Comments

Episode-2417- Listener Feedback for 4-8-19 — 9 Comments

  1. Thank you, Jack, for reminding the caller from VA to study and learn what he has before cutting it out or killing it. All four of the plants he names are ones I do grow or would be glad to grow. Forsythia and redbud are “not just another pretty face:” they are terrific livestock fodder at a difficult time of year, late summer. I save my pruning until then and feed the branches to the sheep. For people, Redbud has edible flowers and pods, and as a sturdy small tree seems well suited as a trellis. I haven’t yet tried it for climbing peas or cucumbers (both of which can take a little shade), but it’s worth an experiment. Crabapples pollinate all apples and many make excellent cider. Anyone who thinks ornamental grass is useless might check out Sean Dembrosky’s videos on Miscanthus. At the very least, if you don’t want it, try digging, dividing, and selling it. A sample of his use as a living fence along a noisy road: (https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=bimzE7hdCcM&list=PLihFHKqj6Jerp0_Ihfk6WOnt1kcO6ByYS&index=2&t=0s)

    Oh, and forsythia roots readily to make new bushes to sell.

  2. Hey Jack,

    You made a comment during the wood mulch segment (unless it’s from an all pine plantation) that now has me wondering about my specific situation.

    One of my side hustle jobs is cutting firewood commercially. Just last year I started saving all the bark for the purpose of chipping for mulch. Technically it’s not all pine, but specifically it’s all red fir, tamarack pine, and lodgepole pine bark.

    I still think it will work fine, especially after sitting under snow all winter,  but that statement has me wondering if I might be screwing up.

    Thanks

    Will

  3. Well don’t worry. What I was trying to say is when you get chips from a tree trimmer you are getting a mix. So what is in it isn’t really relevant because anything you don’t want is out weighed by tons of what you do.

    With a pine plantation you know it is ONE species so if YOU don’t want that for any reason then you know it isn’t what YOU want. I didn’t mean pine is bad.

  4. I started in TKD & added BJJ when my boyfriend started dabbling in it.  What brought all the martial arts training together was Krav Maga. It is a combination of self defense moves, dirty offensive moves, improvisation and communication/body language interpretation skills.  I had an instructor who was keen on situational awareness and avoiding confrontation, but if ever in an unavoidable situation we learned techniques to escape.  He defined escaping relatively unscathed as victory, especially for us girls.

    I also think a benefit of any martial art for women is learning that physical confrontation and the occasional injury are not earthmoving events.  I saw that many women are pain wimps & contact training helps.  Bruises heal, bleeding stops.  If not, go to medical for Ibuprofen 800 & a bag of ice  🙂

     

  5. Re: Martial Arts

    One of my favorite martial arts schools was a little studio in Anchorage that taught both Kung Fu San Soo and Brazilian jujitsu. While the two disciplines had separate classes and sometimes different instructors, they made a habit of having students periodically spend time training in the other discipline.

    The BJJ students were taught the importance of having other techniques for when going to the ground is a bad idea (almost always described as scenarios potentially involving multiple attackers). And the San Soo students got a bit of ground work training for those times when things don’t go according to plan (the San Soo master’s common refrain being, “a little ground fighting knowledge goes a LONG way”).

    I really appreciated that school that wasn’t so caught up in some purity nonsense that they couldn’t bring in outside things. I know there are other schools doing more cross-discipline training too, but I never found one I liked as much as that one in the other places I’ve lived since then.

  6. ‘Fountain of Sorrow’ was a great choice for song of the day. I’d never heard it before, so thank you for playing it Jack. My wedding anniversary is coming up this week, so I’ve been rather thoughtful about how life is developing for us. That song helped to refine my focus on the course of our relationship. Like you said, my wife is also one of my greatest teachers in life. Love is indeed a choice, sometimes a difficult one. Some big-picture perspective is something we all need to be reminded of once in a while.

    Thanks for all you do Jack.

    – Lee

  7. I agree about ground fighting. I have black belts in karatedo and aikido, and will begin training BJJ or something close, in order to defend myself in the event I am on the ground temporarily. In a rogue real world fight, if it hits the ground, you’re likely doomed and need to be prepared to be seriously injured in order to come out alive, if possible.

    If you are properly trained in martial arts and understand bud?, you can win the fight before any conflict begins. Preferably by always assessing and understanding the situation and avoiding conflict to begin with, including how you carry yourself and how you interact with others. If it does lead to an actual fight, be prepared beforehand by knowing how far you’re willing to go, and then doing it. My first choice is to always run away before anything happens, and then kill if I have to, and get maimed in the process if necessary, and sometimes choose to be injured on purpose.

    Of course, being armed, preferably with a gun, helps avoid that.

  8. My guy used the “buy you a beer” method of de-escalation on more than one occasion. It is an option when you really don’t want to leave a game/theater/restaurant etc.

    When a stranger is being an ass, he ignores the bad behavior, introduces us by name and offers to buy a drink, hot dog, etc. For a guy looking for confrontation, a drink offer usually disarms them because a friendly response is so unexpected.

    By exchanging a few words of small talk, two people can find common ground and coexist in the same spot. But if the danger is still there, a quick exit is always the best bet.