Permaculture 101

I've been schooling myself in permaculture all winter. I've been waiting for a class to present itself in the Detroit area for 2013 and so far it seems like I'm out of luck. Instead of relying on someone else to offer me a program, I've pieced one together myself. Basically it consists of purchasing way too many books and ignoring everyone around me for large chunks of time while I read about swales and edge and diversity of species...etc.

In addition to all of this reading, I've been proactive about learning through experience. I joined a co-op garden on the edge of Ferndale and I also enrolled in a composting class which runs twice a month in March, April and May. I plan on volunteering a few hours a week down at the CSA we joined last summer. I wanted to work with people who have already established a system and these folks offer a "work share" to make the program more affordable. So I guess I'm not technically "volunteering" but I'm really only taking what I grow and I'm not getting money for helping...so yeah.

This summer looks to be quite busy for us. I addition to the 10 x 10 plot I'm getting from the co-op, I'm also planning an expansion on my backyard garden space. I'll be essentially doubling my growing area. I'm using John Jeavons' GROW BIOINTENSIVE method to garden this year, which adds a bit more prep work, but should decrease the amount of labor time I spend in the beds. I'm definitely building my chicken coop this spring and we hope to have chickens in it by May or June at the latest. Our front porch needs to be demolished and rebuilt and then for the few days that I'm not doing all of this, we want to remodel our bathroom. Overwhelmed yet? Me too!

Here are a couple new pictures. My ever expanding library (I think I have at least 3 or 4 more books since this was taken.) and the preliminary images of the coop plans. I will post a high res image as part of the series I'll be doing during construction.

Spring already?

Is it spring already? It sure feels like spring with the warm weather that we have had lately. While I'm concerned about the crops up north and other things that happen in Michigan when the weather is poor, I am also very excited about the possibility of starting the garden early this year.

I have been reading a new book called How to Grow More Vegetables Than You Ever Thought Possible On Less Land Than You Can Imagine. Long title, I know. But the title says exactly what the book is about. This summer I'm going to use the technique in this book, called Grow Biointensive. This method, unlike other methods I've used in the past, focuses almost entirely on soil health. Yield is considered a byproduct of healthy soil. This all makes a lot of sense and of course that is partially why I've never heard of it before.

Anyway, the Biointensive method is a long term commitment kind of thing, so I will have plenty to blog about in the coming months. I'm very excited about getting started with this new plan, especially with the other ideas I'm putting into the works with the city soon. I'm working on getting a lot of support from all sorts of people and so far, everyone I've pitched my ideas to has been overwhelmingly excited about the concept of inexpensive, quality food availability in Ferndale.

My home garden is also going to expand this summer. Basically, I am going to be working all day every day to accomplish all the goals I have in mind for this endeavor. I addition to the beds I have already built, in order to get to my golden 100 sq ft number,  I will be expanding one bed to 4x6 and adding another bed of the same size. This will give me a total of 102 sq ft of soil to cultivate.

I also plan on setting up several more rain barrels, building a chicken coop, creating at least 3 compost heaps of varying materials and, if time allows it, still riding my bike with my kids several times a week!

My next post will be all about composting, so stay in touch for that!

One book down...

I finished Introduction to Permaculture this morning. What a life changing book. There aren't many you can say that about and really mean, but this one is definitely in the top 3 books I've ever read.

My next literary venture is Bill Mollison's Permaculture One: A Perennial Agriculture for Human Settlement. I also have Permaculture: A Designer's Manual being delivered tomorrow. My next move is to finish my rain barrels to completion and then I'll move on to more advanced elements.

From Stuff I Found

I planted nearly everything in the garden yesterday. This year, the list looks something like:
Broccoli
Cauliflower
Cabbage
Cucumbers
Peapods
Green and Yellow Beans
Sweet Peppers
Roma Tomatoes
Celery
Kohlrabi
Carrots
Parsnips
Radishes
White Onions
Green Onions

Not too shabby, if it all grows. I used some older seed when starting the tray indoors, but I bought some new stuff for the root veggies and other plants I started outside. I haven't had much luck keeping my seeds from one season to the next. Perhaps I need a better place to store them.

Another Beautiful Winter Day

So it has become apparent that Winter is passing us Michiganders by this year. I couldn't ask for anything more. With all the work I have to do before munchkin number 2 arrives, I need all the good weather and time that I can get.

I wasn't going to get started on anything important yet, since there is a high probability that we will get hit with snow in mid May! Instead, I let my anxious nature get the best of me and I got the backyard seeded. I also began working on my flower bed in the front of the house. As long as it isn't raining, tomorrow I plan on going to get a load of compost from the city yards to finish it off.

I think I need to make a checklist of the projects that I am planning to work on this summer. I need some sort of hierarchy of priority to get these things done, otherwise I'll be stuck with more than a few half finished jobs by the end of the season.

In the meantime, here are two more books I recently grabbed to help me out this summer.

From

This is how I plan to organize my raised beds this year. If it works, I'll keep doing it from now on.

From

This book has tons of amazing designs and projects in it as well. More structural stuff than gardening, but I think I have found at least 3 designs I want to make so far.

I recently came across a periodical that I am now subscribed to. I love print and I really love getting magazines in the mail. Since Readymade folded in June of last year, I've been looking for something new to fill the DIY void and this one really hits the spot for the moment. It also happens to (coincidentally) fall within the realm of everything I'm working on right now.

From Stuff I Found

It's called Urban Farm and it basically guides a person like me through all the best ways to grow a large garden in an urban environment, keep bees, raise chickens and just generally follow a sustainable farming model. While I have many of my implements already accounted for, this magazine has given me some new insights into things I might not have considered before. For instance, this summer I am going to plant all of my root vegetables in pots instead of in the garden. Not only will this save me space, but apparently roots grow tremendously well in pots.

This magazine started in 2009 and is circulated bimonthly, which is a little bit disappointing because I hate waiting, but it is worth it's weight in gold as far as I'm concerned.

I'm still looking for a really good DIY replacement for Readymade. If anyone has any suggestions, I'm open.