Bill Schulz

Please keep the podcasts coming Paul !!!

I am a podcast junkie of sorts and love to listen to you and Jocyeln. BTW, she is a real sweetheart and she adds so much to the show with her kind and gentle manner.

I faithfully listen to a handful of other podcasts along with yours and have a few suggestions that may or may not be helpful. Before I do that, maybe it would be helpful for you to listen to more podcasts yourself to sample the range of what's out there, etc...you might be surprised that your shows compare very favorably in quality of content, audio fidelity, entertainment value, and so on.

I find it easy and fun to listen to a handful of podcasts when I am outside working in the garden, tending critter, painting the house, you get the idea. The only thing I cannot do is mow due to the sound level. I have a cheesy $10 mp3 player that can get destroyed in the dirt and 'so what' - no one would dare do what I do with their fancy eyePod.

Suggestions

1. SLOW DOWN - I was amazed at the sheer number of podcasts you posted in the last few months. Most podcasts I listen to post one show per week, or less. I could see where a listener with less time to listen than I have would not be able to keep up, especially if they have a list of other podcast that they listen to weekly.

2. Control the length of each episode - One hour is about right. Less if appropriate. Break up long interviews and/or topics into multiple episodes. Don't be afraid to finish one topic and start a new discussion in the middle of a podcast. How long was your longest show so far? I show #19 at 2 hours and 35 minutes. Great if you are on a long drive or have a lot of trees to plant, but otherwise, who has that much time to listen without many interruptions?

3. Be a guest on other podcasts - obviously you know this after being on spearco's survival podcast. I will recommend you as a guest to some other podcasters, and I would encourage any others on this forum to do the same.

4. Have you thought about putting up a paypal donte button, or something like it? I know I would donate...

5. Think about your audience and the use of the F-bomb. I know it sounds strange, but some people may be put off by it, or not want to recommend the show to others...just a thought.

Thanks for all you do Paul

Listening faithfully in great falls,
Bill

Rose

Thanks for the beautiful pictures. I support beauty as part of permaculture, and think we all do, as beauty is the one thing that is self-evident from the results of our work. What is your climate like (hi & lo temp extremes) and what other edible-bearing trees do well in your part of the world?

Bill

I purchase a bulk roll of 9 ga wire and cut my own. Not sure if it was any cheaper than the pre-made hoops, but the store 2 mi away had it on the shelf so it was too easy. I did cut the first few way too short just by eyeballing the length needed plus I had to remember the part that ends up stuck in the ground. Duh.  Elliot Coleman has several books that include sections on row cover, etc.  Four Season Harvest is one I have that comes to mind.

Best
Bill

I would love to know more about  your collective experiences with these biocontrols for knapweed and also leafy spurge. I am over in Great Falls and have the typical weed issues - knapweed where it is dry and spurge anywhere I irrigate. Mine is a smallholding situation so I have dealt with the problem mainly through mowing and hand pulling. I have about 3 dozen mixed fruit trees in a 'food forest' concept, and I have been mowing to keep the allelopathic weeds somewhat under control, but of course that prevents any useful understory to develop with the trees. Not sure what to do, but maybe try the biocontrol approach and see what happens. I am assuming that once the bugs are introduced, their target food source has to be allowed to grow...i.e. no more mowing. Not sure what the risk vs reward might be in this situation. Any words of wisdom? Thanks in advance.

Here is what I use on pocket gophers. A bit of a learning curve, but overall pretty effective once you figure it out. I also helps if you can remember to check the traps the next day! Duh.

http://www.nwtrappers.com/catalog/proddetail.asp?prod=DK1GT

Good luck.

Bill

Hi All   Lively debate and certainly pertinent...I also wanted to ask if there is a link to the Stamets talk you refered to at the very beginning. I would love to hear it.

Thanks
WB

Hi    I have had fairly good luck with alfalfa just broadcasting it in the spring and then either 1) doing nothing and seeing what germinates, or 2) running around with a small harrow behind a riding lawn mower. I know that option #2 works better, but since I no longer have such a machine, I now get by with #1. I am in central MT zone 3 with similar rainfall and the alfalfa does very well during the dry summers since it developes a deep root system. I am letting most of it mature and go to seed each year (vice cutting it for feed, compost, mulch, etc) so that it reseeds itself and spreads. I also have patches of sweet clover that volunteer here and there each year and this also has a very robust and deep root system. The finer clovers will probably need supplemental water if you have a long dry spell but are worth trying on an edge of an irrigated or naturally wet area. Good luck with your new project! WB

It is going to be pretty hard to completely exclude any deer from a 10 acre area without making it look like a fortress, not to mention the cost.  Zones 1 & 2 need to be pretty much deer-proof through robust fencing. Protection can become progressively less deer-proof  as you go out in zones so that there is some munching done on the periphery but not any major damage to core plantings. I have found that electric fence works great for both exclusion (multiple wire & tall vertical) and deterrent (single wire, baited) so a desired level of control can be tailored to the location while keeping cost somewhat under control. The other ideas (dog, thorny plantings) are great too, but they come at the cost of time while you train the dog or grow the thorny hedgerow. You could fence now while you do those other things and then remove the fence once the other systems are in place...just some ideas. I know how frustating it is to lose a year's worth of growth on a young fruit tree to the deer, Good luck.

A few observations - wow, you are in a harsh environment for fruit trees. I like the hugel idea but don't know how effective the juniper will be as I have seen a lot of fence posts crafted from such wood - resistant to rot - and therefore maybe not a good future super nutrient pump for your trees. Other species avail?? Aspen, etc? I know there a lot of them growing at the base of Mt Graham !!!

Water - I would certainly make earth-shaping plans to catch and store water. Great idea esp if you have the equip to do the work. The young trees will need supplemental water during establishment for the first few years - think 5-10 gals per day per tree with your sandy soil. Lots of work to do by hand, but if are able, good luck! But since you have a well, I would seriously consider an irrigation scheme of some type...

I know it is not totally 'permacultury', but here is what I have done re water. I am in zone 3 northern plains (MT), semi-arid, and have about 3 dozen fruit trees (future food forest in training). Around most of them I have what is called a mini sprinkler that irrigates about 10-12' (diameter) around each tree. These sprinklers are very low volume and run on a cheap hose timer at night to minimize evap loss. The trees are also heavily mulched and interplanted with a wide variety of beneficial companions (n fixer, compost/mulch plants, beneficial insect attracting plants, etc.) which would not be possible to grow without the mini sprinklers. The total amount of water per tree is not huge but the mulch holds the water in, allowing the companions to survive, and the continiual re-wetting of the mulch helps the decomposers to break it down into soil much faster. The only negative is the up front cost, which although not great, is nonetheless another cost to consider. So that is what I am doing. If I only had a backhoe...no, wake up, someone please stop me before my wife gets home!!!

Best of luck and hopefully we will both be imbibing some fine homemade cider.

Bill
 

Google Jeavons Paradox for a treatment of this phenomenon. Interesting behavior we humans engage in.