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Oil Lady
Oil Lady
13 years ago

Jack, did you perhaps accidentally copy/paste the sound file for yesterday’s podcast into today’s file?

onesojourner
onesojourner
13 years ago

Is it just me or does this show sound a lot like the show you did yesterday?….

CPH
CPH
13 years ago

The file I downloaded had no audio for about the first 20 minutes. Intro starts at 18:46.

Raldog
Raldog
13 years ago

Ummm… yeah, what OilLady said.

Victoria
Victoria
13 years ago

The permaculture textbook is often available through Powell’s online, the official distributor of Mollison’s books in North America, apparently (they show up through Amazon if you search). I just ordered mine – ended up much less expensive shipping. I’m doing a 14 month permaculture design course, but will be working through many of the techniques as I go.

ShellyB
ShellyB
13 years ago

1) I’ve been slowly working my way through this online permaculture series of lectures from North Carolina state.
http://mediasite.online.ncsu.edu/online/Catalog/pages/catalog.aspx?catalogId=f5a893e7-4b7c-4b79-80fd-52dcd1ced715

2) This week, we had a plumber in. He had turned the water off and had to go to get a part. Husband came in and looked at me and said, “We have no water.” I looked at him, laughed and said, “In fact, we have a lot of water. Go grab a jug from the closet.”

Shorty
Shorty
13 years ago

http://www.youtube.com/user/MidwestPermaculture#p/c/8A13FE6DAED398CB
The Midwest Permaculture You Tube PC intro playlist.

Shorty
Shorty
13 years ago

“The U. S. Constitution and Fascinating Facts About It” Get it free at http://www.ConstitutionFacts.com. This book covers The U. S. Constitution, The Declaration of Independence, Articles of Confederation and The Supreme Court as the major sections and is pocket size.

Grog
Grog
13 years ago

Jack,
Great Show and Fantastic , Level and Solid information, Not too many know about both the Federalist and Anti-federalist papers.

As always, Keep it up.

Patrick
Patrick
13 years ago

I would add to the list of books about our founding fathers “The Real George Washington” FANTASTIC book.

John Q Public
John Q Public
13 years ago

Panic Alarm: Many panic alarms (including mine) can be disabled by putting the key in the driver door and locking/unlocking it. Not sure if the door needs to be closed.

John Q Public
John Q Public
13 years ago

Tornado: California even had a tornado this week that uprooted 15,000 almond tress in the central valley near Sacramento.

InBox485
13 years ago

I’ve been meaning to update my homestead thread I started forever ago, but I thought I’d weigh in a bit on the front lawn garden topic since I’m in SoCal, and I’m doing the same thing.

Cardboard will just barely cut it, and even then only if you do a couple of layers and use SEVERAL inches of mulch on top. I used two layers of doubly ply cardboard from moving boxes, and 8″ of mulch and I am still getting grass sprouts. The upside is since they have to travel so far they are leggy and weak when they make it to the top and if you are vigilant, you can yank them before they have a chance to get established.

I also did the dig and flip method on a different bed, and left black plastic over it for about 3 months, and there are grass sprouts coming out still.

In hindsight, I probably should have dug and flipped, and used cardboard. I’m considering going as far as particle board.

Also on the newspaper not breaking down bit, that is utter nonsense. I’ve come across old newspapers that were 10 years old and still readable. They have never not once been under so much as an inch of soil. If newspaper (even the glossy magazine stuff) couldn’t break down when buried under a garden, there would be a library under the gardens of most of our parents and grandparents. The only way newspapers out in the forest or under bushes survive so long is they never stay wet, and they are shaded from the sun.

Jake Olson
13 years ago

Hey Jack,
Thanks so much for the tips on the intro to the founding fathers. I’m encouraged to see that Thomas Jefferson and Ben Franklin’s autobiographies are so short. I should be able to get through both of them over the summer, along with some of the other things you recommend.

Thanks again for the great show. It’s an honor to have my question featured. (sorry it was so long)

MacAlpine
MacAlpine
13 years ago

Hi Jake, Thank you for the great question and your interest in the intellectual foundations of America. Are you the same Jake with “A Foreign Perspective” blog? Great blog! I found it via The Self Sufficient Gardner. I love Turkish food and, in fact, drink Turkish coffee as my preferred brewing method. At work, I improvise by heating water in the microwave and then stiring in a couple tablespoons of very finely ground coffee. Sometimes I add cardamom. I stick my nose up at drip brewing and K-cups!

Darcy at the Stumbling Homestead http://stumblinghomestead.com/blog/2011/04/episode-30-poor-richards-almanac/ recommended Ben Franklin’s Autobiography in a free audiobook format http://www.archive.org/details/franklin_autobio_gg_librivox
Last year, I was able to watch the entire John Adams mini-series on YouTube by piecing together short clips. There is also a great short clip from the series on an exchange between Jefferson and Hamilton. I would include a link, but I am at work and won’t be able to track it down.

Regarding disasters, the tornado that hit Massachusetts came within a few miles of where I live. I am bad luck with power outages. A few weeks after 9/11/01, I watched tornadoes form over Washington, DC from my office in Arlington (where I witnessed the terrorist attacks). A tornado from that system hit two miles from my home in Maryland and killed two college students by hurling a car against a dormitory. Five years later, a small tornado hit almost next door. The power was out and the temperature climbed to 104 F. My wife and I decided to move to a cooler climate. So, we moved to New Hampshire where we struggled through 8 days without power and the temperature plummeted to -4F following an ice storm. We were also stranded the month before at a ski resort in Saas Fee, Switzerland when an avalanche knocked out power to the lifts and the generator was not working. We were on the cable car and seconds from being locked in and too high to jump down. We were given a bottle of 80 Euro Barbaresco by the resort management for our trouble. I feel bad for the skiers who were stranded on the open chair lifts, with all their gear, light clothing, and exposed to the wind! A helicopter took us down to the village hours later. My wife and I also experienced power outages in Italy during that trip and during our honeymoon in Croatia two years before, when we were staying in a Medieval hilltop town and had to fumble our way back in the dark! What are the odds? This shows the value of a space blanket and flashlight!

Regarding Permaculture, the questions were indeed apropos! I am thinking of using my vacation time to take a PDC (or a tactical firearms class or to install alternative energy systems in my home). I am currently busy collecting debris from fallen trees for Hugelkulture beds. I’ll give the Linear Hugelkulture/Organic Matter Swale a try.

There is a free, public domain, 155 page permaculture book that was transcribed by a volunteer after Bill Mollison gave the PDC in a neighboring town. Too bad I missed it by 30 years! http://www.barkingfrogspermaculture.org/PDC_ALL.pdf

WhiteStarNC
WhiteStarNC
13 years ago

Show 677 – books about the founders

Read the 5000 Year Leap – great reference for all the principals that the founders stood for with great references to other historical documents. The prologue is long and boring but the rest of the book is great. It is amazing how relevant the information is to current events.

Ryan Lewellin
Ryan Lewellin
13 years ago

I’m chiming in a little late, but here are a couple good books about the founding fathers:

“The Glorious Cause” by Robert Middlekauf. This book covers pretty much every aspect of the revolutionary war, including giving a good backdrop for the American situation and mindset during the period by going back to the French/Indian wars and English settlement. It gives some good information on the founding fathers themselves, but it’s more about putting them in context. If I remember right, it’s about 700 pages. It’s written by an Englishman so it’s not very sentimental.

“The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution” by Bernard Bailyn This one is short but full of info. It’s about the founding father’s influences – the English legal system, Protestantism, French and English philosophers and ancient Rome and Greece. I was a little lost at times during the book because the author seems to assume that the reader is fully familiar with the philosophers and historical figures, but this might be a good book to check out after you’ve read some other things about the founding fathers and want to go a little deeper into them.

Lucas
Lucas
13 years ago

@ Inbox485

I too can attest to newspaper by itself not being enough to stop grass. On my main raised bed (160 sq ft) I actually put down weed fabric, which has worked pretty well. I get some grass coming up around the inside edges of the bed. On my smaller raised bed (60 sq ft) I cheapened out and put down a few layers of newspaper, probably 6 sheets thick at the thickest places. And grass is coming up everywhere! The compost, dirt and mulch I put down was only about 4″ thick. I also mowed the grass all the way to the dirt on both beds before putting anything down. Anywhere else in the yard would have killed the grass, but cover it with some newspaper and organic matter and you’ll have a lovely raised bed of beautiful grass!

I’ve been pulling weeds/grass like crazy in the small bed. If it doesn’t eventually die out I will probably pull it all up next year and put cardboard down like I should have in the first place. I would probably avoid the particle board because of all the glue that will leach out. I’m thinking that multiple layers of cardboard might do the trick.

Jake Olson
13 years ago

@MacAlpine
Yea man, that’s totally me at Foreign Perspective! Glad to hear you’ve checked out my site. It’s still a work in progress… but what isn’t. Cool to hear there’s someone in the TSP community with a taste for Turkish food and Turkish coffee!

Lana
13 years ago

I’ve been collecting water before shower for years. Besides watering plants you can use to flush the toilet also fill dog’s water dish.
Thanks for the continuing great info.