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  • From: John Thomas Naisbitt <johntnaisbitt@gmail.com>
  • To: permaculture <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [permaculture] Mycofiltration & Swales
  • Date: Thu, 18 Aug 2011 09:28:43 -0600

For my two bits worth on this subject, I'd highly recommend avoiding the
outright purchase of earthmoving equipment unless you are going to make a
business out of it. I have worked in and around large to small scale mine
remediation and geotechnical projects both Stateside and in South America.
Most equipment in the economically affordable range for small operations or
even the building of "test plots" is costly and can be a crap shoot if you
don't know what you are looking at. (Ever buy a used car off a lot?) In
fact, the majority of contractors on earth moving projects will only have in
their own possession a small fleet of equipment; renting and billing back
the rental to their clients at a mark-up cost. I personally like rental
fleets due to the fact that I don't like to have to constantly maintain
"yellow iron" and have it sit still. The rental fleet is more like a
"community fleet" as rentals are readily available with some planning and
can be broken down to use time by the hour, day, week, month, etc. giving
you the opportunity to budget the machinery as such and "love it and leave
it". There is also the advantage of mobilizations costs as the rental
centers usually deliver and that can have it's own mark-up as well to better
fund your project.

When looking into heavy iron, be sure to check out the manufacturers
"Performance Handbooks" as they will give you insight as far as power,
reach, hauling capacities, and assist in managing time and production.

Operators are out there and in today's economy, are getting just as hungry
as the rest of us. Many are looking to pick up new skills and disciplines;
another cookie in our favor these days.

As far as the mycofiltration goes, look into the book by Harbhajan Singh,
"Mycoremediation, Fungal Bioremediation"; it gives an excellent baseline for
mycoremediation activities and concepts based on formal studies. In addition
try to directly contact the fungal mentor himself, Paul Stammets at
fungi.com (F. Perfecti) - he is a wealth of information (and as you well
know) has experience in what you are proposing.

Best of luck on this one, I could only dream of doing what you are inspiring
to do.

Cheers,

John



On Thu, Aug 18, 2011 at 8:50 AM, Michael Judd
<campesinomike@hotmail.com>wrote:

> Neil,
>
> Wonderful help, thank you. Good suggestions as I consider a potential
> machinery purchase. Also I've checked in with Keith Morris of NE perm
> network and he shared some good posting sites.
>
> Getting a little low down from the folks at Fungi Perfecti re species and
> design. They mention that burlap can break down in 2-6 months and may be
> best off with just a wood chip bed of stropharia. Which makes sense as it is
> a terrestrial species but I'm looking for info on it's ability to break down
> run off, both biological and chemical.
>
> I'm going to look into the construction wattles you mentioned and see if I
> can come up with a hybrid system that makes this easy to replicate.
>
> Again, thank you very much for the support and time.
>
> Hasta pronto
>
> Michael
>
>
>
> On Aug 17, 2011, at 11:19 AM, Neil Bertrando <neilbertrando@gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> > I recommend contacting the Northeast Permaculture network, and hopefully
> > some people with direct experience in your region can help you with the
> > details.
> >
> > http://northeasternpermaculture.wikispaces.com/
> >
> > Re: earthworks, double check the designer's manual chapter, and here are
> my
> > basic suggestions (with the caveat that I have minimal experience with
> large
> > machine use and planning)
> >
> > 1. shop around and talk to people to try and find a skilled operator
> > 2. If access to site and slope are adequate, a slightly larger machine
> will
> > often cover the cost in decreased time to move the same volume of earth
> > 3. Consider slope of the land and shape and size of swale/drain that you
> > want to create. Three tools that could be used are a grader, a
> bulldozer,
> > or an excavator (a hydraulic tilt bucket or ditching bucket are often
> > useful). each tool creates a slightly different cross sectional profile
> of
> > drain. I think as slope increafses you would shift from grader to
> bulldozer
> > to excavator, although you might take some pictures of a site and a
> design
> > detail to some excavation companies and ask what they would do.
> >
> > I'm sure there are many details I'm missing that you will want to check
> on
> > with machine operators, local farmers, local designers, etc.
> >
> > for inoculum, you might consider the erosion control straw wattles used
> for
> > BMPs on construction sites. they can be made long and in a range of
> > diameters. Or you might look at long tubes of burlap from a manufacturer
> > before they sew them into individual sacks, then fill it using a hopper
> or
> > some type of chute. growing the spawn then moving it may be difficult
> with
> > this method.
> >
> > hope this helps
> > Neil
> >
> >
> > On Wed, Aug 17, 2011 at 6:50 AM, michael judd <campesinomike@hotmail.com
> >wrote:
> >
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> Greetings Permaculturists
> >>
> >> Moving from Nicaragua to the Chesapeake Bay watershed of
> Maryland
> >> has been a big translation. Similar patterns but different tools and
> scale.
> >>
> >> Pollution to the Bay is huge. I'm looking into funding for
> >> mycoremediation/mycofiltration that initially targets farm run off, both
> >> chemical and animal, into streams. To design a replicable system.
> >>
> >> I can figure how to go out and hand dig a bunker spawn swale with a hand
> >> full of burlap sacks but it is scaling the process to farm and mega farm
> >> that needs to be figured.
> >> I am seeking support in brainstorming the components and investments
> needed
> >> for each stage of the system, i.e. best machinery for swale cutting,
> >> successful fungi species with easy propagation set up, stream edge tree
> >> species that feed aquatic life, success and failure stories, maintenance
> >> challenges, really any experience information or resources would be
> greatly
> >> appreciated.
> >>
> >> En Paz,
> >>
> >>
> >> Michael Judd
> >> 240.344.5625
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> http://www.projectbonafide.com/
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> "To do good you actually have to do something" Yvon Chouinard
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> >>
> >>
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> >
> >
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