Category: Self reliance

a lucky save – rescuing my bobcat

Luck shouldn't factor into daily events - maybe it has a role in investing, or coincidental meetings, but surely not when it comes to my tracked Takeuchi bobcat.  The way I am feeling right now is lucky and this is probably because I acted carelessly and was able to extricate myself from a sticky jam, actually muddy patch, without much loss. I mentioned previously a trail I cut through the woods which ran close to a spring.  The spring fills a small pool from which it saunters down the hill, Read more [...]

trail through the woods

The past few weeks I have been preoccupied with cutting a new trail through the woods.  The northwest part of the property slopes down a hill and its face is creased with contour ditches and berms installed I know not by whom or when.  There is a small spring which forms a stream which slides off the property.  My new trail is designed to give me access to the spring and to meander among the fast growing tulip poplars.  Since this is the north facing slope, which is sheltered from the sun and Read more [...]

wildflower seeding

Last fall I collected a large quantity of wildflower seed and stored it in a cloth shopping bag.  Now that I have planted out my tomatoes and with rain in the offing, I decided to sow the seed - cosmos, sunflower, marigold and zinnia.  I was gifted two old cultivators - they are 5 feet wide and connect to the three point hitch at the back of the tractor.  The tines are spring tensioned.  I have a 60hp tractor which typically would pull a larger cultivator and so I had to make some adjustments Read more [...]

rainwater from coop roof

When I built the new coop in October last year I fitted  a gutter which directs rainwater to an adjacent 250 gallon storage tank.  My thought was to (a) collect all rainwater landing on impervious surfaces, and (b) use the water to irrigate a chicken food growing area.  To grow food for the chicken I would have to cordon off a growing area and maintain it with vegetables and irrigation, which involves extra work, so instead I now give them excess vegetables from the vegetable garden.  And the Read more [...]

2nd chicken coop door installed

Last week I designed, constructed and installed my first coop door opener - it has operated flawlessly the past week automatically opening the door at about 8am and then late afternoon I reverse the current and close it when I feed the chickens and settle them for the night. An ongoing issue has been the aggressiveness of the Buff Orpington rooster  to his Buff Orpington sister.  The coop has a partition door and, prior to the advent of the door opener, I would house Lady Macbeth (such a fierce Read more [...]

water conservation – “Heart of Dryness”

I just read Heart of Dryness by James Workman about the plight of the Bushmen in the Kalahari desert when the Botswana government cut off their water supplies and how they adapted and how we can learn from them. I was interested in the book because I am originally from South Africa which abuts Botswana, and also here in Georgia we are engaged in legal water wars with neighboring states.  Workman interlaces the story of the Bushmen with a narrative on the use and abuse of water worldwide and his Read more [...]

chicken coop door opener

After several weeks spinning my thoughts, I finally got down to it and built and installed an automatic chicken coop door opener.  For the time being it is half automatic - it will open the coop door in the morning (time set for 7.30am) and I will close it in the evening after I have housed and fed the chicken.  Cost of components, excluding scrap wood, hardware, and the transformer which was laying around, was less than $50. I have included full details and photos under the "Self reliance" Read more [...]

contour ditch construction

My land slopes and since I rely entirely on rainwater for irrigation, I catch the rain however I can - in storage tanks or directly into the ground with contour ditches.  Contour ditches are similar to swales - built on contour or dead level survey lines to intercept and hold water and to let it infiltrate the ground, therefore they are not compacted or sealed.  While a ditch is narrow, a swale can be broader like a basin and, according to the permaculture bible by Bill Mollison, trees are essential Read more [...]

summerizing the coop

Before I get to the coop, a quick update on my "Spring activity" journal.  I mentioned that pokeweed is an unwelcome visitor, difficult to extricate because of its long thick taproot.  In permaculture "the problem is the solution" and it occurred to me that the taproot, like that of comfrey was performing a valuable function mining minerals two or more feet below the surface.  But this seemed inadequate justification for its presence until I noticed that it, and it alone, has been attacked and Read more [...]

TGFI – tractor top link

"TGFI" - you may have thought this was a typo and should be "TGIF" - Thank God its Friday, but for me it is Thank God for Internet. Most tractors have a three hitch system, which means the heavy implements at the back are hitched or connected to the tractor at three points, two horizontal at the bottom and one at the top. The top point is connected to the tractor with a top link. I damaged my top link and needed a replacement - one of the arms of the top link was bent, which meant I could not Read more [...]