"A Victory Garden"- my family's site in the States.

Discussion in 'Members' Systems' started by Finchj, Jul 12, 2012.

  1. Finchj

    Finchj Junior Member

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    Alright, so I haven't posted anything directly related to our site in quite a while. Thought I'd share the narrated slide show series I'm just starting to work on that will be covering November 2010 (commencement)-June 2012 (when I emigrated to Finland).

    "A Victory Garden" is the name of the blog I started to share photos of what I was doing in North Carolina, mostly with friends back in Florida.

    This first video covers November 2010-January 2011.

    You won't see anything spectacular, you'll probably get annoyed at my voice (which is strange to hear for the first time on a recording), and you'll probably even laugh along with me at my mistakes. The video is ~47 minutes long as I wanted to introduce the property fairly thoroughly. You'll notice that about halfway through the speed begins to pick up as I run out of "general" things to say.

    Anyway, I'll be creating more videos in the coming weeks regardless of the viewership. They are actually a lot of fun to put together and I know that my family will enjoy them back home. But, I thought I'd share them with the permaculture community at large and get some more feedback.

    PS- Don't come to me asking for a refund of your 47 minutes if you didn't like it. If I annoy you too much, close the tab and move on! :party:
     
  2. Finchj

    Finchj Junior Member

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  3. S.O.P

    S.O.P Moderator

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    I'm here for the refund. Someone told me I can get a refund.
     
  4. Finchj

    Finchj Junior Member

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    You may want to read the fine print again.
     
  5. S.O.P

    S.O.P Moderator

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    Refunds were offered. I don't know what the big deal is. I want my refund.

    I'm 48 mins in, and I don't want to commit unless there is a time-back guarantee.
     
  6. Finchj

    Finchj Junior Member

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    How about for each video you get equivalent time at a summer cottage in Finland if you make it to the frozen north?

    In order to redeem time at summer cottage, viewer agrees to pay for all travel expenses including food, alchohol, etc. Time offered only for those with proof of viewing. Terms subject to change without prior notice.
     
  7. S.O.P

    S.O.P Moderator

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    It's a deal. The F-Word dialogue made me laugh out loud in the late 30's/40's.

    I'm yet to hit your next link or your YouTube related.

    As an Australian, you sure can talk.
     
  8. Finchj

    Finchj Junior Member

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    A deal it is then. Yes, I almost laughed myself at my Paul Wheaton impression. I should do more of those, it'll let me get away with dropping the F-bomb. Which is actually one of my favorite words, but for some reason I didn't think it would be all that appropriate in a garden slideshow. Although I think in the fourth video there will be some appropriate moments.

    There I go again, talking too much. I talk all the damn time when its something I'm interested in. Old history major habit. Now I can bother people with long lectures on the internet. :rofl:
     
  9. Finchj

    Finchj Junior Member

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    Third video. Spring 2011- March 16-May 28. Run time: 31:35

    Spring begins and we continue our double digging efforts. The plan is to have three sections of the garden double dug by May 1, unfortunately it doesn't quite work out that way. No "Type 1" errors this time around, however, you will be pleased to see that I continue making mistakes of lesser proportions. Wait until you see what I did with the corn.

    Also note that I tag this as "food forest" even though you will be seeing us plant typical garden vegetables and herbs. The reason for this is that our first year was a stress test- of both ourselves and the soil. As this was my first garden, I figured it would be easier for me to tell just how fertile (or infertile) out site was by cultivating mostly annuals. Once Fall 2011 comes around you will see us planting a perennial cover crop to prepare the soil for conversion to food forest.

    (Which hasn't happened- we need at least 3 full years of cover cropping before investing in "food forest perennials")
     
  10. S.O.P

    S.O.P Moderator

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    I had to cheat. I've watched them all so I decided to head to the blog to see if there are current photos. And, I just disappointed myself by jumping half the journey.

    Looking great though.
     
  11. Finchj

    Finchj Junior Member

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    Sadly there aren't any current pictures. I have pictures up until June 17 when I left the country, but I haven't put them up yet. The family is still photographing what they can with my old point and shoot, so hopefully there will be pictoral updates of the 'blog' as time goes on.

    I'm just enjoying the slide shows too much to pause and upload pictures. It'll happen though, once I get caught up.

    Thanks for the kind words. Your project is pretty awesome too- even if it makes me envious of warmer climes. This summer has been pretty cool and wet here in Finland- and I don't have a garden yet. So I must live the garden experience virtually for now.
     
  12. Finchj

    Finchj Junior Member

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    Fourth slideshow. June 2011, beginning of summer. Run time: 31:31

    I talk about our use of wood mulch in a new garden - its pros and cons- and the idea of the large annual garden being a "stress test" for ourselves and the soil. The green guild transitions from production to reproduction, the nightshade and four sisters guilds begin to see rapid growth (although the nightshade guild was many more times successful).

    I think I'm coming down with a cold- so you can hear some sniffling and my narration is a bit worse than usual. If I get any worse, I won't make another slideshow until I'm better.
     
  13. Finchj

    Finchj Junior Member

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    Fifth slideshow. July 2011, end of summer photos due to my absence in August. Run time: 33:32

    I backtrack into the end of June to show the storm damage. Straight line winds, erosion, the importance of digging swales on contour and showing evidence of why you need proper overflows.. I rant about American lawn culture for a couple of minutes. I show a couple pictures of our yields. More pictures from 'around' the garden rather than just the three main guilds. There is also some discussion about the polycultures used.

    The next slide show will be from September 2011. It'll be a shocker ;)
     
  14. Grahame

    Grahame Senior Member

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    I'm anticipating the day I have a decent internet connection so that I can start watching the proliferation of great video content!!
     
  15. Finchj

    Finchj Junior Member

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    Please don't make my slideshows a priority...

    I can see it now.

    Grahame's house:

    The internet contractor wipes his hands and says, "Well, sir, your high speed fiber optic internet is all ready to go! Welcome to the world of HD videos on demand- no buffering. If you have any problems, unplug the power to the router for a minute and plug it back in. If that doesn't work, give us a call"

    Grahame: "Thank you for your professional work. I can't wait!" As the contractor gets in his van and leaves, Grahame eagerly hops on his computer and loads up PRI Australia and finds this thread. Thinking to himself, "I've been waiting months to watch these slideshows, lets see just how fast this fios really is."

    Youtube automatically detects his lightning speed internets and queues up the first 720p video in less than ten seconds. As the video starts, Grahame soon begins to question his new internet contract. "I paid the internet company how much to watch a video about some kid digging off contour swales, transplanting corn, and digging ponds with a shovel? Nooooo!"

    :rofl:
     
  16. S.O.P

    S.O.P Moderator

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    Oh, the digging. I'm assuming you are totally ripped in the upper arm area.
     
  17. Finchj

    Finchj Junior Member

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    SOP: Not so much. Definitely gained in tone, but since it was the only upper body exercise I was doing, I'm far from being any model of physical fitness!

    Sixth Slideshow. September-November 2011. Run time: 31:51

    September-November 2011. Run time:

    This sixth slideshow picks up after my visit to Finland in August. I returned to find that the garden was in a state of disarray. So I discuss that a little bit, walk you through what happened, and how fall of 2011 was the end of the stress test. Luckily we had never planned on it being more than one year long to begin with! As October-November show, our transition to a cover crop is well under way.

    This was the hardest slideshow I'll ever have to make.
     
  18. Grahame

    Grahame Senior Member

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    :D

    What about all those video's of cats though Finchj? Surely they will be worth it!?
     
  19. Finchj

    Finchj Junior Member

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    Haha, I guess it all depends on how much LAWLZ you can handle!
     
  20. Finchj

    Finchj Junior Member

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    So its been a while, with the wedding, a trip to the summer cottage, and other things happening.

    I'm almost done editing all of the pictures and I have a little bit of time this week so I went ahead and made another slide show. Its a little slow but I was surprised that I had a satisfactory narration on the first go.

    This slide show covers January- February 6th 2012. It is 30:26 long.

    I talk about our cover crop, which cold weather veges we planted, future plans for the berm, the mounds under the pines are finally up to size- although not complete by any means at this stage.

    For the next slide shows I'm going to try to pack more information besides just showing the garden around. We'll see how that goes. Should be done tomorrow with the next one, but not sure when I'll have time to go through to summer.
     

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