Amy Gardener

Judith writes,

As a possible preventative, I have, just this fall, cleared an area a foot or so from the trunk down to bare dirt and will try to keep it that way...the idea I read was if you could keep the larvae in the soil stirred up they wouldn't make it to the trunk? doubtful but not a lot of effort to do.

I have had good luck clearing away the debris about half way to the tree's trip line to keep borers away from peaches, plums, apricots, cherries and almonds. My understanding is that the peach tree moths lay eggs in and around the lower part of the trunk throughout spring, summer and early fall. Removing the ground litter near the trunk gets rid of some of the eggs, though the base of the tree remains vulnerable to borers under the bark. Carefully examining the base of the tree while the ground is cleared allows me to see if any sap is running. When I do see a bubble of sap, I assume a borer is at work. I pull the sap away and use a heavy duty stainless steel basting syringe (cooking gadget available at Walmart) to inject neem oil into the hole.
To further protect the ground, I plant garlic around the base of the tree in autumn since I'm clearing the ground anyway and garlic is generally a good bug deterrent. Pulling the garlic in spring is another opportunity to clean up and poke around for signs of larve.
Since using this approach for about 20 years, I have never lost another stone fruit tree. I hope this works for you Judith!

One of the best decisions that I made last year was to invite Stephen out for a few days of work on my acre homestead. I've never met anyone more willing to experiment with vernacular permaculture methods and learn about ancient techniques than Stephen. In addition to following the old ways, he's got plenty of new ideas and perspectives to contribute.
Sorry to those who are hoping for more time in week 3 but I'm looking forward to hosting Stephen again out here in New Mexico.
Thanks for all your commitment to the art and practice of permaculture, Stephen. Your dedication to the craft inspires me to continue.

Catie writes,

Anyone else targeting a low/no spend Christmas? What are your strategies?

The strategy that works for me and many of my friends/family is to gift myself some kind of much needed tool then develop skills using the tool to make gifts. For example, one year I bought a set of wet stones (1000 and 3000 grit). I gave gift cards to sharpen kitchen knives. This was a big hit because (I knew from visiting) no one had cared for their knives. The next year, I bought a wet stone grinder. I had learned the previous year that many knives were chipped and needed preliminary preparation on the concrete sidewalk! The grinder really helped shape the worst knives. The third year, I bought some honing compound and rubbed it into an oak floor board. This gave the knives a razor sharp edge.
Each year, I expanded my tools for my own uses then practiced on terribly neglected knives. Everyone went away from the holidays happy.
Other examples over the years have been a jigsaw to cut wooden puzzles, a pressure canner to preserve jars of fruit, carving tools to make spoons, a band saw to make charcuterie boards, pottery making tools to make tea bowls and so on.
The holidays can be the time to buy the tool that has been on one's own wish list. By giving gifts to others created using a much needed gift-to-self (and supplies from the land/garden/homestead), the cost for gifts is effectively $0.

Thekla writes,

Anyone have any additional suggestions or strategies for when the going gets tough?  

I find that this mantra helps me cope (and regain my sense of humor):

Forgiveness
Understanding
Courage
Kindness
!

Maggie writes,

Since fireplaces are such woefully inefficient ways to heat a space and I would really like to heat with our local wood, I have been looking but am unable to find any information about the possibility of converting them to a more efficient system. I'm wondering if I could build some kind of small masonry heater system into the firebox using firebrick, or built a small rocket mass heater into the firebox using cob and such, or else cob (maybe sand and then cob) around a wood stove inserted in (with the proper pipe inserted inside the chimney).

About 10 years ago, I attended a lecture at the Dorothy Day Center in Albuquerque, NM, where the original fireplace in the old adobe home was converted to a rocket mass heater within the previous decade (around 2005). In a wonderful spirit of sharing knowledge, the staff at the time gave me a tour of the entire system from indoor fire starting to ground-level clean-out to roof top vent. I highly recommend scheduling a field trip to see the system and understand the issues with the conversion. It is possible that the system was removed due to staff turnover and loss of rocket mass heater expertise over time. If you do schedule an appointment, please let us know what you find out.

While Tim specifically asks about sifting, would you consider minimizing ash by burning then dousing the biochar in a burn pit?
By making a small fire in a pit, then covering it with layers of sticks to partially smother the burn, I am able to carefully douse the fire from the bottom up while the new layers of char continue to burn on top. There is little to no ash in this process.
I mostly follow this excellent video by Manuel Angerer with this small modification: instead of dousing the fire completely, just add water to the bottom of the pit while keeping the upper layers burning. When finished with the burn, douse the entire pit as shown in the video.
After years of avoiding biochar due to concerns of adding alkalinity to my highly alkaline sandy soil, I am very pleased with this minimal ash method.

Using a slow cooker works really well for me. A covered slow cooker prevents the water from evaporating so basically all you do is cook the polenta on low until the water is absorbed and the corn is fully cooked.
Mix 1 cup of polenta with 1/2 t salt and 1/2 t baking soda (for whole grain meal) in the bowl of the slow cooker. Whisk in 2 cups of cold water until smooth. Whisk 2 cups of boiling water into the polenta mixture. Start the slow cooker on high and cook until bubbles form (about 45 min). Whisk again then turn cooker to low setting.
Cook on low until water is absorbed, polenta is tender and the polenta tastes like corn (not paste). Stir occasionally to cook the mixture evenly.
I cook my whole grain, coarse milled, dent corn for a total of 5 hours on low. The slow cooking produces and outstanding porridge: tender and full of rich corn flavor. If your polenta is de-germinated, the time could be much less so taste every hour and experience the flavor transformation.

Serving options:
To the hot polenta, add some butter and cheese, if desired, then top with your favorite pasta topping.
For breakfast, serve the porridge topped with berries, honey and milk.
For a wonderful warm up on a cold day, combine polenta with any kind of milk 1:1 plus maple syrup or honey plus cinnamon to taste. Blend until smooth. Serve hot in a mug. I drink this Mexican inspired “atole” whenever I have some leftover plain polenta. Amazing!

Dear Anne, Phil and Joseph,
Would y'all be willing to share the types of cactus, thorn bushes or other prickly plants that you are working with and weeding around. Prickly pear is probably very different from raspberries.
And Joseph, what is your "specialty hoe"? Did you custom design some low tech super hoe?
Anyone cultivating an actual garden with dense thorns that you love?

Here at my place, the prickly pear is growing tall (up to 4’). Interspersed among the cactus is silver leaf nightshade and a few desert globe mallow that I am working to extract.
I am having some luck removing these invaders using a narrow weeding tool called a “long handled corkscrew weeder.” I can twirl the long unwanted stem inside the corkscrew then continue toward the root by twisting the tool clockwise underground. Once I have the root I can pull the weed out of its prickly fortress. The brand is DeWit. I am happy with the results around the prickly pear in silt-sand soil.

Those of us who have a landscape that involves prickly plants know that weeding around spines, thorns, and prickles is difficult, tedious and painful. Each type of cactus or thorny bush probably requires a unique approach so if you have suggestions, please note the plant you are trying to weed around.

What methods or tools help make this job easier for you with your particular plant?