Off Grid Living with Michael David Part 2
City Slickers
What's a city slicker to me?
It really has nothing to do with where you live. So you're not one by living in the city only, I know plenty of city slickers living in the sticks.
Here is a perfect example of what I would call a city slicker:
I watch a lot of videos about microgreens. If you look them up on YouTube you'll see a guy called Donny Greens. His set up for micros is totally on point and he's crushed it in that game so I have mad respect for the dude.
However after like 5 years in the business he made a video about what to do with microgreens waste. It is in this video that he earned from me the official title "city slicker".
So he goes through all the ways he used to take care of his spent trays.
First he was saving them in wheel barrel until he could move them...
Then he was storing in a large bin that some farmer took. (Pretty sure this was the only smart thing he did with them)
Eventually, he's been through multiple buildings as he scaled and all that. He's producing tons of "waste" now and has plenty of extra space to grow in the newest building.
He talks about all the issues he had with this over the years and gets into detail. (He's great for detail.)
Talks about how rats were finding homes in them and shit...
Then he finds another farmer willing to take them if he brings them to him.
So he rents a U-Haul trailer. It's super apparent Donny spent time measuring and matching to get this to fit just right cause he ends up with these 96 gallon trash cans and the trailer he rents fits exactly 6 without needing to tie them cause they fit so perfect.
He has a hell of a time trying to get them up onto that trailer, fighting the trash cans the whole way...
Eventually he gets it loaded and heads off. Finds the guys place and it's just him, the guy is not there. There are a row of compost piles and he eventually gets them offloaded with some struggle...
and finally...
after all this...
he does what should have been done with them at least 5 years prior...
He throws them on the fuckin ground!
Wehaw!
We got ourselves a city slicker!
Here is why that is a city slicker.
Can you picture what spent microgreen trays are?
It's fucking coconut coir and cut off seedlings. It's literally like compost gold. High nitrogen to carbon ratio already and it's like perfect to turn into compost. It practically will do it all for you.
All you actually have to do...
which he didn't do in 5 years...
is put it on the ground.
That's it, no trailer, no paying people for things, no struggling with a big can you over filled and now can't move.
You just put it on the fucking ground.
Now, I know what you're thinking, he's in the city, he might not be able to have a pile out back.
Very true.
That is the precise reason a barrel composter was invented.
A barrel composter can be used outside without neighbors complaining...
or inside of a grow space and it even gives off beneficial CO2 for the plants.
It takes 2 weeks ish for that material to fully break back down and since you've done it inside there are no "extra critters" to be concerned with.
It took 3 weeks for him to finally fill all 6 barrels he bought and could barely move. Meanwhile molding as it sat (and around half of the seeds he planted were finally sprouting as well, meaning that around half of his actual crop was thrown out)
The best part is that compost can be mixed directly back into the coco coir on future rounds saving tons in media costs and providing more food for the greens which translates to bigger harvest or even faster harvest.
Now I'm not trying to make fun of Donny or put him on blast, I actually think what he did was tight and I was impressed with him for what he's accomplished. He just made such a perfect example of city slicker in his action.
I have not laughed more in at least 4 years than I did watching that video and his overwhelming struggle with this "waste product" that was really just thrown away money.
That move is record breaking city slicker.
Where I grew up we called this "Going around the outhouse to get to the bathroom".
It's like when the answer is staring you directly in the face and would have bit you if it was a snake and you're just not catching it because you're perception will not allow you to.
His perception was that it was waste.
I knew a ton of city slicker weed farmers that did something similar by throwing out their soil every single harvest. Tons of excuses about it being cleaner and shit. That soil only had plants in it for 3 months and they were convinced it went bad.
Meanwhile I was growing down the street from them and used the same soil for over 2 years inside.
Listen up folks....
Soil does not "go bad". You can get mold in it...
Oh well, dry it out, it's dirt.
It can get to much salt build up from using conventionally fertilizers for some likely convenience based reason that allowed you to forget that fert is actually just poop...
Oh well, run a bunch of water through it then dry it out, it's dirt.
Are you a city slicker?
So listen, if the only way you can see to get things done is money, you might be a city slicker...
If simple things like throwing something natural on the ground and waiting makes your brain hurt, you might be a city slicker...
If you have no idea where food (and other super essential things like good water) comes from, or think that potatoes grow on trees, you might be a city slicker...
...
However, if you live in the city and can tell a ripe fruit or veggie, you might not be a city slicker...
If you live in a city and know where your food comes from, you might not be a city slicker....
If you live in a city and understand things about life itself outside of the confines of a rat race then you might not be a city slicker.
It's like just being disconnected from what life actually is without a race to get somewhere. Not knowing where food, water, or other necessities come from or what it truly is.
It's not being able to survive without those walls around you that have enabled you have no idea what that means.
It' a specific ignorance that as a country boy I find pretty comical at times.
I don't hate city slickers or view them as lesser or anything, I'm just amused by them lol.
Cause I know that if shit hits the fan, many of them are the first to go...
That the smart ones are coming to a country boy like me for support cause they already know they don't know what to do if the things they have put all their faith in their whole lives fail.
Don't worry city slickers, I'm not being mean when I say it or call you one.
So don't let it get your goat...
If it weren't for city slickers I wouldn't have the computer I'm writing this on so thanks for all the hard work you put in.
I'm just letting you know that I know what's up and handing you a map to my place in case shit goes south.
Maybe you can bring some broken tech that we can harvest goodies off of.
Off Grid Living with Michael David Part 2 City Slickers
by Michael David
Co-founder of #thealliance and loyal since before the egg.
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