General Homesteading thread

[BigCountryK9]

Here is an article on what I was talking about for extreme out of range orange production of citrus in Russia, you can match the soil and the temps on coffee but elevation you just can't fake and coffee plants care about that.

Russian Ingenuity: Growing Citrus FAR Beyond its Natural Range | The Survival Gardener

This is truly amazing – imagine growing citrus beneath a snow drift! Citrus fruits…

thesurvivalgardener.com

You can also do mini trees in doors and get occasional fruit. I've got some mango trees started and plan on doing a walipini to take a shot at them and citrus.

This same technique works for winter garden cropping in temperate or cooler climates, to have fresh veggies year round. Especially with hydro set-up or hybrid hydro.

 

[SxaBeast]

Guinea hens are good on ticks and keep snakes away, ducks and an all night light will drastically cut down on flying insects.

They are all dark meat, tender and moist.

 

[SxaBeast]

And garlic. Slave labor in prisons to be peeling it by hand and no knives .

My mom used to use me as slave labor for that...

Try slamming the whole bulb with your fist on a board. Then put it in a pot with a lid n shake rattle the hell out of it. Alot of the peels will come off or loosen.

 

[SxaBeast]

View attachment 538270
Why save your own seeds or buy them from a local grower?
Bayer aka "Monsanto" owns over 50% of the worlds seed supply.
Chema-China is newer to the scene but the fastest growing

Fastest growing ...

 

[OutFarming]

Sounds like you need some help from a long distance marksman with a good 100+ rounds

Most of my place has pecans and woods, the hay fields are small and shooting past 300 is incredibly rare, the trees keep all the deer on my place during hunting season, most of the pig shooting happens at near point blank range, what I need is a belt feed and more ammunition

 

[BigCountryK9]

Most of my place has pecans and woods, the hay fields are small and shooting past 300 is incredibly rare, the trees keep all the deer on my place during hunting season, most of the pig shooting happens at near point blank range, what I need is a belt feed and more ammunition

Oh yea, spray and pray them away! It sounds like they are overly tolerant of humans too? Can you use dogs in your state?

 

[OutFarming]

Oh yea, spray and pray them away! It sounds like they are overly tolerant of humans too? Can you use dogs in your state?

Yes to the dogs, they aren't overly tolerant I'm just overly quiet, I've got two crews of guys with dogs that hunt them.

 

[OffgridK9lover]

Citrus: Move to Florida or California. The climate just "isn't there" anyplace else. You can grow the trees pretty much anyplace that ain't desert and doesn't freeze hard for more than a few days a year, but getting them to produce anything but leaves is pretty much a lost cause without 6+ months at a time of sunny, warm, and wet (whether rain or irrigation). Cali has the "sunny and warm", but without irrigation, forget it. If you get too far into "cold country", they won't survive the winter - We had some orange and lemon trees as landscaping in mid-Georgia when I was there, but according to locals, they'd never seen one produce a single orange or a lemon.

Coffee bushes/trees will grow just about anywhere that it doesn't hard-freeze, but like citrus, trying to get them to actually PRODUCE anything outside their usual range borders on being a lost cause.

S.M. Stirling's "Nantucket" series (Which starts with "Island in the Sea of Time") has the survivors of "The Event" (the population of the island of Nantucket) doing *VERY* small-scale (and based on characters describing it, absolutely shitty quality - bordering on "not fit to drink") coffee growing on the island starting from decorative coffee shrubs that existed there as imported, non-producing landscaping. Getting any production at all was insanely effort-intensive, for very little output, and required using a hothouse.

(Yes, the series is sci-fi/fantasy/alt-history, but Stirling actually does a pretty damned good job of "sticking to reality" - but with a twist. In this case, the twist being "The Event", which somehow transports the island and its occupants from 1998 to roughly 1250BC - aside from "The Event" and the developments that come of plopping a small slice of 20th century America into the year 1250, the vast majority of the story, including most, if not all, of the science and technology, is solidly based on reality)

I can't see any realistic chance that you could grow coffee where you're at - Too far north. Citrus, ditto. Outside of a hothouse, I don't see either one surviving past the first winter, let alone producing anything useful. (unless you're looking for firewood)

So green house, grow lights, timer set to mimic day time lengths?

Coffee or black tea, I'd like to succeed with coffe but failing that black tea or any caffeine containing plant for that matter.

 

[OffgridK9lover]

Here is an article on what I was talking about for extreme out of range orange production of citrus in Russia, you can match the soil and the temps on coffee but elevation you just can't fake and coffee plants care about that.

Russian Ingenuity: Growing Citrus FAR Beyond its Natural Range | The Survival Gardener

This is truly amazing – imagine growing citrus beneath a snow drift! Citrus fruits…

thesurvivalgardener.com

You can also do mini trees in doors and get occasional fruit. I've got some mango trees started and plan on doing a walipini to take a shot at them and citrus.

So a vacuumed green house? Hmmmm, doable, but not sure of the ROI other than bragging rights if it worked.

 

[Bloodwolf]

Camellia sinensis shouldn’t be too hard to grow if you’re a bit north. I know a few people who grow them in pots and bring them inside when it gets cold. I’m planning on getting some fruit trees in the ground myself with fingers crossed. I already have many wild persimmon trees here. But getting some of the giant varieties in the ground would be cool. Apples, pears, figs and some fruit bushes will be a good addition here. Will be a labor intensive task here but doable.

 

[sarahsingletono98]

Camellia sinensis shouldn’t be too hard to grow if you’re a bit north. I know a few people who grow them in pots and bring them inside when it gets cold. I’m planning on getting some fruit trees in the ground myself with fingers crossed. I already have many wild persimmon trees here. But getting some of the giant varieties in the ground would be cool. Apples, pears, figs and some fruit bushes will be a good addition here. Will be a labor intensive task here but doable.

I have 10 sinensis seeds soaking in water right now. planning to grow them on my balcony.

 

[OffgridK9lover]

Camellia sinensis shouldn’t be too hard to grow if you’re a bit north. I know a few people who grow them in pots and bring them inside when it gets cold. I’m planning on getting some fruit trees in the ground myself with fingers crossed. I already have many wild persimmon trees here. But getting some of the giant varieties in the ground would be cool. Apples, pears, figs and some fruit bushes will be a good addition here. Will be a labor intensive task here but doable.

Was talking to Chinese friend, She and her family dealt a lot with tea from there, she was telling me takes long time for the tea bush to mature, was interesting, going to see if she can get seeds or if I can locally, long term I will do what I saw one guy do back in my old home, he collected old glass sliding doors then separated the panes to make a very nice green house.

I can use heat recovery from my heating system exhaust to warm it, a packed sand trench will add thermal ballast and to ensure the draft doesn't collapse in the stack.

 

[sarahsingletono98]

Was talking to Chinese friend, She and her family dealt a lot with tea from there, she was telling me takes long time for the tea bush to mature, was interesting, going to see if she can get seeds or if I can locally, long term I will do what I saw one guy do back in my old home, he collected old glass sliding doors then separated the panes to make a very nice green house.

I can use heat recovery from my heating system exhaust to warm it, a packed sand trench will add thermal ballast and to ensure the draft doesn't collapse in the stack.

From what i read. if does not take a long time to grow, but the plants will grow and produce for a long time. The finest and best teas come from older plants and is more prized.

 

[OffgridK9lover]

I have 10 sinensis seeds soaking in water right now. planning to grow them on my balcony.

I grew up with Black tea with cream and honey, it is nostalgic but holly crap it is an effective diuretic with me,

 

[sarahsingletono98]

I grew up with Black tea with cream and honey, it is nostalgic but holly crap it is an effective diuretic with me,

try Starbucks - chug chug Flush!

 

[OffgridK9lover]

From what i read. if does not take a long time to grow, but the plants will grow and produce for a long time. The finest and best teas come from older plants and is more prized.

Basically what she was explaining, by the time I retire I hope to have a nice mature healthy plant! Next will be learning best way to process to black tea.

 

[OffgridK9lover]

try Starbucks - chug chug Flush!

Ah coffee, people started to give it an octane rating when I made it, spoon goes in, nothing comes out, I hate it when blood gets in my caffeine system!

 

[Bloodwolf]

I have 10 sinensis seeds soaking in water right now. planning to grow them on my balcony.

They get rather big. Keep that in mind. And just like tobacco requires some prep for use. Green tea is the easiest as all you do is steam and dry. White tea is pretty much the same but you use the very top new growth leaves over the older ones. Black requires steam, fermentation and drying . That’s a bit of a pain but is also where the very most expensive teas come from.

 

[OutFarming]

Was talking to Chinese friend, She and her family dealt a lot with tea from there, she was telling me takes long time for the tea bush to mature, was interesting, going to see if she can get seeds or if I can locally, long term I will do what I saw one guy do back in my old home, he collected old glass sliding doors then separated the panes to make a very nice green house.

I can use heat recovery from my heating system exhaust to warm it, a packed sand trench will add thermal ballast and to ensure the draft doesn't collapse in the stack.

The idea of a walapini is you dig it in so that you end up with a tall and short side and a slanted roof that is slanted almost the same way you would solar panels so that it gets the most light in the winter shining against the taller wall. Angle of the slanted roof is determined by your latitude. You can store water in black barrels on the back wall for thermal capture.

 

[woodlandsolace]

The idea of a walapini is you dig it in so that you end up with a tall and short side and a slanted roof that is slanted almost the same way you would solar panels so that it gets the most light in the winter shining against the taller wall. Angle of the slanted roof is determined by your latitude. You can store water in black barrels on the back wall for thermal capture.

I grow citrus in a greenhouse in the Midwest. I have a wood burning furnace that really does a good job.

 

[sarahsingletono98]

They get rather big. Keep that in mind. And just like tobacco requires some prep for use. Green tea is the easiest as all you do is steam and dry. White tea is pretty much the same but you use the very top new growth leaves over the older ones. Black requires steam, fermentation and drying . That’s a bit of a pain but is also where the very most expensive teas come from.

So yeah I will be growing plants and looks like I will be back at the national research enter (YouTube) for more lessons on the next phase.

 

[Bloodwolf]

So yeah I will be growing plants and looks like I will be back at the national research enter (YouTube) for more lessons on the next phase.

It’s really not hard. Poor people do the simple process while the finished product is sold at a high cost. Biggest problem is knowing when to do the next step and being aware of mold when fermenting.

 

[sarahsingletono98]

It’s really not hard. Poor people do the simple process while the finished product is sold at a high cost. Biggest problem is knowing when to do the next step and being aware of mold when fermenting.

I am poor people so I should be able to do this.
i am also experimenting with mushrooms in the closet with hot water heater. Wheat straw and oyster mushrooms.

 

[OffgridK9lover]

It’s really not hard. Poor people do the simple process while the finished product is sold at a high cost. Biggest problem is knowing when to do the next step and being aware of mold when fermenting.

Any recommendations on educational material for the process involved? Solvent extractions I know, fermenting sugar I know, never done tea lol.

 

[Bloodwolf]

Any recommendations on educational material for the process involved? Solvent extractions I know, fermenting sugar I know, never done tea lol.

I’m not entirely sure where you can find a good how too. But you can probably look up a documentary on tea itself and experiment with the methods. But a good run down of the process that I’ve put together goes as such. Picking ready leaves ( unknown to me when is a good time). Letting them wilt a bit (time unknown). Then you effectively break cell walls by rolling them by hand or some other method. This is how you end up with that look of loose leaves in whole tea. Then you ferment in heaps in some sort of container or under a tarp with enough air flow to stop mold. Again I’m not entirely sure that is correct or if fermentation is done before breaking down the cell walls in the leaves. Don’t quote me on that. But after rolling and fermenting as fermentation is what makes black tea I believe they are steamed to stop fermentation and to kill any contamination for further storage. After that it’s all dried out for use and storing. The only exception to that process is for the prized Pu-erh which is continually fermented from months to years and commands a high price for a pressed puck of it. Great, now you got me looking into it again with not much time to do so today.

 

[Bloodwolf]

Here’s one for you. It covers all types of tea. All true tea by the way comes from the same plant . Only difference is the process.

Tea Processing Explained in Full: How Raw Tea Leaves are Transformed into the 6 Major Tea Types

In this YouTube video, we explore the processing techniques of the six major types of camellia sinensis tea: green tea, black tea, oolong tea, yellow tea, da...

youtu.be

 

[UR20Z]

All true tea by the way comes from the same plant

Yep. And anything "tea-like" that isn't made using that plant is actually Tisane, no matter what it tastes like. Just a little trivia that you bumped loose, so I had to spit it out

 

[Bloodwolf]

Yep. And anything "tea-like" that isn't made using that plant is actually Tisane, no matter what it tastes like. Just a little trivia that you bumped loose, so I had to spit it out

Yes and any self respecting tea drinkers brew loose leaves.

 

[sarahsingletono98]

Yep. And anything "tea-like" that isn't made using that plant is actually Tisane, no matter what it tastes like. Just a little trivia that you bumped loose, so I had to spit it out

I made Basil “tea” the other day. Soo good. And love my chamomile tea before bed, with honey and ginger.

 

[UR20Z]

Yes and any self respecting tea drinkers brew loose leaves.

Guess that means I have little or no self-respect, then...

So far as my taste buds are concerned, tea is tea, whether it's Lipton in a bag, instant, or the mondo-bucks froo-froo stuff - It's all gonna end up the same: Brewed/mixed to triple-strength half a gallon at a time, then dumped into a gallon jar with 2 cups of sugar while hot, then the jar filled with ice until it's good and cold, and the jar is full.

(Lemon *EXTREMELY* optional - and an abomination by my lights)