S Gibau

Bobby Fallon wrote:Im having a hard time creating the correct germination environment for veg seeds

The best environment for germinating seeds for me is a Ziploc bag, paper towel, and a spray bottle filled w/water and 1tbs hydrogen peroxide. If they're very large seeds then I just soak them overnight. In the morning, I spread them out on a paper towel covered plate and cover with a bag to keep moist.

Love your list. The only thing that I'd add would be heavy duty manual food processing/cooking tools like a grinder, grain mill, etc. and a cooking over the campfire setup.

Since I'm physically unable to do a lot these days, I've started to think about food security in a much different way lately. I'm shifting more towards identifying, locating and/or planting perennial things that most people won't recognize as being a food source. Humans used to be very efficient gatherers and I'm thinking that it wouldn't hurt to learn/know how to do so again. I feel better knowing that if someone stole/confiscated all of the food preps in my house that we wouldn't starve. So lately my priority has been locating edible plants, trees, flowers, roots, tubers etc. already growing within a few of miles of my house during each growing season. I've also been strategically "guerilla planting" abandoned lots and wooded areas lol. Yes, it's possible that others may find my hidden plantings but then again it doesn't cost me anything more to do it. If I buy 10 bulbs/seeds then I just plant a couple elsewhere. I make cuttings from my own yard for free and plant those elsewhere too.

I am really happy to discover & learn more about your hoe. I was beginning to think that I'd have to give up annual gardening. I simply can't bend and stoop to weed my beds anymore. I've unsuccessfully tried gardening tool after gardening tool and either they didn't work like I needed them to or they bent/broke on me. The design of your hoe gives me hope that maybe I can whip my garden back into shape this year afterall. I know you can't tell from the pictures but there are 16 beds and a hugelkulture mound under all of those weeds lol. I've been trying (somewhat successfully) not to feel too bad about all of the weeds since I've been researching everything that popped up. Wouldn't know it to look at it but there's quite a lot of food/medicine growing in there too.

Yury Smirnov wrote:

Trace Oswald wrote:I read somewhere that it is carbon steel.  I would assume it would have to be sharpened sooner or later, but that is based on experience with other carbon steel tools.

That's correct, Trace. The blade should be sharpened as often as you would sharpen a scythe.

Where can I find directions/video on how to sharpen the blade?

Mary-Ellen Zands wrote:Yes I also take lots of cuttings. Did you know that March April are the best months to root your cuttings. If you use coloured glass jars brown and blue or green it stimulates root growth.  If you add a branch of willow that’s been hammered you’ve got your natural rooting hormone.

No, I didn't know about colored glass but it makes a lot of sense. It kinda explains why the cuttings that I stuck inside of colored medicine bottles worked better than ones stuck elsewhere.

Mary-Ellen Zands wrote:I consider myself a tree guardian.  I plant many many trees every year. Actually now I’m giving away trees to young homesteaders because my lots are full. I attend protests for the clearcutting. Which seems to be speeding up in this area. People do not realize how important trees are.  Especially from the last zoom meeting the town hall had.  The farmers were in an uproar that they might lose the right to cut their own forests. So of course now everyone is quickly cutting hundreds of acres of trees. After a clear cut I go through and look what I can still save. Little trees that are special and need to be rescued.  Wild garlic, wild ginger, ferns etc. I do my best. I wish they would put an ad in the paper to advertise free trees, before they come in with the bulldozers.

I here ya. I would love to receive a call to come harvest before or salvage after a clear cutting. Unfortunately, I don't live near any forests. On a bright note, I am on a mission to learn how to propagate as many trees as I can this year. I couldn't bear to throw away some healthy twigs recently and decided to see if they would root in water. My hubby is starting to think that I'm a twig whisperer since some of them are beginning to produce fruit lol.