Hello from North East Pennsylvania

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Wallerville

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Neighbor
Joined
Aug 4, 2022
Messages
36
Location
Northeast Pennsylvania
Hi, my name is Rick but, as it was taken, my screen name is Wallerville.

I live on a rural dirt road in Pennsylvania and have on my property a pond, 1000’ of stream frontage, a summer garden and a heated greenhouse. I am also heavily into hydroponics and have been for over 30 years. We never have to buy greens as we grow them year round. Technically my wife and I are not homesteaders but we enjoy being self sufficient and would like to think that if it came to it we could live a sustainable lifestyle without much outside help. Two years back, just before Covid, my wife and I became certified Master Gardeners in Pennsylvania.

I am a science guy, having semi retired from consulting. I enjoy a good conversation and will not shy away from difficult topics as long as it can remain respectful and productive.

Now I have to scan through all of the potential topics available and decide where to start.

Thanks for having me.

Rick
 
Hi, my name is Rick but, as it was taken, my screen name is Wallerville.

I live on a rural dirt road in Pennsylvania and have on my property a pond, 1000’ of stream frontage, a summer garden and a heated greenhouse. I am also heavily into hydroponics and have been for over 30 years. We never have to buy greens as we grow them year round. Technically my wife and I are not homesteaders but we enjoy being self sufficient and would like to think that if it came to it we could live a sustainable lifestyle without much outside help. Two years back, just before Covid, my wife and I became certified Master Gardeners in Pennsylvania.

I am a science guy, having semi retired from consulting. I enjoy a good conversation and will not shy away from difficult topics as long as it can remain respectful and productive.

Now I have to scan through all of the potential topics available and decide where to start.

Thanks for having me.

Rick
Welcome @Wallerville, sounds like you have a wonderful place. Glad to have you with us.
 
Welcome from Alaska. I know Nanticoke, Pennsylvania.
 
A second welcome from Eastern Missouri. Good to have you with us. :welcome:
 
Welcome from Alaska!
 
Are you from the north east section of PA or the city of North East. If the latter, I just drove through there yesterday (but I didn't wave to you since I'm just seeing this thread now...).
 
Welcome from SW PA minutes away from the home of the Whiskey Rebellion.

Ben
 
Ahh a westerner and likely a Steelers fan! You are in the warmer part of the state, we are zone 5a with -20º lows in winter.
Yup.

George Washington called it a land of milk and honey when he was surveying this area due to the abundance of water with the 3 rivers. It ain't WV but its almost heaven.

Yes a Steelers fan. Bringing up the granddaughters to be the same.

How far NE are you?

Outside the NYC suburbs?

Ben
 
I've only been in that area once... dead of winter. It was cold, almost as cold as Buffalo where I lived at the time (a displaced southerner). I worked on a catscan near scranton, think I stayed in wilkes barre. Next day I drove down to Nazareth. I own a guitar made there, had to have new frets put on and a pick guard. Several days work so I dropped it off and let them ship it back to me. They have a nice guitar museum if you're into that sort of thing. Took the tour before I left.
 
Yep, that's the place, they make fine guitars... since 1833. I've been playing their guitars since I was a kid but don't mistake me for a musician either! Thankfully I knew I couldn't make a living at it.

Your thread on hydroponics caught my attention, actually your skills in chemistry and as a master gardener. I spend a lot of my time with wild medicinal plants.

Over the years I've transplanted quite a few of my favorites here to the family farm. However, there are a few I'd like to grow here that are notoriously difficult to seed. Top of my list, Mountain Mint aka Pycnanthemum incanum. In fact it grows in NE PA. You should be seeing it on road sides now, all dressed in white leaves. I've been seeing it for 10 days and you're about 2 weeks behind.

Anyway, I can't get this plant to sprout, most annoying! My family came to this farm in the 1880's so I can grow most domestic plants but many wild plants are a lot different. They seem to play by rules only they know.

I use several university plant data bases for research, AL and NC most often. There a couple botanist with blogs I follow... But it's getting more and more difficult to find accurate information on the internet.

Have you dipped your toe into the chemistry of growing wild medicinal plants? Or know of someone who has?


https://www.homesteadingforum.org/threads/mountain-mint.6983/
 
Last edited:
Mountain mint is one of the plants that came up naturally when I stopped mowing an area and let the naturals take over. Deer, which abound in my forested valley, don’t eat it.
Sorry I cannot take credit for cultivating it though.

I will check my Penn State sources about cultivating medicinal wild natives.
 
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