Jay Angler

Saying I can relate to:

When life gives you scraps, make a quilt!

The tea and coffee are married, but the tea leaves. Does that give the coffee grounds for divorce?

I think there could be many people who would benefit from ideas about this problem.

So much depends on the precis rules of one's HOA. This thread about creative downspouts has some that might qualify as "art work" which is sometimes an allowable exemption. It also has some that are likely to cause trouble, so use common sense!

However, if artwork is out, I'd be looking at beautiful trellising and vines or possibly espalier trees that are allowed in the area. We are allowed large water tanks in our ecosystem, but honestly, they don't qualify as pretty. Trellising and adding plants would improve them so much that I would want to do so both for the beauty and the benefits of vertical garden space.

Joao Winckler wrote:... Keeping the pH right is the ongoing challenge though, I top dress with pine needle mulch every few months and that seems to keep them happy without needing to mess with sulphur.

Yes, I think acid is incredibly important. We have a deep well with hard water, and I've heard that watering them with hard water instead of rain water is enough to make them fail, which mine did. Their location was simply not set up for rainwater during our months of drought.

This was in the dailyish recently, but I'll put it here also - keep the house cooler by using a haybox cooker to cook your dinner. If you've got a dry spot outside but close at hand, it could possibly live outside.

Preserving wood by charring it, is a well known and ancient approach still used today - the Japanese call it, "Shou Sugi Ban" as one example.

My understanding was that most woods have a natural amount of creosote in them, and burning the surface is creating/condensing the creosote, thus preserving the wood. Using the term "biochar" to describe the process, is new to me. However, most posts I've seen, only burn the part of the post that will be underground.

It sounds as if this more complex approach is using a layered, multipronged approach which some ecosystems could definitely benefit from! Here they figure typical fence posts have a lifespan of 40 years. It used to be that people had large wood-lots and could just grow more fenceposts, but that currently doesn't seem sustainable in many places.

Our ancestors were much smarter than we give them credit for - and much more inclusive.

As soon as humans started staying put, the tendency for the sociopaths to start taking charge, ordering everyone to follow their plans, and collecting wealth, put many marginal folks into the lowest social category and the vital role they filled, didn't have enough sparkles to give them the respect they deserved.

Yes, the video's example of flint knapping is a valid starting point, but I've watched some videos about post and beam building construction done completely with hand tools, and that too, would require precision and care. Today, more respect for outliers might give us far few bugs in our computer code!

Dave Lotte wrote: Anything more than that would have to be acceptable by a better half - if i had one 😁😁😁

Assuming your "better half" is Gandalf, a sunshade made in the shape of Gandalf's hat, might just get approval! Maybe made out of a metal mesh frame covered in fabric?

Nancy Reading wrote:

Su Ba wrote:My next door neighbor knocked himself out pounding t-posts in. Ended up with a gash on the top of his head and a concussion. Lucky he didn't fracture his skull.

I've done this twice - somehow misjudged the height of the post - just a bump and a curse for me though.

And R Ransom did this once - quite badly if I recall correctly... I'm beginning to think that we need a thread about using post pounders safely? It had never occurred to  me that they were a dangerous tool. I *know* to be wary of chainsaws, but a post pounder, like the white rabbit in the video, just looks so innocent ...

I've heard of Chocolate Mint but haven't gone hunting locally for it. Some day...

I love my Apple Mint dried for tea in the winter, but it is in a contained pot.

Marjoram is in the mint family, and it is slowly invading my front lawn, but it's prettier than grass in my opinion. I use it in stews or when making bone broth.

Lemon Balm has naturalized in my ecosystem. It shows up in odd spots, but doesn't seem to take over like the Marjoram.  I like drying it also, and adding a bit to green tea.