G Moffatt

control ticks on raw land? save your cardboard cores from tp or paper towels. pack them with cotton and pyrethrum. The objective is for mice to make nests with the cotton, and bring in the ticks to die. This probably works best in dry weather.

When I was in WV I had a nice vegetable garden. about 10 ft away there was an existing hedge of Malva Zebrina. The plant was robust and just over six ft., it was covered with aphids but also dripping with lacewings and ladybug larva. I never had any persistent problems in the garden with aphids. I wonder if this plant has been used as a companion or sacrifice planting.

You are about the age of my daughters, and not more messed up. As a Christian you already know the big thing: its not about you. I spent my career getting paid to give advice and am struggling somewhat giving it up. I think you should take up vloging, it is not nearly as hard to learn as Japanese, there are many free and paid courses on line to learn. Stop worrying about how you look seem or feel, get behind the camera. Few are doing much of a vlog on Permaculture, probably because editing video is way down the chore list, So learn to vlog, ghost some Permie group, When you have an income then go to Japan. We know there are Permaculturists in Japan but they are not on youtube, you have a subject, content, audience, and we know there are Americans in Japan making a living vlogging. You are already articulate, but you need a subject. There may even be someone out there in Permi-land who would house and feed you in exchange for doing their vlog, at least for a short term.

there is an excellent video on the subject: "dont do stupid things": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkfAcWpOYAA this whole thing is several hours in length. I want to point out that moisture barrier and thermal barrier usually coexist and both are a defining feature of what I call 'artificial buildings'. Earth block and rammed earth buildings, what I call 'natural buildings' have a thermal gradient, even if they have a break. I would love to discuss this stuff.

Someone must know more about this than I but since we are brainstorming I will tell you what I think. Reeds and rushes have the ability to transport oxygen down to their roots and will do this even if dormant or dead because of their structure. In the pdf I previously posted there was a 3 stage blackwater system using a septic tank for settling, a sand and reed bed for secondary processing, and a subsurface irrigation system for depleting water and nitrogen. The first stage is anaerobic, the second aerobic, and the final is closed to prevent parasites from competing their life cycle (which requires sunshine). The Texas paper (that I could not link) had tables of rainfall and so forth. To make the system effective in wet seasons it must be covered with a roof to exclude external water. I have seen systems which created a shaded walkway and used ornamental members of the rush and reed families to make a pleasant outdoor space. At the end of the process the water can be pumped up to make pools for ornamental fish. The example I remember was processing waste water from a candy factory and the pools were set up in cascades between two shaded reed and rush beds. This facility was at Las Vegas NV.

https://small-farm-permaculture-and-sustainable-living.com/support-files/reedbed_design.pdf
There was a technical publication put out by some agency in Texas a few years ago but a short search did not find it.

http://access.tarrantcounty.com/en/administration/staff/assistant-county-administrator-governmental-affairs/rules-regarding-residential-constructionin-unincorporated-areas-.html
once upon a time the earthship blog maintained a list of 'friendly' counties, I do not think Tarrant was among them. The rules seem not to be enforced against owner built structures but contractors are subject to the International Building Code

I have thought about this quite a lot. I also tried building something with earth bags, it is labor intensive and I was unsatisfied with the result I have decided that if I build a house I will use sceb's, look at http://www.gracomaq.net/index_archivos/manualhydraulic.htm .
Price seems to be sort of variable but in building a house, using sceb will save you thousands and thousands of hours and give you as good a natural building as you can build. If I had 2 cents to rub together I would be inclined to buy the machine and loan it to you in exchange for help building my place. It also seems that building a natural house by any method in a reasonable time is going to take more than a crew of two. If I have learned anything from permaculture it is that every project must begin with careful observation so when you do buy property, plan on camping for at least a year to let your building plans develop in relation to your situation. If your family is not supportive there will be grief so talk a lot about your dreams and ideals, make sure every family member is at least unopposed.

when I try to download the browsers I have tried just die. wget gives me an error:server response code 500. This may be my isp. I will look for an opportunity to use another.

what is this discussion about? Profit is better than wages, let no tell you otherwise. When tomatoes and even peppers sell for $1 each, growing them is like growing money. Every job is a terrible job if it is not what you want to be doing