Craig Lewis

Mike Haasl wrote:I was the $1 GAMCOD person above.  I used seeds I saved myself which saved money.  Without a previous garden a person could have saved some of those seeds from their groceries.  I did use a pitchfork that I already owned and a wagon I built years ago.  The area of crappy soil (dirt) I used was luckily inside a fenced area so I didn't have to build a deer fence. I did start seedlings inside without plastic or cardboard pots as part of my experimentation.

It would be interesting to see how cheap the GAMCOD plots would be if we accounted for everything we're using/borrowing that a total newbie might need to source to copy us.

Your not normal Mike.
It's a good thing  👍

As for $1. What can you buy at a supermarket for $1

So the truth comes out lol
You had to buy the fruit/vegetable that the seeds came in
Got ya lol.

Yet someone can do any of this for $0 or cost to them self. Asking others for, seeds, tool, land, time. And one can have a garden.  

I'm sure a sweet senior with her cookies 🍪 😋  can get others within her community to help, when asked, or bribes lol

I'm liking the keyway design idea, with compost in the middle, and growing layers on the outside.

So 7.979 of 8ft radius

With 1.5ft radius compost and with 2 or 3 layers rings the some trellis walls for vertical growing.

Still in the thinking and design phase.

I do have seeds yet years old now. But time to start saving. Or go shopping ;)

paul wheaton wrote:

Craig Lewis wrote:For example. Not using cardboard. We can do a lot of things with cardboard. Ground cover, composting, seedpots, ...

It is my opinion that adding cardboard to horticultural endeavors, transforms the food that you grow there from "food" to "food with toxins."  I wish to make a movie about growing food without toxins.  

And, I confess, that there is a thousand hour debate here, backed by several hundred white papers on each side of the debate.  I further confess that I am tired of the debate and have made my choice.  I prefer to focus on growing food rather than re-enter that debate.  

And I understand that this is an uncomfortable choice for you:  grow food my way and get paid, or grow food your way.  

Lol I'm not debating 🤣

Relax Paul.

If you want to do things, do so, it's your site after all.

You ask for thoughts and opinions and then shared, this is the results. No worries mate.

There are as many ways to grow things as there are people.

One is not better than another. Just personal preferences.

I followed many, as many do. Best is learning along the way.

I do appreciate the site, and info I learned along the way.

And of course I grow my way, when I do grow. I'm the one growing it ;)  😆 🤣 😂  

No reply needed, it's not a debate. Just inquiry. Now I know.

Cheers

I understand the overall goal and outcome.

Yet by placing limitations it can make it more difficult.

For example. Not using cardboard. We can do a lot of things with cardboard. Ground cover, composting, seedpots, ...

Not starting seedling. In the North, depending on the crops, we need to start seeds inside. Dame winters are too long lol.

Recycling plastic bottles, be it for seedlings and or micro greenhouses, slow water release units, hanging gardens. Many using to make gardening cheaper.

Yes I understand the micro plastic issue and being more down to Earth, about it. Yet being realistic about where most people are at or living. They have these items around them. As to those that do not.

The goal is to get people growing food.
The rules 200sqft plot of virgin land, perfered dirt, (most land has topsoil on it, in the North)
Grow a minimum of 5 crops (pick most nutrients packed, or region grown)

Although it be cool to get into the Doc Video, and win a prize. Yet better to have many getting out, and making gardening.

I suggest making a video of this, or maybe there is. I have not yet seen it.

Thanks for replying Paul.

I did a search and there are many 200sqft gardens

This is cool

https://youtu.be/IbgYv3mE3Lw?si=uTpLjrWvbXcvMzM-

Why no cardboard?

I think most people can have access to it. And it's free to recycling it.

Although you like to have seeds in ground, most in Northern zones need seed starters.

Cardboard started pots. Cheap/free and gives better success to someone staring out.

Still thinking 2 hours in already. Maybe more time needed for thinking 🤔 lol

Christopher Weeks wrote:

Dian Green wrote:I'm a bit north of Lake Erie, so Canadian zone 6b, is that cold enough? ( not sure which type of zone range you are using and how it differs from the Canadian one)

This USDA zone map includes Canada. I think only the southernmost coastal BC can be too warm for Paul's cutoff.

Not seeing Newfoundland on the map, yet good thing if Trump takes over Canada LOL

Yet looking like zone 5. Or 4. We'll have snow on the ground in May. And back again in Nov. A very short growing season

For me, thinking and laying in bed.
Maybe I can do something, more than just thinking.

Yet I know that I will not do or finish, so my own worst enemy, right from the start.

So first I have to get land, be it behind the house, on the side of a hill. Cleared (trees dropped) last year, so could look at clearing it up. And plant in the forest floor, amongst the rocks.

Then there's a flat piece of land, or lawn. Not sure if it 200ft or not. Yet them mom will have her hards into the plot. So be difficult to control hands on the lot.

Yet I'm sure she appreciate her own growing lot.

For a level 1 gardener. Going from thinking, reading, getting seeds, equipment tools, and being practical, about getting a start. We need to start from the Start.

Thinking and dreaming. The 1 -10 hours part ;) 😉

paul wheaton wrote:The hope is to have 100 try and maybe 20 make it to the finish line with good video.  And out of those 20 we will pick the best 5 based on all sorts of thing.

For 2024 12 people started and we had the following results:

Rebekah
Crops grown: 9
Calories: 34,323 (7.4 million calories per acre)
Time spent: 49 hours
Monies: $41

Stephen:
Crops grown: 3
Calories: 20,570.5 (4.5 million calories per acre)
Time spent: 20 plus 12 = 32 hours
Monies spent: $30

Mike:
Crops grown: 6
Calories: 14,326.28 (3.1 million calories per acre)
Time spent: 4.65 hours
Monies spent: $1

Thomas Michael:
Crops grown: 5
Calories: 1,193.33
Time spent: 10 hours
Monies spent: $59.41

This time, the benefactor has added a LOT of money to the pot so the payout per minute is much larger.  Maybe we can get enough submissions at the end of 2025 to make a movie!

Maybe I'm not getting something or thinking too much again.

I was thinking a raw forest/cutover plot, or unclean roadside plot.

Here in Newfoundland we can get upto 0.4 acres Home Garden lot, for $25.

A shovel will cost more than what anyone spent, above.

So I'm drastic missing something. 4.65hr to 49 and $1 to $59.41.

Seems like numbers are way to low or off

Seems like a dirt plot is ready to go, with birds dropping seed right into the grown lol

If the goal is to make it seem like Gardening is cheap and simple, better to be more realistic and practical, about starting out.

How long is this movies overall?

If 5 are chose and get 10 mins each $4k. Maybe 5 seconds off all that submit a start. And 10 seconds of all that completed. ( not over 1min, gets nothing??)

OK now you have a movie.

I've been thinking of starting a garden.  

Do you have a website?

Do you know about Wwoofers?
https://wwoof.net/

Do you know about Dome Gaia.
https://domegaia.com/en-ca

Get wwoofers and host them to assist you

Offer courses to learn to build Dome Homes.

Or Adobe brick, or sandbag courses

Basically people will pay to do a course to learn to build a home.

You host, and pay for a team to come give a course. You pay the team and buy the materials from the funds you raise from Members taking the course.


$3k per Member get 10 to 20 Members make $30k to $60k

You buy the food, buy the materials, pay the crew. And build together.

Host 4 or 6 classes a year.  

You can do the same with Yoga or meditation courses. 2 weeks stay, teach work and play and build community.

Some will return year after year.

As you grow, host more courses to attract more people.

You can build simple shelters or tents to start. canvas tents and Glamping

Start small and grow.

Mike Bettis wrote:

Craig Lewis wrote:Give up your mind as to thinking you need someone. The neededness can or is an issue. It's like fear, other sense it.

It's best to set one self up. Seems most women are looking for independence. And that done seem to include a relationship in the normal ways.

Most are online looking, for they are jot out and about looking locally for life is busy and one is working.

So we go online seeking the world for someone that may match one's lifestyle, or close enough that one can have or start a relationship.

Do I need a partner. No
Would I like a partner, yes.
Should I have a partner. Only God knows and if it happens. Of great. If not, or great. I still will ne happy and content.

Sometimes the things we wish for, don't aways work out as we wish.

Keep working away. And be observant to those around us. And start with a coffee or a walk. And build up from there.

Maybe Love or Partner is local 🤔

Where in my post did it say I needed someone? I didn't. I simply asked how others that were truly homesteading alone were fairing.

"6 years into my search for a true partnership and love and I'm on the verge of giving up."

If one is in search of something, it means they are lost or need that which they are searching for.

Or why be searching for it or anything.

Sorry its a touching subject.

Thanks for the thumbs down. Shows it was the wrong button I pushed. Nothing negative was sent from my side. Yet maybe I know why you have 6 years of no luck.

Sorry did I push another button ;) LOL

Seems you need something real soon

Look in your local area for Intentional community, https://www.ic.org/
or WWOOFing https://wwoof.net/

Maybe a local farm, or cohabitation Network.

Coop Housing,  

Best, and take time. You will plant amazing gardens.
Blessing