#OffGrid #Homesteading #Rainwater

Strolling through what YT was offering me; I came upon the title and clicked [a genuine click bait]. And I was pleasantly surprised. It turned out to be a very philosophical esposé about the possibility of a self sustained living in a bureaucratic society.
Things like rainwater, compost toilets could be regulated [banned] by a meddling government acting out outdated regulation supposed to keep the law abiding citizens safe.

"They Made Rainwater Collection Illegal — What Comes Next?" [13:07 min]
by Project Paradise [New Zealand]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uan3QhHYF9c

Quote by PP:
"Apr 12, 2025
Henry David Thoreau, experiments in living free can't be done anywhere in the world, in many places it is illegal. I instal a rainwater fed washing machine and talk about the law.
In some parts of the world, it’s illegal to collect rainwater.
In others, using greywater from your shower to feed your garden is banned.
Composting toilets, tiny houses, and off-grid living are often restricted, heavily regulated, or outright forbidden.
All in the name of safety.
But when survival becomes regulated, you have to ask:
Are these laws protecting us — or protecting a system?
These questions aren’t new. Thinkers and rebels have been asking them for centuries:
"A man is rich in proportion to the number of things which he can afford to let alone."
— Henry David Thoreau
Thoreau’s definition of wealth had nothing to do with possessions — and everything to do with freedom from them. He believed the fewer things you needed, the richer you became.
He also said:
"That government is best which governs least."
Thoreau famously refused to pay taxes that supported slavery and war, and spent a night in jail for it. His essay Civil Disobedience went on to inspire revolutionaries like Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr.
"One has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws."
— Martin Luther King Jr.
"Civil disobedience becomes a sacred duty when the state becomes lawless or corrupt."
— Mahatma Gandhi
These words aren’t just history. They echo loudly today — especially for those who want to live closer to nature, with sovereignty, and on their own terms.
Thankfully, not all places are tightening their grip.
Some are letting go — or at least looking the other way.
Places like Maine, Portugal, parts of New Zealand, British Columbia, and Arizona are becoming more open to off-grid living, tiny homes, permaculture, and homesteading.
Tiny homes are being legalized.
Rainwater harvesting is encouraged.
Composting and solar power are no longer seen as fringe — but as forward-thinking.
Maybe the greatest act of rebellion isn’t protest.
Maybe it’s planting a garden.
Collecting rainwater.
Building a home no bigger than you need.

It's been a really busy week and it is a busy weekend to boot. Sorry I haven't been on here much.

#Gardening really has been my major activity this past week.

On one of the days that I was outside working, the air quality was horrible, and I paid for it that night and the next day. It is uncomfortable to garden in the heat in an N95 mask, but yowza. Lesson learned. It was also super-dusty at the big garden before the rains this week, which is not good to breathe in, either.

I'm trying to stay on top of the poison ivy crop, which is a constant battle.

It's just starting to poke leaves up, so I designated a clipper, sheathed myself in plastic, doubled up with nitrile gloves under my washable garden gloves, and put on goggles to carefully clip and dispose (into a trash bag) what was peeking up out of the leaf litter. Then I scrubbed the clippers and garden gloves with blue dawn. (It's really the only reason I keep that around.)

Clipping is not a solution; it's a stopgap measure. My goal in that area on the hill out front has been to continue to shade/smother/push the ivy out with plants that I want there, which is a multi-year process and kind of like playing whack-a-mole. I can't dig out the ivy without destroying the plants that I have worked so hard to establish there.

I have wild herbs and a food crop in that area (native strawberries that are very slowly taking over the hill, yay!) so I also can't use an herbicide, as that endangers the plants I want to keep alive, some herbs I eat and make medicine from, and I wouldn't be able to eat the strawberry crop for three years or more if I sprayed poison this year. So… repeated manual labor it will be.

I pruned all the deadwood out of all of my small fruit and decorative trees and did some editing cuts with an eye for future growth.

I probably have the most obsessively-managed eastern redbud tree in the entire state. They tend to grow all weird and gnarly if you just let them do what is in their nature.

Through judicious pruning since planting, I've managed to encourage this one to become a single-trunked, round, tree-shaped tree rather than a gnarly, wacky, random-growth tree with a double trunk and weak joints and crossed limbs and all the things that redbuds tend to do when left to their own devices. Their V-shaped joints usually rot out, then half the tree will fall over in a storm when it's 15 years old, then look unsightly and be all lopsided and... I could go on but you get the point.

I did a little bit of pruning on the street tree that the city put in after they took down my sycamores in 2018, so I got to know that tree's preferred growth pattern, and it is also a little wacky.

The small amount of editing cuts I have done on it (a half-dozen over the last 3 years) should help it grow into a nicely-shaped and manageable street tree. I probably won't have to make any more editing cuts on it for a few more years -- if ever. I can't remember if it is a hickory or a hornbeam, though. I don't have the paperwork from the city on my fridge anymore. (It's a native... flamebark... something?)

Pruning trees is my happy place, but it is also possible to do too many editing cuts, so part of the Zen of it is knowing when to stop. There's an art and a science to it. I really get into my zone, though.

I figured out where I want to put a peach tree, finally. Now I just have to source one and dig a big hole!

Today after clipping the poison ivy bits I rewarded myself by planting bare-root native geraniums (geranium maculatum), getting most of them onto the hill that I'm trying to manage (where the poison ivy lives), and two into pots to see how they do in captivity. It was cold and overcast today, and we are supposed to get rain again tonight and tomorrow, so it was the perfect time to plant them. It had been too hot and dry to do that last week.

I did get all of the flowers and herbs that I got at the nursery last week into the ground, but I still have to build another raised bed to get the tomatoes and peppers in. Hopefully I'll be able to do that early next week and pick up all the soil I need for it.

Also, somehow, my potato starts are not sprouting. I don't know what I did wrong this year. I'll have to start over!

Today I realized that Baltimore Oriole migration season is very soon, too -- probably the first week of May. I need to put oranges and jelly on my shopping list.

Tomorrow, between dogsitting duties, I will be making violet flower jelly and redbud jelly, then water-bath canning those to share with people again this year.

I think my violet jelly is going to turn out a really gorgeous purple. Last year it was light pink. But last year I only soaked the flowers in hot water for about an hour. This year I soaked them for 24 hours, 2 on the counter and 22 in the fridge, so got all the color I could out of them.

Hopefully I'll post pictures of the jars tomorrow when they are cooling.

If you intend on saving seeds, now is the time to start planning it.
Saving seeds is very satisfying because it’s like getting free food. After the harvest for bought seeds, you have used the monetary value. When you save seeds further on, it’s all free.
Make sure you are saving seeds from open pollinated plants, not hybrids. If you can get hybrids to germinate, the resulting plant may not resemble what you expected to get. This is especially true for things like squash. So, be aware of this when purchasing seeds for future seed saving.
You can try saving any seed but my favourite seeds to save are the following:

Peas- there are always pea pods that got missed in the harvest and I pull the plants, hang them in a dry spot and when the lingering pods have dried, shell them, leave them to dry further on a baking sheet then jar and label.

Scarlett Runner beans- these are easy to let a few get too big to eat and they are well able to be germinated the following year. Be sure to pick the seed pods before a hard frost so as to not damage the seeds. The best seeds are the huge purple mottled ones that release without hesitation from the pod when the pod is split open. Be careful to not accidentally slice the seed with your fingernail when opening the pod. Dry the seeds on a sheet then store in a jar. Use the same the method for other bean varieties such as black turtle beans.

Dill, fennel and onion- these all will go flying off the plant when they are fully ripe so JUST before that, I pick them and put them into paper bags, then you can catch the seeds as they fully ripen and fall from the plant. Otherwise, they just reseed all over the ground which is fine but you have to move them to where you want the plants in the spring.

Garlic- the key to saving garlic for seeds is in the harvest. Garlic is picky to harvest so that it lasts in the pantry until the following year. I pick the scapes when they have done 2 full circles but not yet begun to uncurl again. Then, stop watering the garlic 2 weeks before harvest, so the paper covering has a chance to develop. Hang them in loose bunches out of the sun in a breezy spot outside until they are very dry and the green tops are all brown. Then, trim the roots, and store inside in a cool, dry breezy spot. Choose the heads with the largest cloves to plant later that year a couple of weeks before the ground freezes just so they can develop roots but not grow up out of the soil.

Marigold, Nasturtium, Coreopsis, Morning Glory-(NOT wild bindweed)- these flower seeds are all easy to save, just don’t deadhead the tops you want to save for seeds and wait until they are very dry, gently pull the seed heads into your palm and carefully rub the seeds from their casings. Make sure they are fully dry, then jar and label.

Carrot, Beets, Parsnips- the seeds from these plants don’t develop until the second year so you have to leave your desired plants in the ground and let the plant grow again in the spring. Then, let the plant go to flower and save the seeds from that. You usually will need to save many more seeds than you think you will need because the germination rates are a little lower for these plants.

Potatoes- You can just let a few missed ones grow the following year but this does not allow for crop rotation and often the missed potatoes are small and don’t make good plants the following year. Save some perfect undamaged large potatoes until the following spring. Chit them, that is let the seed potatoes sprout a tiny bit in the light before planting them. Most storage potatoes will have started to sprout in the spring anyway. I have found that planing the whole potato and not cutting it into separate eye/sprouting sections results in a bigger and more robust plant. Keep in mind that buying and planting certified seed potatoes does help prevent potato diseases from persisting year to year.

Sunflower- make sure you let them fully ripen on the flower head so the seeds come off with only a gentle coaxing.

Walking or multiplier onions- these are great, they do their own thing but have to be re-situated as they will end up where they want.

Plants to be wary of: mustard, common oregano and mints, will all end up taking over your yard with no help from you. Be aware of this if you want to grow these plants.