It’s been a good
bit of time since my last post. A lot has changed in my life from
point A to B. Here is a quick update on everything.
Moved again after
nearly a year. Here are a few photos of the garden produced in that
year. This garden should last for years to come.
This house is on stilts. So most of this garden is about 6 ft tall or greater.
Some sort of squash growing up in the Mexican spinach
This garden doesn't have as much diversity as I'd like but still turned out.
The people who own this were very generous and greatful
window box garden.
Not everything is edible but it adds to the look
This part here is still developing.
In other news -
I got married,
finally done with the searching!
We are in the
process of buying 7 acres or so of raw land in Alabama. The land has
streams and is very beautiful. It’s in an area with no building
codes or restrictions. So if that all pans out we will be able to
build without restriction. Closing date is in August and we plan to
move in September.
I’m very excited
to be able to have my own project. I don’t mind doing projects for
others but it is limiting. Also it will be nice not to have to deal
with city codes, house fill, pipes, underground wires, and so on.
Currently we are just learning online how to do earthen building and a handful of other skills that will serve us well out there.
Quote of the day:
“Those
who deny freedom
to
others deserve it not for themselves.” Abraham Lincoln.
Winter time is a great time to prep the garden. In some areas I'm starting with sheet mulching. I use palm leaf and cardboard as the base layer. Sometimes I will put a layer of grass or something like that under the initial cardboard layer.
Here you can see bits of palm trunk cut up. When the inner layer is more exposed it is more likely to soak up water. This is an important feature of my irrigation system.
Larger rotting out branches can be used to hold cardboard down. On a windy day it doesn't take long to realize that chasing cardboard around isn't near as easy as just putting a thin layer of soil and or a few branches.
During the making of these garden beds I throw a lot of compost from the kitchen in. My first layer of mulch over the cardboard is what I call rough mulch. It's mulch with a lot of twigs, branches, pine cones, and other such biomass.
These banana trees were planted before I got here. Once the sheet mulching is done they should really grow well. You can see bits of egg shell and peppers as compost here. Some people don't add citrus, garlic, onion, and such to their compost on account of the fact that the worms don't like them. The way I see it I'm working with a larger area so I imagine the citrus and other things will have long since decomposed before the worms run out of citrus free areas and other things to eat. If I have a more focused compost pile to make potting soil I don't normally mix in the citrus and such.
This is my cat, Tarzan. He is adjusting to this new home fairly well. Still the coolest cat around.
Just behind the fire pit you can see my friends ingenuity.
Back on the sheet mulching topic. I am taking a lot of the water weeds from the local canal and putting them as a layer in the sheet mulching. I find them to be a worthwhile addition so far.
So 3 to 6 months is a fairly standard wait time on building soil. It's ideal to do this step first. Planting and being with plants is fun but if the framework is built first it's a lot less work in the end.
You can plant immediately after sheet mulching but I prefer to wait. Just makes it a bit easier, particularly if you started with poor soil.
Winters also a great time to learn more cooking skills. I'm learning to cook more things and yes the above was a great meal.
Fish soup! I don't typically like fish soup too much but I think I finally got it right this time.
I've also been making bean burgers a lot. For those low income people out there bean burgers are a great way to save money. Each of the burger patties come out to be roughly 20 cents each. You can make them for less I'm sure. I don't have any pictures of the bean burgers as they have all been devoured.
One of my clients had a tomato that wanted to propagate. I like this picture because it's a good reminder that composting is one way to plant your seeds.
The general area where I currently live. Lots of an invasive known as Brazilian pepper. Brazilian pepper, as I understand it, was introduced to Florida as a landscaping plant. It was soon realized to be an invasive. It's a problem in this area because it has a tendency to grow vertically past most plants and then branch out and shade them. It's tricky to cut due to the many awkward angles. Some have an adverse reaction to the plant. In some it can produce a rash and lung issues. Better not to burn this one as the smoke can compromise a persons airway.
Found this guy while hanging shutters for Matthew. I scared him off rather than killing him since he didn't bite me. My clients son in law was content with that choice to his credit. I'm not a big fan of the mindset that says we should kill anything that can do us harm although I do recognize that there is a time and place for that. I prefer to be at peace with all animals whenever possible.
A picture out the windshield of a car. I try to find the beauty in simple things.
The front path. I don't care to use rocks much in gardening as they tend to be a lot of work to maintain. I prefer mulch and find it more beneficial
Word of wisdom for the day.
Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but when it comes it's as a tree of life.
I have the opportunity to acquire some fish but before I do that I need to be able to feed them. I could go buy feed but that puts me in a position of being dependent on a store. I'm not a dooms day prep guy but I do like the freedom of not needing to go buy all the time when I can get what I need elsewhere for free.
Duckweed is a great food for fish and can be used as a primary food source with some fish and animals although it's good to have other things in their diet also. (in the future I may evaluate it as a bird feed.)
Step one was to acquire some small ponds that I could use for food production. I got two kiddie pools for that. One was taken from the trash down the street and the other was found on the side of I95. It had apparently blown out of someones truck apparently.
If you want to buy ponds like this they typically run around 10 bucks each. '
Step 2. I placed them on boards that we had laying around. It's particle board which isn't ideal but it's what I had on hand. The reason for this is so that I can easily mow/weedwack around the ponds without damaging them. It also saves me the bother of hand weeding around the ponds. I placed the ponds in full sun and put some grass cuttings in one of them while leaving the other without. This is the beginning of many such experiments to optimize production.
Step 3. Then I acquired some duckweed from a local ditch. To harvest it I used a 5 gallon bucket with holes drilled in it so that it acts a bit like a net. A net would be ideal but I didn't have one on hand.
Some info on duckweed: The plant may not have a root depending on the species. Reproduction is mostly by asexual budding which occurs from a meristem... so similar to cloning in that it has the same make up as the mother plant. The flower is the smallest known measuring roughly .3 mm and the seed is produced in a sac that has air so it floats.
Duckweed reduces or prevents algae growth and greatly reduces evaporation. It's use extends beyond food. It could be used for bio fuel among other things.
http://www.mobot.org/jwcross/duckweed/Fish.htm#Nutritional%20Value has some good info on duckweed as a food source.
I plan to throw some minnows in each pond as a means of preventing mosquito larva from surviving to maturity.
I estimate that I should be able to harvest half the pond roughly every three days. The harvested duckweed will either be dried for storage or frozen in ice cube trays so I can just toss little blocks of it into the fish pond.
By the time I get the fish I should have plenty of food in storage for them.
Edit - So it's been a few weeks and my observations have been that while duckweed does slow algae growth it doesn't prevent it enough to thrive. My initial estimations of production were off but I have a few ideas to correct this. When I have the learning curve worked out I will update with my findings if possible.
Word of wisdom for the day -
use whats around you. You don't have to buy to survive.
video of the day
This video is a beautiful expression of loving your neighbor as your self.
I should have a few more pics soon but here is the start of my new garden. The soil here isn't alive yet like at the last place but I'm working to build it. Putting in a lot of Hugal culture here as I've found that to be highly productive. Also making a decent bit of biochar. Also adding a lot of in soil water catchment.
Mostly working with some of my favorites and most frequently used right now but am already adding more biodiversity. I'm adding a lot of native plants to the surrounding area also by throwing seeds around.
Quote of the day:
There is no substitute for experience.
Katuk tree, aka sweet leaf. This is a staple vegetable in Borneo. Grows well as an understory tree.
Has a pea like nutty flavor. Native to lowland rain forest.
Google says:"In 100 g of leaves the nutritional content is as follows: energy 59 cal, 6.4
g protein, 1.0 g fat, 9.9 g carbohydrate, 1.5 g fiber, 1.7 g ash, 233 mg calcium,
phosphorus 98 mg, 3.5 mg iron, carotene 10,020 mcg (vitamin A), B, and C 164 mg,
and 81 g water."
Great in salad, stir fry, and many other dishes... if your any good at cooking or prep.
The tree is rather brittle, it's easy to break off a branch. Very easy to harvest. Another perk is that pest don't seem to ever be a problem with this tree.
This also makes a decent hedge row as long as that area doesn't get too much wind.
All in all it's a great addition to any zone 9 or 10 gardens. They grow decent even without much sunlight. Stays green year round so it would be a good addition to general landscaping also.
Challenge - Landscape with Katuk tree and other eye catching edibles. That way when you have to trim it back you can also harvest it. Eating more local is a great way to help protect the environment.
Austin Tx has done quite a bit of edible landscape, it can be seen in front of many local businesses. Even if katuk doesn't grow where your at there are many alternatives.
Word of wisdom -
When is the best time to plant a fruit tree? 20 years ago. When is the 2nd best time to plant a fruit tree? Today. (old Chinese proverb if I remember right)
The green leafs near the bottom of this pic are a "weed" that is rather common here in Central FL.
It's in the nettle family.
Pellitory of the wall is it's name but I call it the cucumber plant due to is distinct cucumber taste.
I find this likes to grow near edges in particular. I often see it in sidewalk cracks and so on. It's a great food/medicine but it's reported to cause allergic reactions similar to a niacin flush. I have yet to meet anyone with this reaction so I imagine it is mostly found in people who have lived a very unnatural life. I hear that if you have allergies to airborne type stuff then your more likely to have a reaction.
I eat this in my soups, salads, stir fry, and so on. It's a popular addition to salads in particular due to the cucumber flavor. It's not thick and overpowering like a regular cucumber which makes it less distracting from key flavors in your salad.
Medicine. This has been used medicinally for thousands of years.
It's used as a diuretic. Said to be good for treating kidney stones and bladder issues. High in potassium and nitrates. Used to treat high blood pressure.
It's also said to be good for treating chronic cough and wounds.
I have no idea on any contraindications with medications and such.
If you want to plant this in your yard (if you don't already have it) just pick a healthy looking plant that you see while out and about. If you look on the stem you will see what looks like spiky balls on the stem. These are soft and won't hurt you. I believe those are the seed pods but could be wrong. Either way, I just try to select a mature plant, pick it and immediately place it in a bag. I then travel to the location where I want to plant it and dump it on the ground. I don't water it in, plant the roots, or anything like that. Used to try that but it doesn't transplant well. I've found that I have a very high success rate with simply tossing it on the ground where I want it. A picked plant will often use the last of it's energy to finish developing the seed.
Grows great in shade and prefers cooler weather.
Reduce your impact - Every time you throw some of your food out, be it leftovers or stuff gone bad, chart it. Estimate how much cash you waste on food you don't even eat and donate that amount to a food charity. This is a great way to build mindfulness of your waste habits and help those without food also.
Word of wisdom -
Do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Let the day's own trouble be sufficient for the day. - Yeshua the Christ.
It's fairly common for me to see these in my garden. They make some spectacular displays.
These play a big role in decomposition. They help break down wood, grassy type stuff, poop, and so other forest debris.
I started seeing these after getting a load of free mulch from a pile that had been sitting for a while.
I sometimes will pick mushrooms elsewhere and place them in my garden. I do this to increase the diversity in my garden.
These are edible, however if you consume alcohol at all you should avoid these. Consuming alcohol within 3 days of eating these can cause a heart attack. If you consume just a little alcohol you may get lucky and not die, however you may get facial reddening, nausea, vomiting, malaise, agitation, palpitations and tingling in limbs. You can read more about the alcohol interaction all over the internet.
Reducing your impact challenge: Unplug things when your not using them. Reduces power consumption. Power consumption wouldn't be a problem at all if it was produced cleanly but most of our power is made in a way that hurts everyone.
making borders with plant matter still produces an eye catching result. Looks even better when I sweep the walk! haha So to go out and actually buy a border is rather silly when you can get one for free.
Palm trees make great borders also. Although if you have energetic people who like to balance their way across, they tend to slide out of place.
Moral of the story, don't buy plastic borders. Don't buy borders at all. It's not about being cheap, it's about reducing the need for a factory to build said borders, a truck to transport such borders, gas and oil to put in the truck to transport the borders, air pollution due to the truck transporting borders. The need for uniforms for employees that drive said truck or factory, which in turn reduces the need for sweat shops. On and on the crazy behind the store scene rabbit hole goes. The amount of waste generated simply to produce an object that we don't need is astounding. Then there is the impact of the store its sold at. Then we use gas and oil to transport it back to our houses. So you can see that by fully examining the true impact of each of our actions we quickly discover that we aren't as "green" as we thought. Really we would have to leave a lot of our current destructive patterns behind in order to solve many of the issues within society. It's a big leap, one many aren't willing to take. So I say lets walk it. I'll present over the next few weeks a step per post on something you can do to reduce your harmful impact. Simple things like acquiring your own borders for free.
The truth is that our current system is flawed and many if not all elements of it need to be reworked from the ground up. If we start being mindful of our impact, if we live by the command: "love thy neighbor as thyself," our world will change. We can still have society without all the harm. We can set it up so where humans are everything thrives instead of dies. We just need a shift in priorities.
We have the technology and understanding now to produce as much food as the population of a city needs within that city. We can do this without chemical pest asides. We are currently literally poisoning our air, water, food, and earth. It's not helpful to any of us. If this is progress then I'd say we need less of it till we can couple it with wisdom and understanding. It's mindless to continue to destroy ourselves and everyone else. We should stop, for the sake of whoever is after us. We should have THE BEST TIME EVER in the process. :) camp fires, forest games, forest art, food, friends, and fresh air. Hope, vitality, stories, new experiences and more. This isn't some crucible, it's more like a game. If we own our blatant stupidity and wrongdoings instead of pretending we are better than we are, we can begin to change. Ok we are all wrong, lets move on to the solution without all the guilt and blaming. We can finger point all day but lets look in the mirror first, it starts with us. So this week I challenge you all to secure for yourselves clean water to drink and shower in. Water free of chemicals like Chlorine. A simple challenge and with it a challenge to educate yourselves about whats in your water. What is in it? What does that do to you, to your environment and air. Where does the stuff that's in it come from? How is it produced and any waste products. Put a list of everything in your drinking water next to the sink as a reminder till you do something about it.
Great school project for kids. Although they will quickly ask us adults why we are still poisoning the water supply.... I guess we can just tell them it's what we do.
On to mushrooms ...
Mushrooms, they are everywhere right now. This particular one grew on a tree stump. Many of the polypore that grow on trees here are safe for making tea. Just remember - There are old mushroom hunters and there are bold mushroom hunters but there are no old bold mushroom hunters. Some mushrooms are toxic enough to kill you if ingested.
An example of the polypore part. if you look closely you can see the tubes or "pores".
These mushrooms play a vital role in wood decay. They help feed the forest. A healthy forest has mushrooms. Some popular polypore tea mushrooms that are great for health - Rishi and Turkey tail. The genus that will likely kill you - Hapalopilus.
My family helped me process some bamboo for a hut that may be built by the end of the week.
First the cut bamboo was stripped of side branches
Then a small fire was made
Then the bamboo was passed through the fire slowly but not so slow that it would pop. Each segment of bamboo will make a nice loud pop noise as the pressure increases due to heat and likely steam within each chamber.
After being heated the color changes a bit. I'm not sure how well this method works or if we did it "right". Time will tell. Sometimes it's good to just take a general idea and run with it. In the process of failure you can learn lessons that you may have otherwise missed.
Word of wisdom -
Experience is a great teacher, losses are simply the tuition. - Jonathan Alspaugh
