Patrik Schumann

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since Nov 06, 2015
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Biography
BA Computer Graphics & Scientific Imaging
pursued "design of Man's interaction with Nature"
Apprenticeship in Earth Building & Earthen Architecture
MA Environmental Design: Passive & Low-energy Architecture
Two decades inner-urban high desert radical sustainability/ subsistence horticulture: the 20% homestead
Last drops irrigation conservation & edible biodiversity tree cropping
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Nuevo Mexico, Alta California, New York, Andalucia
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Recent posts by Patrik Schumann

RFB: Insured/ qualified/ experienced chainsawyer(s) for 100' fuelbreaks 9174' total 22ac thinning first three weeks Nov

Good day, I hope you might put this out to your network around Forestburgh NY 12777 in southern Sullivan county area please, & if you would kindly let me know of any referrals I can contact directly. Thank you, Patrik Schumann 505-255-1933
3 weeks ago
Good day, I hope you might put this out to your network around Forestburgh NY 12777 in southern Sullivan county area please, & if you would kindly let me know of any referrals I can contact directly. Thank you, Patrik Schumann 505-255-1933
3 weeks ago
Fukuoka had an approach to over-/ inter-seeding which closely preceded the harvest or other structural/ soil disturbance.  We did some of what you describe after windthrow/ salvage/ reforestation, though much of the expensive & valuable understorey & opening seed did not seem to take into some exposed soil/ some grass & forbs/ some fern.  Over the years a few restrained specimens started gradually pocking out of obscurity.  Try seeding right before leaf-drop, then big snowfall, then spring awakening.  It is an on-going process with statistical quantities of seed just like nature!  Once you have patches going you can spread your own seed.  Your observations & interpretations across your place are very astute, & I think you'll do well.
2 months ago
Radon poisoning is a cumulative exposure moderated by productive surface area to enclosed volume ratio to nr of air changes.  I got two free test kits from the state of New Mexico: left one enclosed in crawlspace & other in winter livingspace for the week or two specified.  You could likely find or bore suitable placements.  They would give you an early ballpark proportional indication before risking going any further.  Also, talk to old miners & check any mineshafts in same strata.  
2 months ago
You're going to be doing some kind of ventilation, so might as well have as much natural passive free as possible & supplement with artificial as necessary & desirable.  Nobody's got your answer just like that.  There's no escaping some actual homework, scratch estimation, trial & error, in getting there.  And you can always test & adjust after the fact.
2 months ago
I do not advise this for anyone else: We don't sterilise anything.  I don't rinse outside fruit & veg.  We ferment naturally & compost everything.  I do carefully segregate among shoes/ floor, toilet/ hands, sponges & wipes top to bottom/ kitchen to bathroom.  This developed gradually as we became ever more aware of chemical contamination, microbiome integrity, our son's shifting allergies, farmkids' natural immunities, etc.  
2 months ago
Hydrology & horticulture design, rainwater catchment systems, drylands/ temperate Edible Plantscapes, rare variety fruit/ nut/ berry collecting/ nursery/ orchards, hardwoods & fire regeneration forest management, site assessment/ precision LIDAR/ individual tree management GIS, most childcare/ kitchen/ domestic duties, all homestead cultivation/ repair/ maintenance/ upgrade works, etc.   Having four decades ago taken vows of poverty + to design interaction with nature, most of my potential + need for earning have been obviated, especially in working & living around subsistence threshold.  I do my best quite well to keep my little family modest in needs, wants, desires, appetites, ambitions, expenses.  
2 months ago
In liberating an old thermal mass house with crawl space from evaporative cooler & floor furnace, I ended up closely managing ventilation all seasons whether between rooms or inside-outside.  No longer needing all that fresh cold air underfoot for ill-placed thermostat heater, just a little combustion replacement for the modest central woodstove, in winter to greater comfort I closed off all but one vent below.  Eventually local authorities & media promoted a free radon testing kit program, & I discovered it did just reach threshold levels only below if not actively vented.  I figured my winter-long daily wood-burning kept enough dilution going.  There are ancient traditions of underground buildings in China, Turkey, Tunisia, & I did a my first study  in architecture grad school of their typology on passive & low- energy criteria.  With different spaces, surface-to-volume ratios, passageways, outdoor connections, seasonal & daily orientations & exposures, you can design for & set up natural ventilation flows that favour desirable air temperature, humidity, quality/ health levels.
2 months ago
In fire country, one aspect often overlooked is rather than just working at preventing/ mitigating actually adapting/ preparing for fire to come through routinely + beneficially.  

Obviously personal safety & possession protection come first, but we do spend a lot of our precious lives stressing & a lot of Earth's precious resources when it'll be coming & having its way no matter what.  

Looking to: what was there in the natural landscape before human impacts, nearby eco-types that are on the move/ climate conditions that have been shifting, even the aftermaths of burns days-months-decades later, the intricate & unique but insightful dynamics, working a fire line, mitigating & regenerating afterwards, playing safely with fire at small scale, joining prescribed burn projects, etc.
3 months ago
Thanks.  First went there early 90s for research with John Norton/ Development Workshop/ earthen construction, & stayed in rolling oak hills on old farm with cheese & wine caves.  Next late 00s to visit friends who among other things made their own pate, & to recon the mountains scrambling foothills & high tracks.  Very keen to bike, hike, talk, eat.
6 months ago