MC`s Forest Adventure

[markscastle]

Looks like the leaks are stopped! YES

 

[markscastle]

I went to town yesterday and got some more fuel just in case I got snowed in. Didn`t happen.Rained hard for a few hours and then off and on sprinkles. was just clouds more the night. It did freeze. I fell asleep and the alarm didn`t go off so I could re-fuel but only for less than an hour. The beds were still warm and it never dropped that low in the greenhouses. almost able to shut the heaters down, soon as it gets up over 40 degrees the beds can keep the greenhouses warm all day. Even with clouds it stays warm enough in the day time so far. All wet and cold outside and still some chances of rain/snow. going to watch TV and stay inside after chores this morning. time to medicate.

 

[markscastle]

I need to make yet another run for fuel today. Soon as I can I need to bolt the transfer tank into the truck and connect the 12v wiring for the pump. I can then get diesel at a cheaper price. Can`t do that today, no one will be open . Think the truck needs a tune up also. matter of fact the Blazer is also miss firing a little. Just hard to get away from here to have stuff done.

Going to scope the buds out today and see just how close I am to harvesting. May take a picture and post the front of the greenhouses. will water and work a little on the greenhouses today. Think one of my kids may come up today with a plate of food for me?

 

[markscastle]

Nope no food fpr the old man. My son is going to have thanksgiving with his girlfriends family on Saturday and said he will bring me up a plate then. Got back with the fuel and it's 37 degrees and windy. Had to break the ice on my dogs water dish for him. Going to fix him a hot meal tonight. No pics yet. Leg was hurting to bad from unloading and filling the heaters up with fuel.Emergency MEDICATION time !!! Got one rolled.

 

[markscastle]

Dam fell asleep on the couch! Woke up just in time to re-fuel the generator and heaters. Now I can head to bed for a few hours. Didn`t seem as cold as it was out there but very windy!

 

[markscastle]

Dam woke up with leg cramps again, only the screen door was closed on the motorhome and it was freezing cold in here. Had a text from my son that he won`t be able to come up and bring me a plate of turkey dinner as he is very sick. OK warm it up and start the chores and see where today goes.

 

[markscastle]

OK looking at the plants and they have been done growing flowers for awhile now. I think they could use a few more days to harden and mature up a little is all. May start harvest around the 1rst. of December. If I`d had heaters just a few days earlier I could have kept the flowers growing a little more. Thinking I`m going to harvest them and take my time trimming them. I will turn my dry room into a veg room and start some seeds for moms , then make clones for next summer. Might grow a bunch of extra to 3-4 ft. and sell them to others. I`ll also work on having a battery/solar/generator powered fan system and wood fired heater system for next year`s winter grow. I`ll work on having better equipment and stock up on fuel for the summer and winter grows. Going to have someone else do a survey of my property next spring , and work on the property to be ready to move onto. I`ll stay up by the road for now but work on the property to make it ready for the move. I want to have a good summer grow and finish it early. then I want to replant for a good winter grow. Have to see how well I can get my property ready but hope that will be the last grow up by the road.

 

[markscastle]

Thing I hate about going to town on the holidays is all the dam long lines!

 

[markscastle]

Dam I was getting a stomach ach and the shits when I got a call from a local food store that warned E coli was found in the salad I got from the deli. To late, I ate it yesterday. Hope it doesn`t get any worse! Salad seemed good to me . Seems strange I got sick moments before the call.

 

[markscastle]

Went through three double rolls of paper but I feel better today. Not great , but better. I feel lucky in some ways because of my AS I have a hyper active immune system. Got my 100 gal transfer tank bolted in the truck and found some wire with battery clips to attach to the line. Should reach to the battery now. Going to head to town and stock up on 100+ gallons of red diesel. Tuesday the 1rst of December will be the start of harvest for me. I`ll cut the stocks and pull the fan leafs , then hag to dry. I`ll trim later. I just want to get where the greenhouses are empty and everything is dry for now. I`ll put the dry stocks in tubs like last year and burp them until I get everything trimmed. I`ll do one greenhouse at a time so I can stop using the heater and save fuel. Going through 35 gallons of fuel a day now just to let the buds get ripe. I will take some pictures when I get a chance.

 

[markscastle]

Oh one of my favorite plants in the garden is a green crack. I love everything about this strain but it doesn`t last long enough. So I made a few crosses with the pre 98 and the original OGK to see what I get. Also made a few other crosses. I wasn`t going to do that but I just couldn`t help myself !

 

[pimpin]

Damn mr castle u always have alot going on just reading ur schedule makes me tired

 

[markscastle]

You should be me ! Always some thing throwing a monkey wrench in things.

 

[markscastle]

Just got back with 130 gallons of fuel. Mostly red diesel. The cheapest #2 at the pump was 2.35 9/10 per and I got the red diesel for 1.71 9/10 per gallon, 64 cents cheaper ! And the best thing is most the savings comes from not paying as much taxes!

 

[NorCalepsy]

mark, i love reading your posts, and you obviously know what you are doing, but i just have to ask.. at 4000 ft elevation, why in the world would you run such late finishing strains? Im over here on the eastern side of the triangle, at 2400 ft and ive been done for 3 weeks. its been in the high teens the last few nights.. if any of my girls had still been outside , they would be black and slimy and dead by now. Greenhouse wont hold heat, house is cold, dogs are wet and stinky, all the good looking euro trimmers have left, or at least gone to the coast where it is 20 degrees warmer. Only reason im not sitting in Indo right now is because... wait.. why the hell am I not sitting in Indo?

 

[markscastle]

It`s not that they are that late running as I am running them late. They were small and put in the ground late. I was trying to increase the yield. It didn`t work out that well because I didn`t have the heat set up soon enough. They are looking good quality wise however. It was also an experiment and I plan on doing winter growing at some point, probably not this year though. I need two add a second lire of plastic and a fan system so the loop section is insulated. I also want to put in a wood fired furnace system and a battery bank with inverters for the fans ( I`m off grid) it would be charged by solar and generator power. The generator would also power some lights when it`s running. When I get it done it will pretty much be an indoor grow in winter and a greenhouse grow in summer. Diesel heaters work ok but to costly to run all the time. Oh that`s one thing I could use is a few of those good looking Euro trimmers. Maybe I could sponsor a couple of exchange students?

 

[Bulldog11]

Looking good Markscastle. Hope your son brought you a nice plate of Turkey.

 

[NorCalepsy]

It`s not that they are that late running as I am running them late. They were small and put in the ground late. I was trying to increase the yield. It didn`t work out that well because I didn`t have the heat set up soon enough. They are looking good quality wise however. It was also an experiment and I plan on doing winter growing at some point, probably not this year though. I need two add a second lire of plastic and a fan system so the loop section is insulated. I also want to put in a wood fired furnace system and a battery bank with inverters for the fans ( I`m off grid) it would be charged by solar and generator power. The generator would also power some lights when it`s running. When I get it done it will pretty much be an indoor grow in winter and a greenhouse grow in summer. Diesel heaters work ok but to costly to run all the time. Oh that`s one thing I could use is a few of those good looking Euro trimmers. Maybe I could sponsor a couple of exchange students?

Haha, yeah buddy !! Not sure where you are, but pretty much any exit in Garberville will suit your needs. It looks like the parking lot of a Dead show down there :)

 

[markscastle]

Nope he feels real bad about it as he got very sick with the flu. But I got plenty to eat so I`m still thankful. To me it`s more about being around friends and family. That I miss.

 

[markscastle]

Decided to take the tops first on the top row. I have limited dry room area so the cream of the crop comes first, then I`ll gleam the rest. I`d like to shut one greenhouse down at a time though so heating cost taper down as I go. I really need to have a wood fired furnace. I have tons of wood all around me ! Most of the new furnaces are EPA certified or not available in Cali. One I`ve found is but is made like a basement furnace and not usable outdoors. the ones that are usable outdoors run way to much money. I`m thinking of building a porable shed to house the furnace in and maybe a few days of dry wood. I could always vent some of the heat from the shed into the greenhouses. Putting wood stoves in the greenhouses has draw backs. three sources of heat instead of one to feed and being so close to the plastic, ambers would cause small holes to develop in the plastic. I would need to use insulated ducting to each greenhouse from the furnace. The vent fans would be run on a thermostat to each greenhouse or set on a controller that would control CO2, humidity , possible lights, etc. With being off grid I`d need analog type controllers so they don`t need to be reset every time power gets interrupted. Basically it would be a hybrid indoor/greenhouse set up. The biggest obstacle is most equipment is not off grid friendly.