John Danks

I just heard about this project today and decided to back it. I've been interested in learning leatherworking for a while and this looks like a great opportunity to learn new skills, make something useful, and of course: acquire more tools!

Rodd Ramon wrote:This has a pretty good explanation of starting the seeds. http://homeguides.sfgate.com/germinate-camellia-sinensis-seeds-65358.html
I've had poor germination rates from seeds my wife purchased, but all reading we've done says germination can take a month or two.

That's a good guide and basically what I did with mine. Germination can definitely take a while, I think mine took about a month to sprout.

Keep in mind that when they talk about planting out in Autumn that it's because the rainy season starts then in California. Your climate may vary so plan accordingly.

This was the best guide I found when looking at grow tea myself: https://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/oc/freepubs/pdf/nph-9.pdf

It doesn't mention anything specifically about planting times though. Since they are talking about commercial production where consistency is important they use cuttings to propagate rather than direct sowing seeds. I'd start the seeds inside, cull any weak plants and be ready to plant them out at the start of your rainy season so they'll get plenty of moisture. Starting them inside also gives you better control over conditions since germination can take a while. I tried starting seeds inside years ago and saw about 75% germination rate. None of the plants survived outdoors, but I wasn't as experienced with growies back then so it was probably my mistakes that did them in. Good luck!

Have you tried pulling the staples this tool? I found it invaluable for pulling cleats out of reclaimed flooring. It's a uni-tasker, and not cheap, but the job would've been nearly impossible without it (and a quick-release vise on a sturdy workbench).


https://www.amazon.com/Crescent-NP11-11-Inch-Pulling-Pliers/dp/B008NM6VAA

Does anyone have any idea what the encore videos might be? I really wanted to see Paul and Geoff's videos but I had a family emergency to deal with and I can't afford to pay for the extra access right now.

Look for a recycled building materials store in your area. Habitat for Humanity Restores are common all over. They may not have gutters but could probably point you to any other recycled building material stores in the area.

Hey Diane, there are few of us here in PA but not nearly as many as in Port Townsend. I'm involved in the community gardens pretty heavily right now since we're starting a new one on the west side of town. We had an attempt at getting a Transition Town group going last year but it fizzled out and is currently dormant.

Their Rye is excellent. I wasn't too impressed with the Bourbon. Bottles come out at about $60 after the state liquor taxes. There seem to be quite a number of good craft distilleries popping up around the Puget Sound region. The Dry Fly gin is also quite good.

Gmail sees the SPF record now, but a password reset request still went to the Spam folder. /shrug

Received-SPF: pass (google.com: domain of permies@permies.com designates 64.78.181.87 as permitted sender) client-ip=64.78.181.87;
Authentication-Results: mx.google.com;
spf=pass (google.com: domain of permies@permies.com designates 64.78.181.87 as permitted sender) smtp.mail=permies@permies.com

I'll keep marking them Not Spam and see what happens.

I recently registered and was surprised to see the initial email in my spam folder. I noticed that permies.com doesn't have an SPF record. It would probably help a lot in keeping emails out of the spam folder and doesn't cost anything except a few minutes of time to create the DNS entry. Here is an easy wizard to create a record (assuming you know the technical details): http://spfwizard.com/