Larry Pobiak

Howdy Owen,

So I pray you will forgive my ignorance on this topic or my following assumptions, but if it is what I think it is then I think about meadows every time I start up my lawnmower.  Seems that between the lawn and woods or lawn and pastures there ought to be a transition zone.  Is the idea to create a zone of moderate and focused growth, or one that will inhibit radical takeover of indigenous plants?  Here in Tennessee we are blessed/cursed(if you don't manage it) with the scenario where if you open up the soil surface, clearing away any vegetation, in a couple days it will green over and within a couple months there will be a hostile takeover of unwanted vegetation.  The lawn is great to walk in, but a lot of work. The pasture is incredibly thick and buggy.  Is a meadow the transition zone I need?  Often I will lift my pasture cutter up and mow at around 1 ft around the edges to soften the harshness of the transition between lawn and pasture.  If I'm in the wrong ball park please help me out.  Sincerely  Lj

....one of my mini-blinds bit the dust, so.....;

1. I remove all the strings,

2. Stack/nest them neatly, then,

3. Mark them for cutting, oh and it helps to band them together to keep them from moving while cutting.  The strings from the blinds are great for this too.

4. I use a hack saw to cut them.

5. Great garden plant labels.  I use a carpenters pencil to write on them.  The writing will not fade at all!  Even years later they are just as clear as the day I made them.

Thanks for the great topic.   I know some may disagree with my observations and they may be right, but it depends on what age you are getting started.  I started at 50 and began by hand, ie shovel and hoe for a 3/4 acre garden.  The first thing I did was to put my long term stuff in, such as fruit trees, nut trees, berry patches, grapes, asparagus patch so they could all work on growing towards producing fruit.  Expensive?  Yes, but some nurseries sell bare root plants for 1/4 the price.  I enjoyed the book by Solomon, "Gardening When It Counts" as it helps guide you away from planting like a mechanized farmer towards plaiting like a gardener.  By the way,  I did the same as you, I bought books on canning and preserving, dehydrating and fermenting, managing fruit orchards, berry bushes and nut trees.  So, for a bunch of stuff you can haul in a van to your new life post children rearing, if it ever really ends buy some quality shovels like the Fiskars Worlds Best Shovel.  I like the Hoes at Easy Diggin site.  Greg is a great guy.  If you want to start canning then look into a water bath and a pressure canner and some mason jars.  I wasn't sure I was going to "can" vegetables then, in my first year I ended up purchasing and canning over 600 jars!  From strawberry jam to tomatoes, green beans, salsa, spaghetti sauce, I mean lot's of spaghetti sauce, beets, pickles, relishes.  I slept the entire fall! , but if not there are other methods which I am learning more about, like fermenting, and dehydrating.  Fermentation is incredible!  Live fermented food is helpful for RA too!  Sites like Wildfermentation where they have forums to read and learn and ask questions are priceless!  Get to know your extension service telephone number too!  They may be helpful in guiding you to an area of where you plan to relocate that has excellent soil.  I am happy for you in your "planning stages"  that is a very exciting phase, as well as the first few years, then it becomes a comfortable, familiar way of life which is priceless!  Oh and right before you make your move buy some seed kits.  My first garden was essentially planting everything In my seed kit, 43 different veggies and man was it a blast!  Oh and look into printouts on the interned for how to save seed.

WOW!  What a great question!  This make me consider what on the homestead grows the best in the colder parts of the year.

Would this mean an extended Spring and Fall growing season?  Does anyone know if the lighted hours of the day were just as long?  If so I can only imagine how fast cabbage would grow that were planted in June with those long days.

Ohhh, it just occurred to me that a cooler climate would probably leave the ground be muddy almost all year!  Bummer.............Does anyone know how that would change the gardening dynamics?

Seems like fruit trees, esp apples and berries would be important.

How would we cope with planting and growing in the mud?

Hello Joseph,

I have only been gardening heavily for 6 years now, so my observations only have that much time to gather my intel.  In that six years I have noticed that the flea beetles prefer many of the nightshades first of all, specifically potatos, eggplant, and sweet potatos (although they is not strictly a nightshade).  Of all of the nightshades they prefer the eggplant.

Also, in the six years I have observed flea beetle damage, the only year I had any success in controlling the flea beetles was the year I planted tarragon around each plant.  We had planted a flat of 244 plants, all of which came up, and if you are like me, you cannot not plant even the extra plants you start, so our garden was speckled with tarragon.  We garden an acre, so we focused on the plants we typically needed protection around.  

No contention here.........I get what you are saying now, yes, I agree that it is not required to let the land rest in order to defeat or maintain a high level of control over the squash bugs.  There is only one way to know the collective benefit of a national land rest, until then we can only experiment one homestead at a time.

Hey Tyler,

Other aspects of letting the "land rest" deal with the opportunity for the land to repair and re-energize itself, yielding healthier plants.  There are actually several restorative dynamics in play, many which even soil scientists don't fully understand.  Many people are tilling ground that has rested for many many years while others are working patches that have not rested fully for decades.  I know here in Tennessee the Extension service recommends that land be rested twice as much in a seven year period, however after talking to them they all know that no-one does this.

Food for thought;  Thousands of years ago there was a law that everyone in the entire nation would let the land lie fallow every seventh year.  On the same exact year every seventh year no one would touch the ground.  This had the effect of decimating the predatory insect population!  The essence of this law remains valid and required in order to vanquish the hordes of squash bugs!  Until then we all fight the hordes.

Clear Packaging tape and DE.......... Well, so far these are the only things that have had any impact.  I used to squash all the eggs, but I think I must have been letting a few viable eggs fall to the ground. because there were always nymphs after a few days.  When I switched to the packaging tape and literally lifted them off with the tape adhesive I knew I got them all and then I sealed the eggs in the tape and threw them away!  Funny though, I always had the thought of incinerating them in the tape.  Not sure if that thought was out of revenge or to just be darn sure they were dead.  After doing this and dusting with DE a couple times a week I hardly had any left!  So, for me the egg removal with tape had an increased effect.  Also, you have to do all your cubrits at the same time no matter how far apart they are.  And, you need to keep the ground clear around the base of the patch as any mulch or grasses give the adults safe haven, oh and if you want to try it look up putting down boards to catch them.  

While this may not seem too permie-like I use a gas powered leaf blower to dust with DE.  I cut a hole in the nozzle tube and have a funnel that I put the DE in and MAN does that get that DE out there and into every hiding place.  Do it in the evening after the bees leave the patch though.

My Pleasure John,

I agree with what you wrote.  Being sovereign over our choices of how to live is a wonderful, terrifying and lovely way to live.  I was mentioning these ideas for Ben to try hoping they might open a door of sleep opportunity.

It is an intriguing challenge to adopt the practices of yesteryear (except the leeches!).  The breadth of knowledge that people used to live by 200 years ago was immense and common to all country homesteaders.  It is likely true that homesteaders from the 1700's slept well.  Generally, healthy food choices were basically, usual fare.  Fresh fruits, berries, nuts, unpasteurized milk and dairy, no EMF's, no noise pollution, cleaner water and air, no GMO's, pesticides, vaccines, time wasters (TV, Internet).  These are all of the things we strive for, for health.  As you mentioned, 200 years ago people got to bed earlier and had the sleep benefit of "slowly diminishing light"  (sunset) which works wonders on melatonin expression for a great night sleep.  I personally use artificial lighting then abruptly turn them off and wait for my mind and body to drift off.

Signing out, hope everyone sleeps well.