GardenFork – Eclectic DIY

  • Getting Rid Of Stuff, The Urban Way

    I used to be something of a pack rat, now I’m that guy always getting rid of stuff. Before, I always thought something might be useful later on. My thinking was, “I might need that one day.” No more.

    getting rid of stuff
    I’m not sure exactly when it happened, but now I get excited to look at the model apartment layouts at IKEA, and marvel at how you can live with less in less square footage. And do so with two large Labrador Retrievers.

    I’ve built a few projects with IKEA cabinets, check them out here, but this post is about getting rid of stuff.
    How did I come to be able to let go of stuff, and not bring more home? I think two things influenced this.
    First was me starting to meditate. Not to sound all wooh and crunchy, but its allowed me to mentally let go of a lot of daily mental baggage. Lots of stuff just doesn’t matter, it drags you down. (my favorite app for meditation is Headspace, it is great)

    Second was the fact that I do all the cleaning in the house. If there was less stuff on the floor, I wouldn’t have to move it to vacuum. Less Labrador dust balls could collect around that stuff. Fewer horizontal surfaces (piles of stuff) meant less surfaces to dust.

    And when I wanted to do a project that involved large stuff, like plywood or cardboard, I always had to move stuff around to do it.

    Then there is the visual. Less visual clutter. For some reason now, I like to see less stuff around.

    I’ll see stuff in the house, and ask myself, “Have I used that in the last year?” If the answer is no, out it goes. Many cookbooks have left the house lately. I have favorites I reference, and they stay, but I don’t get the amount of cookbooks people have.

    Case in point: A few years ago my neighbor was giving away a propane grill. It was in pretty good shape, but it didn’t work. I fixed it, and of course made a video about it here. But I’ve since realized, I just don’t grill. I’ve used the gas grill more for seasoning cast iron than cooking steak.

    So it was time to let go of the gas grill. First I took a photo of it and emailed friends. With no response, I wheeled it out in front of our Brooklyn apartment, with a bilingual sign on it. I kept the propane tank for to help make maple syrup up at the house.

    Literally in a few hours, someone was out front hauling it away. Nice.

    getting rid of stuff
    Neighbor taking away my clutter

    I still see stuff and think “I should bring that home, I could use it” and then I stop myself, usually. A box of electrical wiring supplies did make it home, but its being used and anything left is put back out on the sidewalk.

    Getting Rid Of Stuff, Some Suggestions

    If you don’t have an urban sidewalk, maybe your local community has an email list you can send to, or you can use Craigslist and Freecycle. There some drawbacks to using the free section of Craigslist, we talk about it on GardenFork Radio. But if done correctly, its a great way for getting rid of stuff. Freecycle’s attraction is the people in that group understand the process, and are better to deal with. Either way set specific time and dates for pickup, or you will be waiting all day.

    I look out the window and love that the grill has gone to a family who can use it, and I have more space in my backyard. It’s a great feeling, just letting go. How do you let go?

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  • Don’t Power Wash Outdoor Outlets – Replace A GFCI Outlet

    When sparks fly out of it, its time to replace a GFCI outlet. My neighbor had his house power washed, and not sure how, but the power wash wand managed to blast up in to the GFCI outlet. Bad, very bad.

    replace a GFCI outlet

    I’m sure the power washer operator knew something was wrong when the sparks and smoked started coming out of the outdoor electrical outlet. The one with the weather proof cover on it. Yeah, that one…

    My neighbor asked if I knew how to replace a GFCI outlet, so it was time for some DIY electrical repair. Big Note: if you don’t know your way around electricity, enjoy this story but don’t try this yourself, ok?

    I guess the power washer guy got the washer wand too close to the outlet, and maybe directed the spray at an upward angle. Water got up under the outlet cover, and into the GFCI outlet. Then the sparks fly.

    replace a GFCI outlet
    Black smoke marks means this outlet is toast.

    What is a GFCI outlet?

    A Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter outlet is used in wet locations. Areas where there is a possibility that despite all your best intentions, you are standing in a puddle of water when plugging something into an outlet, and you managed to grab prongs of the plug when plugging into the outlet.

    “These electrical wiring devices are designed to quickly and automatically disconnect a circuit when it detects that the electric current is not balanced between the energized (line) conductor(s) and the return (neutral) conductor. Under normal circumstances, these two wires are expected to carry matching currents, and any difference can indicate a short circuit or other electrical anomaly is present, such as leakage. Leakage can indicate a shock hazard (or shock in progress) which is a potential danger to a person. Current leakage can result in harm or death due to electric shock, especially if the leaking electric current passes through the torso of a human.” Wikipedia

    Love the last part, passes through the torso of a human. Yes, that is a bad thing.

    My neighbor picked up a new GFCI outlet and we turned off the power to the outlet at the breaker panel. I then removed the screws holding the outlet in its box, pulled out the blown outlet and tested the wires to make sure that they were not energized. IOW, Making sure I wouldn’t get shocked.

    replace a GFCI outlet
    Look in the back, there’s still water in this box.

    replace a GFCI outlet

    I have a favorite tool for keeping electricity form passing through my torso: it’s called a non-contact circuit tester. You can tell if a wire is energized (it has power in it) by just getting the tip of the tool next to the wire. Neat. It chirps and blinks if there is power present. Whenever I open an electrical box, I first check all the wires with this tool. Saves my torso…

    Tools needed for electrical repair

    How to replace a GFCI outlet

    First, when you want to replace a GFCI outlet, buy high quality replacement. The cheap ones will always break. You get what you pay for with most things, and we don’t want to cheap out on anything that involves electricity. Learn from me, OK?

    I managed to pull out some wire from inside the wall and cut back the fire damaged wire. I connected the black, white, and green wires to the correct screws. The 2 correct screws for the wires bringing power to the outlet are labeled LINE, and should be across from each other. Most outlets are well marked where the Neutral and Hot wires go. Neutral or Common wires are white. Hot wires are black, but can be red if the outlet is connected to a switch.

    If power is flowing from this GFCI outlet to other outlets (which will also be protected by the GFCI) those outlets will be connected to the LOAD screws. The load screws are usually covered with tape like in the photo below.

    replace GFCI outlet
    Insert wires into holes in back of outlet, screw tightly down.
    replace GFCI outlet
    Wrap back of outlet tightly with electrical tape

    replace a GFCI outlet

    I pushed the new outlet into place. Note: my neighbor bought a 20 amp outlet, one usually installs a 15 amp outlet.

    Put your outlet tester into the outlet and turn on the power. You should be good to go.

    replace GFCI outlet
    Weather proof covers are a must for outdoor outlets. Replace the rubber gasket it if it damaged

    When you first turn the circuit breaker that feed power to this outlet back on, the outlet will probably be in its “tripped” mode. Press the reset button on the outlet and it will allow power to flow to the receptacle. Press the test button to make sure the GFCI is working, it should trip the GFCI to off, then hit the reset button again. You are now good to go.

     

     

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  • Love The Instant Pot! – Instant Pot Pressure Cooker Review – GF Video

    I have used a stovetop pressure cooker for years. Then a friend of mine showed me his Instant Pot Pressure Cooker. Then I bought one. Buy Yours Here: Instant Pressure Cooker 6 Quart    Watch our review video and read on for more info below the video.

    [Being up front here, the above link is to Amazon and we get a finder’s fee for referring you to Amazon, its part of how we pay the bills to make more videos and posts for you all to watch.]

    OK back to the story:

    pressure cooker review

    Its literally “set it and forget it”. Put in ingredients, turn it on, and go do something else in the yard or house. Don’t leave the property, OK?

    I make beans and chickpeas ever week, we cook pork shoulders and short ribs in it, and I want to try a carrot soup recipe I saw in the Modernist Cooks At Home cookbook next.

    The advantage of electric over stovetop pressure cookers:

    • You don’t have to adjust the stove burner
    • It stops cooking at a pre-set time and goes into keep warm mode
    • Its incredibly quiet
    • It makes cooking super easy

    Read more on the Pressure Cooker review page here.

    America’s Test Kitchen has a great pressure cooker cookbook, Pressure Cooker Perfection and a new book, Multicooker Perfection.

    I’ll go more into this with more posts as I cook more with it. Let me know what you think in the comments. thx!

    Pressure Cooker Short Ribs Recipe – GF Video

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  • I Over Did It On Making Maple Syrup This Year

    I realized I bit off more than I could chew about one week into this year’s maple syrup season. Ever think about a project for months, only after you start you realize, OK what did I get myself into? That’s me this year making maple syrup.

    making maple syrup
    Have to clean up the rig soon.

    First I built a new homemade maple syrup evaporator, I had been building it my head since last season. I found a legal size file cabinet in Brooklyn for $50, hauled it up to the house, and started building the firebox. I bought a Harbor Freight Flux Core Welder to help with the build.

    For a while now I have been wanting a MIG welder, but after learning about the flux core, it was the obvious choice, and I now had a project where it would be useful. So a deep dive on YouTube on how to weld led to our first basic flux core welding video.

    I had also been thinking about getting a evaporator pan made to fit right on top of the cabinet. For the previous homemade evaporator, we used steam table trays, and that’s ok, but I wanted to boil more sap in less time.

    I found a guy named Zach who was selling sap evaporator pans on Ebay, and contacted him about a custom pan. A week later a cheap maple syrup evaporator pan shows up on my doorstep. Cheap isn’t the right word, but mbe that phrase will help Zach get more biz for his site through search. Really well made is a better term to describe it.

    Last fall I started collecting way too many pallets to supply the firewood to boil down all the sap I was going to collect.

    Way Too Many Pallets!

    All during last winter I’m eyeballing more sugar maples I can tap around me. How would I run the lines, how close can I get them to the road – too much thinking. I order more tree taps and sap lines. Sap line and taps are surprisingly cheap, BTW.

    And I bought a food grade pallet tote on craigslist, which holds 275 gallons of liquid.

    making maple syrup

    So I fire up the new evaporator and realize quickly I’m burning wood real fast, and not getting a lot of heat in the tray. The sap is boiling OK, but it should be really boiling or I should be throwing less wood into the firebox. The fire is racing through the cabinet and going right up the stack.

    making maple syrup
    Firebox Raceway

    Always fun to see flames coming out of the top of a 8′ chimney. No pictures, sorry.

    So while I’m slowly boiling sap, I’m collecting A LOT of sap. I had been thinking about extending some of the sap lines I do along the road up into the woods, but I’m glad I didn’t.

    The big problem with collecting lots of sap is storage. I then discover the neat pallet tank freezes. And you can’t just break through the ice in the tank like you can with an open barrel. So I had 150 gallons of sap in a pallet tote that I couldn’t get out of it. The valve on the bottom, and the water in the sap, was frozen. The tank is plastic, so you can’t heat it, or it melts. The beauty of the blue plastic barrels I use is that you can break through the ice and haul out the concentrated sap in the center, then turn it on its side to dump out the ice. Not so with an enclosed tank.

    A related issue was when I wanted to run a gravity fed line from the storage area up by the garage down to the evaporator, I used the 5/8″ sap line. If it was 32F or lower outside, the sap would freeze in the feed line. I gave up and hauled it with buckets.

    My two big problems were the heat racing through the firebox and sap freezing in storage.

    The sap freezing was easy, sell the pallet tank buy some more blue barrels for storage.

    The firebox inefficiency was not as easy. Reading on the Maple Trader maple syrup forum, many sap makers build a baffle or obstruction in the firebox to get the heat to stick around longer. My friend Bill, who I learned how to make sap from, has two bricks halfway down the firebox, covered with sand. This causes the air – heat to become turbulent (we think) and stick around longer. I read about others who put a metal baffle in the box to slow the burn. One could also put a damper in the chimney.

    My experiment with pre-heating the sap by running a copper tubing around the chimney stack didn’t work. The sap just didn’t warm up very much. Copper tubing is expensive! Maybe running the tubing inside the chimney may work better.

    And of course, we had the epic FAIL on a glorious winter day:

    Not fun…

    After this I went out and bought a food grade tank that sits nicely in my trailer. BUT, like the pallet tank, you can’t let sap sit in it, you have to get it into barrels or it will freeze. The fact that the tank sits low in the trailer (good for avoiding more spill fiascos) means I have to bucket it or pump it into the taller blue barrels. I see a pump purchase in my future…

    Storage: I’ve been a big proponent of doing with less, minimalism, downsizing your junk. But making maple syrup causes you to need to store quite a bit of stuff. Kinda like beekeeping. The barrels go up in the garage, but I have to find a place for the tank.

    making maple syrup
    More stuff to store

    What did work quite well was lining the side of the firebox with firebrick. I found the firebrick at Lowes. It was pretty cheap – previous I always thought firebrick was expensive. This type was sold as bricks to replace cracked ones in a home wood stove. I basically leaned them up against the sides of the file cabinet. This directed heat up to the evaporator pan, and kept the sides of the cabinet cooler. With the previous file cabinet evaporator, you couldn’t stand next to the rig for too long without burning your pants.

    The last thing that hampered the sap season was me. I did this all by myself. Friends would be interested, but wouldn’t show up. So if you are thinking about making maple syrup, get your friends involved early.

    But I am already thinking about next year!

    I will post some photos of my firebox on Maple Trader and ask the experts for suggestions. My friend Bill suggested the bricks and sand method, that is the first one I will test out. Improve the sap pre-heater. And yes, test the firebox before the start of the season. Did not think to build the evaporator in the fall and boil some water to see how it all worked.

    It will be easy to sell the pallet tote to a neighbor, and blue barrels are easy enough to get.

    So if you are thinking of making maple syrup, start small and involve your friends. Your eyes will be bigger than what you can get done in the 3 weeks of sap season. Learn from me!

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  • Foraging Guide Books For Your Area – My Suggestions

    There are some good foraging guide books for the whole of North America, as well as other continents, but even better are edible plant guides that are local to your area. Here are a some that I like.

    In the U.S., the northeast and the southwest are very different with regard to native plants, so why not a edible plant book that focuses on that area? Lucky for us, Timber Press had put together a foraging guide books series with regional experts in foraging. Yeah!

    books on foragingEven better, their book for the Northeast is authored by Leda Meredith, who has been on our podcast. Neat.

    I have the Northeast Foraging book, and have browsed the rest of these in bookstores and online, and I give them all a thumbs up. I have met some of the people at Timber Press and what’s not to like about a group of people who publish cool helpful books. I picked up my copy of Northeast Foraging at Oblong Books in Millerton, NY. If you are in the Berkshires, go there, buy books, then get coffee around the corner.

    This isn’t some half baked set of edible plant books, its a curated cast of authors with local knowledge of what grows near them and what you can eat. Plus, how you can use them in the kitchen. Its not all just some leaves you toss into salad, though that’s all good with me.

    I was thumbing through Leda’s book on Northeast Foraging and its interesting that I landed on the Garlic Mustard section, which I just wrote about. And I learned from her that you can also harvest the seeds later in the summer to store for a winter snack. Always learning something.

    Please consider buying these books from an independent bookstore, you can order from them online, find yours here.

    Here are the links to each book on Amazon, (we get a referral fee on Amazon purchases)

    Making Sauerkraut Made Easy - GF Video

  • Garlic Mustard Weed, Is It Edible? Yes!

    To me, Garlic Mustard Weed isn’t a weed, its a salad green, right alongside Mesclun. Maybe because it is so ubiquitous in my area people call it a weed. I call it free food.

    Garlic Mustard Weed

    Garlic mustard weed identification is pretty easy, not many plants look like this. These photos are of a the mustard in its second year of growth. The first year it is a low growing green, with what I call a rosette of small green leaves. In its second year, it shoots up with larger leaves and flowers.

    garlic mustard weed
    Photo by Srtg CC 3.0 Wikimedia

    Is Garlic Mustard Weed Edible?

    According to Wikipedia, Garlic Mustard was “one of the oldest discovered spices to be used in cooking in Europe”. You can use the leaves and flowers in salads. I make a really nice pesto with the leaves, watch my video here. In France the seeds are used to season food. So yes, garlic mustard is edible.

    Garlic Mustard Weed

    This weekend I saw some growing along a stone wall near the house so I pulled over and took these photos, then pulled up the plants by their roots. Free food! In a few minutes you have a sharp tasting mustard green for your salads, soups, and pesto. How cool is that?

    I pull the leaves off the stems and save the flowers whole to drop on top of the salad. This green works well with a balsamic vinegar salad dressing, as it has a pretty strong flavor. Add in avocado to balance it out. That ying-yang thing applied to foraged and farmed foods. The irony of that being you pulled the greens from the side of the road and the avocado had to be trucked a long way to your kitchen.

    Garlic Mustard Weed

    To harvest this wild mustard, bring along a trowel or small shovel, and grab the plant by its base and pull out the whole plant, root and all. Don’t feel guilty pulling this out of the ground. In the U.S. this is an invasive plant that is bad for our local trees and fields. It emits chemicals that make the soil hospitable to its growing and everything else dying, basically.

    Garlic mustard produces allelochemicals, mainly in the form of the compounds allyl isothiocyanate and benzyl isothiocyanate, which suppress mycorrhizal fungi that most plants, including native forest trees, require for optimum growth. However, allelochemicals produced by garlic mustard do not affect mycorrhizal fungi from garlic mustard’s native range, indicating that this “novel weapon” in the invaded range explains garlic mustard’s success in North America. Additionally, because white-tailed deer rarely feed on garlic mustard, large deer populations may help to increase its population densities by consuming competing native plants. Trampling by browsing deer encourages additional seed growth by disturbing the soil. Seeds contained in the soil can germinate up to five years after being produced (and possibly more). The persistence of the seed bank and suppression of mycorrhizal fungi both complicate restoration of invaded areas because long-term removal is required to deplete the seed bank and allow recovery of mycorrhizae. Wikipedia

    In other words, this plant is not good for your local area, so pull it out by the taproot and enjoy it in your salads.

     

  • Quick Swarm Traps To Capture Swarms

    Make these quick swarm traps when you have some spare beekeeping parts on the shelf. The parts are just sitting there, so we might as well use them, right? Here’s how I build a swarm box using that famous GardenFork mantra: Use What You Got.

    Quick Swarm Traps

    I had some frames from a dead hive, plus some frames of honeycomb that had been damaged by wax moths. While not in the best of shape, these are perfect for a quick swarm trap. Not sure if you can see it in the photo above, but most of my frames use plastic foundation. One benefit of this is you can scrape out damaged comb and not ruin the whole frame. The center frame had some wax moth damage, which I removed.

    Quick Swarm Traps

    Above is the difference between frames made with wired wax foundation and plastic foundation. Use either one for your hives, its a personal preference, lots of strong opinions about this of course… I like the plastic foundation because its easy to clean up, it lasts longer and the bees take to it easily.

    I am using a medium frame super, that is the wooden box that the frames sit in. If you have spare frames, but not a spare super, you can make a box out of scrap wood or cardboard or even plastic sign material. Make sure it has an entrance and ventilation. Again, Use What You Got.

    Quick Swarm Traps

    Bees that are swarming and looking for new home LOVE the smell of an old beehive, and are attracted right to it, hopefully. So save those chunks of old burr comb and honeycomb, and stick some in each of your quick swarm traps. I put the comb on the bottom board, under the frames. It doesn’t have to be attached, it can just sit there.

    Quick Swarm Traps

    Because I like to buy bee supplies, and this was pretty cheap, I picked up this swarm attractant. Buy online here. The envelope has 2 small plastic vials of mystery fluid. I’m pretty sure its lemongrass extract and perhaps spearmint. It says not to open the envelope, but of course I did anyway, to discover the vials. Basically, the heat of the day warms up the plastic vials, which probably leak a bit of essential oil vapor. Place the vial on top of the hive frames in the box. Quick Swarm Traps

    I’m using an old bottom board for the base of the swarm trap, but you want to reduce the entrance. The swarm may not have the population to defend a large entrance, so close it down with whatever you have. Duct tape works very well, FYI.

    Quick Swarm Traps

    The screen in the bottom board helps to spread the aroma of the old burr comb, the honeycomb in the frames, and the attractant.

    Quick Swarm Traps

    I made a cover for this out of scrap plywood and some 1×2 lumber. I screwed the top into the super holding the frames, and screwed the super into the bottom board. This way you can hang the rig in a tree or on a fence and when its full of bees, you can bring it down without it call coming apart. I usually attach a 1×4 piece of wood as a hanger, and wire this into a tree or fence.

    Swarm traps seem to do best when located in a partial shade area about 100′ from bee yard. But you can put them anywhere to test them. I put one in my Brooklyn backyard every year, because I see bees on our flowers, but have no idea of any beekeepers nearby. I have yet to catch a swarm in the yard, but I try.

    You can make quick swarm traps out of all sorts of stuff, even political signs, learn more here.

    I have caught some swarms, and its a lot of fun, watch here:

  • It’s OK To Suck At Something – GFR 444

    Done is better than perfect is a GF mantra, so it Embrace Failure. This essay by Karen Rinaldi rings true for me.

    I’m doing a deep dive into 99 Percent Invisible, not just the podcast, but also the articles posted on their site. Neat stuff here: http://99percentinvisible.org/

    Can you transplant sugar snap peas? Plant sunflowers in cold weather?

    How to grow sugar peas video https://gardenfork.tv/how-to-grow-peas-gf-video/

    Growing Hops, is there a way to identify the different varieties of hops? Do I have Williamette hops or something else.

    Trellis Building Video https://gardenfork.tv/build-a-trellis/

    Plus deep thoughts on reducing clogging in one’s bathroom sink.

    Matt’s Views From A First Year Beekeeper on the site: https://gardenfork.tv/tag/inside-the-hive/

    photo courtesy Johntex on Wikimedia CC3.0

  • The Mini Greenhouse Repair Fail

    You’ve probably seen one or three of my mini greenhouse plans videos. The most recent one talks about the complete fail of the plastic cover in the middle of winter. Here are the photos that show my attempt at repair before the complete breakdown of the covering.

    Mini Greenhouse Repair

    My big mistake 4 months prior to the fail was to put screws through the top of the PVC pipes, and then lay plastic sheeting over the screw heads. Who knew that the metal screw head would eventually puncture through the plastic, starting as all holes do, small.

    Prior to the small hole caused by the screw, all was good in the mini greenhouse. These rosemary plants had over-wintered well. Not so well after the plastic ripped though.

    Mini Greenhouse Repair

    My attempt at repair was to use packing tape over the screw head and the splitting plastic. I knew it was not a 100% guaranteed repair, as it was cold out when I applied the tape. I don’t think other tape would have worked either. The glue on tape is not cold friendly.

     

    Mini Greenhouse Repair

    That small hole grew through the winter, with the weight of heavy wet snow, and lots of wind. Then we had even more wind and that caused the complete tearing of the mini greenhouse cover. Darn. It sat for a while before I was ready to walk over and deal with it. Besides, there was still 18″ of snow on the ground. I knew all the plants inside the hoop house were toast.

    hoop house cold frame plans

    Going forward I will use UV rated greenhouse plastic, I’ve seen some that is reinforced with netting in the plastic. AND I will screw the screws into the PVC starting underneath it, through the wood crossbeam, then into the pipe. If you have some old storm windows on hand, you can make a neat cold frame with them.

    In the meantime, check the video where we walk through the fail:

  • Don’t Buy Smart Appliances

    If you want your appliances to last longer, don’t buy smart appliances. Here’s why:

    3 things have stuck in my head recently so I thought if I would write this all down, it would maybe get out of my head.

    First, I just fixed my sister’s portable generator. It was a freebie that hadn’t run in several years. I knew immediately what was wrong. Bad gas gummed up the carburetor.

    Don't Buy Smart Appliances

    While it took a while to find the engine serial number, I did easily order a new carburetor for about $100, and slapped it on in short order. Except for the trip to find an odd Torx female socket (an E25, FYI) the new carb was on and the generator running in less than an hour. Always nice when an engine starts on the first pull. Very analog. (Always use gas treated with fuel stabilizer, more here.)

    2nd was an article by Erik on Root Simple about his #FewerFeatures movement.

    When the control panel on our dishwasher failed last month I found myself asking why our appliances and gadgets have so many useless features. Those features bring with them a greater chance that the device will break down and make them harder and more expensive to repair.

    The third was a smart thermostat sent to my by an established furnace controls company. I was initially excited, but when it insisted on having my cell phone number and home address to function, I sent it back. Why does a thermostat need my cell phone number and home address? All the better to use that data for what purpose?

    My reasoning behind the don’t buy smart appliances mantra that has been swirling in my head for a while is this:

    The smart parts of these appliances are going to mothball fairly quickly.

    Think about the smartphone. Every time there’s an operating system upgrade, your phone gets older. In a few short years, your phone can’t handle the new software, and you have to buy a new phone.

    If you fridge has software in it that is compatible with today’s smart devices, it is already dated. How many software patches and upgrades will appliance companies issue before they say a 6 yr old fridge is beyond their upgrade policy? “This refrigerator is no longer supported” will be a recurring phrase in the future. When will bluetooth be discarded? Same for buying a replacement control panel or circuit board.

    Don't Buy Smart Appliances

    There’s also the question of why do we need this? Granted, people asked that about the telephone, dismissing it as a novelty. But do I need to know how much ketchup I have on the door of the fridge? Not at the moment.

    Don't Buy Smart Appliances

    When we bought a new washer and dryer, I knew I wanted one of the new high efficiency front loading washers, and tried to get one with less buttons, but it is still full of buttons. I did better with the dryer, instead of buying the companion dryer with all sorts of buttons and choices, I got the super simple tin box with a knob and a start button.

    The simpler appliance is a lot cheaper, and it will be a lot easier to fix if it breaks. For the time being, until I have some sort of alternate epiphany, I’m saying don’t buy smart appliances. What do you say?

  • Drip Irrigation FAQ – GFR 442

    Last week I got an email from a high school student:

    My name is Kevin and I am currently a [high school] senior in NJ. I am currently working on my senior project which is installing my own drip irrigation system in my backyard. I have seen your YouTube videos about drip irrigation and I have found that they are extremely knowledgeable. I just have a few questions that I hope you will answer.

    Thanks,
    Kevin

    Questions:

    What is your current profession, and how long have you worked in that industry?
    Do you spend a lot of time in the garden?
    How familiar are you with drip irrigation?
    If you are familiar, How effective is it?
    Do people need to hire someone to set it up, or is it relatively easy if one has a lot of time?
    On average, how much do you think people pay in water bills for using a hose to water their gardens?(Average is 5 gallons per 8 sq feet)
    How much money would you say people can save using a water saving technique like drip irrigation?
    Why should people switch from using their hose to using drip irrigation to water their garden?
    Do you think we will see more people in the future set up a drip irrigation in the future?
    What are some main components to a drip irrigation system?
    Some people would say a drip irrigation system would look odd in a garden, how would you respond to that?

    I suggested to Kevin that we do a Skype call and put this on the GardenFork Radio Podcast. So we did. What fun. Watch our soaker hose drip irrigation videos here.

  • How To Apply Frosted Window Film – GF Video

    Want to apply frosted window film? Its easy, and I made a video to show you how. This works for either window privacy or decorative window film patterns. Watch the video and read through the how to below.

    We have some french doors that separate two bedrooms. We love the glass doors, but wanted privacy between the rooms. I started researching how to frost glass doors and decided that using frosted glass film was the way to go with these doors. If you’d like to see how to use frosted glass spray paint, watch our video here.

    Why Frosted Window Film?

    How to apply frosted window film

    For a french door, which has a bunch of small windows in it, the film was a much easier option than using the spray product. We wouldn’t have to mask off all the wood, we could just cut a piece of frosted glass film to fit each rectangle.

    You have a few choices when shopping for window film. (Please consider using our link when buying the film, it helps us pay the bills!) They come in different diffusion densities and sizes. You will need more film than you think, learn from me. I made several mistakes in cutting, and I’m glad I bought more than I thought I needed.

    How to apply frosted window film

    You will need a utility knife with a few brand new blades, and some thick cardboard to cut on. It helps to put down a piece of plywood under the cardboard so you don’t cut your floor. A metal ruler or straight edge is key for cutting the film.

    How to apply frosted window film

    Important, be sure the glass is super clean before applying the film. Any traces of paint or polyurethane need to be scraped off and the glass cleaned, or the window film will peel. Learn from my mistakes, OK?

    frosted glass

    Let me know your thoughts and questions in the comments below, thx!

  • How Do You Frost Glass? With Frosted Glass Spray Paint – GF Video

    If you are wondering how do you frost glass, I’m here to show you. Its easy, even I can do it. Watch this how to video, and step through the photos below.

    How To Frost Glass, Step By Step

    First, buy some frosted glass spray paint here. The next thing is to either remove the glass from the cabinet door, or remove the cabinet door from the cabinet. If the glass is not easily removed with a few retainer clips, you can detach the hinge. Unscrew the large screw shown in the photo above, and slide out the door. Do not remove the screw, just loosen it, OK?

    How do you frost glass

    Next take the glass outside and clean it with window cleaner, the frosted glass spray paint wont stick to dirty glass. Do this on a warm day outside, don’t spray this inside your house. Use long smooth strokes when pressing down on the spray nozzle, don’t hold the can in one place or do circles or zigzags. Long side to side sprays, with overlap are best. The frost will appear in about 10 minutes as the glass dries. If you want a denser more frosted look, apply a second coat. How do you frost glass

    After the frosted glass has dried, replace the glass back in the cabinet door. If you pulled out the whole door, have someone help you align the hinges and tighten down the set screws.

    How do you frost glass

    Here’s what one coat looks like. You can see one fuzzy object close to the glass. Its a ramekin of salt, but the one coat works perfect for me. I like that its less than a solid coat. How about you? Let me know in the comments.

    How do you frost glass

    Here’s the whole cabinet after the process, pretty nice I think! I am still getting used to where I moved everything, but the kitchen works more ergonomically now. Support GardenFork and shop here for the spray to frost your glass, thx!

  • Free USGS Topo Maps Printer Ready!

    I am a map geek. The last two weekends have hauled out the large USGS topo maps I have of our area, spread them out on the table, and gone over them with friends.

    But the problem with the USGS topographic maps is: they are huge, big pieces of paper.
    National Geographic has solved with problem by offering these free USGS downloadable maps that print out on 8×11 paper. Much better, right?
    I have already downloaded 4 maps, as our town is spread across a few of the maps, and now i can piece together a custom map. What fun.


    Learn more at the Nat Geo site.

  • Easy Flower Box You Can Make

    Here’s an easy flower box you can put together in an afternoon. All you need is some stock lumber and spray paint. I built the planter box for my friend Bill, and he cut out a stencil and decorated it.

    Easy Flower Box

    I made this out of pressure treated pine 1″x6″ lumber. Worried about pressure treated lumber, watch this. And screwed it together with painted deck screws, they will last longer than drywall screws. I set the ends in slightly for a decorative look, a little less boxy, I think.

    Easy Flower Box

    I made this box a little narrow by cutting down the 6″lumber to 4″ wide. You can do this on a table saw, or maybe your neighbor’s table saw. Or don’t cut the lumber down, its all good. Use what you got. Wear eye, ear, and dust protection when cutting wood.

    I did screw into the end grain of the side walls, which isn’t the best carpentry, but i also glued it with a waterproof wood glue.

    I drilled a few drain holes in the bottom board. Depending on where you place this planter, you might want to drill them on the bottom of the side walls. This planter will last much longer if it is not sitting where water can collect underneath it. The photo above is an example of a less than great placement. To fix this, slide some thin wood shims underneath this, or flat rocks, or whatever you have. If you keep the wood of the planter dry, it will go a long way toward a long life for the box.

    Easy Flower Box

    Bill painted the easy flower box with white outdoor spray paint. He then downloaded a stencil design of a fern leaf, printed it out on regular paper, and cut out the leaves with a sharp utility knife. Two different cans of green spray paint work well for the green leaves, I think.

    Here’s a video I did about a fun window box: watch build a window box video

    Easy Flower Box

  • When Your Maple Sap Freezes Too Much

    This last weekend the temperature was around 5-10 degrees F all night and day. So this played havoc with our maple syrup evaporator operation. The line that feeds raw sap to the evaporator froze as soon as I would defrost it, so I was ladling sap in to the pan by hand.

    How To Make Maple Syrup

    Bigger problems were elsewhere in the yard. My main sap storage tank was frozen to the point that the drain valve froze shut. Its kinda a bulky object to work with, so it just had to sit until it warms up later this week.

    But one thing I had never seen is just how frozen one of my barrels out in the wood was. These barrels sit at the end of a line of maples we have tapped. This one had so much ice in it, the lid had been popped off.

    I hacked through the top layer of ice knowing there would be slushy sugary sap inside. I scooped out the sap and carried it in buckets over to the evaporator.

    Usually, if I have overnight ice in a bucket, its maybe an inch thick. I remove this ice and toss it. My thinking is the first ice that freezes on cool nights has a low sugar content.

    But this barrel was different. It had gotten very cold, and this was a lot of ice. So I dragged a spare barrel over and connected it to the sap line, and let this one just sit. The temperature will go up later this week and I hope most of the ice will melt. Then I can haul it to the evaporator.

    Tossing ice from sap buckets is one of those contentious topics in the maple syrup world. I want to borrow my friends brix refractometer and measure the ice in the buckets and the remaining liquid to see the actual sugar percentages.

  • Planning and Failures, & Ricks Hiatus – GF Radio 435

    We talk about the planning failure for the maple syrup season and then the enormous failure that Eric made a video about . Watch Here.

    Color correction comes next, not sure why, but you can color correct your video and photos by using a color card when you are shooting.

    Podcast we like: Up And Vanished, a true crime show Eric likes. Lean and Hungry is a show Rick likes.

    Eric tellls of his succesful beekeeping meetup in BKLN using a Google email list.

    Rick suggest using the Ghostery app & plugins when surfing the web. Rick now uses Signal from the Electronic Frontier Foundation for calls and texts.

    GF fan Greg sent photos of his pallet compost bins.

  • Homemade Leaf Mulcher Bagger

    Check out this homemade leaf mulcher bagger that Greg built! Using a free wood crate and an electric leaf mulcher, Greg made a rig for almost free that would cost big bucks at the store. How cool is that?

    Homemade leaf bagger mulcher

     

    Here’s the how to make the Homemade Leaf Mulcher Bagger

    From Greg’s email:

    I love the show.

    You show the world that it’s (usually) pretty easy to do a lot of useful things. You let everyone know that it’s okay if you don’t get everything perfect on your first try. The fact that the dogs continually pester you to play make your projects that much more realistic to me. Because that’s how it works at my house.

    I currently work in a machine shop. We get a lot of pallets and shipping crates. They end up throwing them in the dumpster. So, of course, I have to find a use for as much as I can. It is nice that we get a lot of them all the same size and in new condition.

    Attached you can see that I got tired of emptying the bagger. I adapted one of the crates by adding a base with wheels. I had some hinges around, so I hinged the old top back on but to what is now “the front”. I cut a hole and strapped a spare electric leaf blower/vac to the back side. I mounted it as high as I could in order get maximum fill.

    I connected my gas blower/vac to the electric blower/vac via a 4″ hose, This is the the hard plastic kind that you would redirect a downspout with. Well this is the longest one I could find. When I “accordion” out the entire length of it, its about 25 feet long. I’m sure there is something better suited for this task, but this was only for proof of concept.
    A word of warning. When the hose is in it’s expanded state, it is subject to damage from our four-legged playmates.

    Well, I tell ya. The thing works pretty darn well. Well enough to give my Dad a try at it.

    I maintain a few properties and this whole rig fits into the hatch of my car. With a 100 foot extension cordon the base, I don’t need to stop until I run out of gas, I can make a nice batch of leaf mold. I hinged the door in a manner that allows me to dump the contents right into the waiting compost pile.

    Though you might get a kick out of this.

    Greg has sent a few other projects our way, here is his pallet compost bin setup. Again a big thanks to him for taking the time to show us his homemade leaf mulcher bagger. What have you made? Let me know in the comments.

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