Penelope Fortenberry

Rufus Laggren wrote:Assuming a concrete basement (also CMU - cinderblock), some sealers seem to work, both inside and outside the wall; outside usually works better, of course. I have used a "Thoroseal" product inside a CMU full height basement with regular flooding problems; in the last 3 years it seems to have helped a lot.

Be careful with these. Since the standing water tends to then get stuck in the CMU behind the sealer, you can get evap and condensate up throughout that porous substance which can then leading toward in-wall mold problems in the living area. At least if the water gets into the basement and through the CMU, it floods, and dries, rapidly, but keeping the CMU constantly wet behind the seal and removing surface air exposure can be problematic. The only safe way to truly waterproof a basement is externally so that the inside becomes conditioned by the building envelope.

Thank you for the clarification. Yes, a ditch then.

Oh, and in a non-permaculture thing, I'm going to build myself a dining table. That ought to be a good set of work for a week.

Annnnd, the basement flooded again.

Now that I'm going to be uber poor fixing that, our spring projects will be to build a chicken tractor and plant the field, hugelkultur and plantings along the driveway, and dig a swale/ditch on the bottom of the hill to help control/route runoff.

Thanks everyone!!! You've been AWESOME!

I see, thank you!

You can garden on slopes. It is doing earthworks on slopes that makes a bad, I.e. Unstable condition.

Ah, I understand now thank you I could hugelkultur there, or simply plant. (It's already planted for erosion control.) I think the slope is probably about 40 degrees or so. I just don't know if I'm going to clear more trees or not. Time will tell. I have plenty of projects from just this thread to kill my vacation for this year!

I thought gardening on the slope if it's over 20 degrees was bad?

The trees by the house are healthy and fine. I will have someone take them down if they cease to be so. I honestly don't think I can dig a ditch with a spade big enough. I'm just not that strong/have that much stamina. Maybe I can hire someone. There's no visible water running down the hill. Thanks though!

Alex, that's an awesome idea! Someone had suggested hugelkultur along the drive, and I'm totally doing it! I have the trees ready and everything from where we just had the area around the house cleared.

Cheers,
Pen

Any slope 20 degrees or greater is supposed to be left alone (not brought into production). Still, it might be a good idea to remove the trees closest to the house so they don't fall on the house. You could use those trees to make a terrace Sepp Holzter style. The plant shade tolerant species in the terrace.

I'm very confused by this. The trees are already 20 feet back from the house, everyone is saying to put swales and ponds up there (how the heck 2 middle aged women and one spade are supposed to even dream of EVER accomplishing that on hilly, rocky ground where no machinery will ever, ever get I can't even figure out). Same for fences and pigging and doing much of anything up in that meadow. The stream doesn't run all the time, it can't be a source of water, the forest gets no sun, it's too dense. So no solar. I'm starting to become overwhelmed and discouraged again.

The mushrooms are an interesting idea, I've definitely considered it. Cutting and stacking the trees I actually don't find too difficult. Have chainsaw and strong back.

I'm considering begging my neighbor to sell or life-lease me 5 acres of his land. He's a 2 week a year dude and has 25 acres, mostly cleared.

Thanks everyone!

Regards,
Pen

Thank you for the link to the threads on the course. I had a coupon to access all the course materials free and did not buy the certificate exam rights as I am just taking it to learn. This thread ought to be fun just on first glance tho.

Goats should always = meat! Milk and cheese are certainly useful, but meat too please!

I really like the idea of pigs in the woods, but the process of getting them there seems daunting. There are a couple of permaculture consultants in the area though that seem well respected, so I'm going to ask them how they'd approach it since we can hike to the pig area ourselves.

Thanks again everyone, some wonderful advice here. You've certainly 100% changed my mind on the value of my land!

No, the stream dries up in the summer. I will Google the pump, thank you