Today I made / bought / learnt .... (for a post oil world)

eastbay

It's time to get started. Spring is upon us.

In the past week we've expanded our garden area by about 50% by pulling decorative bushes. We integrated some of the winters composting into that soil and added some manure and peat moss. We planted our fava beans two weeks ago in another section and they should be popping up any day now.

Today we're planting another fuji apple tree and another persimmon as well as a small 40 sq ft section of strawberries. Since we're along a green belt, small burrowing mammals nail us so I have a screen to bury 4" under a garden bed which should be an easy dig since the rain has stopped. The screen trick has worked great on other sections.
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WisJim

I have been transplanting my peppers, some of the early tomatoes, and a few other plants that I got going early. Usual frost free date is around June 1st to June 15th, but last year I planted out a few tomatoes in late April and only had to protect them a couple of nights, so I figure it is a good idea to be prepared for an early spring--if it doesn't happen, I'll have some extra big plants in pots.

We are figuring out how to use our nifty circular knitting/sock knitting machine. My son can turn out a pair of nice socks in 2 hours or so, and is figuring out what to do to be quicker. So far we haven't used any of our homespun yarn, but that is a bit further on the learning curve for this machine.
My wife has a group of friends that get together monthly in the winter and spin, and another bunch that knit, so they do a lot of teaching each other tricks, techniques, and tricks in spinning and in knitting. I think that right now the living room is full of women spinning and knitting, and I should probably be starting some pizza for supper for the bunch. We started dough early today, and I made some sauce with our home-canned tomatoes, our garlic and onions, and a dash of store bought olive oil.

patience · Expert Joined: Jan 04, 2008 Posts: 1523

Went to Home Depot to get 6 more ground rods for the solar system, some Sakrete, and concrete paving stones for the back walk. The pavers are levelled and put down, making a border for the salad garden on one side, and an attempt to contain the passion flower vine on the other. (It helps with some family bipolar problems, or I'd evict that monster!

The ground is perfectly soggy here, so it looked like the rught time to drive ground rods. The Sakrete will fill a couple pads for the big LP tank we got used last month. The tank is all cleaned and repainted, ready to have my friend with the wrecker truck place it as soon as the concrete is done. The 500 gal. LP tank is our stash for cooking, sans grid electric. I know, it ain't a perfect solution, but I can at least fill it in summer when , hopefully, the price will be down. How long can we cook with 400 gallons (80% fill) of LP?

Got a couple extra bags of concrete for the sagging clothesline poles, too. I hate to do that, because it makes 'em rust off at ground level, but the laundry is dragging the ground she says.

wisconsin_cur · Moderator Joined: May 10, 2007 Posts: 2995

patience · Expert Joined: Jan 04, 2008 Posts: 1523

wisconsin cur,
Well, cooking AND canning. Actually, the gas stove will be set up in the sunporch/summer kitchen primarily for canning, but for cooking if necessary. There will also be a wood stove out there for alternative heat, so we would cook on that during the heating season. The idea is to keep the canning heat out of the house, yet be able to circulate heat from that room to the rest of the house when needed, via ductwork and a 12v. fan. Currently, we have a few 20 lb. bottles for emergency cooking, but little experience on which to base long term usage.

PeakOiler

Today I bought 7 yards of garden soil mix which included composted turkey manure. The dump truck couldn't get close enough to the garden, (too many trees and fences), so I have to wheel-barrow all that dirt about 80 ft and then spread the soil around in the expanded garden.

Tomorrow I'm going to buy two more 1,550 gallon rainwater cisterns. That will bring my total rainwater collection capacity to over 10,000 gallons. I'm also going to order another double-wide carport as an additional rainwater catchment surface.
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Shannymara · Master Joined: Oct 04, 2004 Posts: 5438 Location: Oklahoma

My son helped me plant some peas and carrots today. Last year I couldn't get him interested too much, but this year (he's 4) he was into putting the peas in the holes. He loves peas; he's been happy to forage in the garden for 2 years. I've got a volunteer broccoli that's been growing in my back yard and he's been nibbling on it for several weeks now. He's also been nibbling dandelion greens a little.
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steam_cannon · Expert Joined: Dec 28, 2006 Posts: 2467 Location: MA

patience · Expert Joined: Jan 04, 2008 Posts: 1523

PeakOiler, What kind of cisterns? Are they above ground tanks? I need something of the sort, but all I know of are precast concrete tanks that require burial to prevent freezing up here. Pretty costly.

PeakOiler

PeakOiler

patience · Expert Joined: Jan 04, 2008 Posts: 1523

Peakoiler,
Thanks, I'll check it out. This year we replaced the hail damaged shingle house roof with white painted steel, and added a porch as well, all guttered to the house cistern. But there is also a workshop that could be used for catchment, and would help the gardens in dry weather. Here in Indiana we get 40"+ of rain a year, but it is mostly spring and fall. Need something to deal with July and August! And the drought hit us last year, 12'' short until Fall, when we were told to conserve the city water.

PeakOiler

DomusAlbion

This probably doesn't really belong here, but whatever.

I was out cleaning up the raised beds in preparation for spring planting. I came across a carrot (in a bed I had not even planted carrots in?). It was nice and firm, so I ate it (dirt and all). Very tasty and crisp.

Also I must take a moment to curse perennial rye grass. @*()# you, rye grass. You're great out in the pasture; good fodder and draught resistant, but in my raised beds you're a major pain. I pulled up some that had roots 3 to 4 feet long. Evil or Very Mad

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"Modern Agriculture is the use of land to convert petroleum into food."
-- Albert Bartlett

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joeltrout · Light Sweet Crude Joined: Sep 19, 2007 Posts: 1317

I finished up planting my vegetable garden this week. Its not much due to limited space but it a lot of fun, educational, and good to eat later on. All those years of having unlimited land to plant gardens growing up makes me want to kick myself now that I am so limited on space. Oh well . . . I planted:

1 Big Boy Tomato Plant
3 Cherry Tomato Plants
Kentucky Wonder Green Beans
Swiss Chard
Okra
Broccoli

Good thing we have a farmers market close by that is open every Tuesday and Saturday.

joeltrout