One other thing, metabolic flexibility. Each time the unflexible body changes from one fuel to a nother, there is a “sugar crash”. I see people crashing all the time when we do phisical work for longer periods of time, they burn up the food and start shaking and stuff…couple of times l had to bring out bread and honey to kickstart them back to life last time l remember that happening to me was in my mid teens. This flexibility can be trained, mostly by fasting, and the transitiins then become barely noticable.
Ha, but Newtons law still holds true. If you burn a lot of energy, you need to eat a lot or you will consume your body. What l used to do is work at home fasted, then at work l had plenty of time to eat. And l did eat A LOT, they called me “stomack on leggs” but under the line l hadnt consumed a crazy amount of calories a day. I do it kinda similar nowdays, but strech the average even further. On some days l barely eat a thing, on some days l eat a shamefull amount. But on average, l once calculated, l burn trugh 3500 calories a day.
I was thinking about SteveU’s suggestion to Johan about building a grow structure against the south wall of a building. One of these fold-able frames would work well for that. I plan to build several for raised beds as a way to keep animals and insects out and yet provide easy access when needed. Mr Robinson has designed and sells hardware to allow the frames to fold against one another but I have thought of an free alternative I will share when I build one. His are better however. I think this would be a good cover for SteveU’s style beds as well, but would require a little supplemental framing on the curved ends. https://youtu.be/8gOGxtkFyNc https://youtu.be/t-P5VANDUPE https://youtu.be/itUvv4cdlyo https://youtu.be/o86R6yO4y1M
I would be one of those Kristijan. My metabolism is flexible as a concrete wall, and fast. I can eat what I want and stay skinny. Now in my 50+ the only place where it stays is in front of me, acting as a roof for my tools. Really want to try some fasting but not even 2 januari and couldnt leave that boiled egg in the kitchen😃
Thanks Tom, gonna look into that fasting later.
And for our building plans, dont make it to big. It is getting real heavy.
An at least 80 years old baby-gate, long-ago set aside, buried over; that surfaced in our cleaning-out/moving. Now used for as a dog barrier to our upstairs area. Yet still allows the cats to pass through. One-hand easy operated.
I put this up as maybe a key element to the able to grow enough annual family carbohydrate calories problem we all have.
A small dense potato plot clear plastic Yurt covered. Dome volume enclosing. Yet able to seasonally one-man take down and up. Moving thru a multiple plots rotation.
Here in the temperate rain forest the struggle is air-borne drift spores. So far only with 1st world class chemical dusting can I get any potatoes to maturity. Just too damp and bioactive here.
Too cool; and short season, for rice.
Too short of season for maize-corn; wheat or even oats.
I have has success with parsnips, turnips and beets. All strong flavors to us now spoiled moderns.
I haven’t yet explored relative exotics like rye and buck wheat.
S.U.
One of the about 50 wild food sources we have around our place is wild buckwheat plants. We have not tried harvesting it yet to process the grain from the plant. It is really small fine grain. Hope to try it in the 2024 new year.
It doesn’t mention the hinge brackets they are trying to sell are metal. So I would be much more inclined to buy the stl file or just design and 3d print my own. And then you could actually design it to use the white pvc pipe instead of wood to make it lighter and possibly cheaper. If you wanted to make them out of metal, you could cast them, or it would be a great excuse to get a cutting torch and a sheet metal bender.
Not sure why they are called Wangerflanges. I kind of thought wanger was a word to describe someone, like dork. Actually I’ve rethought this and I will buy a bunch of these pieces and build the frames like he has shown. This guy sells some parts and plans but also has put many pages and designs up, free for copying and that represents a lot of work on his part. Besides I’m just an imitator anyway. To old to be a bullshitter.
For what it’s worth, several months ago I did a 7 day fast to reset my metabolism. Green tea and some electrolyte only. The first 3 days were a grind, but day 4 on was great! I had inflammation problems from being a carb-o-holic that led to severe psoriasis over half of my body. Completely cured skin and restored energy in about 3 months. Lost 20 pounds (down to ideal weight) maintained by time-restricted eating only whole foods.
This is a good idea, I suspect I will have quite a bit of greenhouse cover left over after salvaging the arches from the greenhouse collapse to use. A couple of years ago I was thinking to build a cover for raisd beds that was hinged on one end but this is better and more versatile.
Also, a few months back me and my wife watched the youtube videos about the Kratky method you linked to and that got us hooked, since then that has been in the plan to test this coming season, thanks for sharing that
Very nice with so many likeminded people here who all want success for eachother.
According to this guy, he stumbled upon them rather then invented.
But the specs are
Material:
Stainless Steel - Grade SS304
7mm hole and 7mm x 10mm slot (in lug)
3mm Thick
Tensile strength:
Ultimate 505 MPa (megapascal) 73200 psi (pound force per square inch)
Tensile strength, yield 215 MPa, 31200 psi (2192 Kg per cm square)
Elongation at break 70%
and they include a downloadable 3d printer file to print your own and have links to various projects from this page.
Johan. Here is a link to the European supplier of the hydroponic solution I use.
https://hydroponicseuro.com/ It’s the Masterblend. It’s the only one I’ve ever used. There may be other ones just as good. Seems very expensive compared to what I pay for it here. Amazon.com
I stock up on the 25 lb combo. No telling how long these products will be available.
Thanks Tom. I do think it’s good to start with a proven concept in this area as well so this is probably what we’ll go for.
I see it’s $142 for 16 lb including shipping from that dutch supplier you linked to and it was unavaliable on your amazon link. How much is it normally there?
Did you buy it all?
The 16 lb pack is the biggest they have also the cheapest per lb and it is enough for 1330 gallons, not sure how much solution is needed though. I never measured how much plants drink.
As for the grow solutions link I already have it open on a tab here as I went through this thread again yesterday but haven’t gotten around to rewatching them with another mindset yet.
This stuff goes a long way particularly if you are doing Kratky. I’m a prepper and this year many changes are coming that will impact things like deliveries and food distribution. If you don’t produce it yourself then you are at the mercy of the corporate food industry. That is why I stock up. You have to put you money into something that retains value. Food production and materials and tools to produce it will be number one. I know most people recommend precious metals. Personally I think they taste like crap. The number two thing I recommend buying is grow lights. Especially in your locale with the short winter daylight hours. If you have wood, a gasifier and a generator then you can grow year round. Here is another video discussing the sequence of mixing the Masterblend solution. I personally can’t see how it could matter but I’m a monkey see, monkey do kind of guy so I do it the way Masterblend recommends. A lot of real good information on the links to the right of these videos.
This is how me and my wife are thinking too, already bought fluorecent growlights some years ago and use them for plant starting but when the tubes stop working I’ll probably go for led’s instead for less power consumption however that depends on price difference vs power consumption throughout the lifecycle.
Not a hardcore prepper although I really like being prepared for whatever might come but no bug out bags or anything plus I like the comforts of home a lot so perhaps a prepper light?
My tabs on the ipad with youtube clips to watch are many now, hours worth. Good things though.
Make sure you get bright LED lights with the right frequencies. The cheap set I bought barely grew anything. As near as I can tell, they weren’t getting enough light.
I use these. 2 ft and 4ft. I bought several sets of both sizes. I’ve been using them for two years and they have worked well.Prices have gone up quite a bit since I bought mine but of course that’s only going to get worse. Sean, my experience is that what they claim to be the minimum hours of light for growth is only valid for direct sunlight and then I have doubts. If they say 6 hours for tomatoes I find at least 10 hrs under grow lights is required unless it’s just supplemental in addition to natural light. I don’t really like to refer to anything that has to do with food production as prepping Johan. I think it should be a part of everyone’s daily life.
I got a really cheap one for like 10-15 dollars and the plants are stunted at best. I got another from like walmart on sale, and they didn’t do much better. They need more light so I have to figure that one out yet.
Perhaps I should get a few anyway, the double fluorescent ones I use now are kind of bulky with 5 foot lengths (2x58w)
We did have pretty good success with our test last spring with starting plants in sunny windows only, no added electricity.
I have this grater. It is simple and it works, including the suction feature which is nice.
If I’m going to be picky… the plastic is a little flimsy compared to how it would have been made in the 1960s but… it’s cheap, it works, your knuckles don’t get shaved off and it’s easy to clean.
…If the handle breaks / etc it wouldn’t be hard to either 3d print a stronger replacement or just acetone the old part back on and reinforce with fiberglass+epoxy. The plastic parts are just extruded “outlines” so any infill attempts will add strength and fast.
Actually I’ve rethought this and I will buy a bunch of these pieces and build the frames like he has shown. This guy sells some parts and plans but also has put many pages and designs up, free for copying and that represents a lot of work on his part. Besides I’m just an imitator anyway. To old to be a bullshitter.
