Derek Thille

Kim Wills wrote:

Derek Thille wrote: ...This thread also brings to mind to me the 8 forms of capital.  Social capital, or community, can help us get through life events like this.  Spiritual capital is also very important dealing with things like loss.

Hi, I'm curious what you mean by spiritual capital, if you don't mind elaborating a bit.

Hi Kim.  You've certainly been through a lot.  I can't imagine what sort of shape I'd be in with the losses you've had the last few years.

The 8 forms of capital, as I understand, provides a description of the things we have, and expands the concept of wealth.  Generally, the western world seems focused on what is described in the concept as financial capital and material capital.  However, we are (and have) so much more than this.  As well, the world is much more interconnected than "stuff".

From the summary of a search on the 8 forms of capital:

"Spiritual Capital: The capacity for authentic self-expression, connection to something greater than oneself, and inner awareness, often linked to a sense of purpose and connection to the universe."

That's a much more eloquent description than I could have typed myself.  In a sense, we are all spiritual, whether we express that through religious belief, or a connectedness with the natural world, or other expressions of spirituality.  While some forms of spirituality are inwardly focused (within ourselves and our connection to the world), many also have an outward focus on our greater community.  I believe that connecting with community can help us deal with grief, with the caveat that it probably needs to be a deeper connection, not just some shallow association.

I'm not sure whether I've clarified anything for you, or simply muddied the waters.  I'm hopeful it was at least a bit helpful.  Take care.

Nice...we don't have near that level of growth, but have 9 or 10 apricot seedlings...the tallest is perhaps a foot.

Jay Angler wrote:

Matt McSpadden wrote:The hardest to pronounce town name for each state. How many can you say?

Two factors here: 1. can you say what's written.
2. Can you say it the way the locals pronounce it!

I know enough French to know how Couer d'Alene would be pronounced in Quebec, but who knows how the people in Idaho pronounce it?

How I was taught to pronounce the Appalachian Mountains and how I'm told the locals pronounce it are considerably different.

I have in-laws in Spokane, so I know how Couer d'Alene is mispronounced....

As it so happens, I know how Natchitoches, LA is pronounced...it happens to be on the aforementioned Jefferson Highway is the reason.

Jay's point 2 is very appropriate - Isanti, MN and Madrid, IA are two that immediately come to mind that are not pronounced as I would expect.

Awesome Deedee!  Your squash plants look a bit thirsty, but they are doing so much better than any of mine this year.

On a completely different note, I passed through WV for the first time a couple weeks ago...we spent a night in Lewisburg before visiting the New River Gorge NP on our way home.  Some lovely countryside through there (and interesting driving on US 60).

Ebo David wrote:I think you or I are not understanding or missing something.  If I am not mistaken, the higher the minimum temperatures, the higher the zone number.  So you will not have a problem with your plants freezing more often, but with the summer heat cooking them to death.  I could be wrong or missing something, but I think something is the other way around.

If I understand correctly, the Canadian zones are calculated using additional factors compared with the USA zone calculations.  More than just minimum winter temperatures are taken into account.  Canada Plant Hardiness Maps has a map linked at the bottom of the page showing how Canada's zones would look using the American minimum temperature process.

I hadn't heard of the Great Plains Highway before, but I've been on parts of it.  It reminds me of the Jefferson Highway, also known as the Pine to Palms Highway from Winnipeg to New Orleans.

Awesome.  It's good to see Judy made her way off the disabled list.

Among other things, I really need to get going on material accumulation and construction of a solar dehydrator.  I don't see it getting done this summer though...sigh.

Brandon Hands wrote:

Also, what apples grow well Wisconsin? I like Stayman apples but they come from further south. What russet apples grow well and taste good?

You may want to look at the apple varieties developed at the University of Minnesota - here's a list.  I know a number of them are grown here in Manitoba so would certainly be winter-hardy enough for Wisconsin.

Good luck.

Well done Dian!

I haven't done much with my thread lately.  I do have some photo and video updates, but just have had enough other stuff to get them done.

So far, I've just harvested radishes (about 5.5 kCal worth).  Things are definitely not going as hoped, but there is life on the plot.  Some of the potatoes look like they are doing nicely, as are sunchokes.  The red cabbage is hanging in there.  Onions, carrots, and turnips continue to live.  The pumpkin has started to look robust, although the other cucurbits are alive, but disappointing.  The bean plants have suffered and I'm not sure why (perhaps got too hot without enough mulch during a warm spell while plants were young).

Since we had additional space on the plot, we went through the beans we had on hand.  We don't have enough time left in the season to definitely get dry beans, but a couple of the varieties are supposed to be decent as green beans, so some of them got soaked and planted recently.

Onion sets were the biggest expense thus far - I used most of a $5 bag on the plot.  Potato and beans came from last year's harvest.  Sunchokes were hanging around.  

Thinking about the concept a bit recently, I made a trade-off I'm not sure I wanted to nor should have.  In an effort to maximize calories, I planted more root crops like potatoes and sunchokes than I probably should have.  In building a new hugelkultur bed, in hindsight, it would probably have been better to provide more plant matter to shield the soil while letting it settle.  Planting things were I can leave the roots in the ground to add to the soil would have been better for the longer term future of the bed.  At least the minimum of 5 different food crops forces one to vary the planting.  While it defeats the aim of the GAMCOD project, if I were to build another hugel for production, I'd rather prep most of it in the fall to allow it to settle over winter, then plant a cover crop mix of sorts for the first year before getting into food production.

At any rate, I'd say my plot has disappointed me, but it is picking up and definitely looking greener all the time.  Things are looking up.

Stephen B. Thomas wrote:*shakes fist and scowls at Derek in a generally northern direction*

I'm a lot more east than I am north of Wheaton Labs