Animals ← Spiral Ridge Permaculture

Permaculture Voices Interview

May

16

2014

Recently Cliff was interviewed by Diego, of the Permaculture Voices podcast. They talk about the realities of homesteading, living an off-grid lifestyle, farming, family life and more. It was a great honor to be interviewed by Diego. He asked many questions relevant to any aspiring farmer or homesteader. Sometimes we idealize going back to the ...

Permaculture PIGS: Pigs in the glen UPDATE!

Jan

5

2014

Earlier this week, after much patience and planning, Bard and I finally got two large sows (Mule foot & Red wattle hybrid) into their new woodland paddock at Harmony Homestead. We introduced a young Large Black boar, a pregnant Large Black and a feeder pig for spring harvest. At first there was a lot of ...

Bamboo Fodder Research 2

Dec

27

2013

Today Kiran (our 10 year old son) and I decided to test the viability of dwarf bamboo as a fodder crop. Indocalamus longiauritus was our chosen species. We cut our samples from a small nursery grove that we established as a mother for future plantings. Our initial intention was to see if the goat would ...

Holistic Grazing Plan for our new farm venture

Dec

18

2013

Today we met with our friend and colleague Greg Brann who is an NRCS grazing and soil specialist trained in Holistic Management. We met at our friends 25 acre farm to discuss fencing, watering, keyline, livestock and multi species grazing management. Spiral Ridge Permaculture is partnering with our friends to start a regenerative agriculture research ...

It’s a family affair. Pigs and People

Feb

19

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

18

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

29

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

16

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

22

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

18

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 ...