Sarah Teets

I’m so disappointed I missed this! I live in Louisa and just saw this post. The harvester sounds amazing, especially given the dearth of grain production in the region!

I don’t know whether you’ve found your people or you’d be willing to come a bit further north, but check out the Community of Peace in Louisa, VA.

Hi all, with all the talk about disaster preparedness, I wanted to start another related thread. In addition to using permaculture design to make our landscapes more resilient, and having a store of supplies, food, water, etc., my question is, what do you think are the most important skills to build in advance of a disaster? For example, I’ve decided that I would like to take a wilderness first aid course, as I feel that having a well stocked first aid kit will do minimal good if I don’t actually know how to use it safely and effectively. I live in central Virginia, USA, and one of the major risks we face is damage from fallen trees. I think it would be useful to up my chainsaw skills. I (39F) have used a chainsaw, but am not comfortable handling it. My husband can use a chainsaw very handily, but we own two saws, and could potentially both work on clearing trees off our roads, etc., if I were a little more skilled. I’d love to hear your thoughts on valuable disaster coping skills!

Cristobal Cristo wrote:Sarah,

What are the dimensions of the wall you want to build?

It’s a 9x12. The north wall will be one of the long walls.

Hi everyone, we’ve had the good fortune of having the majority of a Santa Barbara deluxe model greenhouse basically fall in our laps for a very low price. It is missing a few glass panels, and our plan so far is to rearrange the panels to make a solid north facing wall (the original kit is for four glass walls). We would ideally like to make this wall have a high thermal mass, but I’m not sure whether we have the skills/budget to do this (i.e. it would be great to build or pay someone to build a structurally sound brick wall, but that’s unlikely). I was wondering whether anyone has any creative ideas. Alternatively, would it make more sense to simply insulate this wall really well, and find other placed to incorporate thermal mass, such as using brick/cinderblock to construct benches/walkways/line raised beds?

I’m super stoked that we have tons of nanking cherries and goumi betries ripening right now. This is our first year getting very much from out 3-4 year old shrubs. Has anyone ever combined the two in a jelly or jam, or even a fruit leather? I’m looking for ways to use and preserve that won’t involve pitting them individually. Thanks!

your neighbors know you as the folks "with the tall grass."

My husband is an avid sourdough baker. We buy organic flour in bulk (50 lb bags), which we have priced at around $2/loaf. He makes the bread 50/50 whole wheat/all purpose flour. So, each slice of bread is about 15-20 cents.
Our standard breakfast is two fried eggs from our hens with hot sauce, and 1-2 slices of toast with butter and usually some homemade jam from our own fruit or fruit we harvested for free. Expenses come from the olive oil for frying the eggs, store bought hot sauce, butter, and I suppose the sugar and pectin that went into the jam. We’ve never actually priced our eggs, but throw in the cup of coffee and I’m gussing this is a 1-2$ breakfast.

A delicious cheap dinner: pumpkin soup made with homegrown pumpkins and stock from our own chicken bones. Expenses come from the bought vegetables used to make the stock, salt, and seasoning (usually curry powder). Buttered sourdough on the side (I like to throw the bread under the broiler so the butter browns) makes this a complete meal in my book. This one is probably cheaper per plate/bowl than the breakfast!