It ’s clock time yet again for the annual “ Year in Review ” post !
( Here are my previous year - end Wiley Post from2012,2013,2014and2015 )
2016 was a class unlike any in my sprightliness . I move in the south – REALLY far south !
Unlike previous year , in February I fall by the wayside weigh the garden truck we harvest because we spent most of the class in a rental belongings and conversion from Florida to the equatorial tropical zone . I also had to forget my shell behind when we moved oversea .
Do n’t worry , though – I just got a new one this week and I ’ll get back to tracking yields once I get a new homestead usable .
Here are the yields from the first two months of 2016:
Chayote:20lbs
Green papaya:20lbs
Bananas:8lbs
Various Citrus:8lbs
Lemons:20lbs
76lbs total
After those first two month , we sell our property in North Florida and moved to Ft . Lauderdale for a calendar month , then flew out of there to the prop we now rent in Central America .
Here we walked into an operating homestead with lots of banana , plantains , drinking chocolate , Mangifera indica and various other fruit trees .
It feel like cheat . We ’ve certainly harvest near a net ton of banana tree and plantain , plus just the wax apple tree alone has made basket of fruit . I ’ve also hollow near 100lbs of uncivilised yam plant in the hobo camp .
I ’m go to hold off on further output tracking until I get a property of my own and can start from scratch again with what I plant .
2016 Failures
I had a goal at the source of the year to get three books published , plus a leaflet . All I land up was the booklet .
I have three first conscription of three different Book sitting on my concentrated campaign flop now , all of which require to get published .
The redaction and example takes prison term and move to a new commonwealth , doing paperwork , attempt to get establish , etc . , has been metre consuming . I put a lot of thing on grasp , let in my rule book written material .
The Machete Affair
I also managed to cut through two tendons in my odd paw , thanks to a coconut tree - open up stroke with my panga .
Rachel reenact that failure here :
That stroke really set back my writing as well , as it kept me from typewrite well . I was almost back at hunt and peck levels .
The Stupid Car
Another failure of 2016 was our purchase of a car . We had an importer get us a 2003 Toyota Noah from Japan . It go fine for less than two months , then the engine fail on the way up our route . all failed , as in the mechanics evidence us it involve to be supplant .
This is insane . We paid roughly $ 11,000 for this car , thanks to the high cost of significance duties and taxes . Back in the US that would have bought me three cars . And now it ’s dead … and because everything runs slowly here … it ’s been sitting in the workshop for over a calendar month and is n’t getting fixed . Apparently they ’re hunting for a fresh engine .
I do n’t make enough money to take these kinds of losses , so this was a major loser . Multiple the great unwashed told us to go the import route – and we got screwed . And the nooky is ongoing , as I ’m walking a couple of miles to buy groceries , we ca n’t go anywhere as a family line , and we ’re pass away to have to pay a spate to get this firearm of refuse mend .
It ’s a in effect affair I rather enjoy taking the bus . I ’ll probably be doing it for months to fall .
The Survival Gardener Forums
After being told multiple times that assembly would be a ripe estimate , I lastly bought some software package and congeal up forums .
I rapidly discover I had neither the meter nor the inclination to keep forum run . They ’re currently a spammed up sight and need to be deleted . It would form if I had someone else to work them but I just do n’t have the meter .
Fail !
2016 Successes
Broken vans and machetes be darned , it ’s time to talk about the good stuff .
We Got Out of Dodge!
I count finally make it overseas as a great achiever . I tried to get out of the US for almost a decade before we lastly pulled it off . And here I am , relatively established in a Modern commonwealth . I bring off to get a visa , thanks to my farming work , and I rightfully enjoy where we live . Especially our neighbourhood .
This is my form of place :
https://www.instagram.com/p/BNcqHu8heU2/?taken-by=david_t_good
Always fun . And it ’s beautiful around here as well :
I liked North Florida , but this is heaven .
YouTube Exploded
Instead , I made it to almost 12,000 , thanks in large part to a challenge I was given by Justin Rhodes .
I produced208 videosfor YouTube this year . That ’s moderately awful .
This was helped vastly by an anonymous donorwho paid for me to advance my camera to a professional good example .
TheCanon 70Dhas been great . I just got some fresh lens system and a pro video tripod for it as well , so 2017 ’s videos will be even good .
utter of videos …
I Participated in 2 Homesteading Summits
In February I pack part in the 2016 Home Grown Food Summit with Marjory Wildcraft .
My telecasting was one of the most popular and I by and by eject it for sale as a standalone download .
Here ’s the trailer :
Then in November I lend another fun video to the fall Mother Earth News Online Summit , this meter onBetter Gardening through Experimentation .
I hope to offer up that film as a standalone download soon . It was also a favourite , terminate up in the top 5 presentations out of over 30 . What an laurels !
The Newsletter Keeps Growing
The newssheet is entertaining and non - spammy . I cover mo and composition I do n’t over here , plus announce script projects and share coolheaded pic .
The Website Keeps on Kicking
I spell 270 posts for this site in 2015 .
Back in October I announced that I was done posting every weekday , after 4 years of slay that destination . I posted once a week for the next calendar month or so , then started creeping back up towards daily .
I ca n’t stop . It ’s just build into me now .
TheGet Grafting!Film
My instructional filmGet Grafting!was a gross success .
You candownload the movie here for a contribution of any amount .
Bonus : it ’s funny .
The Top 8 Posts of 2016
Growing Arrowroot
The Hidden Danger of Straw Bale Gardening
The Hidden Danger of Straw Bale Gardening No One is refer
The Top 5 Best Garden Hoes
Growing Raspberries and Blackberries in Florida
How to Grow Turmeric
How To Grow Curcuma domestica
How to Grow Yams
How To raise yam
Get Rid of Squirrels
And , the most pop of them all :
This Compost Will Destroy Your Garden
This compost will demolish your garden !
In Conclusion
It ’s been a heck of a year with a muckle of challenges and excitement .
Though I sold my North Florida intellectual nourishment forest property , I check many object lesson from it that I can utilize to my next prop . And I made a profit when I sell , which is great . Sometimes you really question if putting in a food forest is a good idea … after all … what about property values ?
The new possessor of my food woods bought it FOR the intellectual nourishment forest , so not everyone is a Philistine ! She tells me she ’ll be sending a video update in 2017 , which I look forrad to sharing with you all .
Tomorrow I ’ll put up my finish for 2017 .
All in all , 2016 was a great class and I go for you did well with it . If not , there ’s always next yr . Let ’s present it together and conquer !
See you on the flip side ,
David The Good
