So we will fire up the woodstoves and make a big pot of chili today and invite anyone over who can or wants to come.
This is a good day to work in a well equipped farm shop. I wish I had some heat and insulation in mine but we have propane and other heaters for quick repairs if necessary. There has been a lot written about farm shops and that is relatively new subject on the Internet, especially the last few years with all of the questions and shared information.
Here is a link to one I received this morning from Jules in Missouri, better known as the state of Misery or "the bastard state" as Jules calls fondly calls it. I was wearing a new Sydenstricker hat and posted that picture of 4 grandkids around me in my easy chair on the Cafe and a friend asked if that is what it was. I said yes, I pulled against Eddie's tractor 40 years ago and his mechanic Van Botkins pulled the Cajun Queen. That is quite a story from the old Ford Barn website I was not aware of.
I could work on getting the old Oliver 77 tractor I bought a few years ago running again. I know how to get 100 hp quite easily out of it, it just costs money. I have work to do on the Oliver 1655's too if I had the energy and inspiration. Younger men who have more energy and ambition than I do is helpful as I find myself busy just keeping the 2 wood burners going all day.
We are going to be taking off for Australia 3 weeks from today and Chimel has graciously accepted my offer to write some blogs for me while I'm gone. The first destination is New Zealand to check up on my new notill friends there and end up in Sydney and Perth, new destinations for us. I have a lot of work to do before we go and we have the National NoTillage Conference in between so 4-5 days of those 3 weeks are shot right there!
We will be leaving on LuAnn's 55th birthday, what a birthday present! Happy birthday to us! International gates with Homeland Security to take the edge off the excitement of flying completely around the world in one month! We come back through Dubais so we will make a complete circle! We have never done that before.
I guess I better enjoy this quiet before it becomes pure chaos!
Ed
I posted a link from the 2 woodstoves comment that led me to this link I wanted to share and save:
ReplyDeleteThe pH of coffee grounds I have seen reported as anywhere from 3.0 to 6.9, but the one I would put most faith in is the one Starbucks had done which put the pH at 6.2. Every soil scientist I have heard talk about adding wood ash to soils says to have that soil tested for pH before adding tht ash, and only add the ash of that pH test indicates you should.
"Aging" sawdust will do nothing to change the C:N ratio if no Nitrogen source is added so it makes little difference if the sawdust is used fresh, green, new, or aged. The C:N ratio of fresh sawdust will be about 500:1 and the C:N ratio of aged sawdust will be about 500:1.
Although Pine needles test at a pH of about 3.7, just as Oak leaves do, as they are digested by the soil bacteria the pH evidently changes, toward neutral. Pines grow where the soil is acidic, not because the needles they drop changes the soil pH. Over the years as I have added organic matter to my soil with an initial pH of 5.7 that has changed to todays 7.2 without adding anything else.
Contact your local office of the Cornell Cooperative Extension Service about having a good, reliable soil test done so you have some idea what might need to be done.
I burn all my coffee grounds and tea bags into my fires and citrus peels and egg shells to for a richer ash I use around our fruit trees and plants. I have to be cautious because that ash is powerful and high pH.
Ed
3 weeks! But, but, I'm not dressed yet, I'll barley be readey!
ReplyDeleteYou better spread more sawdust before you leave, to offset that round-the-Earth plane trip's carbon debit of yours... ;)
Pfft, what do I need to go to Oz, my favorite Australian is already on Youtube and has been since he was 6. Here are my favorite 3 songs of his:
"For Them", a song written for him to help homeless children:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xaxukzu_n7A
"Ani Maamin", a Jewish prayer that basically says "I believe in the coming of the Messiah, however long He may take", made to help with the natural events of last year at Christchurch, NZ, the floods in Oz, and of course the Japanese tsunami:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcbr6XtiXqU
"Pumped Up Kicks", about the Columbine shooting, all the more relevant today:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fY6qu4p5hhw
Barley or barely? LOL My barley is barely ready, too! This is starting to feel a little overwhelming, we just emailed a ton of dot your I's and cross our T's. I hope it all works out but the best layed plans, you know!
ReplyDeleteLooks like there may be 7200 less TSA agents to deal with thanks to the fiscal cliff but that just means LONG lines.
Some how, some way, it will all work out, sawdust or not!
Ed