Steve Hampton

Tereza Okava wrote:Why not do both? An accountability-buddy as well as a place to document everything you do. We've watched some fabulous projects here at Permies.

I hope you find what you're looking for, Steve. I use peer accountability with work-related stuff (mainly marketing, ugh) and it's the only thing that can get my butt in gear.

I plan on doing both!  Like I told Anne in the previous reply,  I hadn't even thought of tracking things on a projects thread but I plan on doing that.  I would still like to find an accountability partner for weekly synchronous communication about specific goals, their value, and the progress being made.

Anne Miller wrote:That sounds like a good plan, though I would suggest that you make this a project right here on the forum and let all folks here help you.

You could post picture of your different projects and the progress.

https://permies.com/f/69/projects

Hi Anne, I had not even thought of that.  I appreciate your suggestion.  I think I like the idea of doing that for individual projects, like for example, trellising and pruning the grape vines. I still think I would like to find a single individual for direct contact so that we can help push each other to maximize our permie potential.

Hi fellow Permies!
I hope I am posting this in the correct thread, for homestead.  My situation is as follows.  A few years back I bought a dilapidated farm, that had been sitting Idle for about a decade, so now it is is about 14-15 years with minimal input.  The reason my input has been minimal is I have been physically impaired during the past few years.  I just had both hips replaced this year, one in May and the other one a week ago.   I am looking forward to in a couple of months being able to go full throttle again working outside!.  However, I am currently taking my down time to reevaluate life, goals, ambitions, etc.   I have been working through a book called The Perfect Day Formula, but like most books that helps you pause to reset your vision, it highly recommends you find someone to hold you accountable.  I work in IT, but all my future goals are related to the homestead, such as home improvement, out building improvement, and bringing the farm back to life using permaculture principles.  I am looking for someone that is also trying to move their projects forward, that would be committed to weekly check-ins for at least two years to discuss goals, their value, and progress towards those goals.  I am familiar with a lot of communication channels, such as Discord, Slack, etc.  I also run my own NextCloud instance so I could set up an account for you on it if you wanted to have audio/video conferences, with no international fees.  However, I am located in the USA in Agricultural Zone, 8b, so it might be helpful if you are in a similar zone give or take a number.  Please reach out only if you think you could be serious about a one-year or longer commitment, preferably a minimum of two.

Soak in hot soapy water, then use a cheap vegetable oil to help remove any residual sticky, that the soap doesn't bring off.

My 2 cents...  Make sure you are very well trained with the device you use to hunt.  Also, make sure you are using a device that is appropriate for the game you seek.  This will help you from being discouraged by feeling you were wasteful because you injured an animal, but were not able to actually locate and harvest the meat.  I cringe when I hear deer hunter tales (especially bow hunters) of "I was sure I hit it but I never could find it"... what a waste.

Laura Rutherford wrote:Very helpful - thanks Steve!
...
How long have you had yours?

I have only had mine this season, got it back during the summer, so I can not speak yet as to the durability of the device.  However, I am hoping that since I keep it completely sheltered from the weather, it will last a few seasons.  I purchased it with a coupon and paid less than $300 for it including tax, so I figure if I can get three seasons out of it that is well worth the strain it will have saved my back.  Hope you find this helpful.  If you have any further questions just let me know.

Hi Laura,

I would not be deterred by the "10 inch" rating on the electric wood splitter.  I purchased this model from Harbor freight
https://www.harborfreight.com/12-amp-5-ton-electric-log-splitter-63366.html

which is rated at 5 ton and is also recommended for "10 inch" logs.  So far I have not met a block of wood it will not split.  If I could lift the block of wood onto the splitter it has busted it.  I have had to bust some pieces of seasoned White Oak in half with a wedge and sledge to be able to lift them onto the splitter but was then able to work them up with it.  Hope you find this helpful.  If you have any further questions just let me know.

I would suggest looking up tobacco balers.  There are some instructions here at this link:

https://www2.ca.uky.edu/agcomm/pubs/id/id38/id38.htm

and you can see the sketched image the instructions are designed to build here:

https://www2.ca.uky.edu/agcomm/pubs/id/id38/fff00076.gif

When I was growing up we would use a tobacco baler much like this design to pack over 100lbs of dried burley leaf into a bale.
Should be able to use a similar design to compact straw enough for building purposes.
Hope you find this helpful.  If you have any further questions just let me know.