Update, 10/13/24

10/15/24;

11:33 AM:



The ants have shown an interest in the paste, which has dried somewhat. But not the species of ant that was expected. Instead, there are at least 2 other species of ants besides the ones targeted--which are all over the paste. The ones targeted are bigger ants. The smaller ants are the ones interested in the paste. The liquid part has also lost water, and is like a jello mixture. Still has no interest from the ants.



I'm going to think this is a hackberry tree of a local species to this area until proven otherwise. It's is clearly different from the hackberry trees featured on the YouTube, but these have too many features that check the boxes of hackberry to not be hackberry. So there.

8:18 AM

The ants are sluggish this morning. Temperature has cooled to the low 50's. A poke of the stick will usually get ants moving around pretty good, but that didn't happen. The cooler weather has them sluggish, I suspect. There's no ant activity around the paste, but there was a relatively larger beetle scarfing it down.

The liquid part has no activity at all. I was expecting the sugar type ants to be especially interested. This is a bit of a surprise.

So far, just the beetles. I'll check again later today.

I checked the YouTube for positive identification of the theorized hackberry trees. It checks out on the leaves and on the bark. The berries are a bit different, though. They are a greenish yellow. Or yellow green. They do appear to be somewhat larger than in the videos, but this is Texas. The videos were on the other side of the Missisippi. But they are not desert hackberries, either.



10/14/24:

So I bought a mortar and pestle. It is to grind the berries down like the natives did long ago. Once I got home, I went to work right away. I collected some berries, and placed them inside and attempted to grind them down. The pits are very, very hard. There wasn't much success at getting much of a paste.

After tiring of this, I placed a good number of them into the blender. After grinding them in the blender for a minute or so, I had a liquid paste. There still was a good number of chunks in it. I proceeded to filter out the water, and got a liquid part, and a thicker paste part.

There was never any intention to eat any of this. But it may be useful in attracting ants. So I took the paste and the liquid, and set them outside. If ants are attracted to this, I find out soon enough.

Discussion of the results will come later.



10/13/24: Next step will be to buy something, of course. I think I'll buy a mortar and pestle from Walmart the next time I go by there. Not much to report, but it is what it is.

Update, 9/18/24

9/22/24: Yikes!

I made a boo-boo... I transposed a nine for a six. oops...

Nothing new to add here at the moment besides that. The blog ain't dead yet.

I just don't want to be burdened by what has been. bwah, hah, hah

9/18/24: The focus has been so much upon water and power subjects that there isn't enough attention paid to other subjects.

This morning, I checked a tree on the property, and there's some berries on it. I think these are hackberries, which are said to be common in these parts. Indeed, there's more trees like this in the immediate vicinity.

I took a berry off the tree, because they seem to be ripening. I won't eat it, of course. It hasn't been positively identified yet. But it is highly likely to be a hackberry tree, and its berries are starting to ripen up.

There's a lot to learn about these berries. I learned something just now. They are very hard inside. I made the mistake of taking a metal object and trying to smash it, and it bent the metal. Imagine what that would do to your teeth.

It has a thin coating that is said to be sweet. The indigenous peoples of this region used to subsist upon hackberries. They ground them up into a paste and prepared them for eating; perhaps by cooking, but I'm not sure about that.

There's a lot of cacti around here. Those have ripened awhile back. A local supermarket prepares these for consumption and put them on sale. I haven't tried any.

Changing habits is hard. But it may become necessary if times get especially hard.

Off-grid post, 4.28.20

alfalfa: link;

Alfalfa is useful in feeding animals like rabbits, which I am considering as a meat source.

Pigweed: A possible food source?

Pigweed: Pictures, Flowers, Leaves and Identification | Amaranthus retroflexus: Pigweed (Amaranthus retroflexus) is wild, edible and nutritious food. Identify pigweed via its pictures, habitat, height, flowers and leaves.


 and

Yucca faxoniana - Wikipedia

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yucca_faxoniana

As a part of my goal to consolidate all my info sources, I am studying the Kindle book about plants that are found in the Trans-Pecos region of Texas. This is where I have my 40 acres.

I list a couple of links. One is for amaranth, aka "pigweed". It so happens that this plant is just about everywhere. It is thought of as a weed, but it does have food value. I'm not so sure that I have any of this growing wild on my land. If not, it could possibly be considered as a "crop" to cultivate.

The other link is to the yucca, which is definitely present on my land. It is a species known as "Spanish Dagger". In one of my videos, there is one visible that was overturned. I suspect that it was overturned by some free-ranging cattle in the area. Cattle will knock one of these over in order to get at the flowers, which are edible. But there aren't that many of these yucca, so free-ranging cattle have to work hard for just a little nourishment. That particular one was just about 5 feet tall. The bigger ones on the property can be too big for even a cow to knock over.

I don't like the idea of somebody else's cattle to be free-ranging on my land. But that is a different subject.

Chickens v. Rabbits

Comment:

This guy says his chickens cost him 50 bucks a month.  He didn't say for how many chickens.  Given the low cost of chicken meat, it wouldn't seem to be worth it if it cost much at all.

Rabbits were similar, he says.  But for a reason not entirely clear, he chooses chickens.  "More bang for the buck", he says.

Tangerines

Comment:

Tangerines have about 1/2 the Vitamin C of an orange.  You can grow these in containers, which may be a fact in their favor ( As far as I'm concerned.)

How to Grow Tangerines in Pots https://t.co/SnBdvmjJiP via @PlantInstruct

— Greg Meadows (@BootsandOilBlog) October 29, 2019

Why rabbit meat?

Wascally wabbits.

Why not?

How to Prune Tomatoes for the best harvest

10 foods that will never expire

Comment:

Looks yummy.

Not really.  I can't back that up.

5 gallon wick buckets

Comment:

Interesting concept.  There are so many ways to skin this cat that it may get confusing.






Here's another video a lot like it.

Hydrogen peroxide & baking soda

... can help you grow your tomatoes.

It is cheap stuff and it probably works.  But I wouldn't know yet, because I haven't tried it.

It is useful to stockpile videos like these because one of these days...

Ideas for garden

Terra preta technique in your garden

Comment:

Rather than "slash and burn" agriculture, this guy uses ash from the barbeque pit.  The ash shouldn't be allowed to get wet, as the nutrients will leach away. 

Uses for hydrogen peroxide

Comment:

It will help with root rot and is a good disinfectant.  Given that it is a good disinfectant, that makes it useful for other applications as well.  It is a good reminder, as I already knew that it was good as a disinfectant.

One thing I like about all these chemicals is that they are cheap.  Also, they are low-impact in terms of toxicity.  If you can use them on plants, then it cannot be all bad. 

Another use for vinegar

Purslane, a superfood

It grows "in the wild", so to speak.  That, as opposed to cultivating it.  From what I gathered on the video, seeds can be obtained.  Naturally, I'd like the idea of growing my own food.   Since this stuff grows on its own, then it should be relatively easy to cultivate it.  Or so I think.

Why is this better than a greenhouse

Swedish homestead

A little hard to stay with this because he has something of an accent, and it takes awhile for it to get going.

He says it is a micro climate, and it helps the plants "get used" to conditions.  Before he does that, he shows something else.

All in all, it is worth blogging it here.

Rabbits v. Chickens

Who wins?

Honey extraction made easy

LDS prepper


He says a hive improves the yield of his crops from his garden.  Lots of honey gathered here.  More than one person or even one family to consume in one year.


Harvesting the honey:







extraction of the honey:

Geothermal

by LDSprepper, Orange Jeep Dad

The interesting thing about this is that it can save a lot of energy.  The theory behind it is that the ground is a constant temperature once you get down deep enough.  In this video, he talks about going down 8 feet.

Once upon a time, when the idea of going off-grid was new to me, I thought about burying a conex down underground.

Seems like I might have been on the right track as far as climate control is concerned.  A conex can be bought for a couple thousand dollars.  Just dig out a space deep enough, and plant that sucker.

But let's get real.  This is only about applying geothermal for regulating temps in a greenhouse.