Daniel Andy

I cant say i agree in any way. College education may be less of an automatic "yes, everyone should" than it used to be, but we permaculture types need it more than most. We reject education at our peril.  Permaculture itself is a process of learning and needs minds trained to do it. Here are several specific reasons:

1) land costs money.  Usually lots of it. Even if you do SKIP that requires years of time spent learning during which you need money. I dont agree that college is no longer a viable way to get an income. I only agree that many degrees are no longer, but they rarely were in the last two decades either.  At any rate permaculture cannot be done without land and time and both of thise cost money that you cannot reasonably save on a waitress salary. Not all college degrees are gateways to higher salaries you can  use to save $100k for a plot of land but the trades are an exception, not a rule.

2) permaculture requires learning. Some people are natural learners. Nearly all are not. We require structure, training, and most importantly practice.  College teaches how to learn.

3) The community aspect of permaculture is a big open question mark. A blind side of the entire project. You get a house and a garden deep in the woods and now you can only interact with other like minded people via the internet.  Mostly by social media because if you didnt go to college, you didnt take a social media literacy course and as a result don't know how toxic it is.  Then you go to the local small town and not a single person ther knows or cares what permaculture is.  Thats not healthy.  Permaculture does not know how to build communities. We are experimenting with different approaches, certainly, but its not a solved problem. You know what would be really valuable in such experiments? A college degree in community building or related.

4) say you succeed beyond measure in building a permaculture life which gives you free time in spades. You are free to live the remaining time in any way you please. What should you do? What is valuable? What is worth doing?  College starts you on answering those questions in a way that nothing else does.

5) the line about getting a college degree at the local library is cute, but its a bit like saying you can build a new ebola vaccine in your basement. Technically yes.  Realistically no.

Roxanne Sterling-Astor wrote:A tiered rain garden could be useful.

Could you expand on this, please? A search on permies for "tiered garden" only shows 2 results.

I get the general idea, but how would you specifically break down which plants go where?  How do you make sure it doesnt overwater them?  Whats the priority on different plants and what kind of plants do you put in, since you can never be sure if they will get a lot or a little?  Ornamentals? Herbs?

I was thinking i could probably distribute it to some apple trees.

When the water tanks are full, I want to have the overflow go into something decorative and fun or useful.  I'd like any ideas you may have on how to do it.

1. Watering some kind of otherwise hardy plants

2. Running a boar scarer or other noise maker like chimes

3. Feeding an indoor water fountain that only runs during overflow rains

4. Perhaps some crafting use?

5. Perhaps growing some short lived seasonal plants like nettle for fiber?

Any other ideas?

I grew up with tile flooring and I have no memory of lots of scrubbing.  Glazed tiles should be even less permiable and more durable than wood, right?

The only issue i remember with tiles was thay sweeping over grout lines was annoying, and with a vacuum that wasn't an issue. That, and you always need to buy a bunch of extra tile because replacement  of a cracked tile with the same kind of tile in 10yrs is often not possible.

What kind of scrubbing are you worried about with tile?

Now, from a natural building standpoint, you might consider tile for thermal reasons.  Tile will add thermal mass to your home, collecting winter sun and sending it back into the house in the evening. Wood wont do that, but wood will feel warmer on your feet even though the house air will be colder

Personally I'm leaning towards a clay floor with waxed coverage in my plans.

John F Dean wrote:https://www.manualslib.com/manual/1753421/Sears-Craftsman-25921.html?page=2#manual

Here is the instruction manual with a drill attached to the press.

Thank you, john!  The replies here have inspired me to try a wire wrap to securely hold the drill! It seems plausible so far.

Ill check out the manual!

If you put about a dozen 55 gal drums on a heavy metal platform and winch it up 20ft, you will have enough weight to make a gravity battery useful.  The engineering involved in that statement will cost far more than equivalent chemical batteries though.

It's not uncommon for the dash temperature and the ECU temperature to come from different sensors. My bet is the ECU-feeding temp sensor has died.

Su Ba wrote:I don’t know if this will work for your conditions, but I simply use tip cuttings to start new plants. I will harvest, then replant with tip cuttings.

Thanks very much!  I will try a little of all 3 and see.

I have been growing some okinawan sweet potatoes in tropical greenhouse conditions all winter.

Its a root crop not actually related to the potato or to the yam. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweet_potato

After 6 months the plant is still healthy and a few feet tall.

I want to harvest some potatoes, and ill cut off some root nodes from the current plant and replant the current plant...

But should i also sprout one of the sweet potatoes to get me plants that are "new" and not "old"?  Or will the plant basically keep propagating forever from its root nodes and slips?

As a perennial i assume it can go for several years, but i dont know if it has an age limit to be aware of.

If you have 200 yards of very strong rope, you can pull all the logs in one go, with no effort, and no block and tackle.

Use a flip flop log winch....

https://youtube.com/watch?v=QFDGGht3CQU

Lay a blanket over the rope or cable to lessen the risk of it breaking, and use a rope youre confident can handle the extreme weight.