Kevin Harbin

I built that swale last year. I just never posted my pictures.
Slope before the work.


DIY contour level.


Turning the dirt in progress.


All turned


Total length of the swale is 37.5 feet


Full length after digging out the bottom.


I seeded with bird seed, mostly for the sunflowers, and deer seed with Rutabaga, brassica, turnip and rapeseed. Tasty yard snacks. I also planted some Hazelnut bushes.


Swale Depth 1


Swale Depth 2


Swale Depth 3


Swale Depth 4


Before Mulching the swale


Partial mulching


Full Mulching


Growth plus wood chip pile acting as an anti-washout spillway.


Swale holding water

Congrats!

I think I am most interested in the Practical Mending book. I have lots of clothes with minor issues that I can't wear in permies.

In the sheet mulched bed I planted 4 sets of seedlings. Tomatoes, Watermelon, Cucumber, and Okra.
before:

Seedlings:

Planted:

Grown:

I bought too many seedlings this weekend. The greenhouse had such good prices. Now I need to figure out where to plant them all.

I made some plantain salve from plants in my yard and saved beeswax.



I gave it a lite dehydrate


crushed the plantain


3 hours on warm with olive oil


1ozish of beeswax


strained the mixture into the beeswax


All melty


finished salve

I think this issue with my oven fits here because it turned out to be the burned out motor, but I'm open to moving it.
My wife ran the self cleaning cycle on the oven as she has done many times in the past but this time the door lock failed to release.
After trying all the steps from the manual to see if it would reset I finally had to resort to getting a wire snaked behind the door and forcing the lock out of the way.
After I had the door open I tried some of the reset steps again.


With the help of my ears I could tell that the issue was a burned out motor.


Old lock pulled out


After looking for replacement locks I had sticker shock for a new item. Thankfully I was able to get a used replacement from ebay for 1/6th the price. Here is the lock ready to wire.


New lock wired and ready to install


Installed and error cleared


I'm glad I took pictures as I took the trim off or I might not have figured it out where all the screws went.


Fixed

I had empty hives after my bees absconded last year. It's spring here and swarm season.
I got a bottle of Bee Commander which is basically Lemon Grass. I applied as directed and left it.


A couple days later I saw some activity and confirmed with a quick check inside. Free bees!


It's far more clear if I open up the hive.


This worked for both of my hives. Definitely recommend.

I traveled to see the eclipse. I planned for everything, except I left my tripod at home :(
I still got some pretty good shots. Luckily, the sun is bright.
10/10 would recommend.

I think they could be massaged a little. I was specifically thinking about planting flowers, and also mulching a flower bed.
I remember now why I was thinking about this, in the UK a 'Garden' often refers to a lawn, mostly grass.
I've been trying to think of another term that fits the US definition of garden but, I haven't found one yet. Maybe 'culinary plants'?
I finished reading Restoration Agriculture and it's really changing my frame for what growing food look like.