Today I made / bought / learnt .... (for a post oil world) 2

hawkeye · Coal Joined: May 25, 2008 Posts: 7

I'm also continuously working on my health. I can still ride a bike more than 100 miles, walk and swim for hours. Given a situation without gas I still have a mode of transportation using my own energy. Without good health it's even more difficult to survive, even with all modern energy draining technology.

Jenab6 · Last edited by Jenab6 on Wed May 28, 2008 10:48 pm; edited 2 times in total

I went hiking today and found a place where a lot of milkweed plants are growing. I picked three and ate them. The taste is vaguely like asparagus. I have five milkweed plants growing in my yard, and I'm going to let them go to seed so I can multiply the "wild" crop next year. (Is it still wild if you assist?) Meanwhile, the milkweed patch that I found today will provide a veggie snack whenever I go back there.

Wild plant - equivalent tasting domestic plant:
Milkweed - asparagus
young maple leaves - turnip greens
violet leaves - okra
basswood leaves - mild baby spinach
dandelion leaves - slightly bitter lettuce

I recently learned that berries from honeysuckle are edible and very similar to the blueberries which ripen later in the year. I have a dozen large honeysuckle bushes on my property. Also, the small fruits of the hawthorn tree are edible and high in pectin, too, so I'll have all the jelly I want.

SpringCreekFarm · Intermediate Crude Joined: Mar 03, 2006 Posts: 881

For the record I'm addicted to hanging out with you guys.

I just got in from the garden after hauling 15 wheelbarrows of old cow manure from my pile by the barn. I would have hauled more but it got dark on me. I'm taking half of thursday and all of friday to get my garden in order. I've been pecking away at it, planting a little of this and that but now that the frost danger is past, I'm going to get busy planting with the transplants I started in the greenhouse at the highschool where I work. LOL. All I had to do was plant the flats and the students have been taking care of my veggies all spring. It's all about connections isn't it?

So far I have planted: potatoes, onions, radishes, beets, dill, green bush beans, spelt, kidney beans, broccoli, and brussels sprouts.

This weekend I'm going to be working on getting my tomatoes and hot peppers in, along with more brassica and maybe more early potatoes.

I'm holding off on planting the corn since corn needs a warm soil and ours is still cold. It has been more like April here in my part of Ontario rather than May.

I've decided against growing sweet corn this year. The corn I have to plant is a white, hominy-type flint corn that a few of us here on the rez are trying to preserve. They guy I bought the seed from commented that everyone should be growing it just to keep it around. I agree. If I have a great success with it this season, I'll have some available for sale or trade for next season, if we're all still here. Shocked

Here are a few pictures of my garden earlier on in the spring before much of anything was planted. It is much larger than last year and has the potential to overwhelm me but that's ok because the net result will still be lots of veggies.

The measures 60 x 125 and will be one third corn, some tomatoes, a few experimental grains, sunflowers, lots of beans of various types, squash, pumpkin, cucumbers and probably a few more things I haven't thought of yet. One trip to the nursery and I'll have a few more things I'm sure.

On the weekend I attended a field day with the draft horse club I'm a member of. We had 5 teams of horses on Sat and 3 teams on Sun doing chores such as plowing, disking, harrowing. We seeded oats and corn using all old equipment pulled by horses. I read a bit about the horses in the latest tractor thread and all I have to say is make sure you're ready for them before you bring them home. I have a farm and still I have much work to do before I get mine this fall. To me there is no question that it is right for me but unless you can work them almost daily, it really isn't worth it. However, if I do this right, I'll have the whole neighbourhood converted within the next ten years. Razz

Here is yours truly on a sulky plow being pulled by Peaches and Babe a team of 5 year old Belgian mares. I was bummed that the team I was lookin' to buy didn't make it there because of a truck breakdown, but it was still fun and it's always a learning experience.

I don't know how well you can see the soil in the picture, but that dirt is an example of what A1 pristine better than gold topsoil looks like. This is a conservation area that has never been through the industrial ringer. I was going to plant my garden last Sunday but opted for another trip up to London (Ontario) just to play in dirt this fine.

Do you think this plow makes me look fat? Me too.

Oh, one more thing....don't buy work horses without first getting some training. You could get hurt.

patience · Expert Joined: Jan 04, 2008 Posts: 1502

Amen, SPF! Great thoughts on draft horses! Nah, you don't look fat. Well nourished, and comfortable on the plow!

The original horse equipment is getting hard to find here, and is generally worn out. As a result, the Amish tell me there are Amish shops in Pennsyvania that are making sulky plows, steel wheeled wagons, and other things. Much of the pull-type tractor equipment can be used directly with a sulky, commonly made around here with the front axle of a defunct old manure spreader, horse length tongue, then a seat and a drawbar type hitch added.

I have a pair of steel wheels in the shop to fit up to an old lime spreader at the moment, that will be used this way.

I've made a lot of single- and doubletree sets for the locals out of pipe trussed with 1/2" rebar, and welded-on loops for the hookups. The Amish love 'em, because they don't rot, and are well-nigh indestructible. I've gotta get my daughter to help me figure out posting pictures.

edit: Sharp looking place you have!!
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Local fix-it guy..

SpringCreekFarm · Intermediate Crude Joined: Mar 03, 2006 Posts: 881

patience · Expert Joined: Jan 04, 2008 Posts: 1502

Yup, Pioneer is it. It's their wheels I'm working on. GTG, busy day.
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Local fix-it guy..

FireJack · Heavy Crude Joined: Mar 16, 2005 Posts: 451

Finally got some lime, dolomite lime used for construction but its something, $10 for 50kg of it so I'm happy. Got the fence up mostly but it continues to be very cold at night so I hav'nt planted much yet.

swifty · Tar Sands Joined: Aug 29, 2006 Posts: 28

Harvested lots of wild leeks these past few weeks! Delicious - soup, quiche, sauteed... and some in the freezer.

CarlinsDarlin · Moderator Joined: Jul 02, 2004 Posts: 1394

Before my post I first want to say ... WOW I love your place, SpringCreekFarm Smile

Beautiful. Smile

I finally have my official herd name with ADGA. Richwood Mountain Nubians. Smile

I like it. Got it reserved two days ago. Now I can start registering my goatlings and transferring the others.

Yesterday, I took a long drive (12 hours round trip) to pick up my new buckling and future herdsire. (The irony, btw, of driving a long way for something that will ultimately make us more prepared to deal with a life short on oil, was not lost on me Smile

) He's a doll, gentle and easy to work with, and a bottle baby. We have lots of bonding time in front of us. He's still too little to put in with my grown buck, but I can't let him run with the does (who will beat him up) and doelings (who he would potentially breed) so now I'm having to figure out new housing for him. For now I have him stalled in the barn, and I took him out a couple times today for an hour at a time into a small penned area inside the larger goat run. Once he gets a little bigger, he'll be able to stay out there. There's a small calf-hut-sized shelter there that will do for this summer, or until we get the new barn built, whichever comes first. But for now, he's just too little to stay there all the time. So I'll have a lot of work with him back and forth for a bit.

The other babies are getting big and are so much fun to watch. But now that they're getting bigger, the work increases with them as well. I'll have to incorporate regular medications for coccidia, feet trims, and worming. Since my new buckling is just a bit older than they are, he's getting on schedule too. The problem is he's on one schedule, Spice's babies are on another, and Cinnamon's babies are on yet another. Thank God for my planning calendar, or I'd never keep it all straight. Ten goats is my limit. (Remind me of that after next kidding season, please Smile

)

I'm going to hire a farm hand of sorts for some (temporary) help after the first of the month. I'm getting further behind each day, it seems, and I don't have enough time OR energy to get everything done that needs to be done. I'm hoping a good weekend or two of solid help will allow me to catch up to even (at least for a while Smile

) And canning season hasn't even started yet! Shocked

I need to get off here and get busy... so much to do!
Kathy

Jenab6

Yesterday, hiking into Hillsboro to pick up my truck (left for state required inspection), I discovered ramps growing just off the rocky part of the roadside. Today, I found out that the "strange clover" growing in my flower bed is really a dense patch of wood sorrel. I'll use it to give a tart flavor to my gill-over-the-ground tea, next time I make some.

When the useful plants abroad go to seed, I'm going to hike out there and collect the seeds, then sew them in my yard for harvest forever after. The nice thing about wild edible plants is that they usually farm themselves, leaving me more time to do other things.

Greens, vitamins and flavors are everywhere, it seems. But until I find a substantial supply of fruit, nuts, tubers, or grains growing wild I'll have to rely on stored food for most of my calories. Fortunately, my apple trees will bear this year, some of them anyway. To a certain extent.

Ludi

Jerry, you might be able to naturalize sweet potatoes in your yard, if you mulch them over the winter. You might also want to try Hardy Yams.

I'm thrilled to finally have "weeds" in my yard (amaranth, sunflowers, dock, thistle, sow thistle, wild lettuce, chicory, dandelions, wild onions) and mostly let them grow where they want. Extras I eat or feed to the chickens.
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criticalmass

To Jenab6:

I know this is a "what you've learnt" thread, but I have to ask (and the same goes for everyone here) what books or individuals helped you to become a decent forager. I think its a skill everyone should have, but I'm glad not everyone has it for survival's sake.

RedStateGreen

What great pictures, SCF! And congrats to CD on your herd name!

I went and pulled all my garlic today, as well as half of my shallots. They're drying outside for a couple days before I bring them in and braid them.

I wish it wasn't so hot/humid outside; I can't stay out very long. It's frustrating.
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Conservation is conservative

"Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgment."

Ludi

We've been shearing the sheep, one every other morning. Really loving the new shearing pen, it makes them so easy to catch!
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