Comments for One Straw: Be The Change http://onestraw.wordpress.com Learning to Make the World a Better Place Fri, 13 Nov 2009 01:43:58 +0000 http://wordpress.com/ hourly 1 Comment on Bioneer Talk this weekend: Suburban Permaculture by Kate@LivingTheFrugalLife http://onestraw.wordpress.com/2009/11/12/bioneer-talk-this-weekend-suburban-permaculture/#comment-2408 Kate@LivingTheFrugalLife Fri, 13 Nov 2009 01:43:58 +0000 http://onestraw.wordpress.com/?p=893#comment-2408 Rob, have you posted previously in any detail about your fruit tree guilds? I'd love to read what you've done with that concept. It's one I'd like to move on next year with our venerable apple tree and a new pear tree not all that far away. More lawn eradication on the list for next year! Rob, have you posted previously in any detail about your fruit tree guilds? I’d love to read what you’ve done with that concept. It’s one I’d like to move on next year with our venerable apple tree and a new pear tree not all that far away. More lawn eradication on the list for next year!

]]> Comment on Potato Tower Results – An End to the Hype? by 4 sq ft Potato Tower « One Straw: Be The Change http://onestraw.wordpress.com/2009/10/27/tech/#comment-2403 4 sq ft Potato Tower « One Straw: Be The Change Wed, 11 Nov 2009 01:23:11 +0000 http://onestraw.wordpress.com/?p=850#comment-2403 [...] by Stumble Upon and ranks high in most Google searches,  I would like to re-direct new readers to the conclusions of this experiment, and to also click the category “Potato Tower” for further reading.  Results with this [...] [...] by Stumble Upon and ranks high in most Google searches,  I would like to re-direct new readers to the conclusions of this experiment, and to also click the category “Potato Tower” for further reading.  Results with this [...]

]]> Comment on Season Extension: Compost and Thermal Mass by garyoppenheimer http://onestraw.wordpress.com/2009/11/05/season-extension-compost-and-thermal-mass/#comment-2402 garyoppenheimer Tue, 10 Nov 2009 03:38:49 +0000 http://onestraw.wordpress.com/?p=879#comment-2402 Your readers with late season herb and vegetable gardens may well find that they will grow more than they can use, preserve or give to friends. They may want to visit www.AmpleHarvest.org - a site that helps diminish hunger by enabling backyard gardeners to share their crops with neighborhood food pantries. The site is free both for the food pantries and the gardeners using it. More than 1000 food pantries nationwide are already on it and more are signing up daily. It includes preferred delivery times, driving instructions to the pantry as well as (in many cases) information about store bought items also needed by the pantry (for after the growing season). AmpleHarvest.org enables people to help their community by reaching into their back yard instead of their back pocket. Lastly, if your reader's community has a food pantry, they should make sure the pantry registers on www.AmpleHarvest.org. Its free. Your readers with late season herb and vegetable gardens may well find that they will grow more than they can use, preserve or give to friends.

They may want to visit http://www.AmpleHarvest.org – a site that helps diminish hunger by enabling backyard gardeners to share their crops with neighborhood food pantries.

The site is free both for the food pantries and the gardeners using it.

More than 1000 food pantries nationwide are already on it and more are signing up daily.

It includes preferred delivery times, driving instructions to the pantry as well as (in many cases) information about store bought items also needed by the pantry (for after the growing season).

AmpleHarvest.org enables people to help their community by reaching into their back yard instead of their back pocket.

Lastly, if your reader’s community has a food pantry, they should make sure the pantry registers on http://www.AmpleHarvest.org. Its free.

]]> Comment on Season Extension: Compost and Thermal Mass by Joel http://onestraw.wordpress.com/2009/11/05/season-extension-compost-and-thermal-mass/#comment-2401 Joel Mon, 09 Nov 2009 21:14:39 +0000 http://onestraw.wordpress.com/?p=879#comment-2401 Do you suppose there will be enough browns at the surface to keep ammonia from rising into the hoop house in harmful amounts? Do you suppose there will be enough browns at the surface to keep ammonia from rising into the hoop house in harmful amounts?

]]> Comment on Intro: Living Soils for a Livable Planet by Bryan http://onestraw.wordpress.com/2009/10/30/intro-living-soils-for-a-livable-planet-a-case-soil-based-foods/#comment-2400 Bryan Sun, 08 Nov 2009 02:35:17 +0000 http://onestraw.wordpress.com/?p=864#comment-2400 Hi Rob Once again I appreciate your ability to make complex things simple and succinctly (and compellingly) capture (no pun intended) what I think is my own thinking. I was just outside this morning, just poking around the ground with a stick - marvelling at soil being made where once there was none. To think that this simple act - almost passive once the inputs are in place - can sequester so much Carbon is yet another reason to see soils as the great connecting place - the hub of all organic and inorganic connectivity. I look forward to reading more. Bryan Hi Rob

Once again I appreciate your ability to make complex things simple and succinctly (and compellingly) capture (no pun intended) what I think is my own thinking. I was just outside this morning, just poking around the ground with a stick – marvelling at soil being made where once there was none. To think that this simple act – almost passive once the inputs are in place – can sequester so much Carbon is yet another reason to see soils as the great connecting place – the hub of all organic and inorganic connectivity.

I look forward to reading more.

Bryan

]]> Comment on Season Extension: Compost and Thermal Mass by Bill http://onestraw.wordpress.com/2009/11/05/season-extension-compost-and-thermal-mass/#comment-2399 Bill Sun, 08 Nov 2009 02:26:23 +0000 http://onestraw.wordpress.com/?p=879#comment-2399 Hey Rob, here is what I am trying this winter in my 10 x 20 hoophouse in MT...I, like you, tried to grow a winter crop, but it gets cold here, and no amount of double row covers, etc,etc, etc could keep anything alive after 5 -10 nights of -25 or colder. This winter I have a small flock of layers in the hoophouse and no plants at all. They are on a deep mulch of hay and have a roost post mounted about 4 feet off the ground on one side, over a growing bed. Under the roost I am accumulating all the "played out" hay mulch into a windrow that is as long as the roost post (8 ft). As the days grow shorter, they spend more time on roost, and of course poop more straight down onto this heap of future compost. I incorporate the droppings into the pile as needed and also watering a bit. Hopefully the pile will heat up to not only make compost, but radiate some heat up to the birds on those really cold nights. Come March or so, the birds will go outside, the compost should be ripe, and the planting beds should be in good shape for early crops. Certainly some wishful thinking involved here. We will see how it goes. BTW, hens would love those restaurant scraps. Hey Rob, here is what I am trying this winter in my 10 x 20 hoophouse in MT…I, like you, tried to grow a winter crop, but it gets cold here, and no amount of double row covers, etc,etc, etc could keep anything alive after 5 -10 nights of -25 or colder. This winter I have a small flock of layers in the hoophouse and no plants at all. They are on a deep mulch of hay and have a roost post mounted about 4 feet off the ground on one side, over a growing bed. Under the roost I am accumulating all the “played out” hay mulch into a windrow that is as long as the roost post (8 ft). As the days grow shorter, they spend more time on roost, and of course poop more straight down onto this heap of future compost. I incorporate the droppings into the pile as needed and also watering a bit. Hopefully the pile will heat up to not only make compost, but radiate some heat up to the birds on those really cold nights. Come March or so, the birds will go outside, the compost should be ripe, and the planting beds should be in good shape for early crops. Certainly some wishful thinking involved here. We will see how it goes. BTW, hens would love those restaurant scraps.

]]> Comment on Sheet Mulch by Phil in B.C. http://onestraw.wordpress.com/sub-acre-ag/sheet-mulch/#comment-2398 Phil in B.C. Sat, 07 Nov 2009 18:19:32 +0000 http://onestraw.wordpress.com/sub-acre-ag/sheet-mulch/#comment-2398 Lately stumbled upon an interesting page about a wider viewpoint on sheet mulching www.mdvaden.com/lasagna_gardening.shtml The page in entirety leaves the door open for either using sheets responsibly or not using them. What criteria do you think would be the most practical to decide which approach is ideal? Thanks, Phil Lately stumbled upon an interesting page about a wider viewpoint on sheet mulching

http://www.mdvaden.com/lasagna_gardening.shtml

The page in entirety leaves the door open for either using sheets responsibly or not using them. What criteria do you think would be the most practical to decide which approach is ideal? Thanks, Phil

]]> Comment on Season Extension: Compost and Thermal Mass by Joel http://onestraw.wordpress.com/2009/11/05/season-extension-compost-and-thermal-mass/#comment-2394 Joel Fri, 06 Nov 2009 23:27:23 +0000 http://onestraw.wordpress.com/?p=879#comment-2394 Great link! This quote from it seems especially important: "Ammonia will damage plant leaf tissue in concentrations as low as 10 ppm (Thomas 1951) and must be scrubbed from the exhaust stream before it enters the greenhouse atmosphere. A number of experimental composting greenhouses have suffered chemical bums of leaves by NH3 that was released directly into the greenhouse atmosphere without being filtered." Great link! This quote from it seems especially important:

“Ammonia will damage plant leaf tissue in concentrations as low as 10 ppm (Thomas
1951) and must be scrubbed from the exhaust stream before it enters the greenhouse atmosphere. A
number of experimental composting greenhouses have suffered chemical bums of leaves by NH3 that
was released directly into the greenhouse atmosphere without being filtered.”

]]> Comment on Season Extension: Compost and Thermal Mass by El http://onestraw.wordpress.com/2009/11/05/season-extension-compost-and-thermal-mass/#comment-2393 El Fri, 06 Nov 2009 20:00:07 +0000 http://onestraw.wordpress.com/?p=879#comment-2393 Well Rob I can't doubt your 10*: my greenhouses have never gotten that cold! I will say that spinach has never been a terribly successful crop for me in the greenhouses in winter. It's been good but not great. Other things that grow like gangbusters and seem oblivious to the cold are arugula, mache, claytonia, minutina (which is a skinny-leaved plantain; also called buck's horn plantain) and Italian dandelion, and all varieties of escarole. But like Emily and the esteemed Mr Coleman I double-cover, as soon as the temps indoors drop (daytime) below 50 and stay there if it's cloudy. Well Rob I can’t doubt your 10*: my greenhouses have never gotten that cold!

I will say that spinach has never been a terribly successful crop for me in the greenhouses in winter. It’s been good but not great. Other things that grow like gangbusters and seem oblivious to the cold are arugula, mache, claytonia, minutina (which is a skinny-leaved plantain; also called buck’s horn plantain) and Italian dandelion, and all varieties of escarole.

But like Emily and the esteemed Mr Coleman I double-cover, as soon as the temps indoors drop (daytime) below 50 and stay there if it’s cloudy.

]]> Comment on Season Extension: Compost and Thermal Mass by craig http://onestraw.wordpress.com/2009/11/05/season-extension-compost-and-thermal-mass/#comment-2392 craig Fri, 06 Nov 2009 17:41:21 +0000 http://onestraw.wordpress.com/?p=879#comment-2392 Rob, Cool experiement, thanks for posting on it. I was wondering about your snow load out there? Do you worry about collapse? Everyone around here seems to take their hoop houses down in winter, last year we saw 4' of snow in 24 hours, with a full on rain storm the next 24 hours. Imagine, 3' of ice on the roof, anyone not around to keep that off their hoop houses lost them. Also, I wonder if you insulated the bottom of the water tank? Did you use some type of foam board to keep things a bit above ground temp? Without insulation underneath, it won't take long for the ground to bring that water into equilibrium temperature. Did you have an ideal temperature for the water mixture in mind? Rob,
Cool experiement, thanks for posting on it.

I was wondering about your snow load out there? Do you worry about collapse?

Everyone around here seems to take their hoop houses down in winter, last year we saw 4′ of snow in 24 hours, with a full on rain storm the next 24 hours. Imagine, 3′ of ice on the roof, anyone not around to keep that off their hoop houses lost them.

Also, I wonder if you insulated the bottom of the water tank? Did you use some type of foam board to keep things a bit above ground temp? Without insulation underneath, it won’t take long for the ground to bring that water into equilibrium temperature.

Did you have an ideal temperature for the water mixture in mind?

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