Backyard Garden Survivalists's topics - tribe.net

To the SF Bay Area Survivalists

2008-10-06T16:21:44Z

In case the SHTF, I want to let all you fellow Bay Area Survivalists know that my home/property is open to those of you that are in more urban areas. Our property is more suburban on the edge of rural, it isn't huge, and we have a small house, but we definitely have enough of a backyard to help out others. Some of our neighbors have even larger lots and will possibly be willing to share the wealth as long as we help do the work. We also live walking distance to a wilderness area with awesome hunting opportunities (prolific deer and turkey populations that aren't afraid of people) if the need arises.

Power in numbers.

posted in Backyard Garden Survivalists - 1 reply

Visting with Chuck

2008-10-06T05:13:05Z

Hey all. I just returned from a trip to California and had the honor of visiting with our moderator Chuck. I was delighted to meet him and his energetic wife and see their corner of the world! Chuck is an herbalist as am I and it was a great suprise to find when I arrived that I was able to sit in on one of his herbal classes! He is a delightful instructor with a very creative teaching style...I was inspired Thanks Chuck for visiting with John and I, and for your hospitality.
Blessings
Linda

posted in Backyard Garden Survivalists - 1 reply

Sometimes It Is Better to Evacuate

2008-10-06T03:06:24Z

Islanders who insisted on staying died in Ike By MONICA RHOR, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 59 minutes ago

GALVESTON, Texas - The final hours brought the awful realization to victims of Hurricane Ike that they had waited too long. This storm wasn't like the others, the ones that left nothing worse than a harrowing tale to tell.

George Helmond, a hardy Galveston salt, watched the water rise and told a buddy: I was born on this island and I'll die on this island.

Gail Ettenger, a free spirit who adopted the Bolivar Peninsula as her home 15 years ago, told a friend in a last phone call: I really messed up this time.

Within hours, the old salt and the free spirit were gone as the powerful Category 2 hurricane wracked the Texas Gulf Coast on Sept. 13, flattening houses, obliterating entire towns and claiming at least 33 lives.

The dead — as young as 4, as old as 79 — included lifelong Galvestonians firmly rooted on the island and transplants drawn by the quiet of coastal living.

Seven people drowned in a storm surge that moved in earlier and with more ferocity than expected. Nine others died in the grimy, sweaty aftermath, when lack of power and medicine exacted its toll. Eleven people were poisoned by carbon monoxide or killed in fires from the generators they used in their own attempts to survive.

Hundreds of people remain missing three weeks after Ike's assault on Texas. Local and city officials are no longer keeping their own count of missing residents, and the estimate varies wildly from one agency to another.

According to the nonprofit Laura Recovery Center, about 300 people are missing. Of those, about 200 from Galveston. However, the number "goes up and down by the minute" as people call in to remove or add names, cautioned executive director Bob Walcutt.

Some vanished during the evacuation of towns in the storm's path. Many were last heard in desperate, last-ditch calls for help.

Immediately after the hurricane, Galveston officials conducted door-to-door searches for survivors and possible victims. But the city is no longer taking an active role in the search, city spokeswoman Alicia Cahill said.

Instead, search teams of sheriff's deputies, volunteer firefighters and special K-9 search and recovery units have been using airboats and all-terrain vehicles to sift through debris fields, tangled and fetid marshlands, and the rubble left behind by Ike.

Bodies could have been tossed anywhere in the marshes, where thickets of trees are littered with the contents of houses. Refrigerators, office chairs, and television sets are scattered everywhere __ in the mud, in bushes, on treetops.

"We are definitely looking and are going to do anything we can to find them, but there may not be any answers to be given," said Galveston County emergency management spokesman Colin Rizzo. "There are definitely going to be people from Hurricane Ike that are never found."

_____

Gail Ettenger stumbled upon her house in Gilchrist by accident. But once she saw the site on the bay side of Bolivar Peninsula, she knew she would never leave.

Ettenger, a native of New Jersey, instilled the house with her own energy and style. The 58-year-old's garden bloomed with vibrant birds-of-paradise.

And Reba, an 11-year-old Great Dane hobbled by arthritis, was her baby. Ettenger loved to treat the dog to dinners of chicken and roast beef, recalled JoAnne Burks, Ettenger's neighbor and close friend.

Ettenger, a chemist at ExxonMobil, didn't evacuate, reasoning that her house had weathered Hurricane Rita in 2005 without a problem. She also did not want to leave Reba, who could no longer climb into Ettenger's Jeep.

Burks and her husband pleaded with Ettenger to change her mind. But she insisted.

Hours before Ike made landfall, Ettenger knew she had made the wrong choice. She called Burks and described the water pushing up under her feet, the propane tanks and other household items drifting by her windows, and wondered which would float better: her Jeep or her house.

Her voice was shaky with fear, Burks said.

Burks spent the next 10 days searching for her friend, calling local, county and state officials without success. She tried the American Red Cross, FEMA, even private investigators.

"I didn't want her to wind up like the victims of Katrina, who were never found or identified," Burks said.

Ettenger's body was found Sept. 23, tossed on a debris field in a Chambers County marsh about 10 miles from her house.

Amid the muck and remnants of homes, Burks found a pink leather collar. The name Reba was spelled out in rhinestones.

_____

At 72, George Helmond had ridden out many storms and thought he could take on Ike, too, neighbor Don Hanson said. "A lot of old Galvestonians are like that."

Helmond had been one of the first residents of Sydnor Lane, which overlooks a bayou on one side and a golf course on the other. A retired electrician, Helmond was a die-hard fisherman, a dove hunter and straight-shooter intensely proud of his Galveston roots.

Around 10 a.m., Helmond called Hanson, who had already left, to say the water had already slipped over the road and toward his house. The street — the only way out of the neighborhood — was already impassable.

At 9:30 p.m., Helmond and Hanson talked for the last time. By then, the water had pummeled through Helmond's garage, crushing the doors and submerging his Cadillac. Hanson begged his friend to grab a life vest at his house or to seek shelter there.

But at 2:30 a.m., for reasons no one knows, Helmond got in his pickup truck and drove off at the height of Ike's fury.

Neighbors found Helmond's body the next day inside the truck, which had slammed into the white golf course fence. The windshield was shattered.

Helmond's home suffered little damage. The water had reached above the first-floor garage, but not inside the house.

"If he had stayed home and hadn't gone out, he'd be OK, but he panicked," said Hanson, 66. "Life goes on, but I will miss a good friend and I will think about him."

_____

Even as Ike bore down on Texas, Jim Devine refused to leave his cream-colored house within sight of the bay in San Leon. Devine had moved to the fishing town after retiring and loved the tranquil way of life there, neighbors said.

The 76-year-old Devine drowned when Ike sent water barreling through his house, picking him off the second-story porch and dropping him a block away. Days later, Devine's empty home still bore the scars of the storm — shattered windows, twisted wood, and his boat, the Seabar, jammed under the front steps.

His daughter left a warning and a memorial in orange spray paint: "Jim Devine. No Trespassing."

_____

Port Bolivar held special meaning for 79-year-old Marian Violet Arrambide. She met her husband there during World War II. Many years later, he built the beach house where they could retire.

Arrambide, a retired nurse suffering the onset of dementia, lived with her daughter, Magdalena Strickland, and nephew, Shane Williams, in that beach house before Ike struck.

All three have been missing since the morning of Sept. 12, just as Ike began to come ashore.

"My sister said 'I'm walking out the door in a hurry. Everything's taken care of, I'll see you in a few hours.' That was it," said son Raul Arrambide, describing a 6:15 a.m. phone call.

Since then, Arrambide has had little luck getting help or information. Instead, Arrambide said, he's been passed from one agency to another.

"They send you back and forth until you're worn out," said Arrambide, his voice showing the strain of the last weeks.

After five days with no word and no answers, Arrambide borrowed a boat to search the area himself, but sheriff's deputies turned people away. He finally found a local contractor who is helping search for missing residents. That man found his relatives' vehicles, which had been washed off the road into a tree grove.

"I want to keep the hope that they are still alive, but by not hearing from any of them, that hope is getting smaller and smaller," he said. "They helped people all their lives. They did not deserve to go this way."

posted in Backyard Garden Survivalists - 4 replies

To make many of you drool.....

2008-10-05T14:40:57Z

Hey guys...between the tribe.net outage and my honey killing three computers (two desktops and one laptop!) in 36hrs a couple of weeks ago, I haven't been around. Sorry! :-/

We found an ad and have been interacting with this nice fellow....the ad is for a 40 acres place, 4bd old farm house, 3bd newer house, 3bd apartment over one of the MANY barns and outbuildings, indoor riding arena, hay fields, forest, pastures, fruit trees. *GULP* He wants $3,500/mo and is willing to rent to own it. It's in the SW Washington area, outside a medium-sized town, within a fifty mile commute of large towns.

There are three of us so far VERY interested in this; we hope to go look at it tomorrow. The problem is that we cannot by our selves cover that large a monthly commitment, and are interested in finding...uh...."like minded souls" to get in on this. More of an agriculturally oriented confederacy than an intentional community, tho there would have to be some common understandings and goals.

Any ideas of where to look for people? I'm just not terribly social in general, and most of the folks I know are already committed in one way or another. I'm not crazy about the idea of undertaking a major endeavor with essentially strangers, but this place is such a peach! it'd be a shame to not even try to lay ahold of it. I know folks living in older converted buses often have a tough time finding a place to park and thought about trying to find some sort of central contact point for them. I'm pulling out and dusting off my old notes and biz plans for agritourism stuff....we're about self reliant on livestock, but could grow if we had the room and were all in one place.

I'm probably just dreaming here, but thought I'd throw it out there and see if any one had further ideas.

posted in Backyard Garden Survivalists - 5 replies

It's a question of jam....

2008-10-03T19:15:02Z

5 Salal w/o pectin
5 Blueberry w/o pectin
5 raspberry w/o pectin
6 blackberry/raspberry w/o pectin
10raspberry w pectin

we now have a years supply of jam including christmas cookies. ( I make 2 thin sugar cookies with a splorch of jam in the middle, mush the edges, yum)

I do have a question; the jam I make without pectin is just 4 cups fruit, 4 cups sugar, boil to 220 (adjust for altitude), can. The jam with pectin is 6 cups fruit, 8.5 cups sugar, pectin, blah blah follow recipe.

So, How in the hell does the jam with less sugar wind up being so much sweeter? Really, it's like candy. WTF? (not that I mind, but I'm rather confused)

posted in Backyard Garden Survivalists - 7 replies

Hard tack and flat bread recipes needed.

2008-10-03T05:26:23Z

Like the topic says...I need hard tack and flat bread recipes. Plus the Canadian version called Bannock. If anyone has actually eaten this type of bread I'd like some comments on texture and flavor.
I'll be experimenting with these recipes for a novel and for survival practice. Chuck Acker and Joe Schilling, if you are reading this, I suggest one of us teaches it next year at MAPS.

posted in Backyard Garden Survivalists - 11 replies

Tomato Forest

2008-10-01T21:12:01Z

For those of us who had a crappy tomato season, who have been reading your "holy crap what do I do with all these lovely, ripe tomato?" stories with bitter hate in our hearts.....ahem, I want to say that the "ripen them indoors" trick does actually work.

We were told to pull the whole plant up, and did, but decided to take a risk for cleaner floors and cut the roots and dirt off, and then trimmed the plants so that only the vines with viable fruit were brought in. We now have an upside down tomato forest in the study, strung up on bamboo between a door and a bookcase. They were all completely green when we brought them in, but in a few days, I'll be damned if some of them aren't already half done.

I shall post a picture of them when I get around to it.

posted in Backyard Garden Survivalists - 0 replies

Discovered a hidden treasure

2008-10-01T03:13:32Z

There is a dry field to the north of my house. Mostly it is covered in foxtails and molehills. There are ferral cats living in dry pipes underground here and there, the remnants of an irrigation system. Rotten twigs and the occasional stump marks the field as the location of what the local old-timers tell me, used to be a beautiful little apple orchard with a cider mill and a farmhouse in the center. The buildings have long ago burnt down, marked only by scraps of framing in the thigh-high yellow dead foxtail grass, and the broken-gravel chunks of what used to be cement foundations. The land was foreclosed, the orchard long lost, and a developer bought the land, and is supposedly waiting these past 20 years for zoning laws to change so they can turn it into an apartment complex.

My wife and I walked out into the field today, because it is convenient to the house and we felt like going for a short walk in the beautiful autumn weather. Toward the northeast back of the field, the ground abruptly slopes upward into wild land that was never farmed, all manner of natural trees and shrubs and animal trails. An enclosed irrigation canal traces the line where field and hill meet. And among the wild trees, in a slump in the landscape, a neglected portion of the canal continues to spill water into the abandoned field, allowing for a scrambled growth of stunted trees and boggy shrubs.

As we explored the brambles and copses, we discovered a treasure: Three rows of Bartlett Pear trees. Stunted, scraggly looking, the rows broken up and missing many trees. Almost impossible to recognize at a distance. But up close, it is easy to see the scores upon scores of perfect and near-perfectly ripe pears growing on the few trees that still thrive in the neglected overspill from the canal.

So my wife and I suddenly find ourselves with access to about twelve pear trees in full wild fruition and ripeness, and we'd sure hate for this gift of free treasure to go to waste. We're newlyweds and have moved around a lot. We have no canning supplies at all. What's the best way to get these pears into jars with minimum ammount of investing in canning supplies? What would you do?

posted in Backyard Garden Survivalists - 3 replies

Preserving Meat

2008-09-28T19:46:45Z

So, outside of canning via a pressure cooker, what are some good ways to preserve meat sans electricity.

I know how to and have made jerky. I have used a brine with seasonings that have included soy sauce, teryaki sauce, salt, garlic, onion, a couple different sorts of pepper, brown sugar, liquid smoke.....I am sure their are more but I cannot think of them. I have also used a dry rub, of mostly black pepper.
These I have done in an electric dehydrator but I know it works in a solar one and as a kid my dad used to string the strips up and hang them near the woodstove until they could be used as a shiv. So the basic steps would be something like

1. Prepare you seasoning. If brining, mix everything together in a container large enough to hold all the brine and all the meat.
2. Cut thin (nor more than 1/4 inch thick) pieces of lean meat into strips.
3. Apply seasoning. If using a brine, just add meat to the container. If using a rub, coat the strips and set aside or string immediately. The less you handle the rubbed strips, the better.
4. If using a brine, allow to sit in a refrigerated or cool area for 24 hours, stirring every 6 or so hours.
5. After the brine has had the soak time, or after applying the rub, hang the strips so they are not touching each other. Threading the strips onto a strip works well. If you 'fold' them onto the string, you will have to allow additional drying time toe ensure the folded areas thoroughly dry.
6. Let it dry. Protect it from insects, pets, and others that realize how good it is.

I am doing this from memory and it has been a while (though I plan to change that when I get home) so please let me know if I forgot to add a step.
The last time I did this it was from a roadkill elk that was so gammey that frying a steak cleared the house for a few hours. Made great jerky though.

So, doe anyone have any practical experience with salting meat for storage? How about heavily smoking? That just adds flavor or jerks it, right? I'd love to hear what you all have to say.

posted in Backyard Garden Survivalists - 2 replies

Stevia Plant...

2008-09-28T15:34:14Z

I have a beautiful Stevia plant growing in my garden, and would like to process it for use over the winter. Should I just dry it, and then grind it into a powder? I use liquid Stevia that I purchased for tea and such, but I'm thinkin' the powder wouldn't be so good in tea? Any thoughts would be appreciated thanks!

posted in Backyard Garden Survivalists - 9 replies

Survivin' Ike

2008-09-25T05:15:45Z

I live in Katy, Texas and we were in the path of Ike. Although not in the hardest hit part what so ever. Chuck I think you would be proud of us. We have had no reason to leave the house since Thursday. I am sure we could go many many more days without leaving, I am curious though to see how things look outside of my personal view. We have power as of Sunday evening and the phone lines were up soon after. People are running around looking for the strangest things, I don't understand the obsession with ice. Lot's of folks complaining that the state did not respond soon enough with MRE's, ice and water. People should rely on themselves more, be prepared. I don't get it.

posted in Backyard Garden Survivalists - 8 replies

Compost pile

2008-09-23T01:42:49Z

I am sure there is a thread about compost on here but I could not find it...

I just built a new compost area in my backyard this weekend, it is about 6' x 6' x 4' tall. I divided it in half so I would have two seprate areas. I filled one side with grass and some old veggies.

So here is my question, do I need to water it down to get it started or just let it do its own thing??

Thanks,

Terry

posted in Backyard Garden Survivalists - 4 replies

Keep your compost happy

2008-09-17T15:10:12Z

A compost bin is a terrible thing to waste - make sure it doesn't turn into toxic goo:
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/982740/stop_toxic_compost.html?cat=32

posted in Backyard Garden Survivalists - 1 reply

Alternative Light Sources

2008-09-15T23:56:42Z

Hey folks...I need some info and a bit of help. First, I'm curious what you do when the lights go out. Our stove is electric, so when a power outtage hits us, we drag out the propane Coleman to cook on.
For light we have candles...lots of candles...and the occasional oil lamp run on de-scented liquid parafin. We have an olive oil lamp we use for the bedroom...the smell is sort of a nice and it gives a yellow glow.
We don't have electric lights...we had some made by Coleman, but they drain batteries quickly and parts are hard to obtain.

I googled information about Hurricane Lamps... and was overwhelmed with useless information. I'd like to buy some old fashion hurricane lights and spare wicks...that were NOT made in China by the finest slave labor. Sorry, that was a political rant, so I'm breaking my own rule as a moderator, but if I can avoid Chinese made products, I do.
Do we Americans still make them? God knows the Brits make great ones, but I don't want the extra cost of having them shipped to the US.

So...if you know a place I can (besides the nether regions), please share.

I have a bad feeling about winter.

posted in Backyard Garden Survivalists - 32 replies

a great green rebuilding/desconstructing help site

2008-09-15T06:28:58Z

http://www.therestoreincrestone.com/

I am hoping to re-do the garage and have one whole wall of bottles!

posted in Backyard Garden Survivalists - 3 replies

What do you do with Zuccetta

2008-09-12T03:37:08Z

I have planted this plant in my garden for two years!! Its beautiful and stretches high into the oaks from a 9ft trellis.. The fruit is 3-5 feet long, beautiful white flowers and is absolutely amazing. It grows from seed and is sold as a vegetable. Has anyone ever cooked one? I'm curious what I can do with this other than feeding it to my worms at the end of the season.....

posted in Backyard Garden Survivalists - 0 replies

A plug for the MD SPSA

2008-09-04T06:06:43Z

I want to plug a fellow survivalist's tribe. The Maryland Survivalist and Primtive Skills Association...http://tribes.tribe.net/mdsurvive
Fellow MAPSTer (Mid Atlantic and Primitive Skills) member Chuck Acker moderates the tribe and it covers topics you won't necessarily find here. There's some fairly coherent postings on barter, pro and anti gold and silver advocates, plus primitive skills and firearms.
Yes, I'm a member though I live here in California. It seems that I spend at least a week or two in Maryland each year...so I'm starting to consider it my vacation home. (We also have family in Baltimore and Smithsburgt.) You also find Joe Schilling, known as Deer Runner...or as some bad guys know him as Knife Maker to the Plantman...(some mythical vigilante here in Richmond and San Pablo or so I'm told.) Joe and wife Kristi are two hard core survivalists I wouldn't mind surviving with.
So stop in at the MD-SPSA...take a look around and bring up a topic or two. I doubt if you'll be disappointed.

Chuck G.
Moderator

posted in Backyard Garden Survivalists - 4 replies

Time to consider...

2008-09-02T04:53:45Z

My wife Lynn and I will be celebrating 30 years together this December. That fact is amazing to many of our friends, as the road here has not always been smooth. By the time we hit 33 years our financial responsiblity to our last child will be over. ("I'll pay for a masters degree, but I'll be damned if I pay for Phd!)
So then what?
We are considering moving. Though we live in small town, it is in a metro area. You can't really tell when you're out of city limits or in it. Just over the hills is the town of Martinez. I lived there briefly as a student. It's an oil refinery town which has undergone a change of character. The down town is filled with small shops, the library is extensive, and the home of John Muir is there. Plus there are still homes for sale with property around them.
That's important...land ("Land Katie Scarlett! Land!)
So...it's time to consider what we want in a home.

Defensablity...access to water...south facing roof...land for produce...hills for nuke protection...
what else???
Any advice? I'm all ears.

posted in Backyard Garden Survivalists - 35 replies

Looking for advice--new gardener on new (to her) land

2008-09-01T16:54:02Z

I have searched the archives a bit, and did not quite see the information I (think I) want. If I missed the obvious let me know!

I am a wannabe urban farmer with survivalist tendencies who, as of last March, finally has the space to grow things. Specifically I have a sizable ground patch (maybe 40 X 20), and two lovely raised beds. I also have a really messed up greenhouse with old irrigation equipment in it that will probably be torn down.

We have complete freedom to do what we want with the space. My problem? I don't know what to do, and once I decide, I probably won't know how to do it.

A few other things:

--Stuff grows out here. All of my neighbors have great gardens, many have chickens. (And yes, I have thought about actually talking to neighbors for advice!)
--It is really, really windy and foggy in this neighborhood. We get sun most late mornings, up to to maybe 1 or 2PM. But after that the wind really kicks up and the fog rolls in.
--We are very exposed as there are no buildings at least 75 to 100 feet in either direction.
--There are lots of weeds, CA poppies, and unknown old plants from former growers in the ground and in the beds. (As well as an awesome cherry tree!)

What I want:
--What would you do in my situation? Can you recommend other resources (besides you all!) to explore? My priority is to use the beds, but I am open to using the ground.

No information is too basic. You will not offend me by assuming I know nothing.

Thank you!

posted in Backyard Garden Survivalists - 7 replies

looking for rosemary sugar cookie recipe.

2008-08-31T09:49:46Z

would love it!

posted in Backyard Garden Survivalists - 3 replies

Adding chickens to your urban farm :)

2008-08-31T03:13:03Z

That's right. I got the ok from the parental unit to take this space besides the under-used garage/storage space to build a chicken coop. Space is 19Lx5Wx6H. Our home came with a very large but old dog house that would make a perfect nest box for the big chickens I chose as a starter flock. Plymouth Rock, Jersey Giants, Australorps, Delawares, Wyandotte, and Easter Eggers. I eat a lot of eggs due to the cheap protein they provide after a hard work out. Plus they taste better than protein drinks Xp

Once the icky heat dies down a bit, I can focus on building the coop. For now I plan and look at other's coops. Yes I do plan on letting them free range it but only on the weekends. Wish I had time for dwarf goats too but the chickens work for now. Why am I doing this? Well, I figure this is one less thing I can go to a store to purchase. Chicken for dinner? Doable when I learn how to butcher one (or just pay/trade for it). Also, I feel by practicing my meager farm skills on Mom's1/4 land, I can have a better chance when I someday have my own land to work with. And goats. Can't wait to do goats. :) Goat milk soap is the most awesome thing ever for my skin.

posted in Backyard Garden Survivalists - 7 replies

Bird Flu Concerns in UKI

2008-08-29T22:56:59Z

(LONDON) — Pandemic flu, not terrorism, is the most serious risk to the U.K. public, says Britain's first ever national threat assessment, published on Friday.

The document, part of Prime Minister Gordon Brown's overhaul of homeland security strategy, considers the likely dangers posed by threats including terrorism, climate change, extreme weather and pandemic disease.

Britain's Cabinet Office — which drafted the document — said on Friday that a potential flu pandemic poses the most imminent danger over the next five years.

Previous government assessments have suggested an outbreak could cause as many as 750,000 deaths in Britain and acknowledged it could take several months to develop adequate vaccines against a particular strain of the virus.

Brown ordered a list of threats faced by Britain to be drafted shortly after he replaced Tony Blair in June 2007, arguing that previously classified assessments should be made public.

Though the new register does not rank threats in order of seriousness, it does indicate that flu is considered the most pressing concern, a spokeswoman for the Cabinet Office said on Friday.

"It looks at the whole range of risks and looks at them from a national perspective," said the spokeswoman, on condition of anonymity in line with policy. "It is the first time all of this has been brought together in this way."

Brown said in March that Britain was increasing its defenses against terrorism, but also preparing for potentially more serious risks from climate change and disease.

It followed a warning from Richard Mottram, who retired in November as Brown's chief adviser on intelligence and security, that the risks of a global flu pandemic, the impact of mass global migration and threats from organized crime were receiving too little attention.

Mottram claimed that the U.K.'s security strategy is too tightly focussed on terrorism.

But Britain's domestic spy agency MI5 says it is monitoring a constantly changing network of around 2,000 potential terrorists in the U.K., who are planning around 30 potential attacks at any given time.

Jonathan Evans, head of MI5, has acknowledged that the workload means officers are neglecting key counterespionage duties — despite an active spying threat from China and Russia against the U.K.

Under Brown's new security strategy, the agency will grow from around 3,000 staff to 4,000, and resources and technology at GCHQ, the government's secret eavesdropping center, will be upgraded.

A new advisory panel of security experts has also been created to report to Brown on threats faced by Britain.

posted in Backyard Garden Survivalists - 27 replies

Hey Newbies!

2008-08-29T20:02:12Z

We've gotten a surge of newbies. I think that's good. So if you're out there and reading this, please let us know who you are and what you enjoy about your garden, and what ideas you have for survival. Don't worry, we're a good group of folks.
best wishes
Chuck G.
Moderator
(currently slightly bed ridden)

posted in Backyard Garden Survivalists - 12 replies

First winter garden

2008-08-29T03:43:27Z

We (my wife and I) plant a garden every year, and this year we are thinking about planting a winter garden which neither of us has ever done. Any suggestions about what can be planted would be very welcome. We live in San Antonio, TX so we don’t normally get very cold, not sure if that will make a difference about what I should plant??

Again any advice would be appreciated!

Terry

posted in Backyard Garden Survivalists - 11 replies

storm damage to corn

2008-08-28T02:50:06Z

So my corn has been comming along nicely and it is the first time I've ever grown it. Then yesterday a strong rain came through and I came home from work with 1/2 of my corn leaning way over.

Any advice?

None of the stalks seem broken, but they won't stand back up really.

Thanx, Trish

posted in Backyard Garden Survivalists - 3 replies

So, does anybody know what perennial seeds can self sow in the same summer?

2008-08-23T01:12:14Z

I am looking to increase my variety rapidly by planting some seed that I just pulled off a marigold. I also have sweet pea and cleome and others. I have been searching for a good list of seeds that would self sow in the same year without going through the winter dormancy.

posted in Backyard Garden Survivalists - 1 reply

Water every but you can't use it....

2008-08-19T16:38:23Z

This story was from our local news station yesterday. Some similar problems have been seen concerning water in the Denver/Colorado Springs corridor:

http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=4001252

Catching rain water is against the law
August 12th, 2008 @ 11:49pm
By John Hollenhorst

Who owns the rain? Not you, it turns out. You're actually breaking the law if you capture the rain falling on your roof and pour it on your flower bed! A prominent Utah car dealer found that out when he tried to do something good for the environment.

Rebecca Nelson captures rainwater in a barrel, and she pours it on her plants. "We can fill up a barrel in one rainstorm. And so it seems a waste to just let it fall into the gravel," she said.

Car dealer Mark Miller wanted to do pretty much the same thing on a bigger scale. He collects rainwater on the roof of his new building, stores it in a cistern and hopes to clean cars with it in a new, water-efficient car wash. But without a valid water right, state officials say he can't legally divert rainwater. "I was surprised. We thought it was our water," Miller said.

State officials say it's an old legal concept to protect people who do have water rights. Boyd Clayton, the deputy state engineer, said, "Obviously if you use the water upstream, it won't be there for the person to use it downstream."

"Utah's the second driest state in the nation. Our water laws ought to catch up with that," Miller says.

So what about the little guy, watering with rainwater at home? Will anybody do anything about that violation of the law? Clayton said, "If she really does that, then she ought to have a water right to do it." He added that they would not likely make an issue out of it, though, because they have "bigger fish to fry."

After months of discussion, city and state officials worked out a tentative compromise with the bigger fish, Mark Miller Toyota. Jeff Niermeyer, the Salt Lake City director of public utilities, said, "He would basically be using a Salt Lake City water right and diverting it under our name."

State officials say the Mark Miller agreement could become a blueprint for other rainwater projects. Homeowner projects, although technically illegal, are likely to stay off the state radar screen.

posted in Backyard Garden Survivalists - 20 replies

Spanish Flu Immunity Still Exists

2008-08-19T05:34:44Z

Several folks have sent me this article, knowing of my interest in the 1918-1919 Spanish Flu pandemic. I share for those who may find it interesting. I will add, my mother survived the flu as a new born...one of the few that did.

Blood protects against long-gone killer 1918 flu
By SETH BORENSTEIN
,
AP
posted: 4 HOURS 58 MINUTES AGO

WASHINGTON -Nearly a century after history's most lethal flu faded away, survivors' bloodstreams still carry super-potent protection against the 1918 virus, demonstrating the remarkable durability of the human immune system.
Scientists tested the blood of 32 people aged 92 to 102 who were exposed to the 1918 pandemic flu and found antibodies that still roam the body looking to strangle the old flu strain. Researchers manipulated those antibodies into a vaccine and found that it kept alive all the mice they had injected with the killer flu, according to a study published online Sunday in the journal Nature.
There's no pressing need for a 1918 flu vaccine because the virus has long since mutated out of its deadly form and is extremely unlikely to be a threat anymore, experts said. What's more important in this research, they said, is that it confirms theories that our immune system has a steel-trap memory.
"It's incredible. The Lord has blessed us with antibodies our whole lifetime," said study co-author Dr. Eric Altschuler at the University of Medicine and Dentistry in New Jersey. "What doesn't kill you, makes you stronger."
This is the longest that specific disease-fighting cells have lasted in people, said study lead author Dr. James Crowe, a professor of microbiology and immunology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tenn.
But these antibodies don't just survive; they have mutated tremendously and now bind tighter to disease cells than other antibodies. That makes them more potent, he said.
Crowe said he hopes to use similar techniques to boost the potencies of vaccines that would be more useful now against newer bird flu strains that could become epidemics.
The 1918 flu killed about 50 million people worldwide and nearly everybody else was exposed to the virus, Crowe said. The specific 1918 virus was lost to the world for decades, until it was reconstructed about three years ago using genetic material from victims. When scientists tested the antibodies from survivors on infected mice, they did so in a high level biosecurity lab at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.
The idea for the new study came from an old TV show, said Altschuler. In an episode of the since-cancelled TV series "Medical Investigation," a town improbably gets infected with the 1918 flu and the doctors treat everyone with the reluctantly donated blood of an old butler who survived the original pandemic, he said.
That prompted Altschuler, a professor of rehabilitation medicine who doesn't normally study flu, to look into the idea of testing people more than 90 years old for antibodies. The National Institutes of Health, which paid for much of the study, connected Altschuler with experts in the field and he found the elderly antibody donors.
The findings make sense, said Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute for Allergies and Infectious Diseases in Bethesda, Md., who wasn't involved with the study. Recent studies have estimated that the human immune system should last many decades, but this gives real proof, he said.
"This is the mother of all immunological memory here," Fauci said.
___

posted in Backyard Garden Survivalists - 3 replies

Post- Apocalyptic and Collapse Fiction

2008-08-18T00:41:25Z

I read a lot and Chuck's post about what books peeps keep around got me to thinking. I really enjoy EOTW type books (can learn a lot of new ideas) and tend to read a lot of fiction. I would love to hear suggestions that fall into this genre. Here are some that pop to mind.

Out of the Ashes(series) by William W. Johnstone (at least the first couple, they got weird after that)
The Survivalist (series) by Jerry Ahern
The Stand by Stephen King
Swansong by Robert McCammon
Unintended Consequences By John Ross (Not a collapse book but one any firearm owner should read)
1984 by George Orwell (sorta)
Lucifer's Hammer by by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle
Left Behind (series) by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins
Wolf and Iron by Gordon R. Dickson

that's what I can think of. Now, I need help. While working on this list, a character popped into my head and I cannot place her in the right book. She is a news reporter for (I think) the Coyote News Network, a hard hitting Liberal bashing, no nonsense news network. Her father had a sense of humor and named her Stormy Knight, and in the book, I think she falls for the main character. I think the book may have something to do with werewolves or shape shifters. Can anyone help me out here, Google has failed me and it's really bugging me.

posted in Backyard Garden Survivalists - 24 replies

The Tour de Coop

2008-08-17T20:30:10Z

A few weekends ago, my family and I went on a tour of local chicken coops put on by a local Yahoo group of backyard chicken keepers. People opened up their backyards and you could go in to check out their coops, birds, and more. It was really fun. Coops ranged from fancy to those cobbled together from found items and there was a dazzling array of chickens (my daughter wants a Silkie for a pet so badly).

There were amazing gardens to peruse, kids with lemonade stands, and actually pretty large crowds for such an event. We met a lot of folks with similar interests on the tour. It was fun. I hope that once we get the farm we could be a part of something like that.

Supposedly one of the women is going to host a backyard social soon to show off her aquaponics system.

posted in Backyard Garden Survivalists - 5 replies

Chicken Food

2008-08-17T17:22:42Z

Can anyone point me in the direction of information on DYI chicken food? I know they can free range to some extent but my 38 girls and their two boyfriends tend to wander, get eaten, and lay in rather inconvient places when off leash. If they were the major source of food at hand, I'd like to be able to lock'm up and would like to find what grains/plants we could grow and store.

Also a question. Anyone else having more people that you woundn't expect or people that have never in the past, talk to you about impending collapse as if it is on the calendar for the immediate future?

N

posted in Backyard Garden Survivalists - 14 replies

The Man In The Bed

2008-08-11T06:42:32Z

I haven't seen him. Only in my mind's eye and in bad dreams. The man in the bed. My elder brother John...MSGT. US Army retired. His heart has been failing for over a year. And then suddenly multi-organ failure. Kidney's, liver, lungs.
A lack of oxygen sent him into a spiral of dementia. But for a day or two, he rallied like the First Cav did at Pleiku. A few years ago we saw the movie We Were Soldiers Once...and we walked out of it shaken with memories. That was our war.
So during moments of lucidity he called me. His wife warned me first that he might ramble. He didn't ramble so much as repeat himself a few time, but I didn't mind. What troubled me was the few moments he wept when I told him my daughter was leaving for New Zealand...which is her home now. He said that's what children do....they grow up and find a new home. He realized how hurt our father was when he decided to stay in the army. There years when he didn't come home. His children learned German before they learned English. He spent over six years waiting for a Russian invasion that never came. What did come was age.
We talked about it regrets, and the sacrifices his family made. I told him it was okay...Dad forgave him long long ago. It was a lie, but I needed to say it. Dad never got over the fact that John never really came home.
We talked about the novel he would write about the Buffalo Soldiers. I gave him a portrait of a buffalo soldier for Christmas. He hung it in his army memorablia room.
But there will be no novel.
The man in the bed has slipped into dementia and sleep. I'm told he's allowed to walk in the patio of his convalescent care center. He no longer remembers that our mother has passed away. He asks his wife and children not to let her know he's ill. I'm told he asks if I'm still teaching about herbs...or am I teaching the deaf...he can't quite recall.
Sometimes he reassures them I will be okay. I'll live through my tour of duty. He jokes that you can't kill a Mexican who fires a machine gun.
The man in the bed falls asleep with tubes in his arms. He organs have stabilized, but not repaired themselves.

For all of our history as brothers, good and bad, I don't want to remember this way. So I won't drive the 200 miles to visit him. I want to remember him enjoying his portrait of a black man in a 10th Cav regiment uniform, his pride at his memorablia room, and his enjoyment of blueberry pancakes.

The man in the bed has survived a hard road. I want him to rest.
I love you John.

posted in Backyard Garden Survivalists - 10 replies

solar oven

2008-08-07T18:30:09Z

anyone cooking with one? I just got one and am starting to play with it. I am wanting suggestions and recipes. I am thinking that in the winter I could even put this in my greenhouse to cook with!
Blessings
Linda

posted in Backyard Garden Survivalists - 6 replies

A Note From the Moderator

2008-08-06T22:38:42Z

We have the best darn members on this tribe!

There I said it.

posted in Backyard Garden Survivalists - 8 replies

Veggie van

2008-08-06T20:08:02Z

My parnter and I just bought a diesel van. We are getting ready to convert it to run on vegetable oil. We are excited and can't wait to get started. Wondering if anyone here is doing this, has done it and/or has tips. We are looking at going with the greasecar kit and finding a diesel mechanic to help us install it. We also are planning our veggie filtering system and plan to start collecting oil from local restuarants.

So any tips and experience would be helpful as we begin this journey.
Blessings
Linda

posted in Backyard Garden Survivalists - 14 replies

It's That Time of Year (Survival Supplies)

2008-08-01T17:29:51Z

We occasionally list our supplies for disasters, societal upheaval, the apocalypse (name your favorite scenario), or the very real possibility of economic collapse.
Life changes demand that we update our supplies and rethink our choices.
In my home our first concern is earthquake, followed by pandemic, economic collapse, and then a big meteor hitting the planet (where's Bruce Willis when you really need him?)
Due to storage limits we've stocked away about 3 to 4 months of supplies.
It's time to restock. We have take into a new addition to our family...a 13 year old Australian Shepherd mix named Lady. She is a foster dog that found a permanent place in our home. Though she is almost completely deaf, she seems to have the ability to know if someone is across the street or if someone is walking up to the house. She is very gentle, with the exception to young men...then she bristles and barks.
So now we need cans and bags of doggie food for 3 to 4 months.

Health wise there have been other changes. I'm now on two injections of insulin. Kaiser only provides me one vial of insulin a month, so I can't stalk up. When I run out I will need extra oral doses of glucophage and glipizide to help my nearly dead pancreas to make a little bit more insulin. To clear my system of excess sugars I'll need aloe vera juice, cinnamon, and blueberry capsules. Time to go shopping.

Water might be an issue, so it's time to check our water supplies. A gallon and a half a day. A gallon for washing.

Propane...enough for two stoves.

Bleach for sanitation. A shovel to bury our waste.

3-4 months of food products. No surprises. Only foods we already eat. Vitamins. Waterless bodywash. Extra clothing stashed away.

Barter items. Alcohol, toilet paper, canned foods, plastic bags, etc.

First Aid gear...we got lots of that. Alcohol to make medicines and liniments.

Camping gear....we got outfit the Chinese Army...no worries there.

Batteries...for flashlights and radio...maybe a solar charger or two.

Extra ammunition if our disaster lasts into goose and duck season.

Any ideas on things I''ve missed???

posted in Backyard Garden Survivalists - 17 replies

Preserving Zucchini other than pickling?

2008-08-01T16:11:12Z

We have one of those "Eight Ball" type zucchini plants (the fruit is round, like mini pumpkins) and they are just as freaking productive as regular zucchini. I've already pickled 12 pints of them in the last week - and that doesn't include what we are eating fresh and sauteed. ACK! I refuse to waste perfectly good food and the chickens don't much care for them, even cut up. Sooooooo, is there any other way I can preserve them?

posted in Backyard Garden Survivalists - 18 replies

Is anyone in this tribe going...

2008-08-01T03:02:28Z

...to the Breitenbush Herbal Conference Sep 4th - 7th in Creswell, Oregon?

posted in Backyard Garden Survivalists - 5 replies

A Good Source for Colloidal Silver

2008-08-01T00:14:55Z

I've been experimenting with colloidal silver for over a year now. And I'm definitely adding some to my survival supplies. It appears to work exceedingly well on open infections and sores. I had a case of a young man, healthy 300 llb high school football player who came down with an unknown pathology in his gut. He simply threw up everything or it came out the other end...or sometimes worse. The doctors at Kaiser bombarded him with anti-bacterials, anti-microbials, and anti-virals...this kid was still puking a month later and had lost 102 llbs.
I started giving him 30 drops of CS three times a day. After a week, he started eating semi solid foods. After another week, he had some chicken. The third week, he could eat breakfast and dinner. Fourth week, he was ok.
The hospital never found out was wrong. Or what cured him.
I've also been experimenting on our dog Lady. She's a 13 year old Australian shepherd. The dog is diabetic and had open sores that wouldn't heal on her legs. The topical vet meds didn't help. So I started to spritz the wounds with CS. She would like the fluid off, which was fine. The wounds are all healing, after spritizind steadly for two weeks. She is moving easier...the dog has some arthritis...and now runs.
I got some sort of bacterial infection on my legs, so I used CS on one leg and essential oil of thyme on the other. Both legs healed, but the CS leg won by a day and a half. No discoloration or itching.
I'm a hard core herbalist, but using the CS has made me a believer of its potential. So I'm getting more. The stuff I used came from alternative energy systems inc.
p.o. box 132
eureka springs ar. 72632
32 oz. high potency .999 silver in distilled water no additives
in amber glass container.
$30 ppd.

I'm giving them a plug because they seem to be a decent operation. I suggest people experiment on their own. Hopefully you will get results as good as mine. I'm adding CS to my comfrey burn salves. The CS will disinfect and the comfrey will speed cellular recovery. I'll keep you posted on how well it works.

posted in Backyard Garden Survivalists - 14 replies

Homestead Dreams

2008-07-31T23:31:07Z

One of the classes I teach at my school is a weekend intensive called the Herbal Homestead. It's more of a game than a class, so my students tend to enjoy it quite a bit. Each student is given a homestead of minnimum size...about four to five acres with a cabin and perhaps a barn or animal enclosure. From that point on, they build it up. The challenge comes from where the homestead is, and what can realistically be grown or raised there. As instructor I throw in some practical knowledge and I throw in practical problems...everything from spoilage to bad weather. There is no real winner or loser...just the fun of discussing what is possible, practical, and impossible. Eventually the homestead student begin bartering between each other.

My question to anyone interested is...what is your homestead dream? Where is it? What do you grow or raise?
Are you inland, coastal, near a river, lake, stream, desert, high country, meadow, forest, etc.

As I grow older, the memory of the small piece of property I grew up on gets fonder. So my homestead resembles my old home.
We grow an acre plus of walnuts. We sell the meats to bakeries and at markets. Another acre for almonds. Those we also sell to bakeries but we tend to sell more almond oil than meats, and at a good price too. Another acre of mixed fruit trees...apricots, peaches, nectarines.
The hulls of the nuts are used to burn in our stove. So are the yearly pruned limbs. The house and out building are small...hence they are easy to heat in the cold of winter. I live inland about a hundred miles from the ocean in a valley. Weather is mild, but summers can be brutally hot. A veranda with shades and hanging greenary help keep the house cool. Traditionally clay pots with water are on the porch.
The garden is extensive, tomatoes, potatoes, peppers,corn, cucumbers, carrots, lettuces, onions, there is a trellis for grapes. We raise chickens, the occasionally turkey, and rabbits. We are close enough to a large river to catch salmon and smoke it. We dry all the fruit we cannot sell. The chickens provide us with eggs and meat. The rabbits give meat and fur to sell at the nearest rancheria. We have two goats which provide us milk for brie, and goat meat. In the fall it is legal to hunt ducks, geese, and quail.

So what's yours...and what would you trade for what I've got?

posted in Backyard Garden Survivalists - 14 replies

Getting ready for fall

2008-07-30T03:31:13Z

I've started planting successive crops of spinach, lettuce, and mustard greens for the fall. Plan to put in some sugar snap peas for a winter crop near the end of the month, but I need to pick up some legume inoculant.

What are you planting?

posted in Backyard Garden Survivalists - 4 replies

Raspberry Jam

2008-07-28T03:39:50Z

Well, I bought a water bath canner and some cans and some raspberries and sugar. And a book.

Now, cooling on my kitchen counter are 4 pint jars. I hope I don't poison anybody.

I found it really scary to try to learn this by myself. I'm such a city girl! I had so many questions and no one to ask.

posted in Backyard Garden Survivalists - 6 replies

water won't penetrate the soil

2008-07-20T07:05:43Z

i have soil that is pretty much all extremely fine sand. i amended it with a loam builder, but it doesn't seem to be helping. when i try to water the plants i put in, the water goes straight off the top of the soil, it doesn't penetrate it even an inch, so the roots can't get any water and they're wilting and i feel helpless like theres nothing i can do about it!

posted in Backyard Garden Survivalists - 11 replies

California wilfires

2008-07-20T03:37:51Z

I am headed to Cali in a few weeks. I am curious if the smoke is thick enough to be affecting crops there.

Here on the Big Island, the volcano has been spewing forth vog at very high levels. The sulfur dioxide level is at dangerous leves down south around the vents, and acid rain is a result. PH balancing is important down there. Where I am located, we get some pretty voggy days but soil tests came out a 6.5 so a thin layer of dolomite should be all that is necessary. All the large tomatoes are grown in greenhouses so they aren't getting the rain water, until I get catchment set up. That is a whole other topic though.

Can anyone give me a heads up on a farm/garden perspective in Northern California? I will be mostly between Mendocino area and the Bay.

posted in Backyard Garden Survivalists - 17 replies

plague of gophers

2008-07-18T01:48:41Z

I have trapped them, poisoned them, shot them, smoked them... and still gophers are killing several plants each week! Anyone else have any similar problems or any good solutions?

posted in Backyard Garden Survivalists - 22 replies

3 Wins in Five Years!

2008-07-13T22:39:29Z

Yep I'm crowing. This July 4th I won best of show at the Marin County Fair for my herbal wreath. This is the 3rd Win in five years. One of the reasons I love winning in Marin is the look on other folks faces when they find out the entry is from blue collar, gang ridden, murder city Richmond across the bay!!
I stuffed the circular base with dried moss, soaked it, and then carefully inserted sprigs of two different types of rosemary. For color I added the tiny blossoms of Lemon Verbena. I then carefully wrapped the wreath with jute and hung a sun catcher on it.

I think I'll rest on my laurels next year.

I won a second place for my rosemary bouquet...the competition was fierce...the person who took best of show absolutely deserved it. Her rosemary looked exquisite. I might have gotten a blue ribbon if someone hadn't emptied the water of my vase.

I also took third in the floating rose competition. I have no arguments there. Rose competitions of any sort are tough, so I'm honored I got a third.

I missed the deadline to enter my blackberry jam...I was in Virginia at the time. Oh well...I'll just make more and give out the jars as Xmas presents.

posted in Backyard Garden Survivalists - 15 replies

poop....

2008-07-12T04:48:26Z

i was having a conversation with a university professor who was disghusted to find out , at the farmer's market yesterday, that the organic food he had been buying was grown in cow poop instead of nice clean chemicals. he wanted to know when they started that whole thing up and how he could tell if his food was grown in poop? would it be labled? i explained to him that it started about the time the first cow pooped, but i still don't think he understands. just thought i would share.

posted in Backyard Garden Survivalists - 40 replies

Dog vs. Garden

2008-07-03T14:36:04Z

Yes, I realize I should have left some space in my backyard for my dog!!!! He has a little....and he gets out for walks so that should be enough, right?. This morning, I was checking on my tomatoes and freaked out! He had dug up the potato patch that I had growing inside a wine barrel. They were almost done too! Then I took a look around, and realized he had gone on a digging spree, and dug up several of the wine barrels that had various vegetables growning in them. What can I do, short of getting rid of the dog? Does anyone have some magic potion i can spray on my plants to stop the dog from digging them up?

posted in Backyard Garden Survivalists - 9 replies

How can I improve the alpine soil at my homestead?

2008-07-01T16:09:19Z

My homestead is at an altitude of roughly 4,000 feet, with many trees (Doug Fir, Pine, Cedar, Oak). I am building a fenced garden, but the soil needs help before it will grow veggies. Can you recommend any ways to condition or improve the soil? The cheaper the better. I am starting a compost bin. A friend recommended that I grow potatoes in the soil to help condition it. The local Oakland dump sells good composted soil for $25 a cubic yard, so I plan to bring up a truckload of soil. My dad says mixing sand with the soil will help with drainage, which is important. I was thinking of bringing up grass clippings and coffee grounds (compliments of Peets) to compost. What would you do?

posted in Backyard Garden Survivalists - 20 replies

aitysheville guerilla gardener

2008-06-29T18:57:24Z

any one here in or around asheville area? i'm reclaiming little chunks of earth here and there. if any one wants a healthy late nite activity drop a line. i'll only be in town a few more weeks.
plant love
grow slow
in harmony,
singer

posted in Backyard Garden Survivalists - 0 replies

Ducks

2008-06-28T17:02:46Z

Here's a snip from a post in a Guinea Hen thread from January 08 on this tribe:

>We had ducks for awhile...and I don't want to offend any duck fanciers here, but next to domestic turkeys they are the dumbest animals. Though they tasted great with orange sauce.

I'm sort of interested in ducks, so I'd love to hear people's experiences with them.

I have friends who have ducks. They have a hutch they can retreat to at night, but during the day they wander the property at will, eating up slugs and grass. They lay eggs here and there in the yard, which the owners gather to eat. They say they can leave them on their own for long stretches (the family fishes commercially in Alaska in the summers).

They may be stupid, but I think ducks are sort of neat and nice to be around. I don't know if my friends are idealizing it, but they sound pretty easy to deal with and not very high maintenance.

What say you, tribesters?

posted in Backyard Garden Survivalists - 12 replies

Verms?

2008-06-28T04:29:30Z

Kan anyvone invorm me on der subject of verms? Ees der a vermikulturist on board dis kraft? Vut I vould like to know is, how to go about adding verms to mine garden to help vith der soil. Vank you so much!

posted in Backyard Garden Survivalists - 8 replies

off subj: Unsecured wireless network Hassel need a fix

2008-06-27T07:25:02Z

I been going round and round trying to understand this Wep codes thing with the Wireless conection from my PC to our Mac. Its one of the things that really bugs me. Any thoughts on a fix. My bother thinks he's smart and has not fixed it. I always get this pop up from the tool bar telling me its unsecured .

posted in Backyard Garden Survivalists - 1 reply

George Carlin and Gardening

2008-06-26T20:35:33Z

"I don't see any sense in growing my own dope when someone else has done all the work for me. That's like the guy who buys 1200 dollars worth of hydroponic gear just to grow three tomatoes plants. It makes no sense!"
Attributed to George Carlin

posted in Backyard Garden Survivalists - 1 reply

No Dig Gardening...From the LA Times

2008-06-26T15:37:07Z

By Lisa Boone, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
June 12, 2008
PAT MARFISI carries bales of alfalfa hay and straw into the center aisle of his Hollywood Hills vegetable garden and begins tearing off pieces of the stuff. He doesn't have any animals to feed, just his "no-dig" landscape: raised beds using lasagna-like layers of fodder, bone and blood meal and compost -- and remarkably little water.

Now that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has declared a statewide drought, Marfisi's 300-square-foot patch seems more relevant than ever. It's his personal horticultural laboratory for a low-water, sustainable technique he learned working on organic farms in Australia last year.

Since he began gardening in this fashion, he says, he has been "inundated" with food. With the exception of some recent losses to raccoons drawn to the soil's abundant grubs and earthworms, Marfisi's garden is thriving with beets, collard greens, chard, celery, tomatoes, chives, peppers, basil, chives, lettuces and leeks. He estimates he grows enough food to feed three people daily.

When asked how much he waters, Marfisi shoves his hand deep beside some Swiss chard and pulls out moist, decomposed soil laced with remnants of straw. "I haven't watered in 10 days," he says. "This is what I want people to know: You can have beauty and abundance without a lot of water."

The retired Marfisi came upon the method while working as a volunteer farmhand Down Under, where the technique has been used since the 1977 paperback, "Esther Deans' Gardening Book: Growing Without Digging," promoted it as a solution to poor soil, rampant weeds, water shortages and costly food.

"Today, L.A. faces a lot of the same issues," Marfisi says. "In addition, we have global warming from pollution, and home gardening is a significant way to reduce transportation cost and related pollution."

He points out that noted food and science writer Michael Pollan, author of the recent "In Defense of Food," estimates that the distance traveled by food to the plate of an average American is 1,500 miles. "This number is 150 feet for most home gardeners," Marfisi says. "That is a huge reduction in transport cost and pollution."

UNTIL HE had time for hands-on yard work, gardening was a passionate intellectual pursuit for Marfisi, who likes to sit for hours studying bugs with reference books in hand. But after leaving his job as a management consultant, he enrolled in UCLA Extension's horticulture program, which inspired him to dump water-hungry annuals and replace them with California natives. Then last year, Marfisi, who has a doctorate in economics, decided he wanted to become a farmer.

At age 60, Marfisi became a WWOOFer -- he joined World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms ( www.wwoof.org), an international cultural exchange program that provides organic farmers free labor in exchange for providing workers with food and lodging.

The former consultant for big-name clients such as Sun- America thought it would be the ultimate work-study program to learn about sustainable farming and lifestyles.

"The attraction was to get into the heart of the world of permaculture and biodynamics and experience it firsthand," he says. "Being retired, I had the time. I thought, 'I'm still healthy and strong.' I figured now is the time to do it." (He hopes to join WWOOF again next year in Costa Rica).

He started on a farm in New Zealand. Moving to Australia, he eventually worked on farms in six cities in Tasmania, Southern Australia and the Northern Territory. His friends thought he was crazy.

"Here is a guy who made the transition from corporate board rooms to the deserts of Australia and New Zealand to examine horticulture," friend Perry Parks says. "I couldn't get my head around it initially. At his age . . . hiring yourself off to various farms? Digging fence posts?" he says, chuckling.

"But tracking him through his e-mail messages, it seemed to be a real change of pace and it took on a kind of a meditative quality. Everything seemed to be slower, simpler and clearer. He got a lot out of it. Now he's come back and put it into practice," Parks says.

THOUGH there is some debate over the origins of the no-dig method -- Ruth Stout's "How to Have a Green Thumb Without an Aching Back," first published in 1955, and Masanobu Fukuoka's "One Straw Revolution," translated to English from Japanese in 1978, are other references -- one thing is certain: It is easy and it works.

Veteran gardeners will say that the greatest amount of work in creating a successful vegetable garden goes into soil preparation. One of the best things about this sustainable alternative: You don't have to break your back digging and pulling roots.

"It's a wonderful movement," says landscape designer and garden writer Rosalind Creasy, author of "The Complete Book of Edible Landscaping." "So many gardeners presume you have to start with a rototiller. That only destroys the soil structure and burns the organic matter."

No-dig beds are created by layering organic materials above ground on newspaper. Marfisi starts with alfalfa hay (Deans recommends Lucerne hay, but it's hard to find locally), then straw and finally compost. Marfisi dusts the newspaper, alfalfa and straw with blood and bone meal. (Details in accompanying story). The layers then decompose, turning into a nutrient-rich mixture much like compost.

Marfisi says no-dig is more efficient, water wise, because once a plant has a 10- to 12-inch root system, the layers of compost and straw keep moisture around the roots. And you can keep layering it over and over again as the organic matter breaks down.

Aside from its looking a little messy, Creasy finds few negatives to no-dig. She does urge novice gardeners, however, to learn about soil nutrients that vegetables need. "You still have to fertilize," she says. "You still have to renew the nitrogen. Peas are legumes and they have nitrogen-mixing bacteria. Broccoli is a heavy feeder. You [also] have to think about crop rotation."

Marfisi concedes that it is harder to get nitrogen and the acidity or alkalinity right in a fresh no-dig bed than in conventional soil. But once the organic matter has been in for two or three months and fertilizer is added, these imbalances seem to correct themselves, he says, and his harvests have been bountiful.

It seems Marfisi was destined to become a locavore from an early age. He clearly remembers the first seeds he planted as a 7-year-old in Missouri. The simple act of pushing seeds into soil and waiting to see what happened was the beginning of a lifelong yearning that would haunt him until he retired.

"I was blown away that seeds manufactured flowers," he says of discovering pink and orange zinnias weeks later. "Even to this day it still amazes me. . . . That picture remained in the back of my mind, while I was working 80 hours a week."

Now vegetables provide that same fascination. "Reconnecting to earth is huge for people who are contemplating retirement."

posted in Backyard Garden Survivalists - 6 replies

Switchel season

2008-06-26T11:29:56Z

is almost upon us. Switchel (also called "haymaker's punch") is an old-fashioned thirst quencher that won't upset your stomach when you're working out in the heat.

You take equal parts of apple cider vinegar, molasses, and honey (about 1/4 -1/2 c. each) and pour them into a pitcher with a few spoonfuls of dried ginger or a big knob of fresh, fill the rest with water, stir, and let sit overnight. Drink as needed during hot weather to stay hydrated.

Also, if you use blackstrap molasses, it's really good for women who are menstruating because iron helps with the fatigue and ginger soothes the cramping and upset stomach.

Strong flavor, but I think it's good.

We also make a simple homemade ginger ale with ginger, lemon, and honey during the summer. I'll have to ask Ken for the proportions he uses because it's really tasty on a hot day.

posted in Backyard Garden Survivalists - 10 replies

A MAPS Tribe?????? Really

2008-06-23T15:37:33Z

So who is starting the MAPS Tribe and who has photo's to post?

posted in Backyard Garden Survivalists - 16 replies

Finally a yard!

2008-06-23T01:21:34Z

I have been trolling this discussion list for a little while and gaining LOTS of tips but have had nothing to offer because I have been living with balcony gardens and indoor plants in a city for a number of years. I am moving into my new place today and I have an acre or yard surrounding my house! some shade, some sun, (i have yet to see an out door tap for water? but I'll look some more).

I'm moving into a little one room cabin in central Tennessee and all I could bring with me was one cherry tomatoe plant- which got pretty beat up in the move but I think he's ok.

I know its the first day of summer so kinda late to start planting a few things- thats why I thought I would ask- anyone with any tips on whats plantable now? I also have a yard of grass - I'm new to this and was raised with my mom borrowing the tilling machine to dig up the garden... however I've been hearing that no till gardening is a good idea...

Thanx for tollerating newbie questions! I will start contributing more info than questions soon!

world peas, Trish

posted in Backyard Garden Survivalists - 5 replies

How often to water????

2008-06-22T23:33:27Z

I transplanted my seedlings this past weekend. Some in plants and some in the ground. The seedlings were healthy indoors and growing rapidly during the time I had them on my porch to adjust to the outdoors. Now that I transplanted them, they don't look so good. They look a bit wilted and I'm not sure if it is from the direct sun or from too much watering.

How often should I water these plants?

posted in Backyard Garden Survivalists - 6 replies

My new perfume

2008-06-22T17:38:57Z

is gonna drive the fellas wild - it's a subtle combination of beef jerky, almonds, and hickory smoke.

I found some lean roasts on sale cheap last night, so my fella sliced them into strips for jerky and I made up four marinades: honey cure, regular, bbq, and red curry, then soaked the strips overnight. I also marinated some tofu in good steak sauce and the honey cure to make tofu jerky to share with a vegetarian friend.

This morning I brined some almonds and then we put everything in the smoker for two hours and now we're finishing it all in a slow oven.

Smells fantastic over here, I can't wait until that stuff is dry enough to eat!

posted in Backyard Garden Survivalists - 7 replies

What's the Best way to get rid of Tree Squirrels

2008-06-22T16:49:44Z

Hello, I have these Pesty Tree Squirrels that first come by every Year and eat all my Almonds and then like Clock work come by and eat all my Walnuts. I can not shoot them and have to be carefull with Poisons because of my Dogs. Years ago my friend got one with a BB Gun on accident.

posted in Backyard Garden Survivalists - 24 replies

Kumquats

2008-06-21T07:13:10Z

I have two kumquat trees that are delivering fruit right now. Does anybody have any recipes they like for making stuff out of the fruit? My bf likes to eat it off the tree, but other people seem to find it too tart to enjoy.

posted in Backyard Garden Survivalists - 6 replies

Drought

2008-06-20T22:41:15Z

For those members in California...how is the 20 percent mandatory water cutback effecting you and your gardens?
I have bucket in my home. Any water left over in glasses or bottles goes in there and onto my herbs. I do a quick watering in the evening of my veggies. I've pulled up all my onions and my peas. The onions go in the fridge and the peas into stirfry.

posted in Backyard Garden Survivalists - 6 replies

I'm eating Tomato's

2008-06-20T16:04:30Z

I am eating my home grown tomato's, wonderful they are. I am confused by this whole tomato scare. What would cause tomato's to have salmonella, noone talks about cause?

posted in Backyard Garden Survivalists - 11 replies

Blueberry Blowout

2008-06-18T19:41:51Z

For those in the Portland area......

We're still munching on some we bought last year....

http://www.gingerich.com/

posted in Backyard Garden Survivalists - 1 reply

WWYD?

2008-06-15T16:13:34Z

I have this squash-like plant in my yard- i think it's a "winter squash" or something. Looks like a watermelon on the outside but is stringy like spaghetti squash on the inside. The rind is hard as hell, and basically impossible to cut through.

Anyway, this plant is very predatory, constantly wrapping around my other plants and I constantly have to cut it back.

I really want to dig it out considering it's predatory nature, it's low yields (3-4 melons last year) and my inability to cook them. But it has such a powerful life force, I kind of feel guilty killing it. Maybe it will yield better this year (it's 2nd year). Or maybe I should figure out how to cook it? WWYD?

posted in Backyard Garden Survivalists - 25 replies

Chickens and the Garden

2008-06-13T23:37:29Z

We're getting our Chickens tomorrow. At first we wanted them to free range our veggie garden during the day, but the more I think about it, the more I think maybe we should build them a chicken tractor to be in during the day to keep them out of our "questionable" veggies like tomatoes, potatoes, peppers and rhubarb. We don't have daytime predators to worry about, just raccoons at night.

posted in Backyard Garden Survivalists - 9 replies

tomato leaves yellowing

2008-06-13T16:29:52Z

I hope this is not too basic a question. We just planted some tomatos. Some of the leaves are yellowing. Not sure if it's because of overwatering or not watering enough. We're pretty new at this.

posted in Backyard Garden Survivalists - 15 replies

Very off Topic

2008-06-11T21:44:58Z

Hey, Doc, please tell me that the will be coffee at the MAPS meet up. I will probably bring my own just in case. But, it will be nice to bring less.

posted in Backyard Garden Survivalists - 5 replies

How much are you paying for gas

2008-06-11T20:53:41Z

I payed $3.99 gal at Chevron today

posted in Backyard Garden Survivalists - 72 replies

NY Times article about Possible crop failures this year...

2008-06-11T16:42:57Z

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/10/business/10planting.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin

Glad I have a good garden, but might want lay in some more cornmeal, flour and such while it's still "relatively" cheap...

Is it really soggy in the midwest, folks? Hard to tell from Southern California.

posted in Backyard Garden Survivalists - 6 replies