While cleaning to move, an old PS3Eye – a webcam for the PS3, was found. Turns out this little device has a 640*480 camera and 4-microphone array that have made it popular for DIY’ers for making motion trackers, virtual Alexa-style assitants, and so on with Raspberry Pi’s. It’s pretty much plug and play. I’ve got […]
Just one more piece to the Pi… Read More »
It can be difficult, as an absentee farmer, to really have a good idea of what is going on with everything that is being managed. Now true, my parents are about to retire and stay at the farm full-time, but I won’t be doing so myself any time soon. There’s also just something weird about
Logging Weather, Solar, and Sensor Data for a Smart(er) IoT Farm Read More »
Having spent quite a bit of time messing around with a Raspberry Pi, where it took hours just to get a few temperature probes running, it was refreshing to have a nice, made for consumer object like setting up the weather station: an AmbientWeather Osprey 2902. I chose this station because the company provides more
Weather Station Setup Read More »
My first Youtube video in 4K! Flying a high quality drone is wicked fun. It’s fast, responsive, and really quite easy to do. I got into drones for the photography, but now I can also see the allure of drone racing and hobbyist RC pilots -it’s just so fun to fly. I started flying drones
Deadly Winds, Diving-Bombing Birds, and the Challenges of Flying a Drone Abroad Read More »
With my plans to expand my propogation of plant cuttings for operations like building a hedge, I built a mist bed to start them in. Well, I haven’t installed the actual mist heads yet, just the sand bed. I’m a bit behind posting, more engaged with doing projects than sharing them. Construction was quite simple,
I somehow failed to take and upload any pictures of my cold frame in operation, so here have a stock photo of a similar one. Mine, however, was placed high up on our ‘fortress’ raised bed, exposed to winds. Cold frames have a long history as an agricultural tool to expand the growing season, in
Cold Frames Need Insulation/Wind Protection: Measuring the Benefits of a Cold Frame Read More »
Curious what a prairie looks like just over a month after planting? The soil quality variation across the site can be clearly seen here in the plant growth (best soil variable, generally to the right). The mammoth grey stripe sunflowers I planted are the only plants that were immediately identifiable. The rest is mostly… grass.
Prairie Update and Gossip Read More »
For the last four and a half years, I have kept a diary recording my daily thoughts and activities of note. During this time, I also have been posting frequent records to more 21st century data stores: to Strava, using Google (Calendar, YouTube, Search, Maps, etc. which data history can be accessed through Google Takeout),
Setting Up a Personal Journal Database Read More »
It was a busy weekend at the farm, with native prairie planting, this, starting vegetable seeds, and other farm chores (including messing around with a new wifi network via cell data network, so far unsuccessfully). One of the tasks was to start the apple rootstock and scionwood I had received (purchased back in November for
Grafting Apple Trees and Starting Grape Cuttings Read More »
Saturday morning, I raced the Ken Woods Road Race, with my sister, riding 84 miles in an hour and half, about twice as long as any other ride I have done this year. Despite my complete exhaustion, when we got to our family’s farm in southeastern Minnesota later in the day, I began a project
The First Experiment: Site Preparation for Native Prairie on Clay Subsoil Read More »
