intotherustic: November 2012

Tilling The Earth

By into the rustic - 1:56 PM

Tilling the soil serves many purposes. It will loosen the soil up allowing air and water to be able to reach the roots of what you choose to sow. It also breaks up the old root systems of weeds and sod that would if left in the soil, choke out your seeds and steal the nutrients necessary for them to germinate and flourish.

Methods of Tilling

Shovel It

The most basic and oldest method of turning the soil is with a spade and a rake. The spade is used to turn over the clods of soil and the rake is used to break them up and smoothen them out.

Double Digging

This is an effective method for using the spade to turn over your garden beds soil, and one that I personally use for my gardens. This is a long and often backbreaking job but if you do it slowly spread out over a week it is less tiresome and well worth the work in the end.

First, you start by digging your first trench along the length of your garden. This is dug to the depth of the spade itself. The soil that is dug up from this first trench is piled on the side of your garden and should not be touched for the time being.

When you complete this first digging, dig again in this same first trench to a depth of the spade but this time only loosen the soil up and add some organic material to it such as manure or compost. Then start digging the next trench adjacent to it to the one you just did, a spade depth again in depth.

This top layer dug up from this trench, is then used to finish filling in the first trench and to this soil should be added also organic material. Then finish digging another depth of the spade in this second trench and again only loosen the soil up while also adding in organic material.

Repeat this as many times as needed to cover the entirety of your garden bed. When you get to the last trench, take the pile of topsoil that you had set aside from the beginning, add organic material to it evenly, and top off your last row with this.

The Plow

Next is of course the plow, which can be used with animal labor or be completely mechanized. The best method for plowing your garden is to start in the middle of the garden bed and work your way outwards in a clockwise direction.

This will turn the soil always over on the right side of where you are tilling and uniformly mix the soil. Used in combination with the plow is the Harrow. The harrow is used in the same way the rake was, to break up the clods and smoothen out the soil.

If you are only plowing soil that the sod has been already broken up and removed, then a harrow is not needed. A small tractor can do the trick with only 12-16 horsepower. But, if you are breaking up sod then you will need a stronger and larger tractor of at least 1 ton in weight with about 40 horsepower strength.

When you till the land, do not plow any deeper than 12” down so as not to disturb the topsoil and the drainage qualities of the subsoil beneath.

Always make sure that you till when the soil is nice and dry. If your soil is to clayey and you till the soil, it will create
these big lumps in your fields will be very difficult to break up later and will hinder good root growth of your crops.

If you are tilling over “virgin” soil then you want to do this in the Fall allowing during the winter months for the weeds, grass, and other organic material to decompose.

Also if you want to routinely cultivate your soil, most farmers do this in the Fall by tilling under the crops and vegetation left over from their harvest so that during the winter it can decompose and improve the soil for the next growing season.

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Gardening

Composting & Soil Composition

By into the rustic - 1:41 PM

How To Improve Your Soil To Get The Most Out Of It

Knowing Your Soil

What is the composition of your soil? Is it sandy, clay-like, or is it evenly distributed with both elements? Ideally, when you pick up a handful of soil it should be dark, crumbly, and rich-looking. If you take the soil and can compact it into a ball then you have too much clay. If the soil feels gritty and you can see the particles individually, then your soil is too sandy.

Soil Layers

Topsoil- This layer is the top 6” of your soil where about 75% of the helpful microorganisms and earthworms live. This layer is what you fertilize and cultivate to produce better crops. So in other words, this is the most important layer of your gardens soil, so treat it well.

Subsoil- This layer is also important to gardening- This is where your root systems dwell and where you need good drainage to prevent them from either rotting from too much water, or drying out completely from lack thereof. Most root systems go down about 4-5’ so this part of your soil needs to get air, water and nutrients. Earthworms can also dig into and cultivate the subsoil as well as the layer below it.

Hardpan (or Bedrock)- This part of your soil is compact, clay like and not much life exists here. Some earthworms do cultivate down this far, and important root systems can break through this layer to reach underlying water systems that sometimes trickle through it.

Soil Tests

These will let you know the pH levels of your soil. The pH scale goes from 1 to 14 where 7 is neutral. All numbers below 7 are acidic and the ones above 7 are alkaline. The best pH level for your garden soil is between 6.3 and 6.8.

Why? Because this is the acidity level where microorganisms that aid your plants will thrive the best. If you can’t test the pH levels of your soil, just add natural compost. This will automatically correct your soil's pH levels whether it is too acidic or too alkaline.

If you want to improve the quality of your soil by adding more Nitrogen, Potassium, and Phosphorous, (the most important nutrients your plants need) you can add any of the following organic materials below. The chart will let you know what materials you can add directly to your soil, and which ones need to be decomposed for a while first.

I recommend using only organic fertilizers to aid your soil, synthetic fertilizers although faster to obtain and use, will have negative consequences that you should avoid at all costs. When they are added to your garden, they kill off the soil life that naturally produces plant food.

They are also all water-soluble, so one rainstorm and everything leaches away and seeps into your groundwater, polluting it. Another reason to avoid synthetic fertilizers is that they yield a short burst of energy for your plants, but won’t last the entire growing season.

They also won’t improve the soil's texture or water holding capacity the way organic material will do naturally while adding all the nutrients your plants need to grow. So save your wallet and the environment and only use organic.

I have two chickens, two roosters, two rabbits, and two dogs, and no I don’t own an ark so save the jokes. But truth be told if you want to start yielding organic material fast, buy a rabbit to start. For such a small, adorable little creature, you’d be surprised at how much they um…go. It’s unbelievable, but fabulous for your garden.

Also if you have a dog or a cat, hey make use of that free nitrogen, just make sure you allow it as well as any other animal waste, the proper length of time for it to break down in a compost heap so that it won’t burn your plants.

The best trick to know if they have fully deteriorated is just to hold your hand over the pile and if you no longer feel the heat - Stick a pitchfork in it, it’s done.

Organic Fertilizer Chart

Type Contributes Facts

Compost	Adds organic matter to soil, differing	This is the best type of organic
	proportions of nutrients	fertilizer

Cottonseed Meal	Nitrogen (6.9%),Phosphorus (2-3%)	Acid loving crops love this fertilier
	Potassium (1.5-2%)

Dried Blood & Tankage	Nitrogen (5-12%), Best source of Nitrogen
	Phosphorus(3-13%)	quick acting, and helps soil organisms
		grow

Fish Meal, Fish Emulsion	Nitrogen (6-8%),Phosphorus (13%),	Fast acting fertilizer
	Potassium (3-4%)

Horn & HoofMeal	Nitrogen (7-15%)	Fast acting fertilizer

Manure, Cow (fresh)	Nitrogen (0.6%),Phosphorus (0.15%)	Does not need to be aged
	Potassium (0.45%),Organic Matter	Low Nitrogen levels

Manure, Goat & Sheep	Nitrogen (2.5%),Phosphorus (1.5%),	Needs to be aged 3 months
(dried)	Potassium (1.5%),Organic Matter

Manure, Horse (fresh)	Nitrogen (0.7%),Phosphorus (0.25%),	Needs to be aged 3 months
	Potassium (0.55%),Organic Matter

Manure, Poultry (dried)	Nitrogen (4.5%),Phosphorus (3.2%)	High in Nitrogen, Do not add directly
	Potassium (1.3%)	to garden

Manure, Rabbit (fresh)	Nitrogen (2.4%),Phosphorus (1.4%),	Needs to be aged 3 months
	Potassium (0.6%),Organic Matter

Rock Phosphate	Phosphorus (24-30%)	Acts slow, doesn´t burn crops

Seaweed (dried)	Nitrogen (1-2%),Phosphorus (0.75%),	Very good for soil because of high
	Potassium (5%),Organic Matter	content of Colloids-retains nutrients

Sewage Sludge (sterile)	Nitrogen (4-6%),Phosphorus (3-4%),	Be cautious in use, may contain
	Organic Matter,Some Potassium	heavy metals

Wood Ashes	Phosphorus (1.2%),Potassium (3-7%)	Has alkaline effect on soil

The Three Main Nutrients and Their Plant Benefits

Nitrogen- This is used by the plants to grow healthy leaves and stems. If your plants are lacking in Nitrogen, you will notice that their leaves become yellowish and they grow much slower than they should. Nitrogen doesn’t last long in your soil after it has been added, so every time you plant again, you have to replenish this nutrient.

Phosphorus- This aids in healthy root systems and flowers. This nutrient when added to your soil, unlike Nitrogen, lasts a long time.

Potassium- This helps your plants resist disease, strengthen their plant tissue, and develop Chlorophyll that helps them make their food from sunshine. This nutrient is similar to Nitrogen in that it is lost in the soil quickly and needs to be replenished often.

Organic Composting

Composting is one of the best ways to quickly make an organic fertilizer for your garden soil that will nourish and replenish the garden with all the nutrients it needs to make it grow with success.

To get started, you should have a small bucket or sealed container in your kitchen to keep all the food scraps leftover from meals inside of. A large yogurt container will work nicely. Then this can be carried and dumped periodically when full into your large compost pile.

Since it’s a small container, it forces you to do it often enough so that your kitchen doesn’t smell and flies and other bugs don’t set up shop. After each dump into the heap it’s a good idea to add a shovel full of soil and maybe some grass clippings, pine needles or fallen leaves.

Then take a hose or a bucket of water and add enough water to make the pile moist, but not soaked. Too much water will cause the nutrients to leach out and drain away from the pile.

There are Several Ways to Make Your Own Compost Pile

1.) Plastic Bin: This is the easiest one to make and the quickest. Take a plastic garbage can or storage bin and cut holes about 3-4 “ in diameter scattered on all sides of the bin. Then take some wire mesh, and on the inside of your bin, cover the holes with the mesh using rubber cement to hold in place or some other strong adhesive that will stick to the plastic and the metal. These holes will allow for air to circulate in your bin and give the necessary oxygen to the decomposition process, the wire mesh will prevent material from falling out and critters from climbing in.

2.) Sunken Garbage Can: This is a good method for when you have only a small space to work with. Take a garbage can and punch holes in its bottom side. This will allow for drainage as the waste breaks down inside. Sink the garbage can down almost all the way in the ground and cover the top with wire mesh to keep out rodents and to allow oxygen intake. Next before adding waste, put a perforated plastic tube down the middle of the garbage can. This will allow oxygen to hit all areas of the pile. Then fill it with alternating layers of organic material around this central tube being careful not to dump any inside of it.

3.) Chicken Wired Bins: Using lightweight lumber and chicken wire you can make your own bins that can be used to decompose leaves, grass clippings, and kitchen scraps. Unless you are putting chicken wire on the top too, I would recommend not putting meats, grease, bones, or anything else that will attract a lot of vermin.

4.) Wire Mesh Cylinder: This is practical and easy to set up. The wire mesh should be of heavy-duty gage and curved to make the diameter you want your bin to be. Then using metal or wooden stakes, attach them to the wire and drive them into the ground to hold your cylinder firmly in place.

5.) Wooden Pallets: These you can find for free online or behind your local hardware or grocery store. Put 3 together and use a 4th as a door, and you have an easy-to-use compost pile.

The Basics of Good Composting

Composting is all about layering. Think of it as if you were constructing a complex yet utterly disgusting cake. You should start with the coarsest materials on the bottom of your pile first, like straw or corn stalks. This will allow air circulation on the bottom of your pile.

Another way to get air to the bottom easily is to place your pile on a slatted wooden platform. Next, you can add a layer of sawdust or other type of absorbent material such as soil. Then a layer of garden and kitchen refuse should be added as well as dead leaves and grass clippings.

Then on top of this layer put some manure to supply nitrogen to fuel the process. You can add differing sources of high-nitrogen items on top instead of the manure such as dried blood, feathers, and hair clippings.

Repeat these layers until your pile is about 4’ high, too much taller and the pile will lose heat and the process will be halted. Add enough water to keep it moist only or as much moisture as a wrung-out wet rag would have.

Next, you need to turn your pile with a shovel or a pitchfork every few days or about once a week to speed up the decomposition by adding oxygen to it. Frequent turns will help combat bad odors.

You will know when your pile is done when you hold your hand over it and it no longer gives off any more heat, when there are no more foul odors emanating from it, and when the material has broken down into a brown and crumbly consistency.

If you are in a rainy season or a highly rain-stricken region, cover your pile with a piece of plastic tarp or other material so that runoff of the necessary nutrients does not occur.

The benefits of composting are shown in the results they yield. You can increase your garden's output by about 5 times if you add compost to your soil. The care that is needed to continually replenish your soil will be rewarded in the end.

It is well worth the effort and anything less would be ultimately a waste of the cost of your seeds, your time, and the amount of groceries you will have to buy to make up for the lack of vegetables your garden produced.

Composting Directly In Your Garden

You don’t need to make the compost pile, if you want to save yourself some toil, start spreading your layers directly on your garden bed in the Fall season. First start with a layer of good decayable material like leaves, weeds, grass clippings and any veggie scraps.

Then on top of this spread a 2” layer of manure. Next scatter some wood ashes or lime on top, and lastly cover everything with straw. Water this now and again if the weather isn’t cooperating, and when spring comes dig all of this into the top 5” of your garden soil.

Green Manure

This is another way to improve your soil. The crops that are best for green manure are the ones that grow fast, produce a lot of organic material, and also are capable of growing into the cooler weather seasons after normal harvest is completed.

The basic concept of green manure, is your grow a crop rich in nutrients, and then plow it back down into the soil. As it decomposes it will enrich the garden.

This works best for large gardens of field crops. The most popular kinds of green manure crops are Buckwheat, Rye Grass, and Alfalfa. Clover, Oats, Barley and other legume crops are also excellent for green manure.

Tilling your Green Manure

This is extremely dense material to work into your soil so on many instances you may need to use a scythe or mow them down several times before you attempt to work them into the soil. You may need even still to go back over and over again and re-till the soil to make sure everything is evenly mixed underground.

You can attempt to hand dig in your green manure, but it is extremely difficult and toilsome work. Just make sure that either way, your green manure is chopped up nicely so that it decomposes into your soil quickly.

Planting in Green Manure

Obviously like with any kind of composting or use of manure, you have to wait until the manure is fully broken down before planting your crops. If you live in a climate with warm soil temperatures plus an adequate amount of rain, you can probably start planting in about 3 weeks. You will know when it is ready to be planted in when the decomposed material looks just like your soil.

Mulching- Benefits and Practicality

The usefulness of mulching your garden is three-fold. First, it helps to prevent weeds from growing around your plants and choking them out of valuable nutrients and water. Second, it acts like a protective layer for the moisture in your soil, helping shield it from the sun and thus slow down the rate of evaporation. Third, this will slowly decompose and will at the end of the growing season be tilled back into the soil adding organic material to further improve the quality of next years’ plants.

Making Your Mulch

1. Rake up any dead leaves on the lawn and save any grass clippings from your lawn mower. Any wee piles that you have accumulated from your garden should also be saved and put to use

2. Spread these organic materials in layers in a compost bin or pile and add some water to give a little moisture.

3. Turn the pile every 3 days or so and add more water if it appears too dry.

4. Within a few weeks this should be starting to break down and can be added safely to your garden bed.

Manure and She-it

Having your own farm animals is a definite plus to keep your crops and the soil they grow in well taken care of. Make sure depending on where you live, that you check with your extension agent about any laws regulating the use of manure. Some areas make restrictions on keeping your manure pile 200 ft. from the nearest stream or wetland.

To best trap your animals refuse, the bedding that the animal is kept in will prove very valuable for you. Mainly because not only is the feces your goal, but the urine of animals contains the most Nitrogen of all. So highly absorbent material like sawdust or chopped up straw make excellent sources to soak up all the Nitrogen your animals produce.

The Deep Litter System

This is where you allow your animals bedding to accumulate over time, and only clean out the barn twice a year, spring and fall. So each time the bedding gets saturated, instead of cleaning it out you just add another layer of clean material.

Then over time the layers build up and bit by bit they start composting directly in your animals housing. You will have a heck of a job hauling out all that material during the times to clean everything out, but most of the work of composting will be already done on the bottom layers. So you can then start spreading this material directly into your gardens.

How to Properly Use Manure

You can’t always directly add manure to your soil, the only exception is like the above chart mentions, with Cow manure. It is so low in nitrogen that it is safe to put in your garden bed without waiting for it to start decomposing. Everything else needs to wait the proper amount of time until it can be added.

Make piles of your manure like you do with your normal compost of vegetation. You can make these piles about 5’ or 6’ deep and about 6’ wide, but no more to prevent leaching. Cover your piles with either dirt or plastic to prevent runoff. Make sure it also doesn’t get too dry or it will lose its nitrogen and other fertilizer elements.

Be careful when using Horse manure, it often times contains weed and hay seeds, so make sure it is fully composted before adding to your garden or you will have a nightmare time keeping your garden bed weed and grass free.

Earthworms as Composting Companions

Earthworms are excellent at breaking down your compost pile into rich earth. They tunnel in and recycle as they go, loosening the soil, aerating it, and speeding up the decomposition process of your compost heap. They increase the size and quality of your topsoil by breaking up the hardpan or subsoil beneath.

What they do is they literally eat the soil and organic matter and mix this with their digestive juices. What they excrete is a mixture or organic and inorganic material called “castings”. This “castings” is neutral in pH, it is water soluble hummus, which makes it a perfect fertilizer for your crops.

The best variety of earthworm to do your compost bin with is the Red Worm. These are also called “red wrigglers” or the “manure worm” or “red hybrid”. The most common of this type of worm are Lumbricus Rubellus and Eisenia Foetida.

The most prevalent of the two to be found in your soil is the Rubellus, but they can not survive without being in soil with a lot of organic material. It is able to consume vast amounts of garbage and it reproduces fast.

Traditional garden worms and bait worms will not work as well for composting, they are not capable of recycling the soil as well and they don’t reproduce as much as the red worm variety.

Making a Worm Bin

This can be made of an assortment of materials such as metal, plastic or wood. Just be careful what kinds of wood you use, nothing that is aromatic (ie. Cedar, redwood) or that could be harmful to your worms.

Metal containers or plastic are best, as wooden ones will need to be dried out occasionally so that they don’t rot out. You can make your wooden box work better if you apply a good coating of varnish to it to protect the wood.

The container should be no more than 12” deep. A very deep container is wasteful since most worms tend to stay close to the surface. The width of the bin depends on how much refuse you will be dumping into it from your compost.

Figure 1 sq. foot of surface for each pound of garbage you add each week. The average person will produce per week about 2 lb. of garbage (biodegradable food garbage that is.)

Add enough bedding material to your worm bin so that the worms can make their castings. Manure, leaves, shredded paper and peat moss make excellent bedding material in addition to your kitchen scraps. Be careful when adding manure from recently wormed farm animals, this manure will kill your worms.

To encourage worm reproduction you can add also ground limestone or ground eggshells to provide them with the necessary calcium they need. Don’t add too much kitchen scraps so that the worms can’t break it down fast enough.

Feed the worms about once or twice a week while making sure their bedding is nice and moist.

Worm Food

Mix together 1 part topsoil and 1 part organic veggie matter such as grass clippings, kitchen scraps, etc. Add manure, and if it is fresh, add some more topsoil to this to prevent the mixture from overheating from the manure breakdown.

If you don’t the heat will force the worms to the bottom of your bin where they wont eat or breed. Add chicken mash or cornmeal to provide the worms with the proteins, carbohydrates, and fats they need to make their eggs with.

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Gardening

Planning Your Vegetable Garden Layout

By into the rustic - 12:49 PM

Before You Start a Garden

Get Organized

1- Where is the Light Hitting?

The first thing is that you have to see where on your property you receive the most light. Make sure that your tallest plants, like your corn or sunflowers, will be planted at the back of the garden so they don't shadow any other vegetables growing nearby.

Most garden crops require at least 6 hours of steady daylight to grow most effectively, so be sure that you periodically over the course of the day, inspect your land to see what areas are still receiving enough light.

Make note of any tree branches that could be removed to allow additional light to come in. Do not plan your garden near any trees that shed pine needles, as they are highly acidic and the soil will be extremely difficult to work with.

2- What Viable Seeds Do I Already Have?

Next, make a list of what seeds you have and what you would like to plant this year. Throw out any expired seed packages. Refer to the section of this blog on Buying Seeds for references on good seed catalogs and what to look for before you purchase.

3- Sketch It Out

After you have organized what you are going to plant, you should draw a small layout of the garden to decide what will be planted where, and next to what. Take reference from the chart below to let you know what vegetables grow best with what other veggies.

Companion Planting

Vegetable	Does Well With	Does Poorly With

Asparagus	Parsley, Tomatoes	---

Beans (bush)	Beets, Carrots, Cucumbers,	Fennel, Garlic, Onions
	Marigolds, Potatoes

Beans (pole)	Marigolds, Radishes	Garlic, Onions
Cabbage Family	Beets, Celery, Corn, Dill,	Fennel, Pole Beans, Tomatoes
	Nasturtiums, Onions, Sage,
	Sunflowers

Cantaloupe	Corn, Sunflowers	Potatoes

Corn	Beans, Cucumbers, Peas,	---
	Potatoes, Pumpkins, squash

Cucumbers	Beans, Cabbage Family, Corn	Aromatic Herbs, Potatoes
	Peas, Radishes

Eggplant	Beans	Potatoes (the potato bugs)

Lettuce	Carrots, Cucumbers, Onions,	---
	Radishes

Onions	Beets, Cabbage Family,	---
	Lettuce, Tomatoes

Peas	Beans, Carrots, Corn,	Garlic, Onions
	Cucumbers, Potatoes, Radishes,
	Turnips

Potatoes	Beans, Cabbage, Corn, Peas,	Sunflowers
	Marigolds

Pumpkins	Corn	Potatoes

Radishes	Beets, Carrots, Spinach	---

Rutabagas & Turnips	Peas	---

Squash	Nasturtiums, Radishes	---

Tomatoes	Asparagus, Basil, Garlic,	Cabbage Family, Fennel,
	Marigolds, Parsley	Potatoes

Water Supply

Make sure that your garden is close to a water source, or that at least your hose will be able to reach it with ease. Don’t take any chances, do the measurements and make sure that your length of hose works.

Doing buckets full of water over and over again will not be fun in the hot summer heat. To know how much water your plants need, figure that the average garden needs about 1” of water by rain or hose a week.

Too much water is a problem too, if you live in an area that is bogged down and does not have good drainage, this will cause problems later on. Try to remedy the issue by putting some pieces of rock on the bottom layer of your garden bed so that water will drain away and your roots will not rot.

You can also build drainage ditches to help remove the water from your fields or some sort of levee to keep the water out. Or you could just grow cranberries and rice and be just fine.

Erosion Dangers

Don’t plant a garden on sloped ground, make sure that it is in a flat area. There are farmers here in Mexico who plant corn anywhere and everywhere they can, over mountain tops, near sheer drop cliffs, it doesn’t matter to them.

What they do to prevent erosion is that they make the rows run perpendicular to the slope of the land, so that when the rain comes down, deep gulleys aren’t formed between the rows, carrying away the precious soil and exposing the roots to the elements.

How Large Does My Garden Need To Be?

Plan the size of your garden based on how many mouths you need to feed in your household. Estimate at least 50 sq. feet per person (not including the paths).

An acre of garden is an ideal amount if you are looking to feed a family, but if you are working with a minimum of space, do what you can. You can save space by planting some things vertically as well, like pole beans, peas, cucumbers, upside-down tomatoes, etc.

Sketch Your Garden Plans Out

The best way to draw your garden plans out is to use graph paper. It helps keep things neat and organized and allows you to have a standard measuring system to show the length and width of your garden plot, plus any reference items like the house or trees nearby.

It’s a good idea to also show in your drawing where the shadows cast across your garden in the morning and afternoon. Then you can plan better what veggies need steady light from morning to afternoon, and what could go with a little less like some greens such as lettuce, swiss chard, endive, etc.

Making the Most of Your Garden Space

Don’t over-plant herbs- you only need two plants to produce enough for what your family needs. Also avoid too many sprawling vine plants like squashes, pumpkins, cucumbers, etc. because they will overtake your garden.

These plants can be grown near your corn patch since corn towers straight up in the air. The vine plants will cover the ground beneath them, protecting the corn roots from erosion while using up the wasted space that they occupy.

Try inter-planting so that veggies that produce and mature the fastest use the space up between the slower maturing ones that will spread out later. For example, you can plant radishes or lettuce between your vine plants. These will produce so fast that you can harvest before your vine plants need to have more room to spread out.

Plant mostly continuously bearing crops like tomatoes, kale, broccoli, squash, eggplant, lima beans, cucumbers, peppers, swiss chard, and brussel sprouts. This way you have more fresh veggies coming in throughout the whole growing season, instead of just having one short burst and then having to go to the grocery store again.

Try succession planting, look on your seed packets or books to see how long your crops take to mature for harvest, and plan on planting a replacement crop in place of the ones that mature the earliest. For example, peas, beets, lettuce, radishes, and carrots harvest early enough that if you are quick to harvest you will have time to plant something else in their place.

Water your plants deeply, this way the roots will grow straight down instead of horizontally, allowing you to plant your veggies closer together to maximize on space.

Methods of Planting You Will Use

1.) Row Planting

This is the most common way to plant, and what we are all most used to. This is where there are single rows of individual plants of the same kind, one after the other, adequately spaced to provide ample room to spread out.

When using this method, you should leave about 1 foot of walking space between your rows, allowing room for you to go into weed, mulch, water, or fertilize.

2.) “Wide” Rows

This is nothing more than a long narrow bed where you plant instead of a single row, a dense planting of a particular variety of veggie, herb, or flower. This makes the most efficient use of limited space.

Make sure your soil is dug deeply, fertilized well, and that you water deeply too. When you water deep, this will cause the roots to grow straight down, not laterally. This will allow your plants to thrive the most in their close proximities, and not choke each other out of nutrients and water.

3.) Raised Beds

You make sections or beds of a certain length and width in your garden. The raised part of the term comes from when you dig up the soil in your beds and fertilize it. This process nourishes the earth and also adds oxygen to it, causing it to become lighter and fluffier, so when it is finished it looks raised up from the ground.

Your soil may go up as much as 3-4” in comparison to the rest of your garden soil. Make sure you limit the width of your beds so that from each side of it’s longest side you can reach your hand to the middle of it.

4.) Hill Planting

This is where you make a mound of soil and cluster several plants of the same kind together. If you live in a drier climate, the “hill” should actually be a depression in the soil so that during rains or watering, the water will pool up in this depression and nourish directly to the roots and not trickle off to empty soil.

This works well for people who live in desert areas. You can use this style of gardening for planting melons, corn, pole beans, squash, and cucumbers. So all vine plants can be planted at the base of corn.

If you have limited garden space, then this method will not work well for you, since it takes up a lot of room. If you have soil with a lot of clay in it, then this type of planting will really help your garden take off.

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Homesteading

If You Build it… A Basic Builders Guide to Beginning Construction on Your Land

By into the rustic - 12:03 PM

After you have bought your parcel of land to build on, you will have to determine where on the property you will build your structure. Factors that can affect this decision are the level of the ground, how far the driveway will have to reach, the amount of sunlight it will receive, where the water systems are located, etc. After you have selected your building site, the next step is clearing and developing.

Clearing the Land

If you need to clear trees off the property, do so in the winter season. It is easiest at this time of year because the wood is at its driest, and the snow on the ground makes it a lot simpler to drag away the logs.

Leave the stumps for now where they are, at about 3 feet in height. Once spring has arrived, you will need to remove those stumps. Don’t use your car or truck to drag the trees out, they don’t have the horsepower or the traction to pull it off successfully.

Use either a bulldozer, tractor, winch, or animal for the job. Then when the area has been adequately cleared, bring in the bulldozer to smoothen out the terrain, making it level enough to start construction on.

Planning Location of Development

1. Using the Pythagorean theorem, you can make the right angles of your building site, with relative ease. First, make your first stake A at the first corner. Then determining the length of your first side (X) you measure and then put in stake B.

Using your established plans for your construction will depend on the length of side Y. Now plugging in the known numbers for sides X and Y you can find out the length of side Z. Square the length of side X and add it to the square of side Y.

When you have that number, you find the square root of that sum to get the length of side Z. Now cut out the tape in lengths equal for sides Z and Y and attach Z’s tape to stake A and Y’s tape to stake B. When you stretch out both tapes so that both are perfectly tight with no slack- that is where you put in stake C.

2. Repeat this process to find the last stake corner. Double check your measurements by taking a tape measurer, and measure the length of both diagonals of the rectangle you just constructed-they should be equal in length.

Now extend the diagonals of your rectangle out approximately 6 ft on all corners. This is where you will construct your batter boards. Make sure your batter boards are running parallel to the outline of your construction site.

3. Now to finish the construction of your batter boards, you will need to attach a horizontal piece of wood in dimensions measuring 1"x 6". Next, using a builder's level and a helper, hold a measuring rod at the highest corner stake.

Sight to the rod, recording the difference (shown as D) between the rod reading, and the minimum height of the foundation above grade. Have your helper move and hold the measuring rod along each batter board stake. At each instance, sight to the measuring rod and then subtract the distance (D), and then mark a stake at that point.

4. To have a better view of the workspace, stretch twine between the batter boards, so that the intersections of the twine cross precisely over the tops of the stakes you put in. To get an even more accurate reading, hang plumb bobs from the twine as shown in the drawing to the left.

If it helps to prevent the twine from moving, make cuts in the tops of the batter boards so that the twine remains in place. Place a tack to show the center of the stake where the twine intersects.

Excavating for the Foundation

Now before you get excited and just start digging a giant hole and filling it in with concrete, you have to take some steps first to ensure that you won’t be repairing it later on and that all possible problems were analyzed and accounted for ahead of time.

1.) Get a soil engineer to take a look at your soil and determine how much weight it can support, what kind of drainage characteristics it has, etc.

2.) Contact your local building authorities to find out what the frost level is for your area so you know how far you need to dig your foundation footing. (The footing “base” must be dug below frost levels.)

3.) Hire a backhoe and an operator to save your back and your friends from disliking the sight of both you and a shovel. Make sure that the operator knows exactly what your plans are ahead of time.

4.) As the topsoil is being dug up, move it to a separate spot several feet away from the excavation sight. You do not want to mix the topsoil with the subsoil, as this will affect the weight and other characteristics of the support your foundation requires. (Keep the topsoil for later use for possible landscaping around the structure after work is complete.)

5.) Extend the excavation 3 feet beyond your building lines to have room to maneuver around and lay down foundation blocks, etc.

6.) Any trenches that are more than 4 feet deep should be supported with boards to prevent cave-ins. For added strength, crosspieces are put in and held in place by pressure between the two vertical boards held against opposing sides of the trench.

What is the Right Foundation for You

There are different types of foundations suited for different types of structures and environments.

A.) Perimeter Foundation: This is made of either stone, masonry blocks, or poured concrete. This type of foundation allows the construction of a basement or a crawl space. However, the downside to this method is that it requires heavy excavation and formwork, which makes it necessary to have a skilled worker and heavy equipment on hand.

B.) Wooden Pole Foundation: This type of foundation is made with logs and leaves the under part of your building exposed to the elements. This method is excellent for steep inclines in hard-to-reach places. But it needs very firm soil for it to work properly.

C.) Concrete Slab Foundation: This is a thick reinforced slab of concrete, used as either the main ground floor of your structure or as a basement floor. Do not use this method if you have a high water table or are on a steep incline.

D.) Concrete Pier Foundation: This method is good for also steep inclines where building. Piers are either pre-cast or poured. Its pluses are that it is cheap to construct but the downside is that it is less strong than the perimeter or slab foundations.

Lumber

Now if you have the funds to just go out and buy your lumber from your local distributor, do so. But if you’ve bought a parcel of land that has a lot of extra timber, or maybe when clearing a spot for your building site, you had to clear out some trees-you can turn those trees into savings on your build. The benefit of making your own lumber is that you can cut exactly what you need to the specifications that you need them.

Tools to Lumber With:

-Peavey
-Chain Saw (note: a chainsaw can cut a tree in diameter twice the length of its blade)
-Crosscut Saw
-Slip Hook
-Broad Ax
-Utility Ax
-Log Dogs
-Mallet
-Wedges (hardwood and steel)

Best Trees for Lumber

Beech: Good for furniture, floors, and other woodenwares. It is strong, heavy, and hard.

Black Cherry: Excellent for furniture or cabinetry-Strong, medium weight, and hard.

Black Walnut: Really pretty grain, used for paneling and furniture- strong and medium weight.

Eastern Red Cedar: Used for closets to make use of its natural aroma to ward off moths. Also used in fence posts. Its attributes are it is decay-resistant, light, and easy to work with, but this wood is brittle.

Eastern White Pine: Used for furniture and also in making clapboards. Very commonly used back in the colonial days. Light, semi-soft, strong, and easy to work with.

Northern Red Oak: Good for flooring. This wood is heavy and strong and difficult to work with.

Shortleaf or Yellow Pine: Good for clapboards, was once used for the masts of sailing ships. Softwood, but also strong and has good grain.

Sugar Maple: Very good for furniture, floors, and other woodenware -Easy to work with, strong and hard. Very shock resistant.

Western White Pine: Good for building frames and paneling. Is similar to the eastern white pine in qualities.

White Spruce: Used for house framing and paneling- Strong, light, and easy to work with, but not decay-resistant.

Yellow Birch: Great for doors, furniture, and other interior work - It is heavy, hard, and strong.

Logging Your Lumber

1.) First, select straight trees that have branches only at the top, this guarantees you the most lumber per tree. Each branch will become a knot when cut into lumber, which weakens your boards.

2.) Do not cut any hollow trees in any section. This could mean the interior or Heartwood of the tree has rotted. But this type of tree would make for excellent firewood.

3.) After cutting down the tree, cut it into smaller sections to permit transportation to where you will make your lumber. Make sure you are cutting the log at areas where there are defects to preserve the best wood that can be processed into boards. The log section lengths vary, depending on your use.

4.) After your sections of the log have been cut and moved, you can use a log rule to estimate board feet on your log. Doyle Rule is the most common log rule used. How to use a log rule? Measure the length of the log. Then measure the diameter of the smallest end of the log. Then read the table on the log rule that matches up with these measurements.

5.) The best lumber comes from the outer layer of heartwood and the first layer of sapwood. Too much heartwood means a weaker timber. Cut wood so that the rings are perpendicular to the sawn side of the board when looked at from the ends. If the rings curve parallel with the long edge of your board's end, this will cause the board to warp.

Two Ways to Cut Your Boards

1.) Plain Sawing-
Where you cut through the full diameter of the log.(This makes the widest boards and most lumber per log.)

2.) Quarter Sawing-
Cut the log into 4 long and equal segments and then cut these parts into boards. This means less lumber but a better quality board.

How to Use a Chainsaw to Make Lumber

This takes a lot of practice and also a lot of expertise. First, you lift the log you want to cut onto wooden planks. This prevents the chainsaw blade from bumping into the ground. The first cut is made and then a wedge is put into place in that cut to keep the wood from closing again and pinching the blade of the saw.

You can attach an adapter to your chainsaw to help you make straighter cuts. Nail a 2x4 along the length of the log, and the adapter will fit on it like a slide ruler, giving you a nice straight guide to cut with. Reattach the board after each length is cut.

Another, yet more expensive method of chainsawing, is the portable chainsaw mill. This mill adapts to fit any model of chainsaw on the market. This mill cuts horizontally, so your log can be placed directly on the ground it is best if this mill is operated by at least two people. The rollers keep the saw blade level and you can adjust the thickness of your boards.

Making Beams

It’s best to square off a log into a beam that has been freshly cut, so it’s still “green”. Judge the size of your log by making sure the log is slightly larger in diameter than what you need.

Step 1: On each end of the newly cut log, scribe the beam dimensions (square shape) you desire. Cut notches into both the log ends at the corners of these dimensions and hook the ends of chalk lines (string coated in powdered chalk) through the notches. Snap the chalk line against the length of the log to make the marks of where your cuts will begin, to shape out the beam.

Step 2: Using your utility ax, carefully make vertical cuts every 4” or so. You want each cut to be to the depth of the chalk line markings.

Step 3: Now using a broad ax, slice parallel from the chalk line down into the notches you just made to remove the waste wood.

Step 4: Smooth off each hewn side of your beam with an adz.

Other Lumber

Shingles, Shakes and Billets-

Billets: Log sections which are then further cut down to make shingles or shakes.

Shakes: Oversized shingles

Using only straight-grained, blemish-free wood; cut the log into sections 2 feet or greater in diameter. If you are looking to make shingles, the log needs to be cut into 1 ½ - 2 feet lengths, and for shakes about 2 ½ - 4 feet lengths.

To make Billets, Shakes, and Shingles out of Cedar, you cut off the exterior sides of the log to make a square block (like to make a beam). Split this block in half, and then in half again. Do this until you achieve the thickness you want.

For oak, you cut the log into quarters and then cut each section like pie slices. For Cypress and Pine, the log is cut in quarters also, but then the quarters are sliced into smaller pieces by cutting along the grain at a tangent to the growth rings.

How to Season Lumber

The length of time to season lumber depends on the use it’s intended for. If it’s going to be used to build with, at least 6 months is required. If the lumber is being used to make cabinets or furniture, you need to let it dry out for a year at least.

How do you gauge the appropriate dryness needed for your size lumber? For every inch of thickness of your board estimate at least one year.

Make sure that when you are drying out your lumber that it is placed up off the ground, the boards are leaning on each other to allow enough air to pass between, and that they are covered on top with a tarp to prevent rain or morning dew from making them to wet.

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Homesteading

Land Ho! What To Look For When Buying Property

By into the rustic - 12:48 PM

There are a few important things you should look into before making the leap into land/property ownership…

1.) Budget

This is obviously the most important part of any investment. What are your personal funds or lack there of? If you open your wallet and a one-winged moth coughs out, you may want to reconsider an investment this large.

Stick to what you’ve got and save to get what you want. But my advice is to do whatever you can to save as much debt as you can- a.k.a., take out as little in loans as possible.

The current housing crisis is still looming, and if anything it’s getting tougher each year. You don’t want to be stuck in a mortgage that could be hanging over your head for the greater portion of your life.

Loans are meant solely to create debt, and make banks lots of money. Your accumulating interest is in their best interest, not yours. You need to start small and live within your means. If you can borrow from friends or family, do so.

That being said, land is gold. To own land is to be able to secure your own future. When you own your own piece of earth, you are the rule maker. You don’t pay rent, and you don’t really answer to anyone.

Even if it’s a ½ acre, it’s your start to build and do whatever you please. Especially with an economy as unstable as it is, you need land to be able to accommodate your needs as they may arise.

2.) What are you really looking for?

Are you looking to be a new homeowner, to build your own house, to farm and raise animals, to have neighbors close by, or to have privacy?

Know what you want beforehand. Be completely honest with yourself, and if it helps you any, organize your thoughts by making a list of things you want to get out of your investment.

3.) Research Properties

After you’ve narrowed down what type of property you want, it’s time to hit the newspapers, the Internet, and your local real estate agencies to research properties on the market.

Look out for the following keywords in ads that sellers often like to use to fool the unsuspecting eager buyer:

“Cozy” means small, there is no other meaning on the planet we call earth when it comes to homes or apartments- see also “quaint”, “charming” and any use of the word, “nook”.
“Handy-man special” or even the phrase, “full of possibilities”, means you better have credit at Home Depot and the next 20 years of weekends free.
Any number followed by the word “Century” means they are selling it at a price as if it’s protected by the National Historical Society when in reality, it’s just old.

There are more terms, but you get the point. That being said, surprisingly when they are messing up and accidentally revealing the negatives of the property, they oftentimes forget to mention facts that would be found quite attractive to buyers.

For example being near a good school, having a stream or natural water source on the property, etc. The truth is, you will never know until you look, but buyer-beware.

4.) Phone the Owner and Visit Several Times in Person

After you’ve made your list of possible properties you are interested in, it’s a good idea to visit the property on different occasions at different times of the day. You want as full of a picture of what your investment contains, both the pluses and the minuses.

What portions of the property get the most sunlight, and for how long during the day?
What is the neighborhood like? Is it too noisy and crowded or is it too quiet for your taste? The loudness may be different in summer when people are more active than when you visit a property in the winter.
Is the property mostly meadow land, or is it mostly woods?
Are there any wetlands on or nearby that could give you trouble during mosquito season? What kind of trees are on the property, are they hard or soft wood?

What To Look For When Buying Land

Soil Quality

Soil fertility is of course the most important factor if you are looking to use your land for farming or if you are a serious gardener. When you go to visit the property, either bring a spade or ask if the owner has one available to borrow ahead of time.

Dig into the soil at different locations so you can get the best overall judgment of the land. The layer of topsoil should be at least 10” deep, but the deeper the better- 15” would be ideal.

The topsoil should be dark in color and loose and crumbly. You want to make sure that it’s evenly balanced, and not too sticky. Too much clay means water will log up your crops and cause them to rot, or too much sand means that water will just run through and not be absorbed by the plant's roots.

Take a sample and bring it to your local county agent or even a local university to have the pH levels measured and mineral content analyzed. You will want a ph as close to neutral as possible, which is around the number 7.

Slightly above or below this number is normal. Another good way to gauge the land is to observe the neighbors and see what they are growing if anything. Chances are if they are successful with a certain type of crop, then your land will be as successful with the same type.

Walk around the property and take notice of any signs of erosion. Look for exposed roots around trees and bushes. The soil will appear light-colored and very dry. Erosion means you have to replace the topsoil in order to plant, which is costly and time-consuming.

Inspect the property after a rainstorm. Is the land very boggy and muddy? If so, that means the soil isn’t properly draining away the excess moisture.

Take the spade again and dig down into the ground after it rains or during the rain, about 3-4 feet deep, and see what the soil looks like. If it is very dense and packed that means that it’s virtually impermeable to water, which will be detrimental to your crops.

Water Supply

One of the most important things to find out before purchasing land is to find out exactly what access to water there is, whether from pipelines from the city, from a well, or if there is a spring, stream, or pond on the property.

If there are none of these things, next inquire around town as to what the average cost is to dig a well. Water is important not only for drinking, cooking, and bathing, but you are going to need an adequate supply for any crops or animals you plan on raising.

Water Consumption per Day

Human = 30-70 gallons

Horse = 6-12 gallons

Milk Cow = 35 gallons

500 Square Ft. Garden = 35 gallons

The best time to inspect the property for water availability is during the summertime when the temperatures have peaked and not all streams and springs that were there earlier in the year are still flowing.

If there is no current water supply, and you are forced to dig a well, be sure to NEVER attempt to dig it on your own if you are an amateur. The risk of cave-ins is not worth saving the money of doing-it-yourself, you could end up doing-IN-yourself.

Most wells are about 15-20 feet deep, but at times due to the location of the water table, they have to be dug as deep as 100 feet. If you can find out the level of your water table ahead of time, do so to save yourself the headache of wondering if you are digging all the way to China.

What is a water table? A water table is the top of the groundwater reservoir. When a water table breaches the surface you get springs, swamps, and ponds. Depending on how many people are pumping water out of this reservoir will affect the level of your water table.

This underground water source is often encased in rock where it forms an underground stream. If the stream originates from a high enough elevation the water will be under such intense pressure that it will bubble up to the surface without the need for any drilling. This form of water source is called an Artesian Well.

Well Digging

Back in the day, people would use the knowledge and expertise of their local Dowser to find a location to dig their well. A Dowser is an individual who can detect water underneath the surface by using twigs, pieces of metal, or two hot dogs extended out in front of them! In other words, their tools don’t make a difference, you have to feel it!

In their methods, they say that the energy of the water is detectable if you are sensitive to its’ resonance, and that if you are in tune with the energies you can find water and even various mineral deposits. The Dowser's tools will suddenly be pulled towards the ground where the water is located as if honing in on an X on a treasure map.

A lot of people swear by their use, and the Dowsers themselves can attest and often prove their capabilities. But if you are not feeling adventurous enough to depend on someone walking around with a couple of branches yelling ‘Eureka!’ and then digging holes all over your yard, there are more…conventional means, to find out what lies beneath. But with convention comes cost…so here’s your stick!

Bored Well:

This well construction is done with a borer, I know, I know, as surprising as that sounds. First, the soil is broken up with either a large pick or a crowbar about to a depth of about 1 ft. Then the borer drills down from there, with you adding segments to the drill the deeper down you go.

Every now and then the drilling must be halted to empty the hole of any debris. The problem with this method of well digging is twofold. If the well doesn’t strike water before you reach 50 feet, you can’t proceed anymore with this method of digging.

The second is if you find a large rock formation, you have to start digging at a new location starting from scratch again. But if you do manage to dig down unscathed and find water, the well piping and water intake are then installed.

Driven Well:

This method is by using a steel pipe that has a point on one end, with a screen to prevent dirt from getting inside, (since this digging pipe will also be used to get your water from later), and hammering it directly into the ground. This method of well-digging is excellent for deep wells over 100 ft in depth.

Since this is such a deep digging method, to periodically check to see if you’ve found water, lower a string tied to something like a small rock or something with weight, and pull it back in to see if it's wet or not. As soon as you see that you’ve hit water, you need to dig down at least another 20-30 feet to ensure that you have enough of a water supply to meet your needs.

Water-Jetted Well:

Just as the name implies, its method uses a powerful water jet that forces water down into the soil down a pipe. The pressure that is created by this down-force of water, which pushes the loosened soil up on the other sides of the pipe, up and out of the well.

A casing is installed in the well as you are digging down to prevent cave-ins, but with all the moisture coming up from the water, it creates a muddy side to the well which helps maintain the shape and structure and prevents collapse.

This is an opportune way to dig a well, but again the issue is if you hit a rock formation you will be forced to stop. But if everything goes smoothly you should be able to dig down to a depth of about 300 feet!

Drilled Well:

This is a great way to dig a well if you are going to need to get through strong rock below. Diamond-tipped drill bits are required for extremely tough rock formations. For this method, due to the friction created in the drilling process, you will need a water pump to pump water down to both lubricate and cool down the drill bit.

Also, this water will help flush out the debris that is created in the drilling, and back up to the surface. The hole you drilled will be relatively narrow, so after the drilling is finished the hole is reamed to a diameter of 3 inches and then the well pipe with a screen, or a submersible pump of some kind is installed.

The depth that you can attain with this method of digging, is only limited by the amount of horsepower your drilling engine has. But with a 3 horse-power drilling unit, you can reach depths up to 300 feet, so more power sometimes is just a waste, depending on what you need of course.

The Old Fashioned/ Crazy Way to Dig a Well:

Again, this is not for amateurs- Do Not Attempt unless you are accompanied by an experienced digger. The dimensions of the well to start are about 3 1/2 feet wide, or a comfortable width for one person to be able to climb into the well.

To keep the soil from crumbling and falling in the well as you dig, a piece of steel (culvert piping) about 4 feet in length is installed at the top. It’s a good idea to also extend this piping above the top surface of your dig by several inches.

This prevents the accidental kicking of tools and materials on top of some unsuspecting diggers' head. The well is dug until water is filling in faster than can be bailed out by hand.

To prevent pollution of the well water from the surrounding soil, the top half wall of the well is lined with bricks and non-porous concrete. The bottom portion of the wall and the floor is lined with stones without any concrete.

At this point, you can either attach a hand pump to a long pipe with a strainer at the bottom of it to pull up filtered water the hard way, or you can install your pipe and strainer to an electric pump to pump the water directly into your home.

At the top of the well should be a concrete cover with a covered manhole to allow you to inspect your water supply safely and to protect it from contamination from the outside elements. (See drawing above)

Sewage

The next important task to look into is the sewage. Is there a septic tank and leach field? Is there a city sewer line to connect to? If no to both, you will have to install your own septic tank and leach field.

A leach field is nothing more than long piping underground with holes in it that allow moisture to leak out into the soil. Make sure that both the tank and leach field are downslope from your water supply, for obvious reasons.

If you do wind up having to install the tank and leach field, check to make sure that the land is permeable enough to take in the water as it slowly drains from the septic tank through the leach lines. Also, make sure you have a county inspector accompany you to the site to see if there is a location on your property that allows this.

Green Options For Sewage and Grey-Water:

In recent years, more people have been looking into the option of recycling waste. As we are ever populating the earth with more and more of us, our waste is building up and being dumped into lakes and rivers which as a result is withering away our surrounding ecosystems.

These methods ensure that not only can we protect the environment, but our waste can also be used to make it flourish, and we can also reduce the amount of water consumption that we use on a daily basis by using alternative methods of disposal.

Composting Toilet:

The great thing about the composting toilet is it is energy-free to operate. The only thing that is needed in abundance is Oxygen. This enables the aerobic bacteria to break down the refuse inside your compost toilet chamber.

The other benefit to this method is that, unlike the horrors of using an outhouse, this toilet is odor-free and to your relief during the winter, it can be installed indoors. Your cheeks will thank you when it hits below zero, believe me.

The easiest construction of the composting toilet is to use a fiberglass container between the floor joists and the ground or basement floor. The ideal temperature that the bacteria function at is between 90 degrees F and 140 degrees F. The fiberglass container will help lock in the heat that is generated by the bacteria breaking down the waste, so the process is kept constant.

The container must be set at an incline so that the waste slides down slowly as it is broken down. Piping is installed that brings in air from the outdoors into the compost chamber, and keeps the oxygen supply at the necessary levels. Also, a flue can be attached to let out any odors that may accumulate to vent out with a blower through your roof.

Another useful idea, is if you are constructing your home, have it so that your kitchen has a compost waste drop that drops kitchen scraps directly into the compost toilet chamber. This will aid the bacteria and cause it to break down the toilet waste faster and also create high-grade fertilizer.

Pit Privies:

This is an elegant way of calling an Outhouse. Make sure when you build the outhouse, that it is nowhere near your water supply, so in other words, downhill from any water source. Also, make sure that the water table is several feet below the bottom of the Outhouse’s pit. Once maximum capacity is reached in your pit, it must be covered and the privy moved to a new location.

As I mentioned before, as eco as the Privy/Outhouse can be, it smells horrible and is a nightmare in the colder months. Also if you are like me, you will be in a constant state of paranoia that some critter jumped into the pit and is going to bite you as soon as you sit down- But maybe that’s just me.

Incinerating Toilets:

This is a more costly method of all the options of recycling waste. This functions by an electric motor which operates a burner jet, and a blower, which is fueled by either liquid or natural propane gas. How it works is when you lift up the top lid of the toilet seat, a flap at the bottom of the toilet bowl/Hopper opens up and a cycle timer is set.

When the top lid is closed again, the flap drops closed and the refuse is burned for approximately 15 minutes. Then after the waste is burned, the blower kicks in to cool down the unit. The Hopper should be cleaned out regularly, at least once a week, and then the ash should be removed from the combustion chamber before it builds up.

Gray-water Disposal

This is an effective addition to your composting toilet, for the wastewater from the sinks, shower, and tub will need to be still drained into a small septic tank and leach field. What you can do is hook up an underground hose network from the gray-water tank to various parts of your gardens, or to a cistern for storage to be hosed out when need be for irrigation.

It is best if you are going to effectively and safely use the gray water, to have a filtration system in place to filter and clean out the water as much as possible. It is possible with this filtration system to recycle the water to be used in the household again for dishes and bathing, but not for drinking purposes.

Water Storage/Catchment Systems

Rain Catching:

If you have a series of gutters on your roof, they can be used to channel rainwater into a cistern for storage later on. The cistern, to be effective, must hold enough water to get through any dry seasons.

In an area that receives average rainfall (about 25-30’’ a year), a roof that has a surface area of about 1,000 square feet, will be able to collect upwards of 50 gallons of water a day. 50 gallons of water would supply the needs of a two-person household. So from there, you can estimate based on the size of your household what you will need to store for you.

Ponds as water storage:

Another excellent source for holding water and using it for crops and animals is a pond. This is for large-scale water storage.

If the property doesn’t come with a pond, you can either excavate if the water table is close enough to the surface, or you can build an embankment of soil to collect runoff. But again, this type of water storage is not intended for human consumption, but only for the irrigation of plants and for watering your animals.

Methods for Collecting Spring Water

Spring water is an amazing resource to have because the work is literally done for you, water just seeps out from the ground. Now to be able to retrieve it and use it is another story.

You can either put in some kind of tiling after you dig around it to prevent the area from mudding up, or you can sink a pipe in there about 3 feet deep or below the frost line if that applies to your climate zone.

The difficulty that you might encounter is that springs can disappear during drier seasons, but if there is a pretty strong water flow coming out, the chances of this happening diminish.

You could build also a spring water collection structure made of mostly concrete with a waterproof lining encasing the spring water, which will protect the clean spring water from outside contaminants and runoff from the surface soil.

Then piping can be installed to direct the flow of water to your cistern, and another pipe should be installed in case of overflow to direct the water out of the structure.

Spring House:

This is an old structure from the last century that used the coolness of spring water to keep their perishables from spoiling in the heat of summer.

How it works is that the spring water is fed into the building through a pipe, which funnels it into a type of trough. The water is first directed into a tub for drinking water, and any overflow from this water tank is fed down the trough into where the food is kept.

Back in the day, this springhouse kept milk cans, cheese, and other dairy products fresh and cool. The water is then funneled out of the building through an outlet pipe at the base of the structure's foundation. This water could then be directed to another cistern for watering the plants or animals, to not waste it. (Spring House drawing above.)

Water Cisterns:

Most cisterns can hold about 180 cubic feet of water. To support this amount of water (water = 62.4 lb per cubic ft.) weight, the entire cistern must be enclosed in solid concrete of at least 1 foot in thickness, and should be screened off in areas where it is exposed to the outdoors to prevent insects and debris getting in. The cistern and the foundation it is on should be strong enough to withstand 5-6 tons of water weight.

Sizing up the house/buildings on the property

If the land you buy comes with any structures, examine all of them thoroughly. Is it big enough to meet your needs? How well taken care of was it? Does the house face the most light to be energy efficient in the colder months? Is there any signs of wood rot? (Test for wood rot by taking an ice pick or sharp tool and poking the beams of the structure. If it pierces easily you have wood rot.)

What state are the windows in, are they well sealed off, are there storm windows and screens? Look around to see if there are any small holes in the wood parts, this is a sign of termites and carpenter ants.

Check also the fuse box to see its condition and also check if the voltage meets your needs. Look over the water heater to see if it’s the right size for the number of people who will be living there. (I.e. a 4-person family = 30-gallon gas heater or a 50-gallon electric heater). Look for any signs of leaks, there will be stains on the ceiling and walls.

Zoning Laws & Building Codes

It’s a good idea to research both of these things before forking over the cash. Building codes concern not only the person interested in constructing their own home, but also if you ever want to expand the house if your family gets too big, put up a new garage, or even build a small shed to house all your tools.

Different counties have different regulations and fees for permits for the smallest structures to the biggest. Even if you are the handiest of people on the planet, and got a Ph.D. in the field of I-made-it-all-by-myself…you still have to get a permit. They care- or rather, they care about your money, and by saying they care for your safety they have a reason to charge you whatever they want to build on your own property.

Zoning Laws are a little more nitty-gritty and it’s best for not only this but also the building codes, to check with your local county agent ahead of time. Zoning Laws can restrict you if you want to grow crops, or if you want to raise certain kinds of animals.

Again, it depends on where you are located, which depending on your interests could severely hamper your plans. Look into both of these items carefully before getting too attached to a property.

Better yet, if you are searching within specific regions, check each region's restrictions first- and depending on which one is the cheapest and most lenient, will give you a better idea of where you are going to settle down.

Electricity & Phone Service

An obvious question, but “Do you have access to any on the property”. If you are looking to just buy land to build on, you need to ascertain if it has these commodities installed or if you are going to have to pay for it. Most phone and electric companies will comply with getting you connected, but of course for a fee! I’m not talking about installing a phone jack in your wall or putting in an electric meter. I mean the actual phone lines and electric lines coming across your property.

If you are just buying a cute house in an ordinary neighborhood, then you will not have to worry about this. This is for the adventurous souls who are buying land either with a house that has been not lived in for quite some time a.k.a. a fixer-upper, or with not a single structure on it and you are going to be doing the building.

If the property has nothing available on it as of yet, the question arises whether you want to bring in the wiring, or if you want to invest in your own green power system (i.e. solar power). That kind of system can cost you upfront from $5,000 to $10,000 to install, but once it’s operational, the long-term savings will be well worth it.

Access Rights-Driveway

This is an issue that more often comes up for people who are buying land in the countryside. Sometimes lots of land are sold in a middle lot surrounded by other peoples’ property on all sides.

Are you sharing road access or will one of the neighbors allow you to put a road in to get through? What are the costs to put in a driveway? What length of a driveway will you need to reach your property?

Remember, even a short driveway can be expensive. You figure you will need the drive to be at least 10 feet wide in the straight areas, and 14 feet wide where the drive curves.

Also, the middle of the driveway should be higher than the sides so that water will run off to the sides and not carve deep ruts in the springtime or in severe rain. About ¼” per foot in slope is required from the center of the drive to its edge to make this water-shedding effective.

Schooling

If you have kids or are planning on starting a family, you will need to also research the schools in the area. Does the bus run near your property, or will you have to drive your kids in?

What are the schools like? If you have the time and commitment to home-school your children, you will first have to check with the local school district's policies and regulations to see if that is permitted.

Timber Restrictions

If you are looking to be able to log wood on your own land, you will have to check with your county zoning board first. You may need their permission to cut significant amounts of wood.

Another concern for landowners in densely wooded areas is the danger of forest fires. How close to your home is the wooded area? If you are located in a thick wooded area, do you even qualify for fire insurance? If so, what are the costs?

Home-Based Business Ventures

If you were planning on working from home by setting up shop on the premises to save money on renting a space elsewhere, certain zoning restrictions may apply. This depends on what kind of business you are looking to start. Before investing in your idea of a home-based income, look into this matter with your county agent.

Title Search and Title Insurance

I’ve seen this devastatingly affect friends of mine who bought property to put up a business. Please look into a title search in your property before purchasing to determine if there are any back taxes, liens water rights, judgments, etc, against the property. You have no idea just how critical this is, especially during these economic times of trouble.

A lot of people just bail and don’t resolve the fees or issues against the property they are selling. Also, title insurance is an important thing to obtain. This means you know exactly where your property lies and your neighbors’ property ends.

You don’t want to end up in a battle down the road when your neighbor decides to put a fence across your land or extend a drive through it. You take them to court to find out that a portion of your property technically belongs to them.

Mortgage Contracts

Lawyer, lawyer, lawyer- Always have one to either help you interpret the mortgage contracts or to make your own up. The downside to any investment is of course the part where you fork over the money. Before signing any mortgage contract, make sure you read the fine print before signing.

Beware of such a clause as a Balloon Payment. Sounds harmless enough, but when in actuality it means that after a certain length of time of you making your normal mortgage payments, on a date mentioned in the clause, the remainder of your principal owed for the mortgage will come due in full. For the unsuspecting soul, this can become the difference between having a home and suddenly being homeless.

Paying off the Debt

Some private sellers refuse cash in full payments. Even if you’ve saved, they’d rather make the principal plus interest spread over a period of time so THEY can save money on their income taxes. Over time with interest on your payments, they will earn double than if they had accepted your payment in full up front.

Look closely at your contract and make sure that it says you can pay off the debt sooner if you are able to and also willing. The bad egg sellers out there, sometimes specifically seek out individuals who they know won’t be able to make the payments.

Then they can earn some payments to start plus interest, seize the property when you are no longer able to afford those payments, and they will now own the land again plus any improvements you made to it. Then they just resell it to the next victim and the cycle starts all over again.

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