James Bradford

what about using thatch for the upper most part of the roof ...so its lighter

The time is coming soon for me to move back to Houston and its time to say goodbye to Jarrell.   So, I'm having a party and you are invited!   If anyone here  haunts the central Texas area, plan to come out and say,  "Howdy y'all"!

Party is Saturday, March 21, 2026 ... Spring equinox.   Please PM me for the address and my direct contact info if you are interested.

Here is the schedule:

4:00 PM - arrival, parking, get comfortable and setup a tent if you want to camp that night
4:30 PM - I'll do a quick guided tour of the 1/4 acre that I have been doing my best to employ permaculture practices on for the last 3 years.
5:00 PM - Friend swap -- bring something nice that you no longer want, take something nice you can use
6:00 PM - Eat and be merry ... its a potluck style meal, so bring something you know you will like
7:30 PM - Burning of that which no longer serves me Bonfire / Demonstration of bio-char production using the trench method.
8:30 PM - Drum circle.   I've already tested the greenhouse, and beating on it makes a pretty loud drum.   Feel free to bring your own instrument/noise maker.   No body is around out there and this will be a unique opportunity to make some noise!

Sunday, March 22nd, 2026

I plan to be home all day for anyone who camps to sleep in and chill.  If anyone can only stop by on Sunday, I'll be available for tours, plant swapping, and making cob pots.

What to bring:

1.  Chairs
2.  Flash-light
3.  Bug repellent, (but please be mindful where your over-spray is going, cream is better)
4.  Drinks / Ice / food for potluck
5.  Glasses, plates, utensils
6.  Something that you want to let go of (to burn).   It can be a thought you write on a paper, or something physical.   If its embarrassing, wrap it up in cardboard/paper and we'll bury it deep in the pile.   Please remove dangerous stuff like lithium batteries!
7.  Empty plant pots ( I will give you live plants in exchange ) ... i go thru truckloads of those, so you can't bring too many.

I'll have a chiminea, propane grill, and small oven for heating / cooking food.

Hope to see you guys there!

-james

Here's a thread where you can read up on what's been going on in the Jarrell Food Forest project:

https://permies.com/t/40/273224/Jarrell-TX-Food-Forest-project#3725043

two handfuls of greens, chopped up with 2 eggs ... that's how I start my day, and that is usually enough to alleviate my IBS symptoms.   staying away from nightshades, beef, and dairy also helps.   Beans n greens fer da win!    Kudos on your efforts to systematically figure out what your body needs!   I don't think the architects of civilization want a bunch of Samson like folks running around with jawbones ...at least that's why I think western diet is so bad, its by design.   The foods that support the human body properly have been known for thousands of years, yet BS diets abound.

...saying goodbye to 2025 with a sunset and Mexican Honeysuckle!

Happy New Years everybody!

1st breakfast on the new chiminea:  Sweet potato sauteed with salt and pepper in coconut oil, Lions mane added next, Then broccoli, garlic chives, pumpkin sprouts, and a duck egg.

...and while the cob dries, its been time to start planting the hugel bed.   I've got the Sepp-Holzer seeds on the ready, and I already got Fava beans started.   Onions and spinach planted there too.   I sprouted the Calendula and Hissop in my seed starter trays ... will move them over later with other things.

I cooked breakfast on the base of my chiminea this morning.   I can't wait to put it all together.   All the pieces got plastered with my clay, Brazos river sand, and ash, all screened thru a window screen (fine stuff).   I'm gonna let everything dry tomorrow.

I also made a bigger plant pot with a cavity to receive a 1 gallon plant (used a 1 gal pot full of rocks as the form).

Cob is sooo forgiving .. I love working with it so much better than cement.   I had idea for a skillet offset after my top section was already drying ... no prob, just squirt it with water and add some more globs of cob!

When I set the top piece, I'm planning to have an air gap between it and the middle piece so it can suck in more oxygen and have a little secondary burning if needed.

I wanted to get some more practice with cob recipes before I start the RMH in the greenhouse, so I'm building a chiminea outside first.   Its 3 sections, and the middle and top need to be light enough for me to assemble on top of the base.   I used bio-char chunks as aggregate in my cob mix to lighten it up ...it seems to work ok so far, but I've only done 1 test burn.

I did a couple pots too.   Making the cob is so similar to mixing my compost ... the cob just has a lot more clay and sand vs. organic matter.  Still, its the same ingredients:  clay, sand, bio-char, and organic matter.   So, I'm using a four inch pot to form the inside cavity of a 1 gallon sized ball of cob, and simply using leftover cob-lets from the chiminea build to make pots for my plants.   I'm thinking to make a chia-pet kind of cob pot next, where the pot is sort of a giant seed  ball.

Digging is complete for the RMH ... except for the exhaust tubes .... I'm gonna run those thru the ground too, and out under the wall of my green-house ... so no roof penetration needed.   The dirt floor of my green-house will be like the heated cob bench, but I won't have to cob it all up, the ground is dry cob already under the greenhouse.

Jarrell check in:

I sometimes complain about lackluster sales at my plant stand, but I'm pretty much sold out for 2025.  If I wanna make more $$ next year, I gotta stuff more sticks into pots now.  

I currently have Silverado sage, yellow esperanza, rose of sharon, and apricot branches (hopefully) rooting.   Now is the time to collect the plant material for rooting.

I spent most of today "forever mowing".  Coastal Bermuda eradication is no joke.   It's all good cob grass here tho ...3 chores in one:  harvesting cob grass, decomposed mulch, and snuffing out the Bermuda so better stuff can grow here.

I found a new work T-shirt, and so to maintain equilibrium I have to demote and old work shirt to rags.

Winters are usually mild in central Texas, and so are the chores to get ready.   Maybe if a hard freeze is ever forecast, I'll have to do more:

Step 1 in fall is to take down my heat shields so more sunlight hits my trailer
Step 2 water cooler out / cookie oven in
Step 3 get the tropical plants inside the greenhouse.
Step 4 winterize the porch where I sometimes cook.
bonus:  winterize my raincoat.