Comments

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  Shaun December 28, 2009 at 10:43am

  I just read in a post about you re-plumbing your house to divert the water away from the sewer. How is that going, have you got started or is the project on hold?
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  Chris Allsopp August 5, 2009 at 9:01am

  I compost too but the worms give you the best fertilizer. I keep mine in plastic boxes in my laundry room, when the weather is nicer I can put them out in the garage. You can start with a plastic shoe box and move up to a larger size later. Once a week I shred newspaper for their food and bedding and give them some coffee grounds and any mushy produce I always seem to have. They give me back a lot of castings, it is amazing how much the little guys poop! The plants I use it on just love it! I have been stockpiling it for my fall container planting. When the weather is nice you can add them to the compost pile, summer is just too hot and they die. Chris
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  Chris Allsopp August 4, 2009 at 5:39pm

  I noticed you may go to the vermicomposting class, they are so easy to raise don't know if you need a class as there are a ton of sites if you just google it. I have been selling the worms if you need any to get started. I had someone drive over from Mesa and I met another person that lives in Gilbert at my son's house in Chandler. Seems they are not that easy to find locally, let me know if you need any. Chris
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  Chris Allsopp August 4, 2009 at 5:36pm

  Hi Dana, I was able to get on the extension site when I sent the address I had written down to my friend Kay and it was highlighted in blue in my email, she clicked on it and got there, sent me an email back and I clicked on the highlighted address and got there, strange. I mentioned the website "Organic Consumer's Association" in my note on Monsanto. I signed up for their newsletter and just got one from them. It is a very good site and they mentioned that the Food Safety Bill HR 2749 passed the House and now will go to the Senate. It could potentially hurt the people selling at Farmer's Markets as one would have to cough up a $500. fee and register. Check out their site it has a lot of good articles. Not sure how political to be on the Permaculture site. Chris
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  Chris Allsopp July 30, 2009 at 9:44am

  Thanks I tried that too last night and several sites come up but not that one. With the other one I get one site on something from Georgia but not even close. I have tried every which way at this point and I am stumped. I sent my friend an email and asked her to try it. I may have to call the extension office .Chris
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  Chris Allsopp July 30, 2009 at 9:19am

  Thanks for the tip but I tried it exactly and no luck. Here is what I am trying is there supposed to be a space somewhere or something I am missing?
  http://rwh.arid.arizona.edu/moodle/ I have high speed and rarely can't find anything I want to.
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  Chris Allsopp July 29, 2009 at 10:06pm

  Hi, I tried to go to the website for the class today and I could not find it although I am sure I wrote it down right, then again maybe not. Please tell me what you typed in to get there as I give up! Chris
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  Chris Allsopp July 29, 2009 at 4:18pm

  Hi Dana, it was nice meeting you as well. I think I am going to enjoy learning on the site that they gave us today and pass it around to anyone I know would appreciate the info. I have been working on using the principles in my landscaping design and when it rains or I lay the hose down the water zig zags to each plant or planting area I have created. I live in an HOA that has 93 homes on 43 acres with a lot of space between homes with walking trails throughout. It is a unique neighborhood right in town with a lot of tall trees and open areas with a lot of wildlife. You might have noticed that I have been posting for a roommate, if you know anyone it is a great place to live. I decided to try to find someone who would be more into gardening and nature and haven't tried craigslist as the people looking for places sound like people I don't want to attract. I have a few acres next to my house and I have been playing with the area closest to the house planting a lot of desert plants, cactus and succulents. After seeing Brad Lancaster at the conference last year and buying his book I learned a lot about how to create berms and swales and started changing the way I was doing things. I have been working on landscaping my front yard the same way. I scored some free river rocks on craigslist that are really nice, spent days hauling them a load at a time and used them to create some berms. The caliche here is just under the surface and is difficult to pickaxe out to plant anything and despite adding nutrients to the soil the plants seem rather stunted. I am going to do some raised beds in the back garden and pretty soon going to do a few lasagna beds to get ready for fall. My produce efforts were a disappointment but I learned that I need to try a different approach. I make my own compost and try to do it all organic. I have a lot of worm castings separated out from the worm bins to use when I start the next round of seeds in a few months and I know that will definitely make a difference. Gives me time to make sure that any eggs I missed that will hatch I'll be able to pick out and not doom to die. Chris
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  Chris Allsopp July 28, 2009 at 2:00pm

  Hi, thanks for taking action on the petition. I just "friended" you but clicked too fast and missed the part to add a note. Cute little chick pics. My grandmother was a farmer and once when we went to visit she had crates of them inside by the fireplace and I wanted to play with them soooooo badly. Your pics just took me back to when I was four years old, what a flashback. There is a free workshop on rainwater harvesting at the Maricopa County Extension office tomorrow Wed. at noon, the listing is under "Community" in case you missed it. I am going to go with two friends, it is a brown bag luncheon if you get a chance to go. Chris
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  Debra July 24, 2009 at 9:19am

  Yes, under Blogs, Apricot & peach pits.