Today I made / bought / learnt (for a post oil world) 4

[rangerone314]

Today I ordered a Liberty 24-gun-fire safe, as well as two different desiccant products.

I also plotted out the finances of affording such, as well as paying off the car, and this years perennials purchases by August 10. (I plotted out the 2 groups of purchases for 2013 also, of perennials, all on spreadsheets)

[Shaved Monkey]

I got a heap of glazed terracotta pots for my balcony Zone 1
Its vermin proof, up high and gets morning sun and is where I cook and eat
Herbs will be planted already have quite a few varieties just going to add heaps more .Chillies, Oregano, Thyme, Mint, Tarragon ,Sage,parsley, Basil Thai and Italian,Curry plant and insect repellent ones cat mint, lavender and citronella.
Major problem in the subtropics is the Mediterranean herbs drown in the wet season,so pots under eaves will give them shelter they need from the rain.
Also planted out the first of the strawberries and got some asparagus to plant out tomorrow.(fresh asparagus in 2 years time
The intention is to keep propagating the strawberries and use them as ground cover in the food forest. You can never have too many strawberries, raspberries or blue berries.

[rangerone314]

My gun/fire safe will arrive April 5! Should be a good day, if it is not raining, being off that day.

[rangerone314]

Today I mapped out the 4 primary areas on my property designed for raised beds... I calculated from my tape measurements (including paths between beds) that I can make 93 100-sqFt raised beds.

[careinke]

Today I mapped out the 4 primary areas on my property designed for raised beds... I calculated from my tape measurements (including paths between beds) that I can make 93 100-sqFt raised beds.

So how many people are working those beds? I feel my wife and I are pretty maxed out with 30 beds. All my future food crop expansions will most likely be perennials and self seeding plants.

[rangerone314]

Today I mapped out the 4 primary areas on my property designed for raised beds... I calculated from my tape measurements (including paths between beds) that I can make 93 100-sqFt raised beds.

So how many people are working those beds? I feel my wife and I are pretty maxed out with 30 beds. All my future food crop expansions will most likely be perennials and self seeding plants.

I figure wife, me and the 4 kids as they are older by the time it is time to get all the beds set up. My experiment in 2009 was with 7 raised beds and I utilized a central strip of alfalfa in the center of each bed (the idea being the alfalfa strip stays in the bed and the stuff on either side gets dug up. Alfalfa is fairly well-behaved and is self-allelopathic in terms of seeding)

I figure 2012-2013 I should have over 90% of the areas planted with perennials and 2014 will be mostly making sure that I keep the weeds tamped down around perennial areas and I try to expand the groundcovers (creeping raspberry, strawberry, cranberry, groundnuts & hognuts, spinach vine) so that mulching around perennials is not so necessary. I figure 2015-2019 I may have the 93 beds all up and planted.

[Shaved Monkey]

Just got some Moringa oleifera seeds on ebay
The miracle plant possibly one of the best post PO plants

Bio diesel,Cooking oil, Watch oil,Human Food
animal fodder (dried leaf high protein for aquaponics)

They have a kind of green bean with a hint of asparagus taste.
The seeds are sometimes removed from more mature pods and eaten like peas or roasted like nuts.
The flowers are edible when cooked and are said to taste like mushrooms.
The roots are shredded and used as a condiment in the same way as horseradish...
The leaves are highly nutritious, being a significant source of beta-carotene, Vitamin C, protein, iron, and potassium.
The leaves are cooked and used like spinach. In addition to being used fresh as a substitute for spinach, its leaves are commonly dried and crushed into a powder, and used in soups and sauces.
The tree is a good source of calcium and phosphorus

drumstick seeds are used as a sexual virility drug for treating erectile dysfunction in men and also in women for prolonging sexual activity.

The Moringa seeds yield 38–40% edible oil
The seed cake remaining after oil extraction may be used as a fertiliser or as a flocculent to purify water.
The bark, sap, roots, leaves, seeds, oil, and flowers are used in traditional medicine in several countries. In Jamaica, the sap is used for a blue dye.
Moringa trees have been used to combat malnutrition
Moringa is especially promising as a food source in the tropics because the tree is in full leaf at the end of the dry season when other foods are typically scarce
Uses include as an antiseptic and in treating rheumatism, venomous bites, and other conditions.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moringa_oleifera
as a bio deisel

As a result, the methyl esters (biodiesel) obtained from this oil exhibit a high cetane number of approximately 67, one of the highest found for a biodiesel fuel.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/ar ... 2408003039

[careinke]

rangerone314,

Thanks for clearing that up. I assumed all the beds you were talking about were exclusively for annual crops. Now that I know most of the beds are for perennials and self seeding crops, it makes a lot more sense to me.

I have most of my perennials outside of my annual beds. It looks like my son is going to get me hooked up with a tree trimming service to dump their wood chips on my property for free. They actually pay to dump their chips! Looks like I may be doing a lot of mulching around my perennials.

[rangerone314]

rangerone314,

Thanks for clearing that up. I assumed all the beds you were talking about were exclusively for annual crops. Now that I know most of the beds are for perennials and self seeding crops, it makes a lot more sense to me.

I have most of my perennials outside of my annual beds. It looks like my son is going to get me hooked up with a tree trimming service to dump their wood chips on my property for free. They actually pay to dump their chips! Looks like I may be doing a lot of mulching around my perennials.

Well actually the annual beds are ONLY really going to have alfalfa as a perennial in a central strip down each bed. But with 6 people working the beds, we should be able to handle 90 beds.

I'm going to propagate a lot of strange stuff like creeping raspberries & hognuts instead of having mulch, ultimately.

[RedStateGreen]

Perennials are the way to go if you really want to eat self-sufficiently.

[rangerone314]

Today I dug out another 40 sqFt near the stream, moving 7 1/2 wheelbarrows full of dirt (probably about 30 cubic feet) to be replaced with about 5 cubic feet of sand, 6 cubic feet of peatmoss and about 9 cubic feet of compost, mixed in with the dirt below with a broadfork. I managed to reach water, so when cattails are planted there, they should have water coming up for them.

I also paid on a bunch of seeds someone from Norway has sent, 4 varieties of Hablitzia tamnoides (spinach vine), the Finnish, Swedish, Norwegian and wild variety. (They are extremely hard to find and no online nursuries I've seen anywhere carry them) Think of a leafy vegetable much like spinach in use (and also in the beet family) but different in being a perennial and a climber, too. They originate from the Caucasus mountain region in Europe.

[SolarDave]

DryLock cement SETS in 3-5 mins, but i learned it's unworkable after 1-2 mins. Practice with small batches!

[rangerone314]

My 4 varieties of spinach vine seeds (Hablitzia tamnoides) arrived from Norway. I also began spotweeding & remulching of the NE hedge, and I started putting compost into the 40 sqFt rectangle by the stream.

[rangerone314]

A busy day, getting home around 4:30 today. I took additional measurements of the vine area, so I can calculate how much more lumber I need for the arbor. I fed the chickens, got green & blue & brown eggs & removed the heat lamp fixtures from the coop. I moved all bags of peat & sand to the 40 sqFt dug out area by stream & added 3.0 cuFt of peatmoss, 5 bags of sand (2.5 cuFt total) and 30 more gallons of compost into the dug out area reserved for cattails. I then put a similar mix of peat/sand/compost mix into a gray 10 gal bin for later use.

I dug out 4 largest weeds in core fruit tree/nut tree/blueberry area & transplanted 4 strawberries into where the weeds had been & watered them. (until now, strawberries were only in the area where blueberries were) Then I weeded out 4 gal of weeds & mulched over those spots with 7 gal at the NorthEast hedge. I also hit the Southeast and weeded 4 gal of weeds & mulched with 20 gal. I then pruned off 4 creeping raspberry runners from the bed between the path stones by the house and the raised flower bed at the house.

In the evening I put 21 cuttings from the creeping raspberry runners into small square pots and watered all the downstairs plants that are under grow lights (established cotton, jiaogulan, stevia, patchouli, lemongrass, and new edible burdock seedlings) including the starts from the creeping raspberry runners, put seeds from all 4 varieties of Hablitzia tamnoides (spinach vine) into different containers of peat/compost/sand mix & put in refrigerator to cold stratify them.

[Shaved Monkey]

Just got some more seeds
Gourds good for making stuff out of, bird houses, ladles, storage containers and bartering .You can eat them when young too
Luffa useful sponge and bartering and can eat when young.
Some broad beans for soil improvement and food
and some Pigeon pea great for the soil ,good human and bird food, good trellis to grow things up, like luffas and gourds and good wood for fires.
Some Kang kong (Ipomoea aquatica) I will set up a little swamp in an old bath tub for this and some water cress and Vietnamese mint.
All good stuff that grows like weeds and taste nice.

[PrestonSturges]

Small animals like pet rodents go crazy for goard seeds.

Everything is green in my area, but I will hold off fertilizing fruit trees and such until the threat of frost has past.

[rangerone314]

I got 42 holes prepped for the eventual arrival of 110 small holy trees. Also started transplanting some strawberries into the fruit tree & hazelnut areas, after making holes from digging out weeds. (until now the strawberries were confined to the blueberry part of the big 2300 sqft core area)

[PrestonSturges]

I launched my on line store today, so then I had an anxiety attack because I know nothing will happen at first. But I attended a little trade show this weekend with a few samples, and I'll be following up with some people who could refer customers to me. And a Google ads buy should be extremely effective.

I met some people who were talking about business ideas of their own, and the question is, can you shoestring that business, can you pull the plug at any point will you recover most of your investment? And above all are you going to be vulnerable to people that are going to try to cut your throat and take over (even if the attempt would obviously be doomed people will try anyway). Too often, they have an idea and a rather large goal that would require a lot of resources an investments from people who will cut their throats. Too often the goal is to make the first billion, not to get to the breakeven point.

Too many people are thinking in terms of starting a business based on a novel internet service. Is the goal to start a business or to sell software? My approach is to make something useful, sell it, and make money.

Anyway, that's all I'm going to say about it.....

[careinke]

Working on a woodshed using 6X framing. Here is a link to my photobucket bucket album with pictures of it.

http://s289.photobucket.com/albums/ll21 ... ed%202012/

Still need to put the roof on. Then no more stacks of wood with tarps over them. Should hold 8 cord easy.

[rangerone314]

Looks like a sweet setup that you have!