bruce Fine

how about a 3-d printed adapter to hold modern drill?

after plowing and planting you have to get in there with a hoe or cultivator as soon as seeds sprout and you can identify the things you planted. I have horrific weed problem with several types of rhizomes with roots that seem to go to china. I cut out what I can with cultivating hopefully in several more years of keeping garden spaces plowed up the weed pressure will subside.

ive killed mold with a solution made with hot water, boric acid powder, vinegar it also works with hot water, boric acid powder, hydrogen peroxide.
about a gallon of water with a cup or more boric acid powder and a cup or more vinegar or peroxide
worked great for molded wood used in a building I put up, mold hasn't come back 12 years since first application.
I just mopped it on and let it dry.

years ago I had an AG extension agent, tell me its a good idea to plant 2 to 3x more than what you want to grow to account for wildlife pressure. well im beginning to think I need to plant 10x in order to get anything here at the edge of the smokies with all the wildlife that is here. I'm experimenting this year. I just planted 2 plots in garden about 10'x10' one with turnip seed and one with beet seed. thrown on ground like grass seed and then raked in. my bean, corn squash rows I put 4 or 5 of each seed about 18-24" apart. I can see already that something pulled up some of the beans that just sprouted. and in my other garden space a wild turkey thought she would check out the area within a hour of planting. fortunately all the sugar snaps and spinach that have sprouted have not been touched----yet.

these are the bottles

another big experiment
with the price of seeds being what they are I saw when I was at Walmart superstore I found organic spice bottles of anise and dill seeds on the clearance rack for $3.50 each. Organic packets of seeds at the local Nursery, garden and greenhouse supply store are currently $2.99-$4.99 depending on what kind of herb or vegetable. each of these bottles probably equals maybe 100 packets of seeds from the seed store.
I'm going to see if they will grow.
I will be planting some in Promix in 2" peat pots and will try some in 1 1/2 gallon pots with decades old composted sawdust soil from a garden area, there used to be a sawmill on my property.

has anyone had success growing herbs from spice bottle seeds?

I'm doing a bit of experimenting this year. I have plowed up more space then ever before on this property. working into the soil wood ash from the stove and the material cleaned out from the chicken coop.


im not sure how others plant beans, squash and corn together. but im doing a bit of experimenting so far I have put in 2 rows each about 100 feet long. I first made a trough with the hoe and then dropped in corn seed about ever 8 inches or do then I dropped in green bean seeds some right next to the corn then I dropped in squash seeds. in one row corn was a 60 day variety with black beauty zucchini and producer green beans the next row was 75 day corn variety with straight neck yellow squash and the same green beans. then covered the seeds over

the next row is about 150 feet long and I dumped lots of seeds in it this one just green beans and 3 kinds of squash from seeds I dried out from last year including yellow and white scalloped squash and zucchini no corn in this row,. its in a completely different location where last year all the corn there was completely destroyed by wildlife.

do you save seeds year to year? just wondering how long your garden seeds last and how do you store them year to year. I store my extra seeds in metal resealable containers mostly from cookies, crackers and whatever containers I can acquire. this week im planting seeds in the garden some are 8 to 10 years olds some from 2019 and some I saved from squash and cucumbers last year. im not sure if they will all grow but I will try them anyway

to answer your question I guess it depends what your wanting and needing to do.Are you thinking of new equipment or previously owned. The old tractors like ford 8N , 2000, 3000, 4000 series can do a lot of work, have all kinds of 3 point attachments and were built to be very durable and last a long time if cared for and are much lest costly used than a new machine. A 25 hp diesel 4wd tractor with 3 point hitch can be very useful for homesteading. but be mindful that a loader with bucket on many farming tractors are not designed for heavy digging of rocks and dirt.  A 5 to 8 ton mini excavator with an angle able  plow blade and hydraulic thumb can be invaluable for digging  building, road making, lifting and has a fairly low center of gravity and is much less likely of getting in trouble in hilly and uneven terrain compared to a loader/backhoe.
If money were no object the ideal lineup for building a homestead from undeveloped hilly land for me anyway would be a tractor like I described, a mini excavator with blade and thumb and a tracked skid steer and maybe an old dump truck for moving materials around the property.

there are many types of bamboo it grows in many many zones. many years ago I started bamboo with just 1 sprout that I got from big stands of bamboo that I saw while driving by and asked property owner if I could have a sprout. one type grew taller than telephone poles and was 5"-6" thick at the base the other type was a much thinner and smaller type that could be used for a fishing pole  maybe 10-12' tall at max and the larges at the base maybe 1 1/2" I lived in that house from about 1990 to about 2010 there were hundreds of stalks when moved out the big tall stuff there was probably 100 stalks, a very substantial building material, and the smaller variety there were two stands with probably close to 200 stalks in each stand. the soil was poor. just plain old Florida sand and coral rock and after the first year they were never watered.
as your traveling about look for stands of bamboo nearby and ask property owner for a sprout or a few to get it started. dig it up cleanly get all the roots to the sprout you are digging and get it home put it right in the ground and water it in well. that's my experience.