They’re back
@“sabertoothalex”#p116093
### _PROTECT HER_
Aside from my ultimate permaculture farm subscriptions, I haven't found much in the way of relaxing camping videos, save for some japanese creators, like this one
https://youtu.be/kvbIo2LrGbU
I like Shiey, Mother the Mountain Farm mainly.
Anyone have any relaxing camping videos that draw you in to the atmosphere? I miss nature and these videos are great to watch when I'm waking up or winding down.
Also, if you have found any vegan campers, that would be great.... Setting aside the whole genre of "wild men" who eat raw meat, most camping videos include gratuitous shots of pink flesh cooking on the campfire... Not preferred.
yeah there aren't a lot of chill english language vids of that nature. The ones I come across are all from people selling an overbearing personality or overdramatizing things. Also as someone who likes this stuff irl I have a hard time not backseat hiking about everything they do wrong lol.
I think this guy is more chill and you can tell he takes backcountry hiking seriously bc he gets better at it as his videos progress
https://m.youtube.com/@LiamBrown/videos
@“Gaagaagiins”#p111720
Holy crap, kind of crazy to look at that little baby tobacco plant now, so, update time...
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She's outside now!! There's her on the left next to the stake, still got to get around to tying her to it but it's been mild. Has been for just under a week! And I got her some friends! And a ```~*special device*~```, which is that thing in the middle of the plants. The Californians or any other Arid Clime/Desert Dwellers may recognize, but one in which I am going to infodump about because I think they're so neat.
There was apparently overnight frost as recently as about 2 weeks ago, and while we were spared a lot of the worst of the bad air quality from the wildfires it was still dreary and asthma inducing outside, so, she stayed inside for longer than I would have liked. Plus, I really should have repotted her into one more larger planter maybe 3 or 4 weeks ago. She got kind of unhealthy, her leaves were browning, getting a bit pale and almost yellowish, and they were a bit soft and not strong feeling. I got much better at not overwatering her, but, I might have been at least somewhat underwatering her, I'm not sure. Although, when I took her out of that pot I found that she had become moderately rootbound, so that could have been it too. Or perhaps she was getting low on nutrients.
So, I pruned a few very unhealthy leaves, and she seems to be doing better outside already. Her higher leaves are noticeably perkier, firmer, and are a more vibrant colour. So I hope the lower ones I left will get better too, or at least she keeps growing.
Her older friends, the two spindly, scraggly lookin tomater plants on the right, were largely the same. They might have not been getting enough water overall (I got pretty depressed from getting fired my job, which happened right after I bought them) and they were also kind of rootbound. But I think they will make an okay recovery too.
Her younger friends I bought more recently, the one closest to the tobacco plant is a strawberry plant, and it's a big ass tomater plant on the bottom right, which is a cultivar called the Manitoba, which was GMO'd to grow well in this climate. They look pretty good.
Not pictured as I took the picture after this, but, my mom put the end of a romaine lettuce into a cup of water for a few days, because she heard or saw somewhere that it will start growing again (and it did). So she wanted me to plant it to see if it will grow again (and I think it will, it took root really firmly just from getting buried overnight). She also wanted to see if a potato which had sprouted some eyes will do the same, but, even if I had taken the picture after, the potato wouldn't be in the picture 'cause it's still underground lol. At least, I think it is! That was a few days ago and I haven't checked them yet today.
Anyway the most fun part of this picture is the weird thing in the middle of the plants. This is a simple DIY olla, which is part of why I'm so excited about planting this ragtag little garden. This is an ancient passive irrigation method that I think was used in ancient China, and was introduced to the American Southwest via Spanish settlers and adopted by indigenous peoples there, hence the name in Spanish I suppose.
What it consists of is quite simple. It's a closed bottom vessel of specifically unglazed clay. Purpose made ones are wide bottomed with a narrow top, sometimes with some glazing at the top, sometimes not, but it should have a lid. Like so:
https://laidbackgardener.blog/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/20180829a-www-selaogardenart-co-nz.jpg
My janky DIY one is just a normal unglazed clay planter pot with the bottom plugged up with some cork and glue. I'm also using a clay tray as a lid (it has a glaze on the surface which is not a huge problem but more on that in a minute). There are more elaborate and bigger DIY ones where you take two such pots, plug the bottom hole of one and then glue the tops together, like so:
https://www.houselogic.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/diy-watering-system-olla-ground-standard_a93bfee9181f449bde38dbd8dfed4fa7.jpg
What you do with these things is bury it in the ground so that just the top is sticking out, and pack soil around it. And you plant things directly around it in a ring. And then you fill it with water. Because they're made out of specifically unglazed clay, they're porous--they gradually leech out water through the inner walls of the olla and out of the surface of it.
What this means is that the soil accepts only as much water as it needs to stay moist and provide nearby plants with what they want, all without having to do anything beyond keeping the olla supplied with water. You lose virtually no water to surface evaporation since the soil just stays moist under the top layer (that's partly what the lid is for, it's also so dirt or bugs don't get in there), little to no risk of overwatering from not being able to tell your soil's capacity to absorb/drain water at any point, and no underwatering either since the supply of water is steady and uninterrupted so long as you don't let it get low. My plants drank about 1.5-2L a day I think, and I filled it the first time and then only once since last week, so, I'll probably end up filling it a few times a week?
There are lots of neat little things about them. I think the advantage to a lid that is also made of unglazed clay, as opposed to glazed clay or some other non-porous material, is so that it can absorb and leech a bit of rainwater directly into the olla, so you get bonus rainwater retention without even having to go out in the rain and open the lid to collect rainwater. Some people even say you can put liquid fertilizer directly into it, don't even have to use surface fertilizer (so long as it's truly a liquid fertilizer, as non-liquids can gunk up the pores of the clay).
Anyway I think I saw these things in some random Youtube video and I got excited to plant my garden because it seemed like a totally idiot proof method for watering. They're a big deal in arid climates especially because they are so efficient with water, I bet especially in hot places the limiting of surface evaporation is huge. Apparently once you go to dig up things that have been growing next to an olla, their roots are all wrapped around it, such is their efficiency in delivering water to plants. And for edible stuff they can help increase the quality of the plants' output since I suppose with all but the most minutely calculated conventional periodic top down irrigation, they're going through boom bust cycles of having lots of water (potentially too much at once) and then having no water, which means less consistent development. With an olla they always have just as much water as they want to grow.
There are other crazy setups like these things where a central reservoir feeds a string of ollas like so:
https://www.farmersalmanac.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/connected-1024x681.png
Or even these olla ball systems which is similarly centrally supplied with water, but the whole thing besides the reservoir ends up underground, and each plant gets planted right next to its own personal olla ball:
https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/N3cAAOSwNq9eCB3v/s-l1200.jpg
Those look so cool...
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@“Gaagaagiins”#p120753 Holy crap, kind of crazy to look at that little baby tobacco plant now, so, update time…
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Well let's see how things are doing about 4 weeks later, I wonder how things are growi-
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# **_ABSOLUTE UNIT_**
This is a good video of permaculture and some earthship stuff. Less refined and sloppier than our plans are, but there‘s not many videos showing this sort of stuff successfully. We also won’t use animals.
https://youtu.be/YOXkcz8j3Gc
my dad has built hobbit style earthships like this
I‘ve been reluctant to talk about it since you’ve been talking about it's use as a gift and all, and how it was in a pot before, but how are you reconciling this with how invasive the tobacco plant is? (note, this was for gaagaagiins)
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@“exodus”#p125062 I’ve been reluctant to talk about it since you’ve been talking about it’s use as a gift and all, and how it was in a pot before, but how are you reconciling this with how invasive the tobacco plant is? (note, this was for gaagaagiins)
Oh dear, I didn't see this post until now, and I'll say upfront that I had no idea about any of that!! I should probably do some research...
It's a bit of a conundrum as well because I don't know what species this plant is, so, perhaps that's the first place I should start?
When I google "tobacco invasive" what comes up is tree tobacco, scientific name Nicotiana glauca. I can confirm that it's definitely not Nicotiana glauca, but, that doesn't necessarily mean I've done my due diligence if the species that it is is still invasive.
I came back to this thread for a good reason, but, I should put that on hold until I can confirm I'm not cultivating an invasive species...
@“Gaagaagiins”#p120753 Definitely getting a Factorio vibe from these last few pictures. Never knew about these but it seems quite cool. We only have potted plants at the moment because we‘re in an apartment but I’ll keep it in mind for when we hopefully move out of this cramped city soon and become true Outside Kids!!
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@“exodus”#p125062 I’ve been reluctant to talk about it since you’ve been talking about it’s use as a gift and all, and how it was in a pot before, but how are you reconciling this with how invasive the tobacco plant is? (note, this was for gaagaagiins)
OK, good news, I feel pretty confident that what I've been growing is Nicotiana tabacum, and according to its [entry in the CABI digital library](https://www.cabidigitallibrary.org/doi/10.1079/cabicompendium.36326), while it is indeed a non-indigenous plant, it's considered invasive in "Cuba, Asia, and parts of the Pacific." I checked the "Canada" entry too, which is kind of silly, 'cause like, Canada encompasses so many plant hardiness zones in at least one part of the country, but it doesn't even have an explanation from when it was introduced or naturalized... might not have been cultivated pre colonization in this exact neck of the woods, but, I guess that implies it was long enough ago that no one knows when it was introduced here.
That being said, I suppose it's also worth mentioning that the risk it presents due to invasiveness is due to its "tolerance of a broad climate range and soil conditions" and "ability to reproduce prolifically by producing numerous tiny, grainlike, viable seeds." It seems to imply that it's only in Canada in cultivation but it can escape cultivation too, so, I should be careful.
I was aware that it was going to create fruits, and, in fact, that's part of the intention of cultivating it... I was definitely planning on harvesting them along with the leaves. I think with the climate here I should be ok so long as I am careful to ensure I harvest all of the fruit. The fruit is toxic so animals won't be eating it. It should just be a question of ensuring I don't lose track of any when I harvest. I wonder if there's something like mesh or fabric things I could tie around the fruit or something like that?
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@“wickedcestus”#p126209 Definitely getting a Factorio vibe from these last few pictures.
Ollas are like a water storage tank to create a resource buffer, heheh....
Anyway, I present to all the Outside Kids that what I've been growing is indeed Nicotiana tabacum… Behold!!
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She flowered!!!
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And she's still becoming more and more HUGE!!!
kind of want to buy this 1986 Nishiki international…it's in good shape…. $250
good buy for commuting/groceries @antillese ?
I think this might be the wrong thread for this!? is there a bikes thread?
I get yelled at if I ride my bike inside