Blogging in the age of Covid-19

It appears my first blog post comes after a whole quarter year has passed and amidst a global pandemic. Alas, the Winter was brutal for business and we were really coming out of Winter with some work lined up and heading into the major building season. All hope is not lost but it'll make for some excruciating long days in the Summer to make up the difference. We were on a formidable earnings projection path when this all screamed to a halt. So I though I'd take this time to revisit the blog since the blog was originally the birth child of the Great Recession and one of my outlets into writing, documenting and diversifying.

With that being said, as an entrepreneur it's me default to immediately look for some positive spin, "the play". After the Great Recession I took many lessons from that experience and looked to incorporate them into my future plans. I guess it's the logical progression along with my running injury posts that an injury will always heal but the scar shall remain. With that being said (yeah, that saying gets on my nerves a little bit too, but it's a verbal segue) I've tried to diversify my revenue streams as much as possible. I'm still working on taking the YouTube channel mainstream so please Subscribe to that and help me get some numbers up, we've done a couple of small brand deals and are getting into tool and equipment reviews, and we should have some brand deals coming down the line. I've divided the channel by labeling the titles as they would appear in a playlist (they're also arranged by playlist) and we're going to be uploading more Home Renovation videos as we complete our projects. Those will have a long video and a short explainer video, the short explainer video will also be placed on our new channel through Spatial Recognition. I hope to take both channels in similar directions but with slightly different intentions. JasonMichaelKotarski will continue to be broadly defined and random as my interests and Spatial Recognition will be both explanatory and showcase our business of Residential Commercial Design | Build, Planning, and Historic Preservation. The goal is take the Spatial Recognition channel into a transition as we visit Cultural Sites, Historic Preservation Projects and launch our non-profit foundation for traditional building practices for both historic sites as well as home owners. Spatial Recognition will also be launching an Environmental Planning element for Natural Resources as well as Landscape Design. 

This hiatus has also given me the chance to get back to The Farming Prospectus and start building up inventory for the Nursery. The goal is tri-part, 1) to establish a plant nursery for sales that offsets the costs of product acquisition for the Orchard (the Orchard offers Market Grade produce but more importantly on site product for WellHaus Winery, 2) create a native plant inventory for Spatial Recognition clients, 3) serve as a future Educational Events Centre.

My goal has been to use our current property as a prototype and upscale that as funding and land becomes available. I am creating analysis on scaled increments of 5 acres (current land costs have our ceiling at only 20 acres, best case scenario)

So keep up to date, I'll be adding inventory to my Amazon store as I finish them, creating content on YouTube, adding merchandise including logo shirts and hoodies.

Hopefully, we'll rebound from this and get financing for some property development so we can transition into a Development Corporation as well as Professional Services.........

Sharpening Fiskar Pruners

I'll try to get a write up on this video posted. I have the step by step photos to go along with the written description, however, the amount of traffic this blog sees is dismal as people just don't like to read blog posts anymore. The youtube channel has grown exponentially more than the blog even though I tried to be more encompassing on the blog, ah weeeeellll, as sign of the times.

Hazelnut Catkins!!

The first signs of life in the garden are showing up! Surprise to me but the hazelnuts (filberts) have catkins on them! I'm really excited about these in particular because I started coppincing them and added lime to them. I really hope to add a small hazelnut crop in the next few years. The coppiceing has also provided wonderful cooking wood, walking sticks, and  mushroom mulch.

Cant wait to see what else starts blossoming!

ArbequinaOlive and Camellia Sinensis

Unboxing my order for Arbequina Olive and Camellia Sinesis.

The Arbequina Olive should fair well in our orchard and hopefully provide us with some good nutritious olives. Camellia Sinensis should also fair well on the border of our orchard providing winter and early spring color as well as amazing leaves for all the tea we can imagine.

Landscape Master Plan

Landscape Master Plan

1. To govern the overall maximum benefit to the health of all inhabitants (Humans, Bear, Deer, Rabbits, Mt. Beaver, Birds, bats, bees, etc…)

2. To protect and enhance the watershed

3. To act as a potential Wetland Mitigation Plan in anticipation of any additions, alterations or renovations

4. To provide food, shelter, harvestable materials and beauty.

5. To follow the basic principles of permaculture with an emphasis on native species where appropriate.

6. To include management of soil erosion caused by storm water runoff and bioremediation through phytoremediation and myco remediation.

7. To remove and eradicate invasive species including ivy, knotweed, something and something and something else????

Plant Purpose Abbreviations

PNW

Native Species

M

Medicinal

FB

Fruit Bearing

PA

Pollinator Attractor

N

Nitrogen fixer

EG

Evergreen

BA

Bioaccumlator

T

Edible tube

BR

Bioremediation

Plant List

Plants on this list are to be introduced in addition to the existing landscape of canopy trees, understory fruit and nut trees, shrubs, flowers and herbs, groundcover, and mushroom patches.

Native Species are labled PNW (Those listed shall be used in any mitigation plans)

Code

Red Flowering Currant   Ribes Sanguineum

FB

PNW

SnowBrush  Ceanothus Veluntinus

PA

PNW

N

EG

Cascade Pentsemon    Pentsemon Serrulatus

PA

PNW

Service Berry   Amelanchier Alnifolia

FB

PNW

Wild Ginger   Asarum caudatum

M

PNW

Kinnikinick  Arctostaphylos uva ursi

M

PNW

FB

EG

Arrowhead   Sagittaria Latifolia

T

PNW

BR

Great Camas Camassia Leichtlinii

T

PNW

PA

Yarrow   Achillea Millefolium

M

PNW

BA

Elderberry   Sambucus Caerulea & Nigra

M

PNW

FB

Agricultural Plants

Camellia Sinensis

Tea

PA

EG

Goumi Elangus multiflora

FB

N

Seaberry

FB

N

Comfrey

BA

Hibiscus

Tea/wine

PA

Jujube

FB

Olive (Arborquina)

FB

Passion Flower

FB

PA

Kiwi

FB

Moringa tree  Moringa oleifera

M

Saffron Crocus    Crocus sativas

Spice

PA

Pineapple Broom   Cytisus Battendieri

N

Happy Easter- Joyeux Paques!!!!!

Ah J'aime les Printemps!!!!! Happy Easter, and for the Poles out there, Happy Dingus Day Eve. I love this time of year as for many almanacs it is officially planting season. For the orchards and perennials we get to see what survived and what was lost. An obvious existential insight into our lives here on this great planet.

For us we managed to not lose any fruit trees to the beaver and the deer have given us some reprieve. I think it is mere luck and little defensive adjustments but really, luck. We sacrificed dozens of Wax Myrtle for the new beaver lodge, wherever that may be, and I've been trying to add similar fast growing un-killable and deer loving plants to keep them off of the stuff I want to eat! While I certainly am not trying to attract them, I would like to distract them while they creep through in the middle of the night or while were away.

I have a good jump on the garden this year, the plastic hoop house worked wonders and we have plenty of salad greens, Our newest raised bed is just about ready for squash and zucchini. I'm also adding a layer of squash, zucchini and pumpkin in the orchard as a ground cover!

Really hope I get to add a swarm of bees this spring, with the orchard in it's third year, and the blueberries laddered in 1,2, and 3 years I really hope to get some fruit. The blue orchard mason bees are coming back and will hopefully stay in their new home. With the hop trellis up and running we should have a good harvest and very enjoyable growing summer.

So far in the Orchard level story we have Plum, Italian Plum, Persimmon, Apricot, Fig, Cherry, Apple and Pear. underneath the we have black currant, red currant, gooseberry, goji berry, evergreen huckleberry and I'll soon be adding seaberry. Surrounding those bushes are herbs and pollinator attractors, almost ALL in a blue or purple, Rosemary (4 varieties) Lavender (3 varieties), and Valerian. On the other side of the terrace from the herbs are all flowers for the bees, Lupine, Foxglove, Delphinium, Columbine, and Hollyhock.

Check back in to the blog and youtube channel! I'll be adding a copy of our Master Plan and some drawings explaining the grid planting I established intermixing nitrogen fixers, fruits, bio-accumulators, pollinator attractors and beneficial plants.

Permaculture Adding a Hop Trellis

Had a chance to put in our hop poles for the trellis. It's been a wet year so far so I didn't want to transplant them and have them rot in the ground. It looks like they are happy and getting ready to take off like a hop rocket!! Check out the video and subscribe for more updates. The permaculture project is coming along. We're entering Year 3 so there should be some harvest of the fruit trees, asparagus and more!!!








 

Hugle Lasagne Garten Kultur (Raised Garden Beds)

We finally got around to processing down last years storm debris, landscape compost, bonfire and bbq ashes and charcoal, and our kitchen compost. I added some logs and branches on the bottom to decay and absorb water and nutrients for the summer months. I'm not sure what I want to plant yet but most likely it will be something that loves sun and heat and will provide some shade to the middle beds for those less heat tolerant plants.

Permaculture- Installling my first beehive

I've been planning to so this for over five years. I would go to beekeeping speaking events, check out books from the library, search and research articles and forums on the net but never did it. I have always had animals, dogs, cats, etc.... but never any livestock or an apiary. I finally decided to just go ahead with some leftover pieces of plywood someone had given me. They're  plywood but at least they are 3/4 inch, 7 ply, A/B cabinet grade plywood! It did occur to me as I lay on the couch drifting into sleep that I forgot to add and entrance. OOPS! No worries, I'll get the jigsaw and do a quick little cut, I should have time still before any swarming occurs. It's still hovering around 40 F so I'll get to it.

I learned through my research that black or dark colored clothing was the worst option for beekeepers. Well, the plywood used to be a school theatre set and it was already painted black. Turns out it's not that bad actually for the hive and more than one long time beekeeper noted they do better than their other colored ones. Well, it is what it is and if they can make a hive in a old tire I think they'll be fine. Besides, I think they'll get morning sun to warm up and afternoon shade to stay cool along with a breeze off of the lake. Well, I guess we'll see!!!

Now, remember that blueberry mead I made? Oh yea, it'll bee back soon!

I'm calling Winter Over

I set out this past winter to be more active with writing. Nope, I really don't get that many views so I tried to keep up with making videos of past projects and use the dreary winter weather as an excuse to be inside editing all the video I shot while the weather is good. I figure that's when people will be trying to waste some of the dark days hours anyway.

Well, I'm calling it. I'm going to say that spring has sprung. I'm going to go back and recap on some of the projects I was able to accomplish and see if I can get this blog back on track, views or no views damn it. I don't do much writing these days so I have to keep up my typing skills somehow!

I have a good backlog of photographs to go through and I should put them to use. Since launching Spatial Recognition last year most of my time has been directed to getting that off the ground. We are attempting to focus on Historic, Natural and Cultural Resources in an area that is more about demolition and Mondrianesque painted vertical shipping container looking buildings.

So, sticking with the post and a notion to be succinct I'll turn my attention to the excitement in the landscape. The Ivy War continues and there will be another chapter coming soon but it has led to a more ambitious plan of permaculture. We intend to create a Master Plan (which I will outline later) that provides us and the animals some of our daily requirements. One of these initiatives is what I call indicators, indicators are plants that are typically consistent in their cycle. I plant them, or they plant themselves, in areas where I need certain functions. First, color! I need to see something that is not white, grey, or brown. While the evergreens are helpful I want some pink, red, purple, yellow, you know a bright garden billboard that says IT'S SPRING.

Flowering Quince- The humming birds are already VERY happy to see this starting to bloom. Although this is not the giant sweet quince fruit producing variety, we do get small tart quince that are loaded with pectin that go wonderfully with rhubarb and blackberry the the wife makes in to a jam. Keep these trimmed up and it'll flower almost all summer.

Hyacinth!!! One of my favs. What more is there to say? Both of these are perfect wake up calls to get your beans and greens started. They are also extremely important for the first food source for early bees. This is vital in the event the fruit trees blossom early as you want to keep the bees around. A couple of these planted strategically near the fruits and veggies will boost your yield.

Spring Time!!! Mason Bee House

As the Winter thaws and the blooms are budding I started building Orchard Mason Bee (Osmia Lignaria) Houses to put around the yard and hopefully the whole neighborhood should anyone ask for some. Super simple and straight forward, to start I drilled out a block of wood and capped it with some cedar for a roof.

Jason Kotarski

If I get the chance I will try to pick up a pack of cocoons with larvae. I am going to try several variations of the houses and see which ones get the most action. This one is near the blueberries tucked up against a tree for rain protection and facing the morning sun.

Jason Kotarski

With an ample supply of water and mud, I hope these little friends move in and help us with the garden! I'm excited to see how this year's harvest goes. We expanded the blueberry patch this year with four more bushes and are looking at four more next year.