Kyle's Permie Bootcamp (BRK)

During an observation walk I found two little mushrooms coming up on the Tipi berm. Interesting they grew considering the humidity is around 30% during the day.

My observation is that they fruit after a drying event. Possibly because the mycelium can't progress any further and fruiting assures continuation by spores incase it dries out completely.

BRK Post 50

More progress on the greenhouse. Walls are ready for insulation and we got a load of lumber so we can crack into that on Monday.

Really excited to share my latch idea. I want the mechanism accessible through a panel, keep a strong support in the core, prevent the mechanism from binding or sticking, and be sure the tension for closing the latch stays strong.

I've taken Mr Chickadee's idea for a spring loaded latch, put it inside a box in the core and turned the long lever into a gear operated by the handle. The spring arm looked like it might not give even pressure with only one arm so I loaded the latch like an arrow and gave the spring a bow shape. The latch needed a track to keep it in place and stopping points to keep in from running too far in either direction. I'm going to pin it in position with two pins, probably going to secure the faceplate from the outside too.

I grabbed some black locust from the wood pile that looks like it will do nicely, black locust makes good bows, is very hard and will hold up to the wear and weathering this door might see. I'll need to plan out true dimensions to be sure the pieces will work

Anybody out there have any ideas or improvements comment soon or hold your piece cause I'm going to start building Monday.

One thought would be to use two bows facing away from each other so they form a () shape.  Then you could get twice the movement with the same maximum amount of stress on the bow(s).

Greg Martin wrote:

Kyle Noe wrote:I want to make some cheap ollas with terracotta pots so I can keep the berm hydrated.

Klye, I was thinking about this too and was curious about what approach you were thinking of.  Ollas are lovely, but if you need a lot of them costs sure shoot up fast.
I've seen folks using silicone to seal two pots together like this:

or just using a lid (could be glazed) and some putty or a cork like this one:


I was thinking about using clay to seal the bottom as you would to seal a pond.  You could either use the clay as the bottom and seat the pot into it upside down and water through the hole (pro: don't need a lid, con: that's a small hole for watering and if it shifts it may loose the seal) or just put the pot upright and put clay in the hole and probably also across the bottom to sure it up....probably put clay in the hole, then a rock plug then more clay across the bottom to sure up the seal (pro: lift the lid and it's quick to fill, con: need a lid...use a large flat rock maybe?)

I made several just like that, caulking the bottom hole and putting two together and filling it from the remaining top hole. One gotcha is tiny hairline cracks that you can't see till you fill it with water and it leaks out too fast. Half my pots were like that, and by the time I can test, I can't return them covered in silicone. I saw someone then cap the top with a drip line, and feed that from a rain barrel. You then just refill the barrel maybe weekly if rain doesn't, and all the weeping pots keep the plants very happy. I've also used 5 gallon buckets that I poke 3-4 holes into the bottom using a self-set picture hanger wire, about the thickness of a wire coat hanger I guess. Takes an hour or two to drain the bucket, giving good time to soak in.

Kyle Noe wrote:BRK Post 27

Anybody ever sifted their own gravel before?

What have you found works well for you there? I was thinking hardware cloth like 1/2" attached to a wood frame with legs so you could sit it at a 45 degree slope and shovel rocky soil at it. The dirt and sand fall through the wire and the rocks would roll off.

Also I think you mentioned that you planted elderberry (I might be mixing that with someone else, been reading a lot of posts today), are they all planted in deer-resistant areas? I've read that deer will eat them, but I think I've seen Edible Acres on Youtube place some cut sticks around them so deer don't try sticking their head in to eat the shoots. It might have been bamboo or willow that was dried out so it wouldn't root.