tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1565243095304556012024-03-14T09:32:21.860-06:00North MountainEmergency Prep, Ham Radio, Food Storage, CERTNorth Mountainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05106681163593292633noreply@blogger.comBlogger41125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-156524309530455601.post-34606898928206884222016-06-13T01:03:00.000-06:002016-09-29T21:34:27.008-06:00Straw Bale Gardening Revisited<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b><span style="color: orange; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Straw Bale Gardening Revisited</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The production from our straw bale garden was so good in 2015, we decided to expand it for 2016. We purchased the bales from a local seed store this year. The bales were shorter, less dense and since we've started watering the plants in them, have found that they have a lot of grass seed in them. We'll purchase straw from the farmer again next year.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">We purchased compost to put on them this year rather than mining compost from our basically compost pit this year. The purchased compost came from the local conservancy district composting yard and was mostly created from yard shrub and small branch trimmings. The purchased compost certainly doesn't match the quality from our composting boxes, but seems to be holding the water and nutrients OK so far.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">We used the same drip watering and plant suspension systems that we used last year. The only difference is the addition of 8 ft of length on the bales and the support structure. Click <b><a href="http://www.n7lrd.com/2015/07/straw-bale-gardening.html" target="_blank">here</a></b> to read all of the construction details and season growth photos from 2015.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This post covers the 2016 growing season with photos and discussion added throughout the season. We can already tell that using straw bales was the right choice again this year. We've added peppers, spaghetti squash and cucumbers to the bales in addition to a dozen varieties of tomatoes.</span><br />
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<b><span style="color: orange; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">11 May 2016</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">View of the bales covered in compost after being treated for 10 days to prepare them for planting. We are using tomato rings on electrical conduit, gardening twine and nylon garden mesh for support again this year. We are also testing plastic tomato support rings this year.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Planting tomatoes and peppers that we grew in our greenhouse. All you have to do is create a hole in the bale by thrusting in a gardening trowel and pulling the straw apart enough to accept the root ball of the plants.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Once again we planted tomatoes directly into the ground on the outside of the support structure. The ground in this strip is nutritionally rich being composed of almost 12" of compost from our large compost pile and 2" of yard soil.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The straw bale garden was planted on 11 May 2016, after the last normal frost date in Utah.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Drip system taps to 4 GPH emitters that water each plant. We water 10 minutes in the morning and 10 minutes in the afternoon. Straw bales hold 3 - 5 gallons of water when fully saturated. </span><br />
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<b><span style="color: orange; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">19 May 2016</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The greenhouse was empty for the first time in several months.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">One week after planting. The tomatoes were already well established and growing.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The squash and cucumber plants love the straw bales. The peppers took a little longer to form an equal growth rate.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">We added a row of marigolds from the greenhouse in front of the ground planted tomatoes for both color and some protection from garden pests. The hanging flower baskets are watered by the drip system too and the plants have begun to establish themselves. </span><br />
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<b><span style="color: orange; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">6 June 2016</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Plants in the garden boxes are growing well. We added a few new (to us and thus experimental) tomato plants to them this year. The "A-frames" in the background will be covered with cucumbers to a 10ft height in 45 - 50 days.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The ground plants are growing as fast as the plants in the straw bales thanks to the rich growing medium in which they were planted.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">We are using plastic support clips this year that attach to the normal garden twine. Wrapping the tomatoes around the twine works well but some of our tomatoes started to slip down last year due to the weight of the fruit. This year, we are combining clips and some twine wrapping for the larger sized fruit varieties. We picked many 1lb plus fruits from them last year. One plant had almost 100 - 1lb plus sized fruits on it at the same time, hence the weight / support issue.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The plants are now growing between 1 1/2" and 2" a day. They are reaching for the 2nd support ring and will soon be supported by it.</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>9 June 2016</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Three days after the previous photo. The plants have grown 7" and now extend through the 2nd support rings in many cases. This growth rate will continue for the next 45 - 55 days when the heavy production of ripe fruit will begin in earnest.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The ground planted tomatoes are also growing 3" a day. The Brandywine variety are growing 4" a day.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqK38Un-9x0weLk4T5VUzV1eGZCksqMltWk98AhI2x9fhie2mAmbdEcpbiOjqczxcvgkaZnwU9xtpgxF84hSPXmpYMBReRjVR0rxukSvTWWZBb-CNXE0cp8fojtVTHoOWDJtfxtp91qVOY/s1600/9Jun2016+outside+view+2+inch+day.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqK38Un-9x0weLk4T5VUzV1eGZCksqMltWk98AhI2x9fhie2mAmbdEcpbiOjqczxcvgkaZnwU9xtpgxF84hSPXmpYMBReRjVR0rxukSvTWWZBb-CNXE0cp8fojtVTHoOWDJtfxtp91qVOY/s640/9Jun2016+outside+view+2+inch+day.jpg" title="Copyright 2016 Lee R. Drew - Straw bale garden" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The straw bale garden 3 weeks after it was planted. Extreme growth will continue during the coming weeks. All of the plants are constantly pruned for suckers and some of the bottom leaves and branches. We left most of the bottom leaves on last year and the production rate didn't seem to suffer. We will probably leave the bottom leaves on again this year because our grandchildren love to play in the "green room". By the 3rd week of July the ceiling of the support structure should be fully covered with tomato vines, at which time the "green room" becomes the "haunted forest" according to the wee ones.</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>14 June 2016</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It may not seem possible but the tomatoes are growing almost 3" a day overall. Note the difference in their heights between the above photo and the one below. The magic comes from prepared straw bales, compost and plant food. Then plan on adding support to the plants almost daily for the next few months.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPzRaEUP8MkX8K0nTdfvJu5zSmwijcEJd1V3Ggewm6xMUAfrIFCv-UIRK8YzmHJA-mHwzIctIlanwufIDr1Ma1yDSaW2Zf_GjZvonkViBuGTStlDCMzgPigA__j3p8nQQKPOByLgIu4FXO/s1600/14Jun2016+rail+height.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPzRaEUP8MkX8K0nTdfvJu5zSmwijcEJd1V3Ggewm6xMUAfrIFCv-UIRK8YzmHJA-mHwzIctIlanwufIDr1Ma1yDSaW2Zf_GjZvonkViBuGTStlDCMzgPigA__j3p8nQQKPOByLgIu4FXO/s640/14Jun2016+rail+height.jpg" title="Copyright 2016 Lee R. Drew - Straw bale garden" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="color: orange; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>25 Jun 2016</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The growth rate continues at just over 2" a day. The weight of the plants is starting to hold them back from stretching upward at a 3" per day height gain now. The stocks of most of the plants are about twice as thick as my (a man's) thumb. Some of the plants have now topped the 4th ring in the ring supports. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The tomatoes growing in the front of the straw bales were planted in 12" of rich compost. They too are growing at an amazing 2 1/2" a day. Many of them are now 5' tall. All three of the Brandywine varieties continue to lag just behind the Early Girls in growth. All of the Early Girl plants are covered in green tomatoes. We are a little surprised that the Golden Rave's are growing at a much slower rate than any of the other varieties. This is the first year we have tried that variety and aren't sure what to expect from them. Of interest, two of the Yellow Pear plants are now over 5' tall. The Pineapple, Black Vernissage and Cherokee Purple plants are holding their own. All three varieties of the Beef Stake's are about the same height as the other plants that produce large fruit. The Rutger's plants started slow but are rapidly catching up with the other varieties now.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwWhI96ym0VQjDIE9s27wuCjU22Fc-J7Dl6zKdEoIlWoduLSbZ5nO3mflOrm6dfAVm-C7T_vnwF9HI_y69pC15qYi2PrOHREntQyuN7NSbh4P_PfMOpG73Hh4_93ZIweb9u8OfRLCjlF5_/s1600/Straw+Bales+25Jun2016.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="478" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwWhI96ym0VQjDIE9s27wuCjU22Fc-J7Dl6zKdEoIlWoduLSbZ5nO3mflOrm6dfAVm-C7T_vnwF9HI_y69pC15qYi2PrOHREntQyuN7NSbh4P_PfMOpG73Hh4_93ZIweb9u8OfRLCjlF5_/s640/Straw+Bales+25Jun2016.jpg" title="Copyright 2016- Lee Drew - Straw Bale Garden" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPxAvCGn_1cg5Sq8Di1mRBW8MrAg78uvLW07D-AvJbAI_qvPrt7Y4i-A8lYdDfq6f0G5woHVNea0lNmTx0DfIPUlAUTXhP7y9pB_3LFUuV8G6JhHANMC9QMFf-wvCYKd4-riVkXERvKbL_/s1600/Straw+Bales2+25Jun2016.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPxAvCGn_1cg5Sq8Di1mRBW8MrAg78uvLW07D-AvJbAI_qvPrt7Y4i-A8lYdDfq6f0G5woHVNea0lNmTx0DfIPUlAUTXhP7y9pB_3LFUuV8G6JhHANMC9QMFf-wvCYKd4-riVkXERvKbL_/s640/Straw+Bales2+25Jun2016.jpg" title="Copyright 2016- Lee Drew - Straw Bale Garden" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /><br /><b><span style="color: orange;">30 June 2016</span></b></span>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The weight of the plants is starting to slow their height even though they are all supported multiple times along their length.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Many of the plants will be taller than the support structure in a couple of days and I will train them over the top to be supported by the netting that covers the 'roof' of the structure.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The Early Girl plants are well populated with fruit as are the Yellow Pear plants. The larger varieties are now setting fruit as well. All of the plants are covered in blossoms. The pepper plants in two of the bales look tiny in comparison even though they are 16" tall.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEdd0QMzuNGVJviskEKZluha9rsfGb9B-h1NNJNpR20GB_wWIr-Q24UxIGfVYiw-437QoX1Gx8nWr4B00GQV6ot5ImbBSYB9tI25MSunhOLE6N30rhm-2gfjZ-O8VRzhe1wIY4YfcZ6aI_/s1600/30Jun2016+Straw+Bale+Garden.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEdd0QMzuNGVJviskEKZluha9rsfGb9B-h1NNJNpR20GB_wWIr-Q24UxIGfVYiw-437QoX1Gx8nWr4B00GQV6ot5ImbBSYB9tI25MSunhOLE6N30rhm-2gfjZ-O8VRzhe1wIY4YfcZ6aI_/s640/30Jun2016+Straw+Bale+Garden.jpg" title="Copyright 2016- Lee Drew - Straw Bale Garden" width="640" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZRrUD_ezSOImu5mqV70G4BEC9ClcuWZqziXyoABE9gqubTrDhdvz8It12thND4FOMOTxo0j89GqknxzYaUbQXmcz81vpqPYFMAZxWm4sQK0CEEauIjmvh0iM3qF4SqPbCwWH4OXhuH5-n/s1600/30Jun2016+Straw+Bale+Garden2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZRrUD_ezSOImu5mqV70G4BEC9ClcuWZqziXyoABE9gqubTrDhdvz8It12thND4FOMOTxo0j89GqknxzYaUbQXmcz81vpqPYFMAZxWm4sQK0CEEauIjmvh0iM3qF4SqPbCwWH4OXhuH5-n/s640/30Jun2016+Straw+Bale+Garden2.jpg" title="Copyright 2016- Lee Drew - Straw Bale Garden" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">30 June 2016 - Height 7 ft</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: orange;"><br /></span><span style="color: orange;">7 Jul 2016</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The majority of the tomatoes have grown taller than the support frame now. They will be trained over the "ceiling" in the coming days and will be supported by the garden netting that covers it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The Early Girls are fairly heavily populated with green fruit as are the Yellow Pear. Some of the larger variety of fruits are now setting tomatoes as well. The Golden Raves are surprising us this year with early setting of fruit.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg40A4shsPC0MPmZt42udLp-XscgUfkbXpMLtfwLuoGosdIguXMvsGF7uH8VVyXDFg9aHfSxr2qBgdc5-nq8hAxkpnkxd-FhGqcj94jC1aWmvVw3suWAKdZm6E-Bt4ZCBllsDUjurQ9VRhc/s1600/7Jul2016+Straw+Bale+Garden.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg40A4shsPC0MPmZt42udLp-XscgUfkbXpMLtfwLuoGosdIguXMvsGF7uH8VVyXDFg9aHfSxr2qBgdc5-nq8hAxkpnkxd-FhGqcj94jC1aWmvVw3suWAKdZm6E-Bt4ZCBllsDUjurQ9VRhc/s640/7Jul2016+Straw+Bale+Garden.jpg" title="Copyright 2016 - Lee Drew - Straw Bale Garden" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The bales hosting green pepper plants appear to be almost empty holes in an otherwise green wall, yet the peppers are tall.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9liSyBMsZV6FY0ilWUBd38fJFj8mxz7IpUEYFasHMMtH_ojRzxhEB_VK2ip9KultMYp7KJXcy0dJ4nj9xUU-LU3BfLHA-agluPeRmm1vOnZ4Dc0saLC98j1BzA9YXhX0OmsQ4LqzA88vq/s1600/7Jul2016+Straw+Bale+Garden+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" height="478" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9liSyBMsZV6FY0ilWUBd38fJFj8mxz7IpUEYFasHMMtH_ojRzxhEB_VK2ip9KultMYp7KJXcy0dJ4nj9xUU-LU3BfLHA-agluPeRmm1vOnZ4Dc0saLC98j1BzA9YXhX0OmsQ4LqzA88vq/s640/7Jul2016+Straw+Bale+Garden+2.jpg" title="Copyright 2016 - Lee Drew - Straw Bale Garden" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">7 July 2016 - The plants have topped the height of the frame and will now be trained over the ceiling netting.</td></tr>
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<span style="color: orange; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>10 July 2016</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The heat has really brought growth to the plants. We are now seeing between 3 1/2" - 4" of growth per day. Most plants have set fruit. Some of it is sizable now and will be ready to harvest in the not too distant future. The cucumber plant growing in the bales is producing 5 - 6 cukes a day. The melon planted in the bales has vines about 10 ft long and has set numerous fruit.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Many of the tomatoes are now over 8 ft in height and we have started training them over the ceiling netting of the support frame. If the current rate of growth continues, they should completely cover the ceiling / roof by the 3rd week of July. As a reminder, we didn't set the plants out until the week after Mother's Day and they were about 5 - 6" tall at that time.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8j98xqrEma8Wki_owi1oyfm57351pFuxBY4OgyB0k78QXuO903C8BAAdJciUXSaaw1UMnPsq-__N3QkqQzDYx44IFLApbG14OvYdJRiMVoDZ8psYkjaHkFLlwrJbt9V7yiOeNlJQAyCp5/s1600/10Jul2016+8ft+tall.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" height="478" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8j98xqrEma8Wki_owi1oyfm57351pFuxBY4OgyB0k78QXuO903C8BAAdJciUXSaaw1UMnPsq-__N3QkqQzDYx44IFLApbG14OvYdJRiMVoDZ8psYkjaHkFLlwrJbt9V7yiOeNlJQAyCp5/s640/10Jul2016+8ft+tall.jpg" title="Copyright 2016 - Lee Drew - Straw Bale Garden" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">10 July 2016 - many of the tomato plants are over 8 ft in height and we are starting to train them over the roof / ceiling.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg089qyHyXVjBCagg161-tLDRSHCEniHx3FaDtczDc3DfolAURj-g50jhxJmed3-MA80xe9iEFgU7DMtCMXboa91Cx7LnfwHGaa7D3Dx4DhhFuaTz_pJ25V1KlUwn9MdqHghCwkDSyAenD_/s1600/10Jul2016+starting+ceiling.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg089qyHyXVjBCagg161-tLDRSHCEniHx3FaDtczDc3DfolAURj-g50jhxJmed3-MA80xe9iEFgU7DMtCMXboa91Cx7LnfwHGaa7D3Dx4DhhFuaTz_pJ25V1KlUwn9MdqHghCwkDSyAenD_/s640/10Jul2016+starting+ceiling.jpg" title="Copyright 2016 - Lee Drew - Straw Bale Garden" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The green peppers on bales adjacent to the tomatoes look small at 3 ft in height. Their neighbors are over 8 ft tall.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjYcX3RGKSENkTA0ThNcK6IU0mg5phdeEud2Xv4hBsU-3B0fTYvw18KIghLf32OuBrNEKCgPll7iiF5QfmnJzV9sgMMRgBzBOtDe61oHgYGjBlOSJOPvlZYnEdZ5KBWiWHygP5st3Lm6aV/s1600/10Jul20160+Melon+vines+10ft+long.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjYcX3RGKSENkTA0ThNcK6IU0mg5phdeEud2Xv4hBsU-3B0fTYvw18KIghLf32OuBrNEKCgPll7iiF5QfmnJzV9sgMMRgBzBOtDe61oHgYGjBlOSJOPvlZYnEdZ5KBWiWHygP5st3Lm6aV/s640/10Jul20160+Melon+vines+10ft+long.jpg" title="Copyright 2016 - Lee Drew - Straw Bale Garden" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The melon plant in the bales has vines over 10 ft in length and has set dozens of melons.</td></tr>
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<span style="color: orange; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>15 July 2016</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The weight of the plants is starting to pull the support netting down on the walls. Fruit is setting heavily on all but the largest varieties. They will produce fewer fruit but their fruit will be considerably larger in size and weight than the early producing plants.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSjIlL1_ih0QK3-dTNrlw9frNdJx21VgmFVvgii7tgBanQkzzH2Fclwm-3uKtYub4ozYRN52OuF6mJbi2vqkrDbg0Nyrnq8x3Vcsqf2cKsmARo-_62lCsR8yIgkVEOY6DjGmfJeQfDa-oL/s1600/15Jul2016+inside+bales.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" height="478" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSjIlL1_ih0QK3-dTNrlw9frNdJx21VgmFVvgii7tgBanQkzzH2Fclwm-3uKtYub4ozYRN52OuF6mJbi2vqkrDbg0Nyrnq8x3Vcsqf2cKsmARo-_62lCsR8yIgkVEOY6DjGmfJeQfDa-oL/s640/15Jul2016+inside+bales.jpg" title="Copyright 2016 - Lee Drew - Straw Bale Garden" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The view inside of the straw bale garden. The ceiling will be covered in plants by the end of July.</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYH2ysN7eostuY0eLqhSfO0aQlwQpLFf-F7-F8FVs7e3Fb4nigk1R9GiJjt_wEOYFTATDqR9P4VltCen5g_88h5aSTzlD1qpSNy58LVF8dUSFaUFnw_jrlI8Bx7N_oBMZA54CDHW67KW-t/s1600/15Jul2016+tomatoes2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYH2ysN7eostuY0eLqhSfO0aQlwQpLFf-F7-F8FVs7e3Fb4nigk1R9GiJjt_wEOYFTATDqR9P4VltCen5g_88h5aSTzlD1qpSNy58LVF8dUSFaUFnw_jrlI8Bx7N_oBMZA54CDHW67KW-t/s640/15Jul2016+tomatoes2.jpg" title="Copyright 2016 - Lee Drew - Straw Bale Garden" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: orange; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>26 Jul 2016</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The tomato plants have topped 9 ft in height and are starting to cover the "ceiling" of the support structure.</span> <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWtrXP4sGE_BimyA1yXh0dKQCuLA8AjhWc5tkArxCRoIdY9MBdNRLxicT9TYZ5bSVIx5BDfYj1Ok2CLatJEfhO1aePo93taVrIkJc_eB1tbKH_niiL_6N-ljx7WnIxmkaltO33r6kTNiNY/s1600/25Jul2016+NE+view2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWtrXP4sGE_BimyA1yXh0dKQCuLA8AjhWc5tkArxCRoIdY9MBdNRLxicT9TYZ5bSVIx5BDfYj1Ok2CLatJEfhO1aePo93taVrIkJc_eB1tbKH_niiL_6N-ljx7WnIxmkaltO33r6kTNiNY/s640/25Jul2016+NE+view2.jpg" title="Copyright 2016 - Straw Bale Garden - Lee Drew" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Almost all plants are now taller than the support structure</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7dVlfEmwhMmdDKpHmqCb2OtwUpgNYKVPjuYPBjAZB3OZ85ELoQ5Dvn_HK537j9WsI28fq9Zdq51sFJWOAbJLGC_ML5_nLejdcVQe4qciBynqDnfRHq29Ocqr1UgCFo86jmQI862kBVces/s1600/25Jul2016+Inside.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7dVlfEmwhMmdDKpHmqCb2OtwUpgNYKVPjuYPBjAZB3OZ85ELoQ5Dvn_HK537j9WsI28fq9Zdq51sFJWOAbJLGC_ML5_nLejdcVQe4qciBynqDnfRHq29Ocqr1UgCFo86jmQI862kBVces/s640/25Jul2016+Inside.jpg" title="Copyright 2016 - Straw Bale Garden - Lee Drew" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The path on the inside is closing off as the plants expand horizontally as well as vertically</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFLankXgpoidTagkJDvMzm8WRUIdvSxSs5_5evQ3VO5UCxxLE20GFNxM2mH2Zj_KI-i3c0c-KdG4Eu8iHAX9bQ5LJW-_iDEiE1cbHR20vn7RkSJB4Wp_84XcuFstqj9trO7JDYLaAuG7xC/s1600/25Jul2016+ceiling.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFLankXgpoidTagkJDvMzm8WRUIdvSxSs5_5evQ3VO5UCxxLE20GFNxM2mH2Zj_KI-i3c0c-KdG4Eu8iHAX9bQ5LJW-_iDEiE1cbHR20vn7RkSJB4Wp_84XcuFstqj9trO7JDYLaAuG7xC/s640/25Jul2016+ceiling.jpg" title="Copyright 2016 - Straw Bale Garden - Lee Drew" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The plants are starting to close over the ceiling netting. We will be picking fruit from the ceiling in weeks.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizX1lVj_Hm1XpZa700r4PCgWWdL_PfnTJ8SEqpA3yejXVEcVDHRU_7SZ48GlXyuDuB7yfRWZndaUy-4FL4kQ_OCKtFjIixyOsxku-bv4n9KnXI9MrqGQCq8UjEgtDJG17VSbz7rZ4xZoBU/s1600/25Jul2016+Bale+Collapsing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizX1lVj_Hm1XpZa700r4PCgWWdL_PfnTJ8SEqpA3yejXVEcVDHRU_7SZ48GlXyuDuB7yfRWZndaUy-4FL4kQ_OCKtFjIixyOsxku-bv4n9KnXI9MrqGQCq8UjEgtDJG17VSbz7rZ4xZoBU/s640/25Jul2016+Bale+Collapsing.jpg" title="Copyright 2016 - Straw Bale Garden - Lee Drew" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The bales are starting to collapse as they slowly turn into compost by next spring.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrPc5NVr6UvL7wiG8jHHmxxC2VXNNWMzse4Pxg65Bz6RTNBDAO_S1_-8SA3JH5MMQxdy5T0D-GUI2sEqvmMKc1bu9dmFRa1JLJudWrVgl9KAfigxo2yvlCm3SCyPEQlirVxalXDwzKtcMh/s1600/25Jul2016+Cluster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrPc5NVr6UvL7wiG8jHHmxxC2VXNNWMzse4Pxg65Bz6RTNBDAO_S1_-8SA3JH5MMQxdy5T0D-GUI2sEqvmMKc1bu9dmFRa1JLJudWrVgl9KAfigxo2yvlCm3SCyPEQlirVxalXDwzKtcMh/s640/25Jul2016+Cluster.jpg" title="Copyright 2016 - Straw Bale Garden - Lee Drew" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Tomatoes cover the plants like clusters of grapes</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrR8zPWjvSTI_J4_IVhptctugaaXbsYEbKECvCP861cwEYCi5BzNIzPLCKux87walywpSutieGfNK0U9wO2Ccws53MimF71Mnjc5aL2Dx2nRgxSdbPix_ffz73jOu0-SaZtNTf6SSFokrx/s1600/25Jul2016+2lb+Fruit.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrR8zPWjvSTI_J4_IVhptctugaaXbsYEbKECvCP861cwEYCi5BzNIzPLCKux87walywpSutieGfNK0U9wO2Ccws53MimF71Mnjc5aL2Dx2nRgxSdbPix_ffz73jOu0-SaZtNTf6SSFokrx/s640/25Jul2016+2lb+Fruit.jpg" title="Copyright 2016 - Straw Bale Garden - Lee Drew" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The fruit from some varieties like the Pineapple tomatoes are approaching 2 lbs in weight</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0-N_85xcBiL_RuaNdS4cFsMzI8a0QSGzG-GDV19nriIoUFRQzQIcXSZiOBNPKSvuyEeIQLTaIR9CpiwhD_tlx_7aGdYai3ZWrGWN8RRqHotZblMB67vSsh2n3ASQU2NG6iy6KUt9luBZ1/s1600/25Jul2016+Height_basket.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0-N_85xcBiL_RuaNdS4cFsMzI8a0QSGzG-GDV19nriIoUFRQzQIcXSZiOBNPKSvuyEeIQLTaIR9CpiwhD_tlx_7aGdYai3ZWrGWN8RRqHotZblMB67vSsh2n3ASQU2NG6iy6KUt9luBZ1/s640/25Jul2016+Height_basket.jpg" title="Copyright 2016 - Straw Bale Garden - Lee Drew" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The tomatoes are engulfing the hanging flower pots</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU0B_4bQAoQEHXujpY8rtDqy_16Qc_hXjkXrX374joUJlZ_WrNxot13lo3LTn9IIKK5KPHrSTMyc9Hrg5jZ-4awsFWOeWRrSHbmT8Ht94l0lcB6d8ydCbUCGB6SNZBQLVGPSnaT07tcZYZ/s1600/25Jul2016+NW+Looking.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="478" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU0B_4bQAoQEHXujpY8rtDqy_16Qc_hXjkXrX374joUJlZ_WrNxot13lo3LTn9IIKK5KPHrSTMyc9Hrg5jZ-4awsFWOeWRrSHbmT8Ht94l0lcB6d8ydCbUCGB6SNZBQLVGPSnaT07tcZYZ/s640/25Jul2016+NW+Looking.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The support structure has almost been engulfed in tomato plants. The large fruit varieties on seen on this end</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">We highly recommend straw bale gardening. Read about the design and the simple instructions to build them along with the support methods we use in this<b><a href="http://www.n7lrd.com/2015/07/straw-bale-gardening.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: orange;"> earlier post.</span></a></b></span><br />
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<span style="color: orange; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>4 Aug 2016</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The tomatoes are producing fairly profusely now. The large varieties weigh so much, we are having to constantly add additional supports to the vines to support their weight.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAnQ9h6XZg_KehEgZ2mn7qrJghfpMH9NQVgPfS10867zUebjSuvXCDEirJcA-Kek9EkKvew3HaxbVr1sZew43PJNzIBoQZ1ayNU5RDDqt71rpgDsdtBCq-9F-RF3O8z_spo0yfy7Ew6JXs/s1600/4Aug2016+aisle.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAnQ9h6XZg_KehEgZ2mn7qrJghfpMH9NQVgPfS10867zUebjSuvXCDEirJcA-Kek9EkKvew3HaxbVr1sZew43PJNzIBoQZ1ayNU5RDDqt71rpgDsdtBCq-9F-RF3O8z_spo0yfy7Ew6JXs/s640/4Aug2016+aisle.png" title="Copyright 2016 - Lee Drew - Straw Bale Tomatoes" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The aisle inside the bale "U" has almost grown closed. The plants continue to push skyward and will soon pull down onto the netting across the top of the structure. We are leaving the top open as long as possible for addition sunlight inside of the "U".</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNCoF-i-7QzFizQocYkJ2O977Eu6zTHQCBHbFfc20OPk9YsBnB-xrBwQfqHcy6xyNImb5OCcZ408KjnCy-vkfwFawbEuP4fUXLWT3HsvDBCqzQbxWz-0Zr3wTPYRDCzqGD8PtmMLqSIw68/s1600/4Aug2016+big+tomatoes+2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNCoF-i-7QzFizQocYkJ2O977Eu6zTHQCBHbFfc20OPk9YsBnB-xrBwQfqHcy6xyNImb5OCcZ408KjnCy-vkfwFawbEuP4fUXLWT3HsvDBCqzQbxWz-0Zr3wTPYRDCzqGD8PtmMLqSIw68/s640/4Aug2016+big+tomatoes+2.png" title="Copyright 2016 - Lee Drew - Straw Bale Tomatoes" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Note the size of the fruit in relation to a garbage can lid</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6hAK4da81UHZMft0uzFdyoqhf78fGaPIoY7JwSwEh-BN_pkKmJr1u-tjqSGvKswQaWzzzSiFRWVOVXABj3L-KpXgyBF9e1jUmWoaWOjgCWTxBIuA3c5WxEYyo2Ehw0JRQe1ZMxvnm_Tiq/s1600/4Aug2016+big+tomatoes.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6hAK4da81UHZMft0uzFdyoqhf78fGaPIoY7JwSwEh-BN_pkKmJr1u-tjqSGvKswQaWzzzSiFRWVOVXABj3L-KpXgyBF9e1jUmWoaWOjgCWTxBIuA3c5WxEYyo2Ehw0JRQe1ZMxvnm_Tiq/s640/4Aug2016+big+tomatoes.png" title="Copyright 2016 - Lee Drew - Straw Bale Tomatoes" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Many tomatoes will weigh in excess of 3 lbs this year.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikxDeRJSG566UzQKtX2jvmxpPMX4l9Uw2JEV9vFBLvWmHju4qRTuSTUc9NXyIxFyyQgh1bHVBXpMjJQr5ou1sPvc0LTJW_xTeaN8RuU5sCwAynsEhm4UVi32YtX8iBRc33SLI4cOvrqZ9q/s1600/4Aug2016+south+side.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikxDeRJSG566UzQKtX2jvmxpPMX4l9Uw2JEV9vFBLvWmHju4qRTuSTUc9NXyIxFyyQgh1bHVBXpMjJQr5ou1sPvc0LTJW_xTeaN8RuU5sCwAynsEhm4UVi32YtX8iBRc33SLI4cOvrqZ9q/s640/4Aug2016+south+side.png" title="Copyright 2016 - Lee Drew - Straw Bale Tomatoes" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The walls of plants are now about 4 ft thick and are almost 10 ft in height.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0Tk8J37r5Y8KaYX3e6NvLHWULHCWNyYgEUBiRPYncyXy1KrSG9Tzdvt3-h-tTaSm-Ej3lhukLwAUZBpxBtMAGA25mPp2MrSPFx0Rsc5OJdAndyXV542rlk-33NpVYgbHCwhtnRu9DkoEj/s1600/4Aug2016+tomato+clusters+2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0Tk8J37r5Y8KaYX3e6NvLHWULHCWNyYgEUBiRPYncyXy1KrSG9Tzdvt3-h-tTaSm-Ej3lhukLwAUZBpxBtMAGA25mPp2MrSPFx0Rsc5OJdAndyXV542rlk-33NpVYgbHCwhtnRu9DkoEj/s640/4Aug2016+tomato+clusters+2.png" title="Copyright 2016 - Lee Drew - Straw Bale Tomatoes" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Even the large fruit is growing in clusters. </span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKTC6OKqeqMCQL9wvQVa-G-g6pYHwgSlK3IBDCSqs_JugZyttZr8Fu2kHTAxbrOFTvMwLf_aGgrxiN4mhluKMgq6OdAJQICaNV6wd-2Nmu23nU_3MTqmwMsP4dhph9U27i03b8b2jztVyT/s1600/4Aug2016+tomato+clusters+3.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKTC6OKqeqMCQL9wvQVa-G-g6pYHwgSlK3IBDCSqs_JugZyttZr8Fu2kHTAxbrOFTvMwLf_aGgrxiN4mhluKMgq6OdAJQICaNV6wd-2Nmu23nU_3MTqmwMsP4dhph9U27i03b8b2jztVyT/s640/4Aug2016+tomato+clusters+3.png" title="Copyright 2016 - Lee Drew - Straw Bale Tomatoes" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The clusters are comprised of fruit the size of baseballs and softballs.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEgAmnsLPOKlu9BEM5UDD80Skbd1j_IX1dDBBkM87vYP2XVePXQSQfRnphJIHBBNgxyXhodymr8hy2EnjEBK5KP6sfE0tknbU5megXksLVIll1fLeLjQk-Fq0Ub8NcKuOnPSdcz7FblkWg/s1600/4Aug2016+tomato+clusters.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEgAmnsLPOKlu9BEM5UDD80Skbd1j_IX1dDBBkM87vYP2XVePXQSQfRnphJIHBBNgxyXhodymr8hy2EnjEBK5KP6sfE0tknbU5megXksLVIll1fLeLjQk-Fq0Ub8NcKuOnPSdcz7FblkWg/s640/4Aug2016+tomato+clusters.png" title="Copyright 2016 - Lee Drew - Straw Bale Tomatoes" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Clearing the bottom leaves and branches this season has opened up the fruit to easier picking.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8cU9bzhB2LhoNh-UEzA6x1GuaHmO2s_Wy1N3LRAmbbsrid3Q7D0GY4WRH-BtsClgXPnm1eQNwAI_8dZFdwFYgCI5TRAAT-jcBt1GrYxBYyikUFnjHNT-NfqXn5QLsrqcTR01HJH1PvWBA/s1600/4Aug2016+tomato+entrance.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8cU9bzhB2LhoNh-UEzA6x1GuaHmO2s_Wy1N3LRAmbbsrid3Q7D0GY4WRH-BtsClgXPnm1eQNwAI_8dZFdwFYgCI5TRAAT-jcBt1GrYxBYyikUFnjHNT-NfqXn5QLsrqcTR01HJH1PvWBA/s640/4Aug2016+tomato+entrance.png" title="Copyright 2016 - Lee Drew - Straw Bale Tomatoes" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The melon plant growing from the bales has exploded to almost fill the entrance and "U" inside the bales as well as extending several dozen feet under the adjacent rose bushes.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYbvVqQE2PorWUbgOATkqBkQQ_Ny9cpq_zKR-fIboacfVPAFpVBE2DNMwRVb325wdXGKm5hdeTP9hZzwy-3m63jA4MFPKsg0ZOjJRo3kSIrKRzzmusdwzjj-CDs0MAY7AsFDI1l7_JQpK3/s1600/4Aug2016+tomato+height.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYbvVqQE2PorWUbgOATkqBkQQ_Ny9cpq_zKR-fIboacfVPAFpVBE2DNMwRVb325wdXGKm5hdeTP9hZzwy-3m63jA4MFPKsg0ZOjJRo3kSIrKRzzmusdwzjj-CDs0MAY7AsFDI1l7_JQpK3/s640/4Aug2016+tomato+height.png" title="Copyright 2016 - Lee Drew - Straw Bale Tomatoes" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The lower branches and leaves are starting to die back as the plants are reaching the end of their growing life. </span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: orange; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>13 Aug 2016</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The harvest has begun in earnest with several bushels of fruit being harvested every few days. We wondered if we would be able to eat all of the spaghetti sauce, relishes and juices from the harvest last year, but a few visits from grandchildren quickly remedied any concerns on that topic. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVkEGuRlvQwtTlqRzrU4FSmwKA91TCB74MPEk8qKNFd_RIE8a2HUM3s_4cUWbY9_GhO_2zTVjKJJRQeFE6ue7ugbv3wuqr8YB1iHeg3bihuIpfQeTvrb4EE7i0hTypAuwk2fX8A9XgDC6M/s1600/13Aug2016+tall_tomatoes_east.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVkEGuRlvQwtTlqRzrU4FSmwKA91TCB74MPEk8qKNFd_RIE8a2HUM3s_4cUWbY9_GhO_2zTVjKJJRQeFE6ue7ugbv3wuqr8YB1iHeg3bihuIpfQeTvrb4EE7i0hTypAuwk2fX8A9XgDC6M/s640/13Aug2016+tall_tomatoes_east.jpg" title="Copyright 2016 - Lee R. Drew - Straw bale garden" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The support structure is now fully engulfed. The tomatoes are over 10 ft. in height</span>.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTtpopD48_mI8UInO3H5YF9Ilx4rCWmphZvtg2Y6EE8nRzBWaRJ6Igm7z0QBqCQJXxnkPK_riuAmGd9xUfgkBfyWlDodgiyPPLlH9lykYMsc8wzmn56pwmNvSPUAT62TGltBBXGo5ogft-/s1600/13Aug2016+HoneyDewMelon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" height="478" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTtpopD48_mI8UInO3H5YF9Ilx4rCWmphZvtg2Y6EE8nRzBWaRJ6Igm7z0QBqCQJXxnkPK_riuAmGd9xUfgkBfyWlDodgiyPPLlH9lykYMsc8wzmn56pwmNvSPUAT62TGltBBXGo5ogft-/s640/13Aug2016+HoneyDewMelon.jpg" title="Copyright 2016 - Lee R. Drew - Straw bale garden" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Honey Dew melons love growing in straw bales</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVmE89zfoFvjKih22z344av5biEgZ7OPug9bwO3aWsV2FZVgYA4pEE0BIJyCJj6VlrVvnFI6MhS7Os3QxdZlvLFTA56DozedKIle1MHkbPJwVBZz8l8SKgNXQjOau_kLQ5cguuQh8I4H4A/s1600/13Aug2016+early_girl.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVmE89zfoFvjKih22z344av5biEgZ7OPug9bwO3aWsV2FZVgYA4pEE0BIJyCJj6VlrVvnFI6MhS7Os3QxdZlvLFTA56DozedKIle1MHkbPJwVBZz8l8SKgNXQjOau_kLQ5cguuQh8I4H4A/s640/13Aug2016+early_girl.jpg" title="Copyright 2016 - Lee R. Drew - Straw bale garden" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The Early Girl tomatoes continue to heavily produce fruit in the 2nd week of August</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiF9_bVhpTAjt2rWuLOWM3v8tK2AED_vPZGgYWpDEtaXKaqHKtOkaaKY679voksZkchesXtc_Wec5sjor4gVVIlGc36SgEYXx-OnWIZM9ard4R9cb3RueKsBwbYrm1ZRleIz0b3MwNcwjdd/s1600/13Aug2016+yellow_brandywine.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiF9_bVhpTAjt2rWuLOWM3v8tK2AED_vPZGgYWpDEtaXKaqHKtOkaaKY679voksZkchesXtc_Wec5sjor4gVVIlGc36SgEYXx-OnWIZM9ard4R9cb3RueKsBwbYrm1ZRleIz0b3MwNcwjdd/s640/13Aug2016+yellow_brandywine.jpg" title="Copyright 2016 - Lee R. Drew - Straw bale garden" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The Yellow Brandywine's all exceed 3 lbs with many 4 lb fruits</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPRFujY7wnp7Z3eKjVwTUjQrx2CqcCxWmPXXLV3C28blDye4hQ5yLbJOu-zpoAnopTK7FjN3KhK2rUYU6XSWYO3MmRUiPAF4wYSNAzRX2t-N4kPYMPvlwthSLR3B8Owj6JyaAdJ-DdzLuL/s1600/13Aug2016+tall_tomatoes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPRFujY7wnp7Z3eKjVwTUjQrx2CqcCxWmPXXLV3C28blDye4hQ5yLbJOu-zpoAnopTK7FjN3KhK2rUYU6XSWYO3MmRUiPAF4wYSNAzRX2t-N4kPYMPvlwthSLR3B8Owj6JyaAdJ-DdzLuL/s640/13Aug2016+tall_tomatoes.jpg" title="Copyright 2016 - Lee R. Drew - Straw bale garden" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It has been another banner year in the straw bale garden</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhF_lGVqOFOpYYGL_pysojTVJ9FugoUZ20cejGtMhC15EgoftwrD6_tHyiGOoc8o89Y2r2JxNJpZ5boyMswRm48_sPK65HSCDKNkkgajRaycuXoPnFmlcRWchi6VAzgswRNx74BSgaEmi6X/s1600/13Aug2016+good_garden_year.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhF_lGVqOFOpYYGL_pysojTVJ9FugoUZ20cejGtMhC15EgoftwrD6_tHyiGOoc8o89Y2r2JxNJpZ5boyMswRm48_sPK65HSCDKNkkgajRaycuXoPnFmlcRWchi6VAzgswRNx74BSgaEmi6X/s640/13Aug2016+good_garden_year.jpg" title="Copyright 2016 - Lee R. Drew - Straw bale garden" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">2016 has been an excellent year in the garden. 8 cucumber plants have produced 10 bushels of fruit to date</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="color: orange; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">September 2016</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The tomatoes in the straw bale garden continue to produce heavily even though it is the end of September. We have bottled them in almost every variety of tomato product imaginable, given them away and eaten bowls and bowls of them with meals and in salads. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Total production for 2016? It is somewhere north of 1000 lbs. Even with the cost of new bales each year, fertilizer, and the initial support structure and watering system, we are well ahead on cost per pound when compared to buying the fruit. The fixed cost for the coming years will be the cost of new bales at around $4.00 each and a little fertilizer. We save seeds, so we won't need to purchase them each year unless we want to try varieties that we haven't grown in the past.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKNzlMeYR-pBfjQPguI-M7fUjbdqm14xVvSrhnTcwrEgZABIOAUO5c61u23Ql5fFuV1n4xiUkjZSJOoXo0ZETcED51va05lecTHadsKgTbDAIAdnnS8ZyBgG15xPc5pZ2IX1b-Vn_Fb1HC/s1600/Sep+2016+tomatoes+still+producing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" height="476" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKNzlMeYR-pBfjQPguI-M7fUjbdqm14xVvSrhnTcwrEgZABIOAUO5c61u23Ql5fFuV1n4xiUkjZSJOoXo0ZETcED51va05lecTHadsKgTbDAIAdnnS8ZyBgG15xPc5pZ2IX1b-Vn_Fb1HC/s640/Sep+2016+tomatoes+still+producing.jpg" title="Copyright 2016 - Lee R. Drew - Straw bale garden" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Still harvesting tomatoes in late September</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCJjf23ahXcwmJXR_7gxIAVW6DyMlTR_BItAiC2-xf03DK3IRwMydFxPoU34PPzpOH_T77uvMMUi8RA8Xqo_h5lalhyphenhyphenGrA_KYTW4fRdPyMVK_81guo0iolPuicgzKrgLmTQgpilLzUjfXx/s1600/plate+of+tomatoes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" height="478" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCJjf23ahXcwmJXR_7gxIAVW6DyMlTR_BItAiC2-xf03DK3IRwMydFxPoU34PPzpOH_T77uvMMUi8RA8Xqo_h5lalhyphenhyphenGrA_KYTW4fRdPyMVK_81guo0iolPuicgzKrgLmTQgpilLzUjfXx/s640/plate+of+tomatoes.jpg" title="Copyright 2016 - Lee R. Drew - Straw bale garden" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It doesn't take many of these beauties to make a meal</span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: orange;"> </span><span style="color: orange; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b><a href="http://www.n7lrd.com/" target="_blank">First Entry Posted 13 June 2016 by Lee R. Drew on the North Mountain Blog</a></b></span><br />
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<div class="blogger-post-footer">Copyright 2008 - 2019 Lee R. Drew. All Rights Reserved</div>Lee Drewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07887845471606058415noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-156524309530455601.post-54930764085454440502015-08-29T19:30:00.000-06:002015-08-29T19:37:11.645-06:00Young Folks Enjoy Amateur RadioWhen it comes to <a href="https://plus.google.com/s/%23hamradio">#hamradio</a> , I never cease to be amazed at the intelligence and skills of some very young amateur radio operators.<br />
<a href="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-ukEsCSr4GCI/VeJd8dz8w9I/AAAAAAAAA1U/hWh8va9GE14/s1600-h/ham_operator2%25255B3%25255D.jpg"><img align="right" alt="ham_operator2" border="0" src="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-FDx7CW_sZIo/VeJd9HpM7cI/AAAAAAAAA1Y/7n8rk8rn2UI/ham_operator2_thumb%25255B1%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" height="114" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; float: right; margin: 5px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="ham_operator2" width="164" /></a><br />
Case in point: Mikaila Williams <a href="https://plus.google.com/s/%23KK4BFK">#KK4BFK</a> , who in 2011 at age 8 was the focus of a news report about young ham radio enthusiasts. Not only was her on-air presence outstanding, she held a Amateur Extra radio license! That's the highest privileged license available to the public at large. <br />
<br />Obtaining your "Extra" class license isn't an easy task. You have to know a lot about the science behind radio waves, circuit construction and the laws and rules pertaining to radio service. We regularly see grown adults fail to pass the Extra Class license test because of its level of difficulty and the breadth and depth of the information the test covers, yet, Mikaila mastered the subjects and didn't let the pressure of testing rattle her calm thinking.<br />
<br />My own family has a number of young folks who are licensed ham radio operators too. They are regularly on the air talking to one another and other members of the ham community. Several of them are young women who are regular participants in monthly ham nets. On occasion, these young ladies are invited to act as the net control, which means they make all of the announcements for the net, run the check-in roll call and direct the radio traffic for the meeting. In other words, they are the 'boss' of the net for that day.<br />
<br />I sit at home many states away from them listening in to the net through an Internet connection with a big smile on my face. It doesn't matter how well the 'normal' nets are attended throughout the year because when these young ladies act as net control, the participation level spikes to record heights. <br />
<br />The word somehow goes out that my granddaughters are running the net that night and hams in their part of the world fire up their radios just so they can listen in and check into the net as well. They are almost as proud of these young ladies as a I am and want to wish them well. They encourage them to continue to share their skills and willingness to support their local communities with those skills in times of emergency or just when someone is needed to report on the progress of the local parade or the need for the shovel brigade.<br />
<br />From their parents and grandparents points of view, we are proud of them for their willingness to take the time to learn science fact, for putting fact into action and for their reasoning behind them obtaining their amateur radio licenses. While they love talking on air and being part of the always welcoming ham groups around the world, they have clearly delineated the real reason they wanted to become amateur radio operators in the first place. They want to be of service to others in times of need, great or small. <br />
<br />Today, as 'seasoned' operators, they <a href="https://plus.google.com/s/%23Elmer">#Elmer</a> other young folks who are similarly interested in amateur radio. (Elmer = mentor.) To say that their school science projects are a cut above many of the other projects in their school is an understatement. The projects that these young ladies create aren't the "read it in a book and recreate the book on a poster" type of presentations. Their projects involve hard science and its application in what at times appears to be pure magic to those who haven't studied the science behind the presentation. <br />
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My congratulations and appreciation are extended to Mikaila, my granddaughters, grandsons and children and all of the others who have taken the time and interest to learn about radio theory and application and put that knowledge to work in the service of their communities. We always knew the younger generation was smarter and better looking than our generation and you continue to prove that theory correct.<br />
<br />73 (best wishes) from grandpa and all of the other adults in the ham community. We are happy to know that your generation will bring amateur radio to an even higher level of service and value to those in the world around us.<br />
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<br /><div class="blogger-post-footer">Copyright 2008 - 2019 Lee R. Drew. All Rights Reserved</div>North Mountainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05106681163593292633noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-156524309530455601.post-52857930268360706542015-07-10T23:55:00.000-06:002016-04-29T12:30:21.323-06:00Straw Bale Gardening<b></b> <br />
<span style="color: orange;"><b>Straw Bale Gardening</b></span><br />
My wife and I decided to try straw bale gardening this year and it has been a super success. What is straw bale gardening? You use straw bales as the soil for your garden plants. They only cost $3 - $5 each. They don’t have weeds and you eliminate a whole lot of bending. You use a bale to plant a garden on your back deck or in a location with a small footprint. We love the straw bales. I can’t recommend them too highly. Here’s how it works:<br />
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<li>Get bales that were from the center of the field away from the weeds and grasses that typically surround wheat fields. You don’t want the seeds from weeds in your bales. </li>
<li>Tip the bales onto their sides. When the bales are assembled one side has a clean cut across the stems of the straw from the harvester.<span style="color: orange;"> The straw on the opposite side is folded over during the baling process. You want the open ends up acting like straws. </span></li>
<li>Prepare the bales. The straw needs to be prepared to receive plant roots by starting its disintegration process. <span style="color: orange;">Add ½ cup of 30-0-0 (all nitrogen) fertilizer to the bales every other day for 10 days prior to planting. </span>Water the fertilizer in very well each time you add it. Each bale will hold between 1 and two gallons of water in it after you’ve watered them. Be sure to follow this instruction faithfully. At day 7 or 8, you should be able to pull the straw apart a bit and feel heat coming out of the center of the bale. That means that the breakdown process has started and the straw is getting ready for planting. </li>
<li><span style="color: orange;">On day 11, add 2 - 3” of rich compost or good potting soil to the top of each of the bales. Add a little more than you think you need because it settles down quickly. Add ½ cup of 16-16-16 fertilizer to each bale and mix it into the compost - potting soil. </span></li>
<li><span style="color: orange;">Set your Plants.</span> Use a gardening trowel to pull the dirt and straw back to plant your greenhouse grown vegetables. We put 3 tomatoes per bale in about half of our bales and 4 in the rest based on the size of the variety of the tomatoes. We added a 7 ft tall ½ thinwall electrical conduit with tomato rings that we got from Amazon to support most of the plants. You add the rings (ovals actually) to the conduit starting with two rings, moving the 2nd ring up as the plant grows. You can’t push rings down, so be sure to add two rings to start when you first plant your tomatoes, cucumbers, beans or whatever you are growing in the bales. When your tomatoes or plants hit 3’ height, you’ll need to add a 3rd ring. Adjust the 2nd ring up as the plants grow so they are supporting the plants for every 12” to 16” of their height. In our case, our tomatoes have hit 6 - 7’ height and are producing so much fruit it is amazing. </li>
<li><span style="color: orange;">Add a little 16-16-16 fertilizer every other week or so mixing it into the soil at the base of the plants. Be careful to not add too much food to the tomatoes or you’ll end up with all vines and not a lot of fruit. If the leaves start to go yellow, it’s time for a little food. </span></li>
<li>In our straw garden, we added a drip system to each plant. I ran a ½ “ line around the top of the bales and tapped it with ¼” line with 4GPM emitters at the base of each plant. I added a 24 lb pressure reducer and screen to the source end to keep the secondary water from blowing the drip system apart. The drip system allows us to water the plants in 10 minutes a day. </li>
<li>We also added two hanging plant tubes to our straw bale wood structure with 4 plants in each tube. They are watered by ¼ lines and emitters that tap the main feed line. In their case, we have to add just a little more fertilizer to the top of the tubes as the watering can leach the fertilizer from the soil in the tubes a little as it runs through the tube. We expect to get about 50 lbs of tomatoes from each tube. </li>
<li>A side benefit from straw bales and vertical gardening is a wall of green that you’ll love and your kids and grandkids will remember and raid continuously. </li>
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<a href="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-MhxSqX04UMY/VaCw_fU8W6I/AAAAAAAAAt4/ycguJuqQvd0/s1600-h/straw_bale_first_planted_may2015%25255B11%25255D.jpg"><img alt="Straw Bale Garden Initial Planting May 2015" border="0" src="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-dTTCgfYGTqk/VaCw_8-Nx6I/AAAAAAAAAt8/RjbEkb4tujk/straw_bale_first_planted_may2015_thumb%25255B9%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" height="652" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="Straw Bale Garden Initial Planting May 2015" width="869" /></a> <br />
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<a href="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-sFAGu_vDbR0/VaCxAYNacsI/AAAAAAAAAuE/wnGVpB898ns/s1600-h/straw_bales_initial_planting_jun2015%25255B11%25255D.jpg"><img alt="Straw Bale Garden One Week After Planting June 2015" border="0" src="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-DQrXeoilfp4/VaCxBPVY9xI/AAAAAAAAAuQ/XB8tQs_nAfw/straw_bales_initial_planting_jun2015_thumb%25255B9%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" height="655" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="Straw Bale Garden One Week After Planting June 2015" width="874" /></a> <br />
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<a href="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-dPv1ULPtjfE/VaCxBlDHUfI/AAAAAAAAAuY/IieZRCCC7N8/s1600-h/straw_bale_water_emitters%25255B8%25255D.jpg"><img alt="Straw Bale Garden Water Line Emitters" border="0" src="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-BDPIAOx9ASc/VaCxCQJWEEI/AAAAAAAAAuc/w-AfAd-ECqA/straw_bale_water_emitters_thumb%25255B6%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" height="653" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="Straw Bale Garden Water Line Emitters" width="871" /></a> <br />
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<a href="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-oO8zpaE78NM/VaCxCzaJLpI/AAAAAAAAAuo/3DnEY4bK0K0/s1600-h/straw_bale_garden_south_9jul2015%25255B13%25255D.jpg"><img alt="Straw Bale Garden South Wall 9 July 2015" border="0" src="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-NdQ8cM7c1Q8/VaCxDl4kpbI/AAAAAAAAAus/y1dCsR7aZls/straw_bale_garden_south_9jul2015_thumb%25255B9%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" height="655" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="Straw Bale Garden South Wall 9 July 2015" width="874" /></a>
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>Straw Bale Garden Year Two</b></span><br />
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<li>Yes, year two. The bales will last for two years. You only need to add a little more compost and the 16-16-16 fertilizer to each bail the next year before planting. The bales will have broken down a bit by this point and will be turning into mostly compost by the end of the summer but they are a rich planting medium for your plants. </li>
<li>You may need to add some supporting around the bales if they have started tipping or falling apart. I surrounded ours with 4” x 4” posts on the ends and ran some line between the posts to support the bales on each side with the ends butting against each other or the post. </li>
<li>Prepare a spot in your yard as a compost pit to receive the bales during fall clean up. The straw will still break down further and will turn into wonderful compost for your garden in year 3. Once you’ve tried the straw bales, you’ll be using them from that point onward. </li>
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>Vertical Gardening</b></span><br />
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<li>Vertical gardening lets us produce a significantly larger crop than just row or square foot planting. You grow your crops vertically attaching them to supporting materials. You’ll need to attach plants that produce heavier fruit like tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, etc., to your supporting materials. I’ve experimented with a number of materials, hole spacing, height and weight / strengths. Here’s what I found: </li>
<li>Amazon carries Nylon gardening netting that comes in 5’ x 15’ sizes. The mesh is in a 7” pattern and that is about the best size for this type of material. You’ll need to string the netting between supports. I used the 4” x 4” posts on the back section of our straw bail garden to support the netting and ran three runs of nylon cord through the top, center and bottom of the net to help support the weight of the plants and to keep the netting fully upright. I’ll add the links to the various materials I’ve discussed to the bottom of this note for reference so you can see what I’m talking about. They are all on Amazon, but I’m not advertising the products by name, have any recompense, yada, yada. </li>
<li>Twine netting that you weave yourself. I built a vertical garden stand that I’ve attached to one of our raised beds out of ¾” schedule 40 PVC pipe. The weave was designed to create 8” holes which work fairly well with the cucumbers that we grew on that stand. Note: If you build a similar stand, use 1” schedule 40 PVC or larger. The ¾” had to be supported at the top to another “A” frame stand that I built and believe it or not, the weight of all of the cucumbers on it actually caused it so sag downward from the top. </li>
<li>“A” frame stand with 10” netting squares. I built a 8’ “A” frame stand out of 2” x 2” treated wood and then wove old coax cable through the two sides forming 10” squares. Coax? Comcast dug up a bunch of bad services to our home and surround homes and were tossing the old damaged coax. I asked if I could have it and they tossed it my way. It had little to no salvage value to them but has been extremely useful to me in the garden. We use the “A” frame to support our large straight cucumber varieties. It will hold up to 200 lbs of plants and fruit effortlessly and makes a very cozy hideout for our grandkids. The cukes hang down inside and outside the netting so all you have to do is walk through the frame to pick the fruit daily. Yes, daily. Cukes that have been planted in rich compost and are fed and watered well, produce so fast they will keep you busy making pickles and relish weekly. </li>
<li>Frames out of limbs, willows or other larger wood. One of our sons-in-law likes to build seats, stands and whatever out of any larger limbs or willows that he finds. He frequently gifts some of his creations to us. We’ve used several of them as vertical garden supports. Rather than using twine or rope to build the support net, he and I have used small limbs to build the netting. These stands are perfect for growing beans, climbing flowers, mini-pumpkins, and other climbing plants. </li>
<li>Feedlot Panel. 16’ x 50”. Tie one end to rebar, bend in a curve and tie the other end to rebar. Make a great vertical garden tunnel in no time. Inexpensive and lasts a LONG time. </li>
<li>Why vertical? Some folks in the ward have fairly large gardens, others have left less space in their landscape plan for vegetables. The vertical garden method is a winner for everyone. You can still use your square foot garden planting but if you are thoughtful about which plants you are planting next to each other, you can extend that square foot garden footprint upward for as much as 12 feet. You do need to consider the orientation of the vertical stands if you are growing multiple rows of them, so that you don’t have one row overly shading the adjacent rows. Consider north - south rows over east - west rows when you consider the location of the sun as the summer wanes. Many of your crops enter their final growth spurts as the sun gets lower in the southern sky.</li>
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<a href="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-nNumsVtDPYA/VaCxEDV0W9I/AAAAAAAAAu0/4sgt4gZOvLc/s1600-h/vertical_gardening_10Jul2015%25255B10%25255D.jpg"><img alt="Vertical Garden - 10 July 2015" border="0" src="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-4jMeGjrAMTg/VaCxEh5q3EI/AAAAAAAAAu8/f9e7iZMMJ0Q/vertical_gardening_10Jul2015_thumb%25255B8%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" height="644" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="Vertical Garden - 10 July 2015" width="858" /></a> <br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>Conclusions - Straw Bales and Vertical Garden Support Web Sizes</b></span> <br />
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Straw bale gardening is here to stay for our family. Even our married children are enjoying a huge success with them this season. My old back thanks me. The ease of watering and the water conservation produced by the drip system is great. The future compost will be most welcome as an added source to our existing compost bin output. The production levels were even better than we’d hope for and when the planting combined with the vertical supporting is considered, the production was stellar. We loved the green “walls” of garden plants as did our families at their homes and ours. <br />
The sweet spot of garden netting holes is 7” - 8” for most crops. We love the 10” spacing for cucumbers and larger items though. <br />
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Vertical garden net attachment materials. Like most of you, we’ve used a variety of support attachment materials for our plants in the past, ranging from twine to yarn, to rope to whatever was at hand. I finally broke down and purchased a couple of rolls of gardening Velcro this year and won’t use anything else after this. It’s the best solution that is reusable and is by far the easiest to work with. <br />
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As of this posting, the tomatoes, cucumbers and other plants that we planted in the straw bales are between 6 ft and 7 ft tall. I fully expect them to continue to grow another 2 – 3 ft in length at which time they will be supported by netting that I’ll add to the roof of the straw bale growing frame. They are already producing fruit continuously. It will be interesting reaching for the ceiling to pluck tomatoes from over head. <br />
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We already have a green house but if we decide to extend the growing season for the straw bale crops, we’ll simply wrap the straw bale frame we built with plastic and let the sun and the heat from the continuing degradation of the bales warm the temporary poly tunnel.
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<a href="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-39NZaUbbq2s/VaCxFPkKGfI/AAAAAAAAAvE/fDTltr-m7oc/s1600-h/straw_bale_garden_10Jul2015%25255B8%25255D.jpg"><img alt="Straw Bale Garden - 10 July 2015" border="0" src="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-rm93XKX9hiI/VaCxFlEllUI/AAAAAAAAAvM/p8IbSa3keOM/straw_bale_garden_10Jul2015_thumb%25255B6%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" height="664" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="Straw Bale Garden - 10 July 2015" width="885" /></a> <br />
Here are the links I mentioned above:<br />
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<li>Tomato Rings - 5+ star rating by me: <a href="http://goo.gl/d2K3Hk">http://goo.gl/d2K3Hk</a> </li>
<li>Gardening Velcro - 5+ star rating by me: <a href="http://goo.gl/lYPK33">http://goo.gl/lYPK33</a> </li>
<li>Trellis Netting - 5 star rating by me: <a href="http://goo.gl/rVDQAb">http://goo.gl/rVDQAb</a> </li>
<li>Straw Bale Gardening Links. Here’s a great collection of YouTube videos to help you get started: <br /> </li>
<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKbejoV9UZE">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKbejoV9UZE</a> </li>
<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wC0vO3lHucE">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wC0vO3lHucE</a> </li>
<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8ZnEyIpBBk" title="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8ZnEyIpBBk">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8ZnEyIpBBk</a> </li>
<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61t6bcDenrc">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61t6bcDenrc</a> </li>
<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmDhVhqSXNw">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmDhVhqSXNw</a> </li>
<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ynkt_hSkTmw">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ynkt_hSkTmw</a> </li>
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<ul>
<li>Feed Lot Panel - <a href="http://goo.gl/DJc0AW">http://goo.gl/DJc0AW</a> Example only for the graphic. </li>
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<b><span style="color: #f79646;">Update - 21 Jul 2015</span> </b>- The tomato plants are now all over 7' 5" in height. I've added netting to the roof of the bale frame and am training the tomatoes onto it. The walls of the frame are solid green now with plants, although there are a lot of "red" and "yellow" decorations on the walls and before long, on the ceiling too. <br />
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The production of the plants is prodigious. Tomatoes, Cucumbers and Mini-Pumpkins galore. <br />
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<a href="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-XG4fr1iYAQE/Va74u63pMuI/AAAAAAAAAvs/-9-w6L934yw/s1600-h/tomatoes_21Jul2015%25255B10%25255D.jpg"><img alt="Straw Bale Garden - 21 July 2015" border="0" src="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-YUdSforTXqk/Va74vSn5V8I/AAAAAAAAAvw/jFX1iivIwl0/tomatoes_21Jul2015_thumb%25255B8%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" height="689" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="Straw Bale Garden - 21 July 2015" width="919" /></a> <br />
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<a href="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-GOYuK3u9z1Q/Va74wOYsLCI/AAAAAAAAAv8/n4i94wLEVWw/s1600-h/tomatoes2_21Jul2015%25255B8%25255D.jpg"><img alt="Straw Bale Garden - 21 July 2015" border="0" src="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-0qkqVnyTmb4/Va74wgSk7PI/AAAAAAAAAwE/qTTlpy6-wzM/tomatoes2_21Jul2015_thumb%25255B6%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" height="683" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="Straw Bale Garden - 21 July 2015" width="911" /></a> <br />
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<strong><span style="color: #f79646;">Update – 25 Jul 2015</span></strong><br />
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The tomatoes continue to grow about 2 1/2” per day. Almost all of the plants are over 8 ft tall now and have started to produce heavily. We had to install netting over the top of the frame to support the tomatoes that are on the branches over 7 ft in height. They will be trained to lay on the netting as they continue to grow in total height. If the growth remains unabated, the roof will be a solid mass of tomato plants, leaves and fruit by mid-August. The cucumbers and mini-pumpkins growing in the straw bales are equally tall and are very prolific too.<br />
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<a href="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-vM_QQ8GHCok/VbY9GfCcjlI/AAAAAAAAAwg/WsTyTM1CDgw/s1600-h/straw_bale_garden_25Jul2015%25255B8%25255D.jpg"><img alt="Straw Bale Garden - 28 July 2015" border="0" src="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-sOhtXaYZiME/VbY9GrtaXCI/AAAAAAAAAwk/1I4IDdKcSvE/straw_bale_garden_25Jul2015_thumb%25255B6%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" height="670" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="Straw Bale Garden - 28 July 2015" width="893" /></a><br />
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<a href="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-EnRVvQc9DqY/VbY9HOBa7zI/AAAAAAAAAws/kLgBPgKAlHk/s1600-h/straw_bale_garden_2_25jul2015%25255B7%25255D.jpg"><img alt="Straw Bale Garden - 28 July 2015" border="0" src="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-lH_lGbCQwNI/VbY9HkZyakI/AAAAAAAAAw0/g9v8xDQHTFs/straw_bale_garden_2_25jul2015_thumb%25255B5%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" height="665" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="Straw Bale Garden - 28 July 2015" width="887" /></a><br />
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<a href="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-fKhpo6PFso8/VbY9IHasFoI/AAAAAAAAAxA/mrU0RgULN4Q/s1600-h/straw_bale_garden_3_25Jul2015%25255B8%25255D.jpg"><img alt="Straw Bale Garden - 28 July 2015" border="0" src="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-XCa6o2inC9o/VbY9InORo5I/AAAAAAAAAxE/vxAeL2FtaGg/straw_bale_garden_3_25Jul2015_thumb%25255B6%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" height="660" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="Straw Bale Garden - 28 July 2015" width="879" /></a><br />
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<a href="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-h-1BKs_eeeM/VbY9JBD-8ZI/AAAAAAAAAxQ/bGUqajEtuMk/s1600-h/straw_bale_garden4_25Jul2015%25255B9%25255D.jpg"><img alt="Straw Bale Garden Tomatoes - 28 July 2015" border="0" src="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-U3WaZwuEtYE/VbY9JlfaTzI/AAAAAAAAAxU/sD7qDgqlv88/straw_bale_garden4_25Jul2015_thumb%25255B7%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" height="662" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="Straw Bale Garden Tomatoes - 28 July 2015" width="883" /></a><br />
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<strong><span style="color: #f79646;">Update 28 Jul 2015</span></strong><br />
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About 50% of the tomatoes growing in the straw bales are now over 8’ 6” tall and are starting to search for support. I’ll train them onto the netting across the 7’ high frame as much as possible so they don’t collapse back on themselves down the sided of their supports.<br />
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As noted earlier, when the plants are this tall, you need to use 4 tomato rings per plant or twine supporting the main branch of the plants. I’m supporting the tomatoes growing up the netting wall with Velcro garden tape to keep the weight of the plants supported by the netting, otherwise the weight of the fruit pulls them away from the netting when even minor breezes cross them.<br />
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The cucumbers growing in the bales are out-producing the cucumbers in the raised bed garden by a two to one factor.<br />
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The mini-pumpkin plant growing in the straw is growing so fast I have to train its path daily to keep the walkways clear.<br />
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One thing is clear, even though we are growing 12 varieties of tomatoes this year, we’ll try even more varieties next year growing both in raised beds and the straw bales to determine which grow the best in the different growing environments.<br />
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<a href="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-1YtBGdfZ-KY/VbhIVn5yPUI/AAAAAAAAAxw/R7QQGZXSyOw/s1600-h/straw_bale_8ft6in_28Jul2015%25255B9%25255D.jpg"><img alt="Straw Bale Garden Tomatoes at 8' 6" - 28 July 2015" border="0" src="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-nWLNfKkJnbc/VbhIWDM38qI/AAAAAAAAAx4/A3Nsh30FQYk/straw_bale_8ft6in_28Jul2015_thumb%25255B7%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" height="653" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="Straw Bale Garden Tomatoes at 8' 6" - 28 July 2015" width="871" /></a><br />
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<a href="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-veArxFDRUUg/VbhIWm1o13I/AAAAAAAAAyA/CGloBWX0d0k/s1600-h/straw_bale_tomatoes_28Jul2015%25255B7%25255D.jpg"><img alt="Straw Bale Garden Tomatoes 28 Jul 2015" border="0" src="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-ckkJ0521qzs/VbhIXNjRFjI/AAAAAAAAAyE/uyqJaPww-QM/straw_bale_tomatoes_28Jul2015_thumb%25255B5%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" height="655" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="Straw Bale Garden Tomatoes 28 Jul 2015" width="873" /></a><br />
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<a href="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-krjJIcV6qlg/VbhIXvgeQPI/AAAAAAAAAyQ/f3oARCD5DIM/s1600-h/straw_bale_mini-pumpkin_28Jul2015%25255B9%25255D.jpg"><img alt="Straw Bale Garden Mini-Pumpkins 28 Jul 2015" border="0" src="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-rdtEaGih9Io/VbhIYHd_3YI/AAAAAAAAAyU/GdBs6Xh6gU0/straw_bale_mini-pumpkin_28Jul2015_thumb%25255B7%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" height="650" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="Straw Bale Garden Mini-Pumpkins 28 Jul 2015" width="867" /></a><br />
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<strong><span style="color: #f79646;">9 Aug 2015 Update</span></strong><br />
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Our straw bale garden is exceeding our expectation so far, we wonder if it has taken on a life of its own. <br />
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The tomato plants now tower over 11 ft tall and the tomato plant walls are approximately 4 ft thick. They couldn’t have grown both so tall and thick without the supporting systems that you can see in the earlier photos. Once they were a foot taller than the top supporting structure, I stopped training them both vertically and horizontally because they had enough support from the plant above the overhead screen.<br />
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<a href="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-GJlHZLofwUA/Vcq7Omy1dmI/AAAAAAAAAzU/dRWIEjdLw8M/s1600-h/straw_bale_wall_thickness%25255B9%25255D.jpg"><img alt="Straw Bale Garden Netting Wall Thickness" border="0" src="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-zN5Gq5zUeCM/Vcq7PEhH45I/AAAAAAAAAzc/6oBKsbW_x6g/straw_bale_wall_thickness_thumb%25255B7%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" height="658" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="Straw Bale Garden Netting Wall Thickness" width="877" /></a><br />
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The plants on the north wall of the structure are fully supported by netting, which allowed them to spread further away from the main stem ties to the screen than did the plants in the oval rings and twine, because I had naturally kept them more closely aligned with their respective supporting systems. I just used gardening Velcro to tie the plants on the north wall to the netting in a less than perfectly vertical structure. Thus the plants on that side are well over 6 ft thick from side to side.<br />
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<a href="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/--sZik-QeIeA/Vcq7P-jeGII/AAAAAAAAAzk/zQby7l3u_us/s1600-h/straw_bale_thickness_nettingside%25255B8%25255D.jpg"><img alt="Straw Bale Garden Netting Wall Thickness" border="0" src="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-GEKbZsosnPw/Vcq7QDMR7gI/AAAAAAAAAzs/DDEDtl_JtZg/straw_bale_thickness_nettingside_thumb%25255B6%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" height="660" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="Straw Bale Garden Netting Wall Thickness" width="880" /></a><br />
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We continue to pick from 8 – 10 cucumbers per day from the 3 different variety cucumber plants. The min-pumpkin plant has to main leaders. One is 15 ft long and the other is 10 ft long. Both are covered in pumpkins and blossoms.<br />
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<a href="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-si6_XpHUIpM/Vcq7QoWmQ_I/AAAAAAAAAz0/kuRuljVHmDw/s1600-h/straw_bale_cucumbers%25255B8%25255D.jpg"><img alt="Straw Bale Garden Cucumbers" border="0" src="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-mcS8zxOPJlg/Vcq7RePPaXI/AAAAAAAAAz4/sAcY8OQLUX4/straw_bale_cucumbers_thumb%25255B6%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" height="632" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="Straw Bale Garden Cucumbers" width="843" /></a><br />
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We initially thought that the tomatoes that exceeded 10 ft in height would naturally collapse onto the top screen, but they still continue to grow upward although their side branches are slowly covering the entire roof of the support structure. I have to move them back every other day to allow enough light to come through the netting to nurture the interior leaves of the plants.<br />
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<a href="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-BuU3ejs6EkE/Vcq7R6fXdrI/AAAAAAAAA0E/gKgiiSwMMzM/s1600-h/straw_bale_fruit_height%25255B8%25255D.jpg"><img alt="Straw Bale Garden Hanging Fruit" border="0" src="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-oBiGMKsyWLU/Vcq7SKY5SGI/AAAAAAAAA0I/PoB43xWR0jo/straw_bale_fruit_height_thumb%25255B6%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" height="639" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="Straw Bale Garden Hanging Fruit" width="852" /></a><br />
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On cloudy days, walking into the center room of the structure almost feels like you are walking into a cave filled with man eating plants because of the size and thickness of the plants and the fact that they continue to grow about 2 1/2 inches a day. I kept the sucker shoots trimmed from all of the tomatoes until they crossed the top of the structure netting. We wondered if allowing them to continue to grow as tall vines would rob their fruit producing vitality, but if it has, it is a good thing because of the amount of fruit they are producing. I don’t think they could have supported any more weight from fruit had the vines been kept at 7 – 8 ft in height. The vines needed the extra central leader thickness that comes with plant height to support the weight of the fruit.<br />
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<a href="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-FHyYz4sLGnE/Vcq7SzyqqEI/AAAAAAAAA0U/vP24Sl9Rsx8/s1600-h/straw_bale_interior%25255B8%25255D.jpg"><img alt="Straw Bale Garden Frame Interior" border="0" src="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-mLS80K7YxBc/Vcq7Tdc36RI/AAAAAAAAA0Y/NoZtwhigARs/straw_bale_interior_thumb%25255B6%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" height="620" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="Straw Bale Garden Frame Interior" width="827" /></a><br />
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The photo of some of the fruit below is grainy due to the darkness of a cloudy day in addition to the shading that is part of the interior of the growing frame / support. The production of the fruit of all kinds has not declined on the interior though thanks to keeping most of the roof clear and the fact that all of the plants are heavily exposed to the sun both in their upper reaches and with all of their leaves on the outsides of the support frame. Some folks urge me to prune the lower leaves of the plants more severely than I already have but it hasn’t proven necessary given both the quantity and quality of the fruit growing at the lower levels.<br />
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<a href="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-LojFrOOz7Ko/Vcq7TqDvCSI/AAAAAAAAA0k/emCa9q_YFzM/s1600-h/straw_bale_fruit%25255B10%25255D.jpg"><img alt="Straw Bale Garden Fruit" border="0" src="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-fqOU45ENvaE/Vcq7Ua0V7YI/AAAAAAAAA0s/GJ_mmvotf2I/straw_bale_fruit_thumb%25255B8%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" height="628" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="Straw Bale Garden Fruit" width="837" /></a><br />
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<strong><span style="color: #f79646;">8 Sep 2015 Update</span></strong><br />
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The straw bale garden continues to produce more fruit than we ever envisioned possible. During the past week the ceiling of the growth frame was finally covered with tomato plants. When I picked fruit tonight, I literally picked it from the ‘ceiling’ of the frame.<br />
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To date, we have picked over 400 lbs of tomatoes from within the frame and around 100 cucumbers from 2 plants that are that we planted on the end of two of the bales. To say that the payback on the investment to build the frame, drip system and the bales astounding is an understatement. With at least two more pickings ahead of us before the first frost and then still having a substantial harvest of green tomatoes, we are sure that our straw bale garden will produce over 500 lbs of tomatoes this year. <br />
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We have encountered a problem with two plants that picked up a disease from a nearby planting of tomatoes in a raised bed. The plants were destroyed immediately so that hopefully the disease was not embedded in the straw bale in which they were growing.<br />
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The photos show that the growing season is waning and that the bottom leaves on many of the pants have died back. I noted in an earlier update that I purposely left the leaves on the bottom of the plants as a test to see if they could / would produce with the center of the frame basically becoming a somewhat darkly shaded tunnel. The production doesn’t seem to have been affected but of course, the plants still had a lot of access to the sun and fresh air on the outside of the frame and though the higher branches of the plants.<br />
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<a href="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-gIDici7LYLM/Ve_SRPlmh4I/AAAAAAAAA18/8YE8DGLighU/s1600-h/tomato%252520tunnel%2525208sep2015%25255B10%25255D.jpg"><img alt="Tomato Tunnel 8 September 2015" border="0" src="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-ToiyYc_xUUQ/Ve_SRhAm0xI/AAAAAAAAA2E/DH9bcLL67mA/tomato%252520tunnel%2525208sep2015_thumb%25255B7%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" height="656" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="Tomato Tunnel 8 September 2015" width="875" /></a><br />
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<a href="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-zJR3fUn2LUs/Ve_SSDRShuI/AAAAAAAAA2I/LTGWjb0yTI0/s1600-h/tomatoes%2525208sep2015%252520picking%25255B11%25255D.jpg"><img alt="Tomato Harvest 8 September 2015" border="0" src="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-3nbUEDk5mqg/Ve_SSpf5pfI/AAAAAAAAA2U/BOazL0jOOJE/tomatoes%2525208sep2015%252520picking_thumb%25255B8%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" height="658" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="Tomato Harvest 8 September 2015" width="877" /></a><br />
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As you can see by the size of some of the fruit above, supports were absolutely necessary for the plants. We planted 8 different varieties of tomatoes in total. The Early Girls produced in clusters like grapes. The Pineapple, Endless Summer and Orange Slice were particularly large, delicious, sweet and mild. They along with the Pink and Yellow Brandywine’s will definitely be grown again next year. Many of the fruits from these four varieties exceed 3 lbs. One tomato was a meal in itself.
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You can see the fruit hanging from the ‘ceiling’ in the photo below. I had already harvested all of the tomatoes hanging inside the ‘ceiling’ and some of them from above the mesh prior to taking this photo.<br />
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<a href="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-dgRBOxdqrvM/Ve_STR2KXeI/AAAAAAAAA2c/aICKsMxoocs/s1600-h/tomatoes%252520ceiling%2525208sep2015%25255B10%25255D.jpg"><img alt="Tomatoes Growing Above the Ceiling 8 September 2015" border="0" src="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-n_c6eGNEs04/Ve_ST44DPzI/AAAAAAAAA2k/GXNwUg5DKxg/tomatoes%252520ceiling%2525208sep2015_thumb%25255B7%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" height="652" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="Tomatoes Growing Above the Ceiling 8 September 2015" width="869" /></a><br />
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The first basket was filled with tomatoes in minutes without moving more than 4 feet in tonight’s picking. Note the numerous varieties of tomatoes that were all ripe, despite their coloring. The cucumber production is finally starting to slow.<br />
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<a href="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-tCQfoZqaYPA/Ve_SUWfvtMI/AAAAAAAAA2s/E-loJkMmvAw/s1600-h/tomatoes%252520full%252520basket%2525208Sep2015%25255B10%25255D.jpg"><img alt="Full Basket of Tomatoes 8 September 2015" border="0" src="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-46kyGhBncXs/Ve_SVr7uzRI/AAAAAAAAA20/_hLFq8Hf3ws/tomatoes%252520full%252520basket%2525208Sep2015_thumb%25255B7%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" height="638" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="Full Basket of Tomatoes 8 September 2015" width="850" /></a><br />
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The last photo in this update shows the thinning of the bottom leaves as part of a natural die-off rather than from me manually thinning them as many gardeners do to increase the health and production of their tomatoes.<br />
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<a href="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-9XfP9IAi9xU/Ve_SWOKN73I/AAAAAAAAA28/1Ax1qdFRafo/s1600-h/tomatoes%252520thinning%2525208sep2015%25255B10%25255D.jpg"><img alt="Tomatoes - Thinning Lower Leaves - 8 September 2015" border="0" src="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-iSGWoM3lKVA/Ve_SWiRU9CI/AAAAAAAAA3E/mFTUOh63-CM/tomatoes%252520thinning%2525208sep2015_thumb%25255B7%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" height="647" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="Tomatoes - Thinning Lower Leaves - 8 September 2015" width="863" /></a><br />
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<strong><span style="color: #f79646;">14 Nov 2015 Update</span></strong><br />
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The first hard freeze of the Fall 2015 season hit us in the early morning of November 7. It was followed by another hard freeze the next night and as a result we had to say goodbye to our straw bale garden. We have thoroughly enjoyed it this year and it was hard to see it gone. <br />
I’m already working on plans for a much larger straw bale garden for 2016. We are so amazed with the production of the 2015 straw bale garden, we can’t resist expanding on the idea in both size and also in the type of crops we will plant in it. The new garden will be a little over 3 times the size of the 2015 garden.<br />
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Below are photos of now denuded 2015 bale garden. I took them to keep as reference points for a number of reasons:<br />
<ol>
<li>Which bales need to be replaced before the beginning of their 2nd year of service. (We knew that we would only get two years out of them.)</li>
<li>The location and types of support systems used in the experimental first year.</li>
<li>The exact location of the bales and the name tags for the plants that were planted in them.</li>
<li>Any damage due to insects, insidious weeds and leaks in the drip system.</li>
</ol>
The support systems we used in 2015 were:<br />
<ul>
<li> Tomato Rings – The rings worked so well by providing full support for the branches and tomatoes, few tomatoes were lost and the daily maintenance time was minimal.</li>
<li>5” Nylon Trellis Netting – The netting worked very well, but the plants had to be tied to the mesh frequently via Gardening Velcro. The mesh squares worked well on the top of the support structure to hold the tomatoes that ‘dripped’ from the ceiling.</li>
<li>The commonly used garden twine. We still like the use of garden twine in the garden, but based on the almost magical growth of plants rooted in our straw bales, the twine method simply can’t keep up to the growth in the mid-to-later summer without a LOT of work on a daily basis.</li>
</ul>
Based on the knowledge we gained this year, almost all of our tall plants in future years will utilize the <strong>Tomato Rings</strong> for support.<br />
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<a href="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-H0-F6sehIxM/Vkd8IVoWKPI/AAAAAAAAA3o/O1isEyPPLiE/s1600-h/Straw_Bale_Garden_13_Nov_2015_a%25255B18%25255D.jpg"><img alt="Straw_Bale_Garden_13_Nov_2015_a" border="0" src="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-GQ8nEmflIWE/Vkd8I86_5ZI/AAAAAAAAA3s/pVEF9fGMrhI/Straw_Bale_Garden_13_Nov_2015_a_thumb%25255B14%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" height="628" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="Straw_Bale_Garden_13_Nov_2015_a" width="837" /></a><br />
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The bale at the end of the path has basically broken down to compost and will have to be replaced for 2016.<br />
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<a href="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-lwof_Mwe2HE/Vkd8JDh9KxI/AAAAAAAAA3w/n5bqdvUPcDU/s1600-h/Straw_Bale_Garden_13_Nov_2015_b%25255B20%25255D.jpg"><img alt="Straw_Bale_Garden_13_Nov_2015_b" border="0" src="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-2ikJTuVsRBM/Vkd8Jvxd22I/AAAAAAAAA34/KzFgdNWipDo/Straw_Bale_Garden_13_Nov_2015_b_thumb%25255B18%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" height="622" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="Straw_Bale_Garden_13_Nov_2015_b" width="829" /></a><br />
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This poor fellow (below:) met his match when it supported the growth of two cucumber plants and one mini-pumpkin plant. They about ‘sucked’ it dry.<br />
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<a href="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-NbjwJLo5hkM/Vkd8KPTufTI/AAAAAAAAA4A/OorAO4gKO7A/s1600-h/Straw_Bale_Garden_13_Nov_2015_c%25255B14%25255D.jpg"><img alt="Straw_Bale_Garden_13_Nov_2015_c" border="0" src="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-t6iPMquBSNE/Vkd8KspEfMI/AAAAAAAAA4E/wgJKWXEhTy4/Straw_Bale_Garden_13_Nov_2015_c_thumb%25255B12%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" height="628" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="Straw_Bale_Garden_13_Nov_2015_c" width="837" /></a><br />
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Yes,the bales look like they have seen better days (they have!) but will they last for 2 years? I think that most if not all of them will after I’ve inspected them and pulled out any of them that are in almost total failure. The failed bales will be added to one of our compost pits to turn into black garden gold.<br />
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The bales that I leave in place for a 2nd year will require my attention in the 2016 growing year. I’ll be sure to only use them on aisles where I’m using electrical conduit and tomato rings. I am going to try some schedule 40 PVC for the supports next year to see how they stand up to the weight, sunlight and strain associated with a garden setting that has mega growth plants demanding constant support of their heavy weight.<br />
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<a href="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-fR2noMnmnSM/Vkd8LEV044I/AAAAAAAAA4I/rUFLriRb7Sk/s1600-h/Straw_Bale_Garden_13_Nov_2015_d%25255B9%25255D.jpg"><img alt="Straw_Bale_Garden_13_Nov_2015_d" border="0" src="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-GeQkk3t_CJg/Vkd8LmTxMYI/AAAAAAAAA4Q/4AWcRWFyTVg/Straw_Bale_Garden_13_Nov_2015_d_thumb%25255B7%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" height="611" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="Straw_Bale_Garden_13_Nov_2015_d" width="815" /></a><br />
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We can’t wait to start developing our 2016 straw bale gardens. As noted earlier, our 2016 straw bale garden will be a little over 3 times the size of our 2015 test garden. All of our children and many friends and acquaintances are going to use the straw bales gardening system in their own gardens next year. We know from experience that if they exactly follow the methods,mixtures and TLC that we used in our 2015 garden, they will be blown away by the increased garden production levels in 2016. We have been so happy with our garden this year that we’ve actually invited folks to “come on out back and see out garden” simply because we love watching their eyes pop open so wide they almost look like cartoon images when they first spot the straw bales in full growth.<br />
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We picked over 500 pounds of fruit off of our little straw bale garden this year. Wow! Even I’m surprised. There were days when we could actually see the plants grow up to 4” in length.<br />
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What more can be said about straw bale gardens? Well, according to the Anesthesiologists who were taking care of me in several recent operations, they were the last thing I talked about before the lights went out and the first thing I talked about when I started to come to again. I guess that is enough of a selling point for my family as they know how much I dislike hospitals and ‘medical procedures’ that sank in importance to me so much that I didn’t care about the hospital recovery rooms and gatherings of folks in masks enough to keep me from telling them about ‘this miracle gardening method’. In other words, “Try it Mikey, You’ll like it!”<br />
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Lastly, here’s a look north toward the straw bale garden that is by the rear fence and is not visible in this photo. We still love our older but still very serviceable greenhouse and hope that it out lasts our stay in mortality if it is well maintained.<br />
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<a href="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-EJowvVe1tXc/VbhK4FuvW6I/AAAAAAAAAyo/F_6QSz2b7Ao/s1600-h/greenhouse_summer_evening%25255B8%25255D.jpg"><img alt="greenhouse_summer_evening" border="0" src="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-GHyJOt352Io/VbhK4tBQP8I/AAAAAAAAAyw/nvoJYMnjQDo/greenhouse_summer_evening_thumb%25255B6%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" height="658" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="greenhouse_summer_evening" width="877" /></a><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>Posted 10 July 2015 by Lee R. Drew on the <a href="http://www.n7lrd.com/" target="_blank">NorthMountain Blog</a></b></span></div>
<div class="blogger-post-footer">Copyright 2008 - 2019 Lee R. Drew. All Rights Reserved</div>North Mountainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05106681163593292633noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-156524309530455601.post-47135016939955551342015-03-08T04:36:00.003-06:002017-02-23T02:52:12.821-07:00Best Ham Radio Go Box Design<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I've spent a lot of time over the years looking at the designs of ham radio go boxes amateur</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> radio operators have created. They invariably include some ideas and design concepts that I hadn't considered or that are excellent concepts for their use in real world and emergency situations.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The size of a go box varies based on the application when and where it will be used. Everyone building kits will probably find that eventually they will build several based on its intended application. They are small kit to grab and go that is used in daily activities and a more robust kit that can serve as control point for emergencies, club activities and other similar applications.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">After looking at a myriad of designs, the single best go box design I've found was created by Robert, KC6TYD. He has found several solutions to issues that I've encountered involving the case and ease of access to the back of the components.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> After using his initial creation for a while, Robert opted to make a few modifications to his original design and chronicled them in a second video.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">If you are considering a go box, watch Robert's videos before you design your own box. You'll undoubtedly appreciate his design and referenced source materials.</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>Update</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Edward Vignati has create an extreme version of Go Box complete with LED lighting, CB radio and extended modular construction ideas.</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>Another Update</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">HF only but a great Go Box design.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #1c1c1c; color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.8500003814697px; line-height: 20.7900009155273px;">Posted 8 Mar 2015 by Lee Drew on the </span><strong style="background-color: #1c1c1c; color: #cccccc; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.8500003814697px; line-height: 20.7900009155273px;"><a href="http://www.n7lrd.com/" style="color: #dd7700; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">North Mountain Blog</a></strong><div class="blogger-post-footer">Copyright 2008 - 2019 Lee R. Drew. All Rights Reserved</div>Lee Drewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07887845471606058415noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-156524309530455601.post-33108367690679717962015-03-04T00:41:00.000-07:002015-03-04T01:11:38.105-07:00The Ultimate Pocket Survival KitCarrying a pocket sized survival kit with you on trips, camping, hunting or even<a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-yG3-XpHhYBw/VPa8qw89G5I/AAAAAAAAAtQ/h0oW-L6rpOA/s1600-h/bag_red_cross%25255B5%25255D.png"><img align="right" alt="bag_red_cross" border="0" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-krB4Zm5Ypvs/VPa8rcnN0WI/AAAAAAAAAtU/cM21-CzTkQk/bag_red_cross_thumb%25255B3%25255D.png?imgmax=800" height="107" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; display: inline; float: right; margin: 5px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="bag_red_cross" width="127" /></a><br />
around down is an excellent habit. Accidents of all types happen and in many cases, you are far away from your larger kits when they occur.<br />
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Here are some excellent ideas to help in creating your own pocket survival kits. David and Dr. Joe compare their own pocket sized survival kits. <br />
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Posted 4 Mar 2015 by Lee Drew on the <strong><a href="http://www.n7lrd.com/" target="_blank">North Mountain Blog.</a></strong><div class="blogger-post-footer">Copyright 2008 - 2019 Lee R. Drew. All Rights Reserved</div>North Mountainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05106681163593292633noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-156524309530455601.post-26740418778350814802014-02-22T13:11:00.001-07:002015-03-04T15:19:49.215-07:00New UK Ham Radio Program–TX FactorA new Ham Radio program called TX Factor has recently started publishing episodes to YouTube.<a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-JDvcYgiTk7A/UwkEgGMpgoI/AAAAAAAAAoI/GtPMCBeltsI/s1600-h/ham_antenna%25255B6%25255D.jpg"><img align="right" alt="ham_antenna" border="0" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-3dgdczmVEaE/UwkEgyShWsI/AAAAAAAAAoQ/MbbrJC22-fs/ham_antenna_thumb%25255B3%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" height="65" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; display: inline; float: right; margin: 5px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="ham_antenna" width="49" /></a><br />
If the first episode is any indication of the quality of future programming, Ham Radio operators worldwide will enjoy the program.<br />
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Episode #1 covers the stories of Marconi’s first broadcast, SOTA transmissions and Relay Station operations.<br />
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<div class="blogger-post-footer">Copyright 2008 - 2019 Lee R. Drew. All Rights Reserved</div>North Mountainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05106681163593292633noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-156524309530455601.post-21461952838106403722012-07-13T08:00:00.000-06:002015-03-04T15:22:06.718-07:00Ultimate Medic BagPreppers always have a reasonably well-stocked medic bag in their preparedness collections. Hopefully,<a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-1jNG7YpKAHE/T_5_QlDBmOI/AAAAAAAAAjs/sYijxGnIDhE/s1600-h/medicbag%25255B3%25255D.jpg"><img align="right" alt="medicbag" border="0" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-AjObnaIl2LA/T_5_RGGbdsI/AAAAAAAAAj0/eHe-zoqNVDo/medicbag_thumb%25255B1%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" height="176" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; display: inline; float: right; margin: 5px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="medicbag" width="176" /></a> they have made the effort to be able to skillfully use its contents in real world applications.<br />
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Those experienced with emergency medical procedures build kits that may grossly resemble the kits by the ordinary non-skilled prepper has created, but the semblance ends at the name.<br />
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Witness what many call the ultimate medic bag that was assembled and is used by Sgt. Tony Acuna of the Oregon National Guard in this YouTube video interview by the <strong><a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/USNERDOC" target="_blank">USNERDOC</a></strong>.<br />
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Most of us will never build a kit this complete, but we can dream.<br />
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<div class="blogger-post-footer">Copyright 2008 - 2019 Lee R. Drew. All Rights Reserved</div>North Mountainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05106681163593292633noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-156524309530455601.post-42057543569067027132012-07-12T00:59:00.000-06:002015-03-04T15:40:46.374-07:00Ham Radio Go-Kit and 2-Meter AntennaHam radio operators enjoy the freedom of communications anywhere they go. Granted, there are some<a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-AIh0O-ysc_Y/T_51-lKWPkI/AAAAAAAAAio/KvvGhihHniI/s1600-h/handitalkie%25255B4%25255D.jpg"><img align="right" alt="handitalkie" border="0" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-xL-CF9VMRxo/T_51_LZcRII/AAAAAAAAAiw/GiNOneX2QPU/handitalkie_thumb%25255B2%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" height="155" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; display: inline; float: right; margin: 5px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="handitalkie" width="49" /></a> places where contact with the world is a little harder than others, but with effort, most of the impossible locations fail to retain that title.<br />
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Having a radio or radios mounted in your vehicle is convenient and a must for most ham’s, but it isn’t always possible to enjoy that luxury. Therefore, a portable radio and antenna are a must for all hams.<br />
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Enter the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/USNERDOC" target="_blank"><strong>USNERDOC</strong></a> and his YouTube Channel that is full of practical applications and suggestions for hams everywhere.<br />
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<strong>Ham Radio Go-Bag</strong><br />
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<strong>Portable Ham Radio Antenna</strong><br />
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<strong>Buddistick Antenna</strong><br />
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<br /></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">Copyright 2008 - 2019 Lee R. Drew. All Rights Reserved</div>North Mountainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05106681163593292633noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-156524309530455601.post-10140936492088869792012-05-14T00:27:00.000-06:002012-05-14T00:31:11.861-06:00Digestion, Water and Batteries<p>Prepping is in the news, on TV and becoming a national ‘hobby’.  The need for preparedness is nothing new to members of the church, but perhaps we need to look at our actual preparedness status through the eyes of some of the folks featured in the Preppers TV shows.  Below are some of the subjects they’ve discussed.</p> <p> </p> <p><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-33Z9eZAn_JU/T7CmKCZbJ5I/AAAAAAAAAh0/pdO9gYJ6ncE/s1600-h/water_barrel%25255B5%25255D.jpg"><img style="background-image: none; border-right-width: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="water_barrel" border="0" alt="water_barrel" align="right" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-7hnlAdHYMP8/T7CmKrnAeCI/AAAAAAAAAh8/-r8g2Yxijo8/water_barrel_thumb%25255B2%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="184" height="184" /></a><strong></strong></p> <p><strong></strong></p> <p><strong></strong></p> <p><strong>Water <br /></strong></p> <strong></strong> <p>It is extremely hard to grasp how much water we need in storage.  Experts tell us we need at least a gallon per person per day.  Try living on that amount for a few days.  You know how it is when you go camping or hunting.  By day three or four, we stink, we itch and our digestive tracts are telling us that we haven’t been drinking enough water.   Add these impacts to the stress of the world we know and love being in turmoil or even lying about us in destruction.</p> <p><strong>    <br /></strong>We all need a LOT of water in our storage.  In my personal situation, our home is on an earthquake fault that hasn’t released much energy for a long time.  The clock is clicking.  If, no when,  a big quake hits us, water pipes are going to break.  A lot of them.  We need to store a lot of water for that eventuality.  </p> <p> </p> <p>Do you have emergency water storage in your home or apartment?  If not, you’d be well advised to start storing some and rotating it on a fairly regular basis.  <br /></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Training our digestive systems</strong> <br /></p> <p>I love grains.  I always ate handfuls of wheat, oats and barley while feeding the chickens as a kid.  It tasted better than candy.  Wild wheat along the roads and in the fields provided a gourmet selection for the grazing of this young, voracious preteen locust. </p> <p><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-A7C5KxTTUUQ/T7CmK5mPnnI/AAAAAAAAAiE/jLu6v3AMl3I/s1600-h/grains%25255B4%25255D.jpg"><img style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="grains" border="0" alt="grains" align="right" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-zhFmAKpoQm0/T7CmLPGQa3I/AAAAAAAAAiM/VGXJIHeFJgc/grains_thumb%25255B2%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="121" height="121" /></a> <br />Wheat, rice and oats continued to be a big part of my diet as an adult …. and then … I got lazy.  I don’t feed critters any more.  I don’t cook a pot of rice for dinner every day or so.  I eat Cinnamon Life cereal for goodness sake, or at least I usually do unless we run out. </p> <p>  <br />During past months, Cinnamon Life has been missing or very hard to find on grocery store shelves.  I know because we’ve tried to find it.  I even looked for it on Amazon and from other vendors on the web.   They weren’t going to stop selling it and leave me in a lurch like they did when they stopped making Postum and I hadn’t heard about it.  I was going to stock up.  I’d even thought of freezing boxes of it and kicking out lesser items like ice cream from the freezer shelf to free up space.   (No, I hadn’t discussed this with my wife, so this may have not have been a feasible logistical element in the plan.)  </p> <p><strong>  <br /></strong>And then, they started making Cinnamon Life again.  We missed it at first because they put it in a newly designed box that didn’t shout “Cinnamon Life” due to the color of the box.   You know what I’m talking about.  During the Cinnamon Life drought, I pulled out a container of 12-grain cereal and ‘cooked up’ a batch.  “Oh, yeah”.  “This is good.”  “How did I forget how good this is?”  Of course, I couldn’t remember exactly how big a handful to throw in the pot for just me, but so what if I made a little too much?  I’d simply eat it.  You don’t toss that last bowl of 9-bean soup and you don’t toss that extra little bit of 12-grain cereal.  Only crazy people would do that, so I found a bigger bowl and carefully scraped every last grain. <br /></p> <p>“How was the cereal?” asked my non-cereal loving wife.  “It was great! ... although I may have eaten a little too much.”   </p> <p>  <br />Skip forward three or four hours.   You know where this is going too.  This grain loving country kid had let his digestive tract forget how much it loves grain.  It thought that grain was an enemy!</p> <p>    <br />I was very happy that the water lines here at home weren’t broken …  Several times.. <br /></p> <p>I’m introducing my innards to my old granular friends again.  It is happening slowly, but the affection is growing.  The finely ground flour in our diet is diminishing.  Beans are on the menu (my menu, Sister Drew doesn’t care for them) more often.   I’m really happy that the digestive training regimen is happening now and am happy I’m not engaged in it when our only shopping is from our food storage.   <br />If you’ve been lazy too, seriously consider changing your ways now while you can.  Train, train, train your gut to love coarse food elements.  You do have wheat and beans in your storage don’t you?</p> <p>  <br /><strong>How old is too old?</strong></p> <p>  <br />Recently, the cable line failed where it came through the wall into our house.  When I built our home, I included a conduit through the foundation just for cable TV.  I forgot that I’d located it in the corner of the storage room where I’d eventually store 6-gallon buckets of wheat and beans.  My hindsight is still very accurate. </p> <p> <br />There aren’t too many buckets in the way but they all had to be moved to pull the new cable.  Some of them blinked a number of times when light hit them.  Many had forgotten that such a thing existed.  The freeze dried potato slices and pearls  that I’d filled some time ago, experienced the most surprise in this new reality, so I thought I should take some of them upstairs to introduce them to light for the rest of their lives. <br /></p> <p>We’ve eaten the contents in most of them now.  We got full but I’m not sure how much nutrition was associated with the old contents.  I’m also not sure that I cared for their texture in a reconstituted state.  Their younger cousins taste and fill out better.</p> <p>   <br />We try to rotate our storage but it doesn’t happen as quickly as it did when we had a house full of teenagers.  Maybe, that logistical element in our storage plan needs to be revised too.   <br /></p> <p>How about you?  Even with your herd of locusts, are items in your storage being rotated with some frequency?  If not, go spelunking this weekend and let the light shine where it hasn’t for a long time.  Bring some of the stuff from the back and bottom to the top and include it in your current menu.    <br /></p> <p>How does it taste to you?  Is it just filling or is it something you’d like to eat every week?  Don’t toss the remnants from the cans though.  Give them to Dad.  He can’t stand to toss great stuff like that.  He’ll eat all that is left. </p> <p> <br /><strong>Rechargeable Batteries</strong> </p> <p> <br />Daylight savings time started and the batteries in our clocks all seemed to die rather than present the<a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-7LCAaChMLXU/T7CmLYyZrnI/AAAAAAAAAiU/X2t91hSE60Q/s1600-h/battery%25255B4%25255D.png"><img style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="battery" border="0" alt="battery" align="right" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-gIn8OMYDjd4/T7CmLiiAmHI/AAAAAAAAAic/PfQilZ13Jac/battery_thumb%25255B2%25255D.png?imgmax=800" width="76" height="45" /></a> adjusted numbers.  It was time to recharge the AA rechargeable batteries in them.  80% of them failed to charge!  I had purchased the best Sony rechargeables but charging cycle 10 was the last dance on their dance cards.  </p> <p>  <br />Those losers have been replaced with Eneloop brand rechargeables now.  They say that 1500 they have a 1500 recharge life and I tend to believe them.  Almost everyone on Amazon says so, so it must be true.  As it turns out, my battery engineer friend confirms it.   If you are using rechargeables in your emergency kits, replace the ones in your radios with the 2500 watt-hour Eneloops batteries.  The rest of your stuff will work fine with the less expensive 1500-watt hour Eneloop version.  Choose the right battery.  It will save a lot over the life of your devices.</p> <div class="blogger-post-footer">Copyright 2008 - 2019 Lee R. Drew. All Rights Reserved</div>North Mountainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05106681163593292633noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-156524309530455601.post-22357618577579556632011-12-20T12:10:00.000-07:002011-12-20T12:44:32.028-07:00It’s Time To Plan For Spring<p><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-vaFKyJkyzMQ/TvDf3nwtU7I/AAAAAAAAAhg/iZEr52qVEN8/s1600-h/1%25255B4%25255D.jpg"><strong><img style="background-image: none; border-right-width: 0px; margin: 5px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="Plant a Victory Garden" border="0" alt="" align="right" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-9vPsithedJ4/TvDf31KCUDI/AAAAAAAAAho/zuENu1yFKDM/1_thumb%25255B1%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="184" height="240" /></strong></a>Short nights and cold dreary days are with us again.  The lack of sunlight affects some folks with the loss of energy and even takes the shine off their normally positive disposition.  Is it going to be a long winter season for you too? </p> <p>There is a way to mitigate this problem to a large degree.  Plan your 2012 garden.  If you haven’t already ordered seed catalogs for the coming season, go online and order them soon.</p> <p>My favorite catalog is the<strong> “</strong><a href="http://rareseeds.com" target="_blank"><strong>Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds</strong></a><strong>”</strong> catalog.  It is full of great color photos of warm weather and sometimes strange looking but exciting varieties for the garden.  Baker Creek carries the “old” seed varieties. You won’t find any highly modified tomatoes that were developed to fit square holes in a carton regardless of the taste.  Instead, you’ll find the great tasting, high producing varieties of fruit and vegetables seeds obtained from master gardeners around the world. </p> <p>If you have struggled to get your children or grandchildren interested in gardening, invite them to join you in planting “Orange Fleshed Purple Smudge” tomatoes or a few bushes of “Dragon’s Egg”, “West India Burr Gerkin”or “Green Apple” cucumbers along with a few rows of “Monkey Tail” beans.  How can they resist joining in? </p> <p>I’m not making these names up.  They may sound like they originated in a fantasy novel, but they are anything but fantasy producers.  When the winter blues get you down, open your seed catalog wish books and escape to summer weather in your mind.  Make a list of some new tastes and irregular forms that you want to see in your garden this year.   And remember, the seeds from these heritage plants are easy to store and regerminate for use in your 2013 gardens.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>World War II Recipes</strong> </p> <p>Recent financial troubles around the world have brought a bright focus on governments (including our own) and people who have long lived beyond their means.  In countries such as Greece where the financial hammer is slamming on the heads of its residents, we see articles like the series I’ve been following for a few months: </p> <p>Titles like “World War II Starvation Recipes”, “Chew Longer and More Slowly” grace the column titles in pages of Greek newspapers.</p> <p>Are they serious?  Unfortunately, yes.  Greek citizens are struggling to feed their families let alone pay their bills.  Unemployment is extremely high, credit is extremely tight and ready cash for things like food and rent is extremely hard to find.  “Extreme” being the common descriptive word in all of the articles.</p> <p>The stories are real.  They are stating facts about a first world nation that is on the ropes.  Greece is being followed by Italy and other European nations into a morass of unsustainable debt, loss of purchasing power and liquidity.  It could happen here in the blink of an eye too.</p> <p>I’m old enough to have parents and siblings who struggled to live through the Great Depression, World Wars and economic instabilities.  I grew up thinking you had to use it up, wear it out and make do because my parents knew that their current day good fortune could evaporate almost instantly just as it had several times before.</p> <p>One thing has always stuck in my memory.  My mother made wonderful meals, but the ingredients always varied depending on what leftovers were in the fridge.  She couldn’t make the same cake twice in a row because the left over pancake batter, melted butter, half dried out orange or bottom of the bottle flavoring concentrate didn’t exist the next time she made cake.  They would be replaced by something else that ‘needed to be used up before it goes to waste’.</p> <p>I remember all of us boys asking for the recipe of a cake that was so good we devoured it BEFORE Thanksgiving dinner.  “That was terrific Mom.”  “What did you put in it this time?”  “Can we get the recipe?”  And of course, she couldn’t give us an exact recipe because it was made from some of this and some of that and who knew what else.</p> <p>We live in a world of preassembled food and mixes that contain ingredients measured almost to the grain of sugar to insure consistency.  How many of us cook most of the time from ingredients being rotated through our food storage?  How many of us make cakes like my mother did … with some of this and some of that and never a measuring device being used in the whole process?</p> <p>If we don’t cook this way, now is the time to migrate to that process so we know how to make good meals or at least tasty meals from what we have on hand.  We are riding on a financial bubble in America right now whose cellular wall is of ever thinning integrity.  If bad times come, they could arrive almost instantly.  If your parents are still alive and have some old but tried and true World War II recipes, it may be a good idea to get a copy of them and whip them up a time or two just in case.</p> <div style="padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: none; padding-top: 0px" id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:b470fac3-c2a9-43f9-a225-e2b8a6f88762" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent">Technorati Tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Emergency+Preparedness" rel="tag">Emergency Preparedness</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Gardening" rel="tag">Gardening</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Seeds" rel="tag">Seeds</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Recipes" rel="tag">Recipes</a></div> <div class="blogger-post-footer">Copyright 2008 - 2019 Lee R. Drew. All Rights Reserved</div>North Mountainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05106681163593292633noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-156524309530455601.post-70010266072683164022011-10-14T03:49:00.000-06:002011-10-15T14:31:44.184-06:00Copper J-Pole Antennas<p><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-rhitGaNd1Bw/TpgQhmBR__I/AAAAAAAAAgY/DKFA38jol4E/s1600-h/DSC09138%25255B10%25255D.jpg"><img style="background-image: none; border-right-width: 0px; margin: 5px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: left; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="Super J-Pole Tuning" border="0" alt="" align="left" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-sncp0_vkSk4/TpgQiBUVgOI/AAAAAAAAAgg/-ciGPCLHZF0/DSC09138_thumb%25255B7%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="294" height="392" /></a>As soon as you get your Amateur Radio license, you start thinking about a good 2-meter antenna for your home or garage.  Commercially built antennas can be expensive but there is a great solution to the problem.   Build a Copper J-Pole antenna.</p> <p>Construction of the J-Poles is simple.  Careful measurements and soldering skill condenses the soldering construction time into a few brief hours.  If you haven’t soldered copper pipe fittings before, buy a few extra and practice a few times before you start construction on your antenna.  There are numerous videos on YouTube that show the best method for soldering copper pipes.  </p> <p>You’ll find that you will rapidly become proficient with the skill.  Undoubtedly, you’ll be using it again before long to build more antennas either for yourself, scout troops and as an Elmer helping new Hams set up their own shacks.</p> <p>I built both Super J-Poles (2-Meter, 70 CM) and single frequency 2-Meter J-Poles for use at home and for other applications.   </p> <p>N7QVC has posted the <a href="http://www.n7qvc.com/amateur_radio/dualband_copper_cactus_j-pole.shtml" target="_blank"><strong>plans for both of these antennas</strong></a> on his site.  The comments by his blog readers are equally helpful in choosing the design features of your J-Pole.  Download them and print a copy for the wall above your work bench.</p> <p>I used 3/4” copper for the Super J-Poles and 1/2” copper for the J-Poles.  There is a substantial weight difference between the two antennas due to their respective lengths and the added pipe mass.</p> <p><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-2NH9KoO2r48/TpgQiqT6QSI/AAAAAAAAAgo/F0S0fogpdpQ/s1600-h/DSC09140%25255B7%25255D.jpg"><img style="background-image: none; border-right-width: 0px; margin: 5px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: left; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="Super J-Pole Jumper" border="0" alt="" align="left" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-V9ZsF-RncCs/TpgQjLiV2bI/AAAAAAAAAgw/a95t5vqe4E8/DSC09140_thumb%25255B4%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="287" height="215" /></a>Even though I’d drilled and tapped holes for the stainless screws to attach the copper 3/8” tubing in the Super J-Poles, they didn’t offer the solid connections I’d hoped to achieve.  The connections won’t ever loosen with the stainless hose clamps I put around the copper and over the screws.  The clamps had no measurable affect to the SWR of the antennas.   Just remember to paint the schedule 40 union or threaded PVC splice that you use to separate the sections of the antenna before tightening the screws lest you strip the threading out of the tubes with multiple tightenings.</p> <p>Tuning the antennas was a snap.  I used sections of split tubing combined with stainless steel hose clamps to attach the SO-239 connector and feed point.  The idea came from comments I read on several blogs and it works very well.   The sections are each 1 1/2” in length.  It was easy to bend back a 1/4” lip at the split and drill holes through it to match the mounting holes on the SO-239.  A Dremel tool quickly carved a curved notch so it could seat deeply enough to align the mounting holes with the copper sections.</p> <p>Once the split sections were snapped in place about 3” above the base of the “J”, it was simple to slide them up or down slightly to find the best SWR / Antenna Analyzer reading.  Clamping them in place was accomplished using more stainless hose clamps followed by solder between the section and the antenna elements.</p> <p><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-se89T3pN8fg/TpgQjUVrnAI/AAAAAAAAAg4/LcDq4q1vcog/s1600-h/DSC09142%25255B7%25255D.jpg"><img style="background-image: none; border-right-width: 0px; margin: 5px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: left; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="Tuning a J-Pole" border="0" alt="" align="left" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-A2ff9w_7M7k/TpgQj8iGdCI/AAAAAAAAAhA/f2eOgeOLW-o/DSC09142_thumb%25255B4%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="281" height="375" /></a>The SWR for the Super J-Poles is 1:1.1 and the J-Poles have a 1:1 SWR.  I used 146.500 as the ‘sweet spot’ tuning frequency because it is close to the mid-point of the frequencies used by the repeaters in my area.</p> <p>I played with the radiation patterns before final mounting but found that it didn’t really matter which way I pointed the antennas because we live in a valley with mountains all around us.  The repeaters I use are all line-of-sight shots on nearby mountain ridges, so hitting them is easy.  </p> <p>The Super J-Pole is mounted at 25 ft and operates flawlessly. I mounted the J-Pole at 11 ft on a post that supports a side fence by my shop.  I expected some impact due to the reduced height, but it is negligible.  </p> <p>The simplex tests I ran were all over 30-miles in distance and even at 5-watts, I couldn’t conclusively prove one orientation to be better than another.  Broadcast radiation and reception worked very well with these copper hot-shots.   I suspect that the mountains here almost duct the radio waves along the valleys between them regardless of the twists and turns that I tested.    </p> <p>You’ll want to look up J-Pole radiation patterns and do some testing at your location before making the final tightening turns on the antenna mount.</p> <p>The whole tuning process per antenna only took 10-minutes at most.  It literally took more time dialing them in by checking readings between the radios and meters on my work bench and the antennas than it did to solder the connections in place.</p> <p>In an effort to bring the younger generation into the Ham Radio world, I used Google video chat on a laptop so a grandson could engage in the construction from afar.  He will undoubtedly build ‘better’ antennas in the coming months to show his grandfather that the digital generation can build things out of copper as well as being a master of digital bits, which is just what I hoped for.</p> <p>My wife likes the look of shiny copper, so rather than painting the antennas that will be used at our home a sky gray color, I polished them with steel wool and covered them with four coats of clear lacquer.  So far, none of the neighbors have spotted them through the Ponderosa pine trees at hour home.  The G5RV antennas between the same pines have never been spotted, so I have little fear of complaints about a couple of copper shafts in the air in different locations.</p> <p>I used LMR-400 coax wire to the entrance box with its lightning arrestors and multiple 12” bulkheads that feed through the wall into my ham shack.  I really like LMR-400 cable due to very good experiences with it in my HF and other installations.  </p> <p>If you are considering building a J-Pole but aren’t sure of your skill level, quit worrying and start building.  Even if you haven’t built anything like this before, you’ll quickly learn the minimal required skills and you’ll have fun in the process.  </p> <p>There are many variations on the J-Pole and recommendations for their construction on the web.  Take a little time, read through them, focus on the folks who have actually built antennas from the plans and choose your design.  </p> <p>You’ll be on the air with your new antenna sooner than you’d think possible and if you are lucky, the only part you’ll have to buy that isn’t already in bins in your garage or shop will be the SO-239 connector.  If you’ve been to any Hamfests or gatherings, you probably have a handful of them laying around too. </p> <div style="padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: none; padding-top: 0px" id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:93799fdf-4433-4653-80ea-2ff41a26a90c" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent">Technorati Tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/J-Pole" rel="tag">J-Pole</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Antenna" rel="tag">Antenna</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Ham+Radio" rel="tag">Ham Radio</a></div> <div class="blogger-post-footer">Copyright 2008 - 2019 Lee R. Drew. All Rights Reserved</div>North Mountainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05106681163593292633noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-156524309530455601.post-24351985490971331142011-06-26T15:59:00.000-06:002015-03-04T16:06:04.257-07:00Ham Exams and Field Day 2011The number of ham operators in our area is increasing fairly significantly after we asked the Boy Scouts<a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-OiOmFPxM244/TgeuKK2GaTI/AAAAAAAAAf4/Kwl_jD84gbA/s1600-h/ham_operator2%25255B3%25255D.jpg"><img align="right" alt="ham_operator2" border="0" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-aytVW3DB8Ec/TgeuK7fnqXI/AAAAAAAAAf8/h1rtPRPSSCg/ham_operator2_thumb%25255B1%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" height="114" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; display: inline; float: right; margin: 5px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="ham_operator2" width="164" /></a> to become involved in our emergency preparedness drills filling the function as our radio communicators. After training, they easily passed the Technician Exam. They implemented that knowledge in our emergency drill and subsequently met the qualifications for several Scout Merit badges.<br />
<br />
A side benefit is that their parents, scout leaders and some family members also get licensed along with their Scouts. Who wants to be left out of the fun?<br />
<br />
I recently spoke to Richard, <strong>KD7BBC</strong>, who has created the extremely useful website, <strong><a href="https://hamstudy.org/" target="_blank">HamStudy.org</a></strong>, to help folks obtain any level ham license with some very good study and practice tests. I consider his tests to be the best on the web. Be sure to check them out if you are studying for your Ham license(s).<br />
<br />
We found that our scouts increased their test scores if they took practice tests from three different sites in rotation. The test sites are:<br />
<ul>
<li><a href="https://hamstudy.org/" target="_blank"><strong>HamStudy</strong></a> immediately responds with “Correct” or “Incorrect” when you click on the answers. Site users are adding response statements that explain why the answer is correct. Additionally, you can review and reanswer all of the questions you missed in the test to help you in your licensing exam.</li>
<li><a href="http://hamexam.org/" target="_blank"><strong>HamExam</strong></a> mixes the answer order around so you don’t remember the position of the answer rather than the correct verbiage of the answer</li>
<li><a href="http://www.eham.net/exams/generateexams" target="_blank"><strong>eHam</strong></a> presents the answers with radio button selection for yet another presentation of the test.</li>
</ul>
<strong>Field Day 2011</strong><br />
<strong><br /></strong>
Ham Field Day 2011 just completed. Below are some video reports from that most enjoyable event. Life was good and DX’ing was great!<br />
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<b>Ham Field Day 2011 – Fryeburg, Maine</b></div>
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<b>Ham Field Day 2011 - Fallbrook, CA</b><br />
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<b>Ham Field Day 2011 - CW - Athens, TX</b><br />
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<b>Ham Field Day 2011 - Jackson, MS</b><br />
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<b>Ham Field Day 2011 - Blue Canyon, CA</b></div>
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<div class="blogger-post-footer">Copyright 2008 - 2019 Lee R. Drew. All Rights Reserved</div>North Mountainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05106681163593292633noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-156524309530455601.post-53856956425581648092011-05-14T14:10:00.000-06:002015-03-04T15:52:43.376-07:00Weekly Ham Radio Show on TWiT Network Update<img align="left" alt="" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_OTJiRRZ5Hb0/TZEjbDKW2sI/AAAAAAAAAe4/fklNR-c8eqQ/twit_logo%5B4%5D.gif?imgmax=800" height="52" style="display: inline; float: left; margin: 5px;" title="Twit Network www.twit.tv" width="49" /><b><a href="http://thenorthmountain.blogspot.com/2011/03/weekly-ham-radio-show-coming-to-twittv.html" target="_blank" title="Weekly Ham Radio Show Coming to TWiT.tv">In an earlier post</a></b>, I talked about an upcoming netcast show about Ham Radio called HAM NATION. The show has now officially been added to the TWiT Network schedule.<br />
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On 14 May 2011, <b><a href="http://wiki.twit.tv/wiki/Leo_Laporte" target="_blank" title="Leo Leporte - TWiT Network">Leo Laporte</a></b> announced the new HAM NATION show on his <b><a href="http://www.twit.tv/" target="_blank" title="TWiT Network">TWiT network</a></b>. The host of the show is none other than the famous Ham and sound aficionado <b><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/kj5t/3630678230/" target="_blank" title="Bob Heil, K9EID">K9EID Bob Heil</a></b> of <b><a href="http://heilsound.com/amateur/index.htm" target="_blank" title="Heil Sound - Amateur Radio Equipment">Heil Sound</a></b>.<br />
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<b><img align="right" alt="" src="http://heilsound.com/amateur/gallery/i/Joe-Classic-3.jpg" height="113" style="display: inline; float: right; margin: 5px;" title="Joe Walsh - WB6ACU" width="150" />The first show will be on May 24, 2011 starting at 6:00 p.m. Pacific</b>.<br />
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<b>UPDATE: Bob announced that the show will be broadcast live every Tuesday at 6:00 p.m. Pacific. It will be available for download on the TWiT Network.</b><br />
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Bob’s first guest is Extra Class Operator <b><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Walsh" target="_blank" title="Joe Walsh - WB6ACU">WB6ACU Joe Walsh</a></b> whom we also know a member of the band <b><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eagles_%28band%29" target="_blank" title="Band - The Eagles">“the Eagles”.</a></b> Joe is bringing more than just his amateur radio knowledge to the show. He wrote its theme song too!<br />
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<b><a href="http://heilsound.com/amateur/aboutus/index.htm" target="_blank" title="Bob Heil - Heil Sound">Bob brings a wealth of experience</a></b> both as a Ham and as an Sound Engineer as the show host. Read my earlier posting, then scroll on it to watch Bob’s interview with Leo Laporte on his Triangulation show. You’ll immediately see the quality of wit, experience and presence that Bob will bring to his new show. <br />
<img align="left" alt="" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_OTJiRRZ5Hb0/TZEjbmhK2YI/AAAAAAAAAe8/jDgkXLm12Rw/heil_bob_profile%5B8%5D.png?imgmax=800" style="display: inline; float: left; margin: 5px;" title="Bob Heil - K9EID" />Tune in an <b><a href="http://live.twit.tv/" target="_blank" title="TWiT - Streaming Live Shows">listen to the show live</a></b> on your computer or download the videocast / podcast. The show time and details will soon be posted on the <b><a href="http://www.twit.tv/" target="_blank" title="TWiT - Home Page">TWiT Network home page</a></b><br />
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I’ve sent suggestions to <b><a href="http://leoville.com/" target="_blank" title="Leo Laporte - Leoville">Leo Laporte</a></b> that he take advantage of having <b><a href="http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=39852248988" target="_blank" title="Heil Sound on Facebook">Bob Heil</a></b> on his network and get his own amateur radio license. Perhaps you should suggest the same thing to both Leo and to Bob.<br />
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Wouldn’t it be wonderful if they would include a weekly installment on the show to help and encourage interested people get their amateur license! That would be a great service to the local communities of the new hams through their radio skills to help the community in not only disasters but in regular community events.<br />
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The first show is available for download or online viewing <a href="http://twit.tv/hn1"><b>here</b></a>. <br />
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Bob Heil at Hamvention 2008</div>
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<div class="blogger-post-footer">Copyright 2008 - 2019 Lee R. Drew. All Rights Reserved</div>North Mountainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05106681163593292633noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-156524309530455601.post-80311368002825529442011-05-10T13:10:00.000-06:002015-03-04T15:50:05.805-07:00The World Is Upside Down–Get An Emergency KitFEMA Acknowledges the ever increasing series of disastrous events around the world in this video telling people to assemble emergency kits for themselves and their families.<br />
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Earthquake in Calexico, CA</div>
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<div class="blogger-post-footer">Copyright 2008 - 2019 Lee R. Drew. All Rights Reserved</div>North Mountainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05106681163593292633noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-156524309530455601.post-1665424600685293642011-03-28T17:58:00.000-06:002015-03-04T15:46:06.161-07:00Weekly Ham Radio Show Coming To TWiT.tv<a href="http://twit.tv/" target="_blank" title="TWiT.tv"><img align="left" alt="twit_logo" border="0" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_OTJiRRZ5Hb0/TZEjbDKW2sI/AAAAAAAAAe4/fklNR-c8eqQ/twit_logo%5B4%5D.gif?imgmax=800" height="88" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; float: left; margin: 5px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="twit_logo" width="84" /></a>Leo Leporte announced a new weekly videocast about Ham Radio with <a href="http://www.eham.net/callbook/search" target="_blank" title="Bob Heil - K9EID"><b>Bob Heil</b></a> <b>(K9EID)</b>as the host. Bob is well known in the world of sound and amateur radio through both is company, <b><a href="http://heilsound.com/" target="_blank" title="Heil Sound">Heil Sound</a></b> and through his well-known voice as K9EID on radio nets.<br />
Bob was recently interviewed by Leo Leporte and Tom Merritt on TWiT’s <a href="http://twit.tv/tri8" target="_blank" title="Trangulation on TWiT.tv"><b>“Triangulation”</b></a><b> </b>audio / video podcast.<br />
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Any and all will enjoy listening to Bob recall the history of sound in the music industry and his involvement in the equipment he built to make the artists sound so well. His discussion entered the realm of amateur radio which brought a flood of enthusiastic responses from amateur’s who were listening to the <a href="http://live.twit.tv/" target="_blank"><b>livecast</b></a> of the program. Click <b><a href="http://twit.tv/tri8" target="_blank" title="Triangulation 8 with Bob Heil">here</a></b> to listen to that show on your computer or watch it below. You’ll enjoy the time you invest.<br />
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<a href="http://heilsound.com/" title="Heil Sound"><img align="left" alt="heil_bob_profile" border="0" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_OTJiRRZ5Hb0/TZEjbmhK2YI/AAAAAAAAAe8/jDgkXLm12Rw/heil_bob_profile%5B8%5D.png?imgmax=800" height="137" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; display: inline; float: left; margin: 5px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="heil_bob_profile" width="101" /></a>The <a href="http://irc.twit.tv/" target="_blank" title="Twit IRC"><b>IRC Channel</b></a> for the show came alive when he mentioned amateur radio, which surprised Leo, Tom and others. They had no idea that there are so many of ham’s who are also computer geeks, the primary focus of the majority of the programs on the <b><a href="http://twit.tv/" target="_blank" title="TWiT Network">TWiT Network</a></b>.<br />
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Within one day, Leo made the decision to create the new show with Bob as the host. The show is tentatively scheduled for Tuesday evenings, although the time and date are still fluid.<br />
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I’ll update this post with the final time, date and address for the program as soon as it is available. <b style="color: #073763;">Note: Ham Nation has been announced for every Tuesday at 6:00 p.m. Pacific.</b><br />
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<div class="blogger-post-footer">Copyright 2008 - 2019 Lee R. Drew. All Rights Reserved</div>North Mountainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05106681163593292633noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-156524309530455601.post-54949183555514197502011-03-18T14:02:00.000-06:002011-03-18T14:09:31.410-06:00Will My Genealogy Records Survive Me?<p><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_OTJiRRZ5Hb0/TYO79eRAPxI/AAAAAAAAAeg/5x1-4UoFZsw/s1600-h/disaster4.gif"><img style="background-image: none; border-right-width: 0px; margin: 5px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: left; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="" border="0" alt="" align="left" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_OTJiRRZ5Hb0/TYO79-zQmLI/AAAAAAAAAek/FHS2DU8U7N0/disaster_thumb2.gif?imgmax=800" width="176" height="169" /></a></p> <p>Thanks to the <a href="http://blog.famhist.us/?page_id=2" target="_blank">Lineagekeeper</a> for allowing the reposting of his <strong><a title="Lineagekeeper Blog Post - Genealogy Records Survival" href="http://blog.famhist.us/?p=593" target="_blank">blog post</a></strong> regarding genealogy records survival: </p> <p>I followed the earthquake of 22 February 2011 in Christchurch, New Zealand closely because a fairly large contingent of extended cousins live there or nearby.  As far as I’ve been able to determine, all survived but many experienced damage to their homes and businesses. </p> <p>One story caught my eye on the evening of the first day, when it mentioned two teenagers who were trying to find their mother, Donna Manning, a producer and presenter for Canterbury TV.  She and fifteen of her colleagues along with forty or more foreign students and teachers were in the collapsed CTV building. </p> <p>The six-story building was literally flattened.  Only a couple of survivors were eventually rescued from the wreckage. <br /></p> <p>The earthquake struck at 12:45 p.m., during the lunch hour.  Earlier in the morning, Donna hosted one of her weekly shows and it was posted on YouTube during the hour of the earthquake.  I watched the video not knowing if Donna had survived or not.  I then switched to a live video stream from Christchurch that showed the CTV building  and seriously doubted that she had survived.  </p> <p>Little did Donna know that in less than 120 minutes after completing her morning show, she would be dead.  The video captured some of her last minutes in mortality.  Rescue teams later confirmed that none of the trapped folks in the CTV building survived. <br /></p> <p>The story ends on a many sad notes.  Donna didn’t survive.  Her children not only lost their mother but their home was structurally destroyed too.  Thieves looted their home while they waited at the pile of debris that was the CTV building hoping to hear of Donna’s recovery.  Their records and possessions had been stolen. </p> <p>Hopefully, their photos and records survived. <br /></p> <p><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_OTJiRRZ5Hb0/TYO7-ehav9I/AAAAAAAAAeo/DF-d4ie4goQ/s1600-h/will_signing7.jpg"><img style="background-image: none; border-right-width: 0px; margin: 5px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: left; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="" border="0" alt="" align="left" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_OTJiRRZ5Hb0/TYO7-mCvS-I/AAAAAAAAAes/jdPkf2cOWv0/will_signing_thumb5.jpg?imgmax=800" width="134" height="168" /></a>Stories with similar losses of lives, records, hopes and dreams are a constant in the history of our ancestors and of the world due to wars, acts of men and of nature.  We know that devastating events will happen in the lives of those now living and in those coming behind us.   From a genealogical perspective, what can we do to mitigate the effects of disaster or the eventual loss of of our own mortal life? <br /></p> <p>Several activities should be part of our regular genealogical activities:</p> <p>1. Digitize our paper documents and records. </p> <p>2. Regular backups of our data and digital images. What is Regular? Simply determine your threshold of pain when considering the loss of your records.  That should firmly establish a frequent backup cycle in your mind. </p> <p>3. Keep a copy of our backups in two or more locations off-site, one of which should be online with a digital company like Mozy, Carbonite, etc.  The second should be housed with a relative or close friend who lives in a different part of the country. You may want to trade with them and keep a copy of their data to reciprocate. </p> <p>4. Add a codicil or section to our wills and trusts that specifically instructs the transfer and hoped for survivability of your genealogical records and data.  See an example of the verbiage <a title="Records Succession Plan" href="http://famhist2.blogspot.com/2008/01/what-will-happen-to-my-records.html" target="_blank"><strong>here in one of my earlier posts</strong></a><strong>.</strong> </p> <p>5. Talk to your family now so they know your wishes from you personally, to both reinforce your wishes and to make arrangement for their transfer.  You may want to enhance or encourage their involvement in your genealogical research and activities right away.  Which one(s) of them wants to take up your ancestral quest? Resolve questions and associated issues about your genealogy data and work with them now, while you can still talk to them. </p> <p>6. If you have websites, blogs, etc., be sure to include their URL’s and associated user names and passwords in your package.  Detail exactly how you want to announce your passing and include an example statement that details how or if the site or your contributions to a site will continue in the future.  I was surprised to find that I own or am a significant contributor to a large number of blogs and websites.  Will my family take over in my place?  We’ll have to talk about it and decide.  </p> <p>7. Keep your codicil and lists of pertinent ownership, subscription, password and other data current along with your detailed instructions up to date.  Will your spouse and children be able to understand and find all of the domain registrations, hosting agreements, settings, programming and data storage sites that you have and use?  Do they realize that you have over thirty email accounts and what online personas they represent?  Do they realize that you are an editor, moderator, or have other key roles on many sites that are owned by other persons or entities that have depended on you doing my job?  </p> <p>8. Think of the ways you interact with your data and others online.  Does your family know all of your social media personas?  Does they or an eventual guardian of your data know how to claim all of your submissions to FamilySearch, Ancestry, etc?  FamilySearch and Ancestry are designed to allow others to contact you to both question your data and to ask for assistance or copies of your research.  They can’t do that if you are gone and your succession plan hasn’t transferred your account to their management. </p> <p>9. Do Something.  Now.  You can put this work off, but delay will inevitably bite you and the survivability of your data.  This isn’t a question or supposition but rather is a statement of fact.  The preparation will take a few hours work and ongoing tweaks and updates, but the investment in time and effort will pay remarkable dividends.  Don’t let your extremely valuable genealogical work be lost. </p> <div style="padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: none; padding-top: 0px" id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:03af163b-a747-4eda-952d-aae19e1a9039" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent">Technorati Tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/genealogy" rel="tag">genealogy</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/data+backup" rel="tag">data backup</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/will" rel="tag">will</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/codicil" rel="tag">codicil</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/succession+plan" rel="tag">succession plan</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/emergency+preparedness" rel="tag">emergency preparedness</a></div> <div class="blogger-post-footer">Copyright 2008 - 2019 Lee R. Drew. All Rights Reserved</div>North Mountainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05106681163593292633noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-156524309530455601.post-66212218412393696902011-03-18T12:39:00.000-06:002011-03-18T12:52:16.479-06:00No Power - No Heat - No Water<p><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_OTJiRRZ5Hb0/TYOp1Lc5WZI/AAAAAAAAAeA/k9RnFTr4CWw/s1600-h/freezing_man%5B5%5D.jpg"><img style="background-image: none; border-right-width: 0px; margin: 5px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: left; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="freezing_man" border="0" alt="freezing_man" align="left" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_OTJiRRZ5Hb0/TYOp1ZLOK3I/AAAAAAAAAeE/Uix1LPro7Lw/freezing_man_thumb%5B3%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="54" height="71" /></a>Most of us live in a relatively civilized first world environment where the lights come on with a flick of a switch, furnaces and water heaters heat potable water that freely comes from our taps and our toilets flush … so long as we keep our utility bills paid.</p> <p>All of that can change in a matter of minutes or hours.  Witness the snow and ice storms of the last week of January 2011.  One of our daughters and her family live in El Paso, Texas.  They have to come home to see snow and enjoy winter activities.  Winters are a lot warmer there.  They even plant peas in late February.  This year was different.</p> <p>The routine calls to tell us how warm in it is in El Paso were replaced with, “It’s about zero here.  All of the schools are shut down, the freeways are closed with ice on the road and the store shelves are almost bare.”   <br /></p> <p><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_OTJiRRZ5Hb0/TYOp17g9OsI/AAAAAAAAAeI/Jg8Pqr83uXM/s1600-h/no_power2%5B7%5D.jpg"><img style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; margin: 5px 6px 5px 5px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: left; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="" border="0" alt="" align="left" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_OTJiRRZ5Hb0/TYOp2Gp8C2I/AAAAAAAAAeM/9oyrtM8vB0w/no_power2_thumb%5B5%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="81" height="81" /></a>The next day the report was even more dire: “Our power went out last night for hours and will continue to be out in rolling blackouts for the foreseeable future.  There isn’t enough power generation here to meet the needs of anything out of the ordinary.  They’ve also instigated rolling cuts of natural gas because of lack of supply, so we don’t have heat many times a day.  Homes in El Paso weren’t built for extended cold weather.” <br /></p> <p>On day three, the calls exposed yet another problem. “The water pipes in many of the homes are frozen, pipes are bursting.  Our neighbors, ward members and folks all over town have lost water to their homes.  We’ve only lost one of the pipes to our swimming pool pump.” Our son-in-law spent 48-hours straight turning off the water in neighbors homes and taking care of the water destruction in the homes of the widows that he home teaches.</p> <p><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_OTJiRRZ5Hb0/TYOp2nSRXGI/AAAAAAAAAeQ/6WnAEOx6z-Y/s1600-h/frozen-pipes%5B5%5D.jpg"><img style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; margin: 5px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: left; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="" border="0" alt="" align="left" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_OTJiRRZ5Hb0/TYOp3EujaNI/AAAAAAAAAeU/L5QlAhSO_Dc/frozen-pipes_thumb%5B3%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="70" height="85" /></a>“Young mothers are sending their children to homes with heat, not only for warmth but for a place to use the bathroom and shower.  The water in their homes is out due to burst interior and exterior pipes.”  All of the plumbers in a hundred mile radius were booked for weeks and even though our son-in-law is qualified in plumbing skills, there were no repair parts on the shelves ….. anywhere. </p> <p>Of course, the city and homes were slowly repaired and are back to ‘normal’, although the water damage is in evidence.  Many families have additional repair bills that have almost crippled them financially.  Insurance coverage was often inadequate or the coverage folks thought they had wasn’t really included in the fine print.  Their financial reserve preparedness was found wanting too. <br /></p> <p>Our kids fared well during the problems.  They had plenty of food on hand in their 12-month food storage.  They had a generator and knew how to safely use it to run a base load of electrical needs in their home.  They had propane stoves, charcoal and Dutch ovens to cook their meals.  They had wood and other fuels for their fireplaces and stoves.  When they bought their home, they added insulation around the water pipes on exterior walls that protected them from freezing.</p> <p><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_OTJiRRZ5Hb0/TYOp3aDaXEI/AAAAAAAAAeY/-I2DbvNiUwA/s1600-h/leaking_pipe%5B6%5D.jpg"><img style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; margin: 5px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: left; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="leaking_pipe" border="0" alt="leaking_pipe" align="left" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_OTJiRRZ5Hb0/TYOp35N1IyI/AAAAAAAAAec/4LeihVJsVy0/leaking_pipe_thumb%5B4%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="89" height="80" /></a>They didn’t have enough piping parts in storage to help many people, let alone any major pipe damage that may have occurred  in their own home.  They thought they had plenty of flour, only to find that the buckets labeled ‘flour’ were mislabeled during one of  several recent moves.  The food storage rotation planned for the next week would have exposed this problem, but it was too late. </p> <p>An easy to prepare meal of pancakes became a wish, not reality.  All commercial buildings and restaurants had been ordered to close during the days of the outages, so they couldn’t run to McDonald’s.  The few grocery stores that stayed open looked more like advertisements for shelving rather than purveyors of food products. <br /></p> <p>Even though our kids live with a focus on preparedness, they found weaknesses in their preparedness plan when reality struck.  The event wasn’t even a major disaster, just an exercise in discomfort.  Our daughter has the preparedness calling in their church.  The theme for her articles and lessons in the coming months has been established.  Our son-in-law will undoubtedly speak on the subject in his church assignments.   </p> <p>He and two of their daughters are licensed ham radio operators.  Accurate information about the situation came from the ham operators on the ham net, <u><strong>not</strong></u> from TV and local radio stations.  A positive note was that our granddaughter gained experience as net control for SW Texas and can support the ham group in that role if needed when the ham net is activated in an emergency. <br /></p> <p>Many lessons were learned.  Weaknesses in most family preparedness plans were exposed.  People suffered but only a few died from the event.  Let’s learn from their experience and not have to learn the hard way.  Run a disaster exercise in your home for a week and find the weaknesses in your own preparedness plan. </p> <p>We can do it now or find them in a real disaster. You choose.</p> <div style="padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: none; padding-top: 0px" id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:5731d522-1d88-4672-8257-54464dde99c4" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent">Technorati Tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/No+Power" rel="tag">No Power</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/No+Heat" rel="tag">No Heat</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/No+Water" rel="tag">No Water</a></div> <div class="blogger-post-footer">Copyright 2008 - 2019 Lee R. Drew. All Rights Reserved</div>North Mountainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05106681163593292633noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-156524309530455601.post-49363818246529235932011-03-12T23:55:00.000-07:002011-03-12T23:59:48.540-07:00Secure Pictures and Furniture Before It Is Too Late<p><strong>Securely Hang Pictures</strong></p> <p>If you live in earthquake country or have any heavy wall hangings, be sure to use heavy wall hangers with clips to hang them.  </p> <p><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_OTJiRRZ5Hb0/TXxq15OIuiI/AAAAAAAAAds/W3RhsmHECM0/s1600-h/stained_glass_hanging%5B3%5D.gif"><img style="background-image: none; border-right-width: 0px; margin: 5px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: left; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="" border="0" alt="" align="left" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_OTJiRRZ5Hb0/TXxq2OMlgGI/AAAAAAAAAdw/vPKn0Y4yHVk/stained_glass_hanging_thumb%5B1%5D.gif?imgmax=800" width="117" height="126" /></a>The ongoing string of seismic events around the world are strong reminders that the surface of our planet is alive and frequently in motion.  The reports we have witnessed in the news and in person should reaffirm that fact in our minds.</p> <p>Hangers with strong steel hooks with spring or similar keepers should be our device of choice.  They will keep hanging wires securely attached to the hanger in events with swinging and vertical movement.  The hangers are typically configured with one or more hanging nail based on the weight of the loads they will carry.</p> <p>Be sure to use these hangers for any wall hanging that is above beds, in walk areas or any other location where fallen objects would harm anyone in your home or place of business.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Secure Free-standing Furniture</strong></p> <p>Secure tall furniture to the wall with “L” brackets.  They easily fall over in even small seismic events.  We typically load cabinets and book cases with heavy objects that can cause serious to fatal injuries to anyone they strike.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Use Anti-walking Mats Under Appliances</strong></p> <p>Free-standing appliances like microwave ovens, statues, snow globes and other similar items will walk off shelves or countertop surfaces in seismic events.  An easy way to inhibit that movement is to put rubberized drawer mats under them.  </p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Secure Window Blinds</strong></p> <p><a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_OTJiRRZ5Hb0/TXxq2baU_6I/AAAAAAAAAd0/trkpPTPV7_w/s1600-h/broken_window4.gif"><img style="background-image: none; border-right-width: 0px; margin: 5px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: left; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="" border="0" alt="" align="left" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_OTJiRRZ5Hb0/TXxq2kClPTI/AAAAAAAAAd4/zP3wcY1z1xQ/broken_window_thumb2.gif?imgmax=800" width="108" height="120" /></a>Most people put their beds under or near windows.  Seismic events can break windows resulting in the glass falling inward onto the building.  Don’t expose yourself or family to serious to fatal cuts from falling glass.  </p> <p>Installing commercial-grade Velcro ® or similar hook and loop fasters on the bottom of vertical and horizontal blinds to hold them in the place in the window frame allows the blind to act as a wall to block falling glass.  Its use in multiple straps on drapery produces the same barrier shield. </p> <p> </p> <div style="padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: none; padding-top: 0px" id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:817bb980-1c0a-4bb4-9980-b0aa11724153" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent">Technorati Tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/earthquake" rel="tag">earthquake</a></div> <div class="blogger-post-footer">Copyright 2008 - 2019 Lee R. Drew. All Rights Reserved</div>North Mountainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05106681163593292633noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-156524309530455601.post-49451187669824557572010-11-28T20:57:00.000-07:002010-11-28T21:45:50.097-07:00Family Communications<p><b><font size="3">Communications</font></b></p> <p>Our Neighborhood has more ham radio operators of any neighborhood in our city. That is excellent news for all living in it and in the city. All of the operators participated in a recent citywide Emergency Drill at all levels of the emergency organization in the city, communicating reports from Block Captains up to <a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_OTJiRRZ5Hb0/TPMv9wAA4GI/AAAAAAAAAdU/r5CJHWFZplw/s1600-h/clip_image002%5B4%5D.jpg"><img style="background-image: none; border-right-width: 0px; margin: 5px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: left; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="clip_image002" border="0" hspace="12" alt="clip_image002" align="left" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_OTJiRRZ5Hb0/TPMv-eU3lcI/AAAAAAAAAdY/SKk2QtxhZiE/clip_image002_thumb%5B1%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="49" height="130" /></a>Neighborhood Command Centers on to Area Command Centers and finally to the City EOC.</p> <p>In a real emergency, Neighborhoods will use both runners and ham operators to communicate the needs of the Blocks and Neighborhoods up stream to the Emergency Command Center so it can respond to our needs as a result of a disaster or emergency event.</p> <p>However, about half of our Neighborhood ham operators will soon be leaving to attend college, get married and continue on with their lives. We need more city residents to get ham licenses they can help not only their immediate family but the folks in their Blocks, Neighborhoods and Areas.</p> <p>In our part of the country, there is a wonderful organization of ham operators that teach regularly scheduled amateur radio classes so residents can easily obtain a ham license with a little work, reading and successfully taking an amateur operators test.</p> <p>You’ll find a similar organization in your area by doing an Internet search for them.  A schedule of the classes and the dates tests are offered will be on their sites.</p> <p>Training materials are available from numerous sources including the <a title="ARRL" href="http://www.arrl.org/licensing-education-training" target="_blank"><strong>Amateur Radio Relay League (ARRL) site</strong></a>.</p> <p>Be sure to become a licensed ham operator as part of you emergency preparedness activities.  You very well may be instrumental in saving not only the lives of your loved ones but of other residents in your community, state and nation.</p> <p><strong><font size="3">Family Communications Plan</font></strong></p> <p>Each of us also needs to create a Family Communications plan. It should contain the pertinent contact information for every member of our family as well as an out-of-state contact and a family meeting location plan in case we have to evacuate the area.</p> <p>Free – downloadable family communications plan forms are available from the Federal <a href="http://www.ready.gov/america/makeaplan" target="_blank"><strong>Ready America</strong></a> site. </p> <p>Create your Family Communications Plan and keep it current. Be sure that each of your children has a copy of it in their school packs. Wallet sized forms are among the selections from the Ready America site so they will easily fit in your children’s packs.</p> <p>In our family, I produce a laminated family communications wallet sized cared for all of our children and their spouses every year. They are passed out on Thanksgiving. We have met together and have determined our own family meeting locations if we have to bug out. The plan is in always current and because it is discussed regularly by our overall family and in each of our children’s families, each member is aware of the content, contacts and intentions of our family / families in emergencies. </p> <p>Our wallet-sized communications cards have already been used in an emergency. They have saved a great deal of trouble and consternation at a time when those typical responses would be most detrimental. Make your own plans soon! Regularly review them with your family. </p> <p> </p> <center> <div style="padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: none; padding-top: 0px" id="scid:5737277B-5D6D-4f48-ABFC-DD9C333F4C5D:96cae7a2-6529-42eb-a47d-d21b683991dd" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent"><div id="ba8234e9-834a-4c19-9dd9-ca2937c7171f" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; display: inline;"><div><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IITBpLQmmiI&playnext=1&list=PL75A4DA2AF49783EC&index=20" target="_new"><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_OTJiRRZ5Hb0/TPMv_PIBGDI/AAAAAAAAAdc/3EA1avIxSvQ/videoba1151a54341%5B5%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-style: none" galleryimg="no" onload="var downlevelDiv = document.getElementById('ba8234e9-834a-4c19-9dd9-ca2937c7171f'); downlevelDiv.innerHTML = "<div><object width=\"448\" height=\"252\"><param name=\"movie\" value=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/IITBpLQmmiI?hl=en&hd=1\"><\/param><embed src=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/IITBpLQmmiI?hl=en&hd=1\" type=\"application/x-shockwave-flash\" width=\"448\" height=\"252\"><\/embed><\/object><\/div>";" alt=""></a></div></div><div style="width:448px;clear:both;font-size:.8em">Ham Operators Helping in Katrina</div></div> <div style="padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: none; padding-top: 0px" id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:3e5b25e6-7a7e-40e4-9b5c-7c433584e76d" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent">Technorati Tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Communications" rel="tag">Communications</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Ham+Radio" rel="tag">Ham Radio</a></div> </center> <div class="blogger-post-footer">Copyright 2008 - 2019 Lee R. Drew. All Rights Reserved</div>North Mountainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05106681163593292633noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-156524309530455601.post-41287808273700151232010-11-16T18:44:00.000-07:002011-04-26T22:37:25.592-06:00A First-aid Kit in Every HomeSeveral years ago, our sons and I attended an Emergency Preparedness presentation in Utah by Maralin Hoff, Utah’s Earthquake Lady. She conveyed many great ideas that we dutifully noted and avowed to adopt in our own preparedness activities.<br />
<a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_OTJiRRZ5Hb0/TOM11zV7hLI/AAAAAAAAAc0/n3ytGLtfRN4/s1600-h/Plano_FirstAidKit_sm%5B6%5D.jpg"><img align="left" alt="First Aid Kit" border="0" height="159" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_OTJiRRZ5Hb0/TOM12zrRWEI/AAAAAAAAAc4/wOGPEzJtFeE/Plano_FirstAidKit_sm_thumb%5B3%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; display: inline; float: left; margin: 5px 5px 5px 6px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="First Aid Kit" width="240" /></a>At the end of the presentation, she merrily opened a box of Bandages and tossed them like candy to the audience. Of course we all reached out to make sure that we got at least one of these dollar store treasures for our very own. Maralin’s purpose for the audience participatory give-away was to get us to put one in our wallets or purses. She bolded stated that we would all find a need for them before too long.<br />
We dutifully tucked them in our wallets and then inspected the extra one that was attached to another from the grabfest. They really were from the dollar store and weren’t made of the woven stretch any direction material like the expensive Band-Aid brand plasters. It was an inexpensive but effective presentation of the concept. We never expected to use them, but we were prepared.<br />
<a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_OTJiRRZ5Hb0/TOM13f93T1I/AAAAAAAAAc8/1qB2_XaIJYQ/s1600-h/Plano_FirstAidKit_contents_sm%5B14%5D.jpg"><img align="left" alt="Plano_FirstAidKit_contents_sm" border="0" height="180" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_OTJiRRZ5Hb0/TOM14Ic4f2I/AAAAAAAAAdA/MtvR4eESYk8/Plano_FirstAidKit_contents_sm_thumb%5B11%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; display: inline; float: left; margin: 5px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="Plano_FirstAidKit_contents_sm" width="240" /></a>A few weeks later, the boys and I were talking about properly fitting our 72-hour backpacks so they didn’t wear out the Dad that was carrying them. Our oldest son mentioned that he had used the bandage in his wallet to patch a cut on his son’s finger while at a remote camping site. “It was very handy. I just opened my wallet rather than finding the big kit. The cut wasn’t much, but it wouldn’t stop breaking open every time he gripped something.” Then our youngest son spoke up saying he’d not only used the giveaway bandage but had gone through the two he’d used to reload his wallet. I couldn’t top that story but I too had used my bandage on the hand of another of our grandchildren.<br />
We hadn’t carried bandages in our wallets up to this point in time. Why did we suddenly need them now? Did we use them unnecessarily just because we had them? Actually, all of the hurts they covered needed a bandage. A unique sequence of events in cosmic convergence or had we actually needed them all along but had brushed that thought off for years?<br />
<a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_OTJiRRZ5Hb0/TOM14nUJ0iI/AAAAAAAAAdE/p-zeSNnQlrM/s1600-h/PL_kit_tubs_contents_sm%5B7%5D.jpg"><img align="left" alt="PL_kit_tubs_contents_sm" border="0" height="180" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_OTJiRRZ5Hb0/TOM15B7BO0I/AAAAAAAAAdI/Pu4mMtRJUtc/PL_kit_tubs_contents_sm_thumb%5B4%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; display: inline; float: left; margin: 5px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="PL_kit_tubs_contents_sm" width="240" /></a>Our conclusion was that we really had needed them. The tip to carry them was not only needed but was provident counsel. You’ll want to consider putting a Band-Aid or two in your own wallets and purses. You’ll inevitably use them and be glad you had them within easy reach.<br />
Do you have a good First-Aid kit in your home? In your vehicles? In your emergency kits? A few years ago, the Provident Living section of the church’s website included a list of items that should be in a home first-aid kit. The list has been added to the First-Aid Kit content suggestions.<br />
If you have a First-Aid kit already, do you have it in a place where it can be accessed easily? Do you refill it frequently?<br />
All too often, families purchase or make a First-Aid kit and then shop from it over time. Young folks seem to constantly need a band-aid and Neosporin on cuts and contusions. We shop from our kits and all too soon they are fairly severely depleted and quickly descend in to disarray.<br />
<a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_OTJiRRZ5Hb0/TOM15mFjtiI/AAAAAAAAAdM/gBw2Aw0DC_4/s1600-h/PL_kit_tub1_sm%5B9%5D.jpg"><img align="left" alt="PL_kit_tub1_sm" border="0" height="240" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_OTJiRRZ5Hb0/TOM16Q4eEHI/AAAAAAAAAdQ/YXF5nkDVjYQ/PL_kit_tub1_sm_thumb%5B6%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; float: left; margin: 5px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="PL_kit_tub1_sm" width="213" /></a>We should add “review and replenishment” of the contents in our kits to the checklist and updating activities to regular bi-annual events so we remember to do it.<br />
If you don’t have a good First-Aid book, get one. The American Red Cross has published a good basic book as has the American Medical Association. They can be found on Amazon.com if you can’t find them locally and are less than $13.00.<br />
Basic First-Aid skills training should be high on our ‘must’ lists. Classes are taught by the Red Cross and other entities such as hospital personnel, emergency responders (typically associated with the Fire Department – Paramedics). Take the class and then teach your families how to care for minor injuries. Clinics are close to us, but when an injury happens, you may be in a remote area. Even seemingly minor injuries can become ‘major’ if they are not properly addressed.<br />
Two other books you may want to consider adding to your library are: “Where There Is No Doctor” and “Where There Is No Dentist”. Fathers would enjoy receiving them as Fathers Day or birthday gifts or they can be downloaded for no cost from the Hesperian Foundation at the addresses below: (Don’t assume you’ll have power for your computer in an emergency though…. That would indeed exemplify very poor planning on our part. Hard copies are for sale on the site.)<br />
<b>Where There Is No Doctor</b> <a href="http://www.hesperian.org/publications_download_wtnd.php">http://www.hesperian.org/publications_download_wtnd.php</a><br />
<b>Where There Is No Dentist</b> <a href="http://www.hesperian.org/publications_download_dentist.php">http://www.hesperian.org/publications_download_dentist.php</a><br />
<br />
<div align="center"><strong><span style="color: navy; font-size: medium;">First Aid Kit Suggestions</span></strong></div><br />
<b>Airway, Breathing and Circulation</b><br />
<ul><li>Pocket mask</li>
<li>Face shield</li>
<li>Oropharyngeal airway</li>
<li>Nasopharyngeal airway</li>
<li>Bag valve mask</li>
<li>Manual aspirator or suction unit</li>
</ul><b>Adhesive Bandages</b><br />
<ul><li>Moleskin</li>
<li>Dressings</li>
<li>Eye pads</li>
<li>Gauze pads</li>
<li>Non-stick Teflon pad</li>
<li>Petrolatum gauze pad</li>
<li>Gauze roller bandages</li>
<li>Elastic bandages</li>
<li>Adhesive roller bandages</li>
<li>Triangular bandages</li>
<li>Butterfly bandages</li>
<li>Saline to clean wounds</li>
<li>Soap to clan superficial wounds</li>
<li>Burn dressing</li>
<li>Adhesive tape, hypoallergenic</li>
<li>Hemostatic agents to clot bleeding</li>
</ul><b>Personal Protective Equipment</b><br />
<ul><li>Gloves, disposable </li>
<li>Goggles</li>
<li>Surgical mask or N95 masks</li>
<li>Apron</li>
</ul><b>Instruments and Equipment</b><br />
<ul><li>Trauma shears</li>
<li>Scissors</li>
<li>Tweezers</li>
<li>Lighter to sterilize tweezers or pliers</li>
<li>Alcohol pads </li>
<li>Irrigation syringe</li>
<li>Flashlight</li>
<li>Chemical cold packs</li>
<li>Alcohol rub or antiseptic hand wipes</li>
<li>Thermometer</li>
<li>Space blanket</li>
<li>Penlight</li>
</ul><b>Life Saving Medications</b><br />
<ul><li>Aspirin</li>
<li>Epinephrine auto injector (brand name Epipen)</li>
</ul><b>Pain Killing Medications</b><br />
<ul><li>Acetaminophen</li>
<li>Ibuprofen or Naproxen</li>
<li>Codeine</li>
</ul><b>Symptomatic Relief Medications</b><br />
<ul><li>Anti-diarrhea medications</li>
<li>Oral rehydration salts</li>
<li>Antihistamine</li>
<li>Poison treatments - activated charcoal</li>
<li>Smelling salts</li>
</ul><b>Topical Medications</b><br />
<ul><li>Antiseptic ointments - Neomycin</li>
<li>Iodine</li>
<li>Aloe Vera gel</li>
<li>Burn gel</li>
<li>Anti-itch ointment - Hydrocortisone and Antihistamine creams</li>
<li>Calamine lotion</li>
<li>Anti-fungal cream</li>
<li>Tincture of benzoin</li>
</ul><b><i>First Aid Kit List from Provident Living 2006</i></b><br />
<ul><li>Medical-grade vinyl gloves</li>
<li>Poison ivy relief cream</li>
<li>Burn relief cream</li>
<li>Sunscreen, SPF of 30 or greater</li>
<li>Antibiotic ointment, Polysporin® or similar</li>
<li>Sting relief lotion or ointment, calamine or similar</li>
<li>Box of sterile gauze pads, either 3" x 3" or 4" x 4"</li>
<li>Abdominal (ABD) or combine sterile pad, 5" x 9"</li>
<li>Rolled gauze of 2 sizes, 2" x 4 yards and 4" x 4 yds</li>
<li>Bandages of assorted types: finger, knuckle, plastic, Telfa®, and general adhesive</li>
<li>Sterile oval eye pad</li>
<li>Small sharp scissors</li>
<li>Tweezers with pointed tip</li>
<li>Thermometers, oral and rectal (for babies)</li>
<li>Elastic bandage, 3" x 6"</li>
<li>Instant ice pack</li>
<li>Roll of adhesive tape, 1" wide, may use plastic type if preferred</li>
<li>Triangular bandages, 2</li>
<li>Package of safety pins, assorted sizes</li>
<li>Absorbent cotton balls, 1 box</li>
<li>Diarrhea remedy, Pepto-Bismol® or Kaopectate® </li>
<li>Popsicle® (craft) sticks or finger splints</li>
<li>Antibacterial soap, liquid or bar</li>
<li>Medicine dropper</li>
<li>Water purification tablets</li>
<li>Small bottle of bleach</li>
<li>Sharp knife or multipurpose knife/tool</li>
<li>Bottles of aspirin, ibuprofen, and acetaminophen (children’s or liquid if needed)</li>
<li>Splint materials: thin boards 2-3' long</li>
<li>Cough syrup and throat lozenges</li>
<li>Large plastic trash bag and several smaller, zip-closure bags</li>
</ul><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/Q9pbXG2uUxs?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><div><br />
</div><div class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent" id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:d60d4d7c-c001-47fe-b6ea-72647c4da3bb" style="display: inline; float: none; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Technorati Tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/First-aid+Kit" rel="tag">First-aid Kit</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Emergency+Preparedness" rel="tag">Emergency Preparedness</a></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">Copyright 2008 - 2019 Lee R. Drew. All Rights Reserved</div>North Mountainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05106681163593292633noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-156524309530455601.post-80015145020453819522010-08-31T15:09:00.000-06:002010-08-31T16:22:42.323-06:00Sliced, Diced and Dehydrated<p>It is a typical harvest season.  Walking into our home makes your mouth water.  The smells of sauces, chilies, catsup, juices and other delights seems to permeate everything.  </p> <p>The kitchen is always warm this time of the year because the burners on the range top rarely cool.  In fact, several of the burners had to be replaced recently due to the constant use.  </p> <p><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_OTJiRRZ5Hb0/TH2ArmyzohI/AAAAAAAAAb8/dnQNeEeJzNY/s1600-h/tomatoes-variety_sm%5B4%5D.jpg"><img style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; margin: 5px; display: inline; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px" title="" border="0" alt="" align="left" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_OTJiRRZ5Hb0/TH2Ar7cU14I/AAAAAAAAAcA/TEnvWAEbTjA/tomatoes-variety_sm_thumb%5B2%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="240" height="160" /></a> Step through the door into the garage and the smell is just as intense.  Our dehydrator does turn off from time to time, long enough to clean it between loadings but it is always ready to ingest another full load. </p> <p>We put it in on my workbench this time of year so the heat from the dehydration process is shared in another location rather than adding to the heat in the kitchen.  </p> <p>Of course our 3-burner propane stove adds to the available heat surface area as well.  It cooks the large loads, the messy loads, the annual family canning Saturdays.  That means that the garage is warm even when it is cold out side.  We lift the doors half way, then fire that baby up to create shirt sleeve temperatures for our family crew as we work the preparation line.</p> <p>I continue to be concerned about my seeming addiction to the dehydrated fruits and vegetables though.  I can’t walk by them without reaching for a handful of tomato, strawberry, gooseberry, raspberry and all of the other ‘chips’ that were dehydrated this year.  Hopefully, there will be some left for the rest of the family during the coming winter and spring months.</p> <p>Our neighbors seem to drop by to talk a lot this time of the year too.  At first I thought the ladies were just addicted to my wife’s chocolate zucchini cake, but the supply of dehydrated goodies drops precipitously during their visits too.  I don’t blame them.  You can’t resist either of them.  (See a similar cake recipe <strong><a title="chocolate zucchiin cake recipe" href="http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/chocolate-zucchini-cake-iii/Detail.aspx" target="_blank">here</a></strong>.)</p> <p>We are often asked how much shrinkage occurs during the dehydration process.  The answer is that it varies from variety to variety based in the solid mass of the item when it is fresh.  Broccoli flowerets shrink at a constant 60% + –.  Tomatoes shrink about 70% when all of the water is removed.</p> <p>The photo below shows one-third bushel of tomatoes that have been dehydrated.  The dried result was about three quarts of product.  I say about, because of my heretofore described snacking addiction which tends to inhibit an accurate one-to-one measurement.</p> <p><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_OTJiRRZ5Hb0/TH1_V8AgA0I/AAAAAAAAAbQ/yI8BpUdQhzI/s1600-h/dehydrated_tomatoes_third_bushel%5B11%5D.jpg"><img style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; margin-left: 0px; border-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; border-right: 0px" title="" border="0" alt="" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_OTJiRRZ5Hb0/TH1_WVot3DI/AAAAAAAAAbU/CoNU98oGuLA/dehydrated_tomatoes_third_bushel_thumb%5B9%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="590" height="444" /></a></p> <p> </p> <p><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_OTJiRRZ5Hb0/TH1_W-5QEnI/AAAAAAAAAbY/bxL7UvicArE/s1600-h/dehydrated_tomatoes_3quarts%5B7%5D.jpg"><img style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px" title="" border="0" alt="" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_OTJiRRZ5Hb0/TH1_XTBLb3I/AAAAAAAAAbc/S6NsP1WNt0g/dehydrated_tomatoes_3quarts_thumb%5B5%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="593" height="446" /></a> </p> <p></p> <p> </p> <p>These photos show three trays of broccoli after dehydration.  The trays were completely full prior to the dehydration process.  The resultant dehydrated product filled one quart.</p> <p> <a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_OTJiRRZ5Hb0/TH1_Xu6K5hI/AAAAAAAAAbg/6m0DEcQB9S4/s1600-h/dehydrated_brocolli_3trays%5B6%5D.jpg"><img style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px" title="" border="0" alt="" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_OTJiRRZ5Hb0/TH1_YdXqdEI/AAAAAAAAAbk/IGMe2U8oqNM/dehydrated_brocolli_3trays_thumb%5B4%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="587" height="441" /></a> </p> <p> </p> <p><a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_OTJiRRZ5Hb0/TH1_Yx_FcKI/AAAAAAAAAbo/Nyq9I8oxujM/s1600-h/brocolli_dehydrated_tray%5B7%5D.jpg"><img style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px" title="" border="0" alt="" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_OTJiRRZ5Hb0/TH1_ZXGXcFI/AAAAAAAAAbs/mSTgEiO6fL4/brocolli_dehydrated_tray_thumb%5B5%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="591" height="445" /></a> </p> <p> </p> <p><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_OTJiRRZ5Hb0/TH1_Z8hv3II/AAAAAAAAAbw/8UEEiiLGkBA/s1600-h/dehydrated_brocolli_1quart%5B4%5D.jpg"><img style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px" title="" border="0" alt="" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_OTJiRRZ5Hb0/TH1_aTgGehI/AAAAAAAAAb0/7ZfQvh13DNQ/dehydrated_brocolli_1quart_thumb%5B2%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="589" height="443" /></a> </p> <p> </p> <p>So far, our vacuum sealer keeps the bottles sealed and vacuum packed as long as we use new canning lids on clean bottles with smooth lips.  </p> <p>The rehydrated produce tastes fantastic in our meals.  We are guessing that our sons and sons-in-laws may reap the harvest in pears, tomatoes, apples and other goodies when Santa comes to visit them this year.  We’ll see if they have the courage to break the seal on the ‘beautiful’ contents or will use them for show-and-tell in their emergency preparedness assignments and as decorations on their storage shelves.</p> <p>If you haven’t dehydrated the produce from your garden before, give it a try this year.  Remember this selling point – dehydrated pineapple is a fantastic snack and expensive by the slice.  Dehydrating it at home is much less expensive.  If the men in the family still aren’t convinced about the benefits of dehydration, tell them of the fantastic jerky they can make in your dehydrator at a greatly reduced price compared to the stuff sold at your local gas and goodies store.  If they still aren’t convinced, borrow a dehydrator for a couple of days, set it on the kitchen counter and then dehydrate a few trays of strawberries.  The smell will make the sale.</p> <center> <p> </p> <div style="padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: none; padding-top: 0px" id="scid:5737277B-5D6D-4f48-ABFC-DD9C333F4C5D:e818bc3d-88a1-4ebc-82c1-a033b7cf3de2" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent"><div id="719d61e1-0339-45c8-85e3-38add79d0718" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; display: inline;"><div><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmJ6PmdA8Ps&feature=related" target="_new"><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_OTJiRRZ5Hb0/TH1_a4UzcPI/AAAAAAAAAcE/FBbNK8s44a4/videob49a2e69663d%5B17%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-style: none" galleryimg="no" onload="var downlevelDiv = document.getElementById('719d61e1-0339-45c8-85e3-38add79d0718'); downlevelDiv.innerHTML = "<div><object width=\"425\" height=\"355\"><param name=\"movie\" value=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/ZmJ6PmdA8Ps&hl=en\"><\/param><embed src=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/ZmJ6PmdA8Ps&hl=en\" type=\"application/x-shockwave-flash\" width=\"425\" height=\"355\"><\/embed><\/object><\/div>";" alt=""></a></div></div></div> <p> </p> <div style="padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: none; padding-top: 0px" id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:1ab90856-f24b-492f-94d7-d90ebd23dbe3" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent">Technorati Tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Dehydration" rel="tag">Dehydration</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Food+Storage" rel="tag">Food Storage</a></div> </center> <div class="blogger-post-footer">Copyright 2008 - 2019 Lee R. Drew. All Rights Reserved</div>North Mountainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05106681163593292633noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-156524309530455601.post-21360691304587672262010-08-02T16:13:00.000-06:002010-08-04T11:45:55.000-06:00Mountain House Taste Test<p>We’ve always kept a selection of Mountain House dehydrated food packs in our 96-hour kits and bug-out-bags (BOB’s).   Our selection of verities have always been narrow: spaghetti w/meat sauce and blueberry granola.  </p> <p><a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_OTJiRRZ5Hb0/TFdF1gvEngI/AAAAAAAAAas/ZO9EHLT_bis/s1600-h/mountain_house_spaghettiwmeatsauce%5B5%5D.jpg"><img style="border-right-width: 0px; margin: 5px; display: inline; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px" title="" border="0" alt="" align="left" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_OTJiRRZ5Hb0/TFdF2LNy8sI/AAAAAAAAAaw/ngu_9KZQ8mU/mountain_house_spaghettiwmeatsauce_thumb%5B3%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="261" height="261" /></a> We love the taste of them and chose them for that reason, thinking that we wanted something to eat that was a known quantity.  </p> <p>Over time, I’ve picked up most of the entree’s and other items offered by Mountain House and added them to a separate food bag.  Unfortunately, we didn’t take the time to taste some of them.  Fortunately, they aged to the expiration date during the last few months, so we decided to eat them over ten consecutive days and keep notes about our tasting experience.</p> <p>We were surprised that our taste buds have either changed in that time frame or the taste of them was different than it was at the taste test center in the store.  Certainly, our memories couldn’t be faulty….</p> <p>That said, the taste test has reinforced our earlier selection of ‘favorites’..   Here are our subjective taste rankings and results:</p> <p> </p> <table border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"><tbody> <tr> <td valign="top"> <p><strong>Granola w/Blueberries</strong></p> </td> <td valign="top"> <p>#1 favorite breakfast. This entrée is so good, they should sell it as breakfast cereal in the store. Makes its own milk.</p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top"> <p>Scrambled Eggs w/Ham</p> </td> <td valign="top"> <p>2<sup>nd</sup> (tie) favorite breakfast entrée. Not bad at all. Just remember to pour off any water that wasn’t absorbed.</p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top"> <p>Scrambled Eggs w/Bacon</p> </td> <td valign="top"> <p>2<sup>nd</sup> (tie) favorite breakfast entrée. Not bad at all. Taste stayed with us all day. Pour off excess water at the end of the reconstitution time period.</p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top"> <p></p> </td> <td valign="top"> <p></p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top"> <p>Beef Stew</p> <p><strong> </strong></p> </td> <td valign="top">Ok but I wouldn’t want to use it in an emergency bag.  The taste was a little ‘off’ to our taste and the beef never fully reconstituted.</td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top"> <p>Green Peas</p> </td> <td valign="top">Not ranked.  We mix the peas with potato pearls as a quick and easy side dish.</td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top"> <p>Pork Sausage Patties</p> </td> <td valign="top"> <p>Ok, but they aren’t a good slice of turkey, etc.  </p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top"> <p><strong>Blueberry Cheesecake</strong></p> </td> <td valign="top">#1 favorite dessert (tied).  We don’t eat many desserts but this one topped the list.</td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top"> <p><strong>Raspberry Crumble</strong></p> </td> <td valign="top">#1 favorite dessert (tied). I personally like the crumble a little better than the blueberry cheesecake but again, it is subjective to the pallet of the taster.</td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top"> <p><strong>Spaghetti w/Meat Sauce</strong></p> </td> <td valign="top"> <p>#1 favorite lunch / dinner entrée. This selection is excellent. It reconstituted perfectly in 10 minutes. 4.5 oz in bag with 2 cups water (16 oz).</p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top"> <p>Lasagna w/Meat Sauce</p> </td> <td valign="top">#2 (tie) favorite lunch / dinner entrée. This selection is excellent. It reconstituted perfectly in 12 minutes</td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top"> <p>Pasta Primavera</p> <p><strong> </strong></p> </td> <td valign="top"> <p>#2 (tie) favorite lunch / dinner entrée. Be sure to let it fully reconstitute – it takes a little longer than noted on the package unless you use a water with a rolling boil.</p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top"> <p>Beef Teriyaki w/Rice</p> </td> <td valign="top"> <p>#3 Middle of the pack. A little spicy. The beef didn’t fully reconstitute after 12 minutes. Left a slight after taste that is hard to define.</p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top"> <p>Chicken Polynesian</p> </td> <td valign="top"> <p>#3 favorite lunch / dinner entrée. The selection is excellent. It reconstituted almost perfectly in 10 minutes. 6.44 oz in bag with 2 cups water (16 oz).</p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top"> <p>Sweet & Sour Pork w/ Rice</p> </td> <td valign="top"> <p>#4 favorite lunch / dinner entrée. The taste was good. Let it reconstitute for 14 minutes (4 minutes longer than instructions), but the meat didn’t fully rehydrate. 6.0 oz bag with 2 cups of water (16 oz). A little stomach upset.</p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top"> <p>Chicken w/Rice</p> </td> <td valign="top"> <p>#4 favorite lunch / dinner entrée. The selection was excellent. It reconstituted in 10 minutes.</p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top"> <p>Seafood Chowder</p> </td> <td valign="top"> <p><strong>Last place entrée.</strong> The entrée can’t be recommended. It has a very strong sea food flavor and didn’t reconstitute very well. Some of the chunks were ‘chewey’. </p> <p>It made our stomachs upset – digestion issues.</p> </td> </tr> </tbody></table> <center> </center><center> <div style="padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: none; padding-top: 0px" id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:98414639-f513-4b9c-b5c8-846ccf7435ea" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent">Technorati Tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Mountain+House" rel="tag">Mountain House</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Dehydrated+Food" rel="tag">Dehydrated Food</a></div> <p> </p> <div style="padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: none; padding-top: 0px" id="scid:5737277B-5D6D-4f48-ABFC-DD9C333F4C5D:1cf306c1-a37e-4934-861d-4267b25ba43b" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent"><div id="f6856239-306a-4344-9037-6754d70cde00" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; display: inline;"><div><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzTOzbd8cb4&feature=fvw" target="_new"><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_OTJiRRZ5Hb0/TFmnUcbWT4I/AAAAAAAAAbE/FkVQBWBBDEs/video50fd72214c44%5B2%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-style: none" galleryimg="no" onload="var downlevelDiv = document.getElementById('f6856239-306a-4344-9037-6754d70cde00'); downlevelDiv.innerHTML = "<div><object width=\"425\" height=\"355\"><param name=\"movie\" value=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/EzTOzbd8cb4&hl=en\"><\/param><embed src=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/EzTOzbd8cb4&hl=en\" type=\"application/x-shockwave-flash\" width=\"425\" height=\"355\"><\/embed><\/object><\/div>";" alt=""></a></div></div></div> <center></center> <div class="blogger-post-footer">Copyright 2008 - 2019 Lee R. Drew. All Rights Reserved</div>North Mountainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05106681163593292633noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-156524309530455601.post-19424817564898155252010-07-29T10:04:00.000-06:002010-07-29T10:04:19.825-06:00‘Tis The Season To Dehydrate’<p>The garden harvest at our home is in full swing.  Long anticipated fruits and vegetables make every meal a culinary delight.  </p> <p>We’ve always used the produce from our gardens and orchard for home storage but hadn’t included dehydrated foods in our food storage mix – until this year that is.</p> <p><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_OTJiRRZ5Hb0/TE4PIVxbgzI/AAAAAAAAAZw/AN64jodJwnY/s1600-h/dehydrator_apples%5B5%5D.jpg"><img style="border-right-width: 0px; margin: 5px; display: inline; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px" title="" border="0" alt="" align="left" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_OTJiRRZ5Hb0/TE4PIwlte4I/AAAAAAAAAZ0/c-ekVA7irvw/dehydrator_apples_thumb%5B3%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="163" height="127" /></a> After listening to others rave about their dehydrated garden produce, apples, cherries, apricots and pears for years, we closely questioned them about their choice of dehydrator.  The responses were enlightening.</p> <p>In years past, we had a large greenhouse and closed the doors and vents to turn it into a big dehydrator to make cherry, apricot, peach, apple and pear leather.  Our kids loved it the stuff.  They would invariably choose it over candy.  </p> <p>When we moved, we left our green house behind.  It has yet to be replaced.  In the interim, we purchased one of the round dehydrators at a discount store and have never been happy with it.  Thus, dehydration efforts of any kind fell to the wayside.</p> <p>The favorable responses to our ‘What dehydrator do you use? and would you recommend it?” question had a common theme.   </p> <ul> <li>Stay away from dehydrators like the round one that we had.  </li> <li>Stay away from flimsy shelf dehydrators.  </li> <li>Buy an Excalibur dehydrator and love life. </li> </ul> <p><a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_OTJiRRZ5Hb0/TE4PJEWLi_I/AAAAAAAAAZ4/tWv2tRxIPSI/s1600-h/excalibur_3926T%5B11%5D.jpg"><img style="border-right-width: 0px; margin: 5px; display: inline; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px" title="" border="0" alt="" align="left" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_OTJiRRZ5Hb0/TE4PJjUoVJI/AAAAAAAAAZ8/T12iTNzZlzQ/excalibur_3926T_thumb%5B7%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="150" height="125" /></a> This spring, we purchased a 9-shelf <strong>Excalibur model 3926T</strong> with temperature and timer.  We also purchased a food slicer.  Now we delight in finding things to dehydrate that we wouldn’t have considered earlier.  Our pantry is lined with rows of quart bottles filled with produce from our garden, fruit bushes, products that were on sale and produce items that couldn’t eat quickly enough to keep from spoiling.</p> <p>The Excalibur seems to be in constant use. We use the produce we've dehydrated in it constantly. The soup mixes created from our dehydrated vegetables are always in demand. Our children have asked us to give them quarts of dehydrated fruit from our orchard as Christmas presents this year. They love our dehydrated produce as much as we do.</p> <p>The secret to successful dehydration batches is to create slices of a consistent thickness. They dry at the same speed, negating the tendency of us to fuss with them if the dehydration process requires too much ongoing attention. The slices also pack easily and let’s face it …. they look good too.</p> <p><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_OTJiRRZ5Hb0/TE4PJyYamVI/AAAAAAAAAaA/FY0jAkBcSyY/s1600-h/chiefs_choice_610f%5B5%5D.jpg"><img style="border-right-width: 0px; margin: 5px; display: inline; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px" title="chiefs_choice_610f" border="0" alt="chiefs_choice_610f" align="left" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_OTJiRRZ5Hb0/TE4PK7EWFRI/AAAAAAAAAaE/IiLYU3KtFQw/chiefs_choice_610f_thumb%5B3%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="145" height="145" /></a> After reading thousands of comments about the likes and dislikes of the food slicers on the market, we settled on the <strong>Chief’s Choice model 610</strong> and are very happy with it.  We also purchased straight cut blade for additional cutting options.  It cuts, cuts, cuts and never overheats and rarely bogs down with hard cuts very much.  Briefly freezing meat to firm it up for slicing has resolved any ‘wandering cuts’ that are common with all slicers.</p> <p>Who knew that preparing items for your food storage could be so much fun? </p> <p>Our friends and family are becoming dehydration converts too.  </p> <p>Our raised bed garden boxes are producing at record levels this year and now nothing goes to waste.  We laugh at ourselves some times because we’ll mistakenly dehydrate items that we meant to cook fresh for dinner.</p> <p>If you have questions about how to prepare foods for dehydration or about the benefits of using this method to prepare produce for storage, watch the videos on the Excalibur website <strong><a title="Excalibur dehydration videos" href="http://www.excaliburdehydrator.com/media.php">here</a></strong>.   </p> <p>Good luck in your own food storage and emergency preparedness efforts.  Hopefully, this unsolicited user review will be beneficial to you in your own preparedness quest. </p> <p> </p> <p></p> <p></p> <p></p> <p></p> <p></p> <div style="padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; width: 425px; padding-right: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding-top: 0px" id="scid:5737277B-5D6D-4f48-ABFC-DD9C333F4C5D:fb58b0d6-2e71-40a6-acff-c57e51059144" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent"><div id="005b5a22-e86f-4430-9235-9e87b296bf3b" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; display: inline;"><div><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxVpIHre2ao&feature=player_embedded" target="_new"><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_OTJiRRZ5Hb0/TFGmegCMU_I/AAAAAAAAAak/5dpWoE404d8/video1ee7248ef729%5B5%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-style: none" galleryimg="no" onload="var downlevelDiv = document.getElementById('005b5a22-e86f-4430-9235-9e87b296bf3b'); downlevelDiv.innerHTML = "<div><object width=\"425\" height=\"355\"><param name=\"movie\" value=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/QxVpIHre2ao&hl=en\"><\/param><embed src=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/QxVpIHre2ao&hl=en\" type=\"application/x-shockwave-flash\" width=\"425\" height=\"355\"><\/embed><\/object><\/div>";" alt=""></a></div></div></div> <p> </p> <div style="padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; width: 539px; padding-right: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding-top: 0px" id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:9b3db235-4dd6-4473-9e47-1c3d9b0d94cf" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent">Technorati Tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Dehydration" rel="tag">Dehydration</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Food+Storage" rel="tag">Food Storage</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Excalibur" rel="tag">Excalibur</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Chief's+Choice" rel="tag">Chief's Choice</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Emergency+Preparedness" rel="tag">Emergency Preparedness</a></div> <div class="blogger-post-footer">Copyright 2008 - 2019 Lee R. Drew. All Rights Reserved</div>North Mountainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05106681163593292633noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-156524309530455601.post-7293469760947924762010-06-16T22:34:00.000-06:002010-06-16T23:21:56.198-06:00Vehicle Emergency Kits<p>A few weeks ago, Angela of the <a title="Adventures in Self Reliance" href="http://selfrelianceadventures.blogspot.com/2010/05/new-car-new-car-kit.html" target="_blank">Adventures in Self-Reliance</a> blog shared the vehicle emergency kit that they have in one of their vehicles.</p> <p>In our family, we’ve always had emergency kits in our vehicles.  Who knows what is going to happen to travelers?  The more miles you drive, the more crazy events happen to you, especially if you don’t always stay on paved roads.</p> <p>What should you put in your vehicle kit?  It depends on your lifestyle, where and when you travel and how many folks ride in your vehicle.</p> <p>Everyone needs the basics..</p> <ul> <li>A Good First Aid Kit</li> <li>A Basic Set of Tools</li> <li>A Good Set of Jumper Cables</li> <li>A Coat or Jacket</li> <li>Flares and Reflective Triangle</li> <li>Gloves</li> <li>An old Rug or Mat to lay on</li> <li>Water</li> <li>Food or Nourishment of some type that will survive the hostile environment of your trunk</li> <li>A Blanket</li> <li>A Shovel</li> </ul> <p>Add to the contents based on your lifestyle.  If you drive any distance to work, put in a good set of walking shoes.  There are many types of disasters that may put you afoot trying to get home.</p> <p>Some of us carry a few more items than the ‘basics’ though.  We’ve learned what we need and what ‘can’ happen to you from personal experience.</p> <p>Below are two photos showing the contents of the emergency kit in our road vehicle.  The off-road rigs have really good kits but they won’t be included here.  Build your own kits.  You may be REALLY happy that you did someday.  </p> <p>Just remember, it gets HOT in the back of your vehicle and food will spoil fast, hence the box of MRE’s shown here are for demonstration purposes only.  We only carry boxes of them on shorter term journeys.  Otherwise, we carry the dreaded sawdust food blocks like everyone else.</p> <p> </p> <p><a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_OTJiRRZ5Hb0/TBmw6zV9ivI/AAAAAAAAAZU/SLI7V8qbmZQ/s1600-h/vehicle_kit%5B7%5D.jpg"><img style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px" title="" border="0" alt="" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_OTJiRRZ5Hb0/TBmw7QRRY3I/AAAAAAAAAZY/hyJPoTRgHrg/vehicle_kit_thumb%5B5%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="600" height="450" /></a> </p> <p> </p> <p><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_OTJiRRZ5Hb0/TBmw8ODSicI/AAAAAAAAAZc/M0hwN2A0G2U/s1600-h/Kit_in_car%5B9%5D.jpg"><img style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px" title="" border="0" alt="" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_OTJiRRZ5Hb0/TBmw8h6bC9I/AAAAAAAAAZg/P_IKqRpfIv4/Kit_in_car_thumb%5B7%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="593" height="444" /></a> </p> <p> </p> <div style="padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: none; padding-top: 0px" id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:bf21e50a-f570-4555-9494-7ffc17a2ed4b" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent">Technorati Tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Emergency+Kit" rel="tag">Emergency Kit</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Vehicle+Emergency+Kit" rel="tag">Vehicle Emergency Kit</a></div> <div class="blogger-post-footer">Copyright 2008 - 2019 Lee R. Drew. All Rights Reserved</div>North Mountainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05106681163593292633noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-156524309530455601.post-12199129945564033012010-04-24T12:12:00.000-06:002010-04-24T12:13:53.593-06:00Using Dutch Ovens<p>Dutch Ovens are one of the best cooking tools available to man. If you weren't born with pioneer ancestors who passed the love of these great cooking ovens down to their descendants, you may not know how to to prepare and use them.</p> <p>The International Dutch Oven Society based in Logan, Utah created a series of 'How To' videos as part of the 2009 International Dutch Oven Cookoff Event (see below)</p> <p>If you don't have a Dutch Oven yet, get one and start using it this summer. You'll discover a whole new world of flavor that has sadly been missing from your life and at the same time gain a method of cooking that by using charcoal or wood coals can indefinitely bridge the loss of utility services.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Seasoning Dutch Ovens</strong></p> <p> <div style="padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: none; padding-top: 0px" id="scid:5737277B-5D6D-4f48-ABFC-DD9C333F4C5D:c6a25917-1c86-4654-ab76-0a6bcb198258" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent"><div id="3933bf90-a7bf-42f6-bf13-bdf133053af2" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; display: inline;"><div><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mc1p6oQtCYQ" target="_new"><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_OTJiRRZ5Hb0/S9M0rF-SwhI/AAAAAAAAAXY/KEVGC0Yfb_w/videoad5fa01e7c12%5B8%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-style: none" galleryimg="no" onload="var downlevelDiv = document.getElementById('3933bf90-a7bf-42f6-bf13-bdf133053af2'); downlevelDiv.innerHTML = "<div><object width=\"425\" height=\"355\"><param name=\"movie\" value=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/mc1p6oQtCYQ&hl=en\"><\/param><embed src=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/mc1p6oQtCYQ&hl=en\" type=\"application/x-shockwave-flash\" width=\"425\" height=\"355\"><\/embed><\/object><\/div>";" alt=""></a></div></div></div> </p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Dutch Oven Safety</strong></p> <div style="padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: none; padding-top: 0px" id="scid:5737277B-5D6D-4f48-ABFC-DD9C333F4C5D:b254dfd5-c572-46ca-b8d6-6f1fc46524e1" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent"><div id="c5163504-7475-4947-ace8-a21b4a609ffc" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; display: inline;"><div><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jl6GGjnREjc" target="_new"><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_OTJiRRZ5Hb0/S9M0rp51_EI/AAAAAAAAAXc/z9MAuBCOdqM/videofb86bb11cca4%5B8%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-style: none" galleryimg="no" onload="var downlevelDiv = document.getElementById('c5163504-7475-4947-ace8-a21b4a609ffc'); downlevelDiv.innerHTML = "<div><object width=\"425\" height=\"355\"><param name=\"movie\" value=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/Jl6GGjnREjc&hl=en\"><\/param><embed src=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/Jl6GGjnREjc&hl=en\" type=\"application/x-shockwave-flash\" width=\"425\" height=\"355\"><\/embed><\/object><\/div>";" alt=""></a></div></div></div> <p></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Heating Up a Dutch Oven</strong></p> <div style="padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: none; padding-top: 0px" id="scid:5737277B-5D6D-4f48-ABFC-DD9C333F4C5D:cab4c6b5-806c-43b4-8d50-997bdb23502c" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent"><div id="9f4d44e6-4f27-4b65-8e5b-ca453b46471f" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; display: inline;"><div><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjZhdTPUHOg" target="_new"><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_OTJiRRZ5Hb0/S9M0sBiYdXI/AAAAAAAAAXg/ExUFlVHeJ_c/video13fd719664d0%5B7%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-style: none" galleryimg="no" onload="var downlevelDiv = document.getElementById('9f4d44e6-4f27-4b65-8e5b-ca453b46471f'); downlevelDiv.innerHTML = "<div><object width=\"425\" height=\"355\"><param name=\"movie\" value=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/RjZhdTPUHOg&hl=en\"><\/param><embed src=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/RjZhdTPUHOg&hl=en\" type=\"application/x-shockwave-flash\" width=\"425\" height=\"355\"><\/embed><\/object><\/div>";" alt=""></a></div></div></div> <p> </p> <p><strong>Dutch Oven Accessories</strong></p> <div style="padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: none; padding-top: 0px" id="scid:5737277B-5D6D-4f48-ABFC-DD9C333F4C5D:8260ecd6-72d9-4e9e-8514-0380f48b4b1c" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent"><div id="b1fed576-c12c-473f-a989-675a39754d4f" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; display: inline;"><div><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vgRcg2ng30" target="_new"><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_OTJiRRZ5Hb0/S9M0smhQSqI/AAAAAAAAAXk/jCvUAV8No2g/videodfb99ada3339%5B7%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-style: none" galleryimg="no" onload="var downlevelDiv = document.getElementById('b1fed576-c12c-473f-a989-675a39754d4f'); downlevelDiv.innerHTML = "<div><object width=\"425\" height=\"355\"><param name=\"movie\" value=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/2vgRcg2ng30&hl=en\"><\/param><embed src=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/2vgRcg2ng30&hl=en\" type=\"application/x-shockwave-flash\" width=\"425\" height=\"355\"><\/embed><\/object><\/div>";" alt=""></a></div></div></div> <p> </p> <p><strong>Dutch Oven Accessories 2</strong></p> <div style="padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: none; padding-top: 0px" id="scid:5737277B-5D6D-4f48-ABFC-DD9C333F4C5D:774c632c-77a9-4286-8d10-2e3819e9b58a" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent"><div id="fa0a0b2c-2add-46f5-b359-692f3ec53ef8" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; display: inline;"><div><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBk8D-ZE-iU" target="_new"><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_OTJiRRZ5Hb0/S9M0tLVd6MI/AAAAAAAAAXs/1KR08mabZjk/video8299c763d20c%5B7%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-style: none" galleryimg="no" onload="var downlevelDiv = document.getElementById('fa0a0b2c-2add-46f5-b359-692f3ec53ef8'); downlevelDiv.innerHTML = "<div><object width=\"425\" height=\"355\"><param name=\"movie\" value=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/VBk8D-ZE-iU&hl=en\"><\/param><embed src=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/VBk8D-ZE-iU&hl=en\" type=\"application/x-shockwave-flash\" width=\"425\" height=\"355\"><\/embed><\/object><\/div>";" alt=""></a></div></div></div> <p> </p> <p><strong>Dutch Oven Rule of 3’s</strong></p> <div style="padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: none; padding-top: 0px" id="scid:5737277B-5D6D-4f48-ABFC-DD9C333F4C5D:4ee160fa-621f-4cd5-83ef-5e3ca66a7393" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent"><div id="09431e4c-57d2-469b-8e67-3c34fd3eb3f7" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; display: inline;"><div><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KF9U5d35j0k" target="_new"><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_OTJiRRZ5Hb0/S9M0tic7YdI/AAAAAAAAAXw/HI01Jb8o1Gc/video8bbb6e10c666%5B7%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-style: none" galleryimg="no" onload="var downlevelDiv = document.getElementById('09431e4c-57d2-469b-8e67-3c34fd3eb3f7'); downlevelDiv.innerHTML = "<div><object width=\"425\" height=\"355\"><param name=\"movie\" value=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/KF9U5d35j0k&hl=en\"><\/param><embed src=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/KF9U5d35j0k&hl=en\" type=\"application/x-shockwave-flash\" width=\"425\" height=\"355\"><\/embed><\/object><\/div>";" alt=""></a></div></div></div> <p> </p> <p><strong>Dutch Oven Cleaning</strong></p> <div style="padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: none; padding-top: 0px" id="scid:5737277B-5D6D-4f48-ABFC-DD9C333F4C5D:fd836957-b15e-4ec0-88ae-b1a82f840e50" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent"><div id="dc1b6edc-2d54-483f-bbbb-8fce7ec59e46" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; display: inline;"><div><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBueiu-kPHk" target="_new"><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_OTJiRRZ5Hb0/S9M0uI1v2cI/AAAAAAAAAX8/aRPHBZPBek4/video3f6677ffb5e2%5B6%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-style: none" galleryimg="no" onload="var downlevelDiv = document.getElementById('dc1b6edc-2d54-483f-bbbb-8fce7ec59e46'); downlevelDiv.innerHTML = "<div><object width=\"425\" height=\"355\"><param name=\"movie\" value=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/CBueiu-kPHk&hl=en\"><\/param><embed src=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/CBueiu-kPHk&hl=en\" type=\"application/x-shockwave-flash\" width=\"425\" height=\"355\"><\/embed><\/object><\/div>";" alt=""></a></div></div></div> <p> </p> <div style="padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: none; padding-top: 0px" id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:595d1e3e-28d8-42ed-9540-e0d2f4e786f1" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent">Technorati Tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Dutch+Oven" rel="tag">Dutch Oven</a></div> <div class="blogger-post-footer">Copyright 2008 - 2019 Lee R. Drew. All Rights Reserved</div>North Mountainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05106681163593292633noreply@blogger.com0