in researching heat pads for plant propagation i came across some heated blankets which use heated water so that you are less exposed to EMF while sleeping
they are fairly expensive
one thing i was looking at possibly trying is putting water in an air mattress and a small pump to circulate the water and also a fish tank heater
in such a way.. if you can seal the entrance for the cords to go inside.. you could make a similar thing although the water would have a tendency to go to the sides and not be on top of you
or to mimick the less EMF model have an insulated bucket with pump and fishtank heater and a insulated hoses/blanket over hoses leading to the air mattress
one hose being longer than the other so it can be fed to the far side
the biggest hurdle being sealing that junction properly without an icky product
food grade air mattress equivalent just throwing thoughts out there i have no practical experience
there was some discussion about this at one point but i dont know if i could find that thread
along the lines of
there are broad spectrum fungal products and if you use them and notice an ant with the fungal body on it you may be able to collect the spores and use that to spread to the ants
someone was asking about products which were specific and not broad spectrum so that they could introduce only the ant killing variety
its interesting and i planned on looking up these broad spectrum "pesticide" fungi products to see if any were available in canada but have not gotten around to it yet.....
i would be using it in a greenhouse but do have concerns of unleashing new varieties to the local area
not this past summer but the one before...
i was up working on my cabin and woke up one morning to what i thought was fog
as soon as i opened the door to my vehicle (where i was sleeping)
i could smell it was smoke
it was coming from the direction i would have to travel in order to get to the highway
all day was like a sunset
that strengthened my resolve to build an underground home
i have also witnessed a tornado very close to me which caused much destruction
another reason to build something underground
the realtor whom i bought the property through, told me a story of her grandmother
there was a historical fire in 1922 up there
her grandmother and family were on the shore of a nearby "lake"
(which is actually a wide section of river) when the fire arrived
they had to swim to the middle of the lake and while out there the fire actually crossed to the other side and continued along
totally unrelated but an interesting effect happens when the wind gets over 70-80km/hr the choppy wind driven waves disappear and only swells and tiny ripples remain
the wind knocks the tops off any small waves
in the same way they determine how strong a tornado was according to the damage it created one can determine the windspeed (and what size kite to use) by observing things like blowing sand, waving branches, thrashing tree limbs etc
sometimes you go out on the water and when you come back to shore there are trees down everywhere!
bring a chainsaw if you want to be able to drive home also the beach disappears due to seiche effects
i am planning on having triple poly layers on my greenhouse with insulation which is rolled up and down automatically between the outer layer and the middle layer
i realize you want natural materials so maybe many layers of cloth held apart slightly on a wooden frame on hinges which clamps shut making a seal
my thought was to create a bunch of smaller temperature and humidity differences (although i dont know if it would actually work)
or maybe a window, on hinges, with natural insulation on the "outside" which clamps shut like the idea above but the glass stops the moisture from making its way to the insulation
if you are going to stay in one spot for a half an hour or more to do some work,
you could get some good timelapses if youre camera has an interval shot feature or just roll video and speed it up in video editing software
i use hardware cloth
1 cm (ish) square welded stuff
any i cut rectangles and bend them into a cylinder linking some of the barbs with tin snips
i bend out every other sharp bit from where i made the cut...i cut on angles
i cut some on the middle sections of the cylinder and bend them outwards
sometimes you come back to check on the plants and anything beyond the mesh is eaten hardware cloth is more expensive than chicken wire so often i would make a larger one of chicken wire
along the lines of laying it flat... i almost did this because of squirrels digging in my pots
i was going to cut circles with space for the stem and bend barbs upwards
i have a hardy kiwi outside right now... it has seen -15c and snow but it is mild right now
i was thinking of bringing it inside when the temps are about to dip again
also at first i thought of a steep pitch south facing
which i will encorporate
but by the time it gets warm enough to bring plants outside.. the sun is very high in the sky and some plant may want to stay in there full time
either way all years worth of sun angles need consideration
i thought of something like teepees on top of the berm which have many layers of poly (mine is vynil) such that they insulate well
i plan on building mine upslope from a pond and on the north side so i will not have to cut down trees to keep the sun from being blocked over time although a marsh would work as well
i also thought of using roll up motors which roll up and down insulation once the sun goes down
a bc company sells the roll up controllers which are either on a timer or temperature dependant
more too... research first build later
i plan on building something similar just up the road from you
i figure it will take many techniques combined to make it work
from what i have been reading it is better to build up than to dig in
set up drainage and then start mounding earth
jean pain compost heating
earth bermed south facing but also built up enough that snow could pile up 10 feet without blocking the light from coming in
vaccum insulated tank with hot water pumped in all summer
rocket mass greenhouse heater
and there are more
brain is not working at the moment so i will type more later
actually there is another tiny pond below this dam and then it drops another few feet
this was what the upstream pond used to look like
and the dam between them , you can see the downstream pond behind the dead trees
unfortunately that dam washed out and has not yet been rebuilt
there is only a small puddle and a meadow for now
at one point on google maps the upstream pond appeared to be about 4 acres
i would like to use some of the meadow material to make an earthbermed greenhouse ... and to make chinampas..
so when it is rebuilt it will be deeper and have the chinampas along the margins
beavers need the depth so they dont get frozen into their lodge so they should benefit too
much nicer looking bunch than my first:
actually i did have one a couple years ago which flowered indoors but then died
but this is my first bunch which should be edible
Tim, the variety Mart has is "ice cream" which means it is most likely musa namwa
if you have the real blue java it will have blue fruit right from the get go
reports from texas say that the namwa is slightly more cold hardy and better tasting than the blue java
although both rank well for taste and cold hardiness
i think it was the stihl MSA 161 T that i was using a bit at work this past week
first impressions...
narrow kerf
seems to pinch easily
battery lasted longer than i would have expected
using left handed is a pain
i need to be able to take cuts with either hand this is the biggest flaw
my plumeria was flowering at the same time as the lilacs this year
i have to say the lilac overpowered the plumeria smell by a long shot
i am trying really hard not to buy new tropicals until after the greenhouse gets built
but once i start buying again i would like to get some of these:
http://www.floraexotica.ca/Flower%20Fragrance.htm
flax seed is a source of ala
which the body can covert to dha
provided youre omega 6 and 3 fatty acids are at the right balance
important for vegetarians
