Category: Uncategorized

Following our last blog post about Lady Eve Balfour, we received this story

from Gwyn Jones.

“As a young man, I went to England and Lady Eve picked me and my mother up and took us to her home.

She gave me the contact details for Alex Podolinsky and that is how I got involved with BD.

She asked me to literally pass the batten on and that led me to write Australia’s first commercial organic conversion course [16 days] in Gippsland over 20 years ago with Liz Clay.

Modern historical viewpoints are currently focusing on soil [healthy and then commercialisation to carbon sequestration]. I have done 106 talks on the above, but the reality is that the focus needs to be on plants that grow the topsoil and decomposing plants and their roots feeding the soil biology/earthworms/casting/water stable aggregates, etc.

They are the drivers of sustainable soil development. Savory talks about the importance of stock, but it is the plants that feed the stock in the first place.

Lady Eve was one of the first individuals to raise the issue of sustainability.

May I suggest that we have missed the link between sustainability and plant succession.

Historically humanity has exploited plant succession as a biological asset – one of Australia’s first exports were timber masts for sailing ships. In Australia, we literally have no natural red cedar as we have successfully harvested and removed this high-successional order plant.

Globally humanity has taken high-order plant successions [forests/grasslands etc] and through a process of unsustainable agriculture systems created an output of deserts and wastelands.

Consumers and governments are now starting to take note of what is occurring as countries are now literally counting the number of years of soil they have before they cannot feed themselves eg Britain’s 150 years.

Globally we need to advance plant succession and the first “natural” stage is pioneer weeds that have positive amplified feedback loops.

To work with nature, we need to first understand nature’s biological repair processes and utilise them.

In short, we need to learn to read the weed!

Learn from plants, even the plants the ones we place a negative value on.

So, Lady Eve did change the way I think and I am grateful to her for that.

Food for thought

Gwyn Jones

Pioneering Educator

26 years of independent consulting”

Continue reading

(Continued from Part 1.  This concludes the article.)

#6   12-volt deep cycle batteries and at least two battery charges. (I prefer the 2-,6-, and 10-Amp chargers. I do have a 50-amp charger, but it is hard on a battery. The slower the charge, the better the life expectancy of the battery). These are extremely important and are actually my #2 priority item only after fuel. Get several if they are available. You can build a light system for your property using 12-volt lights or buy an inverter that switches to A/C  use. For outside lighting go to an RV/off-road store and pick up several light bars that go on vehicles. I have one about 15 inches long on my boat that is both a spot and a flood light combination.  I can see several hundred feet at night. and it has a wide field of view with the flood light.  You can also use the inverter to run your computer. You can plug in your survival blog archive stick and look up thousands of articles from the past. on how to articles.  Inverters use power and can drain your battery so use accordingly.

See this picture of a 12v automotive bulb and how to soldier the wires on it. You must use a flux to attach the wires, but it is not difficult. Black goes to the tail end and white grounds it. I used these older-style automotive bulbs in a camp I built in the woods. It was 12×20 and one bulb did a fairly good job of lighting it up. When first getting up in the morning I would turn on the light bulb until I lit the kerosine lamp. And speaking of kerosine lamps, always place a mirror behind the lamp, it is about three times brighter.  These older bulbs draw more power from the battery than the new LEDs. Shop in the automotive and RV store now and get modern lighting. You can purchase complete fixtures and simply hook the wires up accordingly.  The light bulb project described was just to show you how to adjust in a time of need.  Just remember: You can do most things with 12 volt DC that you can with 110 volts AC.

#7   Several 100-foot 16 gauge AC extension cords. (usually orange in color) Cut the ends off (about 12 inches from ends, and save them for other repair uses.) Remove the outer sheath and attach them to the battery on one end and the floodlights on the other end.

[JWR Adds: For DC wiring, typically red is positive and black is negative.  Just be consistent in what you do. Never use AC plugs and outlets for DC wiring, to avoid costly and potentially dangerous mistakes.  I recommend standardizing with Anderson Powepole connectors for DC cabling.]

A simple switch can be used, or you can just touch the wire to the battery post to briefly turn it on. At RV stores, you…

Continue reading

Pat Coleby was born in England in 1920. Early on in her life Pat became interested in alternative health solutions after suffering chronic asthma as a child. This kickstarted a lifelong mission to find natural disease remedies without manufactured medicines. Her curiosity led her to constantly research and experiment with vitamins, minerals, and plants for healing properties.

 

Over the years, Pat’s knowledge reached people all over the world. She received countless calls from individuals seeking advice, a remarkable feat considering this was in a pre-internet era. She was among the first to provide guidance to those who wanted to support animals and grow crops without conventional treatments or synthetic fertilizers. Pat emphasized the use of seaweed and naturally occurring minerals to address common ailments, a recommendation that has gained worldwide recognition.

 

Helen and Hugo of Farming Secrets had the privilege of meeting Pat in 1991 when they discovered her books “Farming Naturally” and “Organic Animal Care.” They were inspired by her belief that animals should have access to natural minerals. Pat recognized the importance of self-selecting natural minerals for animals’ health. Her books became vital resources for farmers and animal enthusiasts worldwide and many still refer to them when a problem occurs. Her experience and advice saved many animals. Pat ended up writing comprehensive books on cattle, sheep, alpacas and goats, horses, and pets as well as a general one called “Natural Farming”. 

 

Pat wrote to support her readers in their pursuit of a better farming system and a healthier environment. She hoped her books would aid them in this important endeavor.

 

Pat passed away at the age of 87 on June 1st, 2015. Throughout her life, she dedicated herself to the well-being of farm animals and shared her invaluable insights through her books.

 

Her passing was a significant loss to the natural care community for both land and animals. For all who knew and valued Pat and her teachings, we express our gratitude. At Farming Secrets, we still get people making contact needing her help or wanting one of her books. Pat’s legacy lives on through her books, which continue to inspire and educate those who share her passion for natural farming and holistic animal care.

 

Now her remarkable journey inspires a new generation of farmers to nourish farm life without chemicals.

 

Pat quoted Dr. Stuart Hill, who said, “A clever person solves problems – A wise one prevents them.” She believed that this quote encapsulated her approach to agriculture and animal care.

Continue reading

If the key to survival planning is about awareness, then start with becoming aware of the government of your own community.

I don’t know about your town. But in my town, being a team player in local government means ignoring and promoting incompetence and tolerating abusive toxic behavior. If you’re a moron, then this is an easy task. If you are a moron who hates working and just wants to fill a seat and get paid for it and be told how wonderful you are for doing nothing, then this is the place for you. If you cry and complain when told you’re not doing your job and you find sympathy with colleagues and your boss, well then you’ve found the dream job in my county. If your health insurance is furnished through a council member’s company and your health savings account is with another council member’s bank, then it matters not that it’s not a beneficial health plan for you but more about whether these elected officials can benefit from their positions. But you don’t mind, then you get paid for not working and get to enjoy being told how great you are at it. This is the nature of modern local government in many towns, large and small. Replicate this at the national level and it all makes sense. Is this a brutal assessment? You bet it is.  But nonetheless, it is pretty accurate.

The Local Club (or Show) is not about competence but rather more about whether or not someone gave a friend or family member a job. If you don’t think the government is rife with nepotism, then you are naïve. Are they capable of doing a good job? That’s not as important as you might think or hope. Are there good people? Of course, just like in every other occupation. Are there too many government positions now? Of course, families grow you know. And they will protect themselves at your expense if you have the audacity to point out any of these things. Maybe they made their money because at some point their parents were intelligent, but as time went on their offspring did not have to work so hard for it and learned to retain the wealth by any means necessary and to the point of obvious stupidity. Maybe some of the local leaders really wanted to make a difference but they were outnumbered. This is where we are now, in America: Suppression of common sense and the promotion of incompetence to protect their own. Like comedian George Carlin said: “It’s a big club and you’re not in it.” And the club is growing.

Why do we allow this? Why isn’t it called out? It’s an old club, even in small towns. You literally must have nothing to lose to be able to call it out, if you’re going to do so, alone. Understand that you could be harassed by law enforcement — a group that is often married to The Club. You may…

Continue reading

Greenwood crafts are essential to the preparedness community. It allows us to create what we need on the move or on homesteads, the things we need to keep going. This is why I have written this article on the practice of bodgery, a sect of greenwood crafts.

Bodger. Though the word is synonymous in the United Kingdom with doing only half a job, it is also known in greenwood crafts circles as someone with great skills in the handling of unseasoned timbers (greenwood), with minimal tools and within the woodland masters of their craft bring forth fabrications of assumed unattainability. Quite simply, a bodger, named after their favourite tool, is someone who crafts using the greenest of timbers while working in a symbiotic relationship with the woodland in which they dabble. That might include the production of chairs and other furniture, gardening tools like dippers or digging sticks, shingles for roof tiles, draw horses as work vises, tables, turned goods using a pole lathe — like cups, bowls, chair legs, and candlestick holders or perhaps even wicker baskets weaved of the thinner twiglings. But that is not the discussion here. We’re talking about the fundamentals of bodgery, and how to start off before embarking on more intricate projects.

The primary distinction between bodgery and bushcraft is rather subtle. Personally, I consider them one in the same. See bodgery involves the study and practice of greenwood crafts, just like bushcraft is. Bushcraft however, is centred around meeting the basic needs of the woodsman, such as crafting tools and shelters to enhance your comfort during your short stay in the woodlands. However, it’s important to note that bushcraft should not be confused with the military’s application of fieldcraft, which focuses on the manipulation and manoeuvrability of the landscape for the easing of military exercises. Whereas bodgery focuses on the longterm production and use of greenwoods crafts, for trade or personal use. Both bushcraft and bodgery producing the ability to create your needs and desires using the materials available in abundance in the outdoors. It should be said that all of the skills discussed in this paper pertain to both the bushcraft and bodgery crowd, as they focus on long-term woodland management for maintaining the woodlands for the following years to come.

Now we have a brief understanding of what bodgery is, we should discuss the primary function. The bodger produces no more product than what the bodger can reproduce. Through a process of woodland management. This means to maintain a woodland to keep a constant supply of workable greenwoods, fire woods and construction timbers. Bring only what you can carry on your back in the woodland and take only what you need. Abundancy is the catalyst for complacency. It is not enough to allow a woodland to re-gain its own supply of usable greenwoods for your crafts projects. Mother nature is an all powerful master, but does not take your needs into consideration. This is why you must actively manage it through…

Continue reading

My dad’s shotgun was a handmade drilling he brought home from World War II in Germany.

It’s my personal connection with the last days of WWII.

by Leon Pantenburg

My shotgun generally gets a few looks. The gun was originally my dad’s, and it is a pre-World War II 16-gauge side-by-side drilling, with an 8×57 rifle barrel underneath. It is ornately engraved with hunting scenes, and signed by gunmaker Franz Kettner. (Here is more information about Franz Kettner.) The stock is Circassian walnut burl (I think). The gun shows some honest use and wear.

This pre-World War II drilling was my Iowa pheasant gun.

When I was a kid, the drilling was nothing special. It was my upland gun, and I shot the hell out of it. Iowa farmers, like my dad, use tools, and most considered a gun to be a tool.  They were used for putting down injured farm animals, eliminating gophers in the garden, crows that were harassing chickens or the occasional varmint that needed eliminating. Every farmer had a shotgun, and a .22 rifle.

But Iowans are also avid hunters, and shotguns are used for hunting everything from quail to deer.  When Dad quit hunting, I used the 16 for hunting pheasants in standing corn. It has tight chokes, and patterns Number 6 shot really well.

Dad never talked about his service, except a story about a Louisiana chicken dinner. But even as a kid, I knew the veterans’ stories were important, and I gathered bits and pieces as I could. Later, as a trained journalist (Iowa State University, class of 1976) and a newspaper editor in Washington D.C., I discovered the national archives, and researched individual unit records.

I also got the letters Dad sent to his sister, Edna. Dad’s letters were, of necessity, devoid of any military specifics. I read them all, and they were mostly about life at Camp Shelby. Once he got to Europe, there weren’t many letters.

He did wryly comment in one letter, that “I captured eight Germans all by myself.” During the last days of the war, many German soldiers, desperate to escape being captured by the Russians, surrendered to the first Americans they came across.  But other than that, most letters were folksy tales of training and questions about how folks were doing back home

Dad, at home on leave,before shipping overseas in 1944.

Tracking dad’s service was challenging. He enlisted in the Army in 1941, and trained troops at Camp Shelby, MS. He was sent to Europe shortly after D Day as a Military Policeman. He was in Patton’s Third Army that went to the relief of the besieged city Bastogne, Belguim.

Then he got transferred to a motor transportation group, where he escorted supply convoys, and was finally promoted to Captain and company commander of a…

Read the rest here

If you’re new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

(Psst: The FTC wants me to remind you that this website contains affiliate links. That means if you make a purchase from a link you click on, I might receive a small commission. This does not increase the price you’ll pay for that item nor does it decrease the awesomeness of the item. ~ Daisy)

Assumptions.

We make them all the time.  Mostly unconscious, like the grocery store will be open, fully stocked of bread, milk, toilet paper, and our favorite ice cream.  The gas station will be up and running to gas up our vehicles and maybe get a hot cup of coffee or a fat pill (doughnut).

Then there are other conscious assumptions we make about things,  like our retirement accounts doing well, plenty of money available for presents under the Christmas tree, or not having to resort to using a credit card to make the monthly bills.

Some of our assumptions are made based on historical facts.  Others from more recent events or experiences.  Then, we also have unconscious bias assumptions.

When it comes to the SHTF, I think we have some that are quite logical or common sense based.  Others – well, I’ve read a few that are really out there – such as Army-grown lab attack dogs trained to eat our children.

Yeah.  Really.

Based on several of Selco’s articles and some other books on various topics, historical and recent events are some assumptions I have made.  Your mileage may vary.  This is not a complete list, as I am sure I am forgetting more than a few.

One thing I want to mention is that OP commenter Backwoods Squirrel wrote “Just understand that what works in one area won’t necessarily work in another.”

He was referencing the differences between the Balkan War Selco went through to what SHTF could look like here in the US.  There could be similarities, and there could be differences between states, regions, or even towns.

From Taylor to Tina.  Or, From Rule of Law to Thunderdome.

How fast we go from Shake It Off to Thunderdome is an interesting assumption.

I have read some who think it will be nearly instantaneous or overnight.  Others say several days to weeks or somewhere in between.

There are some more recent events we can look to as examples.  Hurricane Katrina.  The lawlessness some major cities are currently experiencing.

Selco noted more than a few times in his writings how by the time they realized that SHTF, it was too late.  Where they were is where they were.  From panic-buying at the grocery store to outright looting.  From civil normalcy to stabbings with no EMS or LEOs responding.

It happened slowly.

Then suddenly.

Rule of Law (ROL) broke down.  As a society, we are only as good as the laws written and those who follow those laws.  Once ROL is gone, chaos and anarchy rule.

It is only…

Continue reading here

Passiflora incarnata—called passion vine, passion flower or even maypop (more on that name below)—is a native plant in much of the eastern United States. It’s getting a lot of attention lately because of its forage capacity in places where people want to grow their own food in small urban spaces. The passionflower looks tropical and, in fact, has cousins who are.

It’s one of the showiest native flowers we have in central Appalachia, perhaps rivaled by lady’s slipper orchids and catalpa. And humans aren’t the only ones attracted to these flowers. Bumblebees routinely dance around their nectaries, which open to the sun and seem to be a perfect landing pad for these giants of the pollinating kingdoms.

The flower, vine and fruits all have virtues to share with humans who ingest them.

Using Passion Vine

My most common herbal preparation of passion vine involves trimming one to three leaves per vine and drying for tea or tincturing for medicine. I include passion vine leaves in tea blends to help promote sleep and calm mental states. The tincture lasts longer on the shelf and can deliver more medicine per drop for those on the go and dealing with any mental anguish.

And passion vine fruits are delicious, though it’s tricky to know when they’re ripe. Somewhat like melons, we just keep tapping and opening new fruits, which appear over the course of several weeks. You’ll almost surely be tempted to pluck them before they are ripe. Opening unripened fruits reveals somewhat dry, pulpy flesh and tiny, unripened seeds that might be white, green or turning black (but still very small).

Next in the ripening phase, a bittersweet, pulpy, juicier and more moist flesh will begin to appear surrounding the seeds. And finally the entire fruit will be filled with juicy fruit casings that taste as sweet as any tropical fruit.

But have patience. Tasting an unripened fruit will convince you that it is not edible!  Many simply wait for the ripe fruits to fall off the vine. I liken them to tiny pomegranates, as I suck the juice from around each seed and spit the seeds out into my hand to plant.

About Passion Vine

I like to stroll through the streets of my hometown of Frankfort, Kentucky, and spot blooms covering fencerows, calling to onlookers like a clematis but with much more color. Here and elsewhere, passion vine is also called maypop because it pops out of the ground in late May for a late spring surprise in the garden. But once it gets going, these small-looking shoots can cover a lot of territory in the summer, finally flowering and fruiting quickly after.

Source your plants from an area where they’re already growing. Runners can be transplanted and rooted more easily than potted seedlings started from seed. With tender loving care, this plant will establish and run wild for you to enjoy.

Check out these folks dedicating their time…

Continue reading

I was first drawn to no-dig gardening for one simple reason: It’s easy! And while the practices may seem like lazy gardening, there’s meaningful science behind what we don’t do in a no-till garden. And when I saw with my own eyes the results touted by so many books and research papers, I became hooked.  

I love talking and sharing about no-dig gardening because it helps us shift our thoughts from how we garden to how nature grows best. And so far, taking cues from nature has always proved the right decision. 

What to Know About No-Dig

In many ways no-dig simply means building the soil up instead of digging down. We want to leave the soil microbes and all their infinitely webbed relationships intact. So the less digging we do, the better.  

At the end of the growing season, no-dig affects how we harvest and how we clean up the garden for its dormant season of rest.  

Harvesting, Not Pulling 

Ripping out plants with all their roots can be satisfying. But this clearing method can too easily devastate entire communities of fungi and bacteria that have been working with all the plant roots that get yanked out.

Those living microorganisms must find another way to sustain themselves, so they go elsewhere. So much for all the nutrient mining and resource sharing that slowly evolved over the growing season!

The same wholesale displacement of soil life communities happens with tilling and double digging. Did you know you can find an estimated 1 billion microbes in a teaspoon of soil? Looking at things this way also helps us understand the benefits of growing more perennials.

So, what do soil life-loving gardeners do? We snip stems at soil level and leave the roots intact. These roots will slowly feed the microbes. It really is that easy. Compost the top parts of the plants and leave the roots. I also have good luck with “leaving the leaves” of most trees (except walnut and large amounts of oak). 

3 Tips to Get You Started 

First, definitely plan to leave the bean and pea plant roots. These likely have nodules of fixed nitrogen (thanks to bacteria) that will help feed your plants next year, so long as you leave them in place. It would be like extracting nitrogen from your soil if you removed these. 

Next, plan to leave marigold roots in place. As these plants decompose, they release a chemical in the roots that helps to suppress pest nematodes and cabbage worms. 

Finally, you can ahead and rip out any diseased plant roots, which usually includes tomatoes and cucurbits (any of the cucumber, melon, squash family). Powdery mildew and blights overwinter in the soil, and we don’t want to preserve disease.

Cover the Soil 

One of the basic concepts of building healthy soil is keeping it covered. After your final harvest of the season, your soil will be happiest with a blanket. You could add a…

Continue reading

Reeba Daniel talks farm to school, land access, leadership in food systems and more on this episode of Hobby Farms Presents: Growing Good.

Reeba talks about their business, Keep Growing Seeds, that allows them to create and manage school gardens, work with “learners” to grow and eat good food, and also examine culture and connection through food. They talk about the benefits and challenges of gardening and garden education in the Pacific Northwest climate of Portland, Oregon, and how they adjust their plans based on the weather. Reeba shares their dream for school gardens and garden education everywhere and why this could be important to all of us.

Hear about Reeba’s own garden, growing and marketing culturally relevant crops from responsibly sourced seeds, and learning about the business side of farming from the Come Thru Market. They talk about the search for farmland, Black land loss and opportunities to create community partnerships for growing space. Learn about some of the value-added products Reeba creates—like vegan honey!—their R&AIRE botanical skincare line, Oregon’s cottage-food laws, and why value-added products are a smart business idea.

Get to know the nonprofit Farmers Market Fund, which matches SNAP purchases at Oregon Farmers Markets. Reeba talks about their experience as a first-time board member—and podcast host Lisa Munniksma gives Reeba (and you!) a pep talk about why “we”—meaning everyday farmers and community members—are fully qualified to serve and actually must serve in leadership roles.

Continue reading