Jeremy VanGelder

When I see a hole in the ground that has been there for a hundred years or more, and it looks structurally sound, I figure that it will probably be there in another 100 years.

I gave a tour this Sunday. A group of garden enthusiast/ seed savers came from an hour drives away to be inspired. That was the mission. They had totally different gardening skills levels amongst them. I ended up mostly chatting with the most experienced of them during a two hour stroll past differing trees, shrubs, perennials, annuals and groundcover set-ups. And then getting questions 'from the back', so stop and explain and then got talking to most experienced again.

That reminds me of this quote from Lord of the Rings.

‘What? [Talking] in riddles?’ said Gandalf. ‘No! For I was talking aloud to myself. A habit of the old: they choose the wisest person present to speak to; the long explanations needed by the young are wearying.’

Sometimes it is just easier to talk to the most experienced person present. :D

Imagine: you are a curious kid who wants to learn about do-it-yourself and homesteading skills. So you head to the website of your local library and search for "homesteading" or "underground building" or some such. Up comes the SKIP book
 

"Skills to Inherit Property? That sounds pretty cool." So you check it out and read it as soon as you can. Then you carve a spoon and post it to the forum. Your first badge bit! Before long you are showing your friends an herbal remedy that you made and putting together a sewing kit. One thing follows another, and before long you have grown 100,00 calories. Your skills are so obvious that the organic farms in your area are competing to hire you. And all of this experience grew out of a simple visit to a library. Where might someone find the book?

The List

Fort Vancouver Regional Library, Vancouver, Washington

Timberland Regional Library, Tumwater, Washington

St. Maries Public Library, St. Maries, Idaho

Latah County Library District, Moscow, Idaho

Meagher County/City Library, White Sulphur Springs, Montana

Missoula Public Library, Missoula, Montana

Livingston Park County Public Library, Livingston, Montana

Hutchinson Public Library, Hutchinson, Kansas

SELCO, Rochester, Minnesota

IFLS Library System, Eau Claire, Wisconsin

Wisconsin Valley Library Service, Wausau, Wisconsin

LINKCAT South Central Library System, Madison, Wisconsin

Burlington Public Library, Burlington, Iowa

Elizabeth Township Library, Elizabeth, Illinois

Mexico-audrain County Library, Mexico, Missouri

Missouri River Regional Library, Jefferson City, Missouri

Schmaling Memorial Public Library District, Fulton, Illinois

Superiorland Library Cooperative, Marquette, Michigan

West Sangamon Public Library, New Berlin, Illinois

If your local library is not in this list, don't worry. Librarians want to have books that people will read, so they make it easy for your to request new books. My library has a form online. Most libraries want this information so that they can find the book and buy it:

Title: SKIP: Skills to Inherit Property
Author: Paul Wheaton, Mike Haasl
Publisher: Mike Haasl
Date Published: May 31st, 2022
ISBN:  ‎ 1737768003
Format: Softcover
Additional Information or Description: SKIP is a bridge to connect aspiring homesteaders with older folks looking for someone to steward their land.

Jennie Little wrote:I have not read all the posts in this thread. If this is covered, I apologize.

The USDA in 1951 published plans for an approx 600 square foot farm house, which could be added to, deliberately, as a family grew or needs changed. Look for "expansible farm house, USDA" and you should be able to find it. "Excpansible" is the key there, it's part of the title for that and other plans like it...

The USDA also published plans for dorms, cabins, horse barns, shelters, etc.

I took a look and North Dakota State University has published the plans of the expansible farmhouse themselves. Not just the brochure. They are plans 7021 and 7022,

Kevin Olson wrote:Now apply the lapping grit to the edges of the reel and to the bed knife.  I bought two small tubs - 120 grit and 220 grit - from Pin High, a golf course supply company.  I don't think I've ever needed to use the 120 grit stuff, though.  Basically, this is silicon carbide valve grinding grit in a water-based gel carrier.  I apply it with a cheap chip brush.

Valve grinding grit, you say? I've never sharpened my reel mower because I didn't want to buy compounds just for that purpose. But I think we have some valve-grinding grit around. Thanks for the tip!

Our garden became a community garden again. One of my brothers got married last year. So he and his wife were interested in sharing the garden space with us. So we showed them around a few weeks ago and agreed on the new dividing lines. There wasn't much to show with the beds all covered in leaves. But since then we have planted almost all of it.

Has anyone else given garden tours this year?

Interesting. I was familiar with hour-based currency. But those are usually paper bills. There isn't the follow-through of a digital exchange.

Seth made a video of another batch of rhubarb candy in the solar dehydrator at Wheaton Labs.

Making and maintaining trails is a lot of fun, isn't it? These days I end up doing a bit of trail maintenance almost every time I walk in the woods.

Is that the water heater giving you guys trouble again?