Jackie Frobese

I just wanted to point out a typo in the willow feeder doc:

In the "close the lid/flaps" portion, in the second sentence the first "is" should be "it". So it should say "This makes IT so there is no smell..."


Also with the shark week doc, the part about organic and composable products; I think it would be more clear if you had the pictures above the writing so people don't think that the pictures are for things that have to go into the landfill.

Yes, Poke Weed is a likely possibility, I do have a fair amount of that around. Thank you Greg

I need help identifying these seedlings. They are quite abundant. I’m suspecting maybe honeysuckle... keep in mind this is USDA zone 5 (Southern New Hampshire).

I'm at a new property and just establishing my perennial food systems.

I ordered a Madison Peach bare root tree from fedcoseeds.com. I'm thinking about putting it next to our deck. It would get full sun there, but mostly I just like the idea of sitting on the deck and picking a fresh peach to eat. Does anyone have any advice about where to place a peach tree?

Susan Stuart wrote:Hi everyone - I'm new here. I studied permaculture years ago, got a PDC, haven't done much with it. I am thinking about moving to New Hampshire and wondering about building codes there and natural building options. Can anyone advise? (Or if there is a better thread to ask.) Thanks!

-Susan

Susan, I can't say much in specifics of the building codes, but I have seen or heard about a number of underground homes and straw-bale homes, which is promising.

I have a friend that didn't look into setbacks before putting up a fence. She has to take it down.

Conversely, my last home had a short wooden retaining wall well within the setback when we purchased it. The wall was less than 2ft from the road. When the town (Dover) was planning to re-do the road they were planning around our retaining wall! They were even considering making the road one-way in order to avoid having to remove our retaining wall, fortunately the owner on the other side of the road (an apartment building) gifted some land to the town so it could be widened on that side and kept as a 2-way road. It can really vary from town to town.

My best to you in your decision making...

I’m glad I came across this thread. We have probably a dozen autumn olives on our new homestead. I’ve been a bit torn about which to leave in place vs which to cut out.

Ive been planning to choose some plants for coppicing so I will definitely use a couple for that.

As for the fruit... I have a small obsession with wild edibles. When autumn olive was first introduced to me I was so excited, until I tried them. The astringency was rough. I did find that cooking them seemed to do away with that, making them much more palatable. I made a jelly from them that had a tart flavor like cranberries. It was enjoyable. I have also continued to try at least one small handful every year. I suppose I’m a diehard optimist. Amazingly the flavor has grown on me. I seem to enjoy them a bit more each year.

Carla Burke wrote:  I make my own shampoo/body bars, facial cleanser bars, tooth'paste', deoderant, lotion bars, lip balm, body butters, bath additives, etc., as well as laundry stain sticks, window cleaner, general purpose household cleaner, and such.

You maybe even end up getting containers that would have ended up in the landfill from others to put said products into...

On a similar line I have given up certain hygiene products entirely. I've learned that although some hygiene products are definitely necessary for some people, most are just gimmicky products that are another way for companies to get our money. This is especially true for toothpaste (brush with just water), chap-stick (usually unnecessary if you are well hydrated, and not addicted to the petroleum on your lips), nearly all make-up, and most cleaning products (you'd be surprised how much comes clean with just water and a rag of cut up old sheets or towels).

I am frustrated by the fact that my local grocery seems to feel the need to wrap the organic produce in plastic, but not the toxic stuff! It really doesn't make sense to me. They must get complaints, because the packaging cycles and at times there is no plastic, but then it goes back again.

Has anyone found a way around plastic trash bags? I tried composable ones, but they seemed to fall apart just trying to open them.

It would seem the best type of re-usable bag is one you made from salvaged waste materials. Some of my re-usable bags: sewn from someone else's chicken feed bags, crochet bag made form single use plastic bags I fished out of the grocery store "recycle" bin, and a denim bag made from the cut off legs of pants with warn through knees. With the denim the top half of the pants became shorts while the bottom half became a bag. Most recently I'm crocheting a tote bag from the tape of discarded VHS tapes. I am yet to buy a reusable bag new at a store.

I do try to avoid plastic in general because so few of them are effectively recycled. Metal in itself is indefinitely recyclable whereas most plastics can only be recycled a few times before it becomes too degraded to functionally use. To only look at the "carbon footprint" of an item is not considering the whole impact...for sure it leaves out the "end outcome" of the item which is the biggest problem we are experiencing with plastic at this point.

I'd like to finish (what has become a rant sorry) by pointing out that the phrase "reduce, reuse, recycle" is said in that order for a reason, I think a lot of people forget that not only do these words not have the same meaning, but that the effects of each is also not the same! We must first use less, then try to re-use what we can, and finally recycle what we no longer can reuse. I know probably everyone here already is on board with this, but I couldn't stop myself from saying it anyway.

The idea of a plant guild program is definitely appealing to me. I always feel a little lost when trying to plan my plantings. Best of luck with this project.

That video had new information for me. I didn’t realize the cucumber shape is related to pollination. Thanks for sharing it.