Greenstorm's Journal

A friend sent me a link to a property listing (pond, fig trees, greenhouse) and said he was thinking about bugging out, what would it take to be self-sufficient and possibly scale up to being able to support some folks.

Obviously I love that sort of thing and pointed out the rocky outcrops under the soil there and put together the ghost of an infrastructure budget and now I'm trying to think it out laterally because while a pig rotational system works well for me here, obviously there are lots of other good systems. And if time is allowed to be an input, well. It was a throwaway remark on his part but it put me back into future-oriented hope mode.

And in that vein...

...One of the earlier seed preservationist people who retired recently is going to send me some Morden corn seed, which is in his opinion the earliest corn in the world, a couple days earlier than my mini gaspe. He's also going to send me more genetic breadth to gaspe. This is amazing. Morden has a significant genetic bottleneck; it would be really good if I could find another source. He's looked around and hasn't, but Morden is the name of an agricultural research station in Canada so I'm going to contact them and probably try to get in touch with some native seedkeeping groups around there and see if they want some seeds back and if they have some for me. This is jumping-up-and-down-in-front-of-the-mirror and randomly-squealing news.

I only just realized last night that I have an abundance of aspens I want to cut down, and I've been meaning to put in some mushrooms. So if I cut the aspens into logs or have them chipped I can innoculate them, they're a pretty good substrate for a lot of things. I have some learning to do on how to make that work: how old the logs need to be, when to innoculate, should I do chips or logs, what humidity ranges are ok, do they need to be under snow in winter for temperature protection, etc. Also some logistics: where are my humid spots, and which ones are out of reach of birds; how do I get some of those trees down and chipped; which mushrooms do I want to try.

I'm sad all the time, but at least that's not the only thing going on right now.

Today is kind of an egg day. I put together 3 kilos of goose egg pasta -- it's resting in the fridge, I'll need to roll it, cut it, and freeze or dry it tonight. I'm thinking of doing a couple more kilos of duck egg pasta. I figure if I eat even just 0.5lb of pasta every third day, that's over 50lbs of pasta in a year. And I often have someone eating with me. It needs freezer space but it's pretty much an instant and good meal, especially if I open a can of tomato sauce from the garden for it. I'm not quite sure about how to dry and store it safely (maybe with a packet of dessicant in a vac sealed bag?) so I'll likely be just freezing it for now.

10 goose eggs makes 2.8kg of pasta.

I also am supposed to take my duck eggs out of the century egg brine, I think.
It's been about a month. I'll test one for firmness and then vac seal them awhile for the anaerobic part, I think. Maybe vac seal half? Accounts vary about how you're supposed to handle them honestly.

And then I am actually going to set up the incubator today. It's been long enough that I can start collecting ancona eggs and putting them in. I have some chicks arriving on the 17th so I want some chanteclers hatching about that time.
I currently have 3 chanties sitting on nests, one in the pure lines and two in the goose coop above the embdens. We'll see how it all goes.

I really, really wish the instant pot was reliable for pressure canning. I want to put up a couple roosters but don't want to go through the whole rigamarole.

Today started out with a bed that I'd just planted last week being flooded by the maintenance guys who were supposed to fix the sprinklers at the hotel. All the new bedding plants floated to the edges, everything was a mess. Instead of doing starting my big project immediately, therefore, I started work an hour early and didn't get to what I was supposed to do today until 11 or so, eyeing the 'high winds and thundershowers in the afternoon' forecast warily all the while.

It was one of those days where I was too busy to think, too busy to track time, I was a good girl and took breaks because I know you gotta if you don't want to crash a couple hours into the afternoon but couldn't actually sit down and eat a solid lunch till 2 cause I was too worried about getting things done.

Throughout the afternoon it got hotter and more oppressive. The rain was coming, it felt like thunder was coming, but it wouldn't break. The air was dead calm even on the 8th floor with nothing between me and the ocean, which is unheard of. Weather that behaves is something to be thankful for -- it let me get a lot more done than I'd hoped -- but when the mist came down over North and West Van, and then the air cooled a little and the first splatters of water started to appear, I was very happy. We never get lead-up to rain like that here, and it was warm. The wind came up like crazy in short gusts, blowing over patio umbrellas and streaming my equipment across the deck. It took another half-hour for rain to start falling, it would have been soft if it hadn't been sideways -- and I was working fast enough that the water was drying basically before I noticed it. When I hit the end of a really physical shift and tip into overtime, or even if I'm doing really heavy work period, my reserves kick in. I've been caring for myself lately, good food, lots of touch, and a fair bit of sleep -- and I had a lot of reserve. You could have used me to heat the convention centre I was working above.

Then I got to do the excitingly symbolic part of my joy, which will only happen more often as summer comes. I got to water plants. In the rain. While water streams down stormdrains around me. Cause people need glass awnings with plants under them. YAY WELL-DESIGNED SYSTEMS!

Picked up a couple bags of sunshine mix with mom afterwards, gave her some bulbs ganked from work in exchange (three garbage bags full! Wasteful industry, this) and came home to poke around the internet, snuggle, and make myself dinner. Tonight I made lamb & mushroom 'souvlaki' (cooked in a wok, greek spiced, super yummy) eaten on corn tortillas (someday I'll get tired of those things), rhubarb and raspberry jam on more corn tortillas, extra dark maple syrup in unsweetened soy milk, and... I'm still hungry and I think I need to cap myself on tortillas, so who knows what I'll have next. If I had bananas I would totally fry them.
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Had some funny okcupid experiences. One boor, one about whom I am cautious, one who seems neat but do I look like I have time? For the record, arguing with me about how much free time I have is a poor tactic on an online dating site. So is asking to get together and see if we have issues. Seriously, folks.

Oh. And I made this. You will either think it is pointless, artsy, or something; or you will understand that this was strong enough for me to stop work and give it to you. This, in a nutshell, is the landscaping industry. That is, this is my work, and I think in symbols:



(Also turn the volume on, I love that sound)