MC`s Forest Adventure

[markscastle]

It`s not that it didn`t work as much as in my case I couldn`t use it as directed. This application isn`t that straight forward because it involves a vent that opens and closes. It would have worked if I wanted it to stay closed and not open. The problem is I need the vent to seal and still be able to open it when needed. The stuff worked well on the skylight and around the window seals. I`m going to use some of the left over greenhouse plastic and make a removable cover for the vent that should work. I wish they would vent the air to the sides in the first place ! shouldn`t have this kind of problems if it was made differently. Putting holes in a roof is just asking for future problems! That`s why I would never put a roof mounted swamp cooler on a house! they can be mounted in windows or even in walls so why set yourself up for problems with a devise that uses water on a roof?

 

[markscastle]

Looking like I won`t have as much of a bumper crop as I`d like to have. the light tower allowed me to veg the late plants out well enough but the cool weather has not allowed the buds to get as heavy. I have heaters but they are costing me $35+ a night to run. I need to have a wood fired furnace as I have all the wood I can use. It would allow me to have the chimney far back enough that ambers don`t put wholes in the plastic and I could control the heat with the venting fans for an even heat. I also need constant power while off grid that doesn`t cost and arm and a leg. Running a generator for a crop that is only getting me outdoor prices isn`t going to make it worth doing. So that`s where most of this crop`s income will be headed. Again more money invested and less returned. Once set up right It should be cost effective though. I`m convinced that once set up it will be a little less to run than an indoor set up is on grid and have comparable quality while being run off grid and out of season just like indoor can be run. It will allow for some sunlight to cut some costs in running and increasing yield a little even with the lower light of winter. Other than that wood heat will cost less than electric saving a little more. I`m hopeful running later in the year will also result in a little high prices than outdoor fetches. I`m sure it will result in better quality than outdoor or even normal seasonal greenhouse grown product. The big question is will it be worth the large expense to set up in an off grid situation? Even that has some big plusses. Water is not as big of an issue , rippers are much less of a concern in winter (out in the forest and off grid anyway) and because no one else is doing this Po Po isn`t flying around looking for it ether ! No matter where or how you grow it takes up a lot of time and effort, I`d rather have some summer time off than winter time. Like to spend some time away when I can go fishing for once , maybe take my dog swimming in a lake or go boating, never have time when plants are in the ground in summer. I can`t snow ski at my age anymore so growing in winters just makes more sense to me. And I`d very much like to take a nice ride across country in the summer on a Harley while I`m still able to do that. I know a lot of diehards ride in the winter but I`m getting to old and brittle to do that anymore myself.~ Funny thing about getting older is you still dream you are young, but when you wake up you aren`t.~

 

[Bulldog11]

I feel you Mark. I wish summers were easier to get off the farm. I would have to drive my truck around the property just to keep it running. I didn't leave my farm from Sept 28 - Nov 10th. Crazy harvest this year.

Hope you take me up on my offer. Take it easy.

 

[markscastle]

Had to go back to town yet again! Parts for the Honda Generator. It stopped on me and when I checked it out it needed a new spark plug among other things. I just need to change the oil now but it is running again. Have to wait as my feet are killing me! I won`t need the generator until the early hours when it starts cooling down . Without it no power to run the fans and the forced air heaters won`t come on. I wanted to work on the roof of the motorhome and so many other things besides the generator but it never goes as planned anymore. Going to medicate and head to bed early if my feet will settle down enough to sleep. Seems like I wake up two or three times a night with leg cramps from being on my nerve destroyed feet/legs. really hurts but what can I do? keeping warm helps a lot . I take about every kind of food supplement there is as well as vitamins and have been eating right and keeping my blood sugar down mostly. may have to trade my left leg in for a peg leg or something!!! Grand kids would get a kick out of that! Even more so when they misbehave .

 

[markscastle]

Just woke up and realized I never hit post. Leg cramp again. Dam fell asleep and left the generator going to charge everything up , phone, lap top, shore batteries drills and driver, flash lights, Etc. Even my 12 v pumps depend on my generator running well. Going back to sleep after I shut it down for now. Yep, oil change tomorrow.

 

[joeca1i]

try drinking coconut water..A bit pricey,but worth it..

 

[markscastle]

Most coconut water is to high in carbs that turn to sugar in your blood stream and most have sugar or other sweaters. Lots of vitamins in it. I use coconut water to stimulate veg. growth in plants. Helps keep the bricks up in the plant and has useful vitamins and plant growth hormones. Plain water is what my doctor recommends as all my nutrients seem under control in my blood tests. I think it has to do partly with dehydration as my doctor believes and partly circulation problems from the diabetes. Not enough oxygen to repair muscle tissue from over doing it on my feet during the day. May also have something to do with nerve damage, again from diabetes (neuropathy)

 

[markscastle]

Generator is all good now. did some cleanup in the camp area and my friends came over. We had a BBQ and they helped me get my 100 gal. fuel tank in the truck. Working on the roof tomorrow. Just going to make a cover over the vent with left over plastic from the greenhouse. I have a` surprise` birthday party to go to Saturday (for myself) and understand a lot of out of town family will be their. I want to see them all so it will be nice , but I`m also so used to being by myself and not around a lot of people. Not all at once anyway. I`m also not used to being the center of attention. I was thinking of seeing if everyone would be interested in pitching in and cutting/splitting fire wood for my daughter but she said she has that under control, to bad all these folks and family and I can`t even organize them to get any work done! What a waste ! That`s too bad, would have been fun to me!

 

[joeca1i]

Gotta buy the high quality kind..Tumeric is also a good product.

 

[markscastle]

I already take Tumeric . Great stuff for inflammation. I decided to soak the beds today Not using a lot of water in flower and even less evaporates now but a storm is coming and it is tuff to water inside during storms. Being covered rain does little for keeping plants watered. Still not feeling well. I hope to get my vent covered next. Last night my windshield started leaking and it wasn`t even raining, condensation? I`ll seal the rubber around it as well. Plants are doing good. Oh snow level is predicted down to 2000 ft. on this storm!!! Going to be running the heaters 24/7 when it hits.

 

[markscastle]

Just got back from my birthday get together. Lots of family and my sister brought my Mom up with her from the Bay Area. Haven`t seen her sense my Dad`s funeral She`s looking very frail now and using a walker. She`s fell down several times and has broken ribs. I didn`t expect to see her there. She even remembered who I was this time! Had other family I haven`t seen in over 15 years show up. Got a lot of clothing I could use and they even made a diabetic cake for me ! Had a great time. Oh also got some of my Dad`s things given to me. Wish my Dad could have been there is all.

Tomorrow I need to work on the roof as I didn`t get to it today. Came home with a note from one of my partners from when I first got the property. The guy I had watching my place didn`t see him show up? The other partner ripped me off and I wasn`t sure if this guy wasn`t also involved, but after a careful look around nothing missing or disturbed. I was also surprised when looking at my plants with a flashlight just how frosty they really were! I just checked this morning and although some of the buds are still growing pistils all the heads on the trichomes are milky, very few are amber , no clear and no black ones could be found. I could pick soon but some of the sides of the flowers are still growing pistils. I think they will swell and harden up more in the next few weeks. Not long to go before harvest now! Good thing because it is going to really start getting colder. The next storm has snow levels down to 2000 ft. I`m at about 4500 ft here. There has only been one light frost so far and the heaters worked well. If it were to stay cold for an extended amount of time It would run the heating costs up considerably. I`m thinking I should be looking into a wood fired furnace for winter growing and use the new heaters as backups. Still need to set up a battery bank/inverter system for fans and venting and hook it up to both solar and the generator . also think some metal halide lights would be a good thing so I can keep the plants/clones in veg . I think I still have time to run some larger teens and still have time for them to flower later in the winter before spring and without light depriving covers. All depends on how fast I can cut and dry this crop so I have the greenhouses cleared in time to plant a second crop. We`ll just have to see how it goes with the timing first. I`m not going to cut this crop short just to try and get the second one in on time.

 

[markscastle]

Oh have it from good Authority that the local code enforcement is cherry picking growers who seem to have the money to pay up but do not seem to have so much that they could afford to put up a strong legal defiance. Legal extortion racket! I`m sure they saw me but I must have looked to poor to mess with,LOL! They sited everyone else on the road and drove right passed me even though my grow was lit up with the light tower like X-mas ! They again flew over me and busted the people right next to me for growing but those people `s attorney found out in discovery that a complaint was filed by the person who owns land on the other side of them. He thought they were on his land and had taken down his trees. Good thing they had the property surveyed by a county certified company and could prove they were on there own land, that is how they got bail lowered . The case maybe dismissed because the address on the warrant was not correct. I was also able to give them info on the complain tee being the brother of one deputy probation officer working for the county. Not sure but seems they reacted rather fast on the complaint regardless of the fact they already had a long list of complaints to investigate , so long they didn`t have the recourses to complete the list, but managed to squeeze the investigation involving a friend of the family ? Can you say good old boy? If no one paid up the fines? If all growers/ medical users withheld property taxes (Put into an escrow account and paid with any late fines before 5 years delinquent) ? Wonder what the county would do if over half the county employees might lose there jobs directly because of enforcement of code violations and lack of funding?

 

[markscastle]

Got the roof done. Hope it holds this time. Snow Tuesday night turning to rain. Should be clear weds. Tomorrow I`ll work on the greenhouses and get ready for the rain/storm. Heaters all fueled and ready to repel the cold . Not much to do once it starts raining. Maybe do some house keeping? There is always something to clean. I could spend some time picking dead leaves off the plants or doing some spraying while it rains, never rains inside a greenhouse.

 

[markscastle]

I got the front of the greenhouses done except the doors. I`ll have to re-do the back as the plastic seem was put in wrong by my daughter. It won`t be as hard to do with all the lathing cut and up. Just need to take it off and flap the wall plastic under and the top from the tunnel over and re-tack it. I`ll put a passive vent in and cover the doors and put them back up and the skin will be done. I won`t do anything else until after I harvest this crop. Maybe some time in December?

 

[Ned Kelly]

I try to stay under the radar as much as I can also. Never over 99 plants and always medical. Although I include preemptive treatment as medical. Never any minors involved. Not legal with the county anymore ,but this grow was started before the new land use codes were passed. Also I will be a bit of a rebel as I believe my land owner rights supersede county regulations for public nuisances. In fact I think they are the ones being a nuisance and violating my right to privacy and protection of personal property , illegal searches, unlawful warrants, etc.

yep gotta luv the preemtive my fav med excuse lol.

 

[markscastle]

In my case if I hadn`t been consuming cannabis from a young age my AS would have had me bed bound years ago. Because of my cannabis consumption it came on later in life and not as sever as it might have.

 

[masshole61]

Markcastle,
I follow all the threads on the farm, some more than others, but few that I enjoy as much as yours. There are some seriously smart agriculturalists here on the farm , but the knowledge you share based on literally years of experience are invaluable to someone like me, who would like to spend his later years pursuing that which he loves as you have.
Im an east coast guy who has always been intrigued by the left coast and its cannabis culture. I'm no kid, but I hope to someday pursue growing as a hobby or career . Hopefully my state will stop being dickheads and I can this before I'm dead. One way or the other I know I will.
I think the thing I like the most about your thread is your honest portrayal of daily living as a farmer and the challenges you face in your daily living. Water, power, generators, roof leaks, early frost, rippers and Feds... It's all part of what I call your thread " the life and times of an old school cannabis farmer" and I want to thank you for sharing.
I thing the thing I respect and admire about you is that you live life on your own terms, something we should all aspire to as we try are best to age with dignity.
I wish you and yours great health, wealth and success in all that you do, and you can giggle at the thought that there's some idiot in Massachusetts that wants to be just like you .

 

[markscastle]

Well Not even sure how to respond to all of that. Thanks You may want to reconsider wanting to be to much like me and learn from my mistakes instead. I could do better.

I was invited to a bond fire earlier and while trying to snap a branch to put into the fire I had a piece brake and hit me in the face. I lost my glasses and had to return home to charge my spot light to fined them. I did but they got stepped on while looking for them. I can use them but I`m going to have to make a trip to the eye doctors to see if they can be bent back in shape better. I am only about a year and a half late on my last exame so I`ll scedual an appointment for new glasses. I`m also needing to see the dentest and have more teeth pulled. I won`t allow any other work that doesn

 

[markscastle]

`t lead to dentures. I`m not sure just how much dignity I`m showing but I am showing a lot of aging.

 

[markscastle]

Watching the coming storm on the radar, they say snow levels will start at 4000 ft. and will drop to 1000 ft. by Tuesday night. Could see snow on the valley floor? I might get snowed in a few days! I think the greenhouses are in for a test. I have enough fuel for the generator and heaters for 4 days or so. Thinking I should head to town tonight and stock up a little more. Dam stupid time to mess up my eye glasses and I also had a black eye and large cut to my temple area. Really hope the leaking is fixed in the motorhome this time! I made a frame out of 2x4`s about 3 ft by 3 ft.stapling plastic to it to tent it over the vent cover so maybe it will keep rain out of the vent and it can be taken off to use the vent for fresh air later in the summer. also went over the front windshield and some of the other windows and sealed them. I also just did all the maintenance on the Honda gas generator and it`s running good. can`t use the Lister diesel generator until I get a cover up for it and hopefully a new muffler. I can use the 200 gallon trap wagon to hold diesel fuel in as I haven`t had the time yet to clean out the ten 55 gal steel drums for fuel storage. I`m not sure my old hand fuel pump still works. Then 200 gal. trap wagon has an 12v pump ,hose and nozzle as does the 100 gal. transfer tank in the truck. would be nice if I had the time and had set the Lister generator all set up and supplied for power. Looking like I may need to use it this winter. Deisel stores well and I can stock up fuel better for it. for long wet winters It would be great when growing, drying and late nights of trimming! I wouldn`t need to stop for fuel runs!