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The Homestead Year, 2016 in Retrospect, Part One

Here is my homestead year in retrospect, or half of it.  Part two should follow any day.  A lot happened in 2016 I guess.  It was a pretty good year, much better than other recent years in many ways.

Posted on January 6, 2017 by Steven Edholm and filed under axes, cordwood challenge, Homestead Lifestyle, Homesteading, Lime and tagged homestead life the homestead year homesteading nature animals biochar axes cordwood challenge burning lime.
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Death metal and daffodils. No one ever accused me of being normal. This is my 2023 haul of daff seeds for the breeding project. Sometimes you need to take time to stop and breed the roses. Roses are an example of a primitive flower that has been bred to a high degree of refinement in recent history. I think it was the first plant to be patented under the then new plant patent laws in the early part of the 20th century too. Because of the new patent law, someone undertook a major breeding program with thousands of seedlings. Some are dead set against patenting plants. I'm not and I haven't heard a convincing argument against it. There are currently some bad laws around patenting that should be reformed, but don't throw the baby out with the bathwater. Those abberations are a reason to reform plant patenting to it's original fair form. A regular plant patent only lasts for 20 years. It was intended to reward new creations that did not previously exist. To say that there should be no plant patents is essentially to say that someone like Markus Kobelt, a mid scale fruit and apple breeder should either figure out a way to get rich and then fund their work, or find private or government funding. Basic plant and utility patents are fair. Change my mind. Anyone who is against plant patents, I would challenge to present an alternative that doesn't result in you getting everything for free and anyone who wants to do breeding on any scale not being able to. It used to be that this kind of work was done almost solely by what were called "gentleman farmers" who had the personal funds to take the risks. Plant patents in that way leveled the playing field for people who were not Thomas Jefferson with a huge tract of land and a bunch of slave labor. I don't think that plant patents are the best solution and I have other ideas, but I don't think they are a terrible solution either. Also, it should be possible to draft liberal patents that allow for personal propagation and use. Like all problems, this one can be improved by evolving our consciousness. That means considering more than just our own narrow wants and needs.
F*@§ Your firewood dogma. Wow, I actually got a video made. https://youtu.be/79RmrF4ZFvk I am putting up my firewood and thought I would shoot some video talking about what you might call alternative firewood splitting methods. I used to be the
F*@§ Your firewood dogma. Wow, I actually got a video made. https://youtu.be/79RmrF4ZFvk I am putting up my firewood and thought I would shoot some video talking about what you might call alternative firewood splitting methods. I used to be the guy that tried to split everything down the middle and put all my firewood up on a splitting stump. Now, I rarely use stumps and instead have an arsenal of tools that I use depending on the wood, how it's cut and the tools I have or want to use. If you give me a firewood dogma/dummy rule, I'll probably find an exception. Very likely, it's a "rule" I break not only frequently, but as a matter of standard practice. I rarely use a stump. I rarely attack big firewood down the center. I stick my splitting maul in the gravel driveway all the time. I golfswing split with a maul. I don't keep my handle parallell to the ground. I am probably as likely to be seen ignoring pre-existing cracks as I am trying to exploit them. As a result, firewood is a lot more fun to split than it used to be. I think an important idea is that the most efficient wood splitting cannot be done by one static technique alone. The bigger our tool box, the more we can adapt to circumstance. I also don't think that we can split firewood in the most efficient way. It's too hard to read the wood and too hard to assess energy expenditure across the board. A better approach might be to have fun and use what inspires you and seems to work well for you and your style, woods and tools. In any endeavor, the more an idea or rule is stated by lots of people til it takes on a life of its own, the more I'm likely to question it. The more simple it is and the more common it is, it almost seems more likely to be at least lacking in nuance and sometimes just wrong. When we see a lot of ending language like never, always, proper, "the best" etc. that often reveals ignorance, because few things in life are so simple as all that. Nuance is the norm, not the exception. #firewood #splittingwood #splittingfirewood #axes #workingaxes #splittingmaul
Years ago, probably the second year BITE ME! fruited, I took some to a fruit tasting, where it was well received. That helped me know that it wasn't just me being biased, a scenario which has repeated many times now. BITE ME! is a special apple, but
Years ago, probably the second year BITE ME! fruited, I took some to a fruit tasting, where it was well received. That helped me know that it wasn't just me being biased, a scenario which has repeated many times now. BITE ME! is a special apple, but it will not always be, because it will soon be overrun with new savory apples that are in some ways better. That is a good thing. That is the point of breeding and selection, improvement. What carries this apple, almost completely, is the savory component. Take that away and there is not much left to recommend it. As we put this flavor into more apples, things are going to get very intreresting. The future of this class of apple is bright. I just can't imagine that it won't work it's way into the mainstream eventually. I've seen over and over again how people react to it with surprise and delight at discovering something delicious they didn't know exsisted in the most common of fruits. I'm fairly convinced that if you injected that savory component alone into modern boring crisp apples like Honeycrisp and Cosmic Crisp, they would be wildly popular. Then there is all the possibilty, ripe for the taking, to mix it with other flavor components. I will be leaning heavily on mixing savory apple with disease resistant apples, Russets, other crabs and modern style, well behaved, crisp apples like sunrise and fiesta. There are many, many seedling apples already in the ground that have yet to fruit, which will produce new outstanding savory apples in the next few years, and we are just getting started. Once chefs find out these exist and get ahold of them, it will open up some new possibilities. There is some kind of unique dish waiting to be created that will rely wholly on the special flavor characteristics of these apples. #savoryapples #apples #fruit #uniquefruit #uniquefruits #orchard #orchardlife #seedlingapples #food #foodies #ingredients #ingredientsmatter #BITEME!
The fruit and nut community lost a great friend and colleague this year in Mark Albert. To many he was an inspiration and source of information and plant materials. We shared the same attitude of what's the point of learning and collecting stuff if y
The fruit and nut community lost a great friend and colleague this year in Mark Albert. To many he was an inspiration and source of information and plant materials. We shared the same attitude of what's the point of learning and collecting stuff if you aren't sharing it? Mark taught me to graft over 30 years ago and look at the repercussions of that. He also got me interested in cactus and now I have thousands of the things lol. He was the major force behind putting on the local scion exchange, wrote and published, and generally tried to advance gardening and orcharding. To me he was one of my closer friends in the area and we communicated regularly about everything from plants to philosophy to what was on the shelves at the local used food store. I feel a little less understood with him gone, as we did resonate in many ways that I do with very few people. It's all good though. A constant in life is change and that is a good thing. Accept it and make the best of the time we have here. Mark made a lot of positive ripples in the world and that is perhaps the best thing we can do in our lives. He was more than less about others and improving things in his areas of interest. I had planned to make more videos with Mark, but I did make two. One talking about pineapple guavas (feijoa) and one on chip budding. I'm hoping to pull off collecting some pineapple guava seeds in coming years to ship out into the world. I'm not sure we are going to be able to find a map to what plants are what, but at worst I'll have to taste my way through them again. Freddy Menge @freddytheforager came up and got his best feijoas and grafted them a while back, and I imagine others have them as well. I'll probably graft them when I get a new place. What's the lesson? We die. What do we leave behind us that matters? The ways in which we served ourselves, or the ways in which we served others? Every act, perhaps even every thought, leaves ripples in the world, good or not so good. Losing Mark has lit even more of a fire under my ass in my war to make more ripples in the time I have left. Find a passion, act, then interact.
Mewmews have arrived! Anyone need a kitty? Mom is a great mouser, even with one eye.
Yay, I finally got a big truck! This belonged to my good friend Mark Albert who passed away recently. Not a good trade, but I guess we might as well take whatever silver linings we can get in life. It needs a lot of initial work, but it's a bad ass looking truck with the best possible engine, 4wd and worth investing in. It needs some body work, electrical, lots of small stuff, paint and hopefully someday a manual tranny. It should last the rest of my working life and then some if it remains legal to drive and I can keep getting parts. Right now looking for a radiator but it has to be a pre-intercooled version with the hoses on the passenger side. I honestly didn't think I would end up with a truck this nice, so I'm stoked. I still have that new car energy right now and want to work on it, but I'm too busy with spring plant chores, weeds and firewood. It's driveable around the homestead at least. #firstgenram #dodgeram #diesel #firstgencummins
The first part of what is now the main garden 17 years ago. You can see on the left a row of grafted fruit trees. That was one of the main priorities, reflected in what I ended up doing here. More than a decade and a half invested on this homestead a
The first part of what is now the main garden 17 years ago. You can see on the left a row of grafted fruit trees. That was one of the main priorities, reflected in what I ended up doing here. More than a decade and a half invested on this homestead and it's time to move on. I thought I would die here lol. I moved here to be an experimental homesteader and generate something useful that other people could use, and that is what I did, in spite of some tremendous struggles. I'm over the heartbreak phase, mostly over the disgusted phase and fairly resigned for other people to take over my laboratory to live their quaint country lifestyle. It's nonsensical and sad, but it is what it is. Although it's going to be a ridiculous amount of extra work, if I can get a bigger, flatter place with more water, I might be able to overcome some of the loss of productivity and end up pulling off more in terms of horticultural projects. That is my aim at this point. Land prices are dropping and I should be able to afford at least a decent place with some flat land. I can do more with a really good place that is suitable for doing workshops and forestry and all kinds of different things. Something with broader potential. My friend lives on such a place now, we just need about 4.5 million dollars, which is actually insanely cheap. More likely I'll end up with something much smaller, but that also will just be what it is and I'll make the best of it. It's about time to really step on the gas in terms of getting funds together and busting a move. Thinking about crowd funding and other options as well as the overall masterplan. That could be anything from starting a bigger pet anti-cult project, a school type of thing with my buddy Velton or just settling into a small place with the right resources and putting my nose to the grindstone on horticultural projects and edumacation via the internets. This next year involves some big choices and distillation, while trying to build up a downpayment. Thanks to everyone for all the support. Its time to expand that support and make some more cool, impactful stuff happen. #homesteading #experimentalhomestead
This is an aroostook wedge axe. Geometry is all about references. It is impossible to think about axe geometry effectively, or talk about it, without references of some kind. Those references can be abstract, relative lines and points, but why not us
This is an aroostook wedge axe. Geometry is all about references. It is impossible to think about axe geometry effectively, or talk about it, without references of some kind. Those references can be abstract, relative lines and points, but why not use a real life reference- enter the wedge axe. The wedge axe is both a theoretical and functional reference. Some wedge axes have more digression from a true wedge than this one. Most have curved bits as well. but this is damn near a perfect wedge. Not only do wedge axes cut, but they should cut better out of the factory than most other axe designs, on which you essentially have to file off a bunch of material to make them closer to the eye to bit line of a wedge axe. I've had a blog post and video notes written up on this subject for years, that I hope to finish soon. The gist is that using a wedge axe as a reference when thinking and talking about axe geometry just works. It is easier to imagine a wedge axe floating, in and around your axe as a reference, than discussing more abstract lines and angles. Since it is a functional reference as well, any deviations from a wedge can be referenced to functionality, like how much worse or better does it cut, or how much or more or less strong is it. #axes #axemanship #workingaxes #axecordwoodchallenge #tools #woodworkingtools #wedgeaxe #aroostookwedgeaxe #aroostookwedge #
I found this on my phone from last apple season. Mother is a fairly famous old American apple and last year Cherry Crush was not at it's best. Of course there is the matter of taste and climate. Mother may stomp it somewhere else or to someone else. The point as I say is that heirloom apples are a mixed lot and it is not that hard to grow apples from seed that compete with most of them and even some of the better ones. That of course goes against the common myth that it is very unlikely you will grow a good apple from seed. One of cherry crush's Parents is even fairly primitive and problematic. If we are doing it right, the bar should continuously be raised. Most of the hundreds of heirlooms I've fruited here I will not even take with me when I leave. They are just not worth growing around here. Same for many of the modern ones. The percentage that I actually think are worth using to breed new apples is fairly small. Alber Etter said essentially the same thing about heirloom apples after trialing about 500 varieties looking for the best apples and breeding stock. I highly recommend that anyone interested in breeding apples trial out as many as possible. As much as anything, to be breeding with stuff that does well in your area and is not just good by reputation. Proably the easiest quickest way is by grafting them onto frankentrees, second would be the diagonal cordon system. #fruit #orchard #orchardlife #cherrycrushapple #apples #applebreeding #plantbreeding #seedlingapples #appleseedlings
A couple years ago, I put some of these small cacti into straight charcoal and they seemed to do very well. I did a video last year putting some more of them up and they are doing great coming out of winter dormancy. So far, it's all good. I actually had bought these little cacti to do this project quite a while previous to shooting that video. I watered them through the summer in the little pots they came in, but they never did much growing. They basically just stayed alive. Now they are thriving. I doubt that straight charcoal is the best medium for growing most plants, but for some it might be just the thing. It will take on water, but it is well drained and airy. it also seems to lose water pretty fast. Those are great attributes for desert cacti that may succumb to rot if too wet for too long or too often. I don't hesitate to completely saturate these guys. I know excess water will drain away quickly, leaving plenty of air around the roots and bases of the plants. I know that some cacti and succulent people use charcoal in their mixes, but I've not seen anyone using straight char like this. I think they should try though. I suspected it would work okay, but it seems to work really well. I usually feed with whatever liquid fert is around and add some kelp extract to it. #charcoal #biochar #cactus #succulents #cacti #horticulture #pottingmix #gardening #houseplants

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