We are faced with so many problems in today’s world.  Permaculture Design has not only the answers to our global crisis but tried and true evidence of solutions.  Here is a video that we all need to view and consider .  Deeply consider!

We gathered saturday to welcome the new growing season, build an affordable cold frame, and chat with new and old friends.  Our daily schedule was shifted due to bad weather.  So we decided to build the cold frame first thing.  We were determined to finish building the cold frame, place it in the landscape, fill it with good soil and plant seeds.  We did just that.

After lunch, with the cold frame planted, the rain started to come.  We shifted our focus and went inside to learn more about how to grow food all year.  Coffee and tea kept people in the mood and the treats filled our bellies as we learned the techniques and strategies of 4 season gardening.  By the end of the day we were all confident to go home and start our own 4 season garden system.  Thank you to all the wonderful participants and our hosts Michele Sneed and her son Andrew.

Our next course in the Backyard series will be on Backyard Mushroom Farming.  This course is always an information/action packed day.  Participants will not only learn about mushrooms they will participate in drilling and plugging mushroom logs.  Each participant will be able to bring a log home with them to grow.

Contact Michele Sneed

michelesneed@aol.com

wwwthefarmhousehuntsville.com

Enjoy the pictures!

Spiral Ridge Permaculture developed the Backyard Permaculture Series to introduce participants to the concepts and techniques of Permaculture Design and to teach them the skills needed for backyard self-reliance.  Here is an invitation to our next mini course. 

An invitation!  On February 4th 2012, Cliff Davis will be teaching a class on 4 Season Gardening: season extension, cold frame making etc at North Al. Permaculture Center in Huntsville. We still have room of 10 more attendees. Come join our growing Huntsville permaculture community! More details at www.thefarmhousehuntsville.com Click on the permaculture tab. Morning is class instruction/learning and afternoon is hands-on building and planting a coldframe.

The greatest asset we have is right under our feet.  Well,  it used to be.  Spiral Ridge Permaculture Gardens was clear cut in December of 2007.  The gardens sit on a rocky finger ridge with very little topsoil because it has washed down the hill into the creek and ultimately to the Mississippi.  As I discussed in the previous post on Regenerative Earthworks, water and soil are the key to regenerative farming systems.  At Spiral Ridge Permaculture Gardens we build soil in several different ways.  One way is with swale and pond systems that capture water and nutrients in the soil.  Another way, is the use of nitrogen fixing trees and cover crops.  When we have enough materials we make Thermophilic compost (http://www.compost-info-guide.com/fastcompost.htm) and humanure compost.  Animals play a key role in on farm fertility too.  One system in particular is our rabbitry and vermicompost system.  Our rabbits and our kitchen scraps supply our worms with everything they need to create lush earthworm castings.  These castings are used in our nursery’s annual starts and perennial potted plants.  This lessens our need to buy in lots of amendments.  Check out our first successful batches of earthworm castings from our subterranean worm bins/pathway in our high tunnel.

Who needs $ when you have worms and poo?

Black Gold

As I walked down our landscape the other day I realized that at this point in the regeneration of our land we are farming soil and water.  According to Sepp Holzer 70% of our agriculture is completed when we have our water systems designed and developed.  Why is that?  Well, if we consider what we know of the Soil Food Web, water is life!  Without water there is no microbial life possible in the soil.  Without microbes there is no biology which means no life.  Life in the soil is the first step in creating regenerative farming systems.  An important part of this is what I call Regenerative Earthworks.  Using machinery and human labor to sculpt the land to slowly move and capture water in the landscape is the first step in Regenerative Earthworks.  The second step is to add biology to the land.  We add biology by spraying biologically active compost teas to the land immediately after disturbance.  We do this by making simple compost tea aerators out of 5 gallon buckets and by adding biodynamic preps to the soil.  The third step is to plant seeds that will help build biomass and add nutrients to soil.  The use of nitrogen fixing annual and perennial crops and bio-accumulators has proven to be an effective way to build soil and retain moisture.  The next step is to mulch heavily to help the seed and soil capture water,  stop erosion, and stop the oxidation of the soil microbes.  Finally we can plant our tree systems and pulse animals into the areas of use.  This helps to complete the cycle of life and moves us forward on the pathway of regeneration.

Building 'Twales' a Trail and Swale

Hand dug swales growing cover crops

Watch this video and wee how you can make great change for Seven Generations.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TB-vOFyIB28

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xAO44WpSleI&feature=related

http://transitionvoice.com/department/climate/