Lina Joana

Linen and hemp are harder to find at a decent price point, but are definitely the best. I use a strip of linen as a soaked headband, and find that unlike cotton, it never feels clammy even when it warms up. My wife just used a super loose and easy pyjama pants pattern in a heavier linen hemp blend, and I am super excited for them. I found a loose bamboo shirt on the discount rack, that works well too. Cotton is still the bulk of my wardrobe, but on the worst days, linen makes me feel less sticky…

Just to throw a wrench in the works…
I have two nigora goats. Technically they are not a full breed, but people are working on reaching the F6 generation to make them one.
   They are a cross between Nigerian dwarf and angoras. Mine produce a cashmere type fleece that sheds, some produce a kid mohair type that is sheared. They can be good milk producers, are quite friendly, and their manure is good fertilizer.
My current system is as follows: I live on 5 acres in Maryland usa, but much of my land is wooded, and we have plantings on another portion. We have a decent bit of woodland edges that get overgrown with rose, honeysuckle, poison ivy, and Japanese stilt grass. I have a set of 4 goat panels (cattle panels with smaller holes) and a portable electronet. If I want them in a space where the electronet is too big or the
Ground too rocky to drive stakes, I lash the panels together with ties or wood clamps, which will last them a few days. The electronet makes a larger space that will last the two of them a week or more. They can live on grass, but prefer browsing on poison ivy and honeysuckle. I don’t have a lot of evergreen brush, so I did feed them hay over winter. I don’t know what the stocking rates are, my two are not keeping up with all the wood edges, which can’t be more than am acre. They seem to really enjoy it, and haven’t tried to escape the fencing at all.

Tereza Okava wrote:I think your friend may be partially right-- avocado is supposed to be toxic to rabbits - my bokashi is probably about half avocado pits and skins because they eat almost everything else of my kitchen waste (not their choice, just to be clear: i don't give it to them, I don't believe rabbits or even anything else will avoid something that will make them sick, especially if this plant isn't part of the local ecosystem).

Actually, unless it is so toxic that a single nibble will kill, I think most animals will learn to avoid toxic plants. I have two goats, and when they free range you can definitely see them going for some things (roses, brambles) and sniffing and ignoring others (mayapples) which are toxic. Their preferences even change depending on the time of year. I suspect it is a combination of toxicity and nutrition. I’m careful not to pen them in one place where they might not have choice, but as long as they do, I think they can detect plant toxins pretty well.

I will be trying surround on my peaches after reading about it in the holistic orchard. It is kaolin clay of specific particle size to create a physical barrier. I agree that ecosystem control is best - but when it fails…

Sure! Here is a quick diagram: I think the sites with plans have better ones. Basically, the seeds fall down the narrow side, bouncing off the zig zag pieces. The lighter stuff gets pulled through the narrow opening by the air flow (dashed line) once it gets into the larger chamber, the bulk of it drops down to where you can open the hatche and drop it out at the end.
I like it a lot, but it isn’t a miracle machine. Chaff that is too big and heavy will stay with the seed, just like with any winnowing, so screens to get the really big pieces out are still useful.

Joseph Lofthouse wrote:
Fancy winnowing equipment doesn't make things easier. In the time it takes to clean the machine, I could have processed several more lots of seed.

Naturally, seed and grain can be cleaned with very little equipment. However, the cleaner I built can be cleaned in less than 2 minutes: you open the door, use the vacuum to suck up any bits of chaff,  then spritz and wipe with rubbing alcohol. I haven’t made a direct comparison, but I think cleaning the bucket, screens and tarp would take about as long, if you were doing the alcohol wipe to avoid disease. If you aren’t, the vacuuming takes less than a minute.
One advantage I see to the cleaner is the compactness during operation. You don’t need a large and preferably outdoor space to spread the tarp, and both the chaff and seed are contained in the machine. You can do it in your house or after dark on a rainy day. Without having dust everywhere.

Wow, awesome! I am super excited to try it!

Mike Haasl wrote:
A lot of seed doesn't need to be clean to grow.  Who cares if you have a bit of chaff mixed in with your lettuce or flax seeds?  Who cares if the carrots have their fuzzy jackets on?  Unless you're selling them, that is...

Or eating them! Sesame, mustard, flax, coriander, sorghum, black cumin, fenugreek, basil seed, fennel, anise, oats - all are potentially useful culinary items that are a pain to clean at the small scale. Some sort of streamlining is helpful, whether that is a seed cleaner, a set of sieves, or just a fan…

Ok, how do the “joules” work? I havean energizer from tractor supply that says “5 miles, 0.1 joules”. The ones from fencing companies are generally .3 joules or more.
Whats the difference? Will either one give deer a good shock?