William Bronson

I think I have come up with a good way to join the bicycle rims to form a geodesic dome.
Bike rim domes are a thing, and they are usually held together with zip ties.
Zip ties are subject to weathering, and not necessarily very strong.
Bicycle rims vary in width and radius.
I would eventually like to weld together any bicycle rim dome I build, but even then, positioning will be an issue.
After musing on it I came up this joint:

PVC pipe bicycle dome joint side view

PVC pipe bicycle dome joint top down


I grabbed two different sized rims, to see if the joint would work that way, and it does.
That option would mostly be used between courses or layers.
Each layer upward might use a smaller diameter rim.

The zip ties could/should be replaced with wire binding, or even a temporary bungie cord.
Maybe hose clamps?
The pipe could be steel, but more importantly the pipe and rim together make up a measurement that can be used to lay out the dome.
If for example we planed for  10 rims as the base of our dome, and one rim plus the pipe joint measured 24", we could lay out 38.833 inch (3.23608333 foot) radius circle, and drive rebar  stakes every 24" along the ~ 20 foot circumference.
Each pipe joint can be slid over the rebar post to achieve a very clean layout.

Pipe size can be increased or decreased to help a given rim size fit a needed circle diameter.
Once proper positioning is achieved strengthen the joint by driving screws through the empty spoke holes into the pipe joint.
If you are using wheels with the spokes intact, try self tapping screws.
The pipes could also be dowls or properly sized branches.
Any large enough durable cylinder that can take screw should work.
I can see using tin cans ,if you didn't need the dome to be strong, or  if you filled the joint with cement after it was screwed together.
If the pipe is small enough in diameter (so the rims touch each other )or they are  made of metal, welding  becomes an option.
I don't weld(yet) so I'm designing this dome with that in mind.

To ease everything from covering the dome  to driving screws in the joints, a rim without spokes might be best.
On the other hand, spokes and a hub ad strength and would prevent a tarp from pooling.
Splitting the difference and cutting the spokes off of one side of the hub might be the way to go.

I guess this is better than a dishpan full of seedlings.
Less root entanglement, handy out in the field?
Could we add a chop stick ,dowl, or twisted up rod of paper every few inches for even more separation?
Maybe strips of cellulous sponge.
I wonder if this would work with a roll of aluminum flashing, which is durable reusable and cheap.
I wonder if it would work with winter sowing?

I'm gonna suggest mulberry.
It grows fast, coppice/pollards well, burns well and the wood is durable.
I'm not sure if any of that applies to the varieties that also give good fruit or leaves, and I have never grown one from seed, but the cuttings do take pretty well.
The only mulberry  cultivar I've ever planted  struggles to this day, but that could be due to my placement.

As for Black Locust, Sean from Edible Acres seems to reliably propagate them from root cuttings.
I have a black locust with minimal thorns, that seems to have come from a nearby mature tree with similar growth patterns.
My own specimen is in a bad spot, so it gets chopped down every year,and every year it grows ~ 8 feet.

Douglas, thank you for sharing how you deal with your things, and take pleasure in every stage!

Here is a YouTuber that is living through what he calls the burden of abundance:



I really vibe with him

Out of the animals I know personally, I trust only the chickens to self police their diet.
They have one known blind spot, they think styrofoam is good to eat.
My dog is so domesticated that she won't eat raw meat, only cooked!
The rabbit is from a line of show bunnies, so his diet is the most closely scrutinized.
My wife won't even give him veggies that have blemishes!

Today I went to the Cincinnati Recycling and Reuse Hub

https://www.cincinnatirecyclingandreusehub.org
Cincinnati Recycling and Reuse Hub

It one of my favorite places to shop, the prices are free and the cool and dedicated staff know me by name.

I have been shopping their free store for a few years now.
It's a clean and organized version of my own reuse obsession.
Lately, due to weather, I've been curating the basement portion of my horde.
I was up tol the wee hours , sorting, condensing, scrapping and emotionally letting go of  mountains of  tools and materials.

As a result, I was able to bring them a load of vintage hand tools that I simply did not need
I'm talking half a dozen handsaws and just as many pruning shears, plus crazy bits of hardware like garage door springs.
Even though this is a place that has things like an entire bin of bread bag wire ties, I was still nervous about offering them my treasures.
I know their wares and their policies, but I am weird old Gob-Father(Father of Goblins), and I'm often the only one who sees the value in a given bit of detritus.
So I made them promise to correct me if that was warranted, picked out a few containers to take home with me, and spent more than an hour talking to an archival librarian about poetry, reuse/upcycling/curb crawling, aging parents  and the years he spent WOOFing  in his 20's.
We exchanged numbers.

I am envisioning a future where my hoard can serve it's intended purpose as fuel for creativity instead of being a burden.
The old tools that I kept can be restored or remade, the potting bench can foster new life, and I'll be able to cast parts for stoves.
The hope is to have a fully functioning workshop to enjoy and leave to my kids, instead of an indoor dumpster that mostly makes me sad.


Thanks for letting me share my emotional unhoarding story.
What is your relationship with your hoard?
Does it enable your creativity or hold you back ?

I wonder if steam juicing would extract more sugars than mechanical juicing?

Pear trees seem immune to black walnut juglone.
They are in my experience more robust than apple trees.
The wood seems to be valued as highly as that of the apple for smoking and woodworking.
My bunnies have always preferred it to all other healthy treats.

A woodlot with pear trees, sea berry and black walnuts could be a great place to raise pork.
A wood lot with pears trees, sea berry and arborvitae could be a great minimal intervention maximum profit set up.
Stump culture the arborvitae for Christmas trees, harvest sea berries by cutting their branches off and freezing them, releasing lots of nitrogen,market the pear prunings for smoking, and eventually harvest the pear trees for lumber.

We are often told to prune trees in the winter , but if you are trying to grow strait lumber, is that the best time of year?

I just remembered, corny kegs!
5 gallons, stainless steel ,liquid/air tight and available used for around 50 bucks.

https://wineandhop.com/cdn/shop/products/keg-and-draft-supplies-used-5-gallon-pin-lock-keg-corny-1_1024x1024.jpg?v=1515701449

I was thinking about another way we could adept to settling and also eliminate the retaining wall.
I propose  chain link fencing.
Suppose we take 10 foot lengths of fence and hang them from one end,side by side, affixed about 8 inches down the face of the aluminum clad insulation wall.
After you knit these together with wire, measure about halfway down and wire a slotted pipe horizontally across the face of the fencing.
As the fencing lays on the slope, we place the stones above the slotted pipe, stopping every foot to tie a short length of wire to the fencing.
We keep pile stones right up to the aluminum wall,then we fold the rest of the fencing up over the stones, securing with the wires every foot.
This is kinda like a gabion, but it is flexible, like a pillow or mattress.
Because it's flexible, it could ride the settling earth of the berm.
My only hesitation is protecting the poly from the chain link.
Boron treated cardboard is my tentative answer for that issue.

The gabion mattress could potentially go right under the eaves, and have the insulation board under it.
The poly would go under that board and be protected from the gabion mattress.
This would be for more of the umbrella insulation effect.
It might be something that could be added onto as more money becomes available.