Animals ← Spiral Ridge Permaculture

It’s a family affair. Pigs and People

Feb

2013

Today was like no other day here at Spiral Ridge Homestead. The family had to move the boar pig out of the fencing system that houses the new piglets, their mama and another pregnant sow. There are several reasons to do this. First, boars have been know to hurt the young. So just in in ...

As I wait….Wow piglets!!!

Feb

2013

AS I walked outside to do my morning chores on this windy yet sunny day, I have no idea of what happened over night on our homestead. My morning chores consist of feeding and watering the chickens, rabbits, ducks and pigs, collecting eggs for breakfast and emptying humanure buckets. Today was just like all the ...

The Farm Solar Campus: Permaculture Design Course 1

Jan

2013

What a Weekend! The Farm Solar Campus 1st Annual Winter Weekend Permaculture Design Course started with a group of eager students. Our course curriculum kept students busy learning the design process, designing from day 1, learning how to create maps and gaining insight into the depth of knowledge contained within Permaculture education. Students left happy, ...

Spiral Ridge Homestead ice storm 1

Jan

2013

As I walked out to do my morning chores, and just get outside where I like to be more than anything. I could not help but notice the beauty of the iced landscape. As fractals of light appeared thru icicles hanging on buildings, fences and plants I felt as though I was in a magical ...

The Enchanted Edible Forest Garden (Part 2)

Oct

2012

As I wander through life I always come back to the same old question. Why am I here? The answer is for the children and their children and on and on…. Seven Generations! As some of you know we have been working hard to manifest an edible forest garden at The Farm School in Summertown, ...

Designing Edible Forest Gardens 2012

Oct

2012

The 2012 Edible Forest Garden Design course certified 22 graduates on Sunday the 14th of October. Saturday teams gathered to present their designs to the community. The designs emerged from the design process that we taught during the course. The designs impressed all of us. The designs included a School Yard Forest Garden, a Small ...

2013 Weekend Permaculture Design Course

Oct

2012

2013 Winter Weekend PDC: Under $1000 Earn your internationally recognized Permaculture Design Certification during this five weekend course. Permaculture is a design approach that uses ecological principles to create regenerative human communities that are harmoniously woven into the environment and that have the diversity, stability, and resilience of natural ecosystems. Instructors include: Cliff Davis-Spiral ...

The Seed of Edible Forest Garden Design 1

Oct

2012

The Edible Forest Garden Design Intensive 2012 started on Friday with 23 participants from Canada, Honduras, Tennessee, Alabama, Virginia, Indiana, Iowa, and Florida. Yesterday we spent our time bonding with the group, going over course logistics and learning how ecosystems design. From The Succession Game/Dance, to a wild design, and designing/planting a polycultur, we are ...

Regenerative Farming Systems: Soil Biology Part 1

Sep

2012

Regenerative Farming Systems are something that we are researching here on our small scale family Permaculture Homestead. The original concept of Permaculture was ‘Permanent Agriculture’. One question that I have always pondered is how do we design a ‘permanent’ farming system? The answer to that is use low impact, regenerative techniques and strategies along with ...

DIY Regenerative Earthworks

Sep

2012

I have been studying earthworks for several years now and I am always amazed at how much information there is to learn. Recently I started to learn an entire different aspect of earthworks: DIY Earthworks with small machinery. The learning curve takes a little while but as you get the hang of it one can ...