24/7 Chat About Anything

[maki2]

Feels like it is time to begin packing and sorting for heading north. Less wind further north of Yuma this coming week.

 

[Frood]

Leaving my garden was WAAAAAY harder than anything else. For now, I carry a tote with a few houseplants in it. It does help, especially when the 'Cleopatra' begonia starts to flower as it is now.

And am scheming on how to have a garden of sorts at the place where I spend most of the summer. There's no water there, so I'd have to find some plants to grow that require little, if any, summer irrigation. Thinking pretty hard about lentils and/or chickpeas. Even if they don't make a crop, they are legumes, and any growth they do make can be turned back into the ground for soil-building.

A while back, you could find on youtube a "truck garden". It was an old pickup that had soil and garden plants in the bed. Guy drove it around New York City, doing some garden evangelizing, especially for kids. I've thought about getting one of those trailers that are made from old pickups and making a garden in it to travel with. Problem is, I'd be subjecting plants to gale force winds every time I traveled on a highway. Haven't really hit on a good way to solve that problem. 2x2s and plastic wouldn't cut it. Sigh...

Right now I'm thinking of the part-time homestead... Something like what the carnies do in Florida during the off season.

Basically some remote property that has a well where I can plant and harvest in spring/summer and
travel while the plants don't need tending and a good enough septic tank that I have a place to dump (or maybe I'll just finally get over my mental issue an go with a composting system and make my own). It's just that to really compost this well it takes 2 years in a high-temperature environment and you need to maintain the moisture. Maybe auto-watering on the compost heap or something?

Ugh. Too much to think about right now. Still a few years off at the quickest. Other priorities right now.

 

[Frood]

I saw one of those eons ago! The part that really caught my attention was the cover. I was a couple of cars away, but it looked like he/she had formed an arc made of welded wire mesh (maybe 2x4"), covered that with clear sheet plastic, and then covered the plastic with another arc of the welded wire mesh. I seem to remember what might have been a plywood sidewalls about twice the height of the truck bed sides. I could see the tops of plants. I thought the plants were in pots, but your idea of growing the plants right in the bed itself made me wonder if what they were doing was what you just described. Wonderful idea!

With live plants you need to watch it while traveling too... Don't want to lose everything because of an ag-inspection station or inadvertently be responsible for the devastation of <whatever> food crop because you accidentally brought in a breeding pair of parasites or viruses or something...

 

[jacqueg]

Right now I'm thinking of the part-time homestead... Something like what the carnies do in Florida during the off season.

Basically some remote property that has a well where I can plant and harvest in spring/summer and
travel while the plants don't need tending and a good enough septic tank that I have a place to dump (or maybe I'll just finally get over my mental issue an go with a composting system and make my own). It's just that to really compost this well it takes 2 years in a high-temperature environment and you need to maintain the moisture. Maybe auto-watering on the compost heap or something?

Ugh. Too much to think about right now. Still a few years off at the quickest. Other priorities right now.

The problem I have is that my home base does not get rain during the summer, so plants do indeed need tending during the summer. Hence I have been looking at commercial dry land farming for ideas of what to grow in the (long neglected) raised beds that are there. Water on the property is currently part of the plan, but the person who needs to take action is a) not me and b) known for having his ambition run far in advance of his ability to get 'er done. It's, um, interesting.

 

[jacqueg]

^^^ I do not even want to own one of those Air Plants that do not need watering. My trailer has nice big windows. I can see all the plants around me whenever I want to and take a walk among them.

Yes, and I do - finally even replaced the hand lens that I lost in the Great Van Heist of '21, and am now evaluating a macro lens for my camera. But growing them remains important to me.

 

[user 36542]

Have any of the groups or tribes out there organized an emergency plan for anything including first-aid? I realize it's great to be self sufficient but in real life, we are somewhat vulnerable when we rely on only ourselves.

 

[vanbrat]

The problem I have is that my home base does not get rain during the summer, so plants do indeed need tending during the summer. Hence I have been looking at commercial dry land farming for ideas of what to grow in the (long neglected) raised beds that are there. Water on the property is currently part of the plan, but the person who needs to take action is a) not me and b) known for having his ambition run far in advance of his ability to get 'er done. It's, um, interesting.

maybe you need rain barrels for when it does rain that way you save for when it doesn't.

 

[maki2]

Have any of the groups or tribes out there organized an emergency plan for anything including first-aid? I realize it's great to be self sufficient but in real life, we are somewhat vulnerable when we rely on only ourselves.

That is pretty much impossible to formally organize as so called groups and tribes are constantly changing and evolving as to who is in them and what skills or willingness a person participating is going to have regarding trying to have someone push organization task on them.

People do not come to this
Nomadic lifestyle looking for more structure and more responsibility. They want friends and fun. However what I have repeatedly see is that If someone gets sick or injured then people do tend to step up and help with very little if any need for
prompting. If a schedule of rides or help of various types such as pet sitting is needed that gets worked out as well.

So do not be too worried about it. These things evolve as needed rather than requiring any formal arrangements. If you have an ongoing medical issue that could create a situation such as diabetic shock or a possible heart condition, be sting severe reaction, asthma attacks, etc. then be open about it so people around you are clued in case something does happen.

 

[user 36542]

That is pretty much impossible to formally organize as so called groups and tribes are constantly changing and evolving as to who is in them and what skills or willingness a person participating is going to have regarding trying to have someone push organization task on them.

People do not come to this
Nomadic lifestyle looking for more structure and more responsibility. They want friends and fun. However what I have repeatedly see is that If someone gets sick or injured then people do tend to step up and help with very little if any need for
prompting. If a schedule of rides or help of various types such as pet sitting is needed that gets worked out as well.

So do not be too worried about it. These things evolve as needed rather than requiring any formal arrangements. If you have an ongoing medical issue that could create a situation such as diabetic shock or a possible heart condition, be sting severe reaction, asthma attacks, etc. then be open about it so people around you are clued in case something does happen.

Thank you for your response, you brought up some valid points. Letting others know particular medical conditions could save lives. As a friend once told me who was diabetic, if we noticed him in shock, to give him a piece of candy, he's rather his blood sugar was higher than lower until he got to a hospital.

 

[Morgana]

There is in fact a lot you can do to prepare for emergencies, and it doesn't conflict with wanting an unstructured life, any more than writing a will conflicts with enjoying life. Failing to prepare for this kind of stuff could quickly make your life less carefree, not more.

First aid, which you mentioned, is one excellent example.Vehicle repair. Self defense. Knowing what to do in extreme weather or fire or a mass shooting. You can train on your own, you can train with others, you can train to help others. FEMA's book Are You Ready is one good starting place and it's free. They also run the CERT (Community Emergency Response Training)program. Personally I have mixed feelings about that (quality depends on local staff, and where I took it, the training was excellent but after that it got swallowed up by bureaucracy), but it's worth looking into.

I don't know much about groups like HOWA or Escapees but this seems like it would be right up their alley if they chose to take it on -- for example, running a nomad CERT unit or organizing a discount on first aid classes. It's also something any individual can chip away at on their own if/when they have the time and interest. A great question!

 

[bullfrog !]

I have had people with medical conditions camping nearby come tell me they trigger their vehicle alarm remotely if they have a medical problem and to please come into their camp and check on them and look inside a compartment with a big red cross on the door for information on who to call and their medical records.

 

[maki2]

Had my first alien encounter last night. As in illegal border crossing type of encounter. It was a woman, non threatening situation. After a brief polite conversation through the window I answered her question about where the road was, she said she was lost. Likely trying to avoid that heavily patrolled road. She apparently went to another campsite, I could hear conversation and they must have called 911 as two patrol cars quickly showed up. The border patrol is in this immediate area all night as is the state patrol. So under a minute fast travel time
from my campsite to where they hang out. I can see the lights on the patrol car units where they park in their all night huddle.

 

[bullfrog !]

Sad situation, but it is a wet year so they don’t die as often due to dehydration, not near as many black plastic water bottles in the wash behind our camper this year. Our system of legal immigration definitely needs to change to accommodate people that are so desperate as to risk their lives to get in to this country.

 

[maki2]

Sad situation,

For me the situation was more about having a total stranger approach and enter my campsite after dark. How to deal with it without creating a confrontation conflict for myself or for them. She was trying to do the same. There was risk on both sides.

She did not ask for water, just directions.

 

[maki2]

Today when I went out before heading into town I did a walk around of my car and trailer. In the track of the sliding window we were talking through there was an 8mm Allen wrench. Very strange thing to be there. It is not mine, I worked on the outside of that window last week and it was not there so I know it had to have been very recently placed there.

 

[bullfrog !]

I found a couple of those I couldn’t figure out where they came from. Turns out they came in the box with the stuff I ordered that I had to assemble and fell out! I actually got a ratcheting one with some of the stuff, wish they would have sent me a whole set! Lol!!!

 

[user 36542]

Today when I went out before heading into town I did a walk around of my car and trailer. In the track of the sliding window we were talking through there was an 8mm Allen wrench. Very strange thing to be there. It is not mine, I worked on the outside of that window last week and it was not there so I know it had to have been very recently placed there.

A mystery unsolved, sounds spooky.

 

[vanbrat]

Before us this property was the local towns vehicle dumping grounds. After 30 yrs we are still finding windshields and car parts and beer bottles (lots of beer bottles). Had a lightbulb pop up out of a flower bed once. Never used, really old and in perfect condition. Maybe the wrench was left by the last person there and just now popped up out of the ground. As in her foot just bumped off the dirt and shuffled it into sight.
The next person to live here is going to find a zillion tiny toy hot wheels and a zillion tool parts, and lots of tiny treasure hunt bits and pieces. We had 1 single nerf battle in our woods for a kids birthday party 5-6 years ago and we are still finding those damn things any time we work out there.
Makes me smile when I think what the scientific dig will tell about the people that lived here in 2-3 hundred years.
My neighbor finds arrow heads in her yard. I guess we don't dig deep enough cause we have not found any of those

 

[maki2]

I have no idea about where the wrench was found but it did not jump up onto my window frame on its own

 

[maki2]

Finally an extended weather forecast that is not showing a lot of high winds.

Today I will start on those outdoor chores I have had to put off due to the weather.