hans muster

John Polk wrote:The "European Honey Bee" was brought to North America in the early 1600's.

They have been in the U.S. long before tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, zucchini, potatoes, cantaloupes, corn, watermelons, okra (and hundreds of other fruits/vegetables).  If he wants to be an ass about the bees not being native, give him Hell about his selection of vegetables.

Corn was in the US much earlier than the Europeans, originating from Latin America.
It was documented Canada in the year 400-600, and was in New York 500 years earlier.
Crawford et al. 2006 wrote a paper about the topic.
https://tinyurl.com/3zbfhvnt
I find it really interesting how the different crop were domesticated and evolved in different regions. Corn, after reaching Europe post-Columbuss, even lead to diseases as the nixtamalization process was unknown.

A beautiful video, subtitled in English, on sustainable shipping. Wooden ships

I'll probably never own a boat, but just for the beauty and the craftsmanship, it was worth watching these 20 minutes on India and France

Another trick, especially if you have suboptimal, wet soil, is to put powdered dry charcoal on the cut end of the carrot. Some breeders also take a core sample of the carrots (with a core sampler), to get the taste of the whole carrot, not only the bottom or top part.

Mk Neal wrote:Translucent fiberglass is an option that may be somewhat more sustainable than plastic. Rigid fiberglass is something like half glass half resin (commonly polyester). So it’s not plastic free, but lower plastic content and because it’s durable and long-lasting you’re not continually shedding and replacing plastic.

[...]

In sustainability, you have several levels, here according to Kramer 2017, which is an expansion of the Reduce, Reuse, Recycle motto.

Refuse
Reduce
Renew/Redesign
Reuse
Repair
Refurbish
Remanufacture
Repurpose
Recycle
Recover

By using rigid fibreglass, you on the one hand reduce plastic production, on the other hand you make reusing, repairing, recycling much more difficult. Depending on your context, it may, or it may not, be more sustainable.

This is always a tricky thing, sustainability of a greenhouse, and interesting topic. Here a few of my thoughts:

So, if you just want to manipulate the microclimate, check out the fruit walls on lowtechmagazine:
https://solar.lowtechmagazine.com/2015/12/fruit-walls-urban-farming-in-the-1600s/



Otherwise, you have different options to build a greenhouse:
-Plastic films (lasting 1 to 8 seasons, depending on quality)
-Polycarbonate, plexiglass, and other thick and stable plastics.
-Glass

Plastic films have the least embedded energy/carbon/petrol. Important to use UV stable film, as otherwise become brittle.
Thick and durable plastic may last longer (if of good quality!) but have much more embedded energy/carbon/petrol. They may become brittle and break into small particles
Glass require energy/carbon/petrol to melt, however does not pollute itself, as it is inert. Often forgotten, is that glass can be found second-hand (often for free), and if you are flexible with building pattern, you can have a low carbon footprint. Hail is one of the dangers with glass, except when you have bullet-proof windows.

One way to look at the sustainability is: how much plastic film do I use for a tunnel, and how much plastic would I buy if I buy the products instead of growing myself?

Edited to add link to picture from the lowtechmagazine, it is highly a recommended lecture, as it goes into the history of greenhouses and several alternatives.

Therer are fractions of biochar that do breakdown. Other fractions are stable for centuries.
I guess your soil is sandy: Clay and biochar builds, similarly to clay and humus, clay-biochar complexes, which are more stable.

Hi,
after a deay, finally a link about the production of biochar:
https://www.ithaka-institut.org/en/kon-tiki

The Kon-Tiki is one of the simplest way to produe biochar I know of. You dig a pit, start a fire at the bottom, add biomass as soon as the uppre layer start to tun into ashes, repeat. When the pit is full, extinguish, let cool down.
After that, you have to mix the biochar with compost, urine, weed juice, or other similar things to charge it with nutrients. Otherwise it might reduce production.

Advantages of biochar compared to compost or mulch are the longevity. The beneficial effects of biochar stay for centuries.

Hi Rufaro,

you asked about using the pine shavings in your garden, if they could harm your plants:

My way of knowing this would be to use the pine shavings in one part of a few beds (with different crops, as mulch, pre-composted, etc), to have a comparison of what works best for your conditions.

Something you could try, would be to make biochar out of your pine shavings: biochar can be made out of many different organic matter, with a process called pyrolysis. For example you can do it with weeds containing seeds, leftover wood, etc. It is the same process as making charcoal.

The advantages biochar has is that it increases water infiltration and aeration in the soil, reduces some diseases, bind nutrients, and therefore increases production. It also sanitizes the organic matter (killing weed seeds, diseases, and pests).

Write if you have access to a lot of organic matter, and are interested in producing your own biochar.

I have grafted many species, but never sea buckthorn so far. A quick google search just returned generic AI nonsense, I don't have access to my resources right now, but would try. I had good success with apples, pears, and plums in august, as long as the scionwood was fresh.

There are two reasons why your males die: they don't like to underground, or they don't like the above-ground conditions.

If your lonely male grew well enough that you can remove a part, could you try grafting it onto a locally well developped sucker?

Joseph's point of the same genetics might still apply even though it is a different supplier. Was your male a named variety?