Phil Stevens

Jay Angler wrote:
I also wonder about the video's claim that the people were miserably cold in the winter. Unless wood was unavailable for heating, I would expect that the stone walls acting as thermal mass would have a very positive effect at keeping the building warm in the winter. Humans have known how to stay warm for thousands of years.  

The article talks about the thermal break provided by the infill layer, and also suggests that the organic matter incorporated in the rubble helps insulate as well. The verdict seems to be that they're comfortable enough in a Mediterranean climate. I don't think they would work in a place with serious winters.

Since I don't really have a lot of confidence in this particular Youtube channel as a primary source, I went looking and found this:

https://www.mdpi.com/2075-5309/15/17/3195

Evidently, these buildings do use lime mortar and organic matter in the infill mix. That would make them a lot more resilient when they start to shake.

Horse manure can have something even nastier and you won't know until it's too late: persistent broadleaf herbicides. Some farmers use this toxic gick on hay paddocks to kill things like dock and thistle but not grass. The hay ends up full of the stuff, and then it goes through the horses (can't be good for them either), and you can probably guess the rest of the story. I saw a friend's garden last summer after she used some free local horse poop on her beds. The plants were pretty much a total loss...it looked awful.

I know parts of Italy get strong earthquakes, and looking at that teaser pic I cannot for the life of me see that holding up in a tremor.

Take a piece of wire, make a small hook at the end and poke it into the borer hole. Push it in as far as you can and give it a couple of twists as you go. When you pull it out, if you succeeded as a mighty hunter there will be pieces of borer on the end of the wire.

With the urgent matter under control, now all that remains is to pack the opening with something that another borer won't chew through. I like a clay tree paste with a bit of cow manure to bind it together.

Beans are a good indicator if you need to test for safety.

John F Dean wrote:I am dying from giving myself salmonella, but at least I lived to see this thread.  Great work everyone.

Oof. Hope everything comes out all right.

Douglas Alpenstock wrote:

C. Letellier wrote:Because it is readily available I would suggest pond moss for this year and possibly cattails for next year.

Don't forget the pond muck the cattails are growing in. Potentially the best fertilizer ever! Stinky stuff though.

EDIT: By "pond moss" I assume you mean aquatic plants (water weeds)? These are very high in nitrogen (which is why they decompose with a massive stench) and would be brilliant as a compost additive.

There's azolla, which is a nitrogen fixer and grows abundantly in fresh water.

If water is percolating too quickly, you could use an olla.

Two-year-old vines climbing through other vegetation and putting on what looks like a bumper crop. I found a small one on the ground just now but I don't expect them to really start dropping on their own until late May. Last year I was still finding them in early July.