Homesteading

[joncutt87]

Another something I've been wondering about....

Anyone here grow coffee? I posted a thread about that in the survival forum quite a while back.

Coffee is an essential! I've read they'll grow in climates like I have here.

I would think that our winters would cold enough to kill the plants, but I could be wrong. Chicory, is a long time southern substitute for coffee, I believe that luzianne brand still mixes it into their coffee. Roasted soybeans are also supposed to be a good sub.

 

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[joncutt87]

Party at T.H.'s house; after complementary coffee of course.

Corn trellised beans and squash for shading the ground to discourage weeds. If I needed a challenge it would be corn....hmm.
Getting wild ideas about scratchin in the dirt reading this thread.

I didn't even trellis, I just let the peas climb the corn.

 

[DeepseekerADS]

It's a powdered fungus/bacteria that the seed peas get soaked in prior to planting.

Interesting.... Do you remember any details about the fungus/bacteria?

 

[joncutt87]

N-dure brand bought it along with my seeds from johnny seeds, 1/2 lb of it was $5 I think.

 

[DeepseekerADS]

Here's the link I posted about growing your own coffee plants....

http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/s...steps-growing-coffee-even-where-you-live.html

 

[releventchair]

I didn't even trellis, I just let the peas climb the corn.

Understood. Thanks.

 

[joncutt87]

I also had grand plans of letting the peas grow up the side of the chain link fence of the chicken lot, to provide a little extra summer shade. But the chickens found the peas, and had other plans.

 

[releventchair]

Horse manure can work. I had few takers though when in possession of a couple horses worth. It can get weedy. The route to take is to compost it to kill weed seeds,(and "bugs") first. That also assures it will not be too "hot" if still green in places. With the normal bedding material mixed with it from stall cleaning it is in good shape usually to compost easy. A fancy covered bin can be used but just three foot high piles will too. Keep them about as damp as a wrung out sponge. Turn them often with a pitch fork,(thus the manageable pile size) moistening a load before adding to a pile makes it easier if working on site with horses. On a well drained site so it does not get too wet and covered with a tarp it should be ready in a couple months. It will be about half the original volume. Well aged, last years at least, better to work with. Green /fresh if kept away from roots or where they can reach it in time and get fried, can be used in a hot frame to start seedlings as it adds heat. I'm no fan of tomatoes but Dad had to have one during early spring one year from a greenhouse where the owners depended on horses. Very bland and we concluded it was from horse manure causing plants to "shoot" ( to grow too fast) combined with the rushed growth of the green house.
Definitely usable manure as long as it is aged to start and preferably composted first. A couple inches over beds of established plantings will get washed down into them.

 

[releventchair]

George Washington Sears was a little guy;with a big mind. His gear was light, kind of an early ultra light mentality but for him based on practicality.
When considering what some call survival was referred to then as roughing it. A time came when he saw the future of his own mortality and set out to enjoy what was left of his time and what was left of his wilderness.
My favorite take away was the mentality of not going out to "rough it" but to "smooth it". A way of not fighting life and required tasks but a more harmonious as it can be accomplished with time and reason approach without stressing.

The Project Gutenberg eBook of Woodcraft, by Nessmuk.

 

[DeepseekerADS]

Cut wood this morning. Took Mom to a doctor's appointment and stopped by the grocery store. The gal I had spoken to about horse manure said they have a big pile which is several years old. I asked her to talk to her husband about selling me a pick-up truck load of it, and how much money they'd want. With it several years old, it's perfectly aged! Right into the beds it will go!

And, then I came home and cut more wood, split it all and stacked it. Green Acres is the place for me, farm living is the life for me. Land spreading out so far and wide, you can keep Manhattan, just give me that country life

About a month ago, I had an apple tree in the back yard which was diseased and nearly completely dead. There was one branch that had leaves on it during the Summer. Mom said that apple tree was her great grandfather's. She said he made his own varieties. That tree is gone now, consumed by my stove. But one branch still had some buds on it. I took 6 of the tiny limbs and stood them up in a glass of water. Figured maybe I could root them. And, voila! This morning before leaving Mom told me to take a look at the glass. All 6 of the tiny limbs had flowers on them, and the beginning of roots!

Just maybe I've saved a one of a kind legacy apple tree. If all 6 survive replanting, I'll do them all in a row, and maybe someday enjoy apples from my great great grandfather's apple tree!

I just did that as a shot in the dark, had no idea they might live.

 

[releventchair]

Never messed with apple trees but have read that each is unique. Something like, an apple used to seed a new tree will not produce the same fruit as the parent tree did. Yet a cutting ups the odds greatly. Grafting used for certain purposes can result in duplication of original stocks fruit as well but requires trees to graft to.

 

[joncutt87]

A cutting or a graft will be genetically identical to the parent plant. Grafts are used a lot to take a variety with good production and put it onto a variety with a better rootstock. Thus giving you a higher yield and a better root system. Then you get a tree with two different DNA's. Where it really gets fun though, is when you keep grafting different trees together. You can start with an apple; then graft on a pear, peach, plum, orange, different apple varieties. The sky is the limit.

The 40 fruit tree: The Tree of 40 Fruit Is Exactly as Awesome as It Sounds | Epicurious.com

 

[DeepseekerADS]

The 40 fruit tree: The Tree of 40 Fruit Is Exactly as Awesome as It Sounds | Epicurious.com

Now that's an idea I can play with!

Thanks! It just goes to show how individuals can add to a whole!

 

[DeepseekerADS]

Every dog deserves a day off.....

I went to NC to visit my oldest friend and his wife. I think his wife was trying to hook me up with a gal. There was the build-up, nothing forward now = no hint they were setting me up! She was cute, extremely "comely", and kinda a little duh..... That would be a kick in the face to an electrified brain...

However, didn't I say she was quite comely? Hmmmmm.... Time out of my schedule though....

Went to Sunday School, stayed just for that, and came home & cut another tree. My brother stayed for service, and by the time he came up the driveway I had the tree down and cut up. I motioned him up the house as he was wearing them Sunday kinda clothes. I finished the complete tree, loaded on my truck, took it up to my house and had it all split and stacked, collapsed in my chair at 3:00. Another solid 3 hours of cutting, and about another week's supply stacked at the back of the house.

Been laying out the bottom land on AutoCad, and figured right off the bat, 1 x 3' by 6' bed, 4 x 4' by 8' bed, and 4 x 4' by 4' beds. That required 25 1"x 6"x 8' boards. So, I checked pricing. Lowes Home Supply wants $550.00 for those boards..... Yipes! Looks like my boards will come off the demo of the wash house, and I'll have to re-figure my bed sizes, and still have enough boards to fix the chicken house, built a new spring house enclosure (I get my water from our ancestral spring), and get some bed in. My future plan was for my bedding boards to rot away over time feeding the compost, and lining the beds with rock to make them permanent.

That's hauling a lot of rock - but got plenty. Just more labor involved!

However, I will get there, one option or another. I've plenty time to haul rocks when I'm not cutting wood, or actually sometimes entertaining my self

Some might refer to it as entertainment! These two months I've been going at it here, all that wood toting, I'm down right now pushing 25 lbs, and I'm regularly working out on my lumberjack activities....

I remain dreaming of vegetables Food and decreased expenses... Oh for the days I'm not at a store buy food or hardware....

 

[joncutt87]

What part of nc were you in?

 

[joncutt87]

2x6x8 might be cheaper, 25 in my area would run $132

 

[releventchair]

Could split some timbers to make bed walls. Chainsaw guides can be used to cut planks but free hand can work too.
These guys are not wearing safety gear but the point is the cuts. Once outer slabs are knocked off , just ripping down the length, diameter of timber determining number of planks. About half the wood becoming sawdust.
Smaller diameter limbs once skinned can be stacked between stakes for walls. Even butted to get length sufficient to your specs. That was my choice last bed. Price was right and the less I run a saw the better!
Your budget may afford all planned beds with store bought planks or one a year...
Rocks get heavy but you know that. I did a wheelie hauling a tractor once with a truck and one load of rocks gave that floating front end feeling again...

 

[DeepseekerADS]

What part of nc were you in?

I was in Eden, which I actually claim as my home town. Worked 2nd shift in the cotton mills there till I graduated high school and joined the army. Eden is about an hour's drive from my farm.

2x6x8 at under $6.00 each? I need to be looking somewhere besides Lowes!!!

 

[DeepseekerADS]

Smaller diameter limbs once skinned can be stacked between stakes for walls.

That's a pretty interesting idea there! Got plenty of those. Usually I burn them as kindling. Like that tree I cut yesterday, I left only the very small ones behind. I do have a couple of brush piles growing. My brother has decided he's going to clear my forest of undergrowth. Great idea by him and a blessing to me, as with me it is the priorities first. And my priorities say removal of the undergrowth would have to come later.

 

[releventchair]

Show em how ol boy.