Peter George

Curious if any Permie has used Cup Plant as a compost-generator. We have a bunch which the pollinators love. Sometimes we feed a few to sheep which is a nice bonus. I've thought about hacking more for compost biomass but you'd have to break the stems a bit (easy to do).

Eino Kenttä wrote:Cool technique! I've seen references to this, but never understood what a ha-ha was... Don't think they've ever been used in my part of the world.

Presumably, ha-has weren't used in Norway for the same reasons they weren't used in my part of Canada. I call reason #1: "Exposed bedrock." Reason #2 is perhaps because neither Norway or Canada were "blessed" with as many "great families" as England with their retinues of great numbers of land-slaves. If I was to attempt a modern ha-ha, I'd enslave a mechanical excavator or 'dozer and build a relatively shallow sloped ditch COMBINED with a just-high-enough fence ("aha-ha") to repel the hordes of marauding deer or attacking orcs. But because soil is endangered species where I live, I used wire and artfully piled stacks of stones.

Of course, coppice can be harvested by livestock, too. Pictured are ash sprouts that the lambs take to with gusto. The branches could've been harvested, bundled, and dried and stored for winter leaf hay.

1: Make a pile of brush & prunings about the size of a cow with no legs. Or with very short, tiny legs. 2: Dry it for a couple weeks/months. 3: Start burning it, gradually adding to the pile from another legless cow pile the same size. 4: Let the last ingredients burn a few more minutes. 5: When there's too much white relative to black, quench with cold water from a hose. 6: Crush into smaller pieces at that time, or months later. 7: Transfer to a serving container, gradually topping with garnishes of coffee grounds, spices, pee and other liquid loveliness. Yields two wheel barrow loads full.

I planted a couple of hardwood trees with the Ellen White method after listening to her relative Herbert Clarence White espouse its benefits in a podcast. My trees died within a couple years in my cool, 45 degree latitude, high water table microclimate where I planted them. Site or method? Afterwards I learned that many of her gardening methods were adopted from Australia. Arguments continue to rage (pro- and con-Seventh Day Adventist) as to how much and what inspiration she gleaned from other non-attributed figures.

This stuff--although purchased and maybe hard to source--has great texture and dryness. Great for animal bedding, avoid any types with pellets for plaster: https://www.facebook.com/576395582542310/posts/flax-bed-animal-bedding-12x-more-absorption-than-straw4x-more-absorption-than-wo/1008033489378515/

You probably have considered chipping the aspen? And this gizmo? I'm not associated with it at all, just curious. https://www.farmtechcanada.com/mini-silage-bagger.php

I think this is as of yet unsaid: Cloaks do offer the ultimate in portable spontaneous toileting privacy. Unfortunately, the inherent poor lighting could result in undesirable consequences...

"Gravol" bedrock  is bedrock that needs to be "loosened up" a little bit! But seriously--this is a gutsy and intriguing floor--way to go Kristin!