Category: Supplies

Garden, Supplies

Tree Water Bags Updated

brendanolen

Amazon Disclaimer: I am no longer going to try to be an Amazon Affiliate. So, all links I share are just for you to see what products I purchased.

Update!!!

I do not know if there are any long-term implications for the trunk of the tree being shaded. As for root rot, if water remains on the roots long enough to rot the roots, you may not need these bags.

  1. I had issues with these bags not draining after a couple of weeks. So, I enlarged the holes with garden staples.
  2. I removed them to mow around my trees and noticed a burl formed on one of my mystery trees AND
  3. My beautiful peach tree, which I though was suffering from our drought conditions, now has peachtree borer. I am not sure she’ll survive. I have decided to just manually water for the rest of the season. I am highly disappointed.

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The first time I saw anything like this was a gentleman who designed bags like this for orchards. I was really excited then, so I’m sure you can imagine how happy I was when I saw these!

I received a 3-pack, set them up, and tried them for a week. This is how I setup the second package I bought. These are really easy to setup and use. These are designed to be used during the growing season and stored during the winter.

Each bag holds 20 gallons of water. For established trees, you fill once per week. For new trees, they recommend twice per week.

One bag is designed for a trunk between 1-inch and 4-inches. For trees larger than that, you need to zip bags together. These are fantastic and I can’t wait for my in-laws to move so I can buy some for their new trees!

https://tinyurl.com/2feea366

Garden, Supplies

PVC Pipe Soaker “Hose” Systems

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This will save us tons of water while watering deep enough to keep the plants in the raised beds we’re going to build happy throughout our hot summers.

And this video lays out how to do this for raised beds!

This guy did this setup but for his containers:

Canning, Dinner, Food Storage, Low Carb, Lunch, Preserving, Pressure, Recipe, Supplies

Homemade Corned Beef

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I can’t believe I didn’t post about this!  I made homemade corned beef last year, leaving out the sugar and the pink salt, and it was fantastic!  I thought, well, I could make this, then can it so I know exactly where it came from and what was in it.  I haven’t gotten around to canning this because it usually doesn’t last that long!

Anyway, if you are interested (I wanted to see if I could and I did), here is how I did it:

http://www.amazingribs.com/recipes/beef/home_made_corned_beef.html

And here is how to can it (ever since I canned that chicken, I prefer raw canning meats):

http://canninggranny.blogspot.com/2011/05/canning-corned-beef-brisket.html

There you go!  Give it a shot (even if you only do one).  It really wasn’t as difficult as my brain said it would be!

Cleaning, Supplies

How To Make High Grade Natural Beeswax Leather Polish and Conditioner

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This is GREAT!  I’m always running out and what better way to save money (since I have tons of stuff for soap making and haven’t made soap in YEARS) than to be able to make my own!  I hope it won’t make hubby’s work boots catch on fire easier (he’s a welder)!  lol

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-To-Make-High-Grade-Natural-Beeswax-Leather-Pol/?ALLSTEPS

Tools:
Measuring spoons
Tins for your polish (I’m not a fan of plastic bottles but you can use them)
Pyrex measuring cup
Small pot
Small aluminum pie plate
Wooden spoon
Bamboo skewers (optional)

Supplies;
Beeswax – solid; Protection for leather. Creates a barrier for environmental influences
Coconut butter – semi solid; Conditions the leather surface.
Sweet Almond oil – liquid; Softens the leather internally and replaces the natural oils lost through dying
Castor oil – liquid; Heavier oil that provides the ‘shine’. Can be replaced with mineral oil if necessary.

**Optional**
Pure Ammonia or Alcohol – liquid; Cleans and degreases the surface before polishing. As I mentioned before, the old recipes called for human urine.

Food Storage, Garden, Health And Wellness, Supplies

Have a Small Space? Grow Vertical!

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A friend mentioned that she has a tiny little area to grow any food, so I suggested she grow vertically. I don’t really do this now but may have to since I will be using raised beds this year. I’ve seen so many neat ideas over the past few months that I’m trying to find all the links to share with you (and her). Well, I was going to find a single picture to post here but when I did my Google search (“vertical gardening”) and clicked images I was in awe! There are so many creative ideas out there that I just can’t list them all (so check out the photos yourself here).

This is pretty much what I did when I was growing in containers (I posted pictures of my truck garden in 2011).

This one demonstrates how to build a growing “wall” (I love links with pictures or video) AND it’s Popular Mechanics!

http://www.popularmechanics.com/home/how-to-plans/how-to-start-a-vertical-garden#slide-1

Here are two ways to reuse soda bottles:

DIY Vertical Gardening

Here is one made with shoe hangers:

VERTICAL VEGETABLES: “Grow up” in a small garden and confound the cats!

And one with pallets:

diy project: recycled pallet vertical garden

This one has a lot of different ideas (and if you look at the bottom of the second link, she has a few more articles about vertical gardening:

How to Design Creative Vertical Gardens Part 1

How to Design Creative Vertical Gardens Part 2

There are several projects on the DIY Network’s website but this one I particularly like, since you can change it around easier:

How to Grow a Vertical Vegetable Garden

Food Storage, Garden, Health And Wellness, Supplies

Water Storage

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I can’t believe I never made a post about water storage (unless I did and just can’t find it).  I will include several links from various sources describing the various methods of water storage and how to ensure the safety of the water.   Of everything we think we “need” to survive in the event of some sort of event, too many do not include water as their number 1 priority.  It’s always food, shelter, clothing, etc. but with all of that, if we do not have access to water (either already clean or have the ability to clean it) we will not survive long enough to enjoy that food and the other supplies we have stored.

The first link I will share is to a water filter that looks like it is by far the best one out there.  It’s to a forum (disclosure here) that I am a moderator/administrator for (you can view this post without being a member) and my dear friend has researched the heck out of this filter. It’s for the water filters made by www.justwater.me.

And here’s how to make a *Home Made Berkey Water Filter* which is helpful for those people like me (if there are any others out there because California is so whacky) who are unable to purchase the Big Berkeys due to state regulations. I don’t see why, if you account for flow rate, this setup can’t be used for other brands of large water filters.

Here’s an article from the CDC:

Personal Preparation and Storage of Safe Water

And here’s an even more basic article from the LDS church:

Drinking Water Guidelines

Now, for cisterns, which I think is ultimately be best way to go, if you have the space for them:

This first article is from the University of Florida extension (there’s a link to a .pdf of this article on the upper left side of their web page):

Cisterns To Collect Non-Potable Water For Domestic Use

And this one, by far, is my favorite, since I truly love Mother Earth News:

The Homestead Cistern

So, if you haven’t already begun you water storage project, you have some reading to do. It’s never too late to get started, even if the positive results may not be seen this year (since I do not expect California to get anywhere near the rain that is needed this year).

Crafts, Crochet, Supplies

I Just Want to Be a Hermit – crochet

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Yeah, this week has been better than most.  After almost 6 weeks of being sick, I’m finally getting better but now, all I want to do is make-up for all the housework that I have neglected while sick and curl up into a ball on the couch and crochet.  So, here’s my first crochet project that I consider finished.

Crochet Hat and Scarf
This is a hat and scarf for my niece. I used this pattern for the hat (http://mssunflwr.blogspot.com/2009/05/level-beginner-materials-one-skein-red.html), put the flowers on (the buttons were my grandmother’s), then put the fringe on the scarf so it would match (the scarf is I think a half single crochet? I just did it and liked it). Next project? This hat for one of my “adopted” sons: http://crochet.about.com/od/hats/a/Mens-Winter-Hat-Pattern.htm.

I also have been working on (for a year or so) a patchwork afghan with squares/rectangles, each one a different Tunisian crochet stitch (I wanted to learn each one). So, that’s sitting there waiting for me to finish putting borders around each piece (I have three more to do) then join them. I ultimately want this to cover our king-sized bed, so we’ll see if I have enough yarn! lol If not, I’ll just add on some more colors. Each piece is in the colors of the flowers on the hat (with a moss green thrown in), with the borders in the same yarn as the hat and scarf above. We’ll see how that turns out … now that I figured out my phone/camera a little bit better, I’ll do my best to take some decent pictures.

Garden, Supplies

Unusual and Everyday Plants for Food Hedges (Fedges) – Survival Podcast

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http://www.thesurvivalpodcast.com/plants-for-food-hedges-fedges

Hedge laying is an ancient practice and at one time many “productive plants” were part of the plant.  Sometimes this was done with fruit tree grafted together, hazelnuts or even old cottage roses that provided thorns and huge hips as a crop.  Other times the “productivity” took on a different bent like using willow and gaining material for weaving or making charcoal (specifically artist charcoal).

Hedges were seen as a permanent fence that required only a little maintenance and largely took care of themselves.  In the 1600s one didn’t run down to Home Depot and order delivery of say 25 6 foot tall, 8 food wide cedar fence panels and some posts if they needed two hundred feet of fencing.  They established a hedge.  This hedge would serve their great grandchildren and feed both the family and animals during all those generations.

In this modern era a hedge has become a bunch of unproductive “Red Tips”, the grow fast and hide the busy street or block out your neighbors but they tend to just die one day (usually at 6-12 years of age) and then you  have to cut them down and start over.  They provide nothing but a requirement that you trim them and clean up after them.  There has to be a better way!  Today we discuss that.

Join me today as we discuss…

  • What is a hedge vs. a fedge
  • Can you put layers into a hedge system
  • Do hedges have to be continuous to be effective
  • Why is a hedge a good idea even if you have a fence
  • How to select plants for your hedge system
  • 14 Forgotten or Unusual Plants for Fedge Systems
    • Chilean and Pineapple Guava
    • Filberts
    • Nanking Cherry
    • Goumi
    • Medlar
    • Mulberry
    • Pomegranate
    • Roses
    • Sea Berries
    • Aronia
    • Currants
    • Elderberries
    • Goji Berry
    • Gooseberries
  • Old standbys that make great fedges
    • Blueberry
    • Blackberry
    • Raspberry
    • Semi Dwarf Fruit Trees
    • Chinese Chestnut
  • Thoughts on some unique ideas
    • Food forests with a fedge as the herbaceous layer
    • A food forest system of multitiered fedges
    • Hugulkulture based fedge systems
    • Managing animals in hedge/fedge systems
    • The fedge based paddock system (padfeging?)