the daydream fund challenge thread

lostinrates

well...our new pump pumps...but in this rain no where to pump too. the base of the new raised bed is very, very wet as someone left the pump hose there. Oops! won't hurt yet though. we've got it all marked out now about four feet (four breeze blocks) deep by about 18m long.

also sowed some grass seed to replace what was dug up in the sewage business. Even where I'm going to put bed in eventually: anything to get rid of the mud atm. The dgs HATE having the ''grass'' fenced off and walk down the paths sadly now.

Davesnave

Rhiwfield, that's a shame about the possibility of lead contamination; I'd never have considered it. Here, we have an entire barn roof which is the modern equivalent of asbestos, so I guess the water from there would be OK, but currently it all goes into a plastic field drain pipe, and from there.....???? We do collect and use the stuff from a smaller tin roof though. I think if we had to go metered, we'd get the borehole people in. I know it's down there!

That's a very deep, deep bed, lir! I was digging through the one we inherited today, exhuming more of the parsnips I grew there last year. Some are huge and others are very dinky, but the amount produced per square metre is phenomenal. Considering the minimal effort input and the fact that they shaded out most weeds, they're a crop I would do to sell at a future date.

Took it easy today, muddling around in the polytunnel repotting herbaceous stuff, and increasing it, of course.:) Had another log delivery too, so lots of bending to stack them. I also have to sow some more grass, especially after yesterday's digger visit!

The good news is that people have been helping themselves to our free artichokes this weekend, so they might like to pay for a few parsnips to go with 'em next week. The eggs walk off every day and we've now sold enough to buy one more non-hybrid hen. I think we'll be going for another 6 or 7 to fill the current hen house and then wait until we can move on to Phase 2, with another new orchard run and some hybrids. Pipe dream ATM.

lostinrates

Davesnave wrote: »

That's a very deep, deep bed, lir!

Sounds good with the eggs and artichokes! Non hybrids, have you decided on breeds yet?

Davesnave

lostinrates wrote: »

Sounds good with the eggs and artichokes! Non hybrids, have you decided on breeds yet?

DW wants black rocks and something that lays blue or green eggs
So long as she doesn't want sparkly rocks, I'm OK with it!

All this has to wait until we sell our garden though. Phase 2 will cost a bit to set up.

alfie_1

:(:(:(:(:(:(

why have my hens not produced an egg for ages.......

rhiwfield

alfie_1 wrote: »

:(:(:(:(:(:(

why have my hens not produced an egg for ages.......

They may be selling them via Davesnave

Lir, take it you mean the raised bed is 4' wide, going to need a shedload of soil to fill it if its 4' deep :eek:

Davesnave, we grew snips for the first time this year and were mighty impressed at the yield from just a few plants. Almost like the ones in the supermarket are mini me size and the ones in the garden are Dr Evil!

Re the water, we'll prob link up garage roof fed butts in series and run hoses with a tap end to where we need the water. Low tech, cheap, and saves going up and down steps.

Love this time of year, spring around the corner, windowsills full of seed trays and saw two butterflies yesterday. Mind, if they'd try to fly today, they'd have most likely drowned

lostinrates

rhiwfield wrote: »

They may be selling them via Davesnave

Lir, take it you mean the raised bed is 4' wide, going to need a shedload of soil to fill it if its 4' deep :eek:

Yes, that's what I meant, and was going to reply to davesnave, but got sidetracked by chooks and artichokes:D

cootambear

rhiwfield wrote: »

CTC, watching whats going on with interest, fingers crossed!

Rummer, well done

Davesnave, having a digger to do the donkey work is a godsend. Makes you wonder what we'd do without machinery nowadays, saw a quote recently that said the energy used to transport a tourist flight from the states to Egypt and back is the same as was used to build a pyramid.

Anyhow, after the lucky escape with our water supply pipework, and having our stoptap replaced with new, got to thinking about water bills and realised we should save a fair bit of money by having a meter fitted, free to do now but maybe chargeable soon. So paperwork sent off, and planned a trip to Wilko this morning to pick up 2 more water butts to link up to main house roof downpipes.

But last night was reading a sarah beeny book and she mentioned not to do it if you have lead flashing, which we have for 4 roof valleys. Checked it out this morning and found this paper. So a bit like using driftwood on the woodburner, its just not worth the risk

One of the problems of retrofitting is that its often too late to design in desired features and you're left with making the best of whats feasible. In this case it'll be a mix of more mulching plus working out how to use the (unleaded) garage roof to fill up remote butts close to the main growing area

53 times less to build a pyramid

A "jumbo jet" Boeing 747 flying with its 500 passengers at around 950 km / h. The distance to Los Angeles - Cairo is 12231 km (which is within a range jumbo jets). This is the jumbo jet flying at 12.87 hours, which then gives an energy consumption of 1802 MWh = 6,488,867 MJ.
A hard working adult human body needs 3000 kcal / day, compared with a resting all day just need 1500 kcal / day. The difference is 1500 kcal / day = 6.28 MJ / day.
It would mean that the jumbo jet from Los Angeles to Cairo is approximately one million workdays of hard physical labor.
According to Wikipedia , the Egyptologists in terms of labor need for Cheops pyramid and come to the conclusion that it would take an average of 14 567 men who worked for 10 years, resulting in 53 million workdays.

alfie_1

OH DEAR, IS IT JUST ME BUT I CANT STOP YAWNING ????
its not like iv had a busy day !!

rhiwfield

alfie_1 wrote: »

OH DEAR, IS IT JUST ME BUT I CANT STOP YAWNING ????
its not like iv had a busy day !!

Alfie, its not just you