Johanna Breijer

+ Follow
since Oct 14, 2017
Merit badge: bb list bbv list
For More
Apples and Likes
Apples
Total received
In last 30 days
0
Forums and Threads

Recent posts by Johanna Breijer

I have been thinking about harnessing the wind that my heat pump creates.  I can not count on mother nature to create wind but every time the heat pump kicks in,there is a blast of air.  I'm thinking of something small that could harness the wind.  It would live under the deck and maybe make enough energy to run the heat pump.  It wouldn't go directly to the heat pump but help with house hold electrical load.  Has anyone tried this before?  I don't want invent the wheel if someone has already got something working.  On the other hand if someone has tried and it didn't work because the air movement is too disorganized for it to work I could shelve this until winter.
I'm just throwing the idea out there.  Yes I'm crazy but sometimes crazy works.
1 month ago
Try growing lupins, shasta daisies, echinacea, and black eyed susans.  I'm doing this in my acre to make the view stunning and they are easy to do.  I started some in small pots and I seeded some in late fall by tossing seeds on to bits of earth that was visible.  The lupins have come up easily fighting for space.  The others didn't germinate as well but I'm put in my potted plants and they are doing fine.  All of them spread by seed.  I know the deer wont eat them.  This fall I'm going to try poppies, bachelore buttons, and annual chrysanthemums.  I don't know if the deer will eat them.  They have eaten all my hosta, day lillies, and all the heads off my  calendulas.  I plant corn and other things like peas and pole beans far from my "garden".  I plant all the extra fruit and veg with the corn.  
Herbs are useful weeds.  Most of them will work in your field.  Put your invasive herbs in large pots {childrens wading pools with holes drilled in the bottom will hold a lot of plants.}
Good luck.
Hi.  Worked in a lapidary for years.  Plate glass and ceramic plates are not a good idea.  Slag glass would be close to volcanic glass in structure.  It is cheap and available.  
2 months ago
I want to get my wild garlic seeds to germinate.  I know they need cold stratification.  Anyone know how many weeks?
I'm planting them in my 1 acre yard.  Foraging has wiped out the local wild plants.  I'm hoping to establish plants on my property and then plant out more plants into the more wild areas locally.  
Johanna
7 months ago
Hello thank you for the amazon info.  I have ordered a new key.

have tried the nail suggestion and no joy.  I tried other shaped items with no luck.  But thank you for the suggestion.
1 year ago
I'm trying to change a chicken coop twelve feet by 2o feet into a workshop.  I have a bunch of wood they has come from a deck.  It is pressure treated so not safe to build raised beds for food use.  The coop is  old and not well maintained so the wall that gets all the weather is completely rotten.  I'm carefully replacing the laminated support struts.  Next is replacing the outer wall's ship lapping.  I can't afford the ship lapping so I plan to over engineer the wall with reclaimed 8 by 2 inch support boards.  I have 1 by 4s to cover all the joints.  They are very weathered.  I thought about sanding them and then thought my Ryobi 13 inch portable planer would be much faster and I would control the thickness of all the boards and keep them consistant.  I moved across Canada and I'm still finding my tools and stuff to made my new house and garden functional for me.
Along with some off my larger tools parts are missing.  The other tools I've found a go around to make work until I can get the missing pieces.  I'm missing the switch key to the planer.  It's the little plastic thing that allows you tool to start.  It is a safety feature to make it so children can't start it.  Does anyone know a work around so I can get the job done?The planer was discontinued and  this part is unavailable.  Help!
Thank you for any suggestions.  Johanna
1 year ago
Hi I had cancer.  Put a little water at the bottom of the bucket.  It will make it easier for emptying the bucket, and rinsing it out.  Drink or at least take a mouth full of water after vomiting.  Dry heaves can rip the throat and  bleeding on top of the puking is not a good thing.  
1 year ago
I have been planting water cress under leaky faucets outdoors for a long time.  The cress grows just fine with the hose being run every couple of days.  It's not finicky and easy to grow.   This way I use all the water and don't have to feel guilty about the occasional drip.
2 years ago
About 40 years ago, we were dropped off by the college and we had to survive in the park.  We were limited by what we were allowed to bring.  Ever slipped a mini axe down your boot to hide it and drove with it there for a couple of hours to get there?  I had camped there a few times before.  I found the park was slowly being over used over time.  I really noticed it in Gatineau Park as well.  They had paved over the paths to make it more accessible.  There were far too many campsites that were over used and stripped bare.  To keep the park open they had to have enough people to pay for the park services and personnel.  Sadly permaculture is pretty low on their list of priorities.
3 years ago
I haven't planted marigolds for the last three years.  I leave the entire plant to over winter and then dig them in the next spring.  I live in zone 3a.  I have been transplanting the volunteers all over the garden.  The excess plants have gone to friends and neighbors.  They self seed everywhere.  I have large marigolds and small ones.  All sorts of colours. They seem to breed true to the parent plant.  They are a tropical plant so they aren't supposed to do that here.  You get more protection for you other plants by letting the marigolds overwinter.  You should try just digging the plants in and see what you get.  I used to start my seeds indoors but these are actually bigger faster than the ones I started in pots.  
I prefer to just let the marigolds just do their thing.  It is one less thing to start indoors, harden off, and transplant.  Most of them come up where I want them, so there is very little transplanting.  That leaves me time and space to baby other plants for the garden.