Timothy Norton

I've had issues with squirrels for a few years. It turns out that the squirrels stayed in the area because of a combination of the proximity to a year-round bird feeder and convenient lodgings kept them nearby. My garden was just an added benefit. We have now limited when we put out feeders to certain seasons and plugged up some holes in an outbuilding; the squirrels have mostly gone off to greener pastures now. While squirrels will travel over open ground, if you can expose more open space before they can reach your garden it could deter them. Arial predators at least would have a better chance deterring them for you!

I still experience some limited fruit loss from squirrels, but I am not losing the entire crop like before.

Thank you all for the bit of relief, it is nice to know that this is a normal process when certain conditions are met.

To be fair, I'm pleased with the prospect of having some free mulch material to utilize before the big leaf drop occurs. It also helps me balance out my garden trimmings when placed in the compost.

[applepoll]

I purchase a variety of meats from local farms/butchers and have run into the idea of finishing beef recently. I have read some people swear they can taste a difference if a cow is grain or grass finished. I'm not sure I can detect a difference so I wanted to ask the group.

How do you prefer to finish off your beef cattle before sending them to freezer camp?

I've been trying to think of a use for scapes in my household as they are rather underutilized. I try my best to minimize waste so I kept the idea rolling around in my head for about a year now. I just so happened to stumble upon a sauce online that is semi-local and ordered it to try it out.



Essentially, the sauce is a vinegar base with scapes as flavoring. I have found it to be a lovely non-heat/non-spicy touchup to food. I have used it on eggs so far and rather enjoy the mixture of garlic and acid that it provides. I really think making them into a sauce might have merit to help preserve the harvest!

My poor pup stepped on a bee during our walk and decided to sulk at the top of the stairwell. Of course, she had to keep an eye on what was happening at the bottom of the stairwell. Someone has to make sure no robbers get in, injured paw or not!

Following the great participation with Permies Poll: Do you compost at home? I feel the next question that should be asked is HOW do you compost? There is a myriad of ways, and not every way is a good fit for everyone.

[applepoll]

There will be only one apple to apply to the choices, please pick your main compost setup. Feel free to reply with other compost piles you may maintain as well.

Please feel free to share details and pictures of your compost setups in the replies below!

If I have missed the type of composting that you do, leave a reply and I will add it.

Composting

A skill that I really would like to develop is the ability to weld.

I'm not aiming to be able to market myself as a welder at the end but I would like to know enough to do basic repairs on the homestead. There seems to be a bunch of information out there on the web about the different kinds of welding, differences with materials, and plenty of opinions to boot.

If you were to recommend to someone how to start getting into welding, what would you recommend? Is self teaching a possibility? Should I try and seek out a buddy to walk me through the initial times? Is it worth going to a program?

I yearn to assemble some contraptions for future projects.

1.How long does this mycorrhizae survive?
2. If it is dying, can I do something to keep it alive and productive?
3. Will my 15 acre forest's leaf/pine needle letter be a consistent source of this mycorrhizae or if I keep stealing it, will it eventually quit producing?

1. Mycorrhizae Fungi works by forming a mutual beneficial relationship with a large variety of plants to exchange certain nutrients for certain nutrients. The key, as I understand, to keeping mycorrhizae alive is to provide plenty of living roots from plants for this relationship to exist.

2. Keep a living root in the soil as much as possible. If you experience a winter with super cold temps and snow, you will naturally have a dormant period but the population should rebound in the spring.

3. Ideally, you shouldn't have to keep reinoculation your soil in the future after the initial time.

I voted lemon basil because I have used it before. I do not have experience with Thai basil... maybe I am missing out!

I will use autumn leaves as part of my debris mix (mostly woodchip) to encourage fungal activity in my garden pathways. I notice quite a bit of Winecap growth in these spots along with the disappearance of the leaves with time. There also, just so happens, to always be a ton of worms in these areas so I can't completely contribute the processing of leaves to just fungal activity.

I'll also see plenty of ink caps, stinkhorns, dog vomit, and other varieties of fungi in these spaces.

I'm hoping to see if Blewits will grow with this kind of material mixture.