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Starting Mimosa From Seed

March 26, 2014 / jason / Comments Off

It’s that time of year again, spring. Every homesteader and gardener knows that spring time can be a hectic and eventful season where we try to start plants, plan crop rotations, and consider new livestock options for the homestead. I’ve been trying to accomplish a least 1 new homestead related activity everyday for the last few weeks, and it’s gone well. Between Emma’s Mushroom endeavor, and our new food forest, we’ve been plenty busy. Lately, I’ve been starting some support species from seeds, and I wanted to detail that process here with a specific nitrogen fixing tree. Mimosa.

Mimosa trees are both beautiful and extremely useful in permaculture design

Mimosa (Albizia julibrissin) is a short lived tree that is often considered an invasive species, although I’m not too worried about that, as it fixes nitrogen, improves soil fertility, attracts many insects, and is a beautiful permaculture plant in the garden. It is also easily shaded out by other trees, and though it coppices, is not a long lived species. We plan on using mimosa trees as a support species in our forest garden, and encourage permaculturalists in North America to consider this species as well.

Mimosa is easily grown from seed, and as we have a few on our property, I decided to gather some local genetics and propagate a few dozen more. The seed pods hang onto the tree way into winter making seed collection very easy. Even with our recent late winter ice storms, there are still some pods hanging around, though not as many as in January. I gathered some pods from 3 trees, 1 in our backyard, right where the food forest is going in, and 2 from by the pond.

dried mimosa seed pods, ready to be shelled

I then used my thumb to half shell half crush the pods and get to the tiny black seeds. This took a little practice, but I eventually figured out a system. After gathering about 50 or so seeds, I put some water on the stove to boil. I let this water cool for a few minutes, and then poured it over the mimosa seeds. This scarification process helps to break down the hard seed coat present on many legume seeds, and allows the seed to absorb water, thus beginning the germination process.

a hot water soak is often all it takes to help leguminous tree seeds germinate

I let the seeds soak overnight, and in the morning I planted only seeds that had swollen up into a tray. I’ll see what kind of germination I get, but I think it will be fairly good, as these growing mimosa from seed seems very similar to growing honey locust from seed.

plant only swollen seeds, as these are the ones that have absorbed water and will germinate quickly

These trees will go in around our fruit trees, and most will be sacrificed as mulch and fertility components. I may try an experiment and just pour hot water over the whole seed pods and see how that effects germination. It would save the somewhat tedious step of “threshing” the pods.

Anyway, our support species list is growing nicely, we have almost 300 seeds sown of honey locust, black alder, siberian pea shrub, and now mimosa. I cant wait to get them into the ground, and start building fertility!

Using Geoff Lawton’s Mineral Supplement Recipe to Revitalize the Land

March 25, 2014 / jason / 2 Comments

A huge problem in the world today is the constant erosion of our soil. Over many years, this process leads to nutrient deficient and dead soils that grow less nutritous plants every year. If we follow the food chain up, any livestock that eat these plants will suffer nutrient deficiencies, and any meat, eggs, or dairy that we obtain from these animals will likewise not supply a full spectrum of minerals and nutrients necessary for healthy life.

Livestock, such as chickens, can help us cycle nutrients and minerals back into the landscape.

One way to combat this unhealthy cycle, and remineralize the land, our livestock, and our food, is through the use of supplemental minerals. By feeding a full spectrum of minerals to our animals, in addition to high quality feed, not only do we improve the quality of their health, meat, and eggs, but we also improve the quality of their manure. By cycling these nutrients and minerals through livestock, they become bio-available to plants, which readily soak them up and perform better than ever. If we continue this cycle, and either mulch, compost, or feed these plants back to our livestock, we can rapidly increase the fertility of the land, and remineralize eroded and damaged landscapes, all while enjoying a bonus of the healthiest plant and animal products imaginable.

Geoff Lawton is where I first heard of this remineralization process, and his supplemental mineral recipe is great. This recipe is enough to feed to 1 dairy cow every day at milking or 10 chickens once a week.

Start by boiling up a cup or two of clean water.
Add 1 tsp. of copper sulfate. This worms the animals, but is a toxic compound that can poison them.
So, to neutralize the dangers of the copper sulfate, but still get the worming effect, add 1 tbsp. of dolomite lime.
To balance out the pH add 1 tbsp. of flowers of sulfur, an acidifying element to balance the alkaline effect of the lime.
Next, add 1 tbsp. of 2 types of rock dust minerals. For example, 1 tbsp. of greensand and 1 tbsp. of azomite.
Add 2 tbsp. of kelp, a dried mineral rich ocean product. This contains all of the minerals of the land (which all erode out into the ocean) in a slightly different form and ratio.
1/2 cup of apple cider vinegar. This adds more nutrition, and helps with the digestion of some of the minerals.
3 tbsp. molasses. An extra boost of iron, and a nice sweet taste makes this concoction a delicious treat for all livestock.

This mix is stirred together, added to a bucket of chopped forage, and fed to the animals. Geoff credits the bones of this recipe to Pat Coleby, an Australian author who writes natural animal care books for farmers and pet owners. Pat’s take is that animals do not have health problems or diseases, but rather are suffering from a nutrient deficiency, and that it is up to the farmer or pet owner to supply the correct nutrients and minerals. This treats the cause of the problem as opposed to the symptoms.

There is probably some wisdom there when it comes to our own health as well. Regardless, the first step is to remineralize the soil, and there isn’t a more efficient way than feeding a mineral supplement through your livestock and having them pre-process it for you into a plant ready state, creating an oasis of fertility and nutrient density in your backyard.

*Don’t forget to pre-order your Heritage Thanksgiving Turkey!

Nitrogen Fixing Trees in Our Food Forest

March 20, 2014 / jason / Comments Off

Yesterday I talked about using herbaceous support species in food forest design and establishment, and how both annual and perennial herbs and plants can perform many of the same functions as typical support trees. While this is true, I wanted to also point out some of the nitrogen fixing trees that we will be planting this year into our food forest as support species.

240 Support species started from seed, ready to germinate and go into our forest garden.

First on the list is honey locust. This is an awesome tree. It can be an overstory tree if you let it, but it coppices easily, making it a prime candidate for chop and drop mulching. It fixes nitrogen, and flowers for a long period of time in late spring and early summer, providing an excellent nectar source for bees. It also yields huge amounts of sweet tasting pods with edible seeds. The seeds can be eaten by humans, but chickens, cattle, and goats are especially found of them. Honey locust trees are easily grown from seed, provided they are soaked overnight until swollen, or nicked and soaked prior to planting.

Another support tree that we plan on planting is black alder. Black alder fixes more nitrogen per acre than any other native species. It grows rapidly, easily, and coppices. It’s eaves break down rapidly, increasing soil fertility above ground while it fixes nitrogen below ground. A pioneering species, black alder is often found growing in poor soils and wet sites. It’s wood is highly valued, especially for uses where it is submerged in water, such as docks. I can envision using some black alder poles as a base for a floating chinampa garden in our pond. Needless to say, we are excited about black alder.

Siberian pea shrub is another nitrogen fixing permaculture plant that will be interplanted among our fruit and nut trees. A tall growing shrub, it fixes nitrogen and produces a very high protein seed that is palatable to chickens and other livestock. I consider it a temperate climate version of pigeon pea, as it performs many of the same functions but is extremely hardy, to at least zone 3. Siberian pea shrub is easy to grow from seed; it germinates quickly after an overnight soak and thin sowing.

These are the three plants that I have going in a speedling tray at the moment. I planted about 240 of them, so there should be plenty to fill the gaps in our food forest, and we won’t feel so bad about cutting them down for mulch as the system progresses. Over the next few weeks, I plan on starting some more species, including mimosa, goumi, black locust, and russian olive. All of these support species fix nitrogen, and should supply ample fertility for our new food forest.

Herbaceous Plants as Food Forest Support Species

March 19, 2014 / jason / Comments Off

Emma and I are getting closer and closer to establishing the first iteration of our homestead food forest. A food forest is, not shockingly, a forest specifically tailored to produce edible food and is a probably the most well known and talked about aspect of permaculture.

A primary distinction between food forests and orchards, is that a food forest consists of multiple species that occupy multiple layers (tall canopy trees, vines, shrubs, groundcovers, etc.) and work together to create a sustainable ecosystem of abundance and self regulation. Compare this to a typical orchard, where fruit trees, often a single species or variety, are laid out in grids with only grass underneath. This is not a complete system, and farmers are thus required to spray herbicides to kill weeds, fertilize with chemical fertilizers, and truck in bees to pollinate their crop.

In a food forest, a fruit or nut tree is surrounded by a myriad of support species, all performing different functions to ensure the best possible outcome for the whole system. Think of these plants as the main fruit/nut tree’s entourage.

Typically, these support species have been nitrogen fixing trees and shrubs like leucaena and moringa in the subtropics, and black alder, locusts, and mimosa in the temperate regions. These trees grow quickly, nursing up the productive crops, while supplying nitrogen both above and below the ground via mulch or rhizo-bacteria.

But what about using herbaceous plants as support species? In a temperate climate food forest, this may be a great idea. Some advantages to using herbaceous plants are their quick growth in spring and summer, a rapid decomposition of green material, smaller sizes (which increase diversity in a smaller space) and the ability to use annuals.

Lets look at some of the options for herbaceous support species.

Comfrey (Symphytum sp.)

This deep rooted perennial is touted in every permaculture book and video as a dynamic accumulator of minerals, high protein animal forage, insect attractor, and medicinal wonder plant. And for good reason. We just received some comfrey root cuttings and will be selecting their homes soon.

Yarrow (Achillea millefolium)

This low growing perennial herb attracts beneficial insects, mines nutrients, and is also a well known medicinal. Though yarrow wont produce the copious amounts of mulch and biomass that comfrey will, it deserves a space in the forest garden.

Amaranth (Amaranthus sp.)

Amaranth comes in many shapes, sizes, and names, but it is a great annual “weed.” Grown for its nutritious edible seeds by both Central and North American cultures, amaranth plants can reach 8 ft. tall in a summer growing season, and some cultivars can produce 1 pound of tiny seeds per plant. The leaves are edible, for both animals and humans, and are some of the healthiest greens you can eat, right up there with dandelion.

Although it is an annual, it readily self seeds, and will pop up next year unassisted under most circumstances. Amaranth makes a great support species, especially early on in a food forest, because it is extremely drought resistant and has thick roots that travel deep into the soil. These roots break up compacted soil, and as they decompose, allow for efficient water infiltration in the system where its needed most. Lambsquarter (Chenopodium sp.) is a related plant that can serve a similar function.

Chia (Salvia hispanica)

We grew some chia this year, and were very pleased with our results. Geoff Lawton has been using chia to pioneer land into forest in Australia, and then harvesting the valuable chia seeds as a byproduct of food forest implementation. Chia’s blue flowers are extremely attractive to both honey and bumblebees, and I think their strong scent probably helps to confuse pests. Another annual, chia is easily grown from seed, and you are almost guaranteed to have volunteers popping up next year.

Jerusalem Artichoke (Helianthus tuberosus)

This sunflower relative can reach towering heights of up to 13 ft., topped with numerous pretty yellow sunflowers. Oh, did I mention its perennial? Sunchokes produce copious amounts of organic matter, attract bees and other pollinators, and also produce an edible tuber yield high in inulin. A very valuable crop in its own right, Jerusalem artichoke fits nicely in a fruit tree guild, especially if you have a pig tractor to run over them.

These are just a few examples of herbaceous support species that can be used in a food forest. Support species are critical to the success and health of forest garden systems, and these roles don’t always need to be filled by woody trees, bushes and shrubs. Having said that, we will definitely be using such plants in our system. In fact, just yesterday I sowed over 200 support tree and shrub seeds; a mix of honey locust, black alder, and Siberian pea shrub. Yet, like everything else in permaculture, a diversity of species is critical, and by including annual species in the mix, we will be able to stack more functions and yields into our new food forest, while making it more resilient and efficient.

What is Permaculture?

March 13, 2014 / jason / Comments Off

I’ve written a lot about permaculture on this blog. I’ve talked about different permaculture plants and techniques in the garden, but I haven’t really talked about permaculture as a concept, or even defined the word it is for those who may not be familiar with it. So here goes.

Permaculture is an ethical and ecological design science, with the goal of creating sustainable systems that provide for humanity.

Permaculture, as a concept, was created by Bill Mollison. The word itself is a combination of “Permanent” and “Culture,” and that is its main goal. To create permanent systems and cultures.

There are no rules, per se, in permaculture, but there are 3 ethics and a prime directive.

The prime directive is that: “The only ethical decision is to take responsibility for our own existence and that of our children. Make it now” ~ Bill Mollison.

The three ethics of permaculture are:

1. Care of the earth.

Pretty simple really. Don’t do anything that damages or destroys the earth. This might include spraying herbicides, clear cutting old growth forests, or planting millions of acres of monoculture row crops that require clear cutting forests and spraying hundreds of thousands of gallons of pesticides a year.

2. Care of people.

Also fairly simple. Don’t do anything that will hurt, or make another person ill. Using the pesticides example, it might not be a the best idea to spray extremely toxic chemicals in the lawn where your kids play, or your neighbor’s kids play, or anyone plays. How about damming up a river upstream and completely stopping the flow downstream? First, that would completely shatter the ecology of the river and the surrounding areas, thus violating the first ethic. Second, by damming the river, any people downstream who depended on it as a source of water for irrigation or drinking would be out of luck, a violation of the second ethic.

3. Return of Surplus to the first 2 ethics.

This one is a bit harder. The third ethic has been a source of controversy in the permaculture movement. I won’t get into that here, suffice to say that the third ethic calls for any surpluses that may arise from a system, be they yields of fruit, waste, by-products like organic matter such as leaves from deciduous trees, or knowledge from experimentation and experience, be somehow put back into the system in a way that strengthens it.

An example: fruit from an apple tree can be harvested and sold at a farmers market, the profit from the sale ensures the mortgage for the farm is payed, which ensures that the farmer can continue to produce healthy apples. There may be some apples that rot, or are damaged by bugs. These can be returned to the system by either feeding them to pigs or chickens, breaking the pest cycle, and fertilizing the tree with manure. As winter comes, the tree drops its leaves, and instead of raking them up and taking them to the landfill, the farmer lets them decompose at the base of the tree, providing mulch, and completing the nutrient cycle in preparation for another year of apple growing.

None of these actions violate any of the ethics. In fact, by utilizing the surplus of the system in an efficient and intelligent way, the permaculturalist avoids creating an expensive problem and instead makes his system stronger and more resilient.

Permaculture is more than the prime directive and ethics, though. There are many principles that help lay out the path towards sustainable design, and many techniques as well. These principles can be applied to anything, not just growing food, but also building houses, creating communities, and even planning weddings.

A great metaphor I’ve heard about permaculture compares permaculture design to a wardrobe. In your wardrobe you have different types of shirts, pants, socks, belts etc. and everyday when you get up, you have to decide which things you’ll wear based on your actions for the day, and especially based on the weather and nature. In permaculture, things like digging swales, establishing food forests, chop and drop mulching, and passive solar heating are all part of the wardrobe.

It falls to the individual to determine what will work and what won’t, based on observation and drawing from the wide base of global knowledge, traditions, and forgotten techniques. What tie matches the shirt. Not wearing a wool coat when it’s 90 degrees outside. Growing a deciduous vine like grapes along a southern wall to provide shade in the summer and reduce cooling bills, a delicious yield of fruit in the fall, and allowing the winter sun through to heat the home during the coldest part of the year. That’s permaculture.

Resources:

Permaculture Designer’s Manual by Bill Mollison

Gaia’s Garden by Toby Hemenway

Geofflawton.com ~ Some awesome, and inspiring videos by one of permaculture’s best teachers.

Giving Dogs Bones: The How and Why

March 11, 2014 / jason / 3 Comments

With the recent scares, recalls, and revelations of questionable ingredients in commercial dog food, it’s no wonder that many pet owners are looking for a better way to feed their canine companions. Homemade dog food is one, noble option that many, including us, have turned to.

Because dogs have co-evolved with humans for so long they can eat, digest, and derive nutrition from many of the foods that humans eat (check out NOVA’s Dogs Decoded Documentary, here on youtube, for more on the bond between dogs and us). That is, many of the foods humans used to eat. Hunter/gathers didn’t frequent McDonald’s, and your dog shouldn’t either.

One thing that is a great supplement to your dog’s diet are bones. Dogs love to chew on and eat bones. They have been doing it for thousands of years, both in the form of leftovers from humans, and from wild game they took down themselves.

Bones supply calcium, an essential mineral and nutrient for healthy canine growth, development, and well being. Without a healthy dose of bones, you must supply this calcium in other ways, either in the form of supplements or in egg shells. But the most natural way for dogs to obtain calcium is by eating bones.

Chewing on bones also helps to keep a dog’s teeth and gums healthy. If a dog doesn’t have bones to gnaw on, they may turn to other sources, such as your furniture, shoes, or tool handles. A nice bone session also lets a dog focus his energy, and is good mental stimulation. These kind of activities, like a long walk, can do wonders to improve poor behavior and help calm stressed or nervous dogs.

Our number one resource for all things pet health has been Dr. Pitcairn’s Complete Guide to Natural Health for Dogs and Cats, and in it Dr. Pitcairn lays out a few guidelines to consider when giving your dog bones. First, avoid chicken bones as they easily splinter and can hurt your pet. Try to focus on bones larger than your dogs head, so that they won’t be able to swallow it whole.

Don’t feed cooked bones, only raw ones. Cooked bones also tend to splinter and could be dangerous. Also, avoid feeding frozen bones because your dog may chip or break a tooth. Let them thaw out a bit first.

Dr. Pitcairn also recommends giving your dog a “bone fast” where he eats nothing but bones and has access to plenty of clean water all day. This simulates the natural conditions of predators, and can help clean out your dog’s system and keep him healthy and strong.

Here are some of the things we have learned while feeding bones to our young dog Bolt:

Always watch them carefully; Bolt can chew through a bone in almost no time, especially the epiphyses, or ends of the bone. These smaller pieces can become choking hazards.

Watch out for food aggression issues when feeding bones, especially with dogs that have shown this behavior before. When Bolt was little, he had some food aggression issues–we solved them–but a nice meaty bone can be sooo delicious that your dog may forget himself a bit, and get defensive over it. I try to make sure that he sits, and drops the bone before I take it, and I like to “trade” a piece of meat or other snack for the bone.

I wouldn’t give a dog a bone when other dogs are around. Again, such a treat could lead to a fight and some hurt feelings. If you have two dogs, separate them and give them each a bone to chew on.

As long as you follow a few simple guidelines, feeding your dogs bones is a great way to improve their nutrition, health, and behavior. Introduce bones slowly to their diet, and always watch keep an eye on them.

If you can’t or don’t want to feed raw bones to your dog, try making bone broth. Basically a super charged stock, where bones are cooked down in water (with a touch of vinegar or lemon juice) for hours until they turn to mush. When you can smush the bones between your fingers, it’s done. Add a scoop to the top of your homemade dog food for an extra jolt of calcium and other micronutrients that are present in the bones. Your dog will love it.

Random Farm Stuff: Spreading Seeds, Mulch, and a Garlic Update

March 6, 2014 / jason / Comments Off

Kuska Wiñasun Homestead is ready for spring. It’s been nice enjoying the winter weather and the change of the seasons, but I personally can’t wait to see those first dandelions and clover blossoms. The maples are budding out, but it’s still cold. We got more snow, ice, and sleet today, and it should continue into the morning.

This constant cycle of freezing and thawing should help the seed mix I broadcast this weekend by improving soil contact and moisture. I sowed a nice mix of perennial herbs, annual grains, and a few random vegetables thrown in for fun. The base of the mix was dutch white clover, a low lying leguminous perennial that fixes nitrogen and feeds the bees and chickens. To that I added a good bit of chicory, some plantain, alfalfa, vetch, and lambsquarter. I also mixed in some oats and wheat, as well as a packet of daikon radish, lettuce, spinach, chamomile, broccoli, cilantro, and old packet of yellow squash.

We’ll see what takes and what doesn’t, but there should be more than enough vegetation in the old chicken pens where I over-seeded the mix. If there are any blank spaces, we can follow up with some amaranth, chia, buckwheat, and some more lambsquarter after the soil warms up a bit.

Broccoli and cabbage seedlings starting to germinate.

There’s also been some vegetable seed starting. We have a flat of De Cicco broccoli and White Acre cabbage that has begun to germinate. After they gain some true leaves, and some strength, we’ll transplant them out in the garden for a nice early spring crop, and hopefully get the chance to make some lacto-fermented sauerkraut.

There haven’t been anymore hawk attacks on the chickens but they seem a bit more skittish than usual. We bought a bale of straw today from the feed mill, and they scratched it around all afternoon while they picked out seeds, weeds, and bugs. They’re great mulch spreaders, and a nice layer of manured straw should protect the soil from spring rains, lock up some of the extra nitrogen from the chicken poop, and slowly decompose into wonderful topsoil.

I pruned our dwarf apple trees a few weeks ago and am trying to get some of the cuttings to take root. Apples are normally propagated by grafting, but they can also be grown from cuttings under good conditions. I’m doing a mini experiment, and I have different sizes of cuttings from different trees, some cut below buds, some above buds, and some just tips of growth.

Apple cuttings in water with pieces of willow.

The majority of the cuttings are simply jammed into either our raised garden beds, or into the sides of our garden swales. The rest are on our kitchen table inside the house in a Mason jar filled with water and pieces of willow. The willow contains natural rooting hormones that encourage the growth of root.

The garlic has really perked up the last few weeks. We were worried for a while there that it had gotten too cold too soon for our garlic crop, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. I’ll try to get a picture up soon.

Almost completed chicken tractor in the snow. Those 2 sticks to the right are the dwarf apple trees after a serious pruning.

I’m also almost finished with a new chicken tractor for the bantys. Just a few finishing touches; roost bars, nest boxes, some more chicken wire, and Roosty and his girls will be ready to move in! The timing couldn’t be better, because one of the little hens has gone broody, and wants to sit on eggs and hatch out some chicks! We’ll see, and we’ll keep you updated!

Pig Tractors?

March 4, 2014 / jason / 3 Comments

We cleared some land this weekend, opening up a large area under an old, probably coppiced oak that was dying. We cleared out the underbrush of pines, black cherry, small oaks and briars, and cleaned up some old trash that had accumulated over the years. Were not sure what we’d like to do with this spot, maybe some combination of extending the garden, terracing the bottom slope, and adding some nice fruit trees and shrubs to stabilize the upper slope while provided a nice treat to enjoy while savoring the view from the oak stump seats.

Whatever we decide to do, the area needs some work first. There is a patch of poison oak nearby, and I don’t know if opening up the area will discourage or encourage its growth. Also, by removing the big oak and letting in all that sun, I’m sure we will see some interesting things popping up this spring/summer. Most likely, if left to it’s devices, this area would success to blackberry, pine, and Bradford Pear seedlings like the big field across Bridey’s Run. By planting productive species early, we should be able to stay 1 step ahead of this pioneer stage, and not have to deal with a tangled up thorny mess.

This brings us back to pigs. Pot bellied pigs to be exact. These little rooters could be a huge asset to the farm by rooting out undesirable species, clearing brush, and adding copious amounts of fertile manure to the land. I can envision sitting a Joel Salatinstyle pig tractor, similar to a chicken tractor, right over our patches of poison oak and ivy and letting them go to town. Then, after a week or so, we can plant fast growing shrubs and trees, or lay down mulch and transplant tomatoes into the freshly prepared soil.

So that’s what I’m thinking right now. About getting a few pot bellied pigs to raise as breeding stock, and eventually bacon, in a movable pasture/woods based forage system. A pig tractor. Details to come on its design, size, and construction.

Restoration Agriculture: A Great Talk by Mark Shepard

February 28, 2014 / jason / Comments Off

Yesterday, while doing the dishes, I listened to/watched an awesome presentation by Mark Shepard of New Forest Farms. It was a long talk, over 2 1/2 hours, given at an Acres USA conference, but it was solid permaculture gold.

He begins with a look at the unsustainability of our modern agricultural system that relies on annual crops (corn, soy, wheat, etc.) and finishes with a description of his farm in Wisconsin that uses agroforestry techniques and permaculture principles to produce an abundance of perennial staples and livestock. Mark is a history buff, and he talks about the roles of annual agriculture and soil loss in the collapse of civilizations throughout time.

He draws much of the inspiration for his farm from the naturally occurring oak savannah biome, where large mast bearing oak, beech, and chestnut trees tower over scattered shrubs (hazelnut, apple, cherry etc.) and grasslands. This ecosystem captures much more solar energy than a corn field, and has the ability to sustain more pounds of mammal flesh than any other biome in the world. By grazing hogs, cattle, sheep, geese, turkeys, and chickens through his contour based, polyculture hedges, Mark Shepard has built, and continues to build a system with the potential to change farming history.

This talk was particularly exciting because Mark is actually doing it. He is producing food at the level necessary to supply grocery stores and urban centers. His entire point is that his method of farming, called Restoration Agriculture, is one that increases in yields and fertility over time, indefinitely, while decreasing in expenses. He argues that this is the only way to sustainably feed the world, and shows that permaculture can be profitable on a large scale commercial farm.

Check out the video if you have time and are into this kind of thing. The images are just stills of either Mark or his slides from the presentation, but he’s an engaging and funny speaker, and won’t disappoint.

Micro Pond Update

February 24, 2014 / jason / 2 Comments

We got some rain on Saturday, just a little but it was enough to completely fill the pond I started to dig. It’s 3 feet at the deepest spot, probably holding close to 300 gallons of water, and has a large catchment area that includes at least two of our garden swales.

Our small pond full of water after 1 morning of rain

It’s muddy, and I’m not sure if I want to line it or not. The positives of lining it are better clarity and less leaking through the sides and bottom. The positives to an unlined pond are less materials, easier installation, and increased water filtration in the surrounding soil. We’ll see.

The small pond will create a unique habitat and micro-climate near our garden which will attract all sorts of beneficial wildlife like frogs, lizards, dragonflies, and birds. These helpful characters will help control insect populations, giving our crops a better chance to make it to harvest. The water in the pond will also act as a temperature regulator, helping to moderate both hot and cold conditions. The water in the pond will also be available to use for irrigation, and during heavy rain events will backflood into our most downhill garden swale.

This small, hand dug pond will make our garden more efficient and increase the amount of edge. By slowing down and storing more energy/water, we increase the productivity of our system in an ecological way and are able to obtain yields that were unavailable to us before. All these, and many others, are reasons to consider adding a small pond to your garden if you don’t already have one. If you do have one, how is working? What sorts of interactions and consequences have you observed?

KW Homestead

Pasture Raised Poultry & Edible Landscaping Plants Since 2013