now yawl makin me hungry ... had fried okra just the other day .. .and boiled a few days before that .. got another cuttin tomorrow .... an i love the gumbo ..
retired, living self sufficently in Alabama (Part 2)
wooo hooooo lots of projects goin now, i just keep jumpin from one to the other, workin on my wood gasifier and my outdoor furnace.
fire tube mounted into the 55 gallon barrel ..
I will need you to splain to me what a wood gasifier is. I have never heard of such an animal.
I have been cleaning up the garden beds this morning. Harvest is disappointing. But the eggplants are just starting.
another pic with the barrels plummed togather ...
dang ... dint know it had been that long sence i wrote somthing here, hahaa been BUSY
Time flies--:)
This message was edited Jan 23, 2012 3:01 AM
How is the furnace coming?
almost finished, got the rest of the ductwork in today, so all i like is installing it to the rest of the rooms ... hopefully be finished with it this coming week.
That's great! I know it will make your life a bit more pleasant in winter.
Winter is knocking on the back door.
The almanac says Feb will be colder than normal.
chop chop
Cricket, you are such a party pooper! LOL
hahaa got the last of the duct work finished today, I HAVE HEAT in all my rooms now . .. well 'cept for the bathroom, that'll come later.
Great Job!!!!!! So happy for you.
congrats on heat system.
gonna be nipppie this week.(finally)
Cricket, dang you sound like you are wanting cold weather... thats just not right ... LOL
Cajun... Thanks, sure makes life easier with some good heat throughout the cabin now. i even have early garden seeds planted and starting to come up inside. they will be good an strong by the time to transplant outside in the gardens.
I was thinking of seeding a tray today. It's cold and rainy out and I don't feel great. Staying in sounds like a good plan.
So glad you have good, even heat in your cabin. How often do you have to go out and stoke the furnace?
i load it once in the morning and just before bedtime .. other than that clean out the ashes once a week, it pretty well takes care of its self. actualy all i like is building a better grate to go inside it and it will be compleated.
I was hoping for a long deep freeze to rid some of these insects. I don't recon it's gonna happen this year.
Winter (sike)
hahaa i hope the cold is OVER with, an spring is on its way.... im ready to garden, got some strawberry plants today, so i gotta make a new bed for them soon and get em out.
SPRING SPRING SPRING .. hahaa
I was wrong about Feb.......I read the Almanac wrong. Roooops.
March is suppose to be warmer than normal and April slightly warmer than normal and May slightly cooler than normal.
lookie=
It might help you decide your spring garden. So far, it has been correct on weather predictions.
http://www.almanac.com/weather/longrange/region/us/8
yeah i have a copy of the almanac, my Grandparents always had one lay'n close around an they always had a wonderful garden and crops, dont ask why just go by it. long live the almanac. even tho i have to get out my double duty reading glasses to read the small print ... hahaaa shhhhhhhhhhh comes with age. LOL
been breaking new ground for gardens the past few days, im sooooooo ready for springtime an planting season.
Do you think most will start their gardens early around here?
I really want to get my outdoor garden going too. I'm kinda = scared-ish. (frost)
I dunno about you but I have had a lot of rain in this area. I cannot till the soil yet and I can see weed seeds popping up everywhere already. Now another drenching rain today and tomorrow.
I guess I'll have to till shallow the next chance I get. (thursday or friday)Better than none.
yeah there will be a few more cold nites, but the early stuff you can put out an cover with plastic etc. if frost is forecast, just takes a little extra time on your part to provide some extra care for em till the chance of frost is past..
I'm excited about putting my seeds out!! I have a bunch of seeds started but thinking I will be starting more this week. My garden is nowhere ready to use but a neighbor has kindly offered me full use off his garden till I can get mine useable. And his wife said she'd offer me help with canning! I am so blessed with good people in my life!
very true, an extra back is always welcome in the gardens an good nabors are hard to find these days .. yes you are blessed
A friend of mine made mention a few days after I had bought my place that she has lived in her house 5 yrs and knows the name of 1 of her neighbor but akready knew every one of mine because they all stop and visi when they drive by.
LOL very kewl, some places are friendly, some are not... i got too many kin folks round me not to know everyone .. hahaaa
some of the garden spots ive been workin on lately on my hillside
Sailor, looks like that should work just fine. My backyard(starting 10 feet from the house) has the same slope and could benefit from terracing... IF I was younger and had more strength/energy!
yeah me the pickaxe an the chainsaw .. we work wonders
That is really steep. Lots of pickaxing. I have done a few gardens like that in my life time. Are you going to add anything to the soil to help hold in the moisture?
this hillside stays pretty wet even in the hot dry summers... had lots of ferns that grew on it before i started working on it .. still quite a few of em remain...
I am inspired by your picture. I see lots of quality time with a pick axe in my future as well ;)
o_angi2001, very kewl, i posted the pic's to maybe to give someone an idea on how to use a hillside that would just other wise be a hillside LOL.... here its about all i have and i hate to keep cutting the brush off it an keeping it clean.... so what better to do with it than make gardens.... as you can see past it i still have yard left to reclaim. just more garden spaces.... cant get too many ya know ..
Here's a technique to consider... I'm doing a smaller version on the sides of my new garden area, which is on a slight slope. Be sure to read and see the photos all the way to the end...
http://www.richsoil.com/hugelkultur/
According to the information in that link you would use old wood (rotted wood) to build a hugelkulture bed. That would preclude building a bed out of fresh green wood as you are clearing brush and saplings and invasive small trees. I think of hugelkulture as a good technique to use while you are clearing up woody invasives--i.e. a way to use up freshly cut wood.
Freshly cut brushy wood is more available to me than rotted wood. (If you don't have your own your city garbage manager should be able to put you in touch with some. City sanitation departments haul tons of it to local land fills every year.)
Using fresh-cut wood willl require watching your nitrogen, but as this link points out over time your pile will start producing N2 as the fresh cut wood rots into humus.
http://lifehacker.com/5880237/hugelkultur-can-create-irrigation+free-garden-beds
This message was edited Feb 21, 2012 8:40 AM
my soil on the hillside has kinda a loom type about it. rich black dirt. lots of leaf matter composted over the years i guess.. but i still strew my ashes from the wood heater over them durin the wintertime. an let the rains soak it all in. then work it in an turn the soil over in the early spring before planting season even begains.. then work it again when i plant.
This message was edited Mar 12, 2012 6:18 PM
I cleared one of my slopes this weekend, the west fscing slope at the end f my driveway. Next step is to prepare it for strawberries :) Another slope that I have begun to clear is looking like a squash patchwhen I close my eyes and dream. I also started moving some of my rotted wood from fallen trees to start my hugelkultur bed. Lots of projects!