Hi, I'm Bob, Buckingham, Virginia, USA zone 7

Discussion in 'Introduce Yourself Here' started by ramdai, Feb 28, 2014.

  1. ramdai

    ramdai Junior Member

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    i've got 30 acres, sloped land with a creek avg rainfall about 40" mostly wooded -- regrowth from clearcut 15 yrs ago,, building and living in an earth integrated home off grid, composting toilet (humanure system)

    hoping to take Geoffs online course next month, have already read and listened and watched many podcasts and videos,, maybe three separate courses--Larry Korn with regenerative institute--Will Hooker with NCSU---and the videos and MP3s available from Geoff and Bills previous courses

    I've got a couple areas i've been developing with compost and fertilizer inputs as gardens,,another area i cut a few years ago to create an orchard, which since learning about perm will hopefully become a food forest

    also just realized that my gardens should be zone 1, close to my front door, so i've started developing closer to the house

    my personal history is a bachelors degree--started off in heavy science (nuclear physics) ended up with a BA in Psychology, cloning some carrot cells along the way

    spent some time with drugs and drinking, sober 30+ years and involved with lots of different healing programs during that time--12 steps, shiatsu, reiki, master herbalist, body electronics

    that's about all for now
     
  2. Rick Larson

    Rick Larson Junior Member

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    You have a lot of experiences! I took the first course and will vouch you will be a perfect match. Be sure to buy the Designers' Manual when they offer the discount, they will only offer it for a short time (if they follow the same pattern). There are so many designs in the book it took me months to read it...

    Welcome!
     
  3. ramdai

    ramdai Junior Member

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    thanks for the shout out,, and encouragement,, it all feels pretty right and i'm really looking forward to it
     
  4. ramdai

    ramdai Junior Member

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    does Manitowac mean waters of the great spirit? I'm trying to remember exactly the name of the Lake, maybe it was Manitowish ,, anyway, they bottled a highly mineralized water from that lake and sold it for part of the body electronics protocol. I used to keep a bottle around for emergency uses, but now i think Kelp and misc seaweeds would probably do as well, especially if they were dissolved first
     
  5. Rick Larson

    Rick Larson Junior Member

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    Manitowoc - "Dwelling of the great spirit". "Anishinaabe language word manidoowaak(wag), meaning spirit-spawn(s), or manidoowaak(oog), meaning spirit-wood(s)".

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manitowoc,_Wisconsin

    I'm not sure about the bottled water though, you wouldn't want any out of this river right now as there are 90,000 dairy cows in this county...
     
  6. 9anda1f

    9anda1f Administrator Staff Member

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    Hi Bob and welcome!
    As Rick states, you've done some awesome things. Definitely take Geoff's online PDC if at all possible. It is stellar and ... you get a set of DVDs to refer back to!
     
  7. ramdai

    ramdai Junior Member

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    just googled it and it must have been Manitowish Waters

    guess i could've googled it right away, but seemed like a good way to strike up a conversation.

    I just figured out how to save google maps to paint program and have started to play with them thinking in terms of the design portion of the course

    and i had heard over at Permies that the designers manual was going to be sold and had planned to buy it as well

    i heard that Jack Spirko's member support brigade gets a discount, did you know anything about that?
     
  8. Rick Larson

    Rick Larson Junior Member

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    Ok. Yeah, I should have just told you straight out. :)

    Nope. I'm not a member of Jack's brigade. In the first course they offered the Manual at a steep discount. Geoff's course is the keys to that book, they worK together hand in hand.
     
  9. ramdai

    ramdai Junior Member

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    so what specifically have you changed in what you're doing since taking the course
     
  10. Rick Larson

    Rick Larson Junior Member

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    On the study side, the most glaring is learning of aquaculture, as I have a bit of land that is deep in fine clay and has a high water table. It took me awhile, but I figured out why Geoff said having such land is "lucky". I ought to do a whiteboard of my ideas and design, so far, I think it is quite innovative. My favorite was learning about "Earthworks", the next how the whole course was designed, the next was how all these pieces fit together and enhance the whole life system (otherwise known as the ecology). Here is my youtube channel playlist of the work that has been accomplished this far from what I've learned: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDCRYtmkDsX-XF0F4vPZrYv3m6TbmBZ3_

    It should be noted, my area where I live was pelted with hail stones last summer, and the check I received from the insurance company for my damaged truck paid for the work highlighted.

    ramdai, there is really too much to tell, I have watched the videos of the course three times already since taking the course, and I'm still absorbing it, it is one design after another, including all the way to the smallest backyard food productive designs.

    I have also been selling toys and converting the money to seeds and trees, and have about 2000 seeds stratifying right now including, I'd have to count, but about 30 species of different productive bushes and trees. Have thousands of wild herbaceous seeds in my possession as well. Once you take this course, you will know what you have to do to help the Earth, your friends, and yourself, scientifically. Because the planet is drying out, reverting to drought and flood, and the forest ecology is the only way to stop it.
     
  11. Rick Larson

    Rick Larson Junior Member

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    Oh, one more thing that I personally thought was really important, was laerning how the forest ecology does moderate the climate.
     
  12. ramdai

    ramdai Junior Member

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    congratulations on all you are doing, it sounds like the course was really powerful for you. You reminded me of the chinampas strategy, which would seem to fit part of my property also

    i have some wetlands too --sort of--and am plagued by beavers who want to turn it into their personal zone 1, and right now i'm trying to think of permaculture approaches to managing the situation

    I both admire and fear them, and at first glance, a couple hundred feet up the hill, it would seem my food forest projects only had deer to worry about, but i have seen the beaver signs in my frog pond more than 1/2 way up the hill to the food forest location. so the natural extension would be them moving in there and munching on all that yummy fruit wood as their next stop

    right now i've locked myself in an observation stage as far as taking extreme measures (trapping or killing the beavers), plan to do another tear down of their dam today to keep them off balance--but my fear is they are really severly overpopulated in their current place, and i just want them to move downstream and do their thing instead of coming up to me,, i really don't want to be managing electric fences forever trying to keep them out,, and actually those chinampas of yours looked like a good use of that flat ground down by the creek,, but it would be zone 1 for the beavers if i don't push them back. I have this recurring vision of spending years building a perrenial food system only to have it demolished by beavers who want everything to be coppiced 16 inches off the ground

    anyway, thanks for the encouragement, have fun with all your projects
     
  13. helenlee

    helenlee Junior Member

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    Hello & a belated warm welcome ramdai :)

    I'm going to be following your journey with much interest, & looking forward to photos : )
     
  14. Rick Larson

    Rick Larson Junior Member

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    randai, thanks for the nice comment. There are very interesting designs that can be installed around creek systems as well, my creek is only seasonal, although there have been some improvements since I was permitted to put in a pond above in the wetlands. The beaver issue probably needs 100 hours of study! Good luck to you in the future.
     
  15. ramdai

    ramdai Junior Member

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    Thanks for the welcome, View attachment 2409 I was looking for a place to put a couple pictures yesterday when i put up my profile photo, but didn't see anything yet, i expect i'll figure it out as i go--looks like i just did --foreground are remnants of a beaver dam they built on top of my dam,,building is a small sauna,octagon shaped-- poured concrete up a couple feet and stick built from there up,,roof is metal from my brothers old above ground pool,,inside is rough cedar--all the wood is local milled--the year after i built this, the whole creek bottom flooded just high enough to get into the wooden part of the walls--i have this theory that if you don't laugh along when nature plays a joke on you, then she gets really pissed off--i thought that was a pretty good one LOL
     

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  16. ramdai

    ramdai Junior Member

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    i agree, any decisions i make will require some actual book study, i've been interacting and observing their patterns for about 10 years, but i definitely feel having some fresh ideas is probably going to help some,, even if it is just reinforcing the things i've already seen --find some natural repellant, or way to grade the landscape to block their movements beyond the creek,, maybe work with them to build a really big pond--if anybody says anything, just tell them to talk to the beavers

    i'm bob by the way
     
  17. helenlee

    helenlee Junior Member

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    Hi again Bob : )

    You might be able to figure out how to create an album after reading here:

    https://forums.permaculturenews.org/showthread.php?16842-New-Photos-and-Albums

    It's not as complicated as it sounds ... once you've managed to do it once it makes more sense. I seem to have more trouble doing it from a Mac than others have using a pc.

    Uploading photos attached to posts doesn't keep them in a permanent album I don't think ... anyone?

    Excellent work on your little building : ) I love alternative building construction methods & I adore up-cycling stuff, so your sauna is a hit with me : )
    Not having any experience with beavers I can't offer any insights I'm afraid. But building anything where it is at risk of even a once in a hundred year flood (or beaver induced emergency :) ) is not something I would do. Building is just too time consuming/expensive/hard work to see it damaged/destroyed. What was the result of the inundation your sauna suffered?

    Is your loo a commercial one or did you build it yourself?

    Observing & interacting with patterns is the key to everything : ) And being willing to work with nature instead of against it turns that key I reckon : )
     
  18. ramdai

    ramdai Junior Member

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    I'm just using a 5 gallon bucket and sawdust, then a nice hot compost pile --for right now i just pile it up in the winter, and will work the winters compost in a single hot pile with some extra guinea poop and bedding to make sure it gets up to temps once the winter gets out of here--i expect i'll have well composted material by May 1--last year it was so neat to have that rich soil for my new plantings-- up here in the states it seems like so many people are deathly afraid to let their manure become part of the natural cycle, and i guess at one time that's exactly how i was, although after so many years it's difficult to remember that time.-- when i moved here i did install a septic system and had it inspected and everything, but the tank was never used and i simply filled it with water, so i have a nice freeze proof 1000gallon water storage--when the house is built, i should get plenty of water from the roof to keep it filled

    right now i have rain barrels on two other smaller structures--another octagon and a little greenhouse that can almost keep it filled using a little 12v rv pump-- and can run a gen to pump water up from a spring box i constructed as a backup. Part of the earthworks i have planned will establish a pond that should be able to gravity feed to the cistern in an emergency

    maybe part of the understanding of the beavers will be to study the pond just downstream that they have created and try and imagine what might be possible as far as aquaculture--ie let them build their pond, but manage some elevated portions to grow specialty crops--rice maybe-any other suggestions?-certainly i could let them go ahead and develop their dam across the whole creek bottom, but install a major drain at some point that i could take control of without having to tear their dam apart all the time

    it's really a unique sort of way to look at things, not just driving the beavers out, but see if there's a way to get them to work for me at the same time doing what they want to do

    the sauna suffered a little damage from that flood, the interior is 3/4 cedar boards, and i used that as a time to take it apart (i use screws not nails) and let everything dry out--fiberglass doesn't really spoil or mold when it gets wet, then i put the boards back--as i recall there was some shrinkage, so it actually allowed a better fit when reassembled.

    that flood was just a particularly strange event, not a result of the beavers, although if they went unmolested for 30 or 40 years they might impound that amount of water

    i'll try that link you suggested for posting photos sounds like it might be a good way to organize my final project for the course

    btw, my real house is still under construction--12 sided about 800 sq ft, right now it's more like a basement with a walk out front--2 sides full glass, 2 sides 1/2 glass (sides each approx 8' long)

    that portion is a greenhouse separated from the living space with 6"x 4' high cement walls for thermal mass and glass above that.

    and i know now how wrong it was to use cement (sort of), and maybe i would do it differently now, but i dug this into a ridge and used 1' thick concrete walls that are bermed almost to the top

    This summer i'm planning to at least get five sides of the top floor enclosed and air tight to create a solar chimney and get some good ventilation through the bottom floor,, i'm trying to envision a design that will allow a natural growth of the structure without a lot of extra work as i add more sides and a final roof.

    I had always planned on doing regular stick built, but since playing with the mud for the rocket stove i've started thinking about some combination of cob and stick framing . With the concrete as good "boots" for the cob it should be fine to use on at least 7 of the sides where the concrete comes right up to the top.

    I've also considered that technique where you make a clay slurry and soak straw in it and then set it in a form and plaster on top of that

    One thing for sure, never a dull moment.

    anyway, thanks for the interest, it's good to get a chance to write these thoughts out, helps me see them better---

    and what sort of stuff are you involved with now, i see where you've been on the forum a good long time, do you teach classes, did you study with Geoff or Bill--does everybody in Australia know them? are they like celebrities?

    Do you have property with an ongoing development project, or consult --does permaculture supply your livelihood now? Do you build structures, do alt energy?

    and my name is bob,, maybe i should see about just putting in my name for my profile, i'm starting to see that most people are just using their names
     
  19. Rick Larson

    Rick Larson Junior Member

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    You have some good action going on there Bob, hope you keep posting!

    Have you taken any Permaculture-related courses?
     
  20. ramdai

    ramdai Junior Member

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    i have been listening to podcasts almost non stop since fall before last, and watching as much free internet stuff as i can find. i know that's not a full substitue for human interaction and feedback, so i am always looking for that as well. Although that being said, i'm jumping into spreading the word as fast as i can --i started talking with people last year about doing rocket stove demonstrations, and had never actually heated with a rocket stove--after a winter using it i am starting to feel like an expert, although i know that my experience is still fairly limited. but that won't stop me from mounting some demonstrations wherever i can this year.

    This is all important stuff to get out there--if there's a way to get people burning cleaner, cutting fewer trees, that's something right?

    of course the biggest thing may be to get insurance companies to accept the technologies, which may end up pushing prices up if premanufactured cores and such become required

    although this is starting to sound like a rant and maybe would have to be in a different forum

    i guess the short answer is that i've never paid for a course or gotten any certificates, but i have studied the online courses and portions of courses--as well as misc demonstrations etc on utube
     

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