What did you do to prepare today?

[Andy F]

Ahhh, the old Librarian trick
Say, research X, someone does it, then comes the thinkers and usually the sharing & resourceful ones.
I didn't have the time to search it out.
Thank you Kink!

[Kink]

Damn you elders and your jedi mind tricks. Don't hesitate to ask me though, I do love helping you guys whenever possible!

Pretty sure I figured out why the worms all rose to the surface and died off, probably the sevin bug killer I just started misting the plants with as they were getting devoured. Gonna switch to a natural solution, soapy water + garlic powder. Found a cheap 1lb bag of Diatomaceous Earth that I remember Murphy suggested.

As for the rabbits I looked up a repellent recipe and came up with this that I have permeating out in the sun in a 1 gallon jug:
-1 Tablespoon of dish soap
-1 Tablespoon of Garlic Powder
-1 Teaspoon of Chili powder
-1 Teaspoon of ground cayenne pepper

Doing some yard work then am going to attempt making my first batch of Activated Charcoal using calcium chloride (pickle crisp).

Cheers all

[Andy F]

@Kink
I prefer Librarian moreso than elder
With age comes trickery! Can be good, or bad. You got the good.

Safer Soap, was a spray on plant insect spray. We used a TBSP to a gallon water. Worked good for controlling aphids on roses. I'm not well versed in the chili pepper ingredients.

Diatomaceous Earth, I take a really really heaping TBSP almost every day stirred in water. It's magic
I put it in a squeeze ketchup bottle (the ones you buy) and puff it along baseboards. It also kills fleas in carpet and pet bedding. Makes many cuts on the insect exoskeleton and they dehydrate to death.
Otherwise is Non-Toxic, good stuff.

[dirtmurphy]

What's happening y'all? So here's my take on pesticides, even the ones approved for organic use. I don't use them in my gardens and I won't apply them for my clients. The only place I use DE is in the nest boxes to control lice.
Here's why I avoid them in the garden. Any pest insect has countless beneficial insects and birds who want to eat it. If you apply pesticides you wipe out those predators in addition to your target.
Our farm is an ecosystem. I plant for beneficial insects. My garden beds have flowers planted right alongside crops. Insect diversity is really important to us here. Since we've started bringing the ecosystem back into balance, we've had fewer loss issues.
It's the same thing with fertilizer use. We feed the soil instead of the plants and our yields have improved as a result. Fertilizers break the nutrient cycle. That leads to depleted soil over time and then you have no choice but to keep applying them because nothing but weeds will grow.
If you watch the links that I sent, you'll see why we do things the way we do. I go to Ag conferences every year so I can learn from the best. Elaine Ingham and Gabe Brown have done tremendous work over the years.
Here's the thing. Mother Nature is the best gardener. If we want to have good nutritious yields we have to mimic natural patterns. Otherwise we're fighting a losing battle. Conventional ag is in bad shape from weather but it was already on death's door from neglecting nature's principles.

[Farside]

BTW, fava bean leaves contain microscopic hooks that are also a great destroyer of lice and ticks.

[Kink]

Transplanted two of my 1.5 gallon tomatoes into 5 gallon pots, also transplanted another two of the 1.5gal tomatoes into the garden bed along with the largest peppermint plant making sure it was 1.5ft away from the other plants. Managed to get everything done as the storm hit us and started pouring rain . Watered all the transplants with seaweed for transplant shock + knowing the extra rain would be coming I figured it would help there as well.

I read that once the leaves start to canoe that it's a sign of restricted root space so main reason I up-potted them.

[Andy F]

Ice Age Farmer story and his crop loss map made it into "The Truth Seeker" blog, a very popular blog.

Crop Losses Are Literally Happening All Over The Globe
By wmw_admin on July 2, 2019 http://www.thetruthseeker.co.uk/?p=190887

[Andy F]

Down in Georgia, a pack of "wild" dogs mauled a man, he died, left 5 children. edit: He was walking in a wooded area. He was around 50 y.o.
Prison inmate, violence and violent home invasion & robbery history, has escaped from a hospital - he had help, Black Lives Matter.

Might want to think about protection from packs of wild dogs. Once turned loose and join with packs their instincts take over and they revert to pack mentality. Much like gangs.
People will turn dogs loose when they can't feed them and if SPCA isn't taking in animals in the years ahead.

Over in my other thread USA Self Defence, is a 13 min video of the mobs of fellas at play just on July 4th 2019.
37 mass shootings in ONE week by the fellas. corrected to one week.
Winter is coming and the wildlings and animals are loose... Just saying.

I was up on the roof today for about 45 minutes doing a quick job.
I do not see how roofers tolerate the summer heat in AZ.

[dirtmurphy]

I too have been doing home repairs in the heat. Today I finally finished rebuilding the windows in our house. They were never flashed and I had to replace rotten sills and trim. It took two years to get all of them done. I've also been cutting and splitting firewood.
The chickens have cut back on their egg production due to the heat. It hasn't had a negative impact on sales but I'm cutting back on our personal consumption.
Now that the window repairs are done, I hope to find the time to build the black soldier fly digester. The pupae are 45% protein, 35% fat, and 5% calcium (biologically available). Ideally chickens should get 1/3 of their diet from grains, 1/3 from greens, and 1/3 from protein. That's hard to do in the winter when the ground is frozen so I'm planning on freezing the pupae and giving them to the birds later.
I'm also signed up for a 2-day foraging workshop in September. That'll be cool!
Keep on keeping on kids!

[Farside]

Yeah it's crazy how a domestic pooch can turn so quickly back to a pack animal. We used to take our family dog out hunting wild boar once in a while and when the pack gets on some prey they are just brutal.

On the black soldier fly project - interesting stuff. It's too cold up here in Canada for them unfortunately. There is a yellow soldier fly but I haven't seen one. One day I would like to find the cold climate analog to the BSF for feeding chickens.

We have 16 hours of daytime right now and things are finally starting to get cranking. For example, the potatoes in the garbage bags I hilled 3 days ago are now 2 feet higher and need hilling again.

I'm continuing to form relationships and extend the local bartering network. One of the side effects of legalising pot up here is that a bunch of expertise, innovation, and infrastructure for growing food indoors is now coming out of the woodwork.