Thom Bri

pollinator
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since Sep 19, 2023
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Biography
Long-time gardener, mainly interested in corn and Native American farming techniques. Grew up on a Midwestern farm. Lived in rural Central America and worked in agriculture there.
Current job, RN.
Past jobs, English teacher, forklift driver, lawn maintenance guy, real estate agent, health insurance claims, etc.
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Illinois
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Recent posts by Thom Bri

James Bradford wrote:

One thing I'm loving about the trench method ... there's so much clay in my top soil that the heat is forming a crude Terracotta (see the orange in my pic).   I've already tested that orange stuff;  it is stable in water and holds its shape as a loose gravel which helps the porosity in my dense clay topsoil.   I had been hauling in play sand to amend my potting soil.  No need for that anymore, YAY!



Totally agree. I first saw a big improvement after burning in a trench. Huge difference in the heavy clay.
13 hours ago
World is full of wonderful foods. Why eat stuff that tastes nasty? Like tofu?
4 days ago
Heavy rainfall area? If so maybe you don't want to hold all the moisture in place. On the other hand if water is limiting perhaps  bury tree trunks as sort of underground swales. Hugel-swales?
4 days ago
Needles for leather working and sewing.
5 days ago
I plan to do year 3 of an ongoing trial of a traditional native American-style 3-sisters garden. I hope to plant corn in mid-May, beans a week or two later, and squash shortly after that. The garden is about 279 square meters, 3000 square feet. Right now the ground is frozen and nothing is growing.
Are they building combs on the branch they are staying on? Bees in the south will sometimes nest in the open.
5 days ago
Ground another 10 pounds or so of corn meal yesterday.
Corn is currently outdoors in totes. Hopefully the cold temps will kill most of the weevils.
200 lb. of corn:
I got all of next year's firewood from the guy down the street, an older gent who was cutting back a large tree. I stopped and asked if he had any plans for the wood and he was happy to let me do half the cutting and all the hauling work. Saved him a lot of work and I got 'free' wood.
My neighbor across the street gave me all the leaves I wanted for my garden last fall (I never have enough leaves). He also lends me tools occasionally. His son clears my snow sometimes, sometimes I clear his.

Some neighbors are not so great, the guy with the mean, noisy dogs, the folks who spray insecticides and kill my bees.

But on average it's not bad. I grew up in the country on a farm, and would prefer it, but my wife is a city girl and would prefer inner city. It's a compromise that works fairly well.
1 week ago
Wood will never stay dryer than the average humidity of the air around it. I live in a humid region and the wood is always a bit 'wet'.
1 week ago
Oats is another possibility. Around here road crews use oats in ditches and berms for quick stabilization of the soil while slower germinating permanent plants are getting started. Advantages are it sprouts fast and is vigorous, but short season so in just a few months you can put something else there.
1 week ago