casey lem

It's tough to pick just one,,,,,, My preferred technique now is mulching in fall with aged manure topped with wood chips. I guess if I could only have one I would say just wood chips. They can be applied any time of year and the benefits are many.

I like to have multiple amendments to work with. We've come to a point where we use a combination of vermicompost with biochar, aged manure, wood chips, and yes... store bought liquid and granular organic fertilizers( I hear you booing). It's useful to have several things in the toolbox.

But if I have one vote, wood chips.

Prevention is key. Stretch, warm up, stretch again. Take breaks. Listen to your body, stop before a pain becomes an injury. Hydration is often ignored, drink water.

When an injury does happen I like to go the natural route first. Tiger balm, icy hot, etc. are great. Arnica can seem to work wonders. Ginger and tumeric for inflammation. Massage and pressure points. CBD is great for pain and inflammation.

When these don't work I'll reach for a NSAID. For me it's ibuprofen, for my wife it's naproxen sodium, everyone is different.

Mattock. The kind with an adze on one side and a claw cultivator on the other. I have a hand size one that is the go to for almost any job I need to do. I've tried to find a larger one with a longer handle for tougher jobs, but have yet to find one that isn't a ridiculous price.

Eggs. Our dogs love them. I crack a raw one over their kibble as often as I can. Our older dog is 14 and still has a good appetite, but goes gonzo when she knows she's getting an egg. Maybe whisk them first so they can soak into the food to encourage your dog to eat it all.

Hard cider. I guess it"s not for everyone, but it's sooooo easy to make. You can find instructional videos everywhere. Keeps forever, makes a wonderful gift.

We always do asian long beans. Have put in squash successfully. This year it's corn, long beans, and potatoes, which has done quite well. Best of luck.

Leaves for tea, yes. Berries, delicious, a bit of a pain to harvest. But my favorite, the leaves are a high protein chicken fodder( can't recall the %). For easy clean up cut green twigs about 3 feet long, toss em to birds, pick up bare sticks later. Oh, don't forget mulberry wine.......

After being incredibly frustrated with them stealing our apples and no deterrent working, I came to the conclusion that I needed to focus on harvesting squirrels first, apples second. Some people may not like it, but a conibear trap will last a lifetime if properly maintained, and will harvest a lot of protein. A good air rifle is a quality investment as well.

I like the easiest option, which is freezing. Last year I did make lactofermented hot sauce which was amazing and lasted a scary long time in the fridge. Ferment sliced peppers in brine for a few days, then blend. Strain if you wish season however. Tons of recipies online. But, yeah, we're busy, easy button.....freeze em.

  We were very exited last year when, after ten years, we finally got our first crop of hazlenuts. Unfourtunatley, after drying them, they were almost all hollow when we went to shell them. Brief research suggested the soil wasn't fertile enough, so over the winter I applied mulch and aged poultry manure. I was exited to see another decent crop this year. When I cracked them fresh they were all full nuts, but after drying all were hollow again. At this point I have very tall squirrel feeders, what can we do?