Lorraine Barnett

I have used a Nutrimill for the past 16 years. I read another post that complained about the mess and the noise...she might have been complaining about my mill but I have just gotten used to it. I am seriously thinking of getting a hand grinder....for the day when off-grid is important. There's a Wondermill that does oily seeds so you can grind the grain, bake bread and then make peanut butter to go with. A perfect combo!!

This is terrific and so timely!! We purchased our first grain mill from Pleasant Hill some sixteen years ago! I use my grain mill (Nutrimill Classic) about every other week to grind wheat, buckwheat, cornmeal, and other grains from time to time. My husband thinks every meal must have a piece of homemade bread to go with. ;-) My poor old overworked Classic succumbed and we actually had a complete failure just about two weeks ago. I purchased a new one with the side cannister but honestly, it just isn't my old faithful. I have been considering purchasing another one "Just In Case" because we don't ever want to be without a good grain mill. I am looking forward to all you have to share with us! Thanks so much!!

Welcome!! Looking forward to the picking of your brain. ;-)

Dear Permies Family....  I'm needing to re-think my whole seed-starting process. In the past, I've used florescent lights but only had the single blulb fixtures. These are completely insufficient. What do you all use? My husband wants to use the broad spectrum LED's but they are quite expensive...  ideas that you've used that were successful?

I've used Dixondale for about four years now and I am exceedingly happy with their service and their onions. I have had stunning harvests from the onions year after year. I plant keeper onions--Copra or Superstar--for my area (Mid-Missouri area) and I always do a red onion for variety. The keepers will still be good when I'm tending the next year's onions. I've had decent keepers right into late May. Dixondale is good to send out little onion-growing suggestions from time to time to keep me on track. They are great!

My small but growing understanding of real permaculture makes me think your suggestion of mulching and cover cropping is the answer to this dilemna. My new mantra is "a living root." I am trying to keep the soil in cover crops as much as is possible...the deer have sheered off everything I've grown this fall but I'm believing there might be some roots in there somewhere! ;-) I will certainly look for suckers from my persimmon. I'd love to get an Asian persimmon grafted onto some of the suckers.

Looking forward to spring and trying some things to see how this garden fares!

I'm really grateful to all the posts! There is much to think on and I need to do more research so that I'm not working against the natural order. I still have much to learn about permaculture. I'm so intrigued, the more I read and digest. So often, I find myself saying "Of Course!!" It makes sense, once it is explained so that I can understand it. Thank you so much, Alex, for the suggestion of a Yates persimmon. I had despaired that any of the larger persimmons would work in my area. I may just make the Yates part of my plan! I also looked up Elaine Ingham and she is a wealth of soil knowledge! It's a bit more than I can wrap my mind around right now but I'll continue to listen and learn. Thanks, Jeanne, for that suggestion.

I can see my persimmon (which now I'm convinced I'll give another few years, at least) as part of my garden plan. I'm now wondering about the perennials that I can make part of the guild around the tree....that won't just be just fodder for the deer and coons... I have a pile of much that I will make part of the plan as well.

I'm excited about all this now, instead of just frustrated! Thanks to all of you!! Such thoughtful suggestions!

Lee, my husband has a subsoiler that is attached to the tractor and it is just an arm that you can adjust for how deep you want to go. You run the tractor around, with the subsoiler lowered and it "snags" roots and pulls them to the surface. Most roots will break off. That's how we put our garden in to begin with. We never plowed the soil in any way, we just ran the subsoiler around. I got a very nice pile of roots that are  aging to the side. It seemed invasive to me but a quick fix for lots and lots and lots of roots. I see that there are people who do this as a way to avoid that turnover of the soil but still get some nice dead roots in there to feed the plants that go into the garden. I am constantly amazed at the wealth of wisdom, experience, and help that people give who love the soil!

Lee Missouri wrote:How do you do root plowing? How do you balance cutting the roots with keeping the tree healthy? I've pruned trees and saw great improvement in their health, but I've never heard of doing something similar with the roots.

We are located right in the middle of the state of Missouri, just about 15 miles south of I-70, which cuts Missouri in two east to west. Interestingly, weather is quite different North of I-70 than South of I-70. They get far more snow and wind and ice north of the interstate. Lots of storms break up and go north of us. I'm in Zone 6a.

Wow! that picture is priceless! That's what I've experienced. Since I am fairly new to the permaculture method, I felt a bit guilty about cutting trees but thanks to your comments, I see that I must be smart about placement and balance the value of the tree to the value of the crop! And yes, in our part of Missouri, we are clay, too. I used to think it was horrible but with the addition of some good organic matter, it is a marvelous soil for gardening.

Thank you for the rule of thumb about height to distance from the tree of annuals. I needed to have that hammered home to me. In my excitement about permaculture, mulching, etc. I tend to just think it is all going to work perfectly if I just mulch and have a great variety. Ah well....still learning.

Thanks so much for all the comments!! It helps to talk things out with people who are passionate about this! ...and people with much more experience than me.