Big day here....

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Re: Big day here....

Postby SilverFlame819 » Tue Apr 15, 2014 7:08 pm

You look way different with the shorter hair. All like... mature and stuff. Ewwwww, adulthood. ;)

Whoever ends up with your place like 100 years from now is going to think they won the magical ticket to the faerieland lottery. That place is gonna have food popping out of every nook and crevice. It's gonna be like something from The Secret Garden.
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Re: Big day here....

Postby matt walker » Tue Apr 15, 2014 9:04 pm

Not to worry, I tidied myself up a bit for my stint in DC. I'm a mess again, as usual.

So, I just ordered some rootstock! I guess I'm going to have a Learning Experience with grafting, since it's way more affordable than buying trees. At least, it seems like it. It might not be if Youtube is lying to me about how easy it is to graft. Anyway, I'm excited. I've got the space to plant and a bunch of trees in the vicinity I've been wanting to propagate, so, I think I'll give it a go. Wish me luck.
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Re: Big day here....

Postby pa_friendly_guy » Tue Apr 15, 2014 10:15 pm

I took a class of sorts at the Mother Earth News Fair last year. The guy bought his root stock in bulk and for some reason I am thinking .50 to .75 per root stock tree. The grafting was made to seem quite easy. You make the cuts, pick root stock of about the same size as the tree you are grafting, put them together and rap the whole thing with a rubber band that will hold it all together. You get the bark to line up as best you can because that is what determines if they live or die. If the sap starts to flow it will quickly heal itself. It seemed to be just as simple as that. :lol: Famous last words. :o Good Luck, I am sure you will do just fine, even if you have a fairly large die off this 1st year it should still be cheaper than purchasing trees from the Nursery, and the experience that you will gain will be very valuable in life. And if not you will have a wonderful Learning Experience to relate to us. :lol:
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Re: Big day here....

Postby SilverFlame819 » Wed Apr 16, 2014 6:41 am

Who said I was worried? ;)

I love trees. I am such a tree whore. Can't wait to have my own land to plant things on! What kind of trees you going for? You got a system to where you're planting them?
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Re: Big day here....

Postby matt walker » Wed Apr 16, 2014 3:06 pm

I have a conceptual system and I have conceptual trees I'm going for, but the reality is I am getting what I can get and planting where I can keep the animals away. On these new earthworks I'll mostly plant just the berms, and kinda go for a food forest type planting, close and with all the layers, but probably not as intensely planted as a real food forest since they will essentially be planted strips between grazing lanes, or something.

Currently planted and incoming for planting are all the standards, apples, pears, plums, apricots, pluots, peaches, cherries, figs, hazelnuts, mulberries, etc. I planted about 40 trees last year, although only about half were food trees, and maybe only about half made it since I got overwhelmed by lamb escapes. I think when it's all done I will plant another 50 or so this season, already have about 10 new fruit trees in the ground, 30 or 40 tiny oaks, and a handful of black locust. The last two are firewood and acorns for pigs. Additionally, I've planted a few dozen Sea Buckthorn(seaberry), kiwi, and grape vines, and a whole lot of berries from transplants around my place and my neighbors'. Marion, Tay, Black, Blue, Straw, Service, Rasp, and so on. Lots of those guys since they seem to be able to get ahead of the native stuff if I give them a chance. Yeah, food everywhere, that's the goal. Oh, potatoes, garlic, and onions under most of that stuff. Usually separate plantings for the potatoes and the alliums if I can remember where things are.
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Re: Big day here....

Postby SilverFlame819 » Wed Apr 16, 2014 6:36 pm

That sounds amazing. You keep going, and you'll have such a surplus you can sell a ton of it! What's the end goal? You planning to become a CSA, or have enough to sell or barter, or you just want your own piles of food so you never have to shop again? :)

I picture you becoming the little old man who gifts everyone in the neighborhood with figgy pudding every winter. :P (Pluots and figs are "standard" where you live??) :)
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Re: Big day here....

Postby matt walker » Wed Apr 16, 2014 7:33 pm

I already don't shop, almost at all. Flour, coffee, sugar, spices, occasional cheese fix. That's about it. I spent about $5/month on groceries in January, February, and March. Of course, it probably would be cheaper to just buy groceries compared to trees and seeds and infrastructure, but I need projects!

End goal is to stay busy I think. I dunno. Not interested in selling stuff, then I have to be presentable and deal with people IRL. Ick. I already use most of my eggs for baseball pitching practice and winning over clients and friends with random boxes of 10 dozen poop covered eggs, and most of my produce goes to the livestock or to seed/waste, but it's not a waste to me since it's my past time as much as my food. I dunno, goals? Don't really have 'em, just keep doing stuff everyday, stay alive and happy. That's about it. Trees and produce and gardens and animals all do that, keep me happy and alive. Surplus is fine with me.
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Re: Big day here....

Postby SilverFlame819 » Thu Apr 17, 2014 8:15 am

*lol* You got yourself a woman yet? Someone's gotta take all that food you're wasting and do something with it! Poop-covered eggs? Baseball practice?! *head explodes* I'm not sure what kind of "clients" you have, but you'd think that would scare them off! *lol* The day you get sick of buying cheese, you'll figure out how to milk that cow... :D

I don't think there's really such a thing as surplus when you've got pigs. Are you doing pigs again this year? I mean... You may need to up your numbers. When all of those trees and hugel beds are producing, you'll have enough for like 100 pigs. :lol:

I think goals like staying alive and being happy are the best kind of goals. What is all the rest, really? The trees, instead of the forest?
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Re: Big day here....

Postby matt walker » Thu Apr 17, 2014 5:07 pm

At this point I think I'm more likely to find a unicorn, and I can cook just fine for myself, thank you very much! Clients don't see the egg baseball, I just bring the eggs around when I make my rounds, and folks love 'em. Man, if I let clients come over here I'd be out of work! Nope, no pigs this year I don't think. My good friend has a pretty good operation going and I've been swapping sides of beef for a hog these last couple years, and I've still got one coming to me this season, so I'm all set for a bit.
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Re: Big day here....

Postby SilverFlame819 » Thu Apr 17, 2014 8:11 pm

*rofl* At least the unicorn wouldn't whine about dirty socks on the floor or dishes in the sink. ;) I know you can cook... I'm just saying, while you're off planting 8 million more things, it would be handy to have someone else processing it or selling it. I can't even imagine how much fruit is gonna be lying on the ground by the time that plethora of trees matures out! Maybe you could do like 24-hour livestreams on YouTube, where people watch you run in circles in your kitchen, with one thing dehydrating, one thing baking, one thing cooking, one thing in the water bath canner, some other stuff in the pressure canner, some stuff marinating on the counter, some stuff being put through the grinder at the sink, etc... *lol* I totally can see you in a red checkered apron with an overflowing booth at the local farmer's market. :P

All kidding aside, chickens are excellent eaters-of-things. You don't need pigs if you've got enough chickens! So maybe you just need an egg business. The chickens can eat the food you're going to be piling in a mountain outside your back door, and their eggs could make you a pretty penny. :) You wouldn't have to worry about keeping clients if you earned a living off the farm... :)
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