Richard Hauser

Has anyone tried to automated moving rabbit tractors across a field?
Rabbits seems like the easiest first choice due to minimal water.

The rabbits would be kept in a completely contained tractor for safety and eliminate escape.
The idea is to create a system where more remote land could be used to raise animals or to increase fertility prior to moving in.

Well it was probably lost in the torrent of other mail, I'm sure Paul and probably you can relate.
So if you don't mind, I will try again.
They posted that they specifically do not respond to snail mail, so I will try the options they suggested.
http://hankandjohn.com/
Maybe others here could do the same and one will get spotted in the torrent.

Keep up the great work.
Richard J Hauser

This is not a fully formed idea yet, but have you tried reaching out to one of one of your neighbors, the VlogBrothers? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhVxNo-HA8g
I have no relation to them, other then I am a fan of their channels and I'd think your missions could align around Permaculture if they learned more about it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-enGOMQgdvg
I'm not sure this specific $5k is the one to bridge you together, but having watched many of their videos, I would love to see them doing one on Permaculture or maybe getting kids into gardening.

Just trying to get you to infect new brains,
Richard J Hauser

The Survival Podcast

Thanks for the reply and I completely agree that complete self sufficiency is probably not an efficient use of time.
My interest is as self-sufficiency as a goal, but balance against time constraints to figure out the best system that uses the least amount of time to create the maximum amount of feed.
And thank you for all your suggestions. I have so much to learn about plants, but I will research all that you listed.
I will be doing this in a region with seasons (Zone 5b), so my greatest question is about easy storables or field storables, but I would think this is a popular goal so feel free to keep your suggestions general to help other readers.
Of those listed what has the best bang for your buck, i.e. least work for most feed?

Is it possible to grow, cut and store the grains and leave the chickens to do the threshing/winnowing?
Two items I read about that you do not list are sunflowers and squash/pumpkins. It seems like you are in a warmer climate than I, but I'd think varieties of these would be available.
Do you think these would be good sources of chicken feed?

As for field storables it seems that something like sunchokes would be easy feed for hogs as they would dig up the tubers. Are there any perennial root vegetables that could be planted in a rotational grazing system that could be geared for chickens?

During one of the parts of Paul's latest mega-part podcast, I think he mentioned that the reason that the lab didn't have chickens yet was that the feed for the chickens was not grown yet.
I would assume that Paul would not want to buy chicken feed, but rather grow it all onsite, so it would all be up to his high standards.
So is there any resources on how that could be done, i.e. raise chicken without grain or at least outside grain.

Thank you so much for these podcasts, sorry that so much aggravation had to go into the research, but it is important work.

I just had to reply and say that "breakfast with spiderman" is exactly what i would want if I ever made it out there.
The work you are doing is important, but it isn't easy, so having some contribution to a path to resolution of one of your problems would be the whole reason I would come in the first place.

Rich Hauser

For cutting to length I was thinking about taking a band saw and putting it in a deli slicer arrangement. I have a band saw in my basement which has a tiny motor and it makes short work of anything I've fed through it because the blade is so thin.

Do you have any links for a solar wood dryer with continuous cross feed?

My question is about the most efficient way of collecting wood for a RMH.in My plan is to plant black locust in a permaculture orchard style layout. To get the most out of the black locust as a nitrogen fixer, I will coppice the tree as suckers reach about three feet long and use them as cut to feed an RMH.

My questions are about whether the prunings need to be debarked or if not how long would that change the drying times especially since I want to leave them so much longer than standard.

The alternate idea would be to create a system that would cut them down to 1/2" lengths to turn them into a pellet media.

The whole idea is to create firewood with minimal equipment and the least amount of labor and then burn them with the least amount of labor.

The reason I am interested is I am working on generating power with an RMH, so my fuel needs would be much higher than normal.

The "Permaculture Orchard" DVD mentioned tree swallows. He puts bird houses all over the orchard to encourage birds to nest.