E Nordlie

I just wanted to say this is a project where I am really looking forward to updates, and in a way updates far ahead are more exciting than ones in the near future - although those are great also I really really hope to read about this next year too, and the one after, and in ten years!

Josh Warfield wrote: When you say "broad beans" you mean the same thing as "fava beans," scientific name Vicia faba? I have tried sowing those in spring, and they all wilted and died by early to mid summer. Should I be sowing them in the fall instead, around the same time as the peas?

I think broad bean is the usual name for Vicia faba in british english, and possibly in other english varieties as well. They are able to overwinter in certain climates, but as far as I know not here in Norway. I think certain varieties of broad bean are better able to overwinter, but exactly what conditions they need I don't know. I have sown them in fall  a few times, as a green manure/cover crop. They survive a bit of frost, but never made it through a winter here. Could be too cold, too damp, too dark, or just too long a period of any of these conditions? For what it's worth, some late sown peas have survived here about as long as the broad beans - which could mean that broad beans might survive the winter where you are, since peas have. Worth a try!

Matthew LeVan wrote:
3. Re: burying wood. I definitely don't want wood floats. Not nearly as tasty as root beer floats in the summer... But perhaps my slope isn't steep enough to worry about wood floats?

I don't have personal experience with real hugelbeds, but I have worked a lot with different types of soil and drainage conditions. I would only be worried about the wood floating up if the soil drained so poorly that there was a real risk that the trench actually could fill with water, which seems very unlikely if it is as sandy as it looks. Unless there is some kind of less permeable layer right below? Clay, iron concretions (hardpan?) or more or less permanent ground water?
Even if the trench could fill with water, the wood would have to be quite dry, and light to begin with, in order to actually lift the soil that you heap onto it. Even semi-saturated wood can barely float, let alone lift significant weight. I'm not doubting it can and has happened, but it has got to take some very specific circumstances - dry, light wood, light soil on top, trenches that fill almost completely and quite fast.

Harry Soloman wrote:If you take medications and extra vitamins and such, then I do not recommend utilizing urine.  Appreciate, you will urinate out much of what you think you didn't in medicine and vitamins that people take.  This is not generally a positive thing for plants.

I've heard this so often, but it is never very specific or even backed up (that I recall having seen, anyway) - I'm sure it is true in some cases, but does anyone here know more specifically what medicines might be problematic, or in which contexts?

This is not an attack on Harry, of course, or anyone else, I'm just frustrated that something which might be important is so hard to find specific info on. My reaction whenever this comes up is always that it has to be mostly a theoretical concern, but equally I am sure there are particular medicines and situations where it is a real problem.

When you're working outside it is so easy to just bring sandwiches, some fruit and nuts. Real bread shouldn't get too soggy in a few hours, unless you really douse it in something runny. I used to find it annoying to decide each morning what to put on my sandwiches, but then I realised I didn't mind eating the same one or two varieties every day, because when it was lunchtime I was hungry! Also, some things that would make messy sandwiches you can bring in jars or tins, along with some sliced bread (or knekkebrød!) - tinned fish, pate, hummus, ajvar, mayonnaise, nut butters, honey, jam, soft cheeses, probably lots more.
If you're working inside, you could usually do the same I guess, depending a bit on your work environment. Here in Norway there are very few places where you wouldn't have access to a fridge, a dishwasher and sink, a microwave, tea kettle or similar, and tables to eat at, but I guess employers are free to treat people worse many places.

I've only composted a little at a time (less than a kilo), mixed with the usual vegetable peels, coffee grounds and chicken litter. Both cooked scraps (bones, some skin) and raw heads, guts etc seem to disappear within a couple of days if the temperature is ok (except really big bones, vertebrae and collar bones ? from bought cod). It doesn't appear to change the smell of the compost at all. The chicken litter has a lot of wood shavings in it, and if the stuff from the kitchen is very moist I add some paper and dry leaves when they are available. This is in a insulated bin, not a pile though - based on previous experience, the household doesn't produce enough material for a pile to heat up noticeably.

I have also buried fish parts and whole fish (excessively bony bycatch, for example) in the garden. Whether by luck or not, this has never resulted in foxes or badgers digging, unlike chicken guts...

It seems that burying fish scraps or non-food fish for fertilizer has been traditional in Norway too, apparently especially for planting potatoes - although this may be because that was virtually the only thing grown in areas where soil was poor and labour cheap. I haven't seen any real research on this though, so how widespread the practice was or how far back it goes I don't know. It is sort of a semi-common anecdote usually referring to some time between the late 1800's and the war.

I would second experimenting a bit with times, grinds, temperatures and coffee-water ratios, because the replies above seem to show that it is mostly a matter of personal taste. Also, the type of coffee available locally, not to mention water chemistry, will likely mean methods have to be adapted a bit anyway. Even with the same methods and apparently similar coffee, I know the result tastes very different at home vs. on holiday somewhere with water that has been through limestone or chalk.

Nowadays I drink filter coffee mostly, but I used to use a press a lot - for which I'd prefer quite coarse ground beans, medium dark roast - prewarmed press, about 1 part coffee to 6 parts water by volume (estimated), boiling water, stir, wait 3 min, stir, press! If the grind was very coarse, wait a bit longer.

As you can see, this is quite different from a few of the descriptions over, so it only proves that you'll have to experiment a bit to find the best method for your taste preferences, coffee and water.

Of course, coffee should taste good, but most of the time most of us wouldn't bother if it didn't have caffeine - which apparently, although there is much disagreement on details, is very soluble in boiling water, and will be largely extracted in 1-5 minutes depending on grind and temperature. Much less than 10 min anyway!

Wood ash is often recommended for fruit trees, I have used some, but not systematically enough personally to be able to give any specific insights. Hasn't done any harm anyway, and I assume ash contains minerals trees want - but climate, soil type and tree species are sure to be huge variables that make random anecdotes from all over the world nearly useless..

Has spruce been planted in your area before? No spruce species are native on the west coast of Norway, but several have been planted, maybe starting between the world wars. Some of them have become very invasive, once mature they produce a *lot* of shade and seeds. Sitka spruce is considered the worst, displacing native vegetation (completely in some places) and being very difficult to remove. I'm not sure it is always literally the species sitka spruce, may spruce species are quite similar, and hybrids have been planted as well.

Other than worrying about spruce, I have to say the number and variety of trees in that table is amazing, makes me envious - or maybe that's not the right word; I wish I had more space and time, anyway!

Birch bark will last for centuries in the right conditions (and permanently waterlogged, in the dark, may be close to ideal). However, making a waterproof layer seems difficult. Even from large, straight, knot free threes, the bark sheets won't be very big, and the seams between the sheets will leak. Birch bark was used under turf roofs here in Norway, this works because on a roof you can overlap the sheets so that water runs off. I've seen birch bark apparently used as a moisture barrier under sill beams and possibly under floors in remains of medieval houses in Oslo, I assume the bark would act more as a capillary break in these situations - it may prevent the sill beams or clay floors from actually sucking moisture from the ground below. These anecdotes are not directly relevant to the original question, but they do show that birch bark will last a long time in certain conditions.

Birch bark tar seems unrealistic. I've never heard of it made in large quantities the way pine tar was. I've no idea how much you'd need to waterproof a certain area of pond side/bottom, or if it would work at all, but I have read that birch bark yields at most 10% tar pr weight - collecting and processing enough bark to make even a bucket of tar seems prohibitive. It is only the flaky outer layer of bark that is used, in other words a layer of at most a few mm.