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SHTF Contingency Garden: Second Pass

Over the weekend I did the ‘first pass’ to create a new SHTF “contingency garden,” but I only ran the rotary plow in one direction (E-W) which left the garden plot a little bumpy (wavey) when traversed the other direction (N-S).

So, I decided to do a second pass yesterday, using the subsoiler/ripper to make N-S oriented rips spaced about 18″ apart.  Then tilled it again (N-S).  And finally ran the drag harrow over it in both directions.

While running the tiller and filming it with the Mavic Pro drone, the drone’s battery dropped to a critical threshold so the drone automatically aborted the circular orbit it was flying and envoked its return-to-home (RTH) feature to go land where it took off from and shut down.  However, as you’ll see below, the poor drone had to fight with attacking bees all the way back “home.”  😉

 

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Moo-Cow Check and Automated RTH Feature on the Mavic Pro Drone

It’s been raining pretty steady all morning, and the cows in the neighboring pasture have been more vocal than usual, so I put the Mavic Pro drone up (in the rain, yikes!) to run out and check on the cows …

… then climbed back up for the return home flight, but found the visibility in the rain to be a little worrisome, so I just hit the RTH (return to home) autopilot feature and had the drone fly itself back to the launch/landing pad.

It’s pretty damn amazing how much technology they’ve crammed in such a small drone.  Flies itself home by GPS, then lands itself using image recognition and sonar/radar/visual obstacle avoidance.

 

 

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Bluetooth Sleuth!!!

Product Endorsement: Bluetooth Finder App (BLE Finder)
 
Hello everyone. Just thought I would share this cool piece of technology.
 
Ever lose a bluetooth device of some sort (e.g. FitBit, Activity Monitor, Phone, Asset Tracker, …)?
 
I use SensorPush remote temperature and humidity sensors to monitor things on the ol’ homestead, for example the chicken brooder, greenhouse, etc.
 
The sensors and technology in general are very cool, but they cost about $50 each.
 
I recently misplaced a sensor somewhere in the barn. The SensorPush app on my iPhone registered that it could still sync with the sensor, and I was getting temp and humidity readings, but I had no idea where the sensor was. Drove me NUTS! Had to buy another sensor for the greenhouse as a result.
 
This morning, on a whim, I poked around on the Web to see if there were any technologies that might help me find a missing SensorPush sensor. Cut to the chase: couldn’t find a SensorPush-specific tool, but I did find a FREE app on the Apple App Store called Bluetooth Finder (or BLE Finder).
 
I just downloaded the app, walked out in the barn, and found the damn sensor buried in the dirt in the floor of the chicken brooder room. AWESOME!
 
It was actually sort of fun. The app ‘sees’ all bluetooth transmitters within the Bluetooth standard range (about 30 meters) and let’s you pick which one you want to ‘find.’ Then, it uses the tried and true cold … warmer … warm … getting hotter … hot … continuum we all know from childhood to walk you into the device’s location. When you get close enough, it transitions into a signal strength meter, which allows you to really zero into the device’s location.
 
Absolutely awesome piece of technology. Free. Fun. Just saved me $50.
 
Attaching pics of the BLE Finder app and the sensor I just found.