Greg Martin

Meli Mot wrote:I love the idea of a vegan permaculture food forest! I don't see how to get enough protein though. I live in hardiness zone 5b. I used a nutrition tracker to input walnuts and hazelnuts,  which grow in my area, but that only came to 20% of daily protein needs. Fruit adds very little protein. Perhaps Siberian pea, but apparently that has dangerous toxins. I will keep researching though!

Kentucky Coffee Tree seeds can be shucked in August while green and taste wonderful cooked.  One analysis has them at 31.5% protein and they grow great in zone 5.

I'm officially in zone 5a and I planted out a block of seeds.  For a good many years they died back somewhat and then grew back stronger year after year while continuing to die back a bit.  Last year they did not die back at all and grew over my head.  Weather?  Didn't seem like it was an easier winter. Trees gaining enough strength?  Not sure.  

I'm waiting for spring to see if they are done with dying back or not.  If they don't have any die back then I'll harvest their new growth as I pollard them to 4'.  I like the idea of training them at a convenient harvesting height.

I don't make raised beds, but if I did I would probably try burning the wood's faces for a shou sugi ban style wall.  As a bonus it can be really beautiful.
There is a a thread here on Permies about doing this.  Several people mentioned it taking a lot of time and fuel to burn the wood faces.  I'd move the wood over a camp fire as I wouldn't want to use fuel.  There is also a method where 3 boards are wired together to make a sort of chimney and that is placed over a small fire to get the internal wood faces to char nicely, though seems a bit smoky!

The high pressures are needed to get the water to a high enough temperature for the carbons to rearrange into the aromatic state.  Lower temperatures would require a better catalyst, but a quick search is showing catalysts for hydrochar taking the needed pressure down to 225 psi, so still concerning without the right equipment.

I was interested in making hydrochar when I first read about it until I read how high the pressure they were using was, something like 20 atm or more.  Still somewhat interested but just had me concerned about explosions.

What was the caterpillar’s New Year’s resolution?
She wanted to turn over a new leaf.

Another person just called me, coughed, sneezed and hung up.
I sure am tired of getting these cold calls.

Searching for 'Bigger Better Butternut' squash doesn't seem to bring any current suppliers up, but it does show that this variety was Carol's dehybridization of the 'Ultra HP F1" hybrid, which is still available.  While a traditional seed saver might not want that one, anyone interested in making a giant butternut landrace would see its hybrid status as a bonus.  I went ahead and ordered that one to play with along with several other big ones.

From a fellow Mainer, welcome to Permies, Ada.  Sounds like a wonderful set of projects.  Looking forward to learning more about your plans!

What nationality is Santa?
North Polish.