planning for permaculture

A major plan for our property is permaculture. Jerome has completed a Midwest Permaculture course and done an internship at a CSA. We will be planting some annual fruits and vegetables, but the goal for the future is to have something that sustains itself, a food forest. This is an efficient, economical, and sustainable way to have food (yummy healthy food). The current way that our society buys "foodstuff" at supermarkets is a large waste of resources and generally highly modified out of much of its nutrition (you could say that nutritionally supplemented grains are high in vitamins and minerals, but that is another story).

Imagine that you didn't have to go to the supermarket. All the food you needed was right outside your door. It kept you healthy. It was fresh and full of flavor. You knew that it contributed to a healthy earth and a healthy ecosystem that would nurture your children in the future. That is what we are going for.

Currently we are working on fixing up the largest

greenhouse. There are three on the property here. The plastic has been ripped in a few places and a door on the south side has a broken piece. We just fixed the door in place because the wind likes to grab these large doors (hence the break). We will put a small human sized door on the side. For now it is fixed to a point of being functional.

Jerome and I are going to sit down this week and make a list of exactly what we will be starting in the greenhouse this year. I can tell you right now that we are planning on putting in a bunch of apple trees. A recent

suprise is what looks like a patch of wild raspberries on the east side of the property behind this greenhouse. Last year the bushes were hidden by all of the burr plants that like to have parties on disturbed soil after it is left alone.

While in Guatemala, Miles, one of the Long Way Home workers gave me a USB full of fantastic permaculture and natural building books. I have been reading a book by Fukuoka (the original permaculturist) that says when this happens you

scatter white clover seed and the clover will replace the burrs. I like white clover in salads and as a tea, not to mention that it is good for grazing if you have animals. It is soft to walk on bare foot and smells sweet. I think that if people want to insist on having lawns they should at least plant clover, but I guess I'm one of those people that likes dandelions too. :)

We have a small list of people who would like to receive food from the CSA and a few people have contacted us online that said they might be interested in helping with it. I think that I am very happy the list is small for the first year, though we know that we already have strawberries and raspberries. We only got in a late garden in June last year (when we bought the farm) while we were trying to work on the house but got amazing results. Things are falling together well.

*Don't forget to click on the food forest link above to see a great permaculture video about a couple that started a food forest organic farm*