Monthly Archives: December 2018

Outline For Chapter 6

By | | , ,
Leave a comment 
5 Acres & A Dream The Sequel

F. Ch. 6. Food Self-Sufficiency: Feeding Ourselves
   1. Production
	a. garden
            1) downsizing garden
	    2) year-round
		  a) fewer annuals
		  b) more perennials (permaculture hedgerows)
	    3) soil building - never enough compost and mulch
		  a) chipper - mulch
	    4) permanent no-till (but not raised) beds
	    5) hugelkulture swale beds
	    6) continue diversity with companion group planting
	    7) planting by soil temperature
	    8) cover crops for resting beds
	    9) hoop house 
	    10) greenhouse (future)
	b. orchard
	    1) pectin
	c. field crops 
	    1) wheat
	    2) corn
	    3) other: cowpeas, cushaws, mangels, sugar beets (shared with critters)
	    4) goal - try rice				
            5) challenges 
	        a) not pushing the soil 
		b) soil building (discuss in  ch 10, "Resource Self-Sufficiency")
		    i. cover crops
		    ii. carbon
            6) no-till
	d. perennial foods 
	    1) herb garden
	    2) permaculture hedgerows
	e. eggs, milk, meat
	    1) eating seasonally
	    2) challenges with eggs
		a) storage
		    i. dehydrating
		    ii. water glassing
	            iii. liming
		    iv. see Prepper's Livestock Handbook for more
	    3) challenges with milk
		  a) year-round milk for kefir
		  b) cheesemaking in a hot climate
		  c) brine and oil packed cheeses
	    4) challenges with meat
	f. honeybees (fail)
	g. mushrooms        
        h. miscellanious            
            1) smoke flavoring
	i. hay (discuss in ch 7, "Food Self-Sufficiency: Feeding Our Animals")   
    2. Preservation
        a. less preservation / more year-round growing	
        b. canning / freezing / dehydrating / lacto-fermentation
        c. dry pack vacuum canning	   
    3. Storage	
        a. challenges - heat, humidity, insects
        b. eat more fresh (year-round garden)	
        c. rethinking storage goals 
        d. root cellar
        e. solar powered pantry (discuss in ch 8. "Energy Self-Sufficiency")
    4. Miscellaneous
        a. apple pectin
        b. smoke flavoring (canned or frozen)
        c. hops for homemade yeast
        d. leftovers frozen soup mix
        e. foraged foods
            1) greens
    5. Challenges
        a. diet fatigue
        b. diet diversity with limited foods

Time to Make a Decision

By | |
Leave a comment

With CreateSpace closing, I’ve been thinking quite a bit about my options. Transferring to Kindle Direct Publishing might seem easiest, except for a number of authors relaying problems they’ve had with the transfer process. The other option is to find a different print-on-demand printer.

My first idea was to test the waters. I thought I might try transferring one of my titles to KDP to see what kinds of problems I ran into. And what it would take to fix them. Unfortunately, the transfer must be for all books, so I decided to continue waiting. Several fellow authors chose to transfer their books to Ingram Spark, so I’ve been watching those conversations as well. A common concern is that Amazon will “punish” such authors by making their books either unavailable on Amazon, or take weeks to fulfill the order. Some people claim this has happened to them, but I hold these claims with a grain of salt. We humans tend to personalize everything, even when other explanations are more obvious and logical. Best to reserve judgement and not make assumptions.

There are several other POD publishers out there. Lulu is popular, but when I was getting ready to publish 5 Acres & A Dream The Book, they offered the lowerst royalties. A self-publishing acquantaince used Lightning Source, but about the time I was ready LS had switched small indies to Ingram Spark. At that time the author had no control over the wholesale discount (something which has since changed) so I didn’t sign up with them. I tried a smaller company, but the pdf proof was unsatisfactory. Apparently they couldn’t handle my interior design format. Eventuallly I went with CreateSpace.

Last night I read an announcement from CS staff on their community forum. Books remaining at CS will be transferred to KDP by staff by the end of December. Time to make a decision. More on that next time.