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Post by reed on Dec 23, 2019 8:13:27 GMT -5
Paper catalogues have started arriving here and I still love looking through them but won't be buying much this year. Got more of my own than I have room for.
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Post by flowerbug on Jan 22, 2020 18:14:15 GMT -5
Been sick alot, put the little one in preschool. He brings home colds. Influenza A, I got pneumonia. Getting better still tired.
hang in there! i try to stay home as much as possible. i hope you feel better soon! i know it takes a while to recover from pneumonia and i'm sure not liking the recent news about yet another virus potentially going around on top of the flu.
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Post by steev on Jan 22, 2020 20:01:26 GMT -5
Small kids are often disease vectors, but worth it, nonetheless.
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Post by flowerbug on Feb 8, 2020 16:14:21 GMT -5
i know how that feels!  |
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Post by prairiegardens on Feb 9, 2020 15:32:11 GMT -5
Been sick alot, put the little one in preschool. He brings home colds. Influenza A, I got pneumonia. Getting better still tired.
hang in there! i try to stay home as much as possible. i hope you feel better soon! i know it takes a while to recover from pneumonia and i'm sure not liking the recent news about yet another virus potentially going around on top of the flu.
From GreenMedInfo, all based on and referenced to peer reviewed studies, this was recommended to prevent virus infection:
Vitamin C, 3000 ml or more divided dose. Vitamin C is just discarded by the body if it doesn't need it, it'll turn your urine bright yellow Vitamin D3 2000 IU,
Magnesium 400 mg daily, (any one of citrate, malate, chelate or chloride forms )
Zinc 20mg daily,
Selenium 100 mg daily. NOTE, I have no training in anything medical, but I trust the site (GreenMedInfo) this came from...and I personally would take massive doses (divided)of echinacea as well at the first signs of any flu like issues because I've been using it with success at the first sign of a cold for years now. According to WebMd, none of these doses would be harmful, Zinc, e.g. is half the daily allowance, selenium a fourth... Grapefruit can interfere with the absorption of some things, not sure if anything on this list is among them. Anyway,just in case anyone is interested, normally I wouldn't post anything like this, but this coronavirus outbreak is pretty scary. |
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Post by flowerbug on Mar 18, 2020 23:26:59 GMT -5
i'm sorry to be around anyone who is burning, it really affects my lungs so badly these days. to me though the main issue of burning is the wasting of all that prime organic matter which can be used in compost or just buried to give the worms food and hiding places for when the weather gets too hot/too cold or too dry.
alas, the thoughts i had about this new virus turned out badly for too many, the full depth of this one has yet to be found. i am facinated by all microbiology.
i hope everyone is being well and careful.
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Post by flowerbug on Mar 23, 2020 8:27:09 GMT -5
Pyrolysis is a natural process which produces several by products including charcoal and ash. I burned the old accumulated wood piles earlier this spring and planted fava beans in the resulting bare ground.
yes, burning is a natural process but i hate to think of all that energy going up into the atmosphere instead of being broken down and used by the soil community to provide nutrients for the coming production of more life. i'm also a fan of slow composting where i just bury organic material so that all those gases given off can instead be captured and used by the soil community/bacteria/fungi.
since i keep seeing improvements through the years using such simple methods (a lot less work than having to keep turning a compost heap, etc.) i will keep at it.
i do use wood ashes here or there as i have some friends who burn wood for heat in a nearby small town. so they bring me their ashes instead of sending them to the landfill. i use them in gardens as i amend with other materials as i get them or grow them. nothing organic here is wasted if i can help it. with about an acre of gardens i can never get enough free organic materials. i grow some green manure too here or there when i can. the worms like it all and the clay also seems to do well with what i can find.
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Post by steev on Mar 23, 2020 12:20:50 GMT -5
While I use flowerbug's method OTF, here in Cali, we need controlled burns to reduce biomass; the lack of that has resulted in horrendous wildfires this past decade as the climate has dried.
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Post by flowerbug on Mar 23, 2020 13:42:12 GMT -5
i'm very familiar with biochar and controlled methods of generating it and also the distillates that can come off burning wood that can be used as fuels. i've also studied various ideas of using it including the terra preta and whatever else others can talk about when it comes down to soil community and fertility. yes, having an enclosed system with scrubbers to make sure you're not polluting the rest of the world is a good idea. i've only actually made charcoal once using a very primitive method. if i did not have such a bad reaction to smoke i would be experimenting with it more as we can get hard wood chips by the truckload pretty easy here. as it turns out though i much prefer just using the wood chips in the perennial gardens as mulch and eventually the fungi and other soil community creatures turn it into nice rich dark humus. when a perennial garden gets a deep enough layer then i scrape some of it up and use it in the worm buckets along with some of the garden soil to give it all a recharge and the worms a happy home. by the following spring i am ready to do the annual running of the worms where i take most of the buckets out to the gardens and use them as my fertilizer and then i restart the buckets all over again. it's a nice cycle that works well. i get rid of all the household paper scraps and food scraps via the worm buckets. within a year the worm buckets will have betwen 10-20 thousand worms each. and no i don't count them. i gave up counting worms within 6 months of starting to keep them. been a fun project for the past 10yrs.
as far as controlled burns go, yes they can help knock down the fuel load above the ground, but even better would be if you can grind that stuff up and bury it instead. in a pretty arid climate that acts as a soil moisture reservoir but also a good way to improve the soil carbon over the longer term. plant some fresh green trees and shrubs in the area that can tolerate the dry spells and you've got a nice start on a very productive area.
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Post by flowerbug on Mar 26, 2020 14:09:05 GMT -5
is it the fall or spring for you? here it is spring allergy season for me so when i come in from working outside i wash my face and rinse out my eyes and sinuses. it makes a large difference immediately and even better i don't need medications to decongest and i don't get sinus infections as i used to get. if you don't wear a hat wipe down your hair with a damp cloth to remove any pollen so you don't spread it to pillows.
yesterday i was outside for a few hours and sniffling the whole time, came in and went through my routine (i always have a hat and/or hoodie on so i don't get it in my hair) and within a few moments the sniffles were gone.
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Post by steev on Mar 27, 2020 19:54:47 GMT -5
Is that the bird or the one from "Silence of the Lambs"?
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Post by steev on Mar 27, 2020 21:30:36 GMT -5
So glad we're culturally in touch.
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Post by diane on Mar 29, 2020 10:45:36 GMT -5
What a good idea to develop all those sample beds. You could run tours, though maybe YouTube is the easier way now.
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Post by prairiegardens on Apr 6, 2020 17:45:39 GMT -5
yep. but as I told someone not long ago, by far the majority of people who get it get better, something it's easy to forget. The garden will be there when you can get to it, and both you and garden will benefit.
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Post by steev on Apr 10, 2020 4:00:40 GMT -5
Me, too.
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