Much thanks to Rose for starting this feed. I've been missing Lama and all you folks since I got back, though it's been nice to be home for a spell. I am in the process of packing for the first leg of my long journey north. I leave for Arcata, California in just a few days... my perception of time has been at variance with the clock and calendar, as usual. My oh my, July did fly!
More on a Permaculture note... Unfortunately it's late in the season to join the Arcata CSA for this year, but of course, next year will come soon enough. I do, however, plan on joining the community garden, which I am very jazzed about. All in all, I'm very excited. I've always been drawn towards that climate of the Pacific Northwest, and I finally get to live there... though I have to say, that desert out there in the Land of Enchantment really took hold of one of my heartstrings, and hasn't let go. I assume it's tethered to the swing set.
Sending love & well wishes to my fellow Permies,
Aubrey
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
david vs. goliath
here are two articles i read recently about gm seeds and farmers fighting back against monsanto. enjoy!
http://uk.ibtimes.com/articles/20110722/hungary-destroys-all-monsanto-gmo-maize-fields.htm
http://www.utne.com/Environment/Agriculture-Organic-Farmers-Lawsuit-Monsanto.aspx
http://uk.ibtimes.com/articles/20110722/hungary-destroys-all-monsanto-gmo-maize-fields.htm
http://www.utne.com/Environment/Agriculture-Organic-Farmers-Lawsuit-Monsanto.aspx
Monday, July 25, 2011
My Permie Life
I figured I'd put in a post as to what I've been up to permaculture wise since we all parted ways, and I must say I feel like I've done a hefty sum already! As you may recall I have a friend whose backyard I'm fully in charge of, and had done ~200 sq. ft. of sheet mulching on before I left. It turns out that in Florida's heat, humidity, sunlight, and rain the process of sheet mulching goes at a fast pace; much of what I did just 2 months ago is already "composted," and I'll soon be starting the canopy and ground cover layers of that section of food forest soon. I've also been working on another ~450 sq. ft. of sheet mulching there, but I'm doing a bit of experimentation with it. In one part I did a bit of Hugelkultur with some quite thick on-site prunings. Another section has a bunch of cactus (again on-site pruning), so we'll see how well these various ways of sheet mulching work out over time. I also plan on posting some pics in a week or so to show the progress thus far.
We're on a budget (basically $0), so its exciting trying to get creative. There's a recycling center 2 miles away that has a free mulch/compost mix, which was very helpful for sheet mulching. I also decided to build a compost bin, and considering our budget decided that I'd try the wood pallet method. Just down the block is a grocer, which had some various sized pallets in the back we picked up (I also got all our cardboard for sheet mulching from this place). The only thing I had to buy was hinges to open the front gate... errr... pallet, thus making our entire 2 section compost bin $7.00; maybe $10 if you include gas. It looks suprisingly good as its adjacent to a wooden fence.
Luckily, there is mango, guava, orange, banana, avacado, and grapefruit trees on site. Oh, and grapes! Yay Florida! So I'm currently working on propogating these various plants with cuttings, which will hopefully root, grow, and be ready when the sheet mulching has worked its magic. I'm hoping by next spring to have the canopy layer of my very first food forest in place; of course these new plants wont be fruit bearing for several years, but such is life.
On a more invisible structure side I'm going to a Transition Movement meeting tonight @ 6:30 PM, and a Gaia's Garden meeting tomorrow. I found both these groups by searching for permaculture at meet-up.com. Worked like a charm. I'm ultimately hoping this will feed into my $0 budget for this project by providing people to seed swap with, learn techniques, get free plants, barter fruit for fruit (or veggies, nuts, etc.). I like this whole $0 budget thing because it forces you to be creative instead of taking the simple path of paying for convenience and ease. I also belive its inportant to reduce costs because there is usually a correlation between the amount of money you spent and the energy intensity of the product/service your getting. I will hopefully post some pics of these various projects in the next week or so.
I'd love to hear what everyone else has been doing to keep the permie spirit alive since going back to real life.
We're on a budget (basically $0), so its exciting trying to get creative. There's a recycling center 2 miles away that has a free mulch/compost mix, which was very helpful for sheet mulching. I also decided to build a compost bin, and considering our budget decided that I'd try the wood pallet method. Just down the block is a grocer, which had some various sized pallets in the back we picked up (I also got all our cardboard for sheet mulching from this place). The only thing I had to buy was hinges to open the front gate... errr... pallet, thus making our entire 2 section compost bin $7.00; maybe $10 if you include gas. It looks suprisingly good as its adjacent to a wooden fence.
Luckily, there is mango, guava, orange, banana, avacado, and grapefruit trees on site. Oh, and grapes! Yay Florida! So I'm currently working on propogating these various plants with cuttings, which will hopefully root, grow, and be ready when the sheet mulching has worked its magic. I'm hoping by next spring to have the canopy layer of my very first food forest in place; of course these new plants wont be fruit bearing for several years, but such is life.
On a more invisible structure side I'm going to a Transition Movement meeting tonight @ 6:30 PM, and a Gaia's Garden meeting tomorrow. I found both these groups by searching for permaculture at meet-up.com. Worked like a charm. I'm ultimately hoping this will feed into my $0 budget for this project by providing people to seed swap with, learn techniques, get free plants, barter fruit for fruit (or veggies, nuts, etc.). I like this whole $0 budget thing because it forces you to be creative instead of taking the simple path of paying for convenience and ease. I also belive its inportant to reduce costs because there is usually a correlation between the amount of money you spent and the energy intensity of the product/service your getting. I will hopefully post some pics of these various projects in the next week or so.
I'd love to hear what everyone else has been doing to keep the permie spirit alive since going back to real life.
Sunday, July 17, 2011
Hola from Taos
Hello Everyone! It took me a while to get caught up and onto the blog. Thank you, Rose, for starting this.
We saw Scott, Arina, and Sasha at their open house yesterday. They have quite an inspiring little scene out there. They seem all to be very well and we enjoyed seeing them very much. Scott was up at out land last week since we've hired him to consult. All is great here in NM.
Love, Janet
Saturday, July 9, 2011
Thursday, July 7, 2011
Depleting the Ogallala Aquifer. How fast? How soon?
in my daily news search i came across a well written article about the ogallala aquifer, and the depletion issues its facing not some time in the future but today; at this very moment. you probably remember us discussing this aquifer during the pdc, but a refresher is that its the largest freshwater source on the planet, is a geologic structure existing on the eatern front of the rockies (from texas to north dakota), and supplies water for a large percentage of the nations crops. in the article they profile a small town that, due to the aquifers varying regional depth, is a canary in the coal mine for this rapidly emerging issue.http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/8359076/US-farmers-fear-the-return-of-the-Dust-Bowl.html i find it intriguing that the article appeared only in a UK newspaper. Also sorry to all those grammar fanatics out there. I'm doing this from my phone, and just discovered that shift and caps work in strange ways on blogger, but I think I've figured it out now.
Sunday, July 3, 2011
Greetings!
Hello Lama friends,
I had to take a week to get back in touch with this "reality". Lots going on in the month of July for me, so I am super greatful for the peace and focus I was able to achieve at Lama. I am sure I will use those memories many a time in the coming 6 weeks!
I was relieved to feel so happy when I saw the Las Vegas skyline. I can't lie...I was worried about coming back to this place of golf courses and lawns in the desert. While it would be a great time to pick up and move (since I have to move out of my house in 30 days and I still technically don't have a job, though through the grapevine I've heard that I do...), I feel so at home here. Ahh, Las Vegas. What a contradiction you are.
Yesterday morning, I met with Kaleb at the Omelet House for a little post-PDC rehashing. Truth is, we barely cracked open the notebooks and spent more time talking about what to do next. I am very excited to take my experiences and all that learning and put it all into practice with our group here.
Permaculture came to me in a very round about way. It started with my uncle (who is really my dad's bff) inviting me to take a yoga class with him. I met Heidi, his yoga instructor. Later, he invited me to Heidi's boyfriend's flower shop where my uncle, Corbet, was playing guitar for First Friday. There, I met Heidi's boyfriend, Peter, and their lovely flower shop, Gaia, in downtown Las Vegas. While talking with Peter, he asked if I would be interested in starting a book club on permaculture. Yes! was my answer. Did I know what permaculture was? No, but whatever it was I was willing to learn. Here I was, standing in an organic flower shop in downtown Las Vegas...an oxymoron if there ever was one. I figured whatever Peter was talking about it had to be something good. Ha! :)
Three years later, I am proud to be a founding member of the Southern Nevada Permaculture Guild. Prior to taking the PDC in Lama this June, I read through Bill Mollison's Introduction to Permaculture and the first half of Toby Hemenway's Principles of Permaculture. I have worked in two local community gardens as well as started a Garden Club at the elementary school I worked at. What's next?
Permaculture is my path. I love how everything in my life fits neatly within the context of permaculture, and for now, I'm going with it.
I have another blog, Oh Hendo, if you are interested in seeing what I've done with the house I've lived in downtown Henderson for the past 4 years. I also have a flickr account, rosyred68, where I have posted a few PDC pictures, more to come!
Looking forward to seeing what you all have in store!
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