Tony, I pretty much watch the show for you guys. Moving into our first house next week and are excited to get started doing some stuff. Have about a dozen trees another dozen bushes and about 400 seedlings to plant.
bob day wrote:I'm sorry if it seems i'm only being critical, i watched that link, seems like a good guy, and much better than a lot of what is going on out there.
I just don't believe it has much to do with sustainability or permaculture.
Mainly trying to help the original poster in the concept. She was not looking for permaculture or sustainable. It became a thread topic at some point when it was deemed impossible to be sustainable. It can certainly be sustainable, but not on what she is looking to spend and still be able to make a profit.
Margaret Taylor wrote:Wow! I didn't expect this to spark off so much debate! Sounds like we're getting into a philosophical discussion about what permaculture is and whether microgreens count.
(Naively) I thought permaculture just meant agriculture that could be carried on indefinitely. A Wikipedia check tells me there's a lot more to it than that.
So, does your growing operation need to have no outside inputs to be truly permie? Do you make sure that your inputs come from sustainable sources as much as possible? What happens when a sustainable input isn't available?
I'm living in a cold-climate urban environment and I don't own any land anyway, so I was planning to grow indoors. I'd increase my electricity and water consumption to an extent, and I hope to recycle the soil if I can get a compost going. That leaves the input of seeds as an unknown for now.
I thought that I left a post about an urban cold environment person doing this without a greenhouse? It explains everything you could pretty much want to know and is in a 25 minute video and a link to visit the actual site and the opportunity to take classes if you like.
Well I will say again that I posted a link to youtube.com that has a guy who runs his own company out of an old shipping container and uses solar and delivers with his bicycle. I think that is a step in the right direction if there is one here.
This guy is really great to listen to if you want to get some ideas or good information if you are looking to do some small scale or urban farming. He does try to do things as sustainable as he can in many aspects to the point that he bikes/biked his stuff to market and restaurants. The video above I posted is surprisingly informative and his other stuff is pretty good too.
Here is a link to a guy that this concept down and he is doing it in an urban setting in Canada. He also is not using a plastic greenhouse. I personally don't see why you need to do anything in particular if you are going to be using lights for growth as long as it is vented properly and temperature controlled.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0uVL-PvzQxU
Here is an episode of Homesteading..... a show from New Zealand. They show basically how they go about using thistle to make a sheep's cheese.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIt2LEBLixQ It is from Season 2 Episode 8 and is at the 18:30 mark of the episode.
Marianne Cicala wrote:Yes, you absolutely can buy a % of a property inside of an IRA. No minimum %. If several people pool funds the deed will included every owner (including an IRA aka "custodial company" IRA custodian FBO "your name") You IRA account will reflect the value of your slice of the pie. Yes, I prefer pie!
Paul,
It seems like your property would greatly benefit from people who are like minded purchasing the adjacent properties to you. It would stop the logging company from just stomping through your place and doing surveylance on your endeavors. A lot of people of lesser means are very interested in getting a piece of heaven and the amazing chance to have you as a neighbor! I myself am very interested in this opportunity, but need some more information and an idea on how it might work out. Paul, lets get a few people to spearhead this mission and then provide the masses with a more organized list of information and possible ways of divvying up the parcels. I think it would be best to have the land broken up into several large chunks of land so more people can afford it and get the benefit of having more like minded individuals bringing tools and experience/knowledge to the group. I think it would be great to see people getting anywhere from 5 to 50 chunks of land. Any how I would like to get together with a few people and Paul to make a list of options and details to the land and come up with a few communal ideas. Let me know what can be done or by all means have the locals put it together. I am a knewbie kind of so it may best to be left to the people with more experience or we could benefit from getting new eyes.
I have a very considerable amount of money coming in over the next two years. I have a nice chunk now and another few thousand coming in the next two weeks. Then I have a somewhat large sum coming about 6 months to a year after that. Then a bunch more in the next 6 months to 2 years. I have been looking to use this for my own homestead or small farm with a house on it. I have a son now and hopefully one more kid one day. My wife is very interested in doing something like this, but having her own job while I tend all the property. I have a scientific and construction background and my wife is the manager of an opthalmic office group. I am not stuck on any area of the U.S. to move to and have been mostly looking up and down the east coast so far. I really want to use this money to set my family up in a great living environment where we are free to do what we want and have our own animals and food grown on our property. I would also be interested in some type of group situation, but would want to actually own a portion of this property for myself. My wife would want to continue working and I may want to keep some form of income stream from my own endeavors. Paul, what is there for me out on the parcels by myself, with your crew, or with a few other new folks? What kind of ideas are already floating around out there.
I go to this website for deals on anything that I could use from gardening tools to sneakers. I found this post today about free e-books from amazon.com and there about a dozen of them. I can't say if they are great books, but they are free and that makes it at least something of interest. Especially with the information they purportedly have. I am putting link in here and am not sure if it will work or if it requires cut and paste. Good luck and enjoy.
Rob
Got the link for this yesterday and started reading it at 4am since it was the most interesting option available. Love the dated lingo and reference to stone age woman being the sole cause to cereal grains. Other than that it was pretty cool to read over for a few hours and see what a visionary saw the future to possibly be and how it did not work out like that. Fascinating facts and numbers which would be difficult to get most anywhere else. I only wish we could read the graphs more easily, as they are in his own writing and did not transfer well. Any how thanks for the info and link and I hope I can use it as a reference one day!
EDIT: I didn't update this page from yesterday before I wrote this and just saw the post and link to a better PDF. Thanks for the link other guy.
Yeah Paul. Good thing we are here to let you in on this stuff. Even if it isn't a large number of people. Your are sure to see a large number of the participents signing up for the site. CONGRATS!!!
Now I have been watching this for quite a while and am at about 35 minutes into video 1. Now he is saying with charcoal it is possible to break carbon dioxide and water(vapor?) into hydrogen and carbon monoxide. I am wondering is this because of just pure heat or because it is combining with the carbon being released during the combustion of the charcoal? I assume it has to do with the carbon molecules, but would it not also theoretically be possible from high heat?
Thanks
I was recently on youtube and found a guy who was compressing it up to 150 psi using basically a cheap compressor from harbor freight and what looked to be a lot of home made stuff. He was stating in his video that he was able to get to an even higher psi, but for the video didn't want to take that long. If I come across it again I will forward the link.
Cool ideas. I would like to do a meyer lemon that would be potted on wheels and come in for about 5 months a year. I understand they can be harvested year round without a single harvest. It may not be possible, but I would like to give it a try. I don't even dare hope to be profitable for at least 3 years. This year is almost too late to get anything really started, but I am sure there is quite a bit that would be possible for this year.
S Bengi wrote:Welcome to permies.
With 2 acres you will be able to do alot.
I would start off with ground cover, Just buy some seeds and broadcast it, then sit down and come up with a plan of action. DOnt try to bite off too much all at once.
You are totally correct. And actually with that short of a reply you actually summed up possibly the best reply, lol really!
But seeing that I am never happy with what is a reasonable start to things, I want to do more. I am just thinking if I should plant some local nut and fruit trees as soon as possible(apple and nut>?). Maybe start some grape vines. I would like to see myself profiting from this lot by year 3 if not sooner.I don't aniticipate a huge windfall or anything, but would like to find myself profiting about 5k by year 3 of using this property. I work in a poor paying lab job that will help me in assessing my soil and water condition. My wife works as a manager for a opthamalgical office and makes enough to cover all of our financial necessities, especially if we are on top of things by being frugal. I love to be frugal and livig well within our means. I love the idea of doing for myself and relying on my family and friends. Unfortunately, this is a new idea for my family and friends so it will take a while to kick in. So here are a few more things that I think will be a good place to start and I plan to go.... also my dad and mother are both very great small scale home gardeners, my mom was amazing with our home gardens and my dad was a grounds manager with a local farm that garners world acclaim.
Trees, fruit and nut.
I don't know what would be the best nut tree to start with. Would there be a nut tree I could profit from in a short period of time or that would support my nutritional need in a short time frame? There is a large plot of land so I could do more than one and am able to wait a considerable period of time for this. This
would also include some sort of fruit tree. I would also be able to keep some type of dwarf fruit tree in the house during the winter months to protect them, such as meyer lemon or an avacado?
Brambles of fruit bearing type? Or possibly a blueberry bush/es. These would be great for production or home use/ground cover or just asthetics.
Any and all vegetable growth. I would like to figure these things out in the first several years. I would like to cover most of my needs(feeding my family) by what I grow, but considering my land size I would like to profit from my efforts also.
I would also like to see myself provide my family with eggs and or possibly meat from a small number of poultry on the property.
Can I keep a small number of hives on the property to help with polination, but also supply my family with honey or make enough to profit.
I know these things are not unique ideas, but they are a reasonable place to start. With these things and more I would love to live a more "off the grid" type life. It would truly fit that definition, but would be a more sustainable form of living and provide me with alot of enjoyment. Not to mention the endless amount of time my family would get to work together and enjoy the outdoors. We are a fairly young family that would include an ambitious father of 34, a 30 year old wife that loves anythig her nutty husband does, and a 1 year old son that LOVES the outdoors. I grew up in family that loved the outdoors and want to take it another step further. I want to live off my land as much as possible and if it is possible to profit off it also.
Thank you everyone for any and all help!
Bob Mac!
I am in the final stages of buying a small ranch(1100 sf) built in 1950. There are either 2 acres or 3.2 acres of land that is locally used for agriculture all around the town and has quite a bit of quality top soil. I am a newbie and the reason why the house is not already bought is because during the buying process we found out that acreage is not exactly what was stated or the number of bedrooms. I thought the land looked on the small side, but knew about the # of bedrooms was off, but still love the house overall. If we don't buy this one we have found a similar house with a similar "2 acres for sure" bigger house (1400sf) near by. This house would be in the Litchfield County area of CT. I am trying to get started on as many things as possible that are on the cheap side to get my homestead up and going. Planning on hens and a substantial garden to start. Zoning is a bit tight so no larger animals I believe, maybe goats and rabbits? I work in a lab as a go-for, but have a firm understanding of science and how things affect one an other. Just looking for some advice on how to get started with things and get some of the most important and long term things started ASAP. Like I said my things I see myself getting involved with are a garden, small animals(chicks and such), bees, solar energy, trees that are fruit or nut bearing, trying to make some income off of any of that to suplement a short work schedule to be with my family and work around the house with my young son. Those would be the main things that I have researched and have a fair bit of time looking into doing. I would be very happy with any help people could provide and guidance. I actually think that newbies like myself would find this post very helpful. I have some money to invest in projects that would pay back in a short time period, but solar is the only major investment I can forsee other than a wood stove to go in the existing fire place. I know there are a lot of options available, but please keep limited experience and funds in mind for the initial suggestions.
THANKS!!!
Bob Mac
Just joined the site recently and have been reading a ton of posts lately. I like the idea you have and think that maybe you could use a refracted lens/mirror. I am not sure if I am using the terminology correctly or if it is a viable means of expanding the light coming through, but maybe the use of a concave or convex mirror or lens at some point could help with your lighting issue.
good luck
