Chris,So glad the interview went well! I completely agree with your perspective. The Crash Course to me is about building indivdual and community resillience. I know I still have a way to go in comparison with many here, but I try to take little steps whenever possible. Eventually all those little steps will add up to a larger step. I also think of "crashes" as inevitable in life, and they can be of various sizes… individual, community, national, markets, energy, etc. To lose a job or loved one can be a devastating crash for an individual. To have a hurricane take out your town can be a major blow to your community. Building psychological and practical resillience can only help in weathering whatever storms may come in whatever form they may take.
Even with just the knowledge of building resillience, it has helped me let go of much of the insanity I see. I have to say this summer has been somewhat tranformative, and I've had a chance to digest much of what I've learned over the past year. I'm much more prepared to meet and experience life as it happens. To me that is the "prepper" I've become.
Many Thanks!
thank you one and all for all your kind words . and yes chris if you are in michigan certainly stop by…(or any others).maybe even for brick oven pizza and toppings from the garden.
i'll have to address things tomorrow as a friend's mother is dying in conn. and i need to give her phone time tonight.(which means no dial up internet…i don't have a cell phone)
tall is on the right track for compost.
since so much leaches down, i compost on the garden on the fallow part.and melons love to grow right in the middle of the pile.(well anything does) i learned this after a few years. it's strickly volume…one year i had 90 yards of wood chips and 100 cubic yards of leaves…breaking down…i mow 7 acres so you know where the grass comes from. i'll get more into ph details etc.
i follow alot of ideas from elliot coleman so you can look up some of that tonight.
compost breaks down …that is why forest floors remain at the same level…keep that thought in mind.
so i'll check in tomorrow maybe with a pic or two…i'm an artist so i'd like to think some of this looks nice.
[quote=gillbilly]I also think of "crashes" as inevitable in life, and they can be of various sizes… individual, community, national, markets, energy, etc. To lose a job or loved one can be a devastating crash for an individual. To have a hurricane take out your town can be a major blow to your community. Building psychological and practical resillience can only help in weathering whatever storms may come in whatever form they may take.
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The resilience-building steps we encourage here are a helpful (many here would say essential) form of self-care and general responsibility that will extend to many potential situations. Anyone who does these things solely to fend off the potential effects of a large-scale economic crisis has missed that point. Though, as Chris would say, it ultimately doesn't matter what their reasons are. Taking any steps to build resilience, for any reason that makes sense to the individual, is what matters.
good mornin
soil is an individual case by case situation.
there are many good books on composting so i won't try to look like an expert. in fact i am not an expert at much, but i can share what i am currently doing, and hope i keep learning.
e coleman finally came to the idea to mimic nature. which is a top down concept. so after years of big messes here, i came to the same conclusion… most of the good stuff goes into the ground underneath the compost pile (so now i have all these rich deep green grass patches! everywhere but my garden)
composing could be a full time job especially without a front end loader(which i don't have one) and you won't either most likely.
i let nature break things down which depending on the starting size of the matter could take up to 5 years. so the 5 year plan…every year add a pile. in hurry? too bad! being in a hurry is modern status quo and not how nature works. you could do hot piles and turn constantly if in a hurry. but i would think if in a hurry, you don't have time to turn it.
so i have a fellow who wants to hunt here and he just happens to be a tree trimmer, and he brings the load of wood chips each year. last year i wanted more acid for my soil (since i have a high ph due to marl located about 18 inches below the surface.) he brought me pine needles and bark and wood chips…a most wonderful pile that is breaking down.
like i said i have plenty of grass clippings. i find they are best when green and juicy so i get them on the pile right away. i only take grass certain time when no dandilions flowers or grass seed.since i cold compost.
i do not use animal manure.
i have found that straw and hay have too many "farmer" chemicals and weed seeds.
because i make my own, i know whats in it.
certain trees like walnut and cherry are not good for the garden.
i would guess a 30 cu yd pile of wood chips breaks down to about 8-10 cu yds of compost in 4-5 years so 5 of those piles take up an area of approx.20' x 100' i have them on the north side of my gardern that is accessable for the big trucks that haul 30 yards of wood chips… you need a 12 ft wide opening for a truck to pass thru.
when i decide to, i take a lawn mower and mix grass, leaves, woodchip compost and make a fine product for special treats to plants.
over all,just piling it up, letting it set, does the job with out all the labor.shovel out from the bottom.
the municipal compost nearby uses post waste water sludge( i've most do) so that is out…you know heavy metals, etc everything you don't want in your drinking water now in your compost.
i get leaves from people i know who don't use chemicals in their yards.we mulch and grind up in place bag it and bring to my garden. i don't have deciduous trees because when i am 80 i don't want to do leaves. i have over 200 pines planted and i did plant one maple tree to the west of my garden so that future leaves will drop in place.
i dump my food scraps on the piles and birds come to eat and poop on the pile indescriminately.
it takes decades i think to build great soil and maintain it. i use wood chips, grass clippings, leaves, potash from my wood stove, and rock phosphate. this works for me. i have about 40 lbs of rock phosphate stocked up and probably use about a pound a year.(sparingly)
once your soil is as you want, adding about an inch of compost on top each year is the maintainance dose.
for greenhouse users, unless your greenhouse moves, the soil needs to be rotated out every 3 years.
doug does any of that answer your question? if not ask more specifically.
Here is a few photos of a soil trommel my good friend built, for those that might want to speed up the compost to soil issue. This model is powered by an extracylce to get the back wheel the length to articulate and turn the trommel and the other persons would throw compost directly into the spinning chamber and the compost gold or fine particulate shunts out the back into a neat pile and the large stuff needing extra time to break down kicks out the sides as seen below. My friend built this model out of scaffolding and motorcycle wheels. The whole things can be assembled or disassembled in about 15 minutes and turns a large pile in about 1-2 hours of shear beautiful soil enjoyment. Rose 
… as well as the mindset of pretty much everyone I've come across here. What started out as a thread on preserving wealth in the modern, financial investment sense (and I include hard metals in that category) has morphed into a thread on composting and frugal living. I think that speaks volumes to not only the effectiveness of Chris's message for thinking outside of the normal box, but also to the quality of the other people who come into this virtual space.
And Ferralhen – I just love your style! You are indeed an inspiration to all of us, with the way that you've overcome some significant obstacles in life but even more by the way that you've just improved your homestead bit-by-bit over time. It's a much needed reality check for someone as impatient with my progress (or sometimes seemingly lack thereof) year-to-year.
Thanks so much for your input. I do have a couple specific questions.I, too, mow quite a bit of ground, but not nearly as much as I used to. How do you collect your clippings? Do you have one of those collector contraptions on the back of your mower? I rake up enough to lasagna compost a bed about 4'x8' at a time, but that is a very labor intensive way of getting clippings for a large pile.
Do you sheet compost in your garden? That seems the least labor intensive method as you don't have to move the material more than once. I have lots of woods, almost all deciduous, and can accumulate piles of leaves. I find it is better to shred or mulch the leaves, otherwise they tend to layer and become anoxic. Again, however, I need to rake as I don't have any other collection method.
I have compost bins where I dump kitchen scraps and mix with other materials, but in terms of quantity, they aren't great contributors. I also use chicken straw from our coop, which turns out to be terrific. We're getting more chickens next spring, so should be able to produce more that way.
Any more thoughts you have, I'm all ears.
Thanks,
Doug
doug
i use one of those contraption/leaf picker uppers that finicky pulls behind the mower…i usually set aside a whole day to collect grass. i cut 300' turn around and collect. that usually fills the hopper in one or two passes. i also use a toro 22" reycler mower with a bag, for some alfalfa i have growing. the mower pulls me along. sometimes i cut the grass with the mower instead of taking a 3 mile walk. it's all mindless but leaves my mind free to dream solar stuff. or realize i'm not on the freeway with the idiots… my neighbor mulches up her leaves with a riding mower and then i use this mower on the leaves which bags up quickly and i dump in a wagon and tractor over to the pile.
i'm been known to rake up the grass…my bro asked me why i was so stupid. i replied he paid to go to a gym and i got the exercise for free and clippings to boot.it's alot to how we look at things.
i weave in alot of attitude in when i write because i think the shifts we make are going to need alot of positive thinking. most of us have been taught for too long that working hard is stupid.
i noticed when i accepted the work to the point where i enjoyed doing the work, it went by faster and i was happier.physically too…nothing like raking for upper body exercise.
i sheet compost sometimes, and make piles sometimes with the leaves and grass. i find mixing the leaves and green grass together breaks down the fastest. ix with a mower or finer with a chipper shredder.
once i let go of keeping a beautiful garden and became more functional, i got way better results.
i work slower each year and get less done and i'm accepting that too. i work at a comfortable pace so i don't hate what i am doing.
my lawn tractor blades are usually shot by the end of the year and i use that to tearup and mulch the garden to set for the winter, then i pile all kinds of mulched up stuff for the winter. since i have black sandy soil, i'm very aware of wind erosion so i try to keep something on top all the time.
i have a chipper shredder to sell if anyone looking for one.! i just don't use it.it's great if you want to make small pieces so that it breaks down fast, but i can hardly pull start it now…since you are pulling the flywheels when you yank. it would take a man or young athletic woman to start it.
i always feel weathy when i compost. it's a yeild of sorts.
…when I had my 6 acres little farm. I cut in sections because I had other committments. I cut one day, let dry and raked it up the next. Less moisture more compost.
If we lived closer, I might buy your chipper shredder. I've been thinking about doing exactly that.I have a mulching kit on my mower deck and it does a great job, but picking it up afterward is difficult. I'm considerably older than you, so labor is a consideration. I'm trying to get to the point that less work is required every year, but I'm not there yet.
Gotta go move the chickens. Thanks again.
Doug
In our house, the grass clippings are a valuable, harvested commodity.We have a 22" walk-behind mower that has a grass bag on the back. Our system has evolved from one where we used to take the bag off and empty it every time it became full, which required stopping and re-starting the mower, to one where we simply tip the bag upwards when it's full and dump the contents as a pile on the lawn with the mower still running.
Then, afterwards, we go around and gather up the piles in our garden cart.
This is waaaay more efficient than the old method because you don't have to stop/start the mower.
We then use the clippings directly on the garden as mulch. In early June there are not enough clippings, by mid-July they are sufficient, and by August they are too numerous and we then dry them on the driveway and save them for September when we do our final harvests from the garden and create lots of empty bed spaces that need to be covered up.
If we had enough lawn, I would then have clippings enough to also use in our compost pile but, alas, we only have about 1.5 acres of lawn to mow, and that barely does the job for our 55' x 100' garden.
chris
i was wondering of that so good confirmation of the mower/dump technique it uses so much gas to start and stop… sometimes at my age, i like to stop the mower tho, and reflect…ha ha.
everytime i run the mower or rototiller i am thankful for one gallon of gasoline…
our generation and forward are reinventing the wheel or should i say relearning the wheel.
the "green" from the extra grass drying is wasted sunlighti dried on the driveway. dry over some dirt so it sifts down so to speak and is captured. better yet dry over compost pile or o the grass itself…natural fertilizer
re solar freezer. it’s not that sunny here. one can always just have more panels to produce the desired amount of electricity . amorphous solar panels work better in cloudy situations than the poly crystalline ones. lightning even gets picked up by the panels…as i’ve discovered at night. after a flash of lightning, the charge controller goes on for a few seconds. people have been electrocuted working on solar panel arrays at night when lightning occurred.
don’t let “engineer talk” disway you. less sun just means you have to buy more panels than someone in a sunny area. it’s sheer math -figure out what you need and get it. there are tables on the internet for this.
ferralhen, Chris and Tall. You've all given me food for thought. My immediate goal is to find some 'contraption' to collect grass and leaf mulch.
Doug
Since we're on the subject of composting. Our trash stickers just went up another dollar (from $1 - 4 in the past 10 years) so I'm looking to conserve even more. We've been composting for awhile, but we haven't taken the plunge with our two cat's litter, and it's painful to throw it in the garbage (physically and psychologically). Can any of you recommend good biodegradable litter? I've done some research, but would appreciate any advice from those who have tried them and composted the litter. I'm well aware it has to be composted separately, but any other advice would be appreciated. You can PM me if you like.
Thank you
Mark, I hear you. Took us 5 years to find a decent piece of land at an affordable price. 5 summers of weekend trips all over looking at prospects and rejecting them all (about 60 plots visited in person). It was worth the effor though!We're still getting used to strawbale but it's been fantastic so far. We're from the great white north so reasonably chilly winters. We heated our entire 1400 sq ft bungalow with a small wood pellet stove running maybe 8 hours per day. The propane furnace turned on maybe a dozen times in the wee hours of the morning.
Good luck in finding that plot!!
Through Peak Prosperity's referral, I was a client of New Harbor for almost 2 years. They are sincere and hardworking people, and yet in the end their fees of 2% (PLUS trading fees) were untenable. That is on the high end anyway. My previous advisor charged 1.25% (and those fees make a big difference in the long run), but I wanted someone who understood the Peak Prosperity philosophy. Over time it made even less sense to me to be paying 2%, with the markets in such disarray and since I had a good percentage in precious metals and cash. Above they say: "Clients do not sit with a money manager that is holding cash." Yep. The final blow was when I emailed frustration that it seemd they were the only ones making money (after all if you net, for example, 2% on your investments (after their fee of 2%, you've paid 50% of your growth to New Harbor) my advisor never responded. I know he didn't know what to say, but not answering was unacceptable to me. He only addressed it when I brought it up. And then he admitted they can't give as much attention to small accounts like mine which are in mutual funds and that it's very tough for financial advisors right now. I appreciate his honesty, and yet I felt stupid for even signing on with them - all their "great ways" of investing didn't seem to apply to me in the end because I was too small (though I did qualify as they had a mimumum portfolio level). Also, they left it up to the client to contact them when they had questions or concerns which I think is a very bad stratgey, because cleints will mostly call you when they are having a problem! Yes, it takes a lot of time to do periodic reviews, but in my book, that's the way to go for high end services. Now I am paying a financial advisor I had worked some years back on a per hour basis to evaluate a few times a year (plus all my own research and anaylsis). I try to take 100% responsibility for my decisions in this and all cases, but I am greatly disappointed in New Harbor, and in Chris for this referral. Note: I have no problem whatsoever with Chris & co. making money off of referrals to various products and services; he has to make a living and his is very transparent about all of it.
Anne,
My husband and I switched to New Harbor also because of their familiarity with Chris and the 3 E's. We have certainly been happy with their approach and with their service so far. They are a big improvement from our former advisor who did business -as -usual as part of a large company. I never felt comfortable with him and didn't feel we were being advised well.
You bring up a good point about fees and each person using any advisor needs to evaluate for themselves if it makes sense to use their services. So far, we are sticking with New Harbor but will continue to review our situation over time. I must say it has been refreshing to work with someone who understands the larger situation and our need to be defensive in our investments. Our advisor has been honest about the contrast between a soaring market versus their agreement with Chris's emphasis on cash and PMs and the dilemma this presents for some. He has been very responsive and helpful.
All the best to you while we all await the crash to come.
Joyce
I have one of these: http://www.cyclonerake.com/ . It used to be my mother's, who used it into her early 80s. She didn't want to be reliant on her kids or landscapers to deal with her leaves. Works well, easy to dump, but you do need ample space for storing it. And a lawn tractor. Made in USA too, which is nice.