The Farm Hack River of Activity
Stream of Forum Topics
| In 50 characters or less... | Posted by | Post date | Last comment | Number of Comments | # of Comments new to you | |
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Pulley System | Bill | Wednesday, March 5, 2014 - 2:14pm | Wednesday, March 5, 2014 - 2:14pm | 0 | |
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RSS feed of http://farmhack.net/tools | Kunda | Monday, March 3, 2014 - 10:15am | Monday, March 3, 2014 - 10:51am | 1 | |
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Update to Sweat Box Germ Chamber | DGrover | Saturday, March 1, 2014 - 8:06pm | Tuesday, April 8, 2014 - 8:30am | 1 | |
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Tool Template Wiki _ farm bike | dorn | Saturday, March 1, 2014 - 6:39pm | Sunday, March 2, 2014 - 12:50pm | 3 | |
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More explanation of function please? | DGrover | Saturday, March 1, 2014 - 5:46pm | Saturday, October 18, 2014 - 3:55pm | 1 | |
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Other solutions? | DGrover | Saturday, March 1, 2014 - 5:41pm | Saturday, March 1, 2014 - 5:41pm | 0 | |
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Update to Roll Top Bench Tool Wiki | DGrover | Saturday, March 1, 2014 - 5:40pm | Saturday, March 1, 2014 - 5:40pm | 0 | |
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SARE 2014 Funding | jbd | Friday, February 28, 2014 - 1:43pm | Friday, February 28, 2014 - 2:34pm | 2 | |
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Farm Hack Web Committee documents organized | R.J. Steinert | Thursday, February 27, 2014 - 8:30pm | Monday, December 29, 2014 - 10:16am | 1 | |
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Seeking DIY/Farm-makeable Grain bin blowers/dryers. | DGrover | Wednesday, February 26, 2014 - 10:57pm | Sunday, March 2, 2014 - 10:13am | 2 |
Probably the most important feature for holding us together, bringing us back, giving us faith we are talking to someone.
By seeing who our notification will be sent to, we know we are heard, we know it's worth speaking.
By making it easy to manage what we hear, we are better at being proactive in the places that matter to us.
A "download original" link should now show up on all images when viewing them.
Agreed. I've sort of been holding off on this because working with images on wikis has always been tricky, I want to find something that everyone can use AND doesn't require a ton of development work. Trying to "fix" wikis is perhaps the wrong way to go about it. Perhaps we should give users another option other than wiki, an another option like using a Google Document. I'll talk more about this later, but for now, I think it's worth adding an existing solution for "inline images" in wikis ASAP.
@Kristen Loria - Check out the http://farmhack.net/activity page I made. It consists of a 3 descending chronological lists of Comments, Wiki edits, and Forum Topics. I would like to merge all 3 of these lists into one big list, perhaps formatted like the Timeline you often see on Facebook.
(see attached image) 1. Posts are grouped by time frame depending on what "makes sense". For example, if there was a bunch of posts in two separate weeks then each week will get their own grouping. If there was only a few posts in those two weeks, they would be grouped together as something like "Early November". 2. Similar posts with little amounts of information are often grouped together to save space.
The the strength of the current /forum page over the /activity page is that it might be easier to remember how to get back to where you were and how to get to your area of interest. The answer here might be to just have both. Let the user decide which one they want to see.
Hi RJ,
I wanted to suggest what i think is one other quick/easy edit - having forums sort themselves by Date Modified. I think we talked about this before but wanted to make sure it was on your radar.
I also support your question marked ideas to make the tools pages a wiki + forum and remove the separate tool forums, and also support the new streamlined suggestions/troubleshooting under this new tool page. Thanks for doing this!
Hi jbd. Thanks for the heads up, the site is actually supposed to perform as you assumed it would. For now, any Tool's Wiki can be edited as long as you are logged in, edit the Tool Template wiki, copy the text, and then paste it into your tool's wiki.
I bought the TI level shifter you linked to at AdaFruit and wired it up as directed but couldn't get it to work ... until I realized that the diagrams you have on the "Building on the Shield" page refer to a different shifter with a different pin count and layout. I went back and rewired it according to the instructions on the AdaFruit page and the datasheet and got it to work.
It's a little more complicated then you've drawn up, but here's what I ended up with:
Connect 3.3V to shifter pins 1 and 20. Connect/link shifter pins 10 and 19. Arduino GND and cell phone GND to shifter pin 10. Arduino pin 6 to shifter pin 2. Arduino pin 5 to cell phone Rx. Shifter pin 18 to cell phone Tx.Also, not sure it's pertinent or not, but the phone I bought had some old texts left on it and the GSMSerial example would NOT work (spit out bogus info) until I cleared them all. As soon as I did, though, it started working perfectly.
After discovering that the real-time scheduler was not in the Angstrom distribution shipped with the Beaglebone, I've decided to pursue the statistical method of determining position. There are several other reasons for this:
Note that I'm still planing on using the tri-lateralization method of determining exact position (versus the triangulation method frequently mentioned in this project), but the various legs will be measured using statistical methods instead of direct time-of-flight.
The downside(s):
Everything in the bag was intact and operating. Now back to work for me!
The http://farmhack.net/forums/tool-wiki-template link above results in a "Page not found" error.
Feel free to delete this comment when/if the above is fixed!
Front and rear 3 point hitches as well as a mid-mount hydraulic lift, which would either be adaptable to existing allis or international equipment. For those of us used to hydraulic lift advantages, we'd probably opt to spend the money to have those capabilities, especially if we are going to go through the trouble building or purchasing a new machine.
I would highly recommend a diesel engine with 30 horse and a nice creeper gear.
540 pto would be very nice to have but not a deal breaker.
Adjustable wheel widths and crop clearance comparable to old farmall super c's but maybe a rear mounted engine like the G's?
I would want a new cultivating tractor to replace various older models that each do only one or two tasks. This new tractor would need to make it vary easy to attach and detach belly mounted cultivators so that you could change implements much faster than with older tractors. I would want a new cultivating tractor to be new and not old and so run tight and hopefully be as reliable as those old girls we all love so much. A new cultivating tractor should be thought about right along side new cultivating techniques. So lets keep in mind parallel linkage cultivators that are growing in popularity as well as flame weeding. It would stand to reason that this tractor should be able to handle the weight of a full bed flaming unit.
Thanks for getting this started!
Glad you pointed that out.
Please let me know if you spot any other issues!
Michael,
We built some trellis frames for our winter breeding nursery last fall out of 1-3/8" top rail. The farm manager did not want to trellis to the greenhouse frame. I was asked to come up with a design. Attached are some images of that design and the result. The frames worked well, but I'm not sure how cost effective it would be for the Grange and others in a similar situation. At any rate, here are the photos. I tried to upload the cost calculator, but the forum software wouldn't allow that file format. You or anyone else can e-mail me if you would like a copy of the spreadsheet.
alemieux@johnnyseeds.com
We came up with some potential solutions to Michael's problem at Sunday's Farm Hack.
See photo for design. We suggest a box structure to run around/over the beds of plants that need trellising. A heavy material (salvaged metal pipe) should make up the base to weigh down the structure, where the frame can consist of a lighter but similarly strong material (PVC pipe?). These can be connected by tees, if using threaded pipe, and I think we discussed some kind of quick-connect otherwise.
Potential issues: Height of structure: stability, ease of access to beds. Mobility: crop rotation requires trellises move seasonally. Whether to bury the base or set it atop the beds.
Potential multi-use aspects: Base piping as rainwater storage? Similar or connected structure for windscreens to block wind down the central corridor of the roof?
I think I may have been one of the urban farmers interested in doing this -- was part of a long string of e-mails months ago.
This would be great -- we have been discussing our wish to share freely our business plan, partnership agreements, land contracts, etc. in hopes of collaborating with others, improving upon our existing documents.
Also -- our farm is thinking of selling a limited amount of CSA shares as multiple year packages in hopes of generating start-up capital. i.e. 10 CSA shares for 3 years @ $600/share would provide $12000 cash...
Their Open Structures Grid, it's kind of like legos for grown ups ;). OMG they have the cleanest workshop I've ever seen.
That's a relief!
Evidently, the bag never left Boston! The prototype unit is now in my possession. I'm not sure if it works yet or not, but will find out in a few days.
The prototype "anchor point" (and one "ear tag") was in a bag lost by American Airlines on 1 Nov 2012. Its been 3 days since the loss, and the bag has not been located yet. This is a setback for the project (well, at least for my involvement), as it will take a while to find the funds to get replacement hardware.
Up to now I was working on the software: testing the real-time scheduler, latency tests, looking at the serial device driver,... I can continue this work to a limited extent, but I really need the hardware for real answers.
Grant, No need to worry about the future, there is another "G" made in Alabama. I have owned one since 2010 and know folks that have owned them for 40 years and still going strong. After 40 years the only problem was a leaky fuel tank which was replaced immediately by the new owner. This tractor is called a Tuffbilt and offers standard hydrostatic transmission and dual 3-point hitches (cat. 0) with hydraulics. The company has already delivered an electric model but is not currently manufacturing same. The best part is the standard hitch (unlike the original "G") thus one can purchase or make components not available from the OEM. The original "G" was manufactured for 7 years only the Tuffbilt now over 40! I use vegetable knives and other components on the front(mid-mount) hitch and the tine weeder on the rear hitch.
Most of us are far smaller operations than Roxbury thus a simpler arrangement could be constructed. I have been frustrated with this also even though I have a pressure washer. One requires a device to hold the bin so it does not move about and the ability to turn/flip thus addressing all sides. This is the most frustrating part as one must constantly stop/start, put down the wand, bend/stoop, pickup the wand to complete just one bin! An arrangement where multiple bins could be held off the ground and turned/flipped sans dropping the wand would be most advantageous.
The DeWitt bed rake is indeed an excellent tool and is a favorite among our hands so much so that we have two. You still must pickup all those stones, a job hated by all! We have found the "compost fork" sold by Johnny's is excellent. It has 1" tine spacing thus picking up all consequential stones.
Thanks, sorry it took so long to get back to you. I am in the middle of harvest and it has been a little hectic. This gets over my head pretty fast, but i have a friend who is wanting to do the same thing. He is an engineer so he is keeping up much better. I have looked into some of the different water switches, trying to figure out what will and won't work. If/when i get the system in place, i assume i could track it with my phone or computer? Or, have it send me a message when it comes on? Would make me feel better, i think, to know it was working.
It is true, if you are not relying just on mechanically killing the mulch then timing rolling for flowering is not so critical and you can get the benefits of a more diverse mix. I think using a combination roller crimper and disk action, like the no-till drill would also allow for an earlier mechanical kill and therefore a more diverse covercrop mix without glyphosate It would be terrific if Charles Martin might publishing his designs to farm hack and get some more units built around the country. He mentioned in his farm show article that he was pondering next steps and if he would try and find a local manufacturer. Here is the link to the farm show article http://www.farmshow.com/a_article.php?aid=25646
Is Charles Martin taking his planter mounted roller to market? That is where we need to be! I have a lot of terraces and am very concerned with how the roller will handle them. I don't really need the terraces anymore, but haven't convinced my landowners yet.
The ability to control all the species in a mix is one reason i only bought half interest in a roller. I don't think monoculture crops, whether cover or cash, are the answer. We need to immulate Mother Nature and for me, that is as many things growing at once as possible. I am curious about your seeding rate on cereal rye. Here, we plant 90# as a monoculture. Have you done some side by sides, or is that just the rate you like?
You might have answered my question about crimson clover. I had very good luck with it last year. It has overwintered twice, and took last summers heat and drought very well. This fall however, i have seen very little come out of dormacy. I think we hit it at the wrong time with our burn.
As far as hairy vetch and rye, I really like both. Rye for us only gets about 5 1/2' tall but still, a lot of biomass. Your comment on the vetch breaking down is another reason for diversity. When i started planting covercrops i was looking at C:N ratios in the low 20's, now, if it is 35 it is too low! My soil has become so active i can not keep residue on the surface. I am switching to higher C:N broadleafs and less brassicas to try and offset this.
I agree about "much to learn", The more i learn, the less i know!!
It could have the same result on friction as bottom mounted drive wheel.
Yes - I agree that it may be an improvement on Andy's current situation (wired valves, scheduling, just one rain gauge), but does not serve the more general vision we were describing. And I think the flow sensor may be a must-have - and I missed that EZ-VRC is not accepting new subscribers! (?!)
It might be interesting to contact both of these companies to see what their stories are. They might not want to talk to or encourage a potential open source competitor, but then again they might. The relationship between the two would be particularly interesting to hear; looks like EZ-VRC may just be a value-added reseller, but I'm not sure I understand what value they're adding beyond cloud hosting.
Irrigation Caddy ($180):
Hardware:
- ethernet cable based
- wire up to 10 valves (including master)
UI:
- browser based
- allows user to create up to 4 programs that can then have up to 5 start times
Above is my summary of irrigation caddy. It does seem to have some of the elements that we discussed, but it doesn't include sensors and it is all wired. EZ-VRC (with its own subscription and which isn't even accepting new subscribers) might fill that void but now you have two seperate user interfaces, one for irrigation control and one for sensors. How do you use the sensors to dictate your watering schedule? Build a layer on top of both UI? Not to mention that you're cloud-dependant with this EZ-VRC. Same deal with bringing in wireless - you'd have to hack a black-box and figure out how it works so that you could integrate an Xbee.
The end-result is you've cobbled together a few proprietary devices to make the device you actually want. That solution isn't optimized and it's not scalable. It might work fine for one person and it might work especially fine for Andy since you have everything wired up already, but I am interested in developing an application that can easily be replicated and expanded upon.
This one is also wired, not wireless - same hack could be applied as I mentioned in my other post to make it wireless. But the other product looks maybe more viable for US purchase?
I think the main drawback of the Irrigation Caddy is that it requires direct wiring from the central controller to each of the valves. But that may not be a problem for you, Andy, since you've already got a lot of wire runs.
But it could also be adapted fairly easily for ZigBee use by connecting their valve controllers to a "virtual wire" made up of a Zigbee transmitter, and then a node like Louis's on the other end that's connected to the valve. The XBees support this kind of usage directly without an additional microcontroller - there's some configuration, but you can essentially say "Make this switch output on this remote node mirror the state of that input on the home base." Digi used to sell individual XBees in sealed enclosures, so that could be the glue that makes it wireless.