How'd it go today?

[SeanKroll]

Fuuny I got a blank message on my screen.

Wonder if it’s from someone nobody wants around, because he’s an asshole who can’t cut worth a shit, always swearing the dangers of side lean on stubs next to open lawns?

Is it from someone that is a keyboard warrior who wouldn’t dare speak to people in person the way he can peck at keys because so many people would straight up dominate him?

Go the frig away! You are actively unwanted!

 

[lxskllr]

Getting a better grip on my new job, and made some progress today with the LOD. It's still confusing reading the plans, but the layout is starting to make a little more sense.

Used my new compass today. Did you know that steel affects the needle? Yea, I did too, but I didn't think steel beams 50' over my head would. I wanted to get it set to the project bearing, and I was standing under the bridge trying to calibrate it, and wondering why I was a mile off target when I half assed it yesterday, so it should have been close. My newest learning experience...

 

[Burnham]

Been there, done that.

 

[cory]

Gary, that's exactly what I was thinking. He wouldn't be able to brag about whatever he does with trees without the protection of our society by the US military

 

[ruel]

Let's keep the politics to the politics section please.

 

[treesmith]

I’m sitting out by the fire ring enjoying a fire and my grandkids. Going to cook a pot of chili in the potjie with my oldest grandson in a bit.

 

[lxskllr]

Been wanting to make an outside fire, but I'm waiting til it gets a bit colder, with more leaves falling. Sets the mood better :^)

 

[CurSedVoyce]

Only fire i have been doing is charcoal in the bbq. No need to stress the FD or neighbors out with the fire pit.

 

[lxskllr]

I'd be scared to light a fire out your way Stephen. Maybe a tandoori fully outfitted with spark arrestors would be fairly safe, but I still wouldn't feel too good about it.

 

[treesmith]

I’m having to sit back from it at the moment. Low of 60° tonight they say, so it oughta be nice after while.

 

[CurSedVoyce]

Animals have it pretty much stripped of vegetation. No real danger if no high winds. But one sign of smoke these days, CDF would probably show up from a phone call. People are on edge.

 

[FireFighterZero]

 

[lxskllr]

That's a good picture. The corn looks short. Will it do ok this year?

 

[DMc]

How the heck are you getting corn to grow in such a dry year, Jim?

 

[FireFighterZero]

The corn was planted after the middle of July.

Probably about the 20th.


It is a short day variety to be grazed standing this winter.


It was even seeded with a grain drill, not a corn planter.


No idea why it grew. It was planted into moisture....but we have had no real precip since June......except for an inch we got a couple weeks ago.



Had a fellow tell me that corn is the biggest producer for the smallest amount of moisture. Efficiency in other words.


I am a believer. Its also good because there was a German scientist that years ago....like 70 years ago....discovered that Canada Thistle does not do well in a corn rotation.

A particular enzyme on the roots of Canada thistle thrives under anaerobic conditions. Constant tillage fortifies a plow layer that ensures anaerobic conditions.

Corn busts through the layer.


Also....Corn is a C4 class crop. Meaning that it produces more carbon/sugar than it uses. Leaves an excess for the next crop....while feeding the soil biology.


Corn gets an undeserved bad rap in my estimation......now.

 

[FireFighterZero]

A little more about the C4 crop..........


We have for years noticed good production following a grazing crop of German Millet and sorghum sudangrass.


So of these cover crops have poor following cash crops.


EVERYBODY in the ag business is talking about fixed nitrogen. No one really talks about the Carbon half of the Carbon/Nitrogen ratio.



We didnt know why we had such good production behind millet........well...know we know why.


Millet, Sorghum Sudangrass, and Corn are all capable of fixing more carbon than they use. Carbon being sugars basically.


For a few years I have been wondering if there was more to things than fixing Nitrogen.

 

[treesmith]

Chili in a potjie...

 

[lxskllr]

I like your stove thing there Scott. You're about 90% of the way to a smith's forge.

Jim, what's the bottom for your crop experiments. Maybe alternate between carbon and nitrogen crops by season?

 

[FireFighterZero]

The trouble with Nitrogen is keeping it there once you have fixed it.

We may start to see some benefits once we do that.

 

[treesmith]

Not sure what you mean. That’s a sheet of 3/16” steel on the ground, a ~12” piece of steel pipe with coals shoveled into it, and the potjie set down into it.

 

[lxskllr]

Keeps the coals contained. Put a hole in the side, add a blower, and you have a decent forge.

 

[treesmith]

On the topic of forges....my best friend’s son has one. Here are some pics of his craft, along with what he made them from...

 

[treesmith]

Possibly his best work is a scimitar he made....from 5/8” rebar!

 

[lxskllr]

Very cool. I've long had an interest in blacksmithing, but at this point, I think I've gotta say it isn't gonna happen. Too much stuff to get together, and too much to learn. For old school trades, smithing and stone masonry is where I'd head to make my career if I lived in that time.

 

[FireFighterZero]

So....you basically....had you lived many years ago....you would want the jobs that had the highest physical requirements.....for the lowest pay?


Congratulations! You have achieved your dreams but in the modern times!