Jeremy Ryan

Congratulations on your generous contributions to permaculture education. I've listened to quite a few podcsts. Whenever I recommend permies forums to others newer to permaculture, I feel compelled to warn them that the podcasts ramble a lot.
As someone with some experience in education I'd like to suggest a lesson plan to be made and kept to for each podcast. It is important to deliver detailed information on the topic.
I'd happily pay $2.50 for an hours lesson, step by step.
The richer the information the more relevant to the topic the more It would be worth paying.
It is good to know that the money could help your new project in Montana. Best of luck, keep up the good work and thank you for your efforts. PS I thought the Alpha to Omega talk with O'brien was a great introduction to Permaculture the editing made it flow well.

Thanks Craig. Yes it will rot about five years as fence posts, too soon. Finding the dirt to cover some of the felled trees as raised beds or Swales is problematic. Does anyone know if clay rich soil slows the decomposition?

We have a dam full of water with a very slow leak, my father is concerned to fix it. He contacted a company in Australia polymerinnovations.com.au that is marketing a pond sealing compound made of two monomers (polyacrimide)that are sprinkled on the water surface of a 'full' but leaking pond or dam. They say it is innert and harmless to wild life and sinks and swells as it enters fissures to seal the dam by floculation with a high success rate. The advantage being the Dam does not have to be emptied nor soiled by pig faecies from gleying. Does anyone know if this kind of product is safe as claimed? I am naturally cautious of any manufactured materials. I'm interested in trying bentonite clay or plain local clay first and am also interested in second opinions about the commercial option. The obvious draw back of the commercial product is cost. $ 500 for a 30kg enough for a 350 m2 dam. If it can safely save 5 mega liters of water? Maybe worth the trouble? The dam holds water well but is very slowly leaking and we don't want it to get worse. Thoughts welcome, I gave the web site so interested parties can check for themselves. For what it's worth I'm not affiliated with that company, just came across them online.

In order to build on our land the local shire demands we remove the pines from the land first because they are a fire hazard here in Victoria Australia. We have 6.4 acres of Radiata pine. The trees are 100- 300 mm diameter average of 200mm. Apparently too small to mill efficiently. That's about 3500 trees in total. I'm looking for creative and sustainable options for the removal. We have an over supply locally and the lumber and chip prices are low. Any ideas?

Well done Tyler, any chance of a photo?

Can anyone please let me know if common plantation pine is suitable for hugelculture?

Is radiata pine suitable for hugleculture?
Does it need to rot years first?
Is it too acidic?
Is radiata pine too anti microbial?
If so, Can it be remedied?