Eric Hanson

Some suggestions:

1) plant deep-rooted legumes like crimson clover or hairy vetch.  There are numerous variations on this theme.

2) plant a deep-rooted crop that likes to take up the nitrogen.  Daikon radish, Buckwheat, certain grains come to mind.  Again, numerous variations

These are two very easy options.

3) pile on wood chips and plant into the chips.  Technically the plants will need to be planted under the wood chips, but the chips will break down surprisingly quickly

                                OR

4) Since you have those wood chips, try inoculating them with mushrooms--specifically Wine Caps.  Nothing will turn woody mass into fertile garden bedding faster than Wine Caps

5) Make compost piles on the beds over winter.  Don't get too concerned about getting browns & greens correctly balanced--just get the stuff piled up on the bed.  As it  slowly rots over winter, all the leachate will be drawn down by gravity into the soil beneath.  In the Spring, maybe take whatever is left and pile up into a more properly constructed pile, but who cares a this point (you could also just chip the stuff in).  All that leachate will do wonders for all over fertility.

6)  If you feel industrious, you could make biochar and that in.


There are just a few easy-to-do steps that can work miracles on your garden bed.  I can't speak highly enough for the Wine Caps or the impromptu compost pile that is just left to sit.  And if you can get that pile a bit on the green side of things--that's actually pretty great as all of that green juice will work its way right into the soil beneath.


Good luck and please let us know how things work out.


Eric

I thought I would add something about the battery converters.

I did buy a Orange to Red converter (Orange batteries on a Red tool).  Generally they work, but there might be a few limitations.  If the tool is one that talks to the battery to get every bit of power out a battery so that there is no lag or drop in power when drilling long, deep holes or cutting thick stock.  In those circumstances, the orange battery simply acts like a normal battery and does not talk the way that a dedicated Red battery would.

But there are a whole lot of applications where I don't care in the slightest about the tool and battery talking to each other.  Flashlights or lighting in general is a perfect application for one of these adapters.  Also, every single day I use one of my Orange batteries (actually a generic Orange) to slide a little 18v to USB converter to use the battery as a power supply that lasts many recharge cycles.  Again, I can't imagine that a converter matters in the slightest.

I will get a Red to Orange converter sometime in the near future and give more feedback.



Eric

Steve,

Oh, do I wish I could justify one of those trailers—they really are a pretty deluxe addition to a tractor arsenal.

I don’t think my wife would be thrilled with me buying one, but yes, I am officially drooling over your log trailer.


Now if moving logs were one of my more prominent activities, then I would make a strong case for one of those trailers.


Eric

I gotta say that I love lots of what I am reading.  My initial thoughts about buying into Red is basically for four tools—Compact Drill (m18), Oil Impulse Driver, Circular Saw and Sawzall.

But beyond those, there are just so many specialty tools that could be very useful that Orange pretends doesn’t even exist.  I like the idea of one of the light towers.  Maybe a torque wrench.

And yes, I will be marrying into a battery system, but I have a partial workaround there too.  I have found that third party batteries from Amazon to be very well worth the puny cost.  In some instances I pay almost 1/10 the name brand cost!  There are a couple of limitations, but for the price, I don’t care!!

I haven’t committed yet, at the moment I am still window shopping for specific models of drills and impulse drivers.



Eric

Personally I am not thrilled with the garden hose idea—I just foresee too many problems with ice buildup.

I do like the idea of some type of leaf blower.

Is there any chance that you could heat the solar panels just enough to melt the snow as it fell?  Being on top of the house, one would think that heat is already working in your favor.  Is there some way to raise the temperature to between 32 and 35 degrees?

These are just the ideas that come to mind.

Good luck!!


Eric

Hi Serena,

Any chance you could get Osage working in that mix?  They are pretty robust, hearty plants that make an amazing, dense screen.  They also produce some amazing firewood.



Eric

Steve,

Oh, I have looked at those trailers and absolutely drooled.  For my purposes, I can’t justify the expense, but if I could, dang, that would make one amazing attachment.

And even though I won’t be getting that Wallenstein, I will try to get as much and as many of those functions as possible.  I guess the feature that I want that will be hardest to duplicate will be the winch.  However, I am wondering if I can rig up a vehicle mounted tow winch to use for pulling logs out of tricky spots.


Still, that’s a nice logging trailer!


Eric

R Scott,

Agreed.  That dump trailer is road legal—but must be licensed as such.  And it certainly would be nice to have when I need to move something bulky.

Eric

Ok, yesterday I pulled the trigger on a grapple!  Specifically I bought this one HERE:

https://www.everythingattachments.com/Wicked-Root-Grapple-by-Everything-Attachments-p/eta-wrg-cmp.htm

It definitely was not the cheapest, but to me it looks like the one that fits my needs the best and will hopefully be a lifetime purchase—I want it to outlive me!!

I still need to get a joystick controller mechanism, but since I installed rear hydraulics last summer, I can use one circuit to curl around forward to operate the lids.  And this also means that I don’t have to cut my loader lines!  Basically I will buy the joystick controller mechanism ($300) with associated electrical connections and run the actual line back to my 4th rear hydraulic valve.  That valve will then be routed forward to the grapple lid.

With this purchase, I have two major purchase left.  The first is a flail mower with a hydraulic offset so I can really mow under a row of bushes.

The last is not so much an attachment but an accessory.  I would like to get a hydraulic dump trailer.  Both the flail mower and trailer are around $4009 so not exactly cheap.  But I figure that one per year isn’t so bad and I want to get these before I retire as I will have my full salary.

There are a few other miner modifications here and there, but nothing huge.


Eric has

I have had a LOT!

At the moment I am living with the ongoing consequences of having broken my neck when I was 15.  C6.  I did it while high-jumping.  But I didn't know it was broken.  No-one told me.  I was walking around for six weeks with no collar, no halo.

My college buddy broke his C6 and he is paralyzed from his shoulders down.


I am damn lucky!


Eric