Mike McAdam

Does he use a type of natural material for the insulation or something else?

Zach Weiss wrote: Below is a picture of the new kind of root cellars Josef has been building at the Krameterhof. The one that I will build for a client this spring will be this style. So I have not built one myself yet but I have seen several different types and through multiple workshops with Sepp understand the process well. I will also be teaching a workshop on Holzer style earth stables later this year in Wisconsin.

These are made with timbers stacked similarly to a log house and then lined with EPDM pond liner and a dimple shield membrane. This style is used predominantly as a root cellar.

Zach,
Thanks for the pics of these cellars. Reminds me a lot of the old stone sheds that I grew up with, but one thing I am not clear about is whether Josef insulates and / or gets a good seal on the doors to keep both weather stable and critters out and how that holds up over the years. Any insight on that from what you've seen?

paul wheaton wrote:20 points for contributing to community infrastructure

Would community infrastructure count as local to the ant village or to the property as a whole? (I ask since property as a whole might be worthy of a bit of a subsidy vs the shared ant infra).

Also, could multiple people (say a couple or whatnot) collaborate and combine their money to get 800 dollars for one acre? Or alternatively, can several people (each separately putting in 800) share a contiguous piece of property and collaborate on it (e.g. three folks get three acres, and set up a shared shelter in the middle, and the remainder is set up as a shared permadev zone)?

Lastly, I don't want to think what sort of legal agreement would be needed unless a fair set of limits are placed, but that should be expected as well as the monitoring needed to verify comfort limit issues.

Worked beautifully on Windows using Firefox to hotmail address.

Arthur,
What are you planning to cover in the second volume of Ancestral Plants?

Lane Morgan wrote:

Here's a squash recipe from Winter Harvest that does call for peeling before cooking:

MOROCCAN SQUASH PURÉE

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 pounds winter squash, peeled, seeded, and cut into 1-inch cubes
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 cup water
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
1 tablespoon chopped cilantro
pinch of saffron (optional), crumbled in 1/4 cup warm water
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 tablespoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
salt and pepper
1 tablespoon ground cumin

Heat olive oil in a wide saucepan or skillet. Add squash, garlic, and water. Cover and cook, stirring frequently, for 15 to 20 minutes or until squash is tender. Combine rest of ingredients except cumin. Pour over squash and simmer, covered, another 10 minutes. Add a little water if necessary to prevent sticking. The squash will start to disintegrate.

Sprinkle with cumin and serve warm.

SERVES 4.

Something I would consider with this, if you can, is pressure cooking the squash until it caramelizes, which really brings the sweetness out.

Fascinating project. Interesting use of the current terrain to join waterways. Have to admit curiosity how much earth moving he will need when I look at the original contours and try to match them to the ultimate plan. If I understand the layout, it would seem the main waterways will be fairly minimal, with large space for water retention and flood control, so I imagine in dry times it would be like many wetlands. At a grade of 1:2000, the water flow would be pretty slow (much like the flow through a swamp), so I am guessing the edges will have loads of vegetation and the life that follows. One thing I am not clear about, why the 3m berms on the borders? Is there a wind related reason like Sepp often uses or just for limiting noise / access or something else entirely?

Do we have a good idea what the time to mature for Sepp's grain is? I gather, that like most biannual triticums that it is fairly short, guessing by its success in northern climes, but wasn't clear how it would do in some high country areas. I was curious since I know a high location in MT with a growing season that is around 50 days, but if light frosts are tolerable, can be up to around 70 days. Just wondering if Sepp's grain would work in such a place?