Cindy Clark

Joshua Myrvaagnes wrote: "thinking outside the (unnecessary) box" and "can do/there's always a way" thinking.

I like that - it's really just a philosophical way of looking at life. Philosophy is incorrigible. It  has no respect for boundaries!  "No boundaries" - THAT'S my passion and what interests me regarding "permaculture". It has no regard for "experts", ROFL! But how else do things evolve? If not by transcending "expertise"?

Explore, discover and apply - see what happens.

I must confess that my interests just happen to coincide with what a lot of permies and survivalists are doing. I like making stuff and inventing stuff and brainstorming and looking for new ways to do things and I find a lot of people with whom I share those interests within the two subcultures. As far as actual "permaculture" goes, it's not really my bag. I like it because it's super fun - not for the purpose of "saving the planet". I think the planet's just fine and can take care of herself. If we cross the line, she'll just hiccup or burp or something and we'll be gone.

Other than that, people can preach all they want. I might draw a little blood with bits of hyper-logic, here and there, if somebody's activism interferes with my hoot-having but, other than that I don't really hear it. I love everybody - the "drama" and I don't actually run into one another very often. I'm kind of like that mother whose kids can "do no wrong". What people get up to when I'm not around doesn't interest me. If an ax-murderer wants to build a rocket stove? See ya later! We'll be at the fireplace/stove shop if ya need us!

Cristo Balete wrote:so, Cindy, you know that railroad ties are full of toxic stuff you don't want in your vegetables?

About your house foundation, keeping it wet enough for vegetables or plants can be a problem, not to mention sinking wood near it that could attract termites. I've switched to big pots on big saucers near the foundation.

It sounds like you want to make a vertical post hole and fill it with a log? That will sink and settle much more than a horizontal log that stays consistently wet a foot or more below the surface. A long, skinny hole in the ground that has 50% of the wood near the surface will not be as wet for its full length, nor be as amenable to soil critters who want to live in and around it.

Driveways are expensive to maintain if they start cracking, and drilling under or around them just might cause something like that

I gotcha. Thanks. I wasn't going to use it for veggies because I have no way of knowing what it's filled with and because of the railroad ties - which are obviously not good. I just want something to grow there besides weeds. I figure any "good" growth would help clean it up. I was looking at it just now and it's quite swollen upward so bricks or pavers aren't going to work. Poop.

It actually has a tree growing quite aggressively out from between two ties, about 2 ft down from the top, behind a little shed that is currently up against the end. I've cut it off several times but it comes right back. Of course, merely cutting it is probably like pruning which trees love so...I don't know.

Termites are plentiful around these parts but I've never had a problem. I don't know why, unless it's because I'm right at the top of a drop in elevation with plenty of houses sitting on much wetter ground. This little piece of ground has its own unique climate compared to the surrounding properties and it's changing even more, now, because I lost a shade tree so the whole south side of the property, right next to the drop in elevation, gets full sun all day.

Oh well, it's interesting. Guess I'll play with it and see what I can do.

Thanks for your reponses (both of you).

Dale Hodgins wrote:Yes, they settle over time. Roughly built ones like those that I built with an excavator, will sink faster than those built carefully from larger wood.

Makes sense. Here's what I was thinking - to plant on top of post holes into which one has dropped a log(s). So one would want a mound or small raised bed on top of that. For a permanent planting like a bush or row of bushes.

I have an area surrounded on three sides with a 6 - 8 ft railroad tie retaining wall in full sun that gets plenty of rain but dries super fast. I basically have two crops of weeds - one wet and one dry - that take turns on that patch. We're into a very wet spring after a considerable drought so the little wild strawberry things seem to be doing OK, but with the scary thought...I'm not sure about the logs, now, as it is right at the end of a long concrete drive and only a couple of yards from the corner of the house so it wouldn't take much shifting to do some serious damage...I dont' know. Maybe I'll just brick over it and add some kind of shade structure...

The retaining walls are going to have to be replaced as the ties are decomposing - so I'm working on an idea for a retaining wall that will keep it from drying out so fast...well...actually, I just REALLY want to play with one of those "bullet mole" things, ROFL! Now that I think about it, piercing it with the pipe and the flanges on the ends should add some stability with regard to decomposing logs....I'd still have to retain the end wall, but that shouldn't be a problem...

I'm wondering about this in terms of permanent plantings.

And...as I'm writing this I am getting a very interesting and quite disturbing vision of sinkholes which, if you imagine the sinkhole as a cylinder that continues above ground to tree level...is basically the area of a tree canopy which would, of course, be matched underground by a massive root system which brings to mind a whole other method by which mother earth may temper our consumptive and destructive habits...crikeys...wish I hadn't thought of that...would someone please explain to me how that would be impossible, please? Thanks!

Editing to add a couple more pleases...so PLEASE, PLEASE and, just for good measure, PRETTY PLEASE??