tuffy monteverdi

Ryan Burkitt wrote:I want to attempt the three sisters method this year. I was thinking of using Montana Lavender Clay. However, when I grow Montana lavender it’s usually 5ft tall and I’m afraid the beans will over grow it. I’m not sure if this variety gets taller than that. I’ll admit I didn’t fertilize it the best so they might have grown taller. Will Montana lavender work for the three sisters method? If not, I want try another heritage Native American variety.

Can you trial peas instead of beans? Or some w peas, some w smaller bean plants? Peas seem less tall and less heavy, less aggressive.

We don’t use a chute or head catchgate for our smaller flock of sheep. But I wish we had one.
I think it could really be handy and reduce injury. While we were able to run around flipping sheep for shearing or examination/vaccines, or some such when we were younger, we find now that it takes a toll, physically. Especially with the rams.

Specifically a *steel* head catch gate and short chute with 2 metal panels that open at sides, for a (handmade) chute coming out of the barn, in rounded fashion.

We do have a great setup of smaller corrals with swing metal gates and so forth, but a steel head catch gate, at least, would be great.
I’ve looked at the sheep head catch gates and the one panel long attached chutes from Lakeland. That minimal combo seems great. And so so expensive😔.
Still, cheaper and happier than a thrown out back or tendon shear injury.

I found personally, that training sheep (from lamb-hood) to halter and lead is really helpful. It makes handling of all sheep easier and less stressful for all.
However, still, once a certain number of sheep is reached, some just don’t get trained as well, and also, sometimes sheep need restraint more than tying up a haltered sheep to a post. A head catchgate with short chute is low stress and great for that 👍

As we age, I think it’s going to have to be a non-negotiable investment (or severely reduce sheep numbers which we don’t want to do).

r ransom wrote:The history is so interesting.

Music music used to be a big part of everyday life. Even into the 1950s in our non-musical family, there were always musical instruments in a house.  It was part of evenings together.

The ukulele books like to talk about why TAB is best and how much older it is to modern musical notation.   Long history there and very interesting stuff.

But I need to learn modern music music writing so I can move notes and stuff about and get a better feeling of time.  Maybe even make learning new instruments easier.  

I suspect music is going to be a big part of my life moving forward.   If only I could read the darn thing.

The beautiful thing about music notation and notes is that it’s not limited by instrument, the way Tab is. Anyone in the world with any instrument can take that paper with the music written on it and play it on their chosen instrument. The universality of this is valuable.
As is the ease of writing music down, without having to do a Tab out for every note.
Though it’s certainly not required in order to play one’s instrument. Many folks play beautifully without reading music👍

Honestly music notation is incredibly visual.
Don’t be intimidated by it. It’s different perhaps than what you’re used to, but in doing it, you may find it is easy once learned, and becomes your best friend in putting down ideas.

Burra Maluca wrote:

The ones in the city are almost certainly watered, and I don't personally know of any 'in the wild' so couldn't say for sure how they cope without any irrigation.

Annual rainfall is around 35 inches, but there will generally be around six weeks of drought in July and August.

Ahh ok
Portugal gets more rain than we do. Ok 👍
We have no rain between May 1 through Nov1 - so around 6 months of drought yearly.
Maybe I’ll have to set up permanent irrigation

Thank you!

Burra Maluca wrote:
The species is Tilia cordata. In Castelo Branco there are streets lined with them and at the right time of year you will see little old men with steps and shopping bags walking from tree to tree gathering blooms to take home for the missus for making tea.

Here's a link to an area of the City named after the trees - Tilias

Summer rains are rare here. It's classic Mediterranean climate, with mild, moist (hahahahahah - wet, this year, to say the least!) winters and hot, dry summers.

During flowering, it does have a sweet, distinctive scent that you might want to check that you're ok with before planting too many too close to where you hang out...

Oh I forgot to ask:
Are these city trees watered at all?
And what is your rainfall per year?
Thanks so much!

Burra Maluca wrote:
The species is Tilia cordata. In Castelo Branco there are streets lined with them and at the right time of year you will see little old men with steps and shopping bags walking from tree to tree gathering blooms to take home for the missus for making tea.

Here's a link to an area of the City named after the trees - Tilias

Summer rains are rare here. It's classic Mediterranean climate, with mild, moist (hahahahahah - wet, this year, to say the least!) winters and hot, dry summers.

During flowering, it does have a sweet, distinctive scent that you might want to check that you're ok with before planting too many too close to where you hang out...

Oh great! This is the perfect information I needed to know. Thank you!! 🙏

Mark Roelofs wrote:We have 2 mature Tilia trees in front of our house. They were already there when we bought the place 2 years ago. I live in South of Spain, but I live at 1600m altityde on the north side of the mountain. So i do not have the typical mediteranean climate. We have a bit more rain then at lower altitudes and freezing temperatures in winter. Summer are still hot and dry (maybe one day of rain per month).

The trees are doing fine and are healthy, my wife likes to collect the flowers for tea.

Thank you
So are the trees mostly in shade? Or are the tops tall enough to get sun?

Burra Maluca wrote:They grow very well here in central Portugal.

Hi Burra

Do you know which species of Tilia they are?
Does central Portugal have humidity in summer and Fall or is it still very Mediterranean? Do you have summer rains at all?

Thanks

r ransom wrote:Mmmmmm, fudge.

I am a bit nervous to admit, but I don't know enough yet to understand many of the words and phrases used here.  I feel this is an area I definitely need to work on.

Why do some notes not have sharps or flats?  Is this only European music tradition?  And how do we know which?  Is it always the same ltters or is there a logic?

Don’t worry. You don’t have to know ANY terms or words. If you get a basic booklet, like Mel Bay,  to learn with your ukelele or guitar, all the terms will be in there and introduced as you need them. And it is just a booklet. It’s thin and large format 😁
You don’t need to be concerned about “doing or learning anything first”
{I swear I don’t work for Mel Bay Lol😂 - I use it as an example because that book made it so simple for me. I just saw it on a newsstand when I was a kid and bought it}

You can definitely teach yourself to read music if you have some kind of an instrument to play on. (You won’t know the sounds for each note without the instrument).

I taught myself to play guitar when I was 9 years old, with no talent whatsoever,  using a really clear, really simple booklet, published or authored by Mel Bay. Big clear simple prose and notes.
I think there are several in the series. I really only needed book one to learn the notes. Then one can read any piece of guitar music and try and play it.

They have booklets for any stringed guitar-like instrument. But they may have to be bought used on eBay / etc. Not sure if they are still in print.

It was SUPER easy to just learn a note, and what it looks like on the page vs what it looks like on the instrument. Then just take it from there, note by note, eventually the basic ABCDEFG in one octave is learned. Then onto the next octaves. How to do sharps and flats. And chords (combos of notes) come after. Then rhythm and strumming. Finger picking (guitar) is also taught alongside the notes - which is easy and intuitive.

It is REALLY easy. It’s just practice, daily. Pretty soon the notes are being played automatically without you thinking at all about them!😊

Of course there is always tablature for guitars and the like, but it’s more reading diagrams of your guitar or stringed instrument, it’s not learning to read notes. It’s another way to play music though, if you object to reading notes. The Mel Bay books actually include tablature as well as a way to make the chords easier to understand.

The photos show a variation of the covers of the first level of the Mel Bay books. Mine was closest to the top blue and white book, but it didn’t have an electric guitar on it I don’t think. (Either way, the notes are the same on both guitars)