Melissa James

"I can't wait!" - yes, yes you can.

"Take a seat" - but please, don't take it home with you.

"A little birdie told me..."

"Who let the cat out of the bag?"

"You're really on the ball."

You might consider Magnesium Oxide board panels (MagOx). They can be used as exterior siding and also have interior applications, such as drywall and subflooring.

Magnesium Oxide boards are fire resistant, moisture/mold resistant, non-toxic, and do not contain fly ash or formaldehyde.

I learned about this product from a Building Biologist while researching green materials for a future build. I toured a home that was built with MagOx panels and was impressed by the quality in person.

For more info: https://www.magpanelmgo.com/magnesium-oxide-board-applications

You might consider Darn Tough socks. They are made in Vermont, USA: https://darntough.com

The company prides itself on durability and sustainability. All products come with an unconditional lifetime guarantee. These socks are popular with the hiking community for being nearly indestructible in harsh conditions.

Most of their socks are merino wool with a lesser percentage of synthetics.

All products are 3rd party tested to rigorous chemical standards and are free of PFAS (forever chemicals).

Here is more information about their sustainability practices, materials, and chemical testing: https://darntough.com/pages/sustainability

Breaking Bear wrote:

Corrina Cohen wrote:FruitwoodNursery/Rolling River Farm:  We are looking for 1-2 dynamic, diligent and hard working people to come live and work with us at our robust homestead and thriving family-run online nursery business, Fruitwood Nursery. As a member of a small team, this position is multi-faceted. You would be integral to the stewardship of our exceptionally diverse collection of fruiting trees, bushes, vines and native plants, our large subsistence gardens, as well as to the operation of our online nursery business. The nature of this work is seasonal and flexible, and the workload and responsibilities reflect that seasonality. Full time work is available November- June and more part time (25-30 hours per week) July-October.  Position starts in Sept./October and must be willing to make at least a year commitment.

Roles & Responsibilities include but are not limited to:
Field Work - March-Sept:
Cultivating with heavy hoe, fertilizing and harvesting 3 acres of perennial fruit trees, bushes and vines.
Planting, cultivating and harvesting large subsistence annual vegetable gardens
Pruning - Nov-Jan:
Dormant season pruning of all deciduous perennial plants in a 3 acre mixed orchard
This includes over several hundred  fruit trees ranging from full size to more intensively planted compact trees. Requiring working on 8-10 ft. orchard ladders in cool-cold weather.
Nursery Work - Jan-April:
Collecting scions and rooted plugs for customer orders.
Packing customer orders to prepare for shipment.
Propagating plants for nursery via cuttings and seed
Cutting prunings to size for sale as scion wood
*All nursery work done outside and in open-air sheds, often in cold and wet weather conditions*
Homestead work - seasonal and ongoing as needed
Brush piling, chipping, fencing, irrigation and general maintenance
Mucking animal pens
Mowing and vegetation management
Care for large subsistence annual gardens

Housing Rent exchange and Caretaking
In exchange for 8 hours of work per person per week, we offer a 12X18  naturally built two story, two bedroom home with 2 covered porches, propane stove, wood heated outdoor shower, indoor heating via wood cook stove, washing machine and detached composting privy, as well as a generous portion of farm vegetables, fruit, and various products.

Animal chores 1 day a week per person about 30 min -1 hour, morning and evening. Includes caring for mixed poultry flock, and 10-20 head goat herd. On chore days you keep the animal products you collect such as eggs and milk
Caretaking responsibilities when we’re gone-generally no more than a month spread out for the year shared with another caretaker.

Experience and Expectations:
At least 1 year related gardening, agriculture, nursery or field work experience
Preferably some Pruning experience
Is comfortable with and enjoys the challenges of working physically in the outdoors
Availability to work outside in cold winter and hot summer conditions.
Availability to work up to 40 hours a week generally during our busiest season December-April..
Ability to lift 50 lbs.
Ability to comfortably and safely work from 8-10 ft orchard ladders for pruning and harvesting.
Experience with rustic and remote living conditions. Orleans is a small, remote community surrounded by clean water and beautiful wildernesses., .

Compensation
We offer compensation starting at $15.00/hour depending on experience,with a potential for a raise within 3 months.

Please email: Corrinaandmarc@fruitwoodnursey.com for an application.  

Your email address might be incorrect, I tried to email you to no avail. I even tried changing the capital "C" to a lowercase "c". Anyhow, I hope you get this, as I am very interested in this position. What state are you in? My wife, Susie, also replied earlier in the comments.

From their website, the correct email address appears to be: corrinaandmarc@fruitwoodnursery.com

Best wishes to all. 🌻

I appreciate you.

I commend you for recognizing your hubris and being eager to learn. Those are valuable traits across the lifespan.

You might try visiting the Blacksburg Farmers Market and getting to know some of the local vendors. Many are organic and practice permaculture principles. Some are also welcoming of volunteers and/or interns.

Here is a link for vendors at the Blacksburg Farmers Market. Click through the profiles to learn more: https://blacksburgfarmersmarket.com/vendors

You could also sift through some of these listings for permaculture farms in your area: https://www.localharvest.org/search.jsp?jmp&scale=8&lat=37.229033&lon=-80.414886

Some WWOOF locations offer opportunities for local, daily volunteers.

Since your location is not constant throughout the year, you could search for permaculture farms and/or farmers markets wherever you are. There is a wealth of knowledge out there. Many are happy to share in exchange for a helping hand and a willingness to learn.

Chard Irking wrote:Wow! I'm always amazed by the amount of different voices I see of this forum. It seems like whenever I try to talk about mulch with "normal" people, they just look at me blankly...

This lot is on what I would describe as a crest that slopes down on both sides. The reason I feel the need to leave them in piles right now is because I essentially have to pull out all rotting terracing and replace it before I spread any new mulch around, otherwise it'll just erode down the sides and into the water. But that project isn't one that I will get to within the next year. I want to leave the piles at the top of the crest of course because gravity currently goes down. I'll be keeping an eye on that though lol.

I'll make do with what it what I can though. When folks are saying the chips will start to rot, is that rotting in a bad way or is that meaning they will essentially turn into dirt. I know I will need some soil as well for what will basically be terrace beds, so if they chips end up not being chips in a year, will they be something that can end up going into those beds anyhow?

Our Georgia pile of woodchips rotted from the inside-out, as expected with moisture retention and lack of sunlight. The outer layers mostly resembled dirt, but the wood-decaying fungi turned most of the interior pile white and stringy. This is wonderful for soil amendments and other purposes but may not be ideal as mulch, depending on your goals for the project. There are some great threads on Permies about using woodchips for soil amendments and other purposes. Search for "woodchips."

We have a lot of rain in our part of Georgia. For a newer pile of woodchips, it took about 8 months before the bottom layers started turning white. If you were to thin the pile and periodically expose different parts of it to sunlight, you could extend the time to utilize as mulch. Either way, it sounds as though you'll find a good use for it.

Georgia lover of woodchips here.

We moved onto a lot that had a pile of woodchips approximately 1-2 years old. The woodchips are now 3-4 years old. The pile has only shrunk a small amount in size (maybe 10%). However, it has almost fully softened/rotted with the rain, fungi, and other microbial growth. It would compress in size if we were to apply any pressure.

We later had some tree work and had a HUGE new pile of woodchips. I made an effort to spread a small amount as often as I could. This was helpful to keep it from rotting, as the "new" top layer would have a chance to dry with the exposure to air and sunlight.

I would encourage you to spread small amounts whenever you have a spare bit of time. Even 30 minutes once a week or month can make a big difference. This way, you can make use of the woodchips before they rot, and they won't become heavier with the rain. Bonus: the neighbors will know you're making an effort. If you decide to tarp, make sure there is still some airflow to slow down the warm steam and rotting process.

It's amazing how much can be spread with this "slow and steady" approach.

Etsy has a variety of permaculture-themed t-shirts: https://www.etsy.com/search?q=permaculture%20shirt&ref=search_bar

There are also sellers on Etsy who offer custom t-shirts with any logo, text, or design: https://www.etsy.com/search?q=custom+logo+tshirt&explicit=1&ref=search_bar&is_personalizable=true

Hi Clare,

If your route brings you by Poetry, GA (near TN), you could join Just Love Forest for a volunteer weekend September 15 - 16. They provide Friday dinner and Saturday lunch. They can also provide a bell tent if you'd like to stay overnight, or you could volunteer for one day only.

They are in the process of building natural structures, along with a few other projects. I'm not sure what the tasks will be for that particular weekend, but you can email to ask.

From their website: "In addition to learning trail building and maintenance as well as permaculture gardening, we are intending to build our second yurt as a permanent kitchen and our first adobe structure in basecamp."

For more information: https://www.justloveforest.com/2023/volunteer-september