WORK, work, and more work

Well, here at Hoffman's Haven the work never stops. I decided since my compost piles went completely anaerobic from the rain and I wasn't really going to get much further that I would go ahead and till in the compost that we had. Here is a short video of what I did.

I realize that we still need about 13 yards of topsoil/organic material to put us where I want to be. I still need to build in two or three working/walking paths in this thing. I also need to run the water line over for the drip system. We are going to go ahead though and plant a few things in here and see what happens. Late in the year I will haul in more material and plant a living mulch to till in later. For a living mulch I am going to get a bean mix as it is a nitrogen fixer. When everything dies off in the winter I can till it in as well but not before we can harvest some food from it.

This area used to be a playground and we thought about moving dirt/sand and taking the wood and building proper raised beds but I decided to just go with it as is. I know I am lazy but I can just add some paths in here it will be just as well. After we tilled the mixture of sand, dirt, and organic material smelled really good but we have a lot of work yet to do.

I hope one person out there in the internet land gets something from this. If just some inspiration and the willingness to grow some of their own food. I never want to preach to you. This is just what we are doing. I hope you can learn from it and hopefully use the knowledge for yourself. 

Garden Spot

Here is a picture of our garden spot.

You can see my other compost piles. I am experimenting with this stuff. The galvanized machine cloth was purchased at the local Home Depot and the larger one was purchased at I.F.A. The wire is a little different and the stuff I got at I.F.A. was a little cheaper and easier to work with. I pile everything in there for a week or so then unsnap the wire and move it then shovel the compost back in. I make sure to break it up and pile it in loosely. You want as much oxygen in the middle of the pile as possible. I have a piece of PVC I am thinking about drilling holes in and poking down in the center of the pile to make sure oxygen gets in there. I will have to let everyone know how that works out. All of this went anaerobic on me because of the rain and started to smell. I turned it over twice last weekend hoping that would help. It smells like a garbage pile and has plenty of fungi growing in it. It has been dry this week though and I will turn it all on Saturday hoping things will be improved.

The garden plot itself is a 20X20 area that the previous owners of the house had used for a kid's play area. It had a swings and a slide on it which was moved away by them. When we bought the place we just decided to use this as our first garden plot as it was just easier to go with it then have to move the dirt around. It is very sandy and we are adding organic material to it like crazy. In the next few weeks we will get a tiller in there and see what we got. I will be running a drip system in here. So I will be digging a trench and burying a water line over then branching that off with the drip lines. I will install a PLC to run a valve and that will automate the process. I plan on running the drip system for about two hours in the morning every other day. Of course there will be a lot of trial and error to get the right amount. I also will be experimenting with plastic mulches and a lot of other neat stuff. Stay tuned as we try and figure out how to feed ourselves.

Lifetime Compost Tumbler

Here are some quick and dirty pictures of one of the two Lifetime compost tumblers we purchased. We purchased two of them at our local Costco two weeks ago. I am impressed with the quality of these units especially for the price. They were $99.99 apiece. The assembly is very tedious and time consuming and requires two people. I wouldn't call it difficult though. It took my wife and I about 3 hours to assemble the first one. The first 2 hours only took me but there are some plastic nuts that go at the end of the screws that hold the panels together and those are where you will need another hand. I will be doing a video of the assembly and loading of the second unit this weekend.

Here is the first picture:

As you can see I prepared the location before hand leveling it and putting down these walkway bricks that we seem to have in abundance.

Picture 2:

There are plenty of places to grab the unit and spin it. These are quite heavy when you get them full. The latches and hardware works well. All of the hardware here isn't stainless and will rust. I gave everything a good coat of petroleum jelly when I assembled it to inhibit rust. I would suggest if you purchase one to do the same or coat them with some kind of oil.

Picture 3:

Here is a picture of the inside that I have about 3/4 of the way full. Everything in there is from our yard and kitchen waste. I also have the restaurant where I work supplying me with a nice supply of kitchen waste that goes in here. As you can see the contents are breaking down nicely. This unit works much better than an open pile as I can control how much green to brown material is in there and how wet it is. I like it pretty dry as the more wet it is the harder it is to get air inside and you sure don't want your compost going anaerobic it stinks. This is after about 10 days. I rotate it every three or four days. With all of the rain we have had everything is pretty wet and I have not had to add any more water.

Watch for the video this weekend I will be giving out a lot more information about these units. So far I am not disappointed with them. The quality seems good for the price. I know they will not last forever but I think we will get many years of use out of them. I will be updating the blog periodically about these units.

Lifetime is a Utah company and they make several products for the home gardener. These tumblers are manufactured in China however. I would love to be able to purchase something made in the U.S.A. We often purchase gear and products made here when they are available. I would rather pay more for something that is made in the U.S.A. hint hint hint Lifetime.

Random Meanderings

Not too much to say today except to comment about some assclownery. First of all when I look at the public education system of the United States I figure it is doing a very good job. It is going along according to plan. I don't see a lot of mission creep at all, nope not with the public education! Modern American education is based upon the classic Prussian communist design and is listed as the tenth plank of the Communist Manifesto. Now why do I mention this? Well funny you should ask. Modern education says that we are constantly "evolving". You see eons and eons ago some matter came together in a primordial ooze and the cells came to life. After several million years an amoeba washed up and an amphibian was created or some such and that is where we all came from. I say the whole idea is preposterous! I mean if evolution was true I myself would be shatting Tiffany cuff links by now. So why would anyone want to teach this mythical blather to impressionable young minds? Well, I maintain that you can't have anyone believing in God. You can't have anyone believing that there is a higher authority than the ruling dictator. You see this is the same old thing that megalomaniac ruling elites have done for centuries. Control the information, control the language, you can control society. There is no such thing as God, there is no hope for you. Just do what your told and get on with your miserable little life.

I would much rather believe in God. That he sent his only son to be my substitute so that I may have eternal life with Him. I would rather cling to the ridiculous idea that there is a higher law than any "government" and finally we will have to answer for our time here.

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat. And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so....

What are you doing and why?

This is a question that a few people have asked. I will give a short answer here without getting into a lot of rhetoric and hyperbole. First of all I really don't like where my country is headed. I don't like it at all. I got really involved with politics and activism and worked really hard. I quickly realized that there isn't a solution there. I know I am going to take some heat for saying that but that is the way I feel it is one man's opinion don't take it as gospel. I tried to drink away the despair and that really didn't work either and we can leave it at that. On and off I was involved with survivalist groups and the like. I have gravitated towards self sufficiency my entire life. I like doing things for myself and solving my own problems. The survivalist/conspiracy theory crowd has some things going for it but no one takes it seriously in the main stream. I mean have you heard some of these guys? Alex Jones anyone? Anyway, again don't really see a solution there either. I did start listening to Jack Spirko's Survival Podcast. If you want to have a look go to www.thesurvivalpodcast.com and give him a listen. This dude started pod casting in his car on the way to work. I thought it was hilarious so it was easy to listen to him. A lot of what he said made sense to me. He talked about permaculture and homesteading and that really got my attention. I mean I am pretty self sufficient anyway so generating a portion of my own power and growing most of own food just appealed to me. So we bought a little house in the city with about a third of an acre of land to it and now we are homesteading in the city. After deciding to blog about it and try and reach out to others I found out this is really catching on. There are several pod casts about it and a lot of people around the country are doing it. I think this is the real solution. I don't think our country can survive what is coming. No country in history has ever survived multiculturalism. We will not be able to support the influx of people from South America and Mexico and certainly will not survive the integration of another culture. Our so called government is purposefully destroying our money. I know the Federal Reserve is a private bank I have read all the books so spare me. The corporation is owned by the same people in government this is the very definition of fascism. They will within the next decade destroy what is left. We will go into a hyperinflation and that will be the end of it as we now know it. I choose to prepare now for what is coming. I choose to try and wake my neighbors, friends, and family. Not because I am any smarter or better than them but because I care about them and feel it is my duty to warn others. I do not fear the future I fear how many people will never wake up and be destroyed while they sleep. Like the watchman on the coast I am sounding the alarm. Will you listen?

Then said he unto them, But now, he that hath a purse, let him take [it], and likewise [his] scrip: and he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one. Luke 22:36

Where are we?

We are on Facebook! http://www.facebook.com/hoffmanshaven

We are on Youtube! http://www.youtube.com/user/hoffmanshaven

First Post!

This is the blog where it all starts! Here we will update the world of what is happening on our little homestead. We are composting right now. Soon we will be getting our garden going. In the future we will dabble in solar and wind energy. Come on along and share  our journey!