Jocelyn Campbell

Seen on a UK train toilet:



(But does it need an oxford comma? Asked someone here.)

Love this.



Since I don't have pets, I might substitute plants, teas, foraging, or communing in the forest for my "sorry, but I have a meeting then" excuse.

Good observation!!

Ah. r, you asked about acidity and lime.

The mulberry in the open in a chicken paddock, has had occasional chickens around it in the two years I've been here, but not often. They were mostly kept out do to holes in the fencing here and there and no time to mend them. There has been no other care in that paddock.

The mulberry in the goat pasture has not had goats (or chickens) in the two years that I've been here. *BUT* I have been spreading my wood stove ashes in the pasture and around the tree a bit. Not much. Haven't wanted to over alkalinize.

Plus, I have put old goat manure and kitchen scraps along the NW part of the mulberry tree's drip line. Additionally, for a year and a half, I've mowed under the tree, leaving all clippings to fall where they may to improve the soil and pasture grasses.

So there is another difference with the two trees I suppose. Who knew there were so many differences? Ha.

Oh crap. When I posted above, bragging about how well the huge neglected mulberry has done, I hadn't even glanced at the small mulberry in a chicken paddock adjacent to the goat pasture.

This smaller mulberry, only 8 feet tall or so, is in the center of a chicken paddock, with comfrey growing at its base. It also has not been pruned, but looks like it had some serious die back on almost half of its branches.

Even though it is a small paddock, being in the center of it means the mulberry tree does not have shelter on any side.

The huge, massive mulberry nearest my living space is right up against a thick evergreen wooded area - which protects it from the *north* side. Said evergreen wooded area is full of mature, 80+foot tall evergreens such as cedar (Thuya plicata, not really a true cedar) and fir trees. Also, the building I live in is on the east side of the tree, which, while not directly adjacent, likely offers some protection as well. There is just one small, lower branch on the big mulberry - the most SW of all the branches, which happens to be the farthest out from the protected sides - that does look like minor die off on the end of the branch.

So I'd guess the northern evergreen wooded area protected the mulberry more than anything, and possibly its size/maturity, too; and to a lesser extent the building to the east--and not the lack of pruning.

(Edited to add the building to the east as another potential protection for the large mulberry.)

Steve Thorn wrote:My Pakistan and another less cold hardy mulberry have died back previously.

Pruning them seems to increase their cold susceptibility. Since I stopped pruning them they barely have any dieback now.

I wonder if this might be the ticket.

I'm not sure what variety is outside the goat barn where I live - it was here when my landlady bought the property 10-12 years ago. This 40-foot tree has not been pruned except for a huge chunk that split off and fell on the barn roof before I moved in, and then a large split branch that fell off the year I moved here (2020). There is even a second split branch that really needs to be removed (for 2 years now), but hasn't been touched.

It's loaded with berries. Haven't noticed any die off (besides the splits).

I'm outside of Carnation, though higher up in the forested hills surrounding the valley, not the valley floor or in town. We are 30+ miles east of Seattle, and just 40-some miles from the nearest pass over the Cascade mountains, so we are typically colder, and wetter than Seattle is. So not too dissimilar to your climate, I would think r.

The attached pic are the mulberries on this giant tree as they looked 3 days ago. Little babies!

Aurora House wrote:Congratulations on moving to carnation it's gorgeous there if you haven't yet visit remlinger farms.

Thanks Aurora, Carnation is gorgeous and I'm loving where I live! I've been to Remlinger in the past, and actually have clients with farms here in the valley that I visit.

It's been an interesting 2 years since I left Montana.

Sometimes a meme describes exactly what we are optimizing for:


Haha!
(Though I will bake GF bread, of course!)

And while this is not my living space, this cabin IS on the property where I now live in Carnation (pardon the terrible, private video that was made just for family and friends):

Actually, I think I want my screwdriver storage to look like this.

Jocelyn Campbell wrote:

Wouldn't that make putting away screwdrivers (or other tools) more fun?

It would take some welding engineering (perhaps) to figure out the best rings or receptacles for the screwdrivers though. And the ones on the bottom half of the flower might need to be permanent and not removable.

Reminds me of this for zombie attacks...or gardening idea:


It just makes you want to have all the tools lined up on that wall, doesn't it?

Found a perfect example for this thread!



From here

I'd highly recommend any of the courses at Inspiration Farm! I just added this thread to the PDC and workshops forums, too - albeit probably too late with the PDC starting this weekend already.

Brian, if you'd like, in the future, create your post/thread, then use the "report to moderators" button to ask to have this added to other forums. It's super easy for staff to add it for you.