Lounged about, did some insulation, stacked some wood, drove over 500km back for work (same procedure as every week - joke for the Germanic amongst us).

We have an agreement to purchase a property that has been homesteaded in SE Alaska for 25 years. Comes with all the tools, etc that accumulate from 25 years of homesteading. . . from all the greenhouses and gardening tools to a planer to a chainsaw mill. All the fishinging equipment from crab and shrimp pots to halibut rods, three boats and motors, its own hydroelectric system, it is hooked into the community hydroelectric power grid, it is surrounded by millions of acres of federal and state land and the marine and freshwater resources of SE Alaska. It is on the ocean. Next major purchase will be a sailboat in the 30' range to moor out front.

Dang! I knew I was happy I purchased that Remington xcr compact tactical rifle in .308 last year!

I bought a still. Supposed to be able to put out a liter per hour for 12-16 hours of 96% ethanol, with the right wash. May be fun to play with. I, of course, would never dream of using it to make alcohol with all of the free wheat in my neck of the woods. That could be too easily turned into vodka or some other harmful substance.
I will be using it for flavor essence distillation instead. Hear that, ATF? I have no intention of ever using my new still for alcohol production.

can you post your specs or your runs to make alcohol?

I'm very interested (thinkning of creating my own fractional still -> legal in eu if for own consumption -> same legislation that allows you to create your own butter, cheese, etc (not for sale))

Today I cleaned and put up some more shelving in the basement and then filled it with foodstuffs.. I estimate we now have about 2-3 months worth of food and essentials (toothpaste, toiletpaper, basic medicines,..) stored. (and enough patatoes to last us way beyond the new harvest) Wanted to get more, but couldn't get more in the car. The plan is to keep rotating this, so we have an extra buffer without running much risk of things getting spoiled.

Still need to create some shelving for all the wood, iron/alu/steel, plywood, pvc piping, etc I'm gathering (for any projects in the future)

Also planted some lemon and orange seeds (hope something will come from it)

Tomorrow I will start on finishing the bathroom and toilet (getting it completely tiled), which is hygenic and easy to clean (should be ok like that for my life-time if well done)

and I've been hoping for better wheather so i can finish the fencing of the garden.

My first internet order of plants/seeds for this year (I've already bought 8 small fruit plants in store):

Seeds: Woad , Henna, Costmary, Feverfew, Tansy, Borage, Giant Yellow Hyssop (Agastache nepetoides), Rhubarb, True Comfrey

Plants/Roots: 3 Zaatar plants, 3 Official Hyssop (Hyssopus officinalis) plants, 10 pounds of Jerusalem Red Artichoke Live Roots, 3 True Comfrey plants


The official hyssop, tansy, borage, rhubarb & true comfrey will be planted in what I call a "helpful cluster" along with horseradish. These "helpful clusters" will be at corners of certain raised beds.

Since certain "helper" plants are geared towards certain plants, like rhubarb & hyssop with cabbage, horseradish with potatoes, and the crops will be rotated, it makes sense to have small clusters of helper perennials that don't move.

Giant Yellow Hyssop , Borage, comfrey, & jerusalem artichokes will be planted in a perennial bed with asparagus, along with annuals: tomatoes, basil. In the center portion of this bed will be some legumes and at the sides of the bed some alliums (since they don't like legumes).

argyle said:
"...legislation that allows you to create your own butter, cheese, etc (not for sale))"

Wow. No such thing here, ALLOWING us to make such things. There are laws about food for sale, yes. But what I do with MY stuff for ME is nobody's damned business, particularly a nibshit government! I don't need a law telling me what I am ALLOWED to do!

I guess people get accustomed to things as they are in their situation, but that was a shocker to me! Simply outside my thinking, altogether, so it won't go into my head. That's the sort of thing that would provoke extreme reactions where I live.

Put up a 6x10 greenhouse 3 days ago. It has been sunny the last two days and i put some shelves up and have been moving plants in and out. Seems like on these sunny days i can put them in at 11Am (temp 58F) and leave them in until 5PM (temp 50F). Right now its 90F in there while the outside temp is 36F. I have all my tropicals in their enjoying the heat.

...

Patience,

It's not really about ALLOWING (maybe I expressed myself wrongly because English is not my first language).
As a private person you can always produce your own cheese, butter, soup, cakes, etc.. Like you said, noones damn business.. (however I suspect that production of alchol is regulated in US no?)

However, there are a number of small companies, like a family-farm that produces milk, butter, cheese, icecream or a local small brewery , which wouldn't have been able to follow the most strict currecnt rules setup for industrial companies, and thus would not have been able to continue to do this.. It would also have partially destroyed the product, as they are created according to traditional methods (which influences taste).
The same legislation that allows these companies to produce (for example regional products -> certain cheeses, beers) also allows for the small scale production of alcohol.

i'll see if I can find any reference on that.. But most of this stuff isn't that heavily enforced if you stay under the radar..

argyle,

That makes a lot of sense. Yes, alcohol is highly regulated here. They want their tax money! And I do think that small breweries have somewhat different rules, also. Lots of home brewing of beer and wine here, also, mostly ignored by everyone. I probably didn't understand what you said. Sorry.

It seems to me the US government is attempting to crack down on co-ops and their like with legislation like this:

http://www.opencongress.org/bill/111-h875/text

Home brewing is fun. I've brewed up stouts, porters, and various ales.

Olafr

Not trying to break any rules, but even cops tell you that your only breaking the law if you get caught, and unless you have enemies out to get you, its pretty easy to get around "obstacles" ...

Spring has sprung! We are above 40F for the first time since Dec 1! Everyone is acting like it is July, shorts and tshirts...some dude was running with no shirt on!

101.4F in the greenhouse today... Need to keep an eye on that so i don't vaporize the plants.

IIRC, you can easily apply for and get a research licence to make ethanol. It's the same thing that the corporates do. The process is described in David Blume's book.

Planted another pecan tree.

Bought a hybrid Camry. Bring on $7/gal, because I'm ready for it now!

Today, over about a six-hour interval, I cut down most of an old cedar tree using an electric pole chainsaw. I'll finish the chore next weekend since it's supposed to rain tomorrow and I'm too tired now to do anymore cutting today. The multiple trunk diameters are greater than the chainsaw's length but the remaining trunks will eventually be burned out. The tree's height was over 30 feet, but it's much smaller now!

This tree was shading some of the peach trees and was too far from the house for any shading benefit. In other words, it was serving no purpose other than taking water from the fruit trees. Eventually (probably next year), I will plant another pecan tree in it's place.

Removing the cedar tree will allow more early morning sun on the solar water distiller as well.

I normally don't post to this topic because I blog about my preps (what few I do compared to the long list of things I'd like to do) but I thought I'd mention that today I went to a UMASS extension class on grafting apple trees. I now feel pretty confident that I can "convert" the five or so crab-apple trees in my back-yard to better edible varieties. I also learned some tips on pruning and have already begun to visualize how I can chop these things back in a way that will make them grow back better and produce more fruit rather than vegetative growth.

This weekend I mainly did insulation and plastering. But I also took some potshots at a homegrown (organic) pumpkin with a .44 black powder pistol. It was fun, but the subsequent cleaning of the pistol less so.

I got my Jerusalem artichokes delivered... about 10 lbs... total of 135 tubers.

Since they like good drainage and lots of sun, and since most people don't know they are food, I will probably plant them on the farthest hill of the property, a steep area that is inconvenient to mow.

Last night I officially signed up for a community garden plot. I'm glad I registered for an early signup meeting because demand for plots is HIGH. I got the last plot in the garden I was hoping for, since it is within short walking distance of my apt. From the sounds of things I should have 200-250 sq. ft to play with. In terms of calories that wont do much for me, but fresh veggies are always nice and its a good opportunity to get some experience growing new types of plants and try some different techniques. Another bonus is that as part of having a plot in the garden, I'm required to help with chores. This would normally be a drag, except I noticed one of the chores was composting, and the lady that helped sign me up says that garden has a guy that is like the supreme compost master. I'm looking forward to learning a bunch from him.

Now that I know I have a place to garden, I started my broccoli and cabbage seeds. In the next few days I'm going to build a rig to hold my grow lights as well. Pictures will be forthcoming.