Farm Hack Talk

Hi good people - does anyone have knowledge of old seed cleaners? This gem is a prototype we are playing around with to build a modern version - J. Bean, 1851, Montville (Maine maybe?). Basic online search yielded no info. There are instructions still in tact on which sieve to use for the particular type of seed cleaned, and how much to open or close the damper... but much of the frames and screens have been replaced and reworked, thus losing the corresponding numbers.

Edyn is a smart garden system that monitors and tracks environmental conditions, helping you make your plants thrive. The Edyn Garden Sensor tracks light, humidity, temperature, soil nutrition and moisture, and then cross-references this information with plant, soil science, and weather databases to recommend which plants will thrive. Check the Edyn app to see the plants that will grow best, the optimal time for planting, and even plant groupings with the same conditional needs. Edyn continuously monitors conditions and alerts you to changes that require immediate action.

Hi, I'm just looking into recording data from our hoop houses in order to tweak our production methods. Any suggestions as to what modes of data retrieval I should consider? I'm looking for inexpensiveness, and ease of use. What methods of retrieving the data have folks tried? Hardwired, USB periodic download, all the flavors of wireless? Thanks in advance, Matthew

I recently ran across the temperature logger tutorial posted a while ago by jennajane, and wanted to chime in. First of all way to go! I started my path to learning Arduinos with the same Adafruit logger shield not very long ago, and it's been an entertaining hobby for me ever since. But I have been plugging away at it for a while now, and I just posted a DIY plan for a very inexpensive ($10-15) logger based on the sparkfun Pro Mini boards. Also there is a waterproof housing I made from PVC pipe with only one hack-saw cut & some PVC adhesive for about $10.

Here is a link to the transcript. http://nhpr.org/post/tech-environmentalism-and-agriculture-converge-ifarm

Nice article about the Open Water Project which dovetails with our dialog at the last iFARM event.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/federicoguerrini/2014/05/12/grassroot-water-monitoring-and-open-data-a-fruitful-combination/

I finally found information regarding the rebuilding of the kernel on the BBB (Beagle Bone Black) - turns out its a Debian Wheezy distribution. The basic information on doing this is at http://eewiki.net/display/linuxonarm/BeagleBone+Black. The instructions pretty much matched reality (with alterations for the directory structure I'm doing my development in).

Note that, as of this writing, I have not tested the build kernel - I can't seem to find all the MicroSD chips I used to have. Sigh.

AGENDA:

10:00 Coffee

10:10 Introduction of Farm Hack – Carolyn Gahn, Community Farm Alliance

10:20 Group introductions

10:30 Tour of grain fields and seed cleaner – Micah Wiles, Cedar Creek Farm

11:15 Reviewing components of harvesting equipment and economies of scale - John Wilhoit, University of Kentucky

12:15 Lunch

12:45 Challenges in harvesting/storing grain for the small scale farmer– Micah Wiles

1:45 Challenges in harvesting/storing beans for the small scale farmer- Lily Brislen

Seems like a great venue for the Farm Hack community to connect with a diverse group of folks! -Jeff

Growing Power's Urban and Small Farms 2014 Conference Committee recently announced a request for Makers, Hackers and Healers. As part of Growing Food and Justice for All Initiative's (GFJI) strategic work in reconnecting Food, Culture and Spirit, they are creating a 'Marketplace' for skill sharing in a variety of formats.

Thanks, Dorn, for posting http://farmhack.org/node/383

I'd been feeling a little frustrated since I posted saying: "I want to put out the call for anyone to let me know about practical (tried and proved-out) home-built equipment or set-ups & devices, DIY projects, etc that can be of value to homesteaders, market gardeners, and small farms. I have a Pinterest board. This is something I'm experimenting with, using it to inform people in need of technical info." (That was in my post at: http://farmhack.org/forums/tell-me-about-web-pages-about-equip-projects )