My Permaculture Story

Although it seems like many, many years ago, my Permaculture story began in August 2010...

I was home for vacation in the beginning of August, looking at gardening videos on YouTube and came across a series of videos on Permaculture.  I don't remember who posted them, but I remember they featured Geoff Lawton and Bill Mollison and the Permaculture Institute in Australia. I found the first video and for every waking moment of that 7 days after (and since) I consumed whatever information I could find on Permaculture.

Based on those few videos, we planned the garden beds, dry river bed (swale) and the multitude of Perennial trees, bushes and vines. We started simply with just a couple of beds and have added steadily for the past 3 years. My thinking was that if we just kept adding, we could grow quite a bit of veggies, fruit, nuts and annuals each year.

Then something happened that was completely unexpected...

For the first time ever, the course in Australia was opened up on-line for people to take. People, like me, who could not go to Australia, but wanted so much to learn everything possible about Permaculture.  This design science, this sustainable living, this food security in an uncertain world - was open to me. The price was right and I signed up for what would change my life forever. Permaculture was already such a focus for me, I believe that everyone should have the ability to eat a variety of in season foods and food insecurity is an unnecessary condition of our current society.

I took the course, over the past few months, absorbed as much information as I could, took the quiz, and turned in my project to design a sustainable existence on our 100x50 ft. lot that we live on. Not only did I see the possibilities for us, I saw the possibilities for the world.

No one should be hungry...but instead, we have the answers to live in absolute abundance.

The past Tuesday, I realized another surreal and amazing event when Geoff Lawton came to UMass Amherst, (sponsored by the Permaculture programs there) and I was able to receive my certificate in person from Geoff. He spoke first of possibilities, of changes we can all make to create a different world around us - one of abundance.

When we arrived, we weren't sure where we were, but I turned and saw Ryan Harb and Geoff Lawton walking by, as well as Jonathan from the Permaculture Food Forest of Holyoke driving by (we have purchased many of our perennial plants from him). So we followed them to the room where Geoff was speaking.

I stayed after the talk and met Geoff and received my certificate in Permaculture.  One of the most important events in my life, by far. It's just the beginning, and now I have a certificate to teach Permaculture. I have a lot to learn still, and our experiments in this little yard are helping me to understand things on a bigger scale.

I am changed. Nothing will ever be the same. To have the solution and not act is inexcusable.

That being said, I have a lot to learn and will continue to move forward - experimenting with plants and annual garden beds in our garden, as well as keeping track of the perennial trees and vines, and learning so much from the small space we are working with.

I look forward to future adventures!

The pictures are a little blurry, but it doesn't change how much this means to me.

Thank you, Geoff.

More...Plants!

With the addition of so many plants, we are starting to define paths.
When they are definite, I will be digging to put the pine path into the ground to
make walking level and stable. 

Last Thursday the plants we ordered from Permaculture Nursery  arrived and we spent Friday and Saturday digging, planting, watering, etc.  The care in packaging and shipping was outstanding, I felt like a little kid at Christmas...needless to say, we are very pleased with the plants. Some are still adjusting, but just today the Sea Kale lifted its leaves off the ground and the spinach vine is not wilting.

Plants!

After the unwrapping

Alpine Strawberry

Sea Kale

Hazelnut Hybrid (bush)

Kiwi Vines

Goumi

Tea Bush

Turkish Rocket

Clove Currant

Dwarf Comfrey

Building a new bed

Arugula, Sorrel, Ramps, Horseradish, and in
the back - Spinach Vine ( all Perennials )

Mint Root

Concord Grape 

Not pictured:  Jostaberry, Chinese Yam, Pink Champagne Currant and Russian Comfrey. 

The work involved this year installing the perennials is just about complete. The fruit trees, vines and bushes. Nut trees and bushes, perennial greens, etc.

What is next? We wait for everything to grow....

Corn and Sunflower bed is happily growing!

Mint, Gourds and a Pine Path

In March I bought four different small mint plants from Hirt's Gardens for around $4.00 each and today I split them into their own pots - Pineapple and Ginger are each in a 12" pot and the Spearmint and Chocolate mint are in a much bigger container. If I had any doubt about  keeping them contained, today I was reassured that the whole of my yard would be filled with mint if I hadn't kept them this way. The roots were so thick, I had to cut through them with my Hori Hori to separate the four plants.

I am looking forward to some Mojito's with different mints soon!

Chocolate Mint and Spearmint

Pineapple mint and Ginger Mint

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Today I also planted Eggplant, Birdhouse Gourds and Watermelon in one of the straw beds. I just dug into the straw and put in a couple of scoops of garden soil, planted the seeds and watered. Our goal is not to do a ton of work with these plantings, but to give them what they need - water, sun and nutrients, and let them do what they will.

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I was very happy to see Nasturtium popping up in four new places and  am hopeful that it gradually replace the "grass" that we don't want growing and give us a beautiful, flowering salad instead.

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My Sister Kim dropped off a load of pine last week (yay Kim!) that she found on the side of the road for free! It's a beautiful round tree. We've decided that we will slice it into rounds and use it for our garden paths. The weather was just too warm to do the paths this weekend, but soon. It smells wonderful and will make a nice path through the garden beds and be the beginning of the work in the front yard garden.

Future garden paths - giving  "waste" a new purpose!

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Several different small projects this weekend. We are waiting for our shipment of perennials from Permaculture Nursery in Holyoke, Mass, and then the final of our plantings will be done. I'm sure we will continue to add flowers, herbs, etc., but the foundational plantings will be completed.

I also scattered a few different flowers and several types of hot peppers in two straw beds to see what will come up. In another bed I planted some seedlings that I started indoors. I want to compare which will do better. It is possible that neither will work, or both will.  If any work, I will happily collect the hot peppers. If not, there are some hots that we have planted in the raised beds with other veggies. What a great problem to have - too many hot peppers! If only...

Northeast Organic Farmers Association Conference!

On Saturday, January 14^th, we attended an all day conference for NOFA (Northeast Organic Farmers Association) at Worcester State University. This is the first time either of us have attended anything like this and it was such a great experience!

There were many workshops scheduled at 3 different times during the day, a presentation by keynote speaker John Jeavens, an organic lunch and many, many vendor booths to visit.

In the morning we went to a class about raising chickens. There is a proposal in Worcester to allow families to have 4 chickens as long as they are properly cared for and in a coop that has been inspected. We are waiting for the approval and plan to have chickens as soon as possible after it is passed. So the class was a great source of information and I learned a lot from the presenters.

We went to hear the keynote speaker John Jeavons talk about Biointensive Gardening. I am always interested in listening to the innovative ways that people are growing food in small spaces.

There was a great organic lunch of beef stew or a vegetarian soup, salad and bread and dessert – all provided by organic farms in the Northeast.

After lunch we went to a workshop presented by Jonathan Bates of the Permaculture Nursery in Holyoke MA. It was a great presentation on how to grow a lot of different food in a small area – and his personal experience of planting a dirt lot and creating a garden out of it using Permaculture methods. He does a lot of planting and experimenting with different plants, and also sells those that do well in our area. We have already ordered several different berries, kiwi and grape vines, and some other plants to add to our collection for the Spring.

After the workshop – we went to the vendors and looked at what types of organics are available in our area and signed up to be contacted by the Massachusetts Local Food Coop – they do monthly orders for farms in the state and we can have access through them to some things that are not available to us otherwise.

What I took away from the workshop, is the encouragement that so many young people are actively seeking information about gardening, farming and organics, and are concerned about the future and providing quality for their lives.

I am sure that we can use our yard and grow enough fruits, vegetables, etc. to supplement the bulk of our groceries and get our meat from the food coop.

What I am most encouraged about is how many fruits and vegetables – plants, vines and trees – are perennial and will only need to be planted once, but will continue to grow for years; And that there is a wealth of information on-line to read and study to make our garden a success. I am especially interested in the Permaculture information: restoring the balance of an ecosystem so plants and people thrive. Abundance.

I know what it is like to put my hands in the dirt and what it feels like to work the earth creatively. It’s like waking up and everything else becomes clearer. The petty things of life fade away and what is left is the essence of who I am as a human being.

My connection to nature is a peaceful, healing experience and I had been away from it far too long….

Beautiful Birch trees at Crow Hill