We've just returned from a wonderful trip to see friends in Southeastern Arizona. The trip was full of tours of various local microclimates and properties, the local co-op they're helping to facilitate the growth of in the midst of a severe food desert, and meeting community members engaged in regenerative living to varying degrees.
There are many lessons, musings, and things I've learned that I may share in a more cohesive way soon, after I catch up on things back at the ranch.
It's been such an active season, which feels really wonderful.
We've finished cleaning up the West side of the house, allocating last year's compost. We also built framing for, sewed, and hung custom shade sails that make the house cooler -- summer is officially here in the high desert -- as well as which make that previously underutilized space another communal/hosting/patio type area just by virtue of being there and creating spacial separation.
My gardens are doing okay, something keeps eating my potato plants' leaves. I thought the birds that nest in the honey mesquite tree at first, but it keeps happening despite the chicken wire I've hung over the infiltration basin. My hunch is some insect, though I've yet to see the culprit in action. My white, black, and violet sages I replanted into the infiltration basin are doing great, though, as are the green onions and garlic I planted. Our nopales are slowly coming back, also, now that we've dug them infiltration basins and moved them to the shade of one of our mesquite trees.
We now have a water storage tank, a critical step in enabling us to get bigger livestock. It creates water resilience if the power goes down and our well pump doesn't work, and enables us to take some pressure off of our aquifers for minor irrigation projects.
A straw bale and adobe bunk house for guests and guest bathrooms are in the works, which will add to our capacity for hosting. A good thing, since we're grateful to be booked with visitors and loved ones from now until January.
We're planting five new trees to attract pollinators, some of our date palms are fruiting (despite being too immature to eat this year), and the infiltration basins on the North side of the property that were on hold are in progress again.
Our broody hen got confused when I moved her to her own coop the first time and abandoned her first clutch (that was my fault) but has successfully been sitting in the broody coop on a fresh clutch for a week now, so we're expecting teeny cluckers soon!
There are other projects that are set to begin soon, as well, but I'll have to update on those later on!
A reminder that if you ever want to support what we're doing here at the ranch, my Kofi directly funds projects like these and contains some sustainable goodies and unique art in return 🤍
Newly turned pile. First turning. I didn't have any manure when I built it a few weeks ago but judging by the insides it still built up a bit of heat. Added chicken manure in layers when I turned it. Should work out OK, I will turn it again in a few weeks and a few weeks after that it should be ready to go. #permaculture#compost#gardening
8x speed. I started filling this heap in late December 2023, filled it by the start of March 2024, turned it on 10 April and in this video am decanting it on top of the previous batch so it can mature for a couple more months. And also free up the bay for the next heap.
"#Permaculture Instructor #AndrewMillison travels to the City of Bengaluru, #India, to visit an innovative & visionary project to fix that city's #water crisis by restoring the city's water table. The Million Wells for Bengaluru project was founded by Home Biome & they already have 250,000 recharge wells built or restored throughout the city. This is a simple solution to a massive problem." #permaculture#restoration https://youtu.be/jvFk4NsYurA
I asked a guy, who was tearing up a driveway a couple miles from my place, if I could have the busted "urbanite" for #landscaping, as my site has NO rocks (unless they were brought here). I'm 72 and I really should find some helpers. Every piece gets picked up and set down at least 3 times before coming to rest, not to mention busting up the big piece and fine shaping the smaller ones. It adds up and my knees let me know they are not thrilled. Oh, well. I think it looks nice & I love the work. Keeps me exercised while wearing me down. Like Life. #urbanite#hardscaping#permaculture#gardening
À ton avis, elle est où la vie, la biodiversité ? Qu'est ce qui va mieux résister à la chaleur cet été ?
C'est aussi se poser la question "C'est quoi un jardin propre ?" #jardin#permaculture
In this month's composting newsletter: understanding the thermic phases, recording the sounds made by the bugs in the compost heap. Plus three songs about worms.
Next no dig bed in preparation, just waiting for some rain to wet the card before adding compost and woodchip. It’s quite a damp bed as in a little hollow so eventually will be home to a willow #permaculture#NoDig#Veganic#ForestGarden#Gardening
Après un CA des Sheds, une petite visite du parc-jardin s'impose. La Photo en illustration est l'entrée de la zone #Biodiversité du Parc-Jardin des Sheds, à Kingersheim.
Cette Zone n'est pas destinée au potager, ni aux fleurs, mais à laisser des zones contrôlées de végétation naturelle.
C'est aussi notre réservoir d’orties (pour le purin). La deuxième photo montre le hache-paille antique qui nous sert tant.
Design & Build: From Raw Land to Small Farm
Our next permaculture workshop is on April 27th up in San Miguel. Join us for a tour of a grow-to-donate vegetable farm and fruit orchard in San Miguel. We will discuss the design of the farm, terracing, water system, crop layout and rotation, and Spring planting pre https://www.permacultureday.org/listing/design-build-from-raw-land-to-small-farm/
Permaculture Northern Beaches’ International Permaculture Day 2024
This year our INTERNATIONAL PERMACULTURE DAY event will be taking place on Sunday May 5th at the wonderful New Leaf Nursery, Ingleside.
It's set to be a full and festive afternoon with something for everyone!
We have put our chicken house into operation 🙂 We have been tinkering with it for a long time. We have built a new home for chickens with a sea view using old dismantling material from our construction sites. From now on there are eggs from our own #permaculture 🙂
A very satisfying afternoon pruning the lavatera at the station garden, then putting the prunings through a chipper borrowed from #Exeter#LibraryOfThings to make wood chippings we can use in the #Hotbin composter. It all felt nicely #permaculture, using the waste from one job to make something we could use for another process.
Introduction to Permaculture with @lindawoodrow and Peter ‘Lewie’ Lewis — 5 May 2024
Linda Woodrow has been teaching permaculture for over thirty years. Her book 'The Permaculture Home Garden' has become the Bible for how to use Permaculture to create abundant food production.
MIND FOOD FILM Series: Regenerating Life
Join us for an inspiring journey into the world of regenerative agriculture and sustainable living, as we explore innovative solutions to heal the Earth and nourish our communities.
Regenerating Life offers a captivating look at the regenerative movement, showcasing the stories.
How'd you like to travel a few years into a future world of positive outcomes?
Maybe if we practice imagining what that could be, we might be more inclined to
MAKE IT SO! (he shouted).
If that is challenging, you might want to listen closely to some of the, so far, 98 episodes of From What If to What Next. If we can't imagine it, it's not fucking likely to happen, eh? We can retrain our brains.
"If there was ever a time for fresh thinking, for being bold, for being visionary and imaginative – for reimagining everything – this is it. Each episode, writer and Transition Movement founder, Rob Hopkins, invites cutting edge thinkers to visualise a new future. Join us as we ask What If..." #permaculture#TransitionTowns https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/from-what-if-to-what-next/id1538281063
86 - What if care, cooperation, kinship and collective wellbeing were the ethics we lived by?
"When it comes to work that celebrates the #radical imagination, Jayna Brown's recent book #Black Utopias: Speculative Life and the #Music of Other Worlds is one of the most fascinating that I've read recently. Jayna is professor in the Graduate Program in #Media Studies at Pratt Institute, and for this episode she is joined by Kevin Quashie, who teaches black cultural and literary studies and is a professor in the department of English at Brown University." https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/86-what-if-care-cooperation-kinship-and-collective/id1538281063?i=1000629043264
87 - What if fungi saved the world?
"Welcome to one of those episodes of From What If to What Next that really gets under your skin. We are going to step out of our everyday commonplace universe and enter the parallel world of #fungi that lives all around us, and really creates the world we live in. It’s a pretty wild ride. Two amazing guests will hold our hands on our deep dive into this fascinating world. Dr. Patricia Ononiwu Kaishian is the Curator of #Mycology at the New York State Museum, and her forthcoming book has possibly the best title I have ever heard which I’m not going to tell you so it can be a delightful surprise. And Doug Bierend is a New York based writer and author of the book In Search of Mycotopia." https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/87-what-if-fungi-saved-the-world/id1538281063?i=1000629871301
Reconnecting with Nature: How Permaculture Helps Earth to Thrive 🌍
In today’s fast-paced world, where concrete jungles dominate landscapes and industrial agriculture strains ecosystems, the concept of permaculture stands as a beacon of hope. Permaculture, derived from "permanent agriculture" or "permanent culture," offers a holistic approach to sustainable living by…
Huerta Flor de Cactus trabaja desde 2002 en sistemas regenerativos de vida, agroecología, permacultura, comercio solidario, soberanía alimentaria, construcción natural, tecnologías apropiadas. Desde Ecuador, con incidencia en Latinoamérica
Periwinkle (vinca major) plants make great ground cover. They suppress weeds, keep moisture in the soil, have pretty flowers in the spring and provide attractive foliage for 10 monthsof the year. They're super-easy to grow (at least here in Bulgaria, Zone 7B) and require zero work.
My kind of plant! :-)
They're even easy to propagate through tip rootings. I've planted them in many places in my permaculture garden and foodforest orchard.
1/ #BillMollison's first words from The #Permaculture Designers Manual: DESIGN
PHILOSOPHY
"Although this book is about #design, it is also about
values & #ethics, & above all about a sense of
personal responsibility for earth care. I have written at
times in the first person, to indicate that it is not a
detached, impersonal, or even unbiased document
Every book or publication has an author, and what that author chooses to write about is subjective, for that person alone determines the subject, content, & the values expressed or omitted. I am not detached from,
but have been passionately involved with this earth,
& so herein give a brief vision of what I think can be
achieved by anyone."
2/ "The sad reality is that we are in danger of perishing from our own stupidity and lack of personal responsibility to life. If we become extinct because of factors beyond our control, then we can at least die with pride in ourselves, but to create a mess in which we perish by our own inaction makes nonsense of our claims to consciousness & morality.
There is too much contemporary evidence of #ecological#disaster which appalls me, & it should frighten you, too. Our consumptive lifestyle has brought us to the brink of annihilation. We have expanded our right to live on the earth to an entitlement to conquer the earth, yet “conquerors” of nature always lose. To accumulate wealth, power, or land beyond one's needs in a limited world is to be truly immoral, be it as an individual, an institution, or a nation-state."
3/ Mollison, cont. "What we have done, we can undo. There is no longer time to waste nor any need to accumulate more evidence of disasters; the time for action is here.
I deeply believe that people are the only critical resource needed by people. We ourselves, if we organise our talents, are sufficient to each other. What is more, we will either survive together, or none of us will survive.
To fight between ourselves is as stupid and wasteful as it is to fight during times of natural disasters, when
everyone's cooperation is vital.
A person of courage today is a person of peace. The
courage we need is to refuse authority & to accept
only personally responsible decisions. Like war, growth at any cost is an outmoded & discredited concept. It is our lives which are being laid to waste.
What is worse, it is our children’s world which is being destroyed. It is therefore our only possible decision to withhold all support for destructive systems, & to cease to invest our lives in our own annihilation."
We are delighted to launch a new version of the Agroecology Map Platform. We've made minor improvements and enhanced usability. We've also fixed some bugs and improved integration with other maps.
The platform has now also been translated into French as well as English, Portuguese and Spanish.
