Ken Kern - The Owner-built Homestead

11 Sourced Quotes

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Grafting is, in effect, the healing of two common wounds. Commercial nurseries charge high prices for grafted stock, and the public bears the cost...

Ken Kern
You can make any whole and dried bean, pea, or grain sprout in several days, without purchasing a seed sprouter to do the job. Use the common, wide-mouthed quart canning jar...

Ken Kern
A trailer can virtually double the loading capacity of a sturdy truck—another good reason for beefing up the power train.

Ken Kern
A mixture of damp peat moss and loamy soil spread around the roots is far better than fertilizer in any form. Do not saturate the hole in which a tree is to be planted with water.

Ken Kern
In course sand it may be better to drive a well. Driven wells are usually 2 inches in diameter and less than 30 feet deep. If driving conditions are good, you can drive a 4-inch casing as deep as 50 feet. A driving tool consists of a drive point connected to the lower end of sections or pipe.

Ken Kern
An adequately designed spillway is critical to pond management. The purpose of the spillway is to carry surplus water from the pond, away from the face of the dam. It may consist of a mechanical control, such as an exit pipe installed in the base of the dam where it will empty below the dam site.

Ken Kern
Heavy, clayey soils hold more water with less nutrient-leaching. The structural aggregates of heavy soils retain nutrients but allow water to drain around them. Light soils are extremely sensitive to excess water.

Ken Kern
Aquaculture is an important aspect of homestead polyculture, for it facilitates the management of a variety of crops in a single production area.

Ken Kern
The first principle of good barn design is flexibility of space.

Ken Kern
In medieval Europe, monks grew vegetables, herbs, flowers, berries, and fruit trees together for mutual benefit. You should plan plant populations relative to the root level each species occupies in the soil relative to the feeding capacity of each species.

Ken Kern
Pit Greenhouses... greenhouse plants... need additional sources of carbon dioxide.

Ken Kern