Adam Buchler

So, I am currently growing 2 types of storage onions in NJ(Zone 7). One is a yellow onion(Dorata di Parma) and the other is a red(Ruby red). I want to start saving my own seed and I know that saving your own seed for 2 different varieties of onion in a small garden can cause problems, so I was thinking that I could just alternate years....save yellow this year, save red the next. However, that would mean planting onion seeds that are 2 years old. I know onion seeds are very short lived, so I was wondering if anyone has experience saving their own onion seeds and if planting 2 year old seed is still a viable option

I am 28 YO from southern NJ. I recently finished grad school and began working as a pharmacist in Philadelphia. Unfortunately, it took years of school and hundreds of thousands of dollars to realize that I don't want to spend the rest of my life working a 9-5 and paying bills.....and all the while not really serving any greater purpose. While in grad school I stumbled across permaculture and really just fell in love with it. Gardening, farming, natural building.....I hooked on all of it. I'm planning my first cob oven right now and already thinking about a cob house. I have a large garden and I love to cook and eat. I'm Irish-Italian but I was raised mostly italian. My mother was the first one in her family raised in America so I was fortunate enough to have significant exposure to real culture through her family. I believe that this played a large role in wanting to return to a more simple, cultured way of living.
I'm looking for a like minded female, preferably 23-33. I should mention that I am a wine maker so I do drink casually. I'm about 5'11 165lb. I'm in good shape and like to be active. You can look me up on facebook or send me a message for pictures or just to chat.

My family in Sicily has always used outdoor ovens. They have all built their own. I noticed that they always have 2 ovens....one for bread and one for meat. From what I understand its because the bread will have off flavors if baked in an oven that is often used to roast meat. Can anyone comment on this? I want to build a cob oven and will frequently be using it for both meat and bread....so now I am debating whether or not I need 2 ovens.

With 1-2" of light mulch do I need to sow more shallow ?

So, this year I am planting some cover crops mixes in the veggie garden. I have 5 raised beds....4' x 50'. I recently planted a mix of field pea and oats to over winter. However the germination is not so great. I am confident that I got them in deep enough, however I have no mulch over them because I was worried that would hinder germination. Although, now I think that no mulch is almost worse because the sun dries the soil out so bad that nothing is going to germinate unless I'm out there every single night watering the whole garden.(I have drip irrigation but that obviously is no good without mulch). So, any ideas about what mulch and how much I might be able to get away with with out hindering germination? I have the following mulches available: wood chips(fresh and composted), grass clipping from the lawn(fresh and several weeks/months decomposed), and organic wheat straw.

Ok so no exhaust into the house. What if I ran the exhaust duct up through the floor, into the bedroom, through the bedroom ceiling , and out through the roof? The bedroom is the coldest room in the house. Would that section of exhaust running through the room give off any significant heat? It would mean having about 50 ft of exhaust duct. Not sure if thats a problem. Maybe I could even cob the section of exhaust in the bedroom to act as a small thermal mass? So basically the duct would run from the ping pong table up to the ceiling and over the the far corner of the basemwnt(where the wine barrel is proped up on cinder block) then through the basement ceiling, into the bedroom corner(pic attached) and out through the bedroom ceiling, then out the roof. Possible??? Will that much exhaust duct mess with the convention of the heater?

I have a one story house with a large open basement. I was thinking about building a large rocket mass heater in the center of the basment. However, the conventional heating ducts hang from the rafters right over the place that I want to put the rocket mass heater. So, I was thinking....can I just connect the exhaust from the rocket heater to the heating ducts and have that excess hot air travel through the ducts into the upstairs for additional heat up there? Or is that not wise? Does the exhaust absolutely have to travel out of the house? I attached a photo...the mass heater will go right where the ping pong table is. You can see the heating ducts hanging from the rafters just above it.

I have 5 raised beds that are each 50' x 4'. They are mounded or "rounded" raised beds. I am going to plant cover crops this winter to chop and drop in the spring. So I am looking for some advice on what tool I should use for chop and drop. I own a 14" machete but I don't know if thats the best tool for chop and drop on oats, rye, hairy vetch type. I was thinking scythe or sickle but I don't know much about them. Since the beds are mounded I was thinking scythe might be alittle hard to use plus I don't have that large of an area....but like I said I don't really know much. Suggestions?

So I have 5 raised garden beds....each 50' x 4'. I want to plant some cover crops this fall to chop down in the spring and use a mulch. Any ideas about which tool is more appropriate given the size of my garden and the fact the the raised beds are "rounded" or "mounded". Wasn't sure if scythe was overkill. And to be honest at the moment I don't have any other use for scythe so I'm leaning towards a sickle. That being said where can I purchase one and is there a particular kind I should be looking for?

I want to do an 18 day compost with woodchips, fresh grass clippings, and horse manure because this is what I have available. I know they say to do 2/3 browns and 1/3 greens but since my brown portion is straight wood chips which are extremely high in carbon I was thinking that maybe I need to do more like 1/2 chips and then 1/2 greens? Any thoughts on this? The wood chips were from the tree service which dumped them for free right out of the wood chipper. They have been sitting on my driveway for 2 months so they are already somewhat decomposed. The grass and manure is all fresh.