VegHead
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Post by VegHead on Jul 20, 2017 19:31:56 GMT 10
Have them up against a heat store (west wall), protect from wind and feed them like buggery.
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VegHead
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Post by VegHead on Jul 20, 2017 18:30:16 GMT 10
Yeah we've got them growing down in Vic's south west.
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VegHead
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Post by VegHead on Jul 15, 2017 15:44:04 GMT 10
What jo said!
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VegHead
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Post by VegHead on Jul 8, 2017 20:30:46 GMT 10
High lumen LED torches in easy reach in every room. .22lr at back door, Ruger GSR .308 and 5.56mm, both loaded. For foxes, of course!
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VegHead
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Post by VegHead on Jul 8, 2017 9:06:33 GMT 10
Yeah we do hunt for meat.
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VegHead
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Post by VegHead on Jul 5, 2017 10:26:11 GMT 10
Please be aware that if too much high-magnesium lime (dolomite) gets added to a soil with clay in it, compaction, airlessness and tightness can occur. Magnesium excess can tighten up a clay subsoil beneath a sandy topsoil, preventing a crop from putting roots there. The effect of magnesium shows how powerful it can be if the soil has a lot of clay in it, even 10 percent clay and too much magnesium can make the soil become rock hard and airless, even if it has had heaps of organic matter put into it.
Also, just an aside, we prune in the warmer months leading into winter, as we have found that this almost completely eliminates most problems as the wounds have had time to heal.
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VegHead
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Post by VegHead on Jun 29, 2017 17:19:07 GMT 10
New plantings of lettuce, kales, brown onions, cranberry, and several new blueberry cultivars. Kipfler potatoes being chitted ready for digging in.
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VegHead
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Post by VegHead on Jun 21, 2017 16:42:41 GMT 10
Same here, a bit light on. For the kitchen garden: potatoes, beetroots, garlic, carrots, three large beds of peas, broad beans for green manure, oats for green manure, radishes, and the last of the sweetcorn. The ducks are currently in the main orchard cleaning up and their very large yard has been sown down to a very mixed green manure planting. The chooks are on the 1/8 acre of a previous green manure crop doing their fertiliser, grubicide and insectide duties. One half an acre is down to Daikon radish. Sneakily planted out a large section of my road verge, hidden from road-view by a few trees, to a green manure patch and in turn we'll grow more cereal grains once the former crop has finished. Had no luck with germination this year of our Quinoa crop, so will try again next season.
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VegHead
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Post by VegHead on May 6, 2017 9:56:48 GMT 10
Excellent post Geek. I was with David just last month btw and he still doesn't quite look his age!
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VegHead
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Post by VegHead on May 3, 2017 21:23:06 GMT 10
Bloody hell. Those types of temps will fry anything above ground . . . including us!
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VegHead
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Post by VegHead on May 2, 2017 10:10:00 GMT 10
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Post by VegHead on May 2, 2017 8:30:17 GMT 10
The answer to your first paragraph geek lies in my post above.
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VegHead
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Post by VegHead on May 1, 2017 16:45:42 GMT 10
Heylo bags are what we use. Made in NZ.
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VegHead
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Post by VegHead on Apr 30, 2017 8:42:00 GMT 10
I'll answer the tap question straight away: we rarely water our vegetable crops even in the height of summer, and when we do they are fed by a gravity system from water collection points (tanks and barrels). It's all about building in resilience; grow only crops specific to your climate (maximises yields by NOT growing crops on spec … maximises growing area this way), deepen your soil first and not spread the growing area out (bio-intensive growing areas are 2/3rds less in area than a normal garden), use solar greenhouses against your north facing walls, use vertical integration, etc, etc. I'm a massive fan and believer in Permaculture, however, we don't do food forests. Why? Because we like to keep things small (think living life on a manageable scale first and foremost). The majority of you don't have acres of land, but most do have a suburban block. I advise you all to take a close look at Deep Green Permaculture in Melbourne. This guy shows just what's capable on a very small scale.
In a previous employment we worked as if we were in the 'zone' every day. So why not treat your food needs as if your were already in an emergency situation. This is how we sort of live; it creates literally hundreds of what-if dialogues every day for us. … to such an extent that many redundant edible plants and the like have been abandoned to the compost pile as they failed in either efficiency of calorie conversion per area required, unable to be stored/preserved, too labour intensive, etc.
The whole question of how to grow enough food in an emergency is just too subjective to even contemplate starting dialogue. Every one of us are in a different situation (land size, climate, zone, open or hidden). However with the advice forwarded regarding some (required?) reading and websites to visit I hope that I given you sufficient (excuse the pun) information to make your own judgements.
Finally, the most important lesson I have learnt is that a good system is both robust and resilient. A perfect example of this is when I broke my arm November last year. Our systems all provided us ample food on the table, water, etc, and even if the jobs became a little longer to complete because I was invalided really nothing much changed. Once soil is prepared properly it does not need to be dug over, having split and dried firewood years in advance means no axe work or collection, easily moved structures (chicken tractors) that can be moved when you are injured and are fully automated as well, etc, etc. And if it all gets too much reduce your labour. It will do wonders to your head! One final example is that our large cereal grain growing area was going to be too much for me with a wounded wing, so we deep ripped the area down to 700mm (I can drive a tractor left handed), and sowed the lot down to a green manure crop. Still a Win-Win: no bare ground and growing a beneficial cover crop that requires no harvesting, watering or anything. Now that's a load off my plate for six months and giving me time to heal.
Best to you all,
Veg.
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VegHead
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Post by VegHead on Apr 29, 2017 20:21:35 GMT 10
Para 1. Root crops are just fine left in the soil during winter, some even become sweeter. And you can always clamp them, no need for root cellars. Para. 2. Yes. And rubbish about little growing during winter. We have bananas ripening and we live in southern Vic. Poly tunnels, etc? Think season extension! Para 3. What about the unknowns? They will always be present regardless of conditions. Para 4. Use bio-intensive methods to increase yields with less area. Para 5. Some seeds will not store at all. Seed save your own. Para 6. By using methods that doesn't burn the soil out. See my comment re: para 4. In summary, work smarter and not harder/longer. Grow and max your yields during the peak harvest times for your 'crops' and preserve the harvest accordingly. We now spend only a few hours per week gardening. Growing our own fertility (not manures) has proved its worth also (Google Will Bonshall). Jodi Roebuck (NZ) has been another great resource. Sorry Shiny, but spreadsheets don't provide any calories for us Happy to be berated for any comment made above. Veg.
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VegHead
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Post by VegHead on Apr 29, 2017 18:18:47 GMT 10
I think you are thinking inside the box too much, and over thinking the whole scenario. But what would I know . . .
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VegHead
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Post by VegHead on Apr 2, 2017 21:08:14 GMT 10
Thanks.
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VegHead
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Post by VegHead on Apr 2, 2017 19:56:46 GMT 10
We served and we what? Count? Not according to our government. Twenty fooking plus years of my life for what? Unrecognised war service because I served in submarines, and every fooking patrol was never counted NOR recorded. ! Can't even make a claim to DVA without having the inconvenience of travelling four hours to be interviewed by some nob who did three years as a bloody yahoo on ships and now reckons the world owes him a Kings ransom. Please, give me a beak.
Please Mods take my post down if it's considered offensive . . . The general populace just aren't aware.....
And you can shove Opsec as well with this rant!
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VegHead
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Post by VegHead on Apr 1, 2017 18:06:45 GMT 10
I normally pull out my old uniform, look at it .. . then put it away again. And that's really about it for me. Some memories aren't for resurfacing.
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VegHead
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Post by VegHead on Feb 18, 2017 7:55:16 GMT 10
I'll second Will's book as we use his techniques a lot. There are many more great books, not Permaculture oriented per se, however I've offered these up before with little interest shown from the forum, but if anyone is interested perhaps a PM stating what you'd like to know or get out of a book I could offer some advice.
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