Thanks. We haven't yet looked at it as it's about 5 hours drive from where we are now.
I'm doing the research to see if it's worth the drive, hence the question.
We're looking at buying a property that, according to the Webs Soil Survey site, is mostly Hazleton and Gilpin soils and Buchanan loam, both marked as "extremely stony".
Is this a non-starter? How long might it take us to build decent growing land by using livestock, lasagne beds and mountains of compost? Or is it a waste of time? I know that stones have a habit of "growing", coming up to the surface constantly.
Has anyone else here dealt with this? I'd rather not buy a long-term headache. That said, the property is just about perfect in every other respect. So, sigh....
I can't remember where we got seeds, it was a couple of years ago and they've self-seeded ever since. I know High Mowing carries them.
I just transplanted a few small plants. They recovered within a few days.
We had a galvanized waterer which worked well for about 4 years, but it began to rust, so we bought this one - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07BH57GSK?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2_dt_b_product_details Our criteria were that it should be plastic (no rust), have mostly good reviews, and be made in the USA.
After just 3 months it has begun to leak. So it's going in the trash (we're not able to recycle things like this where we live), and we need a new one. What experiences have you all had? Is there one you recommend?
Thanks!
Any suggestions for plants to grow alongside our chicken coop? Obviously I want to avoid anything that may be harmful to the birds. Our garden service guys are damaging the wire when they weed-whack the area so I thought a flower or vegetable bed outside the coop, adjacent to the wire would fix the problem.
Has anyone here got plans or information for the Skycrapper composting toilet, designed by Doug Elley, in the 70s or 80s, I believe? I came across a mention of it in a book I've been reading (River Horse, by William Least-Heat Moon - highly recommended!), and there seems to be a book available on Amazon but (a) it's quite expensive, and (b) I'd rather not support Amazon if I can help it. It occurred to me that someone here might know more about it.
Apologies in advance if this is old news, but I want to share a video showing, among other things, a group in South Africa building a Rocket Mass Heater. Seems the word has spread widely!
Go to
Okay, I found what may be a way to resolve this. This may help other Kindle users - go to https://calibre-ebook.com/download where there is a free download to a program that will translate an epub into other formats. I've just done it, and I now have the book loaded on my Kindle.
Thanks again for the book - I look forward to reading it!
Understood, thanks. Do you, or does anyone else here, know if there is a program that can translate the epub edition into something that can be read on a Kindle?
Thanks for the free book. However, it seems to only be available as an epub file, and I use a Kindle. Is it available in a Kindle supported format too?
Did you find the land you were looking for? We're looking in much the same area, so any pointers you might have as to sites you used for your land search would be very helpful!
These (and some others featuring the same gang of Peter, Ruth and others), are terrific. We watched all of them a couple of years ago, and my only regret now is that I can't find any more similar shows!
Hi Aimee. What a wonderful opportunity you've created for some lucky person! I realise I'm coming at this very late, but there's nothing here that says you found a tenant. So, did you?
Thanks all. Yes, Blueberries - and especially if I have pine forests to acidify the soil for them!
Sandy, yes, I've been thinking of a variety of mushrooms. Aside from those that will self-spore, there are a lot of felled hardwoods which would be ideal for inoculation. And absolutely to Japanese Knotweed. Aside from culinary uses, this plant is widely used now as part of a herbal regimen to help with Lyme disease, so there are a lot of places to use that.
Walt, yes, understood. This is why I'm looking for things to grow that I can harvest on a shorter time frame, to keep the rent paid while I wait for the Ginseng (and others - Goldenseal, for one) to come to adult, harvestable stage.
Thanks Galen. However, I'm talking about growing in quite dense shade. I've grown various kinds of squash in the past, but they have always been in full sun. Are they happy growing in the shade?
I have the opportunity to farm about 10 acres of forested land in SE Pennsylvania. The trees are mostly deciduous hardwood, and the condition is that the land is not to be cleared. Rather, I will be growing crops that are happy beneath a forest canopy.
I'm thinking of ramps in the short term, as well as mushrooms. For longer term crops, ginseng (this land is well off the beaten path), black cohosh, bloodroot come to mind. I need to earn a living off this land if at all possible so although the long-term crops will produce good returns in time, I need other crops that will pay the rent until they are at harvest stage.
Any suggestions as to which plants will work? I have slopes facing in all directions, canopy cover varies from 60% to 95%.
Thanks all. Some great ideas here. I especially like reusing plastic as much as I can. If it's already there, it should pay it's keep. Or some of it. Also, using cardboard tubes is cool. Given that I'm looking at trees, I may use paper towel rolls rather than toilet paper, and possibly increase the size by cutting 2 in half long ways and gluing them together.
I'm curious - what do you use for growing seedlings? I'm trying to get away from plastic, and I need some of my pots to be larger than normal as I am planting tree saplings. I'd like to reuse or recycle materials that might otherwise go in the trash.
To my knowledge, no states license herbalists. It would cost them far too much in donor money from big pharma to do that.
However, the American Herbalists Guild has a list of accredited members, so that's one place to look. (I didn't find anyone there, near you, as it happens, but it's a good resource.
As to licensing or accreditation in general, I believe most of our best herbalists see that as an unnecessary obstacle to what is, after all, people's medicine. Stephen Buhner, who I greatly admire, is a strong voice against licensing, and there are lots of others. Sam Coffman, for one.
All that said, here is a herbalist who is also a ND, in Memphis. I can't speak for him, but take a look at http://www.ahe4life.com/
Also, there are many wonderful herbalists around the USA. It's worth paying something small for good advice. If you tell me where you are I may be able to suggest someone.
My suggestion would be to ask this at one or more of the herbal groups on Facebook. You're more likely to get professional advice I think (no offense meant to the members of this illustrious group!)
