Jay Grace

If cost is the primary issue.  I would dig 2ft diameter holes 3ft deep for each pier.  Then alternate packing gravel/ small stones with tamping it down with a large log.  Do this every few inches all the way to the top.

That should give you a solid base with a large enough footprint so your posts won’t sink.


Then cap your gravel packed hole with a large flat rock or solid concrete block.

Then you’re able to go up with a wood post from there on out.



I’ve built a few tiny cabins and I’d suggest to securing them to the ground with either purposefully built anchors.  (You can find these if you search mobile home anchors) or by driving multiple stalks of rebar into the ground at each corner at 45 degree angles then binding the tops together with chain or cable then attaching that to outside band of your house.  

A tiny house may seem heavy. But if a strong straight line wind hits it just right.  It could knock it off it’s foundation if it’s not secured to the ground.

Poke sallet/. Poke salad


Is one of my favorites here in Alabama.   New growth boiled in two changes of water it makes a great cooked spinach substitute and one of few wild greens IMO that taste like something from the store.


Thistle stalks are also great raw.    Peeled like a carrot from all the prickly parts.

Dennis Bangham wrote:There are a couple of other Permies here and just checking to see if anyone new is in the area.

I’m down in Walker County. About an hour and a half south of Huntsville.



I run hair sheep and a small wagyu crossed herd.

Culled the smallest of the four gilts a few days ago.
I’ve been running 5 hogs in a leaky pond to help seal it up.

Main objective is to seal the pond from leaking (gleying)
Secondary is to grow out some meat to fill the freezers.
Third to get a crop of piglets to sell to recoup the cost of feeding the hogs for nearly a year.

This will be the second pond I’ve gleyed in the past three years.  

The first is a 80ft diameter  x6ft deep stock pond that only has about 300 yards of swales/terrace rows feeding it.  No natural springs.  Perfectly sealed with a flow over dam that feeds a larger lower pond.

I ended up with 14 lambs this year.  With 8 ewes. Only lost one baby lamb.  Due to a mother rejecting it.  All twins except a yearling had a single.
Dorper ram bred back to Katahdin ewes.

So far since January I’ve had two heifer calves with at least 5 more on the way by july.

Yes, grafting is best done now.  I’m in AL also, Walker County.

whip and tongue grafts when scion and the rootstock is close to the same diameter.

Cleft graft for a super quick graft. 30second graft.
I do these on random public Bradford pear trees.

And when you’re doing a rootstock or top working an existing tree.  I tend to do a bark inlay graft and put a stick of scion every 2-3” around the circumference of the rootstock.



Here in the picture a single stick of  pear scion wood was grafted using a bark inlay graft in the spring of 2019.

The original tree was a naturally occurring wild seedling pear tree out in my pasture.
I grafted the eating pear at 5’ high to avoid deer pressure as the scion leafs out.

Using such a large “rootstock” and trimming off any growth other than the growth of my scion this particular scion grew in excess of 6’ in a single year.  Even after pruning multiple times to keep the scion from breaking.


Dennis. If you’re somewhat close I can hook you up with plenty of pear scion.

Cody Smith wrote:I'm located in South Florida but am free to stay somewhere else until the summer.  I've been considering finding a place to exchange labor for experience.  I'm interested in learning more about gardening and also learning to work with cattle.  I've been around cows before for a short time but my experience got cut short unfortunately.  Pretty sane, drug free 25yo college student taking a semester break here.

Hi Cody. Thanks for reaching out.
I’m pretty booked up at the moment. Maybe later on into the summer I’ll have a spot available.

james black wrote:Hey Jay. I’m located only 1.5 hours away from you with a 100 acre homestead in MS. I’m seeking similar things as you as we slowly develop this raw land. My lady’s parents live just across the Bankhead forest from carbon hill. We’ll be visiting them for christmas. Maybe we could get together and talk sometime. Feel free to direct message me on here. There seems to be precious few like minded folks in this area. I look forward to hearing from you.

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While not an actual tropical.  Pawpaw (asimina triloba)  fits all the looks of a tropical.
Really large glossy leaves and relatively large fruit compared to any other North American fruit.

Asian persimmons are perfect trick or treat items.
They are somewhat firm.
Orange and pumpkinish.