Ebay. The gas powered pump I'm using now is a shore mounted centrifugal pump, so I'm familiar with the benefits of the centrifugal pump. What I'm trying to do is make this a simple as possible. I don't want to store water or electricity. I just want to pump directly into the drip lines using a direct feed without batteries while the sun is up. With a low-flow pump (2-3 gal/min), I can divide my garden into 4 zones, water 1 zone each day all day while the sun is up, and get just the right amount of water I need. The reason I don't want a submersible, is because I have to pull the intake periodically to clear the algae that grows in our pond. That seems like it would be harder to do with a pump on the end (though I could be wrong about that).
We currently pump from a pond up a hill to our garden to irrigate it. It's 35' of head from the surface of the pond to the garden. I'm looking at switching out our gas-powered pump to a solar setup. I'd like to do a direct feed system with the panels directly driving a 12V pump. The local farm supply store has a diaphragm pump on sale that will deliver 2gpm with the amount of head I have at 13 amps. Can I just wire it straight to a solar panel without a controller so that it pumps whenever the sun is up, or will that burn up the motor as it tries to start in low sunlight? Can anyone recommend a controller? When I search for one, all I come up with are charge controllers for batteries.
I figure 12V x 13 amps = 156 Watts. Will a 160 Watt panel do, or will I need to go higher? If it's cloudy, I won't need as much water anyways. Thanks for the help.
I just noticed it on the property while clearing thistle from that area. I'll keep an eye on it and post pictures of the blossoms and berries when they come. The neighbor thinks it's Oregon Grape as well. Thanks.
Are you familiar with the Catholic Land Movement? A good book that may help you define your goals is "Flee to the Fields". It pushes the philosophy of "distributism" as an alternative to both socialism and capitalism. The newer edition has a good introduction that speculates as to why it failed.
The Inland Northwest Food Network is starting up a local investing program. I have only attended one of their meetings, but they seem to be setting it up as a peer-to-peer lending group that will help build our local food shed. It is in it's early stages so far, but seems to have promise.
http://inwfoodnetwork.org/local-investing/
That's the beauty of the ad-hoc network. One node can go down and the rest of the network stays up. If you back up your reference library on multiple nodes, it will always be accessible. Nodes can even act as cross-band repeaters, utilizing different frequencies to cover different distances, terrain, atmospheric conditions, etc. We were even building portable nodes that could be thrown into a vehicle and driven to a hilltop to temporarily extend the network. The only caveat is that most of this occurs on the microwave band and the high-gain antennas can concentrate the power enough to cause injury.
Look at the draw weight requirements for your state first. Try a recurve that is higher than that to see if you can even pull it. I have a 59Lb. recurve that I bought for hunting in AK, but I couldn't be consistently accurate with it. I was a member of a club in Anchorage that did 3D shoots in the winter when I lived there. I would recommend doing that to practice in a realistic setting, or go "stump shooting" to test yourself. One thing I learned doing that is that the cold really messes with a wooden bow. If it gets much below freezing in your area (and you actually want to hunt in those conditions) a compound bow would be easier to use. Having said that, I enjoy shooting a recurve much more. If you pick up a compound bow, don't be tempted to take long shots. I knew a guy who could hit a bag target at 200 yards consistently, but even he wouldn't take a shot over 50 yards while actually hunting. Also, don't get caught up in all the bells and whistles. Sights are nice, but I've never had them on my bow. Learn to shoot without them and you will be a better shot overall. Also check out bow fishing. My Dad had a 45lb. recurve that he used to fish for carp here in Washington. That was the bow I learned on. I never caught a fish with it, but that lighter bow was nice to learn with. If you're just after small game, check out judo tips. They are a blunt tip that has springs on them that will kill squirrel-sized game, but catch on brush so you don't lose them. I lost a ton of arrows before I found out about them.
When we lived in Anchorage, I got my Ham radio license and started messing around with as many different things as I could in that realm. Anchorage had a great club with plenty of gear, so I didn't have to buy my own. When I left, the club was building a city-wide HSMM Mesh network using old routers from Craigslist and Ebay modified with high-gain antennas, ad-hoc firmware and POE. My interest stayed mostly in HF Voice communications, as that would be useful to the most people in a situation where phone systems were rendered inoperable. That said, I built out a pretty cool box with a router, battery backup, 12 dbi antennas and kept it when I moved. I'd like to find somebody around here who would like to set up that sort of network. My voice setup currently leaves a bit to be desired. I have an HF Vertical mounted on top of the metal roof of my shop, which I though would be a great ground plane, but I can't get it to tune for some reason. SWR stays around 4. I can hear some distant stations, but nobody can hear me.
I need to cover a couple acres with a good dryland pasture mix now because of some excavation that was done. All the local stores are out until spring. Has anybody had any luck ordering this sort of thing online? Can you recommend a good source?
Cynthia Quilici wrote:Apple cider vinegar goes for more than $7/qt. at the local store. Seems pretty easy to make and lasts.. indefinitely?
I can't wait 'till our apple trees give us enough to make some.
Hard cider also lasts quite a while. I'm not sure how long because It always seems to disappear long before it goes bad.
We just got done pressing 200 gallons of apple cider for a booth at a charity auction. Maybe find someone who has a press and organize something like that. We got culls from a nearby orchard. Kids love running the press, so the work is minimal. It all went to a world relief organization, so we got some good karma out of it (and if you're a commercial grower, possibly a tax write-off).
Also, cider freezes well in milk jugs and can be made into mulled cider when the weather gets cold.
The February/March issue of Rodale's Organic Gardening gives a great timeline. In it, they mention how Rodale was inspired by the book "An Agricultural Testament" by Albert Howard
I have been involved with an apple cider booth at a church charity auction since I was a kid. My Grandfather started the booth with a press that he built. It was the kind where you grind and press in one place without moving the bucket. It worked, but not well. After he moved away, we used a friend's presses that allow you to move the bucket forward to press after grinding. These work better, but he has hot-rodded them with bigger motors and pumps to automatically suck away the cider. His mods have made them work worse and now he is talking about getting out of it. I'm in a place now where I can buy one, but I want to buy one that will last so I only have to buy it once. What brands should I be looking at? What bells and whistles are worth getting? I need one with an electric grinder as we have to grind 200 gallons in 24 hours, but a hand crank option would be cool. From experience, I like the kind with two positions for the bucket (separate positions for grinding and pressing). Any other tips? Thanks.
Pictured below is one of our layers. We were told when we bought her that she was a barred rock. There is something else in her, though, as she lays green eggs (front-center egg in the other picture). Can anybody tell me what it might be? She lays the richest, tastiest eggs I have ever had in my life. They are way better than the other hens and genetics is the only variable. We have been trying to get her eggs to hatch and were successful in breeding her to our only rooster (a barnevelder). I'm hoping the eggs are just as good.
What is this? It has been volunteering in our garden since we moved in two years ago. It's sort of pretty, but not quite pretty enough to keep if it doesn't have another use.
It was probably Roman (perennial type) Chamomile. I'm trying to start a chamomile lawn with it now. I got the seed here:
https://www.horizonherbs.com/product.asp?specific=941 This was the picture from their advertising:
Thanks. If it's that bullet proof, maybe I can find a place for it in our design. Not on the side of our house, though. It was prying siding off and growing up into the wall.
What is this? It is a large vine that covers my neighbor's 15-foot high arch over his driveway. I don't think he ever waters it, but it stays green all year, even in this drought. I think we had something that looked similar growing up the side of our house when we bought it two years ago. I cut it down and had to dig out the roots several times before I finally smothered it with cardboard and mulch. When I tore drywall out on the inside of that wall, I found pieces of the vine in the insulation. It seems to be totally bulletproof.
We planted 22 trees last year in a mixed fruit and nut orchard that we hope to develop into a food forest. Midway through the summer,we got the full effect of the drought. Our well went dry, and our pond dropped too low to draw from. I couldn't get any water to them since Mid July. Three of them looked like goners going into winter. We had a hard freeze in early winter before we had any snow. It now looks like we may have lost 10. A few of these I can't quite tell. The bark has a healthy color and the trunk is flexible, but when I scrape, I can't find the green Cambrian layer. The ones I can't tell are an apple, a hazelnut, an American chestnut, and a plum. These are what the scrapes look like. Should I write them off, or wait?
Thanks. Are GPS-based shock collars a good option? I'd like him to have free run of the property, but fencing it all would be more expensive than some of the gps collars I've seen. If so, do you have a brand you recommend?
Hi Jan,
We have a 13 month old Great Pyrenees. My wife took him to puppy school to make sure she and the munchkins could control him. He responded very well and has impressed everybody with his training. One thing we are having problems with is boundaries. We were told by the breeder to walk the property line with him regularly. When he is off his leash, he takes off over the hill and doesn't remember the boundaries we show him. We have 80 acres and don't want to keep him chained or fenced, but I know he goes way beyond the property line when we're away. Any suggestions?
Thanks!
The property we purchased last year has a 3-acre pond on it that we have been drawing from for irrigation. This year has been so dry that the pond dropped to the point where I'm having trouble drawing out of it. I'm told by neighbors that it used to be a much bigger lake, but silted in and has been choked out with cat tails. There are about two acres of cat tails around the pond. The previous owners had a study done that showed three springs feeding the pond, but I think this year they are no longer flowing. The open water gets choked with algae and weeds this time of year, and there is several feet of thick mud at the bottom. What are my options for deepening the pond? I don't want to risk stopping the springs. The pond sits at the bottom of a coulee with steep sides that would make it difficult (though maybe not impossible) to get large equipment to the water. Has anybody dredged with a trackhoe before? What other options are there?
I just wanted to let you know that the roots you sent did very well last year at our home in Anchorage, Alaska. Unfortunately, we sold the house and moved back to the lower 48. Those roots were among the several things from my garden that I couldn't take through Canada (damn border crossings). I will be contacting you soon for a new set of starts.
Now this is blooming. The photo shows one in our yard, but they're all over the woods as well. This looks more like what my book says is a "Mock Orange" or "Lewis' Syringa" Philadelphus lewisii Is that right?
My neighbors are giving me mixed identifications of this tree. It grows all over the land we just bought. Most people seem to think it's a Syringa, but judging by the pictures in the Audubon book it looks more like a serviceberry. I know both are native to this area (Eastern Washington). We just moved here last fall, so we haven't seen any fruit yet.
Spokane Permaculture might be a good resource for you. I don't know if you're close enough to attend meetings, but their email list and forums have some good info.
http://www.spokanepermaculture.org/
Are you building, or buying a home? Washington now has a statewide building code, but certain counties don't enforce it. That would be something to consider. We wanted to be East of the mountains, so I don't know what specific counties are like over on the West side. Are you going to set up rainwater catchment? Washington eased up on rainwater catchment a while back. I'm not sure what Oregon is like for that.
http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/wr/hq/rwh.html
