Hi Murdoch, several threads here now, but taking them one at a time.... > >After conversations with my neighbours (one of whom sent city by-law > >officers to > >visit me because I had destroyed my lawn) > > Well, I don't know the context, but it sounds like you pursued another > good idea there.
I have an odd-shaped yard, and much of my property is road frontage, with essentially no back yard beyond a common services easement. So after I largely exhausted the available space in the side yard, I chose to expand into the area beside the roadway. I consulted with a friend who worked with the city, and also a small-scale gardener, and couldn't think of a reason why I couldn't grow vegetables in the city area adjacent to my property. After all, as the homeowner, the city by- laws say I'm responsible for maintaining it in a "sightly manner" and removing any "noxious weeds" from that area. When the by-law enforcement officer dropped by, she informed my vegetable garden had to go and I would have to re-sod the area. I asked her to bring me a copy of the by-law that would require that. Never saw another officer regarding this issue. > <snip> > > Right now in my new home I am finding that, with all this space it is > allowing me to think a lot differently, and I am contemplating minor > growing in the future (beyond the watering I'm doing of my existing > rose bushes so they don't die). Also there are many other things this > allows me, such as putting in grid-tied solar PV (within the next few > months) to complement my solar water heater (already in when I moved > in), probably a small 25 mph EV for short trips, and maybe eventually > some biofuel-making activity. A problem and holdup is one massive > not-entirely-optional remodeling expense. One big plus is that > *maybe* the solar grid-tie is going to be affordable because TEP has > some sort of program, but it's not clear yet because I am so far out > of the way that the TEP division might not have experience with any > such effort. > > It is a lingering regret of mine I couldn't pick up the diesel vehicle > offered for sale here in the biofuel forum recently from Phoenix, but > the expenditure of money and time on a serious biofuel project (beyond > attending Girl Mark's class) has to take a backseat. I do think that > a biofuel vehicle will make sense for me, eventually, because a lot of > my round trips are at highway speeds and 130-150 miles, and that would > presently be quite an expensive EV to try to get together. But certainly, a biodiesel-electric hybrid might be worth consideration. > > I wonder if there are accepted practices, in your area or others, as > to what one does with a bit of garden that one doesn't wish to > cultivate, but which, if someone else wants to do the gardening the > can keep the food? How much land does it have to be before it becomes > a "normal" renting-out of land to a local farmer? I haven't seen much > cultivation around the 'hood, but I do think that if I looked closely, > there are probably a few households which do some interesting things. > I'm not aware of any "accepted practices". There are guerilla gardeners who plant on vacant and generally untended lots. There have been small rental garden plots for those that wish to garden, but don't have the space on their own property. If you own the land, I think you can pretty much dictate the rental price and who gets to keep the produce. I recommend that if you do choose to rent the land, that you do draw up a contract, with at least a nominal but legal fee (say $1), and specifying your requirements (e.g., use of natural compost, no pesticides or herbicides, any crops that are specifically to be planted or not planted, who owns the harvest). This should eliminate any issues regarding "squatter's rights" in the future in the event that this arrangement should be repeated in future years. I gather you are in a dry area. You may wish to research plants, possibly original natives, that get by on very little water. On the other hand, it seems you get enough rain to worry the drying laundry, so are you harvesting rain water? > My favorite sustainable-technology thing that I've used recently, now > that I've moved, has been this ancient fission-fusion-wind device > called (I'm told) a "clothes line". It also was installed here for me > by the previous owner. I went on ebay and bought some "clothes pins", > some with metal, some just wood. > > It has some very interesting pros-and-cons. > > I really like the heavy loads it can handle and its effectiveness > under most circumstances. There is perhaps a bit more labor involved > in using it, but whatever. Sometimes it takes a bit of care, such as > when rain comes into the question. Then sometimes you get an > unasked-for second-washing. Then if lightning comes into the > question, we must revert back to Hakan's warnings about the dangers of > DC. This question has come up for me at least once. You have to do > this calculation: can I or can't I rush outside to preserve the dry > laundry. Actually, the unplanned, extra rinse cycle should not cause any significant problems, unless followed quickly by a dust storm. Clothes lines over gardens can present some issues in dry, windy areas. > > It's still not clear to me who taught ancient peoples both fission and > fusion and how to implement them. Some of the powers-that-be seem to > claim to be very pro-nuclear, but they don't seem to be emphasizing > the clothes-line or PV-use of nuclear power that I like. And where's > the nuclear waste from that version? No Yucca storage problems. But > for some reason we don't hear much about this. > Darryl Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuels list archives: http://infoarchive.net/sgroup/biofuel/ Please do NOT send Unsubscribe messages to the list address. To unsubscribe, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/biofuel/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
