Abe Coley

C Lungpin wrote:

C Lungpin wrote:Big thanks to Abe! My plants were delivered safely and look healthy. Excited to finally have some Nanking Cherry, Quince, Silver Buffaloberry... and others

Update: Unfortunately only 9 of my 17 plants survived in their new home. I don't blame Abe, it's just a bummer. The hazels in particular all had buds but they never broke and leafed out.

Shoot me an email and lemme know what ones didn't work out and I would be happy to replace them. I want to make sure you get good healthy plants!

I just updated my return/refund policy on my site: https://mountaintimefarm.com/pages/return-refund-guarantee

The two I've had the most success establishing into quack grass have been Black Medick and Yellow Sweet Clover. Yellow sweet clover isn't a groundcover per se, but it is for like half the year until it shoots up. I started with just a few plants here and there, and every summer I gather the seeds and scatter them around. After a few years of doing this the population is starting to go exponential.

Three others that I've noticed don't get reinvaded by the surrounding grass are yarrow, centauria, and cerastium, they form a pretty solid clump that gets a little bigger every year.

First line of defense that I've had moderate success with is the 32 inch tall Premier 1 Poultry Net, but from time to time something gets under or over it. It doesn't work great if the grass grows up into it, if the soil is dry, if it's grounded out or arcing to something, or if a wire comes loose or you forget to plug it in. It also is a hassle to use around trees, as it gets hung up on twigs and branches when you move it.

Second line of defense has been the Chickenguard automatic door opener/closer. If you set it to open at least an hour after the sun has come up, all the racoons, foxes, coyotes, and other nocturnal predators will have gone to bed for the day.

I use the poultry net and the automatic door opener/closer for my winter coop, from like November to March.

For the summer I put my chickens in a pretty standard Salatin style chicken tractor which I move down my orchard rows. To keep anything from digging under it, on the ground around each side I lay down an 18 inch wide piece of remesh panel that has been wrapped in chicken wire. I attached some plastic insulators to the sides of the chicken tractor, and wrapped a bunch of wraps of braided poly hot wire around it, attaching the ground connection to the remesh panels and to the chickenwire of the tractor itself. So far I've had no losses out of the chicken tractor with this setup.

I've heard you can use it for varnish once it sits for a while and thickens up. I bet you could mix some powdered charcoal into it and paint the side of a shed or something.

Melissa Ferrin wrote:
A good resource for identifying conifers?

The Gymnosperm Database is a good place to start: https://www.conifers.org/

I have four bushes and I find that the birds will eat every last berry if I don't cover each bush with a piece of garden row cover after they flower. Mine are pretty slow growing too, only a few inches a year.

Traditionally one bunch is however much can be gripped around by your thumb and index finger.

I've also hear it said that one bunch is seven of anything.

May Lotito wrote:If it's not a hazelnut tree, then what is it?

Definitely betulaceae.

Birch, hornbeam, and witch hazel don't shoot softwood growth like that, but hazel definitely does, especially young hazels.

If I was a squirrel, and who's saying I'm not, I would definitely stash my nuts under a cedar.  

Don't over think it, just stick those plants in the ground.

Lokeshwar Ananda wrote:
I have an opportunity for a permie individual or couple that is accomplished in permaculture and interested in living in the wilderness.  I have a 100 acre ranch in Darby, Montana where I am building the mother of all gardens.  My dream is water and food independence, and I have the former and need help working towards the latter.  The ideal candidate is interested in living in a charming cabin at my ranch and working towards this goal with me, and I am only at the ranch part time.  You should be extremely knowledgeable and heavily entrenched in permaculture with experience growing food in the short growing season that is Montana.  Please note that I am in the infrastructure stage and initially we are working on building the garden, subsequent to which we will grow food, and we are very close to being able to plant our first crops.  You would also be the ranch manager taking care of the ranch while I am away.  This job requires significant physical labor, and preference goes to practitioners of yoga.  Remuneration DOE.  If you are interested, please email a résumé and cover letter to loke108@protonmail.com.  

Sounds like the ideal job, very exciting! What will be the offered salary range for the top candidates for this position?