No truer words have been spoken My Brother!! 
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Mine too My Brother I say it daily!
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If I ever got there, I would probably never leave. 
Thanks
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I talked with Chris trmup today. Before I go onā¦Isnāt it you that said; āI have all clay and not much top soilā?
I have been chatting with you all so much, I am not sure where I amā¦lol
L:et me know, and maybe we can work a way to amend your soil. If this was you, as I suspect, Chris said to use wooschips to mix with the clay to help break it down and you would have to make IMO 4 to give it the bio-diversity to turn it into good usuable soil.
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latewood-
It is no problem at all sir, whatever it was that you thanked me for. I have only made a little progress on my room and tent. Between doctor appointments and fixing to have to put a cat down, and helping mom I have only so much energy a day. I almost donāt even want to say it, but I have sleep apnea. I cannot do the CPAP/BIPAP because it makes my pain much worse. I canāt do a dental device because my teeth have been radiated, and many have died or been pulled. I donāt mean to sound paranoid or anything, but if I keep talking about all of my medical problems somebodyās going to find out who I am and put me down, out of my misery! lol. Mom says we arenāt worth shooting. I am going to get moving on my room and the tent. I will let you know when I am germinating. I think you know my setup, but if not I can list everything for you and the other followers and lurkers. Take care man. Peaceā¦
Well, I was thaking flyinghigh for the post of the creek.
I thought it was you that wanted to natural farm and told me all the soil aorund you was mostly clay.
you know I am blind, and reading long messages is tough if you do not occasionally double space lol 
I do have a text speaker though, so I can listen to your message. Just sayinā, my friend.
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Yep-
Got acidic clay here in our yard. We did have a mulch pit, but nobody would maintain it but me. Eventually I couldnāt do that due to work plan to start a new one soon. Mom and I dont have a whole
lot to put in it from our waste. Grass clippings and wood chips I could manage, but Iām confused on ā4 to give it the biodiversity.ā Now I understand that this when better would help me make my own soil, but I cannot grow outside. I am across enemy lines. The soil can be amended, as all of the planters have been
amended years ago. Some are still pretty good, others not so much. I am not sure how much you know about Hydrainias, but we have three in the back yard. The color of their blooms depends on the pH of the soil- acidic = pink.
not acidic = purple
We have one that is fixing to have a pink and purple bloom (on the same plant, what a trip). I will send you a picture if youād like. Have a good one! Peaceā¦
Sam-
That is fabulous!!! Thatās exactly where I would be. I have always wanted a cabin in the woods by a stream! We must be kindred souls! I have always wanted that and to live off the land. I guess they call that homesteading now. I donāt know if I could manage the physical load now though. So now it will be all of the above, but with civilization within 40 or 50 miles.
Awsome man!! I am jealous! Peaceā¦
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as I said; I talked with Chris trump of Natural Farming Co. and Josh from Dutch Blossoms in Washington.
Josh has heavy clay and uses 1 year old compost. He buys it when it is mixed, and places in his yard for a year before using. He has built his clay soil that way.
Natural Farming. Wood chips and then IMO-4ā¦not 4
Here is a link or 2 in order to give you an idea. It takes a few months to make this. each srep provides more and more beneficials to your garden. You can substitue some of the inputs to make this.
About IMO Indigenous Micro Organisms.
IMO 1 and 2:
IMO 3 part 1
IMO 3 part 2
IMO 4
IMO 5
How to apply IMO 4
Chris Trmup Lorean Natural Farming
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=chris+trump+korean+natural+farming
Other Videos to watch, and I always follow Chris but, others have videos too.
FPJ - Fermented Plant Juice you need this for IMO
LaB - Lacto Bacillus - you need this.
OHN - Oriental Herbla Nutrients. - This takes months to makeā¦approx. 4 months. However, you can buy it form Chris already made and it goes a long long way.
Happy watching.
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latewood-
The videos are good, but kind of above my understanding. I will need to watch them several times to really understand what heās talking about. I will do my best to incorporate this information into my growing. I think it will be a small amount of IMO that I will need for my small grow operation. They just passed medical marijuana in our state, but the proposed guidelines will not allow growing. And because they donāt want abuse or accidental ingestion by non medical users, they are only allowing edibles, lotions, creams, and tinctures. Like little Tommy wonāt see those gummies and grab some. They are going to appoint a panel to study and make recommendations for the final things that will be allowed and what wonāt. Of course this will take a lot of time. Anyway, it is just not safe to grow outside. Nosy next door neighbors on one side, and a policeman that just moved in a few houses down. He has already come by and done a āwelfare checkā on mom. He said that someone called in an anonymous tip. We have no idea who would have done that, since no one knows about the reason he came by for the check. Needless to say, my gluteus
Maximus was clinched tight as can be. I can be cool though and know what heās looking for. Anyway, yes, all of those acronyms went right over my head until he explained what each one was. The forever home for my plant will be a 5 gallon fabric pot. And while she is growing I can start on the IMO and mulch pile. It will take awhile to get all of that going. I may look on his website and see about buying some from him until I can make my own. I do have a lot of amendments here already- bone meal, kelp meal, crustacean meal, worm castings, mushroom compost, and so on. I will pick up some worms too. I really want to get everything clean and ready. With 3 cats and my Boston Terrier, there is a lot of hair and stuff everywhere. The cats donāt come into my room, but their hair sure gets in here. So I want to eliminate as much of that as possible. Thank you for all the great info, I will just have to watch each one several times if I am going to retain any of it. Have a good night sir! Peaceā¦
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It is only overhead in your perception. These are practices that have been done for 1000ās of years. These practices are still in practice today.
Just as you break down the inouts for your soil recipe because, you know that this does this, and that does that. You equate that same perception to all the KNF inputs.
Now I only read the first line or 2 of your commentā¦So; Give me a bit to listen to the rest. It has been an emotional day and I am decompressing wathing a horse movie. Back soon.
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Couldnāt agree more on this. You will never win any battle if you have defeated yourself in the head before you start. Learning anything is about getting a handle on something. That handle can be anything you want it to be as long as it works, itās your handle. Iāve been reading your posts and you guys have been up against it 
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I donāt know nothing about what happened before in this thread (i liked those videos, but it was a little smarter than I was used to 
), but I really gotta know which horse movie youāre talking about.
OK my friend. I just listened to your post and I agree, you can do this on a much smaller scale. That is what is so great about the concept.
One might consider, a 12" deep raised bed setup indoorsā¦hmmm?
IMO starts with collecting mycellium, using al dente rice as bait for microbial development. Then you ferment the collection. That is basic IMO 2.
More later.
Nutrients
Microbes
Fungi
Scientifically it is more complex that the basic explanation. With that said; I think you can find it useful, and it would also allow you to grow food in an awesome garden outdoorsā¦maybe. I knew you siad that you are in a pickle over local restrictions. i just wanted ot share natural farming techniques that could turn your yard into an Oasis.
Last note:; Since you like to read, look up no-till farming. Basically natural farming of with more traditional composting and such but, many have incorporated KNF iinto no-till.
No- till is allowing the bed you create into living soil with worms, microbes, fungi, and bacteria to remain intact for the next grow. It is really cool regenerative farming as we call it.
Later Peace, lw
My horse movies would have been:
A River Runs Through It (best ranch horse)
Dr Horribleās Sing Along Blog (best villain horse)
Or any movie with horse and chariots (not very relaxing though)
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I was watching āOut of the Wildā on Amazon Prime. I watched āWheelerā before that, about a Singer/Songwriter, and then, I watched āThe Silver brumbyā. Australiaās Mustang. I rode cross country 2wice on Mustangs. One of the best experiences of my life. Worked for a Wilderness camp, and wagon train hcildrenās placement corporation and lived in a TeePee. '89-'91, wild ass life I have lived. Not my favorite Horse Movies but, OK for the occasion.
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latewood (and @Davyg )-
I said the videos were a little above my head, but donāt mistake that for I canāt learn it. I wish I had a normal brain like everyone else but I donāt. I went through psychological testing years ago and they determined I lost about 30 IQ points, and they were not very hopeful about me finishing my degree in Psychology. I managed to do that and actually got my masterās degree too. I learn a different way than most people. We had to devise a system where I could retain the material. When your midterm is two 300 page books it can be hard. But I did it.
I have looked at no till farming a few times when reading on the forum and elsewhere. That is the direction I would like to go in. I just feel strongly that our generation and the ones before us, have done so much damage to mother earth and the environment. It seems most people just donāt care and turn their heads. I even saw an article in one of our magazines that said the jet stream is deteriorating. I am just afraid that our children and our childrenās children are going to have a planet that is almost uninhabitable in the not so distant future. But people think it wonāt happen, global warming is just a myth, and if it were to get bad on earth, we can just go to another planet and trash it. I am going to close for now. Donāt mean to sound all doom and gloom. latewood I will work our compost pile and get some IMO going for future grows. That way I can use my compost and back yard soil instead of happy frog. Thank you for all your help! Davyg, I miss not conversating with you, I will tag you into the new grow thread. You are good people, the kind I want on my team! You two have a good one! Peaceā¦
Far from it patch buddy. So many folk have themselves beat because the battle has been lost in their head before they even start. A phrase I hear constantly is āI canāt do thisā and itās a shame because they start to believe it. As soon as they come out with that they get my ābelieve in yourself, find a way that works for youā speech 
.
A degree in psychology must be an awesome thing. I just love the inner workings of the mind. What a fascinating thing to study 
. I should listen to myself sometimes as I would have loved to go to university to study but in my mind these places were for clever folk so I never did it. I did the next best thing though. I helped the rest of my family achieve their goals 
. A fair bit of my brain is dead due to a stroke and part of that damaged area is memory so studies for me are out. Knowledge however I try to accumulate wherever I go.
Thatās the handle I tell people to look for. So many folk think that learning has a specific pattern and it doesnāt. Itās a case of finding the best fit for them as individuals. I hope this comes across in the spirit it is intended buddy 
.
I just love getting tagged in posts and chatting away as well so tag away Patch
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No one insulted your intelligence. We were both trying to say; It is not as complicated as you perceive. I am soory if I offended you.
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As a person that not only creates tons and tons of woodchips a year, and loves soil gardening, I can say that it will workā¦ with one caveatā¦ time. At least 3 years to break down the wood. There are sime pretty decent articles on the net for ammending clay soils so I wont write a novel on it here. For sure the best way is to mix some sand, a bunch of organic materials. There are other ways to create spaces or aerate, such as growing certain radishes and other plants. In general, a pure clay soil needs to be made porous, this requires either breaking it up and adding separators or ammending from the top down over time by using plants and top dressings. Or a combination of both. Clay soils are generalky very rich and full of dead organic matter. They can be quite fabulous! My soil is almost pure clay, that has been ammended. Its good, but the drainage can still be improved and it dose tend to pack over time.
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