Posted on

The Survival Garden: Gardeners in a dangerous time

Black Turtle Beans seedlings
Dried beans are an excellent survival food, and are easy to grow and store.

I had the most wonderful dream the other night. I dreamt I had a beautiful piece of property, and was busy working in my gardens. I had a grape arbor, and one of those arched trellises for growing squash on.

Someone had given me eight chickens, and they followed me around like puppies. And I believe there was an actual puppy in there somewhere too. Rich had a wonderful natural swimming pool dug, and I was transplanting corn plants.

It was idyllic; and I was crazy happy. First dream I’ve remembered so vividly in a long time.

Then I woke up. Continue reading “The Survival Garden: Gardeners in a dangerous time”

Posted on

How small garden designs can produce big garden harvests

small garden designs can produce big harvests

Even if you only have a small yard, you can harvest a relatively large amount of food. Small garden designs that focus on interplanting, succession planting, overwintering, and closer spacing can take a small garden space to the next level – plus a couple of bonus tips. It just takes a little bit of know-how, observation, and planning ahead. Continue reading “How small garden designs can produce big garden harvests”

Posted on

5 things to put in your permaculture fruit tree guilds

permaculture fruit tree guilds

As with most things permaculture, exactly which plants you should put into or leave out of your permaculture fruit tree guilds…depends. It depends on where you live, what your climate is like, what your property aspect is, what your soil is like, what you like to eat, etc.

So instead of asking which plants to use, let’s look at what types of plants you need in a guild. This will give you an excellent foundation to work with. Continue reading “5 things to put in your permaculture fruit tree guilds”

Posted on

Introducing some concepts, techniques and strategies from the permaculture tool box

permaculture tool box

Permaculture is like a vast tool box. The biggest tool box you can imagine. And within that tool box are many drawers, filled with many tools.

Each of the drawers of the permaculture tool box is a concept, and within that drawer are all the different techniques and strategies that someone can use to express and implement that concept. Continue reading “Introducing some concepts, techniques and strategies from the permaculture tool box”

Posted on

How to use your permaculture garden: leave no veg behind

herbal infused oils
Firecider
A jar of home made fire cider brewing. Great for the immune system!

Oddly enough, I have seen people go to the trouble of planting a garden, and then, whether they lose interest or just get too busy, the garden is left to fend for itself.

The weeds take over, plants go to seed, and perfectly lovely vegetables just rot on the vine or in the soil. This is certainly a sad waste of a lovingly planted permaculture garden. Continue reading “How to use your permaculture garden: leave no veg behind”

Posted on

Thoughts on self sufficient gardening

how self-sufficient do we want to be?

 

I have heard this argument quite often in permaculture circles, from people trying to ‘disprove’ permaculture:

“Permaculture can’t provide ALL of your food. You can’t grow coffee, bananas, etc. etc. everywhere. So how can permaculture provide all of your food? What if you live up north?”

Well, the answer seems obvious to me, but apparently it’s not to everyone. Continue reading “Thoughts on self sufficient gardening”