Tyler Ludens

Important new feature is a composting chicken system.  My chickens are still very tiny, but already working in the compost pile.

I think I only ended up planting one variety, the Meyer.  We had one good lemon year, with about a dozen fruit, but since then we've had a couple of extreme cold events.  I might try again with a hardier variety of citrus, such as Satsuma, and improve winter protection.  

Tremendous growth!

The old big garden has been reconfigured as a main crop or staples garden.  Currently planted:

Flour corn
Tatume summer squash
Rancho Marques winter squash
Some other variety of Moshata winter squash
White potatoes
Sweet potatoes
Fava beans
Watermelon

Also some trees:

Apple
Peach
Moringa
Mulberry

I'm using grass clippings as the primary fertilizer/mulch for this garden.

Many new projects this year, and many failures revealing themselves.

New projects:

Fence for family cemetery (nearly finished)

Eclipse Camp (a big project)

New chicks!

New big garden


Plants that died or are failing:

Jelly Palm (died)

Pineapple Guavas (died or just sit there)

Meyer Lemon (froze almost to graft)

Inexpensive fruit trees from TyTy Nursery (all died)

A bunch of subtropical stuff I shouldn't have bought (died)


This may be the last year I can do anything new as my Dad is rapidly failing from Alzheimer's and I'll soon be devoting most of my time to caring for him.  

Thank you, Anne.

Kim, good for you for having these conversations, difficult as they may be.  I still need to find out what my only blood sibling plans for her body post-life.

My biggest project this spring has been the installation of this iron fence around the cemetery.  A fence is required by law so I chose to invest in a proper cemetery fence.

Anne Miller wrote:I don't see how a community or even a town could survive without "monetary avenues".

Who pays for the land?

Who pays for expenditures that are necessary for life?

I think for the foreseeable future, those with financial resources will need to be willing to share/exchange them for other kinds of support from the community. For instance in my own life, my 92 year old father has the greatest amount of financial resources, which he shares with us for an environment to live in. He gets to enjoy a comfortable home, loving family with him all day, and a quiet outdoor environment to take walks in. In town, my friend Ann has a large yard which she lets me garden in pretty much as I like. She pays me a small amount each month and provides a space for me to live in her garage, in exchange for an unusual, beautiful, and productive garden which she is physically unable to care for herself. I think in most communities at the present time there are individuals with financial and other  resources who may be willing to share them in exchange for resources they don’t have such as companionship,emotional support, and physical strength for doing things like gardening.  Once a community of support is established, the monetary avenues needed to continue it might be very small, limited to things like paying for property tax and some kinds of insurance perhaps. At least it seems like something that might be possible. Maybe people with resources can set up a trust to continue the community of support beyond their own lifetime.

A few updates from this year:

This property was sold last year. The new owners plan to change the yard substantially, so I’m not sure what will remain of my efforts. But that’s ok. We sold to someone whose dream house this had been for years, and she loves living there, so I’m very happy with how things turned out. Every garden is a learning experience.