Vermont Site

[CJ in VT]

Here's the mud oven (before and after):

by , on Flickr


by , on Flickr

[pa_friendly_guy]

I like your sense of humor. Its like I was told that Montana has 11 months of winter, and then there is July.

[matt walker]

[CJ in VT]

[lonv166]

CJ, here tilapia are known as bottom feeders. I am in The Philippines. Is that the same in Vermont? One day, hopefully in 2014, I will visit Vermont, it has been my dream for almost 50 years. I am a Wisconsinite, a Canadian visitor as well as a frequent Scandinavian frequenter (almost always in the winter, not the summer). I reckon I can give it a good try. A beautiful pond. How large is it? I lived in Georgia for some 15 years, a lot of man-made ponds there, and every single one had bass. Of course, not the same temperature as Vermont, but bass seem to like the cold as well (I remember catching them in the north), perhaps that might work?
As far as poor sledding, have you tried wheels?

[CJ in VT]

It is very unusual to raise tilapia in Vermont because you can't keep them outdoors over the winter. I have an aquaponics setup in a hoop house which needs a fast growing, heat loving fish so the tilapia have spent the winter in my living room.

I'm not sure how big the pond is, maybe 1.5 acres in a figure 8 shape. The pond is stream fed and every 5 years or so it dries up so much that we can't keep bass, only catfish and carp.

As far as wheels... have you heard about mud season in Vermont?

[pa_friendly_guy]

I was re-reading your posts here about your place in Vt CJ, I find it hard to believe that there has not been a post in almost a year now. You have such a Great spot I for one would love an up date on your progress. You made the mistake of posting goals for last year, lol, have you made any progress along those lines? Any new hay storage sheds? or new mud ovens? or new aquaponic tanks? or any other big hickeys accomplished in this last year? I have to say that I really have not accomplished an thing big at my place in the last year, just still pecking away at things and moving in the right direction. Small things do tend to add up if you keep at it long enough, It is amazing when you look back at what you started with and then see that has been accomplished over the years, it is truly amazing. Even just looking at the growth of the trees with out you doing anything at all makes a huge difference over the years.

[CJ in VT]

Thanks for the interest.

Goals for 2012:
Reduce feed costs by 10%. DONE!
More storage to take advantage of hay buying opportunities. DONE!
Plant productive trees (Honey locust, nuts, apples). DONE!
Start a few different living fences (Honey locust, Hawthorn). DONE but with black locust
Open more land. DONE - BUT MORE TO COME.
Further divide pasture. DONE!
Broaden varieties of berries. DONE!
More swales. not done
Hugelkulture/terrace in sheep paddock. not done

Solve cow muck problem !!! half-way - maybe.

Pretty good! If you have goals laid out your more likely to reach them.

Goals for 2013:
Reduce costs by another 10%
Plant more productive trees.
More living fences.
Open more land (try girdling trees) and fence more paddocks.
More swales / hugelkultures.

But the most important thing is to get the paddock shift idea working. My free ranging chickens need to go in a mobile coops like Geoff Lawton has on that new video .

[pa_friendly_guy]

Very impressive CJ. You have accomplished a lot of what you set out to do last year. You have an impressive list of goals set out for this coming year as well. Almost makes me think I need more goals in my life,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,NAW,,,,,,,,,, I am happy with the lowly goals I have,,,,,,,,,,,,,lol

[CJ in VT]

It all comes at the expense of not cleaning my house!