FerdieJ

I will work on doing some working drawings and better pictures with less novels when I get the plan a little more settled in my head, and then it will all be easier to understand. I do tend to babble a lot in the early stages of a project because I am so excited, but that will settle down when I get into it, digging the bloody big hole filled me with so much adrenaline that I was a wee bit over the top for a few days, but work was good for that. Anyway, today starts the framework so expect an update this evening.

I feel that depends on whom it is that the audience is. I am no expert in anything, I have a large knowledge base about all sorts of things and tend to get super involved with learning everything I can about whatever it is that most recently tickles my fancy. I am no greenthumb but my friends and family all seem to turn to me for gardening help because while I am not very good at it I research a lot and have a half decent knowledge of plants and their various problems. Of course if I don’t know the answer someone has asked for help so I then do all I can to inform myself so I can inform them. I love teaching kids about anything and everything, and feel my knowledge about plants, food, why is the sky blue and a lot of the random things they want to discover is good enough to be able to give them all the answers they could want, with the moral code to be able to tell them straight if I don’t know, rather than make up some bullshit to shut them up. In fact, a child asking my something I don’t know is exciting for me and I love finding out something new with the kid. I feel with certain things, psychedelics to the uninitiated(and certain things even to the well informed), most things to kids, cooking or carpentry and most aspects of building, the right person could learn quite a lot from the knowledge I have. That being said, I do not like to think of myself as someone with enough knowledge to teach as an expert on anything. I can start the fire of learning with the shit I know, and get someone on the right path to finding out more than I will ever know, and I relish when someone accepts knowledge from me to start their journey of being the best at something, for I am to ‘ADD’ to want to know all there is to know about something, there are way too many things to learn, I want a working knowledge for most things and that does me.

I have mostly sussed out most things about the build, just haven’t fully tested certain aspects so some details are not quite 100% just yet. The framework will be pine and ply, just cheap 18*40mm sticks and 4mm bracing ply, this will be plenty strong enough for the purpose as the mycelium will add strength as well as insulation. I am all about mushrooms, it is who I have been for a number of years now. I like eating them, I like talking about them, I like growing them and thinking about growing them, mushrooms are the best. So it has to be mushrooms. Also I am all about science, and tying tradition and modern science in any way. The traditional cob hut style building meshed with the science that mycelium offers a structure in terms of strength, flexibility and insulation all combined, well it is obviously a match made in heaven for me. I will probably use Reishi spawn, as a few have told me of the extra strength it will give the structure and the extra fluffyness of the myc when fully colonised, I will need to do extensive testing to confirm this as my chosen species, but I am pretty convinced that’s what it’ll nd up being. As for substrate, well, I need a substrate that the myc will just tear through, my biggest issue will be contams, and so speed of colonisation is important because of the size of the build and the fact it will all be grown once, as a single piece. I would like to be able to use waste cardboard from the local businesses, this will cost me nothing which is great, get the locals involved, which is the whole point of this project, and because I will need a lot of help when I finally get to adding the substrate and spawn to the structure, telling people I am building a paper mache igloo makes them want to join in the fun! I will still have to do some testing for the best substrate and spawn, but I imagine reishi and cardboard in some configuration with added nutes will be my go to.

Fringe and 13 monkeys the series. Both absolute must sees for anyone into sci-fi and time-travel. Highly recommend watching fringe on lots of different psychedelics, as it was obviously written under the influence of and while not the reason I am building an Iso-Tank as I have wanted one for years but mine will be used for the same purpose.

As promised, more digging shots. Tada, one hole. Just in case you’re wondering, that’s about 2 cubic metres of space excavated, all by hand, all in a day and a half, well 9 hours in total if we want to get specific, which I do, because heck yeah, that’s gotta be some sort of record! Thank life the universe and everything that most of it was beautiful sandy loam, that will be a pleasure to use on the garden, and only hit clay with 100mm to go. I actually go to work tomorow, which is going to be odd, but hopefully I will get time to work on this some more and keep you posted, the pictures get more exciting than boring old digging ones I promise.

I have been doing a bit of brewing over the last few months and although I am not attempting absinth my brews have been sage rosemary and wormwood based instead of hopped and I am liking the difference from hoppy beer. Anyway, from a vague recollection in my head, I may be wrong but my memory tells me that sage has a much higher thujone content than wormwood, so if thujone content is the goal, maybe sage rather than wormwood as the base. Wormwood is way bitter, it is very easy to overdo it and be left with something quite undrinkable, much harder to do with sage, it gets a sweet tang that is hard to drink but is easier to down than the too strong bitter wormwood that cuts the tongue down the middle. Try using Sage for the thujone and the other ingredients to adjust for taste when you have the strength you like under control, is what I would advise, but try lots of different things if you have the space and time, you might discover something outside of your expectations that works for you, I have had lots of flops but some great ones too, and those are the ones we do it for!

I should have some seeds soon to, “Thanks Humboldt,” flowers are just starting to pop so will sort some packs out when they’re ready. As for dunny roll, I have some Mullein seeds that would make for far more luxurious wipage with less of the potential for ‘racy-bum’, which I imagine might happen with overuse of nicotine in that general area, I know what it does to my mouth and nose and couldn’t imagine it being a pleasant sensation down there. it appears testing may need to be done...

Gday all, love the pics, now some of mine. I have been at my place a little over 6 months and these are a few of the things I’ve done in the garden to this point. This is the first bed I started way back and have now finished apart from building the bridge. This is the second bed I started, this needs filling up some more with compost and mulch and then I have a plan to artify the succulent plantings into cool designs but I need more plants first so that’s a project for the future. This is where my chickens and ducks will go eventually, I want to landscape it and get the plants established before I introduce them, maybe 2 years. Finally for today this is a couple of planter boxes I have made up for ease of harvesting.these boxes have been planted out since the photos and look quite good, but more on that later. So there you have it, a visual guide to some of the stuff I’ve been doing. Hopefully many more updates to come on this front. Stay safe and busy peeps, much love.

I don’t like hearing about accidents, I hope you’re OK enjaytee. But I love the fact you’re pushing through, “nothing can stop me attending my plants, not even losing a leg!” The worst bit about having to evacuate because of the fires was the thought of coming back to my garden being a blackened mess. Couldn’t give a hoot about the house, just leave my garden alone! Coming back to new growth is so exciting too, watching plants grow day to day isn’t quite the same as seeing what happened while you weren’t there. This afternoon the job is to process a few kilos of apricots that a friend gave me from her tree before they spoil. I will be keeping all the seeds to go with the peacharines I got from her last week, and the cherry and plum seeds I have been saving, and all these will go into a spot in the garden where they can sprout next year. In a few years when they are all fruiting I will then be able to cull the ones I don’t want and keep the good stuff. Now to have a quick wander through to see what’s changed since the evening, and find anything that blew away in the wind.

Hope everyones ok with the fires! Today I planted a heap of seeds, all sorts of things edible, medicinal and ornamental. The few little sections of garden I have created so far are coming along nicely, everything is flourishing which means I spend more and more time out amongst it which keeps me somewhat sane while I’m not working cause of the fires. Yesterday I spent some hardearned on a heap of plants, various things including bananas, maqui berries and curry tree, the job for the next few days is now finding suitable spots for them all. Also last week I found an aquarium for the right price, built into a nice cabinet that will look good somewhere inside. I plan on using it for an aquaponics setup somehow, not quite sure what I want to do just yet, but I’ll figure it out eventually. now to figure out how to post some pics..

@XavierDass, I have been reading Dr Redhawks soil series on Permies, he seems like a bit of a guru in the transforming of dirt into soil, I can’t remember any specifics about transforming clay other than smash the organics in there and let the microbes sort it out which is pretty much where I’m gonna go. I will try different methods in different sections, there will be hugelbeds and raised beds and comfrey composted patches depending on what the whim is at the time. The goal is to be able to eat solely from it year round in 10 years time. Because the old owner was a mechanic and had lots of cars on the block I don’t think I will eat from it for the first few years to let the fungi break down any nasties that might be hanging around.

First post in here! Moved into my new place last monday, done a few small things here and there including planting what at my old place was a lot of plants, but here only makes a very small section of garden. Mostly have been trying to plan the food forest that will eventuate in the years to come. Today I spread some peastraw on the first little section I made, as time goes by hopefully the serious amount of organic matter I spread will turn the horrid clay dirt that has been for years a virtual carpark into something resembling soil. Plants I have include but are not limited to, HBWR, Syrian Rue, multiple random Cactus, Valerian, Strawberries, Mint, Parsley, Sage, Sinicuichi lots of peach trees that came up from seeds at the old place, the mother tree had great fruit so if some of them have similar fruit my little peach tree hedge will be great, if not, at least I have something growing at this stage. I have lots of things not mentioned, and plan on lots more of course, but Rome was not built in a day and neither will this new garden of mine be.

Gday, hope you enjoy your stay

I haven’t used these two yet but will soon, have to move house first, yay big garden next week! Indigigrow and gregsindigenouslandscapes. They look like plant suppliers rather than seed though so this answer might not really be what you’re looking for, I came for the other responses really “thanks Gimli”, but someone might get some use out of my drivel.

Thanks infinity, will lock it in early and call it my birthday bash!

If only. I‘m moving to my new place that weekend, which I think is a rather poor excuse myself, but I am rather excited to have a proper garden again, pots don’t quite cut it. So it’ll have to be the next one for me.

Not enough water maybe? I have mine in a much bigger pot and it’s a much smaller plant and is positively booming at the moment, throwing out new healthy growth all over the place. I have mine outside and give it no special attention outside of a little water every now and then, it doesn’t seem to mind whatever nature throws at it. The cutting I took off it last year has just started to boom too, that got no special attention, just plonked in a pot and watered whenever I remembered. Maybe its just the climate here? Its certainly not my green thumb..

Yes please Humbolt.

Take whole plant, chop it up. Add to receptacle. Just cover with olive oil. Let steep for a good while at room temp or less with added heat in a waterbath. Drain. Depending on amount of oil, plant matter and time you now have a potent olive oil extract. Do yourself a favour and add some beeswax to make it into a slightly easier to use salve, the straight olive oil is goid for massaging but can drip everywhere and is harder to dose. Work up to find your dosage and don't use it everyday.

All good kind sir, I know what it's like, wasn't worried, plenty of things to look at through the scope until I get mine, and plenty to keep me busy otherwise.

Also watching the mailbox

Howdy friends. Its been a long time coming, I've been a lurker here on and off for many years but never had an account. So here I am finally, able to actually communicate with those I have known for longer than most people in my life outside the internets. I don't post much but I am trying to get my garden back in order after moving around a lot so I'll be around the exchange a bit when there's interesting stuff going and I can share what I have. See you round the place.

Cheers everyone for the welcome. @ Halcyon I have a particular affinity for the fungi kingdom, have grown and foraged many edible varieties in the past and currently but only at a very basic level, I havent ever made an agar plate or worked with sterile environments just yet, throwing stem butts around likely areas is about the lot of it up to now. Plant wise currently I am working on utilising the local area plants with a view to knowing how they were traditionally used both medicinally and as food and building up my garden with non local plants of all descriptions with a view to becoming fairly well self sustaining food and medicine wise.

Yes please good sir.