Earthships and Permaculture!

[Darfield]

Hello all...here for my yearly check in. :|( We moved into our earthship in December 2012 and promptly put the brakes on anything else for a while. We were pretty exhausted. But last summer I started the design process for permaculture on our land. On Father's Day weekend we had a permablitz and the look of the place really changed.

1427For some reason I can't seem to upload a picture here!

Is there anybody else practicing permaculture? We have Sepp Holzer style high beds, a hugelkulture bed, perennials (edible landscape), etc.

[Darfield]

Mrs. M...you are still welcome to come and visit!!!:)

[iris lilies]

"permaculture " is the new buzzword, that's for sure. I'm not sure why raised beds are part of permaculture, but all power to you and yours of the permiculture culture.

Last Sunday our home garden and lot was on the local Sustainable Tour:

http://www.sustainablebackyardtour.com/grassrootsgreenstl.com/Home.html

This tour highlights Urban gardens.

I was busy at the Lily Show and couldn't hang out to greet people, but DH was out there talking up his 21 fruit trees, his raspberries and grapes (not many of the latter) his columnar apple trees and his huge vegetable garden with his unique staking of tomatoes. He hauled out his ancient apple cider press, his apple corer, his cherry pitter, his dehydrator and other equipment to show people. I was hoping that these visitors to the yard, about 100 of them, wouldn't notice the dead brown stuff in my garden paths because that is evidence of Round Up and they all frown on that. Roundup is not politically correct with this group.

[catherine]

Hey, Darfield! Cool--great to hear from you.. I checked the date to make sure this wasn't a resurrected one from months ago.

Too bad your upload didn't work--I'd love to see your place. ETA: I just looked at your website and wow, cool permaculture design!!!! Beautiful!! I'm so jealous. Actually the part of your yard with the pergola looks a little like my own design--I've integrated a pergola and firepit and raised beds. Being that I own a typical suburban plot, I certainly don't have room for the other zones that you have. Very exciting for you.

I am very much a permaculture novice--I got my PDC two years ago, but that was like passing the written driver's test without ever having driven around the block. So, I've been implementing practices very slowly but surely. DH and I have withstood a lot of fights to get from our old practice of MiracleGro to organic fertilization. I've been adding edibles like blueberries one at a time to be sure I don't kill everything all at once. I've gotten much better at composting, which is one of my favorite practices because it's just a miracle of a process for me to witness, and we also installed a rain barrel with which I water my garden.

But to IL's point, and to elaborate on the permaculture thing, I don't see permaculture as being one or two sustainable gardening techniques. Sure those techniques can be part of a permaculture plan, but to me it's really a holistic mindset of values, and I always reference David Holmgren's permaculture flower, with its multiple "petals" of land & nature stewardship, building practices, tools and technology, education and culture, health and spiritual well-being, finances and economics, and land tenure & community governance. To focus as a permaculturist on ONLY the land and nature stewardship is to be a nutritionist that only eats beans.

Well, that's my soapbox speech for the morning. I know I'm preaching to the choir, but these are just my general thoughts. As far as my own attention to those other "petals," I am into economic alternatives, spiritual ecology, buying local, and a few other practices that fit under this umbrella.

IL, I'd love to to spend an afternoon with you/your DH to learn more about growing, and fruit trees. I am dying to plant a couple of fruit trees in my BIL's yard next door (which is a blank slate--drives me crazy because it's nothing but lawn and that's the way he likes it. I suggested planting a tree, and he said, "What if I want to build a swimming pool." ??? Although if I recall your thinking about trees, maybe you'd be on his side--or at least you'd lobby to turn it from lawn to flower garden--with plenty of irises and lilies of course!)

Anyway, great to see you, Darfield!

[Darfield]

We went through an 8 month process of creating a holisticgoal for the land and our lives, which included how we wanted to integrate our daily lives into the land and community. We assessed climate data and other information about the property (like soil type and water sources/flow, etc). We mapped our property to contour lines of 1 meter using a clinometer, compass and tight chain.

It wasn't until then that we brainstormed with Javan Bernakevitch of Permaculture BC and Gord Hiebert of Element Eco-Design about a permaculture plan for our former industrial land (and I love trees!).

The raised garden beds were a nod to aesthetics in the front yard, although we could've included another huge hugelkulture bed in their place. Plus, we are now getting a bit older (!) and being able to pick veggies at 2 or 3 feet is kind of a bonus.

The Sepp Holzer high beds are to create a micro-climate in the yard. We have south/north winds in this valley and this should (after our fruit trees and edible shrubs/herbs) grow for a few years, create a nice windbreak. Also, we are right next to a major highway and these high beds will also create a noise barrier.

Although Chris and I have never taken a permaculture course, it is our understanding that it is essentially a set of ethics and philosophies meant to mimic the natural rhythms of nature, both in "gardening" and in life. When the land gives you abundance, you re-invest that in the land and in life, either by making the land, your own lives, your community and your world, healthier places.

It all sound so touchy feely, but it makes sense to me!

You are always welcome to come and visit! Not sure where you are from but we are tucked away in central interior BC, Canada. As far as planing a fruit tree I say buy one, dig a hole and do it!

Permaculture practices allow us to grow food just as well without chemicals..so yes, permies are pretty much dead set against the "devil's own brew" of roundup...


Hey, Darfield! Cool--great to hear from you.. I checked the date to make sure this wasn't a resurrected one from months ago.

Too bad your upload didn't work--I'd love to see your place. ETA: I just looked at your website and wow, cool permaculture design!!!! Beautiful!! I'm so jealous. Actually the part of your yard with the pergola looks a little like my own design--I've integrated a pergola and firepit and raised beds. Being that I own a typical suburban plot, I certainly don't have room for the other zones that you have. Very exciting for you.

I am very much a permaculture novice--I got my PDC two years ago, but that was like passing the written driver's test without ever having driven around the block. So, I've been implementing practices very slowly but surely. DH and I have withstood a lot of fights to get from our old practice of MiracleGro to organic fertilization. I've been adding edibles like blueberries one at a time to be sure I don't kill everything all at once. I've gotten much better at composting, which is one of my favorite practices because it's just a miracle of a process for me to witness, and we also installed a rain barrel with which I water my garden.

But to IL's point, and to elaborate on the permaculture thing, I don't see permaculture as being one or two sustainable gardening techniques. Sure those techniques can be part of a permaculture plan, but to me it's really a holistic mindset of values, and I always reference David Holmgren's permaculture flower, with its multiple "petals" of land & nature stewardship, building practices, tools and technology, education and culture, health and spiritual well-being, finances and economics, and land tenure & community governance. To focus as a permaculturist on ONLY the land and nature stewardship is to be a nutritionist that only eats beans.

Well, that's my soapbox speech for the morning. I know I'm preaching to the choir, but these are just my general thoughts. As far as my own attention to those other "petals," I am into economic alternatives, spiritual ecology, buying local, and a few other practices that fit under this umbrella.

IL, I'd love to to spend an afternoon with you/your DH to learn more about growing, and fruit trees. I am dying to plant a couple of fruit trees in my BIL's yard next door (which is a blank slate--drives me crazy because it's nothing but lawn and that's the way he likes it. I suggested planting a tree, and he said, "What if I want to build a swimming pool." ??? Although if I recall your thinking about trees, maybe you'd be on his side--or at least you'd lobby to turn it from lawn to flower garden--with plenty of irises and lilies of course!)

Anyway, great to see you, Darfield!

[ToomuchStuff]

Mrs. M...you are still welcome to come and visit!!!:)

No longer here.

[Darfield]

What????

[ApatheticNoMore]

What????

She left the forum for various reasons (yea maybe someone has the thread but I'm lazy).