Totes rearranged

Even though it was rainy today, the temp was ok.  I didn't think it wise to damage my blankets by exposing them to the elements the rest of the winter. So I uncovered the totes and re-arranged the totes back to the front edge of the patio, except I put the smaller totes in the other direction, so they have the short-length is at the front, and not the long length.

I added leaves or shredded paper/cardboard as a top layer in each tote as insulation, like mulching around plants.  Then whatever worms survive, survive.  I'll pull the mulching back when I feed the worms and add new worms.

Another change

The bug guys were here yesterday and opened up the cedar chest so I was able to get my winter blankets out.  I moved the totes back outside because I didn't feel comfortable having them in the bedroom.  I wish I had a garage to put them in, but I don't.

I put some shredded paper/cardboard and some leaves in the totes for insulation  and covered them with the winter blankets.  Well see if any of the worms survive.  But I figured when I started and that's why I planned to buy worms each month, and I figured I would lose most of them through the winter.  So when the weather is better, I will put them back where they were along the front edge and then cover them with blankets when the weather gets below freezing.

Using up coffee grounds

I've got an abundance of coffee grounds that I've just been keeping outside.  Finally tonight I got most of them ready to put in the totes.

I put quite a bit in each tote, a shallow layer on top of each and then worked about the top 2-3 inches of soil to mix it in.  I think I will stop collecting the grounds, especially the filters, except for the Keurig cups in the trash can near the coffee station

Feeding the worms

Now that I have the totes inside, it will be much easier to feed them on a systematic basis with my food scraps and compost materials.

For food scraps, they now consist only of egg shells, banana peels, and coffee grounds.

The banana peels, I put one in each tote as I have it.  I dig a hole to the very bottom of the tote, leaving only a thin layer of dirt underneath.  I've decided to vary my holes.  For each tote, I will alternate between digging the holes in right back, center back, left back; right middle, center middle, left middle; and right front, center front, and left front.  I've done center middle for the 5 totes in the bedroom, and left middle for the 2 totes in the closet.  I'll start with the back left to right next, and then the center, and then the front.  By burying the banana peels, I hope to aid decomposition and prevent smelling.  Also, I hope to get the worms moving around in the totes.

The egg shells -- I'm going to search for a small appliance that will crush them into a powder, as I've seen them used that way on YouTube.  I think a small coffee grinder will do the job.  And then I'll spread them evenly in the totes, just raking them into the soil.  I also need to get a small hand rake for the job.

The coffee grounds -- I have quite a few, and will just spread them evenly over the surface of each tote and rake them into the soil.  I think I will do one scoop at a time.

Now that I've got my instapot, I might start having more food scraps to use.  If so, I will bury them like the banana peels, rotating the totes as I use up the food scraps.  Lisa sent me an egg rack and a small pan to use in the instapot.  I'm going to get supplies today to make devilled eggs for a treat for Christmas Day.

I plan to buy two containers of worms with my check on the 3rd, to increase my worm population now that I have the totes inside.

I'm also looking for a grow lamp to start my seeds indoors instead of buying the plants.  I have one in my shopping cart at WalMart that sells for about $45, and it seems ample to grow my seedlings.  I am going to put more into the totes than I originally planned.  I want to plant some cool weather crops ahead of the summer crops.  The cool weather crops being some lettuces and peas, etc.  Of course also a lot of flowers to bring in the pollinators.  Otherwise, I plan to do a lot of hand pollinating for my cantaloupes and watermelons.  I'm debating whether to do some cukes.

Thank you, Mom

Today is my 72nd birthday.  In
June 2013, at the age of 65 1/2, I faced heart surgery.  Without it I faced death in a few.months as my body shut down, in great pain, due to my CGHF
  But the surgery itself was high risk that I would die a sudden death during tje.operation.  I opted for the operation and.told the Lord, thy will be done, it's ok if I live or die.

When I woke from the surgery, I knew I was alive because the voices I heard were neither God nor Satan.  Then I instantly thought, thank you Mom.

I didn't know why I was thanking my Mom.  Over the years, I felt it was because she wanted to bring me home but consented to let me stay, and that was the deciding factor.

Today I found out for sure through personal revelation, that is what happened.  Not because I was asking, but because of the Lord's tender mercies towards me.

My Mom did indeed want to being me home.  She pleaded with the Lord for Him to take this opportunity to bring me home, and not make me have to stay, because I would never be okay after the surgery.  Even though I had a very miraculous recovery from that health crisis, I have had one health crisis after another ever since, and she knew I would.

The choice was left up to my Mom, and the Lord would do as she asked, but it was His will for me to stay.  It was a remarkable leap of faith for my Mom to yield her will to His, and say, Thy will be done.  And she took that leap.  For that she is exalted, with my Dad.

I was given a promise of 7 years after that near-death experience in 2013, and I thought for years that meant how long I would live.  Then over the last few months I've felt I will live much longer than that.  Today sitting thinking about those events, I felt maybe there will be another healing.  The pain is bad, and I've taken myself off the tramadol for pain, and riponerole for restless legs, so it's even worse than before.  Plus the restlessness at times is unbearable, and causes me to not be able to sleep.  And when I do sleep for very long, longer than about 4 hours, the back pain is even worse, so I'm either so fatigued from lack of sleep, or in really bad back pain.  But I'm hopeful my feeling is correct, and there is another healing for me, and I will be able to be much more active and do a lot more, pain free.

I also felt this afternoon that my financial situation will be improved in the coming months, with more money coming in so I can live more comfortable, although I do get by on what I make, some months it's by the grit of my teeth.  But I'm very thankful I have not had to reduce my fast offering, and I've not had to get groceries from the church.  Some neighbors shared some of their food with me last week, and it has made a big difference in being able to make it through this month.

Minor adjustment

The temperature in the coat closet is warmer than in my bedroom, so I took the wheelchair apart further by removing the foot rests and moved it and its attachments to the coat closet and the black tote (#5) to the bedroom closet.  So now all of the totes are in the bedroom.  I keep the door closed to keep the temperature down and since I don't use the furnace but instead use the space heater it is of course cooler in there.  And I use the heated mattress pad when I sleep and two blankets. 

Completing the change

Today I brought in the large totes and put them in the bedroom.  I had to re-arrange the bedroom to make room for them all.  I have pictures of how I've arranged them.  The black tote is in the coat closet in the hall, and one of the grey totes is in the master closet, and the rest are just in the bedroom.

I numbered them according to the order I bought them, not according to how they are going to be arranged on the patio when I put them out again in the spring.

I noticed some baby worms under tote #6 when I pulled it up from its stakes, and I put them in the tote.  I don't know if they came out from the holes on the bottom of the tote or crawled up from the ground.  They were very small and thin.

I took the temperature control out of the fridge and put it in tote #1, the clear plastic tote.  I wanted to check the temperature of the room, which started out about 50 right after I brought the tote in and then increased to about 68.  Now I put the control right on top of the dirt to see if it goes down any.  After leaving it awhile, it was at 60 degrees.  I'll leave it laying on top of the soil.  When I get the ph tester I'll look for one that tests the temperature of the soil, too.

Online stuff says the ideal temp for the warms is from 50-70. but the soil is usually cooler than the air temperature.

I did dig around tote #1 to re-arrange the dirt so it would all warm up the same, and did see some worms.  I think they were surviving but not thriving, and I need them to thrive in order to eat all of my compost.  Most of them were small, but I did see this larger one.

Major change

During the night I couldn't sleep and was thinking on how cold this winter is and how my worms are not faring well because of the cold. I watched some YouTube's where people talked about having to keep worms inside during the winter in cold climates.  The last couple of years I probably would have been okay, but this winter is too cold.

So during the night I had a decision to make based on the answer to a simple question: do I want to use worms in my composting?  If so, I need to bring the totes inside for the winter.  I decided I want to use worms and so I started bringing in the totes.

So far, I have all of the 18-gallon totes brought in.  The black one is in the coat closet and the grey ones are in my bedroom. 

Since I got my space heater in the mail yesterday, I have been using it instead of the furnace in the LR, so the bedroom will be a little cooler, but not cold.  We'll see how the worms do inside.

Just Men Made Perfect

Yesterday I was musing about why I am so interested in Family History.  And it came to me why.  D&C 76 gives the answer.  Thinking of my Dad and the others that I've seen in a prayer circle on my behalf.

In D&C 76, it describes the inhabitants of the terrestrial world this way:  "These are they who are honorable men of the earth, wo were blinded by the craftiness of men."  This perfectly describes my father and others of my ancestors.  I believe I have thousands of ancestors that fit this description.  Many of them were born during a time when the Church was not upon the earth, and others, like my father, into areas already seeped in Catholicism.  They lived what they were taught.

Then it describes the inhabitants of the celestial kingdom.  "These are they who are just men made perfect through Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, who wrought out this perfect atonement through the shedding of his own blood."

My Dad and others were in the terrestrial kingdom not because they did not believe in Jesus and God, but because they lacked the wholeness of the Gospel and the ordinances that are so necessary.

Family History work is so these honorable people can become just men and women made perfect through the wholeness of the Gospel and through the necessary ordinances.  As I've said, thousands of my ancestors and blood relatives through those ancestors will inherit the celestial kingdom through Family History work.  I am very blessed to be able to do this work for them.

Totes 5 and 6 are frozen

I went out today to feed the totes 5-7, and only got 5 and 6 done.  It is still quite cold outside.  5 was pretty solidly frozen for the depth of about 2 inches and around the sides of the tote.  6 was frozen on the top but not so deep and so bad. Tote 7 wasn't frozen on the surface, but just around the sides, and especially on the east side.

I fed all of the totes some banana peel, burying them deep in the tote so the worms can get to them if they survived, and so they will have best chance of composing without the benefit of worms.  And then I spread some coffee grounds around.

I didn't see any live worms in the totes but I expect that to survive they burrow down as far as they can go and clump themselves together.  I didn't search the entire bins just to find some live worms.  I will get more worms on Jan 3.  I expect that I will lose some worms, if not all, due to the cold spells, and that's why I buy more new worms each month.  When it warms up again, they will start thriving again and multiply and I'll have plenty of worms to work my tote gardens next spring/summer.  But I did read online that even if the worms don't survive the cold spells, if they've laid eggs, the eggs will.

Snow

It snowed during the night on Sundau night though we didn't get much moisture on Sunday. Here are some pictures of the snow when I woke up during the night
  I hope my worms survive.  It didnt get as cold this storm as it did before.

Too nice not to do worm towers 5, 6, and 7

It's really pleasant working in the patio garden today because it's in the upper 50s and no wind, and plenty of sunshine.  So I took advantage of this very nice weather, and knowing about the upcoming winter storm, to go out and work in totes 5, 6 and 7, removing their worm towers and adding in more shredded paper and wetted leaves.  I didn't add food scraps to these 3 totes because I didn't have them, and they have plenty of food for the worms.  As with the other totes, I didn't put the white bags back when I finished, nor the worm towers.

In fact, during the process of working the contents around, going down to the bottom as I have with the other totes, and really breaking up the contents, I saw a number of worms.  Some in each tote, but mostly in the strawberry tote.  It's my 1st tote, the one that I first started to add worms to, and so it has had them the longest.  And some of them look like they've been there for awhile.  I don't recall when I started added worms, the date, but my blog will indicate when.

I am very pleased that the contents are decomposing as expected.  I don't recognize any of the end-of-garden pieces that I added in as compost as I finished up the plants.  And the paper is quickly going away.  When I added the shredded paper and wet leaves this time, I was sure to wet the paper down and mix in the paper and leaves with the other contents to help it decompose better.  It certainly has added to the depth of each tote.

Here are some pictures of worms that I saw today.

4th worm tower out and more compost added

Beautiful day again today, before the next winter storm hits this weekend.  Wonderful opportunity to work in the patio garden.

I removed the 4th worm tower today -- in one of the 18-gallon totes that's going to be home to a indeterminate tomato plant next spring.  I saw a worm in it, a thin but long one, not as fat as some that I've seen but definitely healthy.  But it was inside the worm tower so they definitely do work.  I dumped it out with the contents of the worm bin. I didn't see any other worms as I was working in the tote, but I wasn't looking for them.

I added some fresh table scraps -- a couple banana peels and some egg shells -- and dug up all the contents and tossed it about.  The bottom part is composting well, and I see less and less of added composting materials.  So it is doing the job as I counted on.

I then added more composting material -- shredded paper and wettened and crushed leaves.  Except I didn't do a very good job of crushing these leaves.  I added a layer of each and then dug up the soil again to mix them in lightly with the soil so they would compost faster.  I also added some water to the shredded paper, even though the leaves were wet, so I could add some moisture to the tote.

I covered the tote up again with the black plastic, but as I did with the first 3 totes, I did not put the white bag back in it and I kept the worm tower out for the rest of the winter.

Over the last two days I've been working with a bag of leaves that I took out of one of the totes and crushing the leaves.  I've reduced the volume in the bag about 2/3.  I'll do the same with the remaining leaves that I have that are still dry.  I don't have a mechanical way to shred the leaves, so I am using my feet and hands.  The cloth bags protect me from being scratched or punctured with the small twigs that the leaves are attached to, and they don't tear, whereas the plastic bags will tear.

I've also been converting my dowel pieces from cutting down the dowels used as stakes for the totes into shavings, which I can add to my compost materials.

I'm thinking about putting in a fence along the front edge to make the porch more attractive, and then thought, the fence would prevent the plants from getting full sun next spring/summer, so I thought maybe I would put up a fence only to the height of the bins.  I think I'll do a white picket-type fence.  The panels I had on 3rd floor come in 4-foot heights IIRC, and I can have them cut to any length and height I want, as 4-feet will be too tall for what I want.

Rethinking my strategy

I've decided to dispense with the worm towers for the winter.  I got all 7 made, the last 2 had extra large holes for the worms.  I've decided to work more shredded paper/cardboard and leaves into the soil over the winter, for more composting and put the food scraps directly into the soil through the rest of the winter, and then save the worm towers for when I start to plant to I don't have to dig around the growing roots in the totes. As I store the worm towers over the winter, I'm going to increase the size of the holes for the worms and maybe shorten them all to about the same height.

I worked one tote according to the new plan today -- the watermelon tote.  I saw three worms as I was thoroughly mixing up the soil that was already in it, which made me very happy.  I took out the worm tower and added a couple inches more of shredded paper and leaves, and then worked all that into the dirt loosely, plus one banana peel and four egg shells, and then put the plastic cover back over it.  If the weather gets severe again, then I will put some of my extra bags of paper/cardboard and leaves into the totes to keep the worms warm.

I went out this morning and put down the stakes for the last tote to anchor it to the ground, but I forgot my tape so I still have that to do, plus put in extra ties around the stakes in the cantaloupe bin.

And I'm going to go out again and pick up the leaves from the front porch area so they don't keep blowing into the building.

Preparing for next year's drip irrigation

The weather has turned cool again, so I didn't do much outside.  I did saw off the excess of the dowels I've used to secure the totes, added a 4th worm tower to a tote, and covered the strawberry tote in black plastic.  Now all of my totes are covered in black plastic and I have 3 more totes to add worm towers to.  

When I covered the strawberry tote, I noticed the other totes have more give than I like.  That is because I only strapped one of the three dowels to the tote.  I'll have to add more strapping when I do the final tote with dowels.  

Now I'm looking at ways to do bucket drip irrigation -- my goal is to eliminate DAILY filling the bucket, as I do not have an outdoor water source.

I found this website that talks about using rain collection barrels utilizing gravity for the drip irrigation, https://www.bluebarrelsystems.com/blog/gravity-feed-irrigate-rain-barrels/.  The following is what it has to offer:

1. Water will keep seeping downward until it has nowhere else to go. That means as long as your drip line stays below the water level in your tanks, you can irrigate with gravity.
2. Friction loss, caused by water moving along the inside of a pipe, limits the distance water will travel on a flat site. If your site is completely flat, you can expect about 20 – 25 feet of distribution through a 1/2″ main line.

So, given the size of my patio and the placement of my totes, I should have a separate drip water system for my strawberry tote because it is lower than the others, unless I put it up on a frame.  Otherwise, my system will be flat and within the 20-25 feet of distribution.  If I don't elevate the strawberries, then I will need two systems.  From the video attached to the website, my patio is well within the distribution length they used to setup their system.  

From another website, https://www.practicallyfunctional.com/diy-rain-barrel-stand-multiple-rain-barrels/, I learned that it is better to connect the multiple buckets at the bottom, because then you can use one system that empties all of the buckets at the same time.  So I think what I need to have is 2 towers of 2 buckets each.  The bottom bucket in the first tower has the spigot to the drip irrigation system, and a connector from the bottom bucket of the 2nd tower.  The lid for the bottom bucket of the 1st tower has holes in it, and the bottom of the top bucket likewise has matching holes, so I can fill both buckets from the top bucket.  The 2nd tower has the same setup with the holes in the lid of the bottom bucket and in the bottom of the top bucket.  Using 5 gallon buckets, that will give me 20 gallons of water.  I can start off with 1 tower and see how long that lasts (10 gallons of water), and add the 2nd tower if it doesn't last at least a couple of days.  

I need to be sure to get opaque buckets so the sunlight won't foster algae growth.  And I will put a lid on the top bucket to keep out insects.  

Another beautiful fall day in Kansas

I want to take advantage of the beautiful fall weather so I am going out on the patio to finish up some more of my totes -- staking them to the ground so they will be sturdy against the wind next spring and get maximum sunlight.  Once I got out there, I noticed that the watermelon tote on the north side needed to have its handles trimmed so I could put it up against the wall, so I did that.

I got the watermelon tote dowels all drilled and dug, and attached to the tote, but forgot to put the tape before putting the cantaloupe tote in place, so I will use clothespins for now to secure the back side and go around the bushes to get to the backside of the tote on the next nice day.

I did the cantaloupe tote, using only two bags, and it worked fine.  I ran out of the pink duct tape and don't know where my roll of silver duct tape is so that was it for the day, and I was pooped anyway.

I have another smaller tote to secure the black plastic on the back side, and a black tote that I use to pull away to get access to the yard until I get this project all done that I have to secure the dowels to.  And the strawberry tote still has to have black plastic put on it.  but the preparation work is near completion.

Another worm tower put in place -- My 3rd

I cut this tower a little shorter than the others, and only made 4 rows of holes instead of 5.  I think this will work better for the depth of my totes.

I put this worm tower in the bin that I finished the plastic over, so all I had to do was lift the plastic over the back end and work with the soil.  In the process of digging a hole in the soil for the tower, I saw a worm, big and fat.  I was pleased and I took a picture.

I filled the tower with banana peels, egg shells, and coffee grounds.  I tried filling the tower in the kitchen, and the banana mixture worked okay, but the coffee grounds made a mess as they came out through the holes.

I didn't put any other materials in the tower, as I want to see how much the worms eat and that is difficult to do if I fill the tower up with leaves, etc.  Once I know that the worms are getting into the tower and eating the banana/coffee mixture, then I will put in some leaves and shredded paper.

I buried the tower to come to the top of the soil and re-covered it with the white bag and the black plastic. I don't cover the towers as the lady does in the video to prevent rodents and other animals from getting into the tower, because the totes themselves are covered.  I also didn't add any water to this mixture, since I'm not adding dried leaves and dry shredded paper.

 You can see that there is still some composting material in the bin, so the worms will have something to eat if they don't go into the tower.

My banana mixture is from 4 small banana peels and 2 egg shells.  The coffee grounds are from 9 Keurig containers from the coffee station trash can, and 1 coffee filter with grounds from a neighbor.

I have another worm tower already cut and ready for use the next time I have some banana mixture and coffee grounds to put in, which should be day after tomorrow at the latest.

More prepping for next year

I envision that each tote will have black plastic on it that can just be folded back when planting occurs, and then put again around the plants.  To soften my costs, I am using recycled 13-gallon black plastic bags that came from bagging up clothing and stuff in the recent bug problem.

These pictures show the process of applying the black plastic.  I'm doing so in the winter because 1) that's when I have the black plastic bags to use, and 2) to help the worms keep warm through the winter.

1.  Secure the totes with stakes in the ground.  As per my previous post, most of these are done, and I used 3'long dowel rods to do so.  They go through the side lip of the tote and into the ground.

2.  Secure the black plastic to the sides of the tote that is secured to the ground.  I did this putting holes for the plastic to slip over the dowels and pink duct tape.  For this tote, I used three plastic bags because the openings had been taped for the bug problem, so their full width wasn't available for their full length.

3.  This is the way the tote looks with the secured bags draped over the back to expose the contents of the tote, and also with the white plastic bag in as insulation.

4.  Then I secured all bags at the front of the tote using clothes pins.  The black plastic should provide some warmth for the worms and help the composting along.  The pink tape that you see on the bag is just leftover from the bug problem.

Pay Day -- more worms and another worm tower

Today was payday so I purchased more worms at WalMart.  This carton had an abundance of worms in it, more than the 30 advertised.  I put about 4 in each tote and then some extra ones in the strawberry tote and the watermelon tote.

I added the 2nd worm tower today to the black tote.  I had 2 banana peels plus an overripe banana to make the most of the worm food, and then I added some leaves and shredded paper.  I suppose it will be a week or two before I know if the worm towers are working.

I got all but the strawberry tote covered today in black plastic.  The worms seem to like the warmer temps.

Worm towers

I've been thinking about how I am going to continue to feed my worms next summer when I have plants planted in the totes.  I'll risk disturbing the roots if I try to bury food for the worms, and I don't want it just sitting on top.  I sent my son Randy the YouTube videos I like about worm towers, and here are the links to them, so I don't lose them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37yz2sMjHlE&t=648s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlOKwEk_kw0&t=10s

So I thought this morning that I can make my own worm towers in each tote, like she has in each of her beds, and I can use used 2-liter pop bottles for the worm towers.  I can place them in the totes now to get an idea of how much the worms are eating, and in the spring when I plant, I can keep them in the totes poking up slightly through the black plastic so I can add food to them without disturbing the plants.


I had two used pop bottles in the trash that I retrieved to use for my first two worm bins.  I made holes in one of them and cut off the top, and I'll bury it a little later today.  Here is a picture of the pop bottle I used.

I used a 3/8 inch drill bit to drill the holes, and some are larger because the plastic tore a bit.  

Here is a picture of the bottle in place in the tote.  I put some leaves in it to start it off and will add some coffee grounds, egg shells, and banana peels as soon as I get them tomorrow (pay day).  

It is flat against the bottom of the tote and sticks up a bit above the ground. I'll cover it with the bag of leaves I have on the tote, and also some black plastic that I will add tomorrow because I have to get more clothes pins to secure the bags to the totes.  

This is all an experiment.  Over the next several days, I'll get more towers made and inserted into the totes and see how they work to feed the worms.  

I always buy worms on pay day once a month because I don't know how many I am losing for one reason or another, so when I put the share in the one bin, I will put them inside the worm tower to have them make their way out of it.  

First and Last Frost Dates

I'm taking advantage of these cold winter months to make preparations for next year's garden.  We had another cold spell over the last few days, but didn't get much moisture with it.  I did get some 13-gallon black plastic bags to use for leaf compost and to cover the compost totes to keep the soil and worms warmer.  I've got all but 2 of the totes covered.  So I have bags of compost materials in white bags on top of the soil content, then the tote is covered with black plastic.  I think I will use the black plastic to make the soil warmer in the spring and also to prevent excessive rains from drenching the soil.  I've thought about using a lot of leaves to make mulch to cover the soil area in each tote, but am considering using black plastic on top of that for warmth and moisture retention.

I checked the first and last frost dates for Pratt KS and the Old Farmer's almanac says April 26 and October 9, with a growing season of 165 days.  Using black plastic should warm up the soil sooner and having frost protection for the young plants should move that date up some.  And of course, frost protection in the fall, in case I'm still in a gardening mood, will extend that day.

“This could feel like the never-ending winter, particularly in the Midwest and east to the Ohio Valley and Appalachians, where wintery weather will last well into March and even through the first days of spring,” says Almanac editor Janice Stillman.  "The middle of the country and New England can bank on a slush fund, as 'more wet than white' conditions will leave sludgy messes that freeze during the overnights." And then next summer is expected to bring searing temperatures to the Great Plains.  

We'll see if these predictions are correct -- unfortunately, so far they are.

Towers in the Book of Mormon

When I thought of towers in the Book of Mormon, I immediately thought of the tower near the temple that King Benjamin built so he could address his people in that amazing farewell speech.  All of the Book of Mormon readers that I know envision Benjamin's voice being carried to a greater distance when he spoke from the tower.  But I wonder if there was more to his tower than just an elevated podium.

The Book of Mormon mentions tower 26 times.  The two in 2 Nephi are part of Isaiah's teachings, so don't say anything to the use of towers in the Book of Mormon.  The one in Omni refers to the Jaredites who came to the Americas after the Tower of Babel incident.  Two usages are in Mosiah, talking about King Benjamin's tower.  That leaves 21 usages.

The next couple of references in Mosiah are to towers that the people of Limhi built in the Land of Nephi.  The first one was built near the temple, "yea, a very high tower, even so high that he could stand upon the top thereof and overlook the land of Shilom, and also the land of Shemlon, which was possessed by the Lamanites; and he could even look over all the land round about."  This observation tower may have been equipped with a telescope.  Many don't think of the Nephites as being very inventive, but that's faulty thinking.  There is sufficient evidence in the Book of Mormon to demonstrate their genius at inventions.  The tower near the temple is refenced twice again in Mosiah.
King Noah built another tower, "a great tower . . . on the hill north of the land Shilom, which had been a resort for the children of Nephi at the time they fled out of the land."  

Alma talks about every land of the people of Nephi having a tower in the days of Moroni, about 73 B.C..  36 And it came to pass also, that he caused the ^atitle of liberty to be hoisted upon every tower which was in all the land, which was possessed by the Nephites; and thus Moroni planted the standard of liberty among the Nephites.

Also in the days of Moroni, he built towers in every fenced city as part of their protection. 4 And he caused towers to be erected that overlooked those works of pickets, and he caused places of security to be built upon those ^atowers, that the stones and the arrows of the Lamanites could not hurt them.

In the days of the kingmen, they were compelled to put the standard of liberty upon their towers:  20 And the remainder of those dissenters, rather than be smitten down to the earth by the sword, yielded to the standard of liberty, and were compelled to hoist the ^atitle of liberty upon their towers, and in their cities, and to take up arms in defence of their country.

But they also had many towers in the land of the Lamanites during these wars, as Alma tells us in chapter 48: 1 And now it came to pass that, as soon as ^aAmalickiah had obtained the kingdom he began to ^binspire the hearts of the Lamanites against the people of Nephi; yea, he did appoint men to speak unto the Lamanites from their ^ctowers, against the Nephites.  
Amalickiah did this in order to rally an army to go against the Nephites.  Amalackiah was successful in the use of towers to raise a substantial army, so great a number that he thought their sheer number alone would gain the advantage over the Nephites.  

Mormon tells Moroni about the tower of Sherizzah, which the people evidently used to flee the Lamanties in Moroni 9:  7 And now I write somewhat concerning the sufferings of this people. For according to the knowledge which I have received from Amoron, behold, the Lamanites have many prisoners, which they took from the tower of Sherrizah; and there were men, women, and children.

It looks as though these were multi-purpose towers used for communication amongst the broader national community as well as safety for the individual communities.  We don't have anything in the Book of Mormon that relates how far each tower could communicate, but we assume from King Benjamin's situation of having to send out the text of his sermon to those beyond his tower that at least at his time there were people outside the communication limits of his tower.  Like in our day, where television and radio towers only have a certain radius of communication.  However, did they have national stations that could broadcast to several local stations, as we do, or did they broadcast from station to station as a chain event?  Those who think the Nephites enjoyed a relatively small possession of land, will necessarily believe they were limited in their scope.  Those of us who believe the Nephites occupied a much larger, contential-size area, have another reason to understand why the Nephites, and the Lamanites, could communicate so well with each other while spread across a vast territory.