Christopher Weeks

master gardener
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since Jun 24, 2018
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Biography
I steward 20 acres of Cromwell Sandy Loam in the north woods of Minnesota. I clear birch and aspen as needed to plant food sources.

I always have more projects going than I can keep up with which isn't really awesome but I don't know what to change.

I vote for Libertarians and Socialists because they know what it means to have principles and that matters more to me than the exact details of what they believe in. I'm a gun-toting vegetarian. I write code for cash and grow food because no amount of cash will buy real food these days.

I have a wife, two kids, two grandkids, and three cats. I've never had a dog, but I'm thinking about changing that. I hike, garden, read, play games, code, cook, spin and knit, putter, and play at arting.
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Carlton County, Minnesota, USA: 3b; Dfb; sandy loam; in the woods
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Recent posts by Christopher Weeks

The spoon-carving tradition that's experiencing increased popularity right now expects the wood to be green. As does carving bowls on a pole lathe. Any of that kind of work is going to be much easier now than it will be after drying. But I think if you're doing more typical modern woodworking with all the mechanization of a modern shop -- planers and saws and lathes and sanders..., then you'd dry it first.
2 days ago
Has anyone ever asked one of these LLMs for information and had it just say "I don't know" or something to that effect? I haven't had that happen, which seems kind of weird.
2 days ago
I also installed snow cleats. I didn't love puncturing my metal roof, but hopefully the gasket will work. And it did wonders for preventing giant ice-curls from sliding off my roof in slow-mo.
2 days ago
We used a commercial milk paint powder. It couldn't go through a nice high-tech sprayer and the sprayer it could go through produced uneven gloopy results and was more work. We also found brushing it on overhead to be much, much more drippy than commercial latex paint is. If I was doing overhead painting again, I'd want to find a solution before going forward. Maybe it's as simple as adding a natural gum or something else. I do like the idea of never using gicky paints again.
3 days ago

Levente Andras wrote:with the emergence of AI, suddenly I'm given the opportunity to ask complex, potentially difficult, and very specialised questions on ANY topic, and - within seconds - to obtain answers / solutions that are relevant, reliable, and tailored / specific to my own situation (climate, exact location, soil type, etc.).


That hasn't been my experience. I'm an IT guy for a living and an enthusiastic futurist. I look forward to the time when we birth machines smart enough to replace us. These "AI" tools you're talking about are laughably crude and hide incorrect information among correct-sounding stuff ALL THE TIME. People on Permies can be wrong too. Or their experience in a Mediterranean climate doesn't shed much light on how things will work for me up north. But it isn't ever tricking me into trusting that it's anything more than it is.

But good luck with your work and I'm hopeful that it'll keep getting better!
3 days ago
I look forward to seeing more when you have more to show!
3 days ago
Anti-sleaze spoon-generators:
- listen to music
- share a meal
- plant something
- harvest something
- help someone with some trouble or chore
- play a game
- get a little exercise
- engage in satisfying art or craft

(x-posted with stuff above)
I bottom-water in 1020 trays for a similar effect. I wonder if there's any advantage to the extra infrastructure needed for the wicking solution other than needing to refill water less often.
4 days ago
I want to emphasize that I live somewhere very different than you do by noting that I have 18" of snow outside right now, so there's plenty of room for me to not know your plants and pests. But it looks like powdery mildew to me too.
4 days ago