Mike Barkley

gardener & hugelmaster
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since Mar 01, 2018
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Biography
After a long career electro-geeking for R&D labs in the electronic industry Mike has checked out of the rat race & moved to the woods. Not entirely off grid but trying to achieve that goal. He raises a few animals & enjoys growing healthy food in various gardens. He is a life long nature lover, adventure seeker, & to a certain extent a minimalist. Eventually bears will probably eat him & turn him into compost. He is ok with that.
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Recent posts by Mike Barkley

Rain is coming this weekend so going out to check on my guerilla gardens tomorrow. Which brought up the subject of gorilla songs. Guerilla, gorilla, get it? There are a lot of songs for kids about monkeys. Not so many for adults. I can only think of one other monkey song. I was the young teen target age for that one but I was into Janis & Jimi by then. I will never intentionally listen to anything that lame. Some of these are marginal too. Good for a laugh though.





3 days ago
Hi Kim. Welcome to permies.

This might be what you are requesting. All the BB's.

The main thing on all of them is good documentation. Take many pictures. Before, during, & after. That will cover a large percentage of the requirements.
I have noticed many times honeybees are attracted to pee spots. They are scent driven so that probably explains it. Why they seem to like that smell is beyond my human brain.
1 week ago
I had a garden for one year on an old dairy farm near Hinckley, MN. It had a well composted manure pile larger than most houses. I used huge amounts of that to build the garden. It grew broccoli the size of basketballs. Another thing that did extremely well there was rhubard. Someone planted a few of those many years earlier & they were monster sized.

Peanuts probably have no chance there but actual peas should be fine. It's almost perfect weather during the growing season for them. Austrian peas will extend both ends of the growing season because they tolerate cold even better. They are often used as cover crops. They survive winter here in the deep south but not sure how long they would last in MN winter.

Good luck with your new hugels!!!
1 week ago
Peas & peanuts would be good choices that fit those requirements.
1 week ago
It is generally recommended to include a lot of nitrogen fixers the first year or two because decomposing wood consumes nitrogen.
1 week ago
Rather than completely burn the ash maybe it could just be scorched good enough to kill the eggs? Or turned into biochar?

Check out this chip dropservice that might be useful for your needs.
2 weeks ago
It doesn't seem to fit the category but that's just my opinion. That particular BB is not my strongest. Perhaps someone higher up the BB food chain will clarify.
Alexandra, it looks clear as it is written to me. I interpret it to mean show the 10 pounds of meat on a scale before drying.