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Episode-1810- Expert Council Q&A for 6-17-16

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Could You Turn This into a House?

Could You Turn This into a House?

Today is Friday so it is time for our ask expert council show. To ask a question for a show like this, just send an email to me at jack at thesurvivalpodcast.com with “TSPC Expert” in the subject line.

Today the expert council answers questions on retirement, healing skin issues, recovering from injuries, night vision gear, kombucha, off grid living and more.

In the body of your email first tell me the council member your question is for. Second ask your question concisely in one to two sentences maximum. Third any and all details after that. This is the formula to give you the best chance of getting on the air.

I do what I can to get as many of your questions as possible on the air but can’t always get to all of them. Our council is made of a wide variety of experts in everything from the tactical to the practical and everything in between.

To get more information on our Expert Council visit our “Meet the Expert Council Page” to learn more about them and their specific areas of expertise.

Join Me Today As Our Experts Discuss

  • Leaving a job and dealing with a legacy pension – John Pugliano
  • Dealing with slow healing and easily wounded skin – Doc Bones
  • Thoughts on night vision gear – Bryan Black and Tim Glance
  • Dealing with an avalanche of peaches – Keith Snow
  • The ins and outs of seaberry cultivars – Ben Falk
  • Training after an injury – Gary Collins
  • Making the most of kombucha – Erica Strauss
  • Living in a shed as a path to freedom – Jack

Resources for today’s show…

Sponsors of the Day

Websites of the Expert Council Members

pear_1Bob Wells Plant of The Week – Warren Pear – The Warren Pear tree is highly adaptable from zone 5 to zone 9.

Excellent quality pear, tree is highly resistant to fire blight. Medium to large, long-necked fruit with pale green skin, sometimes blushed red. Smooth flesh with no grit cells. It is juicy and buttery with superb flavor. Cold hardy down to -20 degrees F and ripens early August. It is a good keeper, requires only 600 chill hours and is self-fruitful.

This is Bob Wells personal favorite when it comes to peaches. Bob Wells specializes in edible landscape, including: Fruit Trees, Berry Plants, Nut Trees, as well as the hard to find Specialty Fruit Trees. Find this plant and more at BobWellsNursery.com

Remember to comment, chime in and tell us your thoughts, this podcast is one man’s opinion, not a lecture or sermon. Also please enter our listener appreciation contest and help spread the word about our show. Also remember you can call in your questions and comments to 866-65-THINK (866-658-4465) and you might hear yourself on the air.

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Comments

Episode-1810- Expert Council Q&A for 6-17-16 — 25 Comments

  1. Jack, the difference between the IR laser and the game cameras is a mater of what wavelength IR they use. The vast majority of the game cameras us the “red”IR as its often called with cameras, 850nm wavelength or lower, and you can faintly see the IR LED’s glow red with those and I am sure its enough to alert a coyote. There are some that run what they usually call “black IR” or “black flash” that run a wavelength of 940nm or higher, and at that range it won’t be visible. Its far cheaper for them to use the lower wavelength IR so most of them do.

    Most good IR lasers are high enough wavelength to not be seen, at least I haven’t had any issues with it.

  2. I agree with Tim IR LEDs do not emit monochromatic light, it has a frequency graph peak with steep sides compared to white filtered light.
    Lasers emit one wavelength (monochromatic) it is why they can be colomated to a very narrow beam.
    I have two dogs different breeds, one can see regular red laser one can’t. I am not sure if either can see red LED.
    Electronics have been my hobby for over forty years.

  3. We’ve been living in a shed for 6 years now. It was supposed to be “temporary”. So much for plans! Anyway, turning a shed into a home is very doable and can be an affordable way to get your own home. We have actually seen several people putting sheds on acreage in our area and living in them. If anyone would like to see what my friend is doing with her shed home you can check her out at tinyhousehomestead.com

  4. Excess peaches – Peach gelato!

    And now I’m wondering about gelato made using yolks from duck eggs…

  5. I am surprised Ben Faulk did not get into how to make the Oxymeal from his seaberries.. I would have loved to heard his recipe, anyone else… Brent

  7. Up here in Prince Edward Island, Zone 5b, my neighbor planted a ‘Reliant’ Peach Tree. Southern exposure. It is about six feet tall now and so far so good.
    I would die to be overun with peaches. In the Niagra region of Southern Ontario they grow some soft ball sized monsters

  8. One more possible cause of the coyote bolting from the camera might be an ultrasonic drive circuit for the LED flash, it isn’t designed to emit so is not loud, coyote hearing is great.

  9. I’ve been meaning to ask for some time, Jack, if you were familiar with Trigger Point Therapy. Since Gary Collins brought it up in his section I suppose it’s a good time to comment. Mr. Collins was talking about having someone do the work on you, but what I found years ago was a superb self-treatment guide book. It’s called “The Trigger Point Therapy Workbook” by Davies and Davies. They’ve claimed that it’s effective for most chronic soft tissue pain and in my personal experience over the years I’ve found this to be true.

    For example, years ago before I’d heard of this, I threw my back out. Maybe a doctor could have helped me, but I was very poor then with no health insurance, and frankly I avoid doctors if I can at all help it. Anyway, that first time I was all but incapacitated for a few days and suffered from back pain for months afterward. Last year I threw my back out again. This time I grabbed the book and used it to quickly find the likely location of the trigger point and began to work it. Like Gary noted, you know when you’ve found the point because it is really tender. Anyway, in this case I got much better immediately, cutting out the debilitating stage, and in just a few days it was as though nothing had happened.

    I’ve found trigger point therapy with the help of this workbook to be an extremely useful, insanely cheap, and immediately available form of health care. It’s also very simple to do. Once you find the trigger point causing the problem the treatment is basically using a lacrosse or tennis ball to roll across the spot a few times, repeating this several times a day until you’ve worked out the contracted knot in the muscle. This book has been one of those life changing bits of knowledge for me. It’s simple, cheap, and effective in most instances. If it doesn’t work on a problem then there are no harmful side effects.

    • Hey David,

      I agree learning about trigger points and self treating has been a huge help for me. I suffer from chronic pain from injuries, and the pain usually stems from a trouble spot (trigger point). People are amazed that they can eliminate nagging injuries or pain by releasing a trigger point(s).

      • Thank you, Gary, for bringing up trigger point therapy in your segment! I think it’s something not many people know about but should. For me the Trigger Point Therapy Workbook an essential prep, and a real no brainer for the insanely high value it provides for such little cost, both in terms of dollars and effort needed to use it effectively. I see some used copies on Amazon for less than $5.00!

        The only time it really didn’t work for me was once when I had a case of tennis elbow as a result of all the hammering work I do for a living. I suspect in that case the pain was actual muscle damage. In the end I had to do what you were saying, stop the activity that caused and kept aggravating the problem. It was REALLY hard to admit to myself that I had to quit working for a couple months while things healed. I’ve since adopted a new work routine that limits long periods of heavy hammering work.

        Again, thank you so much for bringing up the trigger points and sharing it with this audience.

  10. On Seaberry (56:30)

    There is not yet a lot of distinction between cultivars. I’m growing 8 cultivars (all commercially available, haven’t gotten my hands on any of the “in development” experimental cultivars yet, maybe next year…). There is some noticeable difference in fruit size and sweetness and color, but it’s something you would want to sweeten anyway, as Mr. Falk said, with honey or something similar. The taste is very similar between all I have tried. The smaller fruiting cultivars also tend to fruit more prolifically, so yields tend to be the same for the size of plant you have. For all practical matters, the cultivars can be used interchangeably, just select one from a grower in your climate. Don’t stress about the other characteristics, just focus on what grows the best in your climate.

    I too have not had issues with suckering, though I’m on year 6 (mature plants, but they get a lot older, so who knows if they will spread in the future). Seeding is more likely. However, the seeds germinate in mud (seasonal water retention areas), and not so much in cultivated soil. So something has to spread them to a more suitable area than most gardens or backyards.

    The bigger issue, rodents love these things. Not so much the fruit, but the green shoots and the bark. Deer will browse heavily, including the fruit. Thorny varieties are NOT a sufficient deterrent. They grow to a “V” shape naturally, but established stands end up being more umbrella shaped, the undergrowth cleared as high up as a deer can reach. If you want good yields, keep it protected. Some people have claimed exactly the opposite, saying the plant is nearly “deer proof”. I have not found that to be the case. Maybe different types of deer, maybe mine have fewer preferable alternatives… My personal experience contradicts conventional wisdom.

    Mulching is critical to success. You really can’t over-do it with the mulch. 8-12″ deep of wood mulch, extending out about 8′ in diameter, even for a small plant.

    Water needs to be constantly available. Don’t drown it, but frequently keep it moistened. I use a drip system for an hour a day with 1GPH emitters. In hot weather, an intermittent mist might be better. 10 seconds every 30 minutes sprayed on the foliage would probably work well (provided it’s not hard water).

    If you can get your hands on them, there are several test fields working on cultivars which bred to be easier to harvest (shaking without losing juices from the berry). Harvesting can be a pain in the ass… if you let them get just over-ripe, they shake right off. If you’re doing 5-10 plants, it’s no big deal. But a cultivar which releases easier may be better for a larger planting.

    Seaberry responds very well to light applications of wood ash.

    On using the seaberry:

    I pulp them with aronia, blueberry, cranberry, goji berries and honey (occasionally, if I have any late currants, I mix them in as well, but that’s rare), then dehydrate into fruit leathers. It’s a good method of preservation, and serves like a DIY daily multi-vitamin, but better tasting. You can have a 3″ square with breakfast, shred it over your cereal, or just eat a bunch of it. Mix it into baked goods. It’s not overly sweet either, and mixed with some jamaican curry in a pot of rice with chicken is awesome.

    The juice is good, but it’s not something you’re going to drink a 12oz glass of. You’d be hard pressed to grow, harvest and process enough to support that kind of consumption. Even if you could, you’d end up with an upset stomach consuming that much at once.

    • Ill just say the shot I had at Ben’s was of some variety he was growing, I don’t know what, it was unsweetened fresh juice and AMAZING requiring no sweetening.

      I am not saying it was the type of thing you drink as a soft drink but for a sip or three it needed absolutely nothing, I can still remember it and I want more!

  12. The shed idea is good, but I would say a better option for a young person would be a 2000-2006 high top Sprinter van. The reasoning is first 20-30 mpg fuel economy qualifies as a better than average daily driver. Next the volume inside is comparable to a shed, but since completely mobile, eminently more useful than a shed.

  13. No link for the shed article? Planning to move to Texas from CA next year. Looking for any possibilities for getting onto a homestead quickly with cash. This seems like a good possibility. We are really interested in converted shipping containers but that will take time, especially if we have to put in septic first.

  14. Jack,

    You mentioned a source for commercial Comfrey salve. I could not find it in the show notes. Can you please provide a name or link?

  15. I know my post is a bit late but I figured better late than never. I purchased a Derkesen Portable building a few years ago and have been working on converting it into something habitable since then. It’s been awesome to have my little place out in the country at times but it’s been a real pain in the ass at times as well. Based on the size of my building (16’x40′) I now wish I just had something built from the ground up. I’ve captured my progress on a small cabin forum thread here: http://www.small-cabin.com/forum/6_4692_0.html#msg69704.

    Feel free to ask any questions. The thread hasn’t been updated in a while but it will be in the coming week or so where I detail installing a ridge vent to vent the structure.

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