Photography
Related: About this forumemerald toucanet
...photographed at Miriam's Soda in San Gerardo de Dota, Costa Rica with nikon D750 and nikkor 300mm f/4 PF.
CaliforniaPeggy
(149,560 posts)Gato Moteado
(9,850 posts)RestoreAmerica2020
(3,435 posts)..that surround you. Paz
Gato Moteado
(9,850 posts)ihas2stinkyfeet
(1,400 posts)boy do i envy your wildlife.
Gato Moteado
(9,850 posts)....nowhere near as big as toucans. more like grackle sized.
Gato Moteado
(9,850 posts)i'll show you guys all kinds of birds, including the resplendent quetzal
ihas2stinkyfeet
(1,400 posts)but fair warning- i am going to ireland and scotland this winter.
got some expansion plans that will keep me busy for a while, too.
but heck yeah. let's charter a plane.
ihas2stinkyfeet
(1,400 posts)i have a wager w the guy who runs the urban ag program at loyola that coffee and chocolate can be grown in n. america. even that i can get a crop here. cant find the trees, tho.
between the fact that my zip is 6.5, cuz of the lake, and the warmth from the hugelpiles, i rly want to try some coffee. might need some winter protection, but...
also betting him that i can pick and process sustainably. you've heard of civet coffee? i think i can do chix beans. dont pick. put out nets and let it drop. then feed to chix and catch the poop.
but out around galena? vinyards are cheap out there. that should work.
Gato Moteado
(9,850 posts)neither coffee nor cacao can survive zone 6 outside.....cacao in particular is really sensitive to cooler temps. to keep either alive, you'll need a greenhouse for sure. whether or not they will fruit that far north, even in a greenhouse, is something i don't know. they might be doing cacao in miami indoors.
i know about the civet coffee.....the seed passes through the animal's digestive system intact. i don't think that would be the case with chickens, though.
still, i like that you're thinking outside the box. instead of galena, why not just buy 10 or 20 acres down here and do cacao for real (IMHO coffee is a waste of time). cacao grows fast....i've had it fruit about 3 to 5 years after planting it from seed....same for the cashews....i think i got cashews in 3 years.
did the cashews germinate for you? if so, i know for sure they can't survive a chicago winter outside.....they were definitely meant for your green house.
ihas2stinkyfeet
(1,400 posts)i assumed the least i would need was fruit wall. but it could be topped w a dome in winter.
some pv heat wouldn't be that hard.
chicken's digestive track is short, tho gizzards are a thing. but if they didnt have grit, they might make it. if they were really dry, maybe they would be hard enough. lots of stuff goes right through them.
galena is as far as i plan to travel. the only other country that i would move to is ireland. even then, a farm w a tenant and a visit or 2 a year is it.
chix beans would have quite the cache. sustainably grown, all that. i could sell it. i am my father's daughter. he used to say he could sell ice boxes to eskimos. i tell people i could sell them their own old shoes, and i wouldnt even have to shine them.
for several years, i sold ads in an event program for a nonprofit. before it was my baby, it barely covered the cost of printing. after doing it for 5 yrs, it brought in $10k. nobody ever even looked at the thing except to see the live auction items. $10k worth of nothing.
trying to remember about the cashews. i think a couple sprouted, then croaked.
i do hope to build a mini-barn someday. cant afford it now, cuz i dumped the rich hubs. but...
i do have a model and i do have a hook up for recycled building materials. and the land. and a bobcat.
have a great idea for a fundraiser, even. it would have a south facing round glass block tower. i would charge ppl to have glass blowing parties. just need a mold and a fire. bring your own glass bottles.
but who knows. i could die tomorrow.
Gato Moteado
(9,850 posts)...so, i'm thinking we'll be here for a while.
i'm still not sold on the chicken sh*t coffee. i think we need to go back to the drawing board with that one. the other thing about coffee is that you need a ton of plants to make it worthwhile. be tough to keep all those plants warm from november until april. now, with another term of trump, you might be able to take advantage of the global warming and even grow coconuts in galena.
so, galena it is. i can't remember the last time i was in galena. i can't remember why i was there, either. of course, i can't remember what i had for dinner last night.
ihas2stinkyfeet
(1,400 posts)and w/o child/slave labor.
i guess i could track down some green beans and figure it out. home roasting is a thing. but the point is the pods and all that. harder to find still in the pod.
i know a lot of folks out in galena. clay ppl.
i almost bought a house out there about 10 yrs ago. in fact, i got screwed out of a foreclosure. handled by one of the big real estate firms here who refused to go to bat for me.
the other thing i think i could grow successfully is tea. right now i am doing teas extracts from things like lemon balm and spearmint, aka weeds. but also raspberry, strawberry, etc leaves.
i have a big jar of sweet olive leaves brewing right now. but artisan tea blends coipd be a real money maker.
planning more olives in the spring. finally at the point where fruit trees are producing for me. had so many peaches on a 5 yo tree that, even tho i culled several times, i still had a good size branch break. and a poor little young pear that had branches almost touching the ground.
hugelkultur and fruit trees arent supposed to go together. it's been a learning curve, but i figured out the basics. next year will be great.
ihas2stinkyfeet
(1,400 posts)tho between the economic slow down and the smoke from all the fires, maybe the planet gets a breather.
Gato Moteado
(9,850 posts)...but one thing i was wondering about, which was mentioned in this article, is that sufficient elevation is needed for good quality coffee. i don't think the midwest is far enough above sea level, so galena coffee likely won't be talked about in the same circles as kona, blue mountain, colombian, costa rican and kenyan:
https://hartley-botanic.co.uk/magazine/growing-coffee-in-a-greenhouse/
ihas2stinkyfeet
(1,400 posts)and roast it well.
Gato Moteado
(9,850 posts)i'll try to bring seeds on my next trip up....they're easy to germinate
https://www.wikihow.com/Grow-Chocolate-Indoors