Ray Schmidt

VOLES =
I have lost a half dozen apple trees, one Pawpaw, many potatoes and suffered major disruptions to my vegetable gardens.
The  trees get girdled  below grade (looked like they were worked over by subterranean beave)..
I have use dry mole detergent when planting. Buys a year.
Last one I planted I put 24” pieces of chicken wire around outside of hole with 6” above ground. Lasted a couple years.
All the Internet experts said that would be deep enough.
I trenched for a new water line approximately 3 foot deep and crossed tunnels at that level so I guess my voles are more ambitious.
I give. New plan is to plant more trees like the ones they have not bothered. Plum and nectarine ( I have had a fungus problem with nectarines. If last years near oil did not solve I may ask for ideas on a new thread). May be peach.

My 7 beads mostly started out as in ground/sheet mulching with boarders of whatever was handy to contain materials I added material.
For all newer beads I put various chicken wire mesh at bottoms. Much less problem with these beads.

This  “solutions “ is decidedly non-permie :-/, but I have had a reduction in population with them.
TRAPS mostly the 1.5x4” rectangular one with a trip pan on one end and two claws on other end that do the deed.
Wear latex gloves. Open up a mound and set all tunnels into it. I cover with old pieces of plywood. Recommend you have a wire from trap to stake(s) so you don’t lose traps with voles to scavenging animals.
I have had good results with the expensive Golfer Hawk trap too.
I do leave dead voles across street where coyotes travel through. They are always gone in the morning. That’s sort of returning surplus… .

At beginning of last season I used mole/golfer smoke-booms from hardware store.
I smoked every hole I could find.
Gave me about half a season of peace.

Following YouTube instructions I made a PVC bait station loaded with rat bait.
Complete failure none of the bait was touched.
All of the videos seem to look like the Midwest and they talked about voles being on the surface.
I have never seen one on the surface, probably because of our heavy population of predator birds.
I did repurpose the bait station for my in town house where there’s an ample population of city rats that need dealing with so it was not wasted time or materials.

I am very interested in the nematode mentioned in this thread.
Can anyone tell me the correct type and or a source?

Who would have thought snow removal was such a deep subject…
I have 3+ acres on the east slope of the Cascade mountains at about 2300 feet elevation.
Average year, 4 feet a pack on the ground, with a lot of in between dumps and setting to get that 4’
Property is multi use, I have a small storage business on one end and two houses on the other, one of which I rent, and one I live in part time (where I do all my homesteading out of).
It’s been an evolution of plowing methods over the 20 years or so that I’ve had it.
I started out with a 763 bobcat skid steer which I ran for 10 years as my soul means of plowing. About 7 years in I cut down so truck chains for it. Huge improvement.
Later I popped for a 6 foot hydraulic snowblower for the front of it.
Unfortunately, I only have standard flow hydraulics so when we get our wet snow it’s insufficient but when it’s dry, it’ll throw  50 feet. the bobcat is getting close to end of life or major referb so I may just upgrade to one with high flow hydraulics.
Now I do 70% of the plowing with 80s vintage three-quarter ton Chevy and a 7 foot hydraulic lift and angle blade
Still do the tight clean up with the bobcat.
Things that I have learned:
Start by plowing three times as much as you think you’ll need for putting snow and you might just make the end of the year without running out of room.
I have also fixed dips and added material to lengthen out shoulders of road and driveway so I don’t get stuck.
I have two driveways on this dead end County Road that they don’t plow quite as often as it should be because they’re just aren’t that many people on it. To avoid my driveway‘s being burmed in after I go back to the west side of the mountain for work I plow 30 feet Before each driveway so that the county truck blade unload before it hit. My driveway. Only took me 15 years to figure that out.  
Early in the season  I keep a buddies driveway open. (once the snow really hits he doesn’t come back till spring). What I learned about his gated driveway was that plowing up to a gate that is perpendicular to the driveway is very difficult. To mitigate this last time, he had a track-o  up there I had a clear trees to one side of the driveway so that I could push snow at a 45° angle to the road and gate.
I think that if I was to gate a driveway in snow country. I would have the gate at an angle to the driveway to make that process even better.
I also plow early and often. It’s probably roughly the same number of hours on the machines but a heck of a lot easier work to plow 8 inches rather than 16 inches of snow.

Somewhere in the thread. A man mentioned a front mounted snowblower on a compact tractor with the driveline from rear PTO..
A friend up here had a similar arrangement, but it was a much larger tracto, 480 class probably.
He had a lot of twisted dry lines and broken brackes. May have just been there set up or aggressive use of it, but I wasn’t impressed.
I have seen auxiliary hydraulic pumps that you can put on your rear PTO and plumb them forward to a snowblower.
I have no personal experience with this but if the pressures and flow rates work out for your snowblower, it might not be a bad plan.
I’ve also seen from out at snowblower for UTVs that have their own gasoline, auxiliary engine. Have never tried these either, but it looked promising..
Small electric snowblower.
Friends a little bit further east of my location where they get less snow and it’s usually lighter snow. Use a 120 V plug-in snowblower that they’re happy with. I think if you were within 100 feet of an outlet everywhere you need to move snow this would not be a bad option.
I bet that somebody is making battery snowblower also now probably the Ecoline. I have  seen commercial groundskeepers using their blowers and mowers so my guess is it’s a decent product.

I used to wear various synthetic socks. Over time my feet got the less healthy  them.
I eventually came to the conclusion that my Pappy was right (at least about this) “ wool is the only appropriate material for socks”.
I too am a big fan of the Darn Tough brand that other people have mentioned. My day-to-day work sock for all seasons in the Pacific Northwest is their Hunt medium weight sock.
In my mountain location where winters are generally in the high teens and occasionally the single digits (°f) I wear some heavy military surplus socks also made by Darn Tough with a medium insulated boot and my feet are perfectly warm.
Another brand that I’m very fond of is Farm to Feet.
My feet are very happy in the two brands.
Both for American made I have no idea the size of their business. Not cheap but a value for the money spent.
If your sock budget is smaller, the brand I used to wear for my day-to-day work sock is Minus33.
About 70% wool. Downside to this brand is year year they are inconsistent (I suspect they are contract made).
Some years are excellent some are so so. They are half the price of my two preferred socks.

Survival begins with socks…

Mary:
Do you know of real world success with this “ they can also protect fruit trees from voles and such”?
I have lost no less than six apple trees to voles .
The last one I planted I put chicken wire down about 2 feet in the ground around the root ball
(all Internet sources I found said those don’t go any deeper than 2 feet). That bought me an extra year before they killed that tree.
Did some trenching this year for waterline project and found tunnels a measured 3 foot below grade so I guess the Internet hasn’t checked with my voles…

I see these posts are from 5+ years ago.
I wonder if any of the Posters’ opinions have changed after living through the Great toilet paper shortage of 2022.

My thoughts on the subject of preparing:
People ignore the middle ground, in favor of the extremes;
There is a big gulf between doing nothing and burying a 40 foot Connex container full of rice, beans, and ammo.

I have always thought that if you have reasonable means the minimum you should do is stock enough food to feed your family for two weeks.
Add enough water for a week if treatable water is abundant in your area 2 weeks if it is not.
Some way to cook without broadcasting to the world you are doing it.
Example:
20 lbs beans,  50 lbs rice, 10 lbs textured soy protein  <$200
Sealed in 5 gallon bucket with O2 absorbers (another $75.00) 20 year shelf life.
If you have the cash some canned meat you actually like to eat so it can be rotated or freeze dried meat

This could be done in phase to spread out cost. If you or a friend works in food service you can probably get the buckets for free.

Above is “low middle ground” that will get you through most natural or man made disasters.
If disaster is long term (as in zombie apocalypse) it would keep you alive while you figure out how you’re going to live long-term.

On the uphill side of middle ground I like 3 months of food.
An alternative way to heat your house.
An established garden site.
Some security.
Improve your water plan.
Lighting.

You should also practice with your preps:
Can you cook rice any other way than a rice cooker? Give it a try on your camp stove or Rocket.
If beans are not a normal part of your diet, how many days in a row can you eat them? 3 for me, definitely not 4…
How much fuel of your choice does it take to cook a meal or boil water?
How long does your candles last or the kerosene in your lamp?

Ultimately we are responsible for our own well being.
I for one will not put my families’ well being in the hands of the same organization that runs the DMV.

Probably the best plan is to be living a resilient life that requires few outside inputs to keep your homestead running.

I have had success with a rented comercial ozonator (sp?).
I rented it to get rid of smoke smell after a kitchen mishap.
A day running in a closed up bathroom did wonders.
No mold issues for +/-6 months in a bathroom that I take daily steamy showers in.

Other random thoughts:
I would also recommend as others have to look for sources or reservoirs of moisture: failed joints in shower enclosure, leaking tub drain, leaking toilet wax ring, attic.
Is exhaust fan ducted to outside or just to attic. Is it’s vent blocked? Is it so full of lint it is not drawn it’s rated air flow.
Are you running exhaust fans long enough to dry out the space? Maybe a timer so you can leave it running for a while when you leave.

I propose a compromise:
Permanently change time to a half hour ahead of real Tim.
The pro time change people will get half of what they want.
The anti will only get half the misery….