July 2016 – Gallifrey Forest Farm

fruit tree varieties

2016/07/22 Danielle 0

I was talking to a friend at work a couple’ve weeks ago, about her garden (she’s recently bought a house, and is madly excited to be planting some dwarf fruit trees in the garden), and she asked me what trees I have in the ground. It made me think, maybe other people might be interested in our choices of trees and varieties too. So, here goes. 🙂 Not all of these are in the ground as yet; I’ve noted which ones are planted, and which are on order. The trees without a status note are on the wishlist. […]

Turning the rotaloo

2016/07/18 Danielle 0

A composting toilet has a lot of useful and awesome features (primarily the 20,000 or so L of water it saves us per year), but it does have to be actively managed. In theory, the six chambers should fill up over a year – so every 2 months you rotate the composting compartment to put a new, empty chamber under the toilet, and after a year you empty the chamber you started with (which, by then, will be full of harmless compost). In practice, it’s more like once a month than once every 2 months that we have to turn […]

Rain and fog

2016/07/18 Danielle 0

I recently learned (due to a whim of curiosity during the morning commute, and the availability of Google at all times of day, except for one stretch along said commute which has no mobile phone signal) the difference between mist and fog. Fog, apparently, is ground-level cloud, while mist is something that rises from the ground (or bodies of water). Now, every time I see one or the other I have to hesitate for a moment while my brain refreshes and I remember which is which. Currently, this is every morning – it’s been a misty winter so far. […]

guinea pigs, the reprise

2016/07/08 Danielle 0

No, I haven’t gone and acquired some guinea pigs. Yet. What I have been doing is some productivity calculations. My objective in keeping guinea pigs (aka cavies, aka cuy) is meat; if that squicks you, please stop now and don’t read any further. Ok then. One young guinea pig (at 4 months old) weighs 0.5 – 1 kg, on average. That obviously includes the bones, organs, skin, etc. which aren’t really edible – although the organs are useful for feeding to cats (and the dog we will eventually get), and pet food is one of the primary drivers […]