[dlskidmore]

@jac 29778 wrote:

hay time saw a gang of retired miners round the table.. these were very much a social event and some great times were had.. that seems to have died out with that generation.. John

Between welfare and unemployment pay, there’s a lot fewer Americans interested in seasonal work.

[dlskidmore]

Where in CNY? How far is she willing to move?

[dlskidmore]

As much as enviromentalists refer to killing trees when you print things out: What percentage of the paper pulp comes from lumber waste and worst-first forest care, and what percentage comes from perfectly good trees felled just for paper pulp?

[dlskidmore]

I’d suspect color adaptations in cattle are similar to in people, that dark skin burns less, but light skin collects more vitamin D in climates where it’s hard to get enough.

[dlskidmore]

@Horsepower51 29666 wrote:

using leaves for mulch

Yep. We do that in our home garden. Our tree cover to garden size is such that I can completely bed it down, and suppress weeds with it. In the spring when I’m ready to cultivate I rake back the half-rotted stuff, pile it to compost the rest of the way, and put down straw for summer mulch.

[dlskidmore]

In a couple years I’ll at least have my little BCS if not a team of oxen, and not be dependant on others as much.

[dlskidmore]

Ga…

The tractor guy overbooked himself. I might try plan B, the landscaper with unknown resources, or just let the clover be all we add to the soil this year. The harvest festival folks threw out the corn stalks when they were done with them, hopefully I can get through to the archery ministry that we want their old straw when they’re done with it.

[dlskidmore]

I really want the tractor to hill/furrow this land this fall. We were not able to make significant improvement in the drainage situation that prevented us from planting in a timely manner last spring, and hill/furrow might give us a chance to hand-plant the hills while the furrows are still wet.

We tried digging a dry well, but with the available equiptment didn’t get below the clay layer to anything that drains. I’ve now got test holes full of water… The tractor guy is thinking of purchasing some more attachments in the spring to increase our ability to dig deeper, we shall see. The topography is against us, the highway berm keeps the water from going downhill as it should.

[dlskidmore]

@Farmallb 29651 wrote:

I think Shumways sell in small amounts like that

Not in that variety: http://www.rhshumway.com/dp.asp?pID=09912 they have 2 ounce packets in a couple variety packs, but not solo.

Looks like I can get it from Victory Seeds: http://www.victoryseeds.com/corn_lancaster-sure-crop.html They’re across the contry, but at least at a similar latitude.

[dlskidmore]

@Farmallb 29652 wrote:

Would it be too late by the time hes through plowing and discing it to sow some rye into it. If not, that would make some great green manure plow down next spring.

According to our local cooperative extension, I have until the first week of november to put in winter wheat, but it’s too late for anything else. I’m trying to get a hold of the guy with the tractor and schedule a day for us to add manure and till it under. I’d like to sow winter wheat on top of that, but having trouble finding a local supplier. Found an online place that has it, but I prefer not to ship all the way across the country. Local places will be more likely to have seed suited to my climate.

[dlskidmore]

I saw a video of someone doing this with oxen. They didn’t seem to have too much trouble with the pull, but the contraption was unstable, and the operator not terribly confident about it. I don’t know if his was missing a part, or if he was just not familiar enough with its proper use.

[dlskidmore]

Well, at least it’s using normal properties of wood, not genetic enginnering or injected chemicals. Both techniques though would take so much labor and/or unusual equiptment that it’s not really of interest outside the art community. If this was doable with a reasonably small set of affordable tools, I could see this method of extracting the pulp from a living cambium, and bending the cambium into the desired shape to regrow could be an interesting sculpture method. There are already techniques for some living wood sculpture, this greatly increases the options for sharp bends in the work.

[dlskidmore]

If you look at an area topo map you’d think we are on top of a hill, but we have a forest on the uphill side, and a berm on the downhill side. It’s not too bad for wind. The real wind gets channeled down the highway on the other side of the berm. We’re an hour’s drive from openpolinated.com’s headquarters, up closer to the lake here we have milder weather, we’re considered one zone warmer although we’re further north, and our hills are nothing like the southerntier hills. If it grows ok near their headquarters, we should be fine here, but if they import it from somewhere else it may be more of an issue.

History: Originated in Lancaster, PA around the turn of the century. Dale Nicklow of southern PA selects this old faithful variety for Green Haven Open Pollinated Seed Group.

I think the land is a bit flatter out there, not as familiar with it as the area halfway between. Not sure if selects means that the origional batch was selected there or if it’s annually selected there.

This is just for the church community garden. The minimum order for this seed is an awful lot. I may change my mind just based on that alone. I don’t think I could use even 1/4 pound a year, nevermind the 1 lb minimum order. Maybe if I can pick up at the store I can get a less, hubby wants an excuse to drive past that way anyway, to go to the glass museum and his favorite pizza place.

[dlskidmore]

Thanks for the detailed explination Crabapple!

[dlskidmore]

@dlskidmore 29558 wrote:

Yeah. I know I need to get a lot of ducks in a row, but I’m not sure what order they’re supposed to be in.

…And I’m not sure if it’s worth consulting professionals before I have my downpayment ready. But on the other hand I won’t know how much downpayment I’ll need until I do a little farm shopping…

[Author]

Posts