|
|
Post by richardw on Oct 18, 2017 12:45:45 GMT -5
From the first European settlement here in NZ and for at least another 100 years it was traditionality advised that root crops had to be stored in underground cellars till some bright spark thought, "hey why do we do this when it doesnt get cold enough", bit like housing, houses had to have the living area rooms facing south same as the 'motherland', so for well over a 100years houses faced the cold side. Hey why do we turn houses to the north facing sun...dor, only took 100years to work it out.
|
|
|
|
Post by StripedCorn on Oct 18, 2017 17:47:28 GMT -5
The best wood around here for handles is osage orange. There's fencerows that are hedge and metal T posts every other post. The metal have rusted out and fallen down while the osage still supports the rest of the fence. My boss's grandad built an osage fence in the 20s they still use for horses. Although there's also hedge fences that last about as long as basswood so who knows.
I've seen mulberry used in hammer handles with great success. It seems like its more "alive" than hickory. Hickory just sends the shock straight to your hand. After a few hours of forging you can really tell a difference.
I'd like to get some lengths of beech or hornbeam and see how those stack up.
|
|
|
|
Post by templeton on Oct 27, 2017 18:22:24 GMT -5
reed, not really a totally natural solution, but i wonder if the expanded clay balls used for hydro growing would be a useful filler material. very light, easy to wash off, reusable.
|
|
|
|
Post by richardw on Oct 28, 2017 12:55:50 GMT -5
StripedCorn looking up Maclura pomifera - osage orange, looks a lovely wood in terms of colours. We can get seed of it thats already growing here so thats what i will do.
|
|
|
|
Post by StripedCorn on Oct 28, 2017 20:22:41 GMT -5
Maclura pomifera makes pretty good fire wood too. I like to cut them at about 8 inches DBH, then split each length in half
|
|
|
|
Post by richardw on Oct 29, 2017 3:07:37 GMT -5
We certainly can get side tracked in a number of topics, and we dont get told off either... back to carrots hey.
|
|
|
|
Post by reed on Oct 29, 2017 6:55:48 GMT -5
We certainly can get side tracked in a number of topics, and we dont get told off either... back to carrots hey. I altered my clamp design. Had two old coolers from yard sales $1 each. Buried the slightly smaller one almost up to it's rim and put in a thin layer of leaves and sand. Put in my potatoes, the few carrots I had left and a couple of apples with a little more leaves and sand. Capped it off with the plastic water bottles, foam egg cartons and little more sand and leaves. Turned the slightly larger one upside down on top, it made a nice snug fit, and sealed all around with dirt and leaves. The bigger one, used as the lid has a drain hole, I pulled out the plug and stuffed it with a dry corn stalk to serve as the ventilation shown in the diagrams. I'll check the contents periodically, if it works I'll adapt the same general principle to a much larger one. See, I mentioned carrots. |
|
|
|
Post by walt on Oct 29, 2017 14:12:59 GMT -5
Reed, you mentionned putting potatatoes and apples in the same storage container. I have read many times not to store apples with potatoes as the apples will give off ethylene gas which causes potatoes to sprout.
Never tried it myself, but you might look into it. Carrots.
|
|
|
|
Post by steev on Oct 29, 2017 19:20:27 GMT -5
"Eh, what's up, Doc?" There; carrot-related reference.
Walt beat me to the apple caution, with which I agree.
|
|
|
|
Post by richardw on Oct 29, 2017 23:40:48 GMT -5
We certainly can get side tracked in a number of topics, and we dont get told off either... back to carrots hey. See, I mentioned carrots. Oh good lad reed
So pleased i dont need to store stuff like you guys, even the beetroot could have been left in the garden this last winter.. think i'm falling in love with climate change |
|
|
|
Post by steev on Oct 30, 2017 0:57:52 GMT -5
Well, you know: it's an ill wind that blows no good; if global climate change works to your advantage, good for you. Those of us looking to be fucked in Norhem are counting on you to preserve the species, although that may be ultimately the wrong approach; it's possible we need to be cleansed from the ecosystem for things to work as intended. We may be too "smart" for our own good or anybody else's.
|
|
|
|
Post by richardw on Oct 30, 2017 1:26:18 GMT -5
Yes climate change may well have a flip side for us down here, but we dont know hows its guna pan yet, hey, dont mind these mostly frost free springs if this is how its going to pan out though.
|
|
|
|
Post by steev on Oct 30, 2017 2:32:09 GMT -5
As I posted, if it works for you, great. I'm supposing Antarctic melting isn't having any noticeable effects, short-run-wise.
Here in NorCal, the past year's record rainfall, after several years of drought, has fueled unprecedented wildfires (thousands of homes/buildings burned); Cali burns in the Fall, but this has never been seen before.
While temps on the farm have mediated the last few years, it may benefit planting, but I am concerned about the ferocity and timing of storms, seeming much less predictable than in the past; indicating weather instability, which is to say dicey expectations for me, as to what and when to plant. Dammit; I'm old enough that I'd like some predictability; this dealing with things as they come is a young man's game!
|
|
|
|
Post by reed on Oct 30, 2017 13:38:27 GMT -5
Regarding apples and potatoes stored together, I didn't look it up, I just took your word for it and pulled the apples out.
CARROTS! looked fine.
|
|
|
|
Post by templeton on Oct 31, 2017 16:56:53 GMT -5
Reed, my father was a potato wholesaler. He investigated storing potatoes with apples. Doesn't work.
T
|
|
