Harold Skania

I think that they use tall junkpole fences at Wheaton Labs to keep the wild turkeys out. Of course this design could be really good in a place that doesn't have that kind of nibbler.

We needed a permanent fence that would keep flighty chickens (layers) in and keep the deer and the wild turkeys out. We experimented with a few designs that all ended up being awful. And when we tried this design, the fence went up mighty fast and cheap.

I think that this myth was busted a long time ago. I would point to the four people who have earned the badge bit for Grow and Harvest 100,000 Calories. Note how stringent the requirements are. 400,000 calories feeding four different families.

Fiddlehead Acres up in Alaska showed their wood use after their first winter with an RMH. They used about two cords.

Timothy Norton wrote:2000-  Growing
10,000-  Flourishing
100,000-  Multiplying
1,000,000-  Fertile

I like that, Timothy. Going from "sustainable living" to a "fertile life."

Douglas Alpenstock wrote:I'm blown away. That was authentic, practical, and honest. I will share this with others.

Thank you Harold for posting this.

You're welcome, Douglas. It is worth sharing. He said, "What's the point of surviving if you don't help each other." And I think that sums up the situation really well.

Ben Zumeta wrote:After seeing the hard work of firefighters and burn crews, as well as volunteering on a pile burn crew for several days this spring...

Hey Ben, I am curious what volunteering on that pile burn crew was like? I am familiar with volunteer trail maintenance workdays. You start the day with a quick safety briefing and then get on with it. Was it similar to that? Or did they want you to do training before the day of the work?

On a related note.

That idea sounds similar to the dry outhouse concept

I've found that water fights are great for a hot day. It helps them get their energy out while cooling them off. And if they wear their normal clothes and stay in them, it will keep them cool for hours.

This man survived Hurricane Helene. His house wasn't washed away. But he was in Asheville, where the power and water grids were down for months. He was fairly well prepared for it. But he says his life revolved around getting and purifying water. The things he wished he had were:

   Pens and paper
   Extra fire extinguishers
   Boots & Waders
   Battery Powered AM/FM radio
   Buckets
   Systems & equipment for potable water uses

He said buckets were so important because that is how he flushed his toilets. One can imagine that, if the grid hadn't come up eventually, he would have really wanted a willow feeder. He also said that community is everything. The annoying side of that is that his neighbors would come up to talk whenever he was working outside. There were all these chores that needed to be done, But people who had no more access to Facebook would have to go outside to get their social interaction. But he concluded with, “If you are not interested in taking care of each other, what’s the point in surviving?”

It is well worth the 40 minutes to watch.