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

Replacing broken tool handles

Carla Burke wrote:Word to the wise on this particular tool: I bought one. I used it once, and the tip bent at a 90° angle, with one extra turn of my (normally wimpy) wrist😬. If using it, I would advise using it only on softer wires, not something that is hardened.

Thanks! I just ordered one. :)

6 minutes ago

gear

slugging - a carpool/hitchhike combo

As gas prices continue to rise, interest in practices like slugging may too.

9 hours ago

frugality

Brooding 4 week old chicks

I wonder about whether the chicks ever start pecking at the mylar/bubble stuff -- I wouldn't want bits of that in the birds or the deep-litter. Otherwise, it seems like a great upcycling use for those mailers (we accumulate stuff like that in storage and hardly ever use them again).

9 hours ago

chickens

Lay your garlic growing knowledge on me

Here in northern Minnesota, I plant in October, harvest scapes when they curl and pull the bulbs when the foliage starts drying down. I bundle and hang them to cure under the eaves of the house and repeat the whole thing again.

I can grow in raised beds with rich compost topdressing for best results, but it also grows fine in my sandy loam as long as I occult the ground with cardboard or wood chips or spoiled hay to kill the invasive grasses.

Where I live, I think garlic is my easiest and most reliable crop.

9 hours ago

alliums

Is there a simple way to divide the rain from a gutter into two equal directions

You can connect multiple vessels with a siphon like that, but Mike wants to distribute water to the planters where it will leave the system and make sure both of them get about the same amount of water rather than all of it going to one. A siphon-equalizing system like that would work on a small scale if they were bottom-watering planters at close to the same elevation.

Oh, or maybe you mean something like this: put a bucket above each planter at exactly the same height, fill them with water, connect them with a siphon, and then you can downspout the water into either bucket and it should pour out of both of them at the same rate (if the siphon allows travel at the same speed as the downspout).

1 day ago

rainwater catchment

Is there a simple way to divide the rain from a gutter into two equal directions

My inclination would be to downspout the water into a barrel or something and run hoses to each planter. The designs you're talking about aren't going to be super-precise at dividing the water, so putting a valve on each hose that you can tune over time seems like it would get you into the same ballpark with not much work.

1 day ago

rainwater catchment

New Member Introduction

Welcome to Permies, Charlotte!

1 day ago

introductions

Improving your chances of growing an apple tree from a seed

Does fridge-stratifying go against Paul's notion of growing from seed? I get great germination results in the fridge and then just plant those shallowly in pots come spring. And then in the fall, plant those into the ground before the tap-root reaches the bottom of the pot. I think that's growing "from seed" -- once it's in the ground it's not available to be moved and I haven't taken up grafting.

I wonder what causes high winter losses when you just plant a seed?

2 days ago

seeds and breeding

TimeBanks: using time like money in our communities

Thanks for posting this! I did some online timebank experimentation fifteen years ago and kind of love the idea. And through your links, I just found a local one that's in its infancy. And to address your first point to ponder, I've highlighted a little bit of their front page:

2 days ago

intentional community

wild turkey nest 2026 northern Minnesota

MN DNR says turkey eggs take 28 days to hatch. So if the nest was a few days old when I found it on April 30 now is a perfectly reasonable time for them to be out. I don’t know how turkey clutches behave when they're first born, but since it wasn’t much of a nest, my guess is they are mobile quickly and I’m hoping that the mama just took her babies into the woods.

2 days ago

wildlife