Hot Water Seed Scarification @oxbowfarm5803

Uploaded April 2017 | Updated September 2026, 9 hours ago

Just a short video on scarification of seed using near boiling water. This is a process useful for increasing germination rates of many kinds of undomesticated/semi-domesticated plants like many ornamentals, herbs, perennials, and trees. Domesticated crop species pretty much never require this kind of thing because they've had germination inhibition selected out of them as one of the first steps of domestication.

I'm specifically scarifying Woad in this video, Isatis indigotica běi bǎn lán gēn (or is it Isatis tinctoria?). We are planning on growing this one out experimentally as an herb crop.

The scarification protocol I'm using is basically one I cribbed off of F.W. Schumacher's website. They are a fine seed company for tree, shrub and perennial seeds, but Youtube won't let me link to them in the video, so here's a link. treeshrubseeds.com/catalog

Semi-Cultivating Wild Willow- Coppices and Pollards and Beavers. Oh My!

Logging with a Single Ox and a Homemade Arch

Hewing Bigtooth Poplar - 2020 Axe Cordwood Challenge (with a Harbor Freight Axe)

Cordwood Challenge - Stacking Axe-Cut Wood

Vegetable Variety Review : Upstate Abundance Potato

Phantom Bevel Jersey Restoration Part 3- To the Woods

$Phantom Bevel Jersey Restoration Part 1-The Head Ive had this rusty example of a classic phantom bevel Jersey pattern head for some time, very similar in profile to a Kelly Perfect. It may even be a Kelly Perfect, but whatever stamp this head had at one time has been eliminated by rust and pitting. It has also been very badly abused by a previous owner, with lots of mushrooming from repeated hammer blows to almost every surface other than the bit itself. But after filing off the mushroom areas and taking the edge down to bare metal, this old head is fully capable of going back in the woods and holding its own. Ive read many discussions online about the pros and cons of older American heads with phantom bevels and high centerlines vs modern flat cheeked patterns. I honestly do not have a strong opinion either way, but tend to use the old style heads by default. By restoring and rehanging a classic head on a new handle you can have a fine axe at a fraction of the cost of a new axe of comparable size. This axe will be fully as capable in the woods as the equivlent axe of this size from Gransfors Bruks (the current axe manufacturer du jour on Youtube), which would be the American Felling Axe ( retails for almost $209.00). This axe will be hung for less than $25 all told in out of pocket costs, most of that for the handle. My personal views on heads like this is that it is completely pointless to try and remove every bit of rust, and to try and remove all evidence of pitting would probably weaken the axe beyond usability. I am merely removing the mushroomed areas and taking the bit down to bare metal so it can be honed later. The rest of the head will be given a coating of paste wax and eventually linseed oil which will fill the pore spaces in the rust and stabilize it. With proper handling and maintenance this axe head can still be useable for generations to come.$

Saving True Potato Seed- Small Batch Method