CaptainRon's Imaginarium: Off-grid, indoor growing, geothermal greenhouse build, a place to store my thoughts

Glad you’re on the up, brother @Hemp !
Your plants looked exceptional, and I look forward to seeing your next grow. Do you have an idea of what you’re going to plant next?
Please leave a link on this thread if you decide to do a journal, I’d love to keep up.

And I cannot lie, the rocks are heavy lol.

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This is excellent @BotanicalBob , thanks a ton for sharing!

My stepdad was just telling me about making a heater out of a bucket of sand and crisco. Supposed to burn for a day or two at upwards of 500 degrees. I haven’t looked into this at all but if true, I was thinking of doing a metal bucket and encasing it with stone, similar to a soap stone wood stove, and having the heat radiate from the stone, hopefully having the stone release the heat slower so it’s less sharp. Then I could pour water on the hot stone for humidity since the heat will dry the space.

Or it won’t work haha.

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Not sure 100%. Kush is my favorite. I do have some seeds from members that I will run. Thank you. I appreciate it. Thanks for the pictures. Very cool looking. Reminds me of out in Washington state.
Your state is beautiful. We are glad to have you here.

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What a cool thread. Good on you @CaptainRon , I really dig your setup. Will definitely be following your adventures. :v:

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Those are some big rocks. Looks like some hard work.

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Looking great and sounds like a good idea! It’s all coming along nicely!

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I’m not running organics so seems it would not be good for my plants, but my dog is having stomach problems and it would sure help him if you could share that recipe … :pray:

Willing to see your greenhouse finishe and full of plants, I love all those big fat indica leaves, beautiful plants indeed … :kissing_heart:

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This is so cool. Following along :call_me_hand:

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What a beautiful boy!

LAB is very simple and only takes a few minutes to make.
These are the measurements I use but you can make more or less by following the 1 part rice wash water to 10 parts milk.

Ingredients: 1/2 cup Rice(any kind), 1 cup water, 1/2 gallon whole milk. You may be able to use any type of milk but a lot of people recommend whole milk for the fat content.

  1. Take 1/2 cup of rice and put in a bowl and add 1 cup of water. Mix until the water is cloudy. I will usually let it sit after I mix it for 10/15 minutes. Strain the rice and put the rice wash water into a jar.
    You can do what you’d like with the rice but you won’t need it anymore.

  2. Once you have the wash water in a jar you’ll want to add a breathable lid. Either lightly tighten the lid or use a paper towel. Put into a dark cabinet.

  3. Depending on temps, in about 2-5 days the rice wash water will have a sweet smell. It’s a noticeable sweet smell and you should be able to pick it up on your first time. Warmer ambient temps will hasten the process. at 75 degrees, mine usually smells sweet by the second day/night. If the smell is sour, the window of opportunity is missed and you’ll need to start over.

  4. Now it’s time for the milk. You’ll want a jar large enough to hold more than a 1/2g(2L), and to have a wide mouth. I use 2 jars since I don’t have anything larger than 1/2g. I just split the rice wash water between the two. In the large jar pour in the milk, then add the rice wash water.
    Lightly tighten the cap or use a paper towel again, and put back into the cabinet.

  5. Now you’ll want to check at hours 12, 24, 36, etc. Warm ambient temps will hasten the process.
    You’ll see the separation of the whey and the now-forming cheese curd on top. You’ll know the process is complete when you have a hazy but clear liquid on the bottom and a solid, white cheese on top.

  6. Now it’s time to remove the cheese and strain the liquid. To start use anything you’d like to cut through the cheese and remove it. Yes, this cheese is 100% edible for you and your animals and is very tasty! Referred to as ‘farmhouse cheese’. The cheese is also full of LAB.
    Stain liquid through a strainer and cheesecloth. You don’t want any of the curds in the final solution.

  7. The liquid is your LAB. For garden and consumption, you’ll want to dilute 2 tablespoons(30ml)/liter of water. Drink before or after eating. I soak my cats dry food in it and they love it.
    Give to your pup before or after feeding. Same for yourself, if you are about to eat a heavy meal, drink some before or after. It’s amazing how quick-acting it is.

  8. Store in the fridge with a tight lid for up to 90 days. Like most things though, best used and made fresh. I try and make every 2 weeks.

This guy does a good job explaining and showing the process.

I truly hope this helps him out! I found it to be invaluable for myself, animals, and garden.

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Thanks for giving me a hook beer3|nullxnull, I’ll put my hands on it, not complicated as you said …

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2 of the artifacts I have found building the greenhouse.

One looks to be a pencil made from a stick and the other is a hand forged iron nail.
Back before the civill war there was an old sheep farm and sawmill on my property so my assumption would be these items could be from them.
Found at about 5’ down while digging.
Also found old horse shoes, axe head, and other random pieces of metal. All rusted to hell.

And just a different perspective of the work so far.

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Started training the three larger siblings.


Some individual shots of the young 5.3’s.

Finally the Amnesia Haze’s.

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With the 8 years of OG Celebration I’ve been riding on the collective high that these 50 beautiful souls have created. If you haven’t already, make sure to take a trip over and join the celebration!

@Heliosphear I hope you’re drowning in all the good energy coming your way! Your voice is perfect for a podcast and I hope you find the time to make this a regular show. The shirt designs you and @Rhai88 came up with are awesome! Such a great way to possibly recognize a member in the real world and share a smile.

@HighTilliDie You are the hype man I do not deserve but greatly appreciate your consistent stop-ins and support! My man is out here burning through likes. Real MVP brother!

@DougDawson Welcome, brother! It’s an honor to have you. There are so many selfless people on here who are constantly giving and sharing, but I’m always stumbling into a thread where you’re there giving something special away. A real inspiration and motivator :heart:
My favorite high is from a real dopamine release and in my opinion giving is the most potent!

@Hemp I’ve been to Washington a few times and always loved my time there. Reminded me of Vermont but on a much larger scale. Plus WA has a coastline, mountains, desert, snow, beaches, and a rainforest. A really special place. Almost moved there years ago for snowboarding, but I love the East far too much! I’m glad to be here! I don’t spend much time online throughout the week but I could spend all day reading through OG. I’ve been looking for a community to call home for a long time and OG seems like just the right place to set up camp! :camping:

@dank , @AppalachianBiscuits , @anon91117093 thank you guys so much for stopping in and sharing your support! Truly means the world :heart:

The weather is finally on my side and with the powerful energy radiating through OG, I’ve been riding the motivation train! Made some nice progress on the back wall Monday, and spent yesterday afternoon collecting rocks from the brook.
I might get some build time in today but wood splitting is the top priority. Will be back in the pit tomorrow and then all weekend.

A suggestion for when you first wake up…
Drink a 12-16oz glass of water with a pinch or two of SEA salt(pink Himalayan is okay). This will rehydrate you after a night’s sleep! This helped me kick coffee a few years back and switch to tea instead. I find a huge initial burst of energy after drinking it.

The plants are all looking amazing and they are getting stinky in veg! Will post updates on them Saturday or Sunday morning.

Happy 8 years OverGrow! Here’s to many, many more :champagne:

Cheers,
Ron

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@CaptainRon Why thank you brother! I just really love what your doing! It’s a lifelong goal of mine to live off the land and be off grid so it’s too cool to see you doing this and I’m definitely along for the ride and taking notes for myself! The progress is great as well! Your kicking ass and taking names! Won’t be but another few months or so and your gonna be posting up the final pictures. Takes a lot to do all the work your doing but I’m confident you got this. Love seeing the updates and rather jealous myself haha! Hope your having a great day brother!

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fingernails check out :grin:

love the updates. keep up the good work!

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Interesting dig into history CaptainRon! I’m seriously impressed by projects like this. I feel like I’ve never been great with building things except on a computer (used to work for one of the big four as a software dev but burned out years back). I don’t make money anymore but am happier.

In any case, seeing projects like yours are inspiring!

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Thank you, brother @Coffweed !

Man, I’d love to hear some of your story sometime.

Good on you for putting your well-being front and center v. a comfy salary. I owned a small tile install business for a bit but realized I wasn’t happy with spending 50 hours a week making rich people an expensive place to shit and shower. Really at the end of the day, I was just adding value to someone else’s investment while killing my body and mind in the process. Now I work about 6 months a year as a skidder operator for a local logger, and only spend money on essentials which include lots and lots of seeds :sunflower:. Went from almost 6 figures to about 25k a year. Couldn’t be happier!

The less I have, the more I am.

In my humble opinion, it only takes three skills to achieve anything in this reality.

  1. Patience
  2. Discipline
  3. Curiosity

I have no background in working with stone, although you could argue tile is close but tile is far more mathematical and seen through the lens of a grid whereas stone is purely abstract. I went into this project with curiosity and used patience and self-discipline to bring it to fruition.
Woke up one morning and decided to dig a big hole haha.

Don’t count your building skills out, you just may not have spent enough time exploring where your curiosity is most peaked.

And please, if you ever want to share a bit from your story I’d love to dig in. I have a feeling we could all learn something from each of our journeys.

Note: The link on the ‘skidder’ is just for a visual of the machine because it’s badass!

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Love this post man. I’m going to keep thinking about a free future where I’m not slaving for the next dollar. You’re my hero. Thanks for sharing dude.

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That’s all they’re paying you to operate heavy machinery? Damn!

But if your crushing it and happy in life I guess the money is just a means for food and essentials.

I’ve gotta ask are you married or have a significant other who is living this lifestyle with you?

I don’t feel as if I could unplug my ladies from the matrix lol at least not in the way you’re living currently. Haha

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That thing is a beast!! I toured a JD factory once and even with no farming/logging background I could tell they made some good stuff. I’d be the crazy trail runner yall would see and wonder wtf is that dude doing way out here with a little running vest. I remember regularly dodging logging trucks running on DNR roads in Washington state. Especially around Wallace Falls (but way up towards Shaw Lake that most folks don’t even know exists unless they look on a map — people go for the three falls, some for the upper RR grade road to Jay and Wallace lake — but for the real fun push on to Shaw — expect an 18m + round trip).

I got a Computer Science degree (and currently don’t really use it — although once I get myself back to a place where I have a little time I want to contribute knowledge here). I worked for a few companies but really think I was just too young. I burned out and ended up working in the mountains briefly before moving out of state to Colorado.

At this point I’ll just say don’t marry a stripper. Even if you as well worked in the industry. Learned that lesson the hard way, lol. Now I work with animals and do my best to be a good person. Trying to keep it simple.

Excited to be diving headfirst into growing my own medicine (cannabis). I have a nice collection of mushroom genetics and know what I’m doing there at least enough to get into trouble. Always too curious!

I’ll be staying tuned for your journey and thank you for sharing!

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