Jonathan Ezell

Nancy Reading wrote:Some varieties are allegedly hardy enough to overwinter in the UK. I haven't worked out the timing of sowing them for that purpose yet - the winter is so long and windy that everything tends to get bashed although it isn't particularly cold....

Field beans might make a good showing there too. Do you think you'll set up a fava test plot (for winter 2025-26)?

Nancy Reading wrote:I'm thinking I ought to decide which size fava is most useful, as small broad beans are less useful, although the more prolific nature of field beans...

Maybe your field bean would be good to reserve for cover cropping roles. As I understand it excess seed would allow you to terminate a cover crop before more seed is produced, allowing more of the fixed N to stay in the soil for a subsequent crop.

You had plans for a chicken tractor. Did you complete the build? If not, you may've been robbed. Be careful out there & please consider the plan once more. If it's any inspiration I made a terrible chicken tractor back in the day. It was horrible. Anyone can do better than that. Just a bunch of free 2x4s and welded fencing wire slapped together in no time. Kept the birds safe and sound. God must've granted me a miracle to make that possible. I hope you'll do better.

The next question is, do you feed your chicks active yeast? Having eaten active yeast myself I'd have to know the birds don't get the same reaction (i.e. internal & active co2 production).

How do you like putting work into the garden? It's the work of art that you can eat. The work never ends, the art never ends, and the eating never ends. Well, it makes for a good show (& wow, the backdrop is free), way to go & :thumbsup: to your helping handed friends.

i did an experiment with chicken hearts and other sources of phosphatidyleserine. it convinced me that it is brain food. as strange as it may sound, i felt i went super saiyan briefly, like my creativity was raging in a completely new way. i couldn't continue with the trials as all my animal sourced PS-rich foods disappeared.

[quote=Maieshe Ljin]It surprises me that I have never heard mention of making an earth sheltered cold frame[/quote]

maybe everybody's too busy going to the grocery and big box stores. thanks for sharing a good idea. i'm wondering if it would become the chipmunk sauna around here.

Vanessa Smoak wrote:I can’t start the chainsaws.

sounds like you need a chainsaw see-saw. you could then kick start your saw. or skip the see-saw and put the kick starter directly on the saw.

Vanessa Smoak wrote:a driveway installer over the summer ... quoted me a charge of $50,000.

$50k would motivate some checking into alternatives, like renting or buying grading equipment yourself or calling someone else or buying a mule and making due.

disaster maybe, but very cool to a beginner (me). you probably just need more arms and eyes in the back of your head. and a clone army.

has anyone has seen anything like the jet black stain pictured below? i mixed up and strained some random worm / compost / liquid gold type brews (some with ashes & a much higher ph & some without), then left them for some months.

i was digging in the early spring into some bleak clay and i'd say no earthworms were getting through that. you certainly couldn't find any. its a nearly level grass yard area and there had been plenty of rain, but even the water hadn't made it through. it was eerily dry not far below the surface. i've started digging post holes over a cubit deep all around the place and stuffing them with partially composted organic matter. hopefully water will start being able to infiltrate and the critters will have something on which to chew.