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

RedStateGreen

Being outside is good for you, Jenab6. Gives you new perspective on things.

Today I planted three strawberry plants and 10-15 sweet potato slips (I didn't keep track). Yesterday I planted some more butternut squash and three blue Lakota pumpkin.

I took one of the rabbits out to let her run and got a nasty scratch on the back of my upper arm from some loose wire on her cage. I had to have my son put Neosporin on it, I can't even see it. But it hurts. Sad

Laurasia · Intermediate Crude Joined: Jul 10, 2004 Posts: 533

Hubby and I finished building the fourth raised bed (8ft by 12ft) this evening. The interior of it is covered in black plastic which should take care of the bermuda grass there (hate that stuff!). We have an area of about 570 sq. feet in raised beds now. My mustard greens are looking so good - I have had the most success with them than with any other veggie I've grown. I cook them (US) Southern-style with ham or bacon, but I've also experimented a bit with adding molasses to add depth to the taste when meat is not available. Tasted okay!

Regards,

L.

Tucker · Tar Sands Joined: Jan 29, 2008 Posts: 58 Location: Orygun

sdcoyote · Tar Sands Joined: May 24, 2005 Posts: 56

Yesterday I weeded the garden. Everything looks great as we have had plenty of rain, but not too much. We are eating potatoes, peas, lettuce, beets out of it right now. Corn is over thigh high. Squash and beans look good.

I cleaned the chicken waterers. And put down new bedding for Ham and Bacon (our two pigs).

Today, I am working on a wood fence using old railroad ties. We are going to use it for our horse and and a Dexter cow I am buying this fall.

Jenab6

Yarrow leaf tea is good. Best wild tea so far.

Herbal Tea Ranking.
1. Yarrow leaf
2. Dandelion leaf
3. Gill-over-the-ground leaf
4. Red clover leaf

Herbal tea additive ranking.
1. Wood sorrel
2. Sheep sorrel
(I haven't got any stevia, as far as I know.)

Herbal Quaffee Ranking.
1. Goosegrass berry
2. Dandelion root

Good greens...
1. Linden leaves, picked mid spring
2. Milkweed leaves
3. Wild lettuce leaves
4. Dandelion leaves
5. Violet leaves
6. Staghorn sumac shoots, peeled
Iffy quality greens...
7. Poke leaves, picked young
8. Greenbriar shoots, peeled
Edible, but not preferred...
9. Young maple leaves
10. Common plantain leaves

There's lots of stuff I haven't tried yet. Like pink sumacade made by soaking the tart red berry clusters. I'll make some of it later this month.

RedStateGreen

sdcoyote · Tar Sands Joined: May 24, 2005 Posts: 56

Yesterday I got to the 3/4 mark on the fence. Another week and I will be finished. I dug new potatoes -mmm, good.

The wife is doing the farmerr's market thing today...selling bread, potatoes, beets, some rhubarb/strawberry pies.

I am beginning my search for a Dexter or Jersey calf/cow. We want to start milking this fall if we get the cow - or later if all I can get is the heifer.

AnIowan

Yesterday I got a couple more of the emergency shelter blankets and today I picked up more beans, lentil, and a few other supplies to put in the basement.

And I will get the remaining green beans in today darnit! Mad

Ludi

Worked a little more on refencing the new Kitchen Garden. Ordered a hand coffee mill, and a safety razor and extra blades from Lehman's.

http://www.lehmans.com/
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Shannymara · Master Joined: Oct 04, 2004 Posts: 5428 Location: Oklahoma

Which coffee mill, Ludi? I got one from them and it takes *forever* to grind a day's worth of coffee, even when I adjust it. Sad

It's a lovely thing, but it hasn't worked very well so far.
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"Every junkie's like a setting sun..." - Neil Young

Ludi

I ordered this one

double blade grinder
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patience · Expert Joined: Jan 04, 2008 Posts: 1519

We still have my Grandma's coffee grinder. Grandpa order the innards from Sears back about 1905, and made the wood box it is installed on, with a drawer underneath to catch the coffee. We use it now and then to grind coffee, but my daughter uses it regularly to grind herbs for tea and meds.

Today I finished cleaning, derusting, and painting garden tractor rims (corroded by salt "fluid"). Received the new lug tires, and will get them put on when the paint hardens.

Gave away one of those decorative windmills and got it hauled off for free. Made a deal with my small farmer friend to buy 30 bales of barley straw for garden mulch, and have the tarp to cover it for next year's use. I'll store it in the yard on a group of pallets to keep it mostly dry.

edit: Afterthought. I just found out that my garden tractors were made by Ingersoll, in Maine, who is still making them. They are definitely a high-end machine. A new one with all the goodies goes for between $10k and $11k! I was floored. Had no idea what a deal I got. Ebay has some of them now and then, sometimes called the "toughest one made"! The old fellow who made sure I got them is due for some big favors from me, for sure.

When this guy is finished combining wheat, we get 6 barrels of it, re-cleaned in his antique seed cleaner. He will probably want something done in the shop, so by the time we are done doing things for each other, the accounts will probably balance, or close to it. At the moment he wants some crosspieces for his expanding grape arbor, and needs some sheet metal to repair the combine, etc.. Nice to be able to work these things out, and nobody gets a bill he can ill afford!
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RedStateGreen

I recently received three CD's I ordered from Julstro Muscular Therapy about treating pain in various areas of the body (scroll down at that link and you'll see the ones I mean). I've known the lady who sells these for many years; she's a massage therapist who has worked in treating muscular disorders with a great deal of success.

My plan is to (if traditional medicine comes crashing down) use these along with the meditation series from Centerpointe (which I've used for years) and other alternative therapies (not to mention the things I learned as a physician Rolling Eyes

) to treat my family and others. A good skill set, I think.
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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."

patience · Expert Joined: Jan 04, 2008 Posts: 1519

RedStateGreen,
We have explored a lot of alternative medicine to deal with my daughter's Bipolar Disorder (half a dozen mood swings/day from manic to depression), and my wife's Multiple Sclerosis. Also, I have very mild symptoms of Epilepsy, which runs in my family. Not a real problem for me, as it is mostly just motion-related problems.

We made some efforts to learn about some nutritional links to MS, and found that it seems to be an inability to metabolize B Complex and some other things needed to repair nerve tissue (myelin). A very old herbalist told us to stuff her with B Complex vitamins, and calcium, magnesium, A, D, C vitamins to control muscle spasms. And all natural sources. That started our making whole wheat flour and baking bread 30+ years ago. We can attest to the effectiveness of this. She is 62, and working a full time job with the only noticeable effects today being that she is fatigued at days end, and has minor balance problems occassionally.

By contrast, her sister was diagnosed with MS 5 years before my wife, but the sister was treated by conventional medicine. She died 5 years ago, with many broken bones due to calcium depletion from too much cortizone, unable to walk for many years, had muscle spasms that prevented her from feeding herself, or any other care of herself.

Natural methods have proven themselves to us. My daughter, instead of being drugged into oblivion to control the Bipolar, leads a very active, productive life working in our shop 3 days a week, and on alternate days works for the local internet provider in customer service. She uses only herbs and diet to stay on an even keel, with a bit of lithium orotate as needed, OTC.

For immunizations, broken bones, stitching cuts, and infections, we get conventional help. For the rest, alternatives are the thing to do. I've butterflied a number of cuts, too. Our medical bills are negligible. I'm convinced you are on the right track.
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patience · Expert Joined: Jan 04, 2008 Posts: 1519

Today I've been debating how to deal with trash. We have no trash pickup service, so we haul our own to the county landfill. Those 20 mile round trips are a bore, and getting expensive. To reduce the number of trips, I burn paper trash in the shop wood stove, and put the ashes on the garden. Good answer I think. Kitchen garbage is tossed into the garden for the worms to eat. No problem. We recycle cardboard, plastic bags (to the local Goodwill store), used oil, antifreeze, and scrap metals (a small source of income).

But somehow, we are left with a gob of mostly plastic packaging, and misc. other stuff that goes to the landfill. I've got it down to about one trip every 3 months, by the above steps, and adding some extra trash barrels so that when I go, I take a full pickup load.

I have plans for a centrifuge to clean waste motor oil for re-use, and hope to do that next winter.

What happens when those trips get even more expensive, and/or the landfill is closed? Any ideas out there? Our one acre isn't big enough for a suitable fill area, and I don't want to pollute the groundwater that drains directly to a sinkhole next door. Stores are not amenable to leaving the packaging there. I've tried.
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Local fix-it guy..