permaculture | KW Homestead

Tag: permaculture (page 2 of 3)

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

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.

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.

Some Livestock Options for the Upcoming Year

February 19, 2014 / jason / Comments Off

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the coming year. With the nice rise in temperature we’ve been experiencing, it’s hard not to think about spring and I find myself contemplating next year’s garden and livestock plans. On the garden front, we have some thoughts on expanding our vegetable garden and putting in more raised beds. We’re starting our mushroom crop this year but I’d also like to put in hundreds of trees, bushes, and vines in a more perennial system, a food forest that follows permaculture principles and techniques.

On the animal front, we already have a couple dozen chickens, mostly standards but some bantams as well, and I think we’ll try splitting them up and running the bantys in a chicken tractor setup. I’m hoping this will give them better access to food and forage, and a chance to lay more eggs and possibly go broody and hatch some chicks.

I’ve also thought a good bit about expanding our livestock operations. I don’t think we need or want any more chickens, other than the young bantam chicks if that should occur, but there is a type of bird that I would like to raise and that I think will work well on our homestead. Geese.

Jack’s geese, photo courtesy Josiah Wallingford

After hearing about Jack Spirko’s successful goose pursuit, I am sold on geese. He’s had excellent weight gains on almost nothing but grass, and we have a good bit of grass. Predator issues aren’t as big of a concern with geese, whose size and group behavior is more intimidating to raccoon, possums, etc. When they are young this probably won’t hold true, so we’d have to deal with that. I can see us running a few geese through our upper yard, maybe with portable fencing, or maybe more “free range” if we somehow seal off the garden from them.

Another species I’m interested in is the good ole pig. But not any good ole pig, pot bellied pigs. I like their small size, good foraging ability, and the fact that they are a lard pig. MMMMnnn… bacon… bacon grease… and lard. Awesome. Topping out at around 70-150 lbs., butchering one of these succulent hogs wouldn’t be the chore most standard sized hogs are. Their small size should also mean that they’ll do less damage on the land, and on fencing as well. Though I hope it doesn’t mean that they turn into some sort of psuedo-goat-pig that can simultaneously climb and plow through fences.

I don’t yet know how to tackle the fencing issues for pigs, but I’d like to raise them at least partially in the woods and on the forest edge where they scrounge up all kinds of goodies like mast drop and black berry. An idea Emma had was to use some of the abundant medium sized pine trees as living fence poles for welded or woven wire fencing. Pigs would provide both a yield of meat and high quality fat, while at the same time being able to clear and prepare land for future planting. This function stacking makes them a great choice for a permaculture homestead, and is why I’m so excited about potentially raising them on ours.

The last livestock animal that may find itself on our farm next year is another great function stacker. Compost worms. I’m getting really excited about vermicomposting and its wonderful benefits and outputs. As livestock, worms can be used to compost vegetative material, as a protein source for other animals and for their nutrient and microbe rich “worm juice/tea”. Organic material is never hard to come by on a homestead, so passing some of our excess through the worms and turning it into some of the best organic fertilizer available seems to make sense.

As worm populations can double every 90 days, and compost worms can eat their own weight every day, with about 60% conversion to harvest-able vermicompost (not including worm juice runoffs), a small worm farm or bin can be a huge asset to the small farm or permaculture homestead, both in terms of fertility and potentially as a sideline business.

We are not yet sure which of these livestock we may add to our homestead this year, if any, but I do plan on pursuing them in the future. Pot bellied pigs, geese, and compost worms are in our future. We just need to think a little more about execution and where exactly they fit into our system. We’ll see, and we’ll be sure to tell you about it!

5 Useful Resources for the Homestead

February 18, 2014 / jason / Comments Off

I thought I’d throw together a list of resources we have found useful here at our ochre way. This is by no means an exhaustive list, but just some of the tools I reference if not daily, then weekly.

Books

Gaia’s Garden by Toby Hemenway

Probably the best brief introduction to home based permaculture there is. It’s an easy read, with lots of pictures, charts, and plant lists. A great to place to start if you’re looking to begin using permaculture techniques to design your property.

Dr. Pitcairn’s New Complete Guide to Natural Health for Dogs and Cats

Dr. Pitcairn really knows his stuff, and his book is bursting with information on raising your pets naturally without toxic chemicals. The chapters on nutrition and home made pet food are worth the price of the book by themselves. Its been our main resource with deciding how to formulate our homemade dog food, and is without a doubt the best book out there to help dog and cat owners navigate their own adventures in organic and natural pet care.

Edible Forest Gardens (2 volume set)

This set from Dave Jacke and Eric Toensmeier is the ultimate reference for permaculture design for food forests and forest garden systems. This great resource covers everything from ecological theory to plant spacing, guilds, and breakdowns of mature forest gardens. The plant tables in the appendix are unbelievable with information on bloom times, edibility, medicinal qualities, root structure, and so much more for hundreds of species. An invaluable tool for anyone planning a food forest.

Online

The Survival Podcast

Jack Spirko’s podcast on permaculture, homesteading, and liberty is something I listen to everyday in the car to and from work. with over 1200 episodes, he has covered topics from hunting squirrels to cooking with herbs. He regularly interviews some of permaculture’s most influential people, like Geoff Lawton and Paul Wheaton. Not only is the show a great resource, but the TSP forum is a great place to learn and discuss homesteading and other topics as well.

Permies.com

Brought to us by Paul Wheaton, permies.com is the best permaculture forum on the internet. This is the place I check first if I want a brief summary on anything related to permaculture or homesteading. A great resource.

These are just a few of the resources I would recommend to someone trying to start a homestead, or who one day would like to start homesteading. Stay tuned for more!

Planning an Edible Fedge, or Food Hedge

February 13, 2014 / jason / 8 Comments

What is the best way to delineate and divide your property? With the cost of fencing so high, and the move back toward the traditional practices and wisdom of our ancestors, more and more homesteaders and small farmers are once again looking at hedges and hedgerows as a sustainable and productive solution.

A hedgerow can last forever, just look at the countryside in England or Ireland where some hedges are centuries old, and can provide food, fodder, fuel, and medicine, as well as protection from wind and nosy neighbors. The type of hedge I want to to talk about is an edible food hedge, or a fedge.

European Countryside, divided by hedgerows C. Kurt Thomas Hunt

Traditional hedges in Europe consisted of hazelnut, chestnut, willow, holly, and other small trees and bushes including roses. These hedges divided property, mainly grazing paddocks, and were coppiced for fuel wood on 5-20 year rotations. They also were a source of browse for livestock, and helped to stabilize the landscape by acting as both windbreaks and organic matter traps.

Hedges and fedges should be a part of any homestead, and are a valuable technique in any permaculture design. The key to a good edible hedgerow is plant selection. Shrubs work well here, especially those that spread from the roots, like hazelnut, and those that can be easily propagated by layering, like figs and cane fruit. Some examples include:

elderberry
currants and gooseberries
blackberries, raspberries, and other cane fruits
Siberian pea shrub
high bush cranberry
Russian olive
goji berry
yaupon holly
blueberry
aronia
sea buckthorn

Sea Buckthorn, or Sea Berry, makes a nice edible hedge with nutritious orange fruits. C. ednl

Some trees work well in a hedge too, but they should be small trees, with a low branching habitat. Species that coppice, or grow back from the stump after cutting, are very well suited to hedges as well. Some worthy examples are:

black locust
chestnut
black alder
honey locust
and some pines

The herb layer in a fedge can’t be forgotten, and is easily filled with herbaceous support species and dynamic accumulators like comfrey, yarrow, and dandelion, and ground covers like clover and wintergreen. The addition of a hedge creates two micro-climates depending on its orientation, one on each side, that should be utilized with perennial or annual herbs, flowers, and vegetables.

When planning a hedge, make sure to space your plants properly to ensure a good thickness with no gaps between planting. One option is to plant species that can be easily propagated further apart than desired in the future, and then propagating them outwards season by season until the fedge is filled in and impenetrable.

When filling in gaps of fedges, look to smaller, more shade tolerant plants like yaupon holly, and currants to finish off any holes in the vegetation. The finished product should last forever with very little maintenance except some pruning, harvesting, and propagating when one or another plant dies.

Because of its diversity, an edible hedge of many species shouldn’t succumb to fungal or disease outbreaks and be completely wiped out. This diversity also provides habitat for an immense number of beneficial insects, which not only patrol the hedge, but the surrounding gardens, orchards and food forests as well.

So take look at your property. Can a fedge run parallel to that fence? Can one enclose your vegetable garden, or divide your pasture into paddocks for cell grazing? A diverse food hedge can bring many benefits to you and your property, and should be considered in any edible landscaping project.

Working on the Garden Swales

February 11, 2014 / jason / Comments Off

The snow and rain held off today so after researching a few options on chicken feed, I suited up and headed out to our main garden to work on some things that have been on my winter homestead chores list.

I’ll start with a brief bit on our garden design. We have our raised beds laid out on contour. This means that they follow the pattern of the ground and are not arbitrarily straight. The purpose of this is to harvest the runoff of the upper yard into small garden swales that are in front of each bed.

Bolt trapped between our small garden swales after a heavy rain.

Swales are a tried and true permaculture technique, and are basically level ditches on contour that stop runoff in place, and hold that water instead of letting it erode away our soil. Because the bottoms of the swales are not compacted, they allow water to infiltrate into the ground and slowly spread downhill. This water is then available to the surrounding plants and can greatly reduce irrigation needs, and increase soil fertility.

Our small hand dug garden swales were put in last spring, and have performed well. After big rains, they fill up and slowly release their catch, just as planned. However, some of the swales are not working perfectly, and I set out today to do some maintenance.

One of the problems is that water is not spreading uniformly across the swale, and that certain areas are holding water for longer periods than other. These swales are not level.

Garden swale maintenance.

So today I grabbed a shovel, a hand hoe, and a 4 foot level and leveled the bottom of one of the uphill swales meticulously. It was quite a bit off level, maybe 6 inches to a foot over the entire length of the swale. Now it should fill as expected, and let water seep in evenly across the bed.

I also have noticed that the uphill side of some of the swales, or backcut, have eroded somewhat this winter with mini landslides. This happened because when we installed them, we left a steep backcut that was almost vertical, instead of a gentle sloping one. Not a huge deal, but I worked on that some, trying to allow the water a gentle path into the swale. I think the newly exposed soil would be a great place for some clover, plantain, and chicory though.

One of the benefits of the swales that we have experienced that I hadn’t thought of, is their mulch catching ability. I knew that swales can act as deposition features, catching organic matter and eventually filling in to ground level over time, but I didn’t realize that our swales would gather such an enormous amount of leaves from our huge oak tree at the top of the hill. This made for an easy time of mulching the winter garden, as I just scooped them out of the ditch, and up onto the beds.

Level swale, gentle backcut, and mulched bed. Nice.

That is one thing I want to be better at this year: mulch. Mulch keeps moisture in the soil, regulates temperature, and eventually breaks down to feed both plants and microbes. Mulch also hinders weed growth, and protects soil from heavy rains and other erosive forces.

Lastly, I scooped out the last of a batch of manure tea we had fermenting. Only the dregs remain, and I’ll need to add some more water soon to get it brewing again. Nothing like the smell of month old manure tea. We smelt it every time we went outside after I disturbed it. MMMmmnnn. Smells like healthy soil!

Permaculture Plants for the Homestead: Paulownia

January 23, 2014 / jason / 1 Comment

Paulownia is a genus of fast growing deciduous trees native to the forests of China. Also known as the Royal Empress Tree, Paulownia tormentosa is often called the fastest growing hardwood tree in the world. Capable of growing 10-20 ft. in 1 year, and of being harvested for timber in 5-7 years, Paulownia trees are a useful tree for permaculturists who are seeking sustainable designs for their gardens, homesteads, and communities.

Paulownia tree blooming in early spring. Courtesy anja

Paulownia trees provide more than wood, though. In early spring, they are covered in numerous, beautiful bundles of purple flowers. These flowers provide nectar and pollen for honey bees and produce a marketable monofloral honey as well.

Paulownia can be coppiced as well as pollarded, and would make a great pioneer support species to use in food forest development. Their quick growth and large nitrogen rich leaves can enrich the surrounding area by building hummus and deepening soils.

Large Paulownia leaves make excellent mulch, compost, and animal forage

These large leaves, up to 20% protein, also make good animal forage for cattle, goats, and other livestock as well.

Paulownia lumber is resistant to rot, though not as much as locust. It is very strong, and also very light. Its quick growth and high insulative value make it an ideal wood for a log cabin or roundwood timber building.

Royal Empress wood is sought after by woodworkers because of its strength, weight, and ease of carving. Guitar makers are especially fond of Paulownia wood.

Because of these attributes and the resulting demand, Paulownia trees demand a high price at timber markets, and offer an opportunity for small farmers to diversify their income streams by using marginable land to produce high quality, quick growing timber.

In a permaculture setting or food forest, Paulownia would guild well with other coppice grove species such as chestnut, hazelnut, and black locust. Its rapid growth and quick rotting leaves make it an excellent choice as a support species to other fruit and nut trees. It would also make fine hugelkulture wood. I envision using Pawlonia trees as both a pioneer species for soil growth, and in a coppice grove area along with smaller fruiting bushes, herbs, and long lived standard trees.

Paulownia tormentosa growing in NY. Courtesy Goosefriend

All of these attributes: rapid growth, high quality timber, prolific flowers, ability to coppice and regrow, along with being able to grow in depleted soils, and a natural resistance to insect and disease pressures, make Paulownia trees (tormentosa, elongata etc.) an extremely useful and valuable plant in the permaculture toolbox.

KW Homestead

Pasture Raised Poultry & Edible Landscaping Plants Since 2013