Research Forum Member's Thread (Updated 2018)

reply to post by otherpotato

Hello - recently appointed scholar here...with a project

This seems to be a low commitment project if it runs until October.

I'd be glad to share my input and join your research team. I grew up in the country, and on average, when required, we had a potato harvest of 1400 pounds. Split between three families, it was enough to last a winter.

I tilled the garden from the winter frosting, and have to re-till before planting before the end of the month. I can contribute pictures and advice to your project, on nearly every vegetable.

Also, it would be interesting to me to see the long term results. I will have my own garden this year, and I can vegetables every fall, so to see other member's yields as a frame of reference would be useful to determine future crop yields.

This topic has many ways to go. Let me know if you'd like me on your team.

reply to post by Druid42


I agree - finish the project!

reply to post by Druid42


I have the summation ready, I was really just holding off to allow the others to finish their works, so the thread didn't seem too lop-sided. Give me a few days to get my head around things, and I will post up the summation.

I agree, this forum has seemed to stall a little, I know many of the members have outside commitments (read: black holes) that tend to swallow up your life, I'll be glad to see it gain a little momentum again.

reply to post by otherpotato


AHH, Sig Link. Got it.

reply to post by Druid42


Yes I most certainly would! The most important question though is - what zone are you in?

I don't have a canning/food preservation contributor yet. Would you be interested in focusing your reports on food preservation techniques - including successes and failures - throughout the growing season? I can as well and it sounds like I have a different growing season. If we both documented in this area we could broaden our research reach (say that ten times fast).

It's going to take me a little time to organize this. I appreciate everyone's patience and enthusiasm.

reply to post by 74Templar


Yah, vkey got swallowed by her commitments. True.

The research forum isn't supposed to be a gladiator event, with the team leader demanding responses. It's casual, and when you have free time. It's supposed to be accurate, and not rushed.

Care to talk to Sublimecraft for me? He's the only team member with no posts. Five posts, and your obligation is done on this project. You Aussies run a different game. Let me know, and then I'll shoot him a u2u myself.

I'd like to close this project after everyone finishes their obligations. Get em in, please.

reply to post by otherpotato


Zone: NE Ohio. USA.

food preservation techniques - including successes and failures - throughout the growing season?

NOW, I am a bit confused.

I'll allow you to get organized.

Canning, food preservation, is 100% once understood. I have nothing that doesn't seal, it's a timed and true technique, taught to me by beings who are no longer alive.

We'll have to discuss this more.

reply to post by Druid42


Yes I should really go to bed, I have work in the morning.

I tried to outline the range I was thinking of for this project in my OP - maybe I wasn't clear enough. In short what's grown must be at some point eaten or put away because it can't last forever.

I'd be very interested to learn what you know. I am no expert by any means but I do alright.

reply to post by Druid42


Haven't heard from Sub in quite a while either, he seems to have dropped off the map recently in all things ATS. Although, my family/financial issue finally came to a close Tuesday. Not the result I'd hoped for, but at least I don't have a large financial stone pinning me down any more.

I did actually have more to contribute to the Global Warming thread, but a summation will do it for now. I've been thinking about my own projects to research for a while, so I may get the thinking cap on for real and come up with something once this new project is done with.

As always, life comes first, ATS second. We all know that, which is why the endless patience of our overseeing Mods is always a boon. Besides, do something, do it once, properly, and right first time is my philosophy.

reply to post by 74Templar

I've been thinking about my own projects to research for a while, so I may get the thinking cap on for real and come up with something once this new project is done with.

I'd be willing to participate in a project you decide to start one of your own, depending on the subject of course. So keep me on deck.

I'm going to go through the offers of help I received this weekend and contact everyone to discuss their part. Hope to have a draft project plan by Monday or Tuesday. I need to weed through the serious offers vs. the "oh I didn't realize this was going to require an actual commitment" responses. I recruited outside this forum so not everyone understands what a research project is.

Looking forward to seeing the summation on your last project.

reply to post by otherpotato


I would be able to help out with a fair deal of the research content of the thread if you need me to post a lot of information about the nutrients.

reply to post by VeritasAequitas


Yes definitely interested! It looks like we will have a good team. This weekend I will be putting the plan together and getting in touch with everyone. Time to hunker down and get serious? Will be in touch.

I'll be posting very soon. I am so, so, so sorry

I am actually quite angry with myself that i haven't posted a closing post yet. I have had more time recently to conduct further research. I should have the post up soon though. I promise!!!

Update on my Gardening Project (final name TBD):

I decided to recruit for this project both in this forum and in the Survival forum. The upshot of doing that was I got a lot of interest and was able to hone in on the serious researchers. I have 7 potential members for my team.

The other upshot was we have two informal research/sharing threads going on (one of which is in my signature below). This allows those members who don't want the commitment of a formal project to share what they know. There is a ton of good advice being shared and I think we may be able to use the posts in these other areas as springboards to more in-depth research. So everyone benefits.

Here is what I have for prospective participants and their possible areas of focus. I still need to confirm all of this with the members so this is not the be all end all - that will come later in the week. But for the sake of time it was easier to consolidate the feedback into one post. That way everyone knows who else could be on the team and what they'd be focused on.

Note I am tentatively calling this a Level Two Project which means five posts per participant. I and other members felt this was a reasonable expectation given the timeframe (May through October). But I need to confirm that expectation with all participants.

***Participants - this outline is subject to change through collaboration. Please don't feel I'm dictating and if you decide you can't participate don't hesitate to say so. I needed to start somewhere with outlining a plan for the group. U2U me to discuss your part.***

Researchers

These are researchers who will not be using their own gardens to test results or posting about their own active gardens. Their participation will be focused on posting research.

VeritasAequitas will be focused on the common denominators between nutrition and plants, and may offer research into using plants for medicinal purposes. Another area I suggest for this researcher is how much nutritional value food loses through preservation (freezing, drying, canning, root cellaring)

74Templar has no specific area of focus yet. There is a list of subject areas not yet covered that I thought of (scroll to end of list) or make a suggestion!

Gardener Researchers

These are participants who will provide an opening post explaining their garden, and a closing post in October summarizing how the season went. They will also offer at least one researched post on a chosen topic. The other two posts can be research, updates on how their garden is performing against stated expectations, or a "test" of a principle stated in any contributors research (i.e. trying a pest control strategy and reporting on how it held up).

Druid42 will be focused on food preservation techniques. An important part of this will be weighing and measuring to compare produce yields with final product achieved.

okiecowboy will be covering urban gardening and starting a brand new plot. Also strategies for gardening with less financial input (low budget). Very excited about having this perspective.

retirednature is testing strategies for vertical growing systems and maximizing yields. Also has experience with herbs as well as using certain plantings for pest control. (We are discussing exact topics to be covered).

SpaDe_ does not yet have an area of focus - we are working on that.

woodsmom lives in an area with a very short growing season so she can offer good perspective on maximizing production under challenging conditions (she still has snow!)

otherpotato aka ME will also be covering food preservation as a comparison point to Druid42. Also covering spacing strategies, intercropping/companion planting, seasonal planting and weed identification/control. I will also be a "jump in" person if a new topic comes up along the way that begs to be included.

Some prospective subject areas not yet covered for those without an area of focus, or last minute participant additions:

**Foraging
**Planting by the moon/astrology/old wives tales. Old Farmer's Almanac type stuff
**Focus on one particular type or family of plants. For example a person could spend all season just focused on the best way to grow nightshades, or the best way to grow squashes.
**Fertilization - principles and techniques

Other suggestions welcome.

So there is the latest update. I am still open to more participants but for purposes of not losing my mind would prefer to keep this project to under ten members.

otherpotato

reply to post by otherpotato

Druid42 will be focused on food preservation techniques. An important part of this will be weighing and measuring to compare produce yields with final product achieved.

As an avid gardener, I think it would be a good idea to allow all participants to share pictures of their gardens, as an aside to the area they are researching. My plot this year is 22 x 45 (feet), and I still have to till twice more before planting, so ATM all I have is a tilled patch of land. I'll be planting in a week. I'm positioned to provide an A to Z in pictures.

These "extra posts" would be for updates only, and not count towards the 5 post requirement. To separate them from the rest of the project would require a special title, such as "Username's Garden Updates:" in bold letters, and could include a brief summary of the pics.

What do you think, Team Leader and Research Participants?

reply to post by Druid42


I think that is a great idea, I am all for it.

My Garden isn't far along either, just started planting a few days ago, right before the freaky unseasonal snowfall

reply to post by Druid42


I like this idea. I think it will be essential for each participant to be able to post pictures and details of what exactly it is that they are doing so the other participating members have a better understanding of what is going on.

reply to post by Druid42


This is a fantastic idea and I hope the mods agree. Keeping the photo updates as a seperate post will make the research updates easier to follow.

I got about half my garden in this weekend. The soil is really dry right now so hopefully some of the things I planted will make it. Fingers crossed.

I will have the project plan posted this week once I've finalized plans with all participants. So it's feeling pretty solid.

Thanks to everyone for their responsiveness and help getting this off the ground. It's very motivating!

reply to post by Druid42


My only problem is I have just dismantled my summer garden (reverse seasons in the southern hemisphere). I was planning on putting some winter vegies in as an aside, but I haven't got around to it yet, so I may have left it a little late.

Traditionally winter vegies don't go well in tropical areas, as it's still quite warm here, and dry over winter. I may have a go at it in the coming weeks depending on time, but things haven't gone too to plan this year. I may not be able to participate in this one, but I will defientely be in on the gardening research project.

reply to post by 74Templar


Participation doesn't require that you're actively gardening and posting about it. I set this project up so that there's plenty of room for straight research, and in fact I'd hoped to get more topics covered beyond the actual planting. So if you still wanted to participate strictly from a research and report perspective that would still work. If you are over committed in other areas no worries!

And do keep contributing on the other gardening threads regardless. I enjoy your posts!