GAMCOD: What resources may I use?

tubers and bulbs from offsite - if they are organic.

urine (and other bodily fluids)

uhhh ... what other bodily fluids do you have in mind?

woodchips

Never from chipper.

From a sawmill or woodshop within 500 feet is fine, provided that there are no glues or gunks in the wood.

homemade compost

provided there is video describing the raw materials as strictly organic.

paul wheaton wrote:

urine (and other bodily fluids)

uhhh ... what other bodily fluids do you have in mind?

The note that I took that from in the longer early thread was asking about using urine and menstrual blood. And you signed off there. I thought urine was the most likely, and figured summarizing any other options as "other bodily fluids" was safe.

No plastic ? No weed cloth, or frost cover, understandable.

But?

5gallon (55g) bucket for watering?  Making fermented grass fertilizer tea?

Solo cups for seed starts?   Tom

Great point Thomas! And what about a hose?

Christopher Weeks wrote:

paul wheaton wrote:...uhhh ... what other bodily fluids do you have in mind?

The note that I took that from in the longer early thread was asking about using urine and menstrual blood. And you signed off there. I thought urine was the most likely, and figured summarizing any other options as "other bodily fluids" was safe.

Quick review of female anatomy - the hole urine comes out is *really* close to the hole that blood sometimes comes out. To *not* allow a little blood contamination would prevent a woman from using her urine on this project during certain "periods" of the year. The number of days can vary considerably between different females also.

OK - TMI is the term I think - too much information?   Unfortunately or fortunately, females make up about half our population, so let's not make their lives harder over bodily fluids they can't control!

Thomas Michael wrote:No plastic ? No weed cloth, or frost cover, understandable.

These generate huge quantities of both landfill and micro-plastics, so we need to find permie ways to not need these.

5gallon (55g) bucket for watering?  Making fermented grass fertilizer tea?

I'd be watching for stainless buckets on sale at Princess Auto - for us Canadians. I definitely have a few galvanized watering cans.

I see the bigger issue as rainwater harvesting, as many people use plastic barrels (at least look for "food grade" if you do that) and IBC's. Alternatives are likely to be a large construction project, and often have a rubber lining. I'm pretty sure "rubber" is considered by Paul W to be a "plastic" - can anyone confirm?

Solo cups for seed starts?  

My big alternative for that is paper pots. Unfortunately, paper is also on the "disallowed" list. Do some of the disallowed items need clarification? Using paper pots is very different from using reams of paper as a weed suppressant.

The France Couple make wooden flats 3" deep for their seed starts. Some people use soil blocks, but I think they're too short for my situation, so I've never tried them. I've heard they are pretty fussy about the "dirt" used to make the blocks, so maybe someone who uses them can speak up?

Jay Angler wrote:
I see the bigger issue as rainwater harvesting, as many people use plastic barrels (at least look for "food grade" if you do that) and IBC's. Alternatives are likely to be a large construction project, and often have a rubber lining. I'm pretty sure "rubber" is considered by Paul W to be a "plastic" - can anyone confirm?

I figure I can keep the rain water IBC's out of frame.

 My big alternative for that is paper pots. Unfortunately, paper is also on the "disallowed" list. Do some of the disallowed items need clarification? Using paper pots is very different from using reams of paper as a weed suppressant.

 
I used paper pots until the garden got to big.  Saved a bunch of solo cups at a party or three and only have to replace a few every year.  I thought I would go back to paper pots for this 200ft² bed.  The 3" flat has been on my try it list. I don't know how it would work for potting up tomatoes.  Most everything else can go straight to the garden from the flat.  Tom

What about fencing material or other protection against wildlife?

There is a big difference from growing a garden in an abandoned space next to 5 trillion acres of corn versus growing a garden in suburbia, where you garden is the only one around and all wildlife ravages your garden because there is no other food around ergo nothing remains for the gardener.

M

clothing/rags/cloth?

I'm guessing it goes on the forbidden list?

We compost a lot of this in our garden, but find it's difficult.  Even when the garment says 100% cotton, the threads holding the clothing together don't decompose - and sometimes it isn't 100% cotton because there's a fine mesh of some sort of plastic left behind.

There are also the dyes, sizing, fire retardants, etc in modern clothes.

Maarten Smet wrote:What about fencing material or other protection against wildlife?

There is a big difference from growing a garden in an abandoned space next to 5 trillion acres of corn versus growing a garden in suburbia, where you garden is the only one around and all wildlife ravages your garden because there is no other food around ergo nothing remains for the gardener.

M

I hear you. I rented a place in town a decade ago while emptying the house, jacking up the main beam -- the wildlife in cities are starving, but in the mountains, a deer came in my yard once, 4 years ago, trimmed all my buckwheat flowers and strawberry flowers. Did me a favor -- drought followed that and at least the buckwheat survived to give green compost.
Once, and every year, a few times they take a few mouthfuls of peas, leaks, or onions while passing through early spring

What about organic potting soil to start our seeds in?  I presume that if organic starts from the store are allowed, and they must be growing in organic potting soil, then getting the soil and doing it ourselves is ok?

No plastics will be hard for me as I collect and reuse flats, pots and cell packs from nurseries.  If I were to use paper I do hope that I can use plastic trays to keep water from leaking all over my floor for the indoor starts.  I do use organic soil for my seed starts.  

Thomas Michael wrote:No plastic ? No weed cloth, or frost cover, understandable.

But?

5gallon (55g) bucket for watering?  Making fermented grass fertilizer tea?

Solo cups for seed starts?   Tom

Plastic is not forbidden, but it is strongly discouraged.

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Mike Haasl wrote:What about organic potting soil to start our seeds in?  I presume that if organic starts from the store are allowed, and they must be growing in organic potting soil, then getting the soil and doing it ourselves is ok?

If you wanna play with starting seeds indoors and transplanting ...

first, I hope to see a lot of people experimenting with direct seeding.  Thus eliminating the whole bit about potting soil, plastic pots, buying starts, etc.

Plastic is strongly discouraged by not forbidden.  

At the same time, if we have 12 people that make it to the finish line and I have to choose between who gets in the movie:

    100 pounds of love for direct seeding

    60 pounds of love for somebody using garden soil (either embracing funguses and the like, or sterilizing the soil) and using glass/ceramic cups with holes or something like that.  Or some path that just "feels" like excellent permaculture to me.

    20 pounds of love for starting your own seeds in some way that is at least freaky cheap and easy.

    Zero pounds of love for buying organic starts

    non-organic starts are forbidden.


I am desperately trying to be vague.  After all, I can imagine that there are amazing techniques that I have never considered that would be far better than my experience and/or imagination.  I don't want to accidentally block out something excellent by making a stupid rule.


What about setting up a cloche or a cold frame?  Or how about a poor man's wall-o-waters?  Or if it gonna get cold one night early in season, some cotton sheets and some big rocks that were heated elsewhere?  Or some big jars of hot water?

Michelle Heath wrote:No plastics will be hard for me as I collect and reuse flats, pots and cell packs from nurseries.  If I were to use paper I do hope that I can use plastic trays to keep water from leaking all over my floor for the indoor starts.  I do use organic soil for my seed starts.  

200 square feet.  

I don't know about you, but I have a hefty collection of bowls and mugs from the thrift store with holes drilled in the bottom.  And all sorts of things to use as trays.  

But part of my brain niggles me about doing even better than that.  How do I make this even cheaper and easier?

paul wheaton wrote:But part of my brain niggles me about doing even better than that.  How do I make this even cheaper and easier?

This won't necessarily be cheaper, but I was just thinking of trying a couple of "restaurant warming trays" to hold a group of my paper pots. I've got one an acquaintance abandoned here that I cleaned up that I will experiment with later today.

I'm guilty of using upcycled plastic bins that were available free from a local food place. However, that place closed during the economic downturn a couple of years ago, and the old ones are definitely getting brittle as they age. I am reticent to replace them with more plastic, even if I was taking single use plastic and giving it a more honourable lifespan. I don't have the space with sunshine to try GAMCOD, but I do want to make my homestead more sustainable, so I've been looking for an alternative.

I wish I had better luck with direct seeding, but alas, I haven't found the magic way to make it work in my climate/space. It's also on my list to try seed balls to see if that's what it might take.

In my climate, paper pots go mouldy if you don't leave a bit of an air gap. So the upcycled plastic version holds a maximum of 8 pots. If you look carefully is doubled up as a single was too brittle after 2 years of use.

The "donated" warming tray will hold 12 pots without taking up much more real-estate on my window ledge. It is tall enough to support my 3" pots. The trouble will be to find more of these at a reasonable price - preferably used. That said, I am quite prepared to spend money on a product that will do the job indefinitely, I just don't like adding to my embodied energy foot print if I don't have to.



If anyone is *ever* building a house, *please* make the window ledges wide enough to seriously hold plants! The window in the picture is 16 ft wide. Getting a piece of wood long enough to widen the ledge will be a PITA*, but I admit I'm getting desperate as I don't see a greenhouse in my near future.


*pain in the ass - hard to get really long wood home

I too have trouble direct seeding but make soil blocks for my seed starting. No paper, no plastic, just a tray with sides to hold the soil blocks so I can bottom water the seedlings and keep them from drying out too fast. The blocks air-prune the seedlings and minimize or eliminate transplanting shock.
Here are soil blockers from Johnny's Seeds.
https://www.johnnyseeds.com/tools-supplies/seed-starting-supplies/soil-blocking/hand-held-5-soil-blocker-7001.html