Mike Creuzer

Oh... I like this idea....

I have been working on converting a topo of my 80ish acres into a minecraft map (unsuccessfully thus far) with the idea to 'build' virtually in the game. (There is an old coal mine, I have a sawmill, I tease that I do minecraft in real life)

I like what you are doing here working on more of the principles as well. There can likely be more 'lessons' wrapped around the concept as well. You going to have some reading of the texts and maybe do some build challenges?

I have noticed that my builds in the game are trending towards permaculture principles - I build in zones and do function stacking and such.   One example is my terraced fields with water harvesting has a strip down the middle where I plant trees. I can chop my trees and harvest the crops and the tree drops get swept down to the item collection along with the crops. (probably the same as your wheat and tree flood farm)  Automatic beehives drop into the collection water streams as well.

With the new release yesterday, and starting a new world today, I am going to double down on my own permaculture design within my Minecraft builds.

I've been folding mine up for a year now, waiting for inspiration to strike.

Just last week, I unfolded a couple and used them as table cloths for woodworking glue-ups. The glue doesn't fall off, but it does come off pretty easy. Keeps the glue off my tablesaw - that seems to be the only table that is regularly cleared off.


I have been using them for the trash bags for the garage. The medium ones work well in a 5 gallon bucket. I haven't figured out a good way to close them up yet.

I have a few of these filled with wood shavings from woodworking - Jointer and surface planer. I scoop the mess on the floor into a bag and smush it down and repeat. Not as dense as the shavings from the farm store, but I save my $6 between maybe 3 refilled bags.

I suspect they will make decent plastic sheet mulch for gardens if that's is the path you are taking.

I am 75 miles due east of Lexington. Been here a year, loving it! I don't have a feel for the weather yet, still getting settled. No garden yet, but 4 hens (Chickens are new to me).

Something to look out for is Fiber Internet in the middle of nowhere. https://kentuckywired.ky.gov/Pages/index.aspx I have access to gigabit fiber in the middle of nowhere! Although Satellite internet is 1-2 years away from opening up with the new SpaceX internet.

My taxes where $285 on 60ish acres.

I bought a place 72 miles due east of Lexington in Elliot County. 66 acres according to the taxes, about 4 of which are weeds, the rest trees. Small house in good shape, big garage.

I am struggling a bit with the possibilities! Too much to do!  Wanting to do the food-forest thing, but working it backwards - starting with forest and trying to get more food incorporated. Not much content on how to do it this way that I've found thus far.

Didn't get a garden in this year, just learning the place. Have some ideas I am starting to put together now so it's ready for this spring.

Always looking for ideas, local seeds and cuttings.

Erica Wisner wrote:[
We've done galvanized heat risers before; they're not our top choice.  Generally too thin, and once the galvanized burns off, the steel underneath will crisp like overcooked bacon (6-18 months).   So this is a good area to use something more durable, or create your own insulative ceramic materials. 

For metal pipe, what would the recommended 'something more durable' for a heat riser be?

I am working on a Rocket Mass Forge. http://mike.creuzer.com/topic/builds/his/rmhf (or more specifically http://mike.creuzer.com/2011/10/rocket-mass-forge.html ) This would start with the heat riser, as I need an open space under it for the forge fire. If I am going to do woodworking in the garage, I can lay in a quick brick burn tunnel for the day. The whole thing is 'disposable', getting tore apart in the spring. The heat riser just needs to hold together for 6 months. However, if I can get something that will last several years for not much more money than the galvanized, I'd like to go that route.

I am using the lid of the barrel with two 6" holes, and setting the barrel upside down over the top of it. As there isn't any support at the front due to the forge fire being located here, I can't use a masonry heat riser, the weight would tip the hole thing over. So, it's 2 pieces of duct pipe of some sort with ash & perlite insulation. I was going to get more 6" galvanized as it's in a drafty garage, and the burning off of the duct happens inside the barrel, so the poisons gets vented outside anyhow. But, I am in a tightly packed residential area, and am not keen on poisoning anybody.

I had built a paint can pocket rocket using 3 inch double gas water heater pipe and 'crisped' the inner pipe within a half dozen burns. Crisped it 1/3 the way up the pipe! Photo can be found on http://mike.creuzer.com/2011/05/twitter-updates-for-2011-05-02.html

Is the 24 gauge black pipe good enough? Does the stainless last any longer? I'd think the black pipe would be a good compromise between safety, durability, and cost.