Homesteading

[BIGSCOTT]

I haven't posted in a while either, been to busy, flooded out here in Texas, been between giving up and planting more, either way it's alot of work
would rather be up in the high country panning gold, dug and canned another two cases of potatoes, then tilled the rest in, with all this wet they wont keep,
no sense in even trying and have to shovel rotten potatoes out of the root cellar come september, but I did not get blossom end rot in my tomatoes and am selling
quite a few of those, the parks whopper is a superior tomato, and the little stores around here buy all that I bring them, also the sun sugar snack, sweet 100, and
isis candy are great snacking tomatoes, I sell them to the stores that have boat ramps, the fisherman love to throw a couple of bunches in the ice chest to snack on
while they are out angeling for ''Old Sam''.

 

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[Chizzy]

Deepseeker,
I stumbled upon this thread about 2 hours ago (around midnight) and could not stop reading.
First, congratulations on living the dream.........many independent folks would love to take on the challenges you have........myself included. You have a great deal of determination and courage. That is said with the utmost respect and admiration.........
Second, in the first 12 pages you covered the items I would have suggested............ the root cellar, spring house and composting...........
Third, being from the same generation and a country boy, you've brought back many cherished childhood memories.............
Thank you, best of luck and keep putting one foot in front of the other............

PS: My wife, a Methodist pastor, would love seeing this thread............you have it in the proper perspective..........faith, family, finances.............

 

[DeepseekerADS]

PS: My wife, a Methodist pastor, would love seeing this thread............you have it in the proper perspective..........faith, family, finances.............

Thank you!

Gardening kinda sneaks up on you. It would help when I learn when to harvest. And the things you don't expect. Like my turnip greens. They were doing great, and in the short period of just a week they went buggy...

I haven't pulled the plants out yet, so the leaf worms are still chomping away - while I'm sitting here asking myself if I should even wait to see if the turnips develop. I don't even know if I'll get turnips out of them - the leaves are getting disgustingly destroyed. So, I ask myself if I should pull them all.

This square foot gardening thing - the greatest thing since Swiss cheese. But for example, with the turnips, they are so packed together I didn't even notice those leaf worms eating them. The radishes were crap, ate a few but only a few as they went fibrous very quickly. And about 1/4 of everything I planted in those squares just did nothing. The onions didn't make it at all = all gone. Carrots seem stuck in limbo.

My Yukon Gold tater plants are all dying, while the Russett Burbank's right next to them are healthy and growing...

Certainly a lot has to do with the soil. The idiot in me thought I'd put together a great mixture of compost, original soil, biochar, and others.

I have the beds, and they are permanent, but I'll certainly be thinking how to handle the spacings during the following rotations.

 

[releventchair]

Deep ,your beds might steady out after resting over the winter. They may be a little "hot" in blend still?
Radishes are early crop and do get punky if left beyond a certain point, and don't sing happily in the heat.
Taters are happy in sandy soil, if moisture is sufficient but where ever they are certain types are more susceptible to wilt and other ailments. While normally they don't die back till mature ,once they start dying off in their tops they seldom recover.
Till cause if figured I'd kill tops off the sick ones and burn them.
Then leave the taters in the earth a while to toughen skins and harvest early.
Next plantings can be from the hearty stock you have now or from stock not susceptible to wilt,ect. Just my opinion though ,you're the one doin.
Wilt can stay in soil so same susceptible stock replanted would respond the same,IF wilt is the cause.
No idea of what's goin on with the turnips, maybe bugs after sugar juice in them.. but spraying a sample corner with a light dish soap,water and plug tobacco soaked concoction would be tempting.
Or maybe dust with D.E..
Hang in there! Your way ahead of myself and many others, cept'in a few bugs and bunnies.

 

[Bullet:Mich.]

Happy Fathers Day to all the fathers. I am not a big believer of chemicals but with all the bugs, cut worms and ant problems that every one is having this year I am suggesting some dusting with Garden Tech Sevin, you can buy it by the can or bags. Kills over 65 insects with out hurting your plants and it will take care of your problems with the insects.

 

[Chizzy]

Haven't read all the way through the thread, yet.........and this may be redundant, but have you checked your pH levels in the compost/soil? The ideal reading should be around 6.1 to 6.9. If off (high or low), it will need balancing by adding more acidic or alkaline materials based on the current reading. It may take a season to get the balance correct. Test kits can be found at ag store..........or at the large box stores..............

 

[DeepseekerADS]

Every place I test my soil here, in the ground and in the beds, the instrument PH reads 7.5

My brother took my queue at his land and now has begun gardening as well. Everywhere I tested his soil, it was 7.5

Now me thinks maybe me meter ain't a good reader

So, that makes me think I really do not know my PH. To be safer I'll purchase another meter from a different source.

My relevant friend, that's pretty good advice on the taters = I'll do that VERY soon!

And Bullet, I'll check out that Garden Tech Sevin.

I decided to go at my turnips. I completely thinned them to just a few which actually showed a turnip growing. I'm going to see how they do now after that, maybe I'll learn something.

After my experiences with the square foot gardening and the resulting crowding, I'm not so sure about this method. But, this is my first year, so I'll be a little more tolerant.

The advice you get! Like that Postage Stamp Orchard I purchased and installed as they suggested.... And Virginia Tech takes a look at that and flips out. I'm going to trust VT on that one.

In a sense, I've lost a little respect for the "experts". Virginia Tech, I believe in.

I have a whole bag of DE sitting around. I'll dust some of that on the surviving turnips, and maybe a few others. I'm starting to see little beetles on the blackberries, bite spots on the grapes, etc. So, I think I'll dust some. I have now begun to experience the bug side of gardening

My oldest daughter will be here in a little bit for Father's Day, and it sure is getting hot out there.

 

[BIGSCOTT]

turnips are cool weather crop, meters can read false ph, all that meter does is measure conductivity, salt and electrolytes and even water can give you false readings as they raise the coductivity, you can use litmus paper
but it is really only accurate to .5's Ferry Morse seed company sells a soil test kit for $17.00 that does 20 ph test's and 10 each of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potash, it comes with little test tubes and a color
chart you fill the tube with the soil you want to test, to the dirt line then fill the rest of the way with distilled water then you ad one of the green capsules, put the top on and shake well.
let sit about 10 minutes and compare to the color chart, the n,p,k test you fill a ''clean glass' jar with one part soil to be tested and 4 parts distilled water shake vigorusly for about 5 minutes
then let set until everything settles, and test the water with test tube capsule, and color chart, soil should be tested from about 4 inches down - even with a meter, take your meter
and test a glass of tap water then add 2 tablespoons of salt and stir until dissolved, test again the ph should read higher, even the ph did not go up the conductivity did. I still do soil test's ocasionally
but I go as much by smell as anything acid soil will have kind of a swampy hogpen kind of a smell like my girlfriend, akaline will have a sweet kind of like a greenhouse smell.
all my life I have farmed, drilled oil wells, and done earthen construction, my motto is ''You just have to be a little smarter than the dirt your diggin in''

 

[DeepseekerADS]

Scott, thanks for the tips. I'll be getting one of Ferry Morse kits. If this is going to be a science, then I need to become a scientist.

I cut back all the Yukon Gold taters, and dug out the babies. Mom mixed in a can of green beans and we had an extremely delicious meal. The wilted plants, I sent to the burn pile. Only the other 8 taters there now, and if they start wiling, well, green beans and baby taters again.

Now, I won't say anything about the smell of your girlfriend My girlfriend has 32 horses and is very active with them. And I really like her.

My daughter has gone home, Father's Day is over - didn't really matter anyway except to see my daughter.

This evening will be melancholy, alone in the upstairs, company gone, beer gone, and one sip of brandy left

 

[BIGSCOTT]

about the same for me little bit of beer left but not for long, all the kids texted me, and my son said he would bring my grandaughter by but never showed, oh well at least
Jordan Speith won the U.S.Open, now across the pond to Saint Andrew's

 

[DeepseekerADS]

Tis a new day, and I'm heading out for the day to help on the horse farm

 

[Bullet:Mich.]

What does your girl friend do with all her horses?

 

[DeepseekerADS]

She saves endangered horse species. We put up a new (BIG) gate between pastures. Post hole digger me in the heat of the day. I was soaked with sweat, looked like I'd wet my pants! Lot's of water during and a good beer at the end.

 

[Bullet:Mich.]

It sounds real interesting. Were you using a gas powered post hole digger or the kind with two wooden handles?

 

[DeepseekerADS]

Two wooden handles Holes were 2-3' deep in hard red dirt & rocks.

I'll sleep well tonight.....

 

[Reed Lukens]

Do you want me to log this?
Keep the faith!

I live on our family homestead and like you I was the first to move onto it in 50 years and that was 30 years ago now. Our old Forrester past away last year and I do not know who are new one is but... You should look up and see if you have a forrester already who can come in and mark the trees. Would I cut down the timber? Yes, BUT away from the areas that I want to remain natural and do not cut anything between you and a road or freeway because of the added noise. I went round and round on this with my dad but at that time this land was his and he really didn't care about the land like I do. So he ended up logging between us and the freeway and it has never been the same. At one time in 86 and before, the freeway couldn't be seen from here but now and ever since he logged in 87, we can see it and hear it LOUDLY because he removed the barrier between us and society... I was always in agreement to logging but never around the houses that were between all of us and I80. So for me selective logging can be a good thing if needed. I cut wood for years and even used a wood cook stove and life was good. I raised my kids here. Now it's just me and the wife, the kids are all gone or dead, so a in 2005 I put in propane and got ready to retire and I have been retired here for 4 years. It's a good life and I would do it again in an instant I have 72 acres left out of 160 and I have made myself and my family a good income off of this land. I retired my parents in 1988 by making the right decisions on this land. I have Gold in the stream and gravity fed water from up on the hill. Plus I worked for Sierra Pacific for 25 years and when we needed timber cut or if I needed clear fir boards, I got the best prices by far from my employer. My family homesteaded in 1917 and here's a pic of our house when it was being built then in 1917. We do get snow

 

[Reed Lukens]

So I thought I would read this after I posted on logging and for next winter put a damper in that stove. On those older style stoves a damper in the pipe makes a huge difference in regulating the heat and up to 25% on the wood usage. Any hardware store with wood stoves will have one. They are cheap and easy to install.

 

[Reed Lukens]

But then I try my best to keep the house warm, Mom is 89 and cold natured...

If your mom has stove pipe going through her room you can add a stack robber for more heat for her. When there is no pipe I have found that the small electric oil filled heaters give off good enough heat to warm any certain room in the house. I use 1 in our bedroom and that's it for that end of the house, we have a couple rooms that we don't use as well. Another great place to shop for chainsaw parts is Husqvarna Chainsaws, Outdoor Power Equipment and Tree Care Supplies from Bailey's and I have used their carbide tipped saw chain for years because it really cuts down on the sharpening. I won't buy anything else for hardwood anymore. I usually get the 3 loop special, buy 2 get 1 free... but that was long ago now Carbide Chainsaw Chain (3/8" X .050") | Chainsaw Chain (3/8" Pitch) | Husqvarna Chainsaws, Outdoor Power Equipment and Tree Care Supplies from Baileysonline
I also have 2 chain-saw mills, they do make straight cutting a lot easier and you can also buy ripping chain from Baileys for cutting boards. It cleans out the saw dust a lot easier and the saw dust is the size of dust when you are ripping lengthwise down a 20'ft tree. They have external oilers for the chain but I just pour it on the bar myself or let the wife do it. Plus I always have a small chainsaw filled only with vegetable oil and this is strictly for quartering beef, moose, or any large animal. It makes moving it quick and easy when compared to cutting by hand.

 

[Reed Lukens]

Questions:

1) I read somewhere a long time ago that if you throw coffee grounds and salt into your wood stove fire it would help in keeping soot and creosote build-up down. I've found nothing to back that up, even did a Google search. Anyone have input on that?

Nope, just use a brush.
I was a chimney sweep for a long time and I believe your stove just has a metal plate inside so lift it up and remove the plate, the clean the chimney from the bottom through the stove. Just cover the front with a painters drop cloth and run a shop vac under the cloth and have it up out of the way inside the stove to keep any soot from coming out of the stove when cleaning the pipe. You can put a hepa filter on most shop vacs and it works great. I actually have a tool for cleaning my chimney from inside and I still clean chimneys for friends. 2028 - Wohler 2028 Compact Viper XS with handle and belt clip, 50ft long - at the Test Equipment Depot /wohler/images/mini-viper.jpg

 

[BIGSCOTT]

Hey deep I didnt know you had a PHD