Derek Thille

Brett Crawford wrote:Hey Derek I just had a thought about your Arctic Kiwi > as I said, Ron Paul's gave me two males instead of two females.  Maybe you got two of the same sex, so no fruit as they are dioecious.  The male's leaves become very variegated if exposed to the sun (very pink around the edges) and are often bought for that ornamental value.  The females may be variegated as well, but to a lesser extent.  So if both your plants looked the same, that is why it never fruited.  You can also tell if they are different by the flowers being either male or female. Also, they not only don't mind shade,  they prefer if a good amount of the day is in partial to full shade, requiring 6 or less hours of sun.  If buying, be careful, some (like T&T) advertise Arctic Kiwi, but are actually selling Hardy kiwi.  Not the same and not nearly as hardy.  Shop by the Latin name Actinidia kolomikta.  T&T sells Actinidia arguta.

Here's an article from the U of Minnesota about Actinidia arguta with a short bit at the end noting Actinidia kolomikta is hardier.

I just poked around and found that Morden Nurseries carries named varieties of A. kolomikta.  In recent years, I've been using them more anyway as they have decent prices and grow a lot of their own product.  They also have a u-pick orchard with a wide variety of apples and a few other fruits - it's nice to be able to confirm what is hardy to the area and get a chance to see what the fruit is like before going all in on a plant.  Our acreage is about half-way between Winnipeg and Morden/Winkler.

I regularly see HOV (High Occupancy Vehicle...I think) lanes in large cities in my travels.  The challenge is always to strike a reasonable balance between encouraging behaviour with the stick of negative experience for those who won't or can't comply.

To add to the confusion, USDA zones and Canadian plant hardiness zones are determined differently, so they don't exactly line up.  For those of us north of the border, it may be safer to pay attention to Canadian sources.

Thanks Brett.  I didn't mention it earlier, but Incredible Seeds in Cape Breton lists mulberries, but not Trader.  The ones they have suggest zones 4 or 5 as hardiness though.

Great info on the kiwis.  Our original set was 3 plants, supposedly two females and one male.  I thought I'd kept them straight, but perhaps not.  Near the end, we had two plants in the city growing nicely but I never saw any flowers.  They didn't last long after being transplanted at the acreage.  The fence / trellis I was planning for them is in full sun, so perhaps I need to rethink placement.

It's good to see you back here.

John F Dean wrote:Hi Derek,

Speaking of drag in a truck, keeping the tailgate down/ removed helps me as well.

In a first year engineering drafting course, we worked on options regarding tailgates.  My group spent some time discussing it with a technician in the mechanical engineering department.  He cautioned that some of the options (such as a mesh tailgate) may not have an impact - the flow around the metal may interfere with each other effectively making it like a solid tailgate at speed.  That project is where I learned about the coefficient of drag.  The caution is that these things are designed with various factors in mind.

Our group designed sort of an inner tailgate that could be latched to make a solid tailgate or folded down forward so that it was always available as needed, but if there was no load in the bed it wouldn't provide the air resistance.

Somewhere along the way I also learned a bit about air turbulence behind a vehicle being a significant factor.  That is why you see some of the tractor trailer units with fold-out attachments that will make the back of the trailer a bit more of a boattail than a squared-off box.  Fuel economy is also the reason you see some of them with skirts.

Phil Stevens wrote:Reducing speed is a big factor. Once you get above 80 km/hr (50 mph) the penalty imposed by wind resistance really kicks in, and it goes up exponentially. So going turtle mode will beat the bunny every time when it comes to getting the most out of what's in the tank...or battery, as anyone who has driven an older EV with a limited range can attest.

Of course, keeping tyres inflated and bearings greased is important as well, and so is avoiding rambunctious acceleration. Anticipating stops and coasting whenever possible helps a lot, because turning your forward motion into heat by braking is a net loss of useful energy.

The coefficient of drag (which is a factor in fuel economy related to wind resistance) increases with the cube of velocity.  So driving at 100 km/hr increases the Cd by a bit more than 1.37 compared to 90 km/hr (100*100*100/(90*90*90)).

With the computer calculations on my pickup truck, I can see a dramatic difference some days driving to the acreage compared with driving back when one direction is approximately with the wind and the other against.

What's luck got to do, got to do with it?
What's luck but a second-hand circumstance?
What's luck got to do, got to do with it?
Who needs a tent when a tent can be broken?

(sung in your best Tina Turner voice....)

From many of the videos put out this winter, I've thought there wasn't much snow.  If there wasn't anyone within earshot, it made a sound but wasn't heard.  The treefall not heard round the world.

Jay Angler wrote:Derek Thille wrote:

I'm working on windbreaks that will help with the drifts in awkward spots.

Wow - all that snow represents valuable water for your summer crops. I hope you find good ways to get the drifts where you want them, and not where you don't! Trees, hugels, annuals like Mammoth Sunflowers, there are so many tools in the permie toolbox to experiment with!

Agreed.  Some people look at me funny when I use the phrase "harvesting snow".  Depending how far away from the buildings I get, there may not be enough sunlight for sunflowers, but currants would like that and in spite of only getting about waist high, that would be effective enough when surrounded by bald prairie.

Where that drift is is effectively a low spot that is sort of a courtyard - there's an old shop building to the left / west with doors on the east side.  I've create a broad drain to the dugout which moves some of the excess spring melt.  Unfortunately, it isn't quite deep enough so there is still a spring pool in front of both shops.  At least now water doesn't infiltrate the old shop.

Yes John, RRV - the soil test suggested silty clay.  A neighbour referred to it as Sperling gumbo as the area had been swampy and was drained to create somewhat arable land.  The NE corner of the quarter section our acreage was carved out of typically has a pool at spring runoff season.  Maps of the area show creeks have been channelled to flow straight east to the Morris River or another tributary or directly to the Red River.  Then people wonder why the region is prone to floods....

Indeed.  In the range of $250/tire for my truck (last I bought some years back for a different truck), I stick with the OEM tires until they are ready for replacement and switch to snow-rated all season tires.  They may not be ideal for anything, but even with today's prices, $1000 CAD buys a fair bit of diesel fuel and I don't drive enough to justify the added costs of additional rims and tires and switching twice per year.

Sadly, I've lost some of my better habits from when the vehicles didn't have the fancy doo-dads like tire pressure monitoring systems, like checking more regularly.

There's also value in a walk-around the vehicle before departure simply to note if there's a tire that is obviously low...better to take the time and confirm than to ruin a tire and possibly rim by driving on it.

As I type this in southern Manitoba, it's -16C / 3F.  If anyone wants more winter, feel free to come to this part of the world.  We do have variability and John W isn't that far away.  Actually we typically have a thaw in January...sometimes Ma Nature doesn't check the calendar and it drifts into December or February.  Presently, we are below average temperatures, but that will swing to well above average later this week.  

Photos are from the acreage on February 2.  The before shot, then I dig out to the man door to get the tractor and blower out.  The tractor often has its toughest work getting out to the driveway (to the right / east of the shop...the doors face south).  Two spots of the driveway will drift in - north of where the shop blocks the wind and south in front of the house.  I forget exactly, but I think the shop walls are 14' (but might be 12'...it's 40' wide).

I'm working on windbreaks that will help with the drifts in awkward spots.  When using growies, it takes time.  Every year is different - this year there is now a hugelkulture bed NW of the shop, so there were interesting drift patterns again.  A calm day is rare...there is typically a breeze and frequently higher winds.