Week 3 Main Crop-Kitchen Garden Aug 9-13

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Lots of work.  This is gardening traditional style, at least at first glance.  I had hoped (OK, the lazy part in me had hoped) that permaculture would eliminate the need for soil tillage, planting annuals, weeding, nursery, fertilizing… Well it is not so.  At least not in the beginning if you want to be growing your own plants quickly.  We spent time this week learning to make soil mix for seedlings, picking seeds, planting seedlings into pots, preparing a nursery, building a fabric greenhouse, planting seeds, and tending the main garden and new kitchen garden.  If you wish to get your food production going quick, this is the way to start.  But even here, when setting up a primarily annual garden, the whispers of permaculture are at work.  Consider the design.  Where is the sun? What are you going to need to water? How do you get the water there?  What does the soil need to be healthy for the plants or for the people or animals eating the plants? What is the slope?  These questions are ones leading permaculture design.  They are not new questions, just questions that need to be asked to grow healthy plants.  But we can go on.  How can I design this garden so it is easy to harvest? How can I set up this garden so it minimizes opportunities for undesirable plants (weeds)?  Where can I put the garden so I can easily get to it?  Often we forget, in our enthusiasm and spring energy, to think about some of these questions.  By spending a little bit more time in planning, we can cut off hours to weeks of needless working time, when we could be spending the time harvesting, storing, or preparing the food. 

As we develop our understanding of permaculture, and we can develop our own land or work with cooperative neighbors, we can move towards further reducing our labor by growing more perennial or self seeding annuals or bi-annuals.  Work animals into the system and we can put them to work weeding, eating insects, tilling the soil, guarding from predators or uninvited guests. 

This experience is teaching me that we need to offer more gardening related teaching opportunities in our community.  To develop and share in block or community gardens, not just our produce, but our enthusiasm, experience, positive support and assistance to those new to gardening. 

Week 2: It’s all about the water-Earthworks August 2nd-August 6th

This is the first course that is open to the public.  A couple of other non-interns participated in our study and action of planning for and moving earth.  Swales, dams, culverts-all are needed to control the flow of water-the blood of life-over the land if we wish to slow the flow of water.

Throughout recent agricultural/urban history water was thing to get rid of, to move away quickly.  As long as energy is cheap, water seemed more of a nuisance than a need.  Dig straight channels, drainage ditches, high dikes-get the water away.  Large mechanical machines have moved enormous quantities of earth-often causing long-term negative consequences with water availability on the land. Yet now, to repair the damage, we must also use large equipment-perform “geosurgery” as Geoff Lawton-Permaculture Research Institute of Australia, calls it. 

We had some discussion regarding using these large machines.  Using fossil fuel, heavy equipment to dig up the earth.  We discussed looking at the long-term productivity that these systems will have.  An estimated 800-1000 people would be needed to move as much earth as fast as the excavator.  In situations where manpower is more available, this may be feasible. 

For much of our earthworks week we worked in front of or behind a 25 ton pivoting arm excavator.  In this photo, the excavator is making the swale.  A swale is part of a tree planting system that represents a long-term modification to water flow over the land.  The swale enhances subsurface water flow, slowing down water, giving it time to percolate into the soil and subsoil.  The swale bottom is nearly exactly level-we measured the level using a couple of methods.   The dumpy level (transit-see photo)

One main premise in permaculture based water management is to hold or slow down water flow as high in the land as possible.  How this is done depend on the topography and the geology of the site.  If you are in a wilderness survival  situation one of the best places to carry water is in your stomach.  Likewise, the best place to store water for plants is in the soil.  Using a combination of dams, and swales, it is possible to capture as much rainwater as possible and get it to the plants as they need it.  By carefully placing swales and dams into the landscape, the need for irrigation or watering is reduced or eliminated.

All of us became very impressed by the skill of the excavator driver. 

As soon as the swale or dam was finished by the excavator, we planted a cover crop to help stabilize edges of the banks.  This cover crop was a mix of plants such as vetch and field peas.  Later shrubs, trees and other plants will be planted to transform the land into a food forest.

Week 1

Permaculture. Hope for the future. A light in a dark world. For many years I have been seeking solutions, methods, techniques for repairing a world that is being increasingly stressed by our demands. In permaculture I have found a vision that encapsulates what I have been seeking. Focus for a plan of action that has the potential to not only avoid global catastrophe, but to transform the energy of destruction to rebirth and growth.

Sounds like a dream, yet as I sit here typing at Zaytuna farm where the Permacuture Research Institute of Australia is located, I can see the dream in action.

For the next 10 weeks, I have committed myself to a focused permaculture experience. Transformation of site infrastructure here is rapid. Solar panel installation, raised beds, swales, chicken tractors, cell grazing of cattle and horses, composting, food forests, off-site consulting-lots going on.

I will try to keep you posted weekly. Internet access is difficult at times, schedule is tight, but hopefully I can convey some of the hands-on experience I am receiving as an intern at the institute.

Week 1 -Animal systems

This is our classroom "the hex" outside and in.

Chickens, geese, ducks, beef and dairy cows, goats, sheep- more critters than I was anticipating. Mornings this week were spent mostly in lecture format. The classroom we call the hex is a

hexagonal strawbale building.

Besides lectures, two primary activities we got involved with were building a chicken tractor coined "the egg mobile" and cell grazing.

The chicken tractor is designed to be a mobile grazing station. In this case we have 27 chickens (25 hens) that are in a modified trailer. The following pictures show various stages of our creation. The chicken tractor is moved from cell to cell behind the cows pasture. In this way the chickens can "clean up" and spread out the cow manure as well as get other insects and greens.

Traveling to Australia

Hard to believe it has been only 35 hours have past since I left Wisconsin. But I am here, riding in a bus on the wrong side of the road with vehicles that have their drivers on the wrong side of the car. apparently, open bottle is OK, as long as the driver isn't drinking. As I am operating on just a few hours sleep, this blog entry may not be cohesive, we'll see.

There are 6 legs to my journey to Zaytuna Farms, The Channon, New South Wales, Australia.

1. Home-MSP. Alyssa brought me to the airport. Sure is neat having my daughter confidently drive me into the twin cities. Thanks Alyssa.
2. MSP-LA. Left MSP at 1730, 21 July. They had overbooked the flight and were asking passengers to consider taking another flight. I made it on.
3. LA-Sidney.
   
4. Sidney-Brisbane. Learned to empty your water bottle and clean your shoes really good.
5. Brisbane-Lismore by motor coach.
6. Lismore to Zatuna farm -got picked up by a small truck. We were packed so tight with luggage, I was buried in the back. Was very comfortable. Slept well in the new shed that night.