Megan Palmer wrote:How are you getting along with your greenhouse Rusty? This might be useful if you haven’t already completed it https://youtu.be/pXPakvPzgpE
Christopher Westmore wrote:Minimum wage does not buy a living but it could be fair if you provide a place to stay and some basics.
I have seen a lot of people abuse these situations and claim they are offering a "learning experience" or "apprenticeship". A couple of things I see that repeat themselves.
A real apprenticeship is teaching someone a life trade that is marketable, someone doing ______ for the fist time is not teaching anyone anything, they are still figuring it out themselves. Doing manual labor on someones property is not learning marketable skills, it is labor. These situations usually the low paid of free labor leaves in a few days.
Now if you have a rocking organic farm with years of fine tuned growing and building experience with a crew of friendly young people to socialize with you can offer some value and people will stay. If you have a piece of secluded land a shack with a colmen stove you better be paying someone for their time or they will not stay long.
Then you have the issue of insurance, if someone brakes their back and sues you for everything you own ?
Just a couple of thoughts.
R Scott wrote:Here is one with comparisons and numbers. https://threefoldfarm.org/consulting
Are you looking for totally off grid or will you have grid power for fans and such (you just want to avoid buying a tanker of propane every year)? There seems to be a difference in design to think about--grid tie is much easier to pump the heat out of the storage.
Are you looking at rock, dirt, or water as the mass or a combination?
James Freyr wrote:Hey Rusty, may I suggest the book Four-Season Harvest by Eliot Coleman. He has been doing what you're asking about using cold frames and unheated greenhouses where he lives in Maine. It is an excellent book that I believe thoroughly covers the topic and offers a wealth of information, ideas and techniques to garden year round. Hope this helps!
Kelly Beck wrote:Very good stuff! I'm hoping to do some grey water use this year. The washer is a great place to start. I'm sorry if this was already discussed in the thread and I missed it, but when using cleansers appropriate for eventual garden use, I need more info.
Does anyone have experience or info?
Here are some of my thoughts. Please let me know if I'm off base. I have used baking soda with essential oils for laundry in the past. I want to do this again. I'm also learning to make natural lye soap, but I haven't researched if its safe for the garden yet.
Also, how about grey water storage WITHOUT aeration? Would laundry water be nasty after awhile? Hmmmm....
Thanks!
Kelly B.