Weasel Forges Ahead

[Weaselcracker]

Wow that’s a great write up Amy. I think my girlfriend will be even more interested than me since she’s obsessed with anything that bubbles, rots, ferments, etc. Celt’s been asking me the same thing and no I haven’t really checked it out before except in passing.

RIP to another failed P Chunk STS experiment, I guess. Got pods and quite a few opened, but no visible pollen or seeds produced. I have some gibberelic acid now. May try that next.

 

[Amy Gardner]

That’s a direct copy of the original ‘Unconventional Farmer’ guide.

I actually have a less wordy version of how to make it - with pics - that your lovely other might find helpful. I’ll dig it up, it’s here somewhere.

 

[Amy Gardner]

DIY Lactobacillus Serum

that’s probably what I should have linked you to the first time - less of a demanding read and more a pictorial guide for making it (with a few tips at the end including from Celt ).

 

[Weaselcracker]

Whoops I just was playing around in my settings and hit some button that unsubbed me from everything I have managed to sub to since I joined. I had somewhere between 1000 and 2000 active subscriptions

That should quieten things down. Not that it wasn’t already pretty quiet come to think of it.
Anyway, this will sub me back to my journal at least.

I reworked the feeding mix yet again as of three days ago. My latest theory is that I’ve had my calcium too high and it’s locking out other elements. The latest mix ended up like this;

No3 - 117
NH4 - 5
P - 56
K - 224
Mg - 60
Ca - 106

I may start to see low nitrogen issues. But so far I have a good feeling about this mix. Lol. I probably shouldn’t have said that...

Putting these photos up for future comparison to see if it stays nice. The first pic is taken in the flowering room, with filter. The other two were taken under the MH veg light.

PC

• Weaselcracker
• Feb 8, 2021

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• Weaselcracker
• Feb 8, 2021

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• Weaselcracker
• Feb 8, 2021

This plant has been in flowering for 10 days She suffered a little bit on the old new mix, but has seemed to improve with the new new new new new mix. Hasn’t lost the glow and turned dull yet anyway.

I added more peat to my fauxmix. Now the pH seems to be around 6.5 but it also seems to be rising every day so I’m just waiting to see if it ever stops rising before adding more peat again.

Celt worked out an awesome LOS recipe for me so I’m pretty excited about that- working on gathering materials and then I will cook up a batch.

Hope everyone is good.

 

[Amy Gardner]

somewhere between 1000 and 2000 active subscriptions

 

[Amy Gardner]

Celt worked out an awesome LOS recipe for me so I’m pretty excited about that- working on gathering materials and then I will cook up a batch.

Looking forward to this!

 

[The Celt]

Looking forward to this!

I am as well @Amy Gardner

Weasel and I first talked of this about 5 years ago, but back then even though I was growing organically, I didn't know enough to help. Now, after 5 years of growing, researching and experimentation , I was able to build a recipe from things he could source locally from the wild

 

[Amy Gardner]

Speaking my language

 

[Kriaze]

That’s a direct copy of the original ‘Unconventional Farmer’ guide.

I actually have a less wordy version of how to make it - with pics - that your lovely other might find helpful. I’ll dig it up, it’s here somewhere.

Whatever happened to the Unconventional Gardener? I used to read his site a lot before it went into oblivion.

Good seeing your grows Weasel, sat buying smoke here atm, £30 for 3.5 grams it’s killing me, even if it is better than my own. I’ve never trusted those slurry PH tests, soil tends to sort itself out. Mind you I’ll try and grow in any soil when I can lol. Hope you’re well mate, all the best

 

[Weaselcracker]

Looking forward to this

I am too. Celt worked out an awesome soil recipe for me. I‘m excited about the whole idea of it, on a bunch of levels.
I can’t start yet because I’m busy with other stuff, and also this place is frozen solid and I don’t have the truck till at least next week. But then will go on a peat mission and a beach run.

Whatever happened to the Unconventional Gardener?

Maybe wasn’t conventional enough?
Always nice to see you on your biannual visits Kriaze. Buying weed hey? And for $50 an eighth. Tsk tsk.

I’m getting pretty confident about my slurry tests being legit, because I’m leaving the pH probe in the jar of soil and water for days on end, and I am testing and retesting different samples from the tote full of so-called soil, which is sitting in my house here. I’m not seeing any surprises and I think I’m getting it pretty close to where I want it to be which is around 5.8. I’ve had to add more peat twice now to balance the oyster shell and lime and tweak the ph lower.

Here is my test plant again, on the new mix where I lowered the calcium.

6B5BD889-90C6-4FED-BC55-130FA6BC7DEA.jpeg

• Weaselcracker
• Feb 12, 2021

4796C90D-8BC5-4A54-86B5-583C1E467D61.jpeg

• Weaselcracker
• Feb 12, 2021

I don’t want to jinx it saying it, but feel like I might be onto something with this lower calcium thing.
It has not taken on that weird dull color that was plaguing me with the other mixes. Whatever other catastrophes show up next, I think I would know by now if it was going to do that.

The older leaves on this plant were already a bit damaged from previous mixes as you can see, so it’s not perfect but it’s also not going downhill, or at least not that I can detect. Around here lately ‘Not going downhill’ is the new ‘Things are looking up’

 

[Weaselcracker]

Crap. Now that I start writing I realize I have more stuff to talk about than I thought I did and it’s two in the morning already.

After the last failure of the STS to produce me any seeds from the P Chunk, I somehow convinced myself that I had time to make things even more difficult for myself and go all out with my next attempt.

So I am going to take separate branches of a P Chunk plant and use colloidal silver, STS, and gibberellic acid on it, all at the same time.

What’s worse, Celt convinced me I should try three different strengths of GA, because he just likes to see other people suffer, because he’s in his basement right now plumbing his fancy new hydro setup and getting covered with septic organic sewage nutrient mixes.

I will need five branches to spray. Luckily the GA only needs to be sprayed five days in a row and then I’m done with it and down to just the CS and STS.

Seed attempt

• Weaselcracker
• Feb 12, 2021

A Pineapple Chunk that I harvested yesterday. This is always a pretty raggedy plant.

PC

• Weaselcracker
• Feb 12, 2021

PC

• Weaselcracker
• Feb 12, 2021

PC

• Weaselcracker
• Feb 12, 2021

PC

• Weaselcracker
• Feb 12, 2021

It was just a big mangy mess that was in the back corner. I’m going to use most of it for hash and for pain cream for some elderly family members who I’ve turned into pain cream addicts.



In general other than the excitement of my hydro mix being less screwed up than usual, I haven’t had a whole lot to update on the journal lately and haven’t been spending as much time on the plants lately anyway. Not really much going on this week in the plant dept and the Blue Dream has me running around working all day...

Mostly I’ve been working on a building project, which I had to Alaska-mill some wood for. Chainsaw milling is something I did a lot of in my youth and it’s probably one main reason I am no longer young.

-First law of chainsaw milling-
‘Everything conceivable will go wrong.’

Yes the chainsaw won’t start, that’s a given. Yes the pullcord will break trying to start it and you’ll have to spend hours trying to find the lost special bit to loosen the special bolts. You will sprain your arm and bash your knuckles. You will lose the tools and strip the bolts and cut yourself on the chain and ruin your back trying to get it going. It will seize up. It will flood. It will flood some more. The spark plug will pretend to work but it actually won’t.

By the second day when you finally get it going properly and drag the beast and all your tools and crap out into the frozen wasteland behind the house, it will decide it’s cold and won’t start again, so you have to walk all the way back and get more starting fluid and tools and crap, and so on. Then on the first part of the first cut on the first log, of course the chain will break, and not only break, but break into pieces and go flying into the bushes, so then it’s back home and another day and night trying to fix the chain only to give up and resuscitate an old rusty one instead. You’ll put the chain on backwards. You’ll take it apart and put it on properly but then put the mill on backwards. Maybe shouldn't have smoked that last bowl I guess. Then one of the bolts on the mill strips so you have to go home to find a new one. Then the oiler will stop oiling, because the oil is frozen and too thick. Then the bar will overheat because of lack of oil.

I could go on and fill pages but the point is- this stuff is guaranteed to happen because it’s the just a simple law of the universe, and it has happened every other time too. You just have to forge ahead. It’s like cold water. It’s not really OK once you’re in, but the thought that you might get out again keeps you going, to try to get to the other side.

- Second law of chainsaw milling-
‘A bunch of inconceivable shit will go wrong too.’

Who knew that the merest light tap of the hammer on a wooden shim, in a direction opposite to your face, could send an identified hard thing straight towards your face with 10 times the force of the mere light tap, and smack you right in your eye, so you walk around all day half blind and leaking and feeling like you’ve been punched?

Or that the little bit of extra pull cord you left dangling off the end of the pullcord knob could lash out when you’re trying to start the saw and whack you painfully right in the nipple through two jackets and a shirt? How is that even possible?


-Third law-
‘Anything can happen, or not happen, but either way it’s probably going to suck.’


After many days of agonizing struggles hefting a giant chainsaw and sucking toxic fumes and sawdust and suffering permanent hearing loss, you may or may not have the joy of being able to sit back and try to rest your catastrophically ruined back and crippled body that has been vibrated to the point of complete breakdown, listen to the peaceful sound of your ears ringing, cough, and admire the pile of wood which you may or may not have cut that is ‘worth thousands of dollars in New York’, but how are you gonna get it back to the cabin?

Or you might not. After four days you might still be working on the fucking saw...

The lighting sponsor I mentioned before, Atreum, is going to let me test a couple of their new lights. Once they’re on the market.

This sort of deal is not something I’ve done before, and honestly I was a little worried what I was getting myself into, but I needn’t have worried. Once I actually talked to them I got a very good vibe from the company, they seem totally chill, and don’t want me to tattoo Atreum on my forehead, or really do anything at all other than give them a review after. So that’s good, and a relief, and I‘ll finally get a chance to honestly compare LED to my HPS.

I’m not 100% sure yet how I’m going to work it, but as of tonight I think now what I will do is shut one of the HPS lights down and set up a tent on that side to test the LEDs in.

Previously I emptied out another room in the outskirts of the house to put the tent in, but given the freezy weather we’re having right now I might be better off to just keep everything in the main grow and let the other HPS heat it. Because HPS is very efficient for that, you know.

 

[Skybound]

Chainsaw milling looked like it would be problematic due to how fat the chain and bar are, lots to get pinched behind the cut. Do you have to add shims behind your cuts? I just started collecting bands to build a bandsaw sawmill on an old camper trailer. I'm in bugout mode so I'm also going to build a gasifier this summer.

 

[The Celt]

@Kriaze , long time no see mate, good to see you still around

What’s worse, Celt convinced me I should try three different strengths of GA, because he just likes to see other people suffer, because he’s in his basement right now plumbing his fancy new hydro setup and getting covered with septic organic sewage nutrient mixes.

Just sharing the love mate

-First law of chainsaw milling-
‘Everything conceivable will go wrong.’

- Second law of chainsaw milling-
‘A bunch of inconceivable shit will go wrong too.

-Third law-
‘Anything can happen, or not happen, but either way it’s probably going to suck.’

Not being Catholic myself, not sure how I ended up with a Patron Saint, but sounds like we share the same one, FKN Murphy.

He must govern anything related to harvesting trees. Came to visit me yesterday as well
Neighbour , has a farm across the road, asked me if I would help him drop some trees for next years winter wood. Seems a little unsure of himself with a chainsaw and knows I love running one.
First hour spent trying to figure out why a tractor that ran the day before wouldn't start. Starter would roll over slow when it decided to engage. Seems Murphy visited over tonight and loosened the power cable at the starter, just enough that sometimes it would engage but didn't have enough contact to draw full power.

And as mentioned, chainsaws are guaranteed to give grief, even if they were running 5 mins ago. Most don't like cold and snow

Then comes the actual work, and anybody who has been in the woods after a fresh snowfall of 18+", knows you are likely to spend as much time face first or on your arse as on your feet

Anyway, glad to hear Murphy visits other woodsmen besides me

 

[Joe Brewster]

After many days of agonizing struggles hefting a giant chainsaw and sucking toxic fumes and sawdust and suffering permanent hearing loss, you may or may not have the joy of being able to sit back and try to rest your catastrophically ruined back and crippled body that has been vibrated to the point of complete breakdown, listen to the peaceful sound of your ears ringing, cough, and admire the pile of wood

Hey weasel I know all about chainsaw backache, bought me a 20 inch Homelite back in the early 90s. great saw cuts through pretty much anything I throw at it. As years go on, that sucker is getting heavier and heavier
my biggest injuries are usually, log in the shin & pinched fingers

The lighting sponsor I mentioned before, Atreum, is going to let me test a couple of their new lights. Once they’re on the market.

congrates scoring some free leds

real cold (was -39c windchill -50c) here and using it to my advantage making hash and honey oil

 

[Weaselcracker]

Thanks for reminding me Brewster. I was thinking about that just recently but forgot again. Make hash while the ice shines.

Have you ever tried your method with fresh frozen material? it works with bubble hash so I can’t think of a reason it wouldn't work in a ‘dry’ sift.

 

[Joe Brewster]

Thanks for reminding me Brewster. I was thinking about that just recently but forgot again. Make hash while the ice shines.

Have you ever tried your method with fresh frozen material? it works with bubble hash so I can’t think of a reason it wouldn't work in a ‘dry’ sift.

No I always use dry leaf
The above blocks are made with big fan leaves if you can believe that
sifting about 5 zips of sugar leaf trim today
Give it a try, if it don't work turn it into oil

 

[Weaselcracker]

20 inch Homelite

Then comes the actual work

My main milling saw for wide stuff has a 60” bar and a 137 cc motor. It’s a bit of a dinosaur and just carrying it around too long is backbreaking. But with that one I can mill 50” wide slabs.
This week I was using a smaller saw with 42” bar but still annoying to drag through the bush.

Chainsaw milling looked like it would be problematic due to how fat the chain and bar are, lots to get pinched behind the cut. Do you have to add shims behind your cuts? I just started collecting bands to build a bandsaw sawmill on an old camper trailer. I'm in bugout mode...

I fully support bugout mode. Hope you find a nice place outside the main hive sometime. I’m always trying to persuade my city friends to get out. Some of them are just stressed out there and every time they leave they go on about how happy they are just to be out of the city.
Then they go back, and resume complaining. Personally I am always so happy to get back home when I leave. Seems like that the way it should be.

Chainsaw milling is problematic but not for that reason you mention. Just every other reason. I just have a few wooden shingles with me and I tap one in to the end of the log as soon as my first cut is advanced enough to give me room. (watch out for your eyes... ) Then I jam one in from each side just before the chainsaw exits the other end, so it doesn’t bind. For long cuts I may have to tap a few shingles in the sides as I go.

But mostly the board or beam is self-supporting so it doesn’t tend to sag and bind the saw much till the end.

Chainsaw mill is good in a couple situations.
Mainly it’s good when you have no other better choice.
The other thing it’s good for is cutting nice wide slabs.

But in what I’m imagining is your situation a mobile sawmill would be perfect because you can go around scoping out peoples backyards and saying ’Hey you know that oak tree that was planted there by your great great great grandfather, its really blocking the light. It’s dangerous. I will give you $150 for it and a case of beer’
The people I see with bandsaw mills are usually wasting a fair amount of time tinkering with them, but you just have to choose your model wisely. Anyway who am I to judge...

I apparently posted on 3000+ threads. Almost all of them in the FAQ dept, which are usually very short-lived and never seen again. I had kind of enjoyed remaining subbed to them because occasionally they pop up years later with something interesting. Oh well it’s a clean slate.
I’ll have to re-sub to your journal again too.

 

[Skybound]

But in what I’m imagining is your situation a mobile sawmill would be perfect because you can go around scoping out peoples backyards and saying ’Hey you know that oak tree that was planted there by your great great great grandfather, its really blocking the light. It’s dangerous. I will give you $150 for it and a case of beer’
The people I see with bandsaw mills are usually wasting a fair amount of time tinkering with them, but you just have to choose your model wisely. Anyway who am I to judge...

I am lucky in that department as I have 2 useful nephews, 1 is a welder and the other, you guessed it, a lumberjack, lol. So I got a guy to (help me?) tighten up the trailer and build the trolley, but then his brother can put it to use right away. I just want to have it handy for when city life is no longer safe, but the lumberjack nephew married into a well to do family that has a couple dozen acres right out of the city, so we have a place with trees to run to if the world gets really bad. I also want/need to build a gasifier. That'll be cheaper to build, but way more complex to build, but when done, it will produce gaseous fuel from dried wood chunks that has roughly 65% the BTU of gasoline, but has no carbon footprint, burns clean in gas engines and at a lower temp, so the engine oil will last a lot longer. Gasifiers were used all throughout Europe between the world wars, IDK why that simple, yet efficient technology went the way of the dodo.

 

[Weaselcracker]

One of the rug rats figured out a way to get up into my peat mix today. His new favorite spot. He did a lot of digging around (so helpful) before passing out for the afternoon. He can crap in there all he wants as far as I’m concerned.

Fauxmix

• Weaselcracker
• Feb 12, 2021

Fauxmix

• Weaselcracker
• Feb 12, 2021

 

[The Celt]

What could be better, an automatic tiller that leaves behind fertilizer, win win