GenForward just crossed $20,200+. Almost there folks! It’s a great idea Jack, I can’t wait to get started on it.

I wanted to respond to the gentleman who asked about ducks on his 20 acre location with the large pond. No worries man. I grew up in a similar location and we raised Muscovey ducks and a few other varieties. They are tuff self reliant ducks and the reproduction is great. We did have predators, mink, weasel, racoons etc. We did lose an occassional duck, but it never seemend to make much of a dent in the population. Also, we did not feed our ducks except in winter we would toss some crack corn to them and maybe some bread. The idea of a deer feeder is great. Also once we “homed” the first birds it was never needed again. The mother ducks would teach the new fledglings the ropes and away they would go. They would nest in close to the house often in a corner behind shrubs. You might need to help them with nesting habitat if you have lots of predator issues. They were good at letting us handle them, mainly i think because i would pick them up all the time and when mothers were nesting I would lift them up checking for the babies to hatch. Once the babies hatched I would pick them up and play with them (ok yes a kid does this kind of stuff). I think you will be amazed at how easy this is for you. Have fun…they are really great ducks. A floating refuge in the pond is a very good idea too. They should use it and you will probably find wild ducks are starting to show up on your place too. Cheers!

Ok. I know ducks. Unfortunately, they’ve had to be confined. I now own an 18.5 acre homestead: 7.5 acres hardwood, 3.1 acres pine that needs pulped, & around 8 acres overgrown fields & homestead built in 1977 with tobacco barn built in 1945, home w/complete basement including usda licensed commercial kitchen, shed, chicken coop, (all needs fenced) in East Tennessee …

I currently maintain an L-shaped chain link run made up of 6’x10′ panels in a 30’x20′ configuration. There are 2 35 mil garage floor mats 14×7′ each overlapping 8″. The run is on a slope. The other 3′ walkway I’ve lined with 3×4′ anti-fatigue stall mats over rounded river rock or pond pebbles. Also in the run are 2 large plastic doghouses lined with hay.

Also in the run is a portable “chicken barn” from my old place with a predator proof mini run a few feet tall. The side where winds blow is tarped on the chainlink. I love my ducks!!

Follow up, I should note, I have been gardening since I started listening (about 2008/2009), but small scale, a few beds, a few fruit trees and bushes.
I come from an engineering background (computer security), so no farming experience really, just big ambitions.

(Just heard the part about frost)
Here I am 7 am on a saturday (went to bed late, doesn’t matter 7am is the wakeup call). Just fed the animals and made my rounds. Wrote down the temperature in my farm journal of 33 degrees and noticed the frost across everything.

I have definitely confirmed (as you might imagine) planting frost sensitive trees up against the south side of a forest (so the trees get southernly light right now) particularly when that forest is evergreen, does leaps and bounds about protection tress from frost. I have 3 avocados under there and no frost to be found.

A question about elderberries. Are there any varieties that are not edible? I work for a landscape contractor, so I can get some 15 gallon Sambuca for really cheap from one of my nurseries. They are Sambuca Mexicana, which from what I have read is a variant of the Sambuca Nigra. I’ve read the barries from the Mexicana are eatable, and are not. Does anyone know for sure?

Thanks for the question about grafting on to wild grapes. We’ve got those things everywhere down in SWFL, and I’d been letting some grow along my fence and gate with the plan of grafting some productive muscadines on to them. I was planning on giving it a shot anyhow, but it’s awesome to know it has a good chance of working.

Also, Waze rocks.

I’ve been thinking about “stocking” my large pond with muscovy ducks as well. My main concern is the winter…I’m in NH. When the pond freezes over, their food and protection source is gone and they’ll become fully dependent. Wracking my brain for ideas on working around this. Sounds like they could probably roost in trees, but food and water will be 100% on me for 3-4 months. Am I right?

WAZE! this is probably the best app i’ve ever used. Waze is great for looking ahead and avoiding hours of waiting in traffic. I was using it on the road trip to the PE fall festival and I saw traffic starting to backup in front of us, it immediately directed me to the next exit a mile ahead and it took us on a service road that ran directly among the backed up interstate for 7 miles. It took us to the first exit that was clear of the jam and we the open interstate to ourselves. It was so funny watching all the cars just sitting there for so many miles. I always scroll ahead on my maps to see where traffic is backed up and you can gauge where the speed traps are. But, beware that waze will go wacky on you and send you off to nowhere land on rare occasions. I always verify routes with google maps navigation to avoid it and typically run both apps at the same time, google maps for primary navigation and waze to check for shorter routes or travel issues ahead. 2 is 1 and being prepared right?! I’m using android so not sure how you ipeoples are going to like it. I know that iphones don’t know how to navigate anyway so you’re probably better off with waze then the native i-nav app. You can make travel groups of waze users and use it to track family or your travel party ect.
Cheers, Joe

oh and can’t wait for the plant course!