Elizabeth Kokkonen

I am so glad I found this post. I have a rock island. Main goal is to build biomass and use the available moss and lichen.. My question is for morgan morison... Why stop wanting to build Bio Mass and if you have had success with the rock mulching.

This season I will try to plant my trees and other peranials near where the lichen and mosses are. Add branches and mulches and hold back on the soil. I find adding bagged soil screws with the moss and lichen. That's why the idea of mimicking our forest's sub floor texture appeals to me. Plus I am sick of carrying bags of soil to the island.


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Have any of you used lichen or moss as a nitrogen fixer.

...A lichen is the result of a relationship between a fungus and a photosynthetic organism, usually one-celled green algae or cyanobacteria (“blue-green algae”). (Cyanobacteria are a group of bacteria that can photosynthesize, using sunlight to make food from water, carbon and other nutrients.)... Lichens also fix large amounts of nitrogen from the air and help moderate the humidity around them. http://theworldlink.com

If you could post photos of your experience or research links it would be great.

I don't have any soil on the top of the rock, other then what I brought in. The pine forest floor is pit and mound with blueberries. I want to recreate that in a forest garden made of hugel beds on the rock. That's how I would use the lichen... To mimic the forest.

E.

Morgan,

When I transplant little pine trees on the rock parts I make sure there is a crack. I read that pine has shallow roots. Do you know of trees or plats that punch the rock? That would mean they could get nutrients pretty easily. Thanks for the Willow tip. I have a small one near the water that keeps being cut by beavers. A useful use of the branches.

I love love that visual and know the feeling. It's also when I hurt myself the most (When I am getting too hot and tired of lifting and positioning rocks.

Do you use the rooting powder for your cuttings? I have tried nut it never worked. From how you describe it seems "pas chinois". You take a cutting and then you simply plant it?

You can winter sow everything. My peppers might take longer to come up but they will be hardy.. At least that is the idea.

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Heidi,
I looked at the website and could not find the general list or explanation of what you could eat and do. Paleo would be mainly for type O's from what I read. I'm blood type B and Nomad Genotype so wild meats, no chicken and no Tomatos. The idea is that each group reacts differently to lectins in certain foods. It's nice to have a connection to our food sources and our actions be purposeful.


Lately I started Winter Sowing. You should check it out. You plant inside plastic bottles or veggie boxes. It is the first year I do it this way.. I won't have to harden them off since they will start to grow on their own and be used to the weather.

Emily,
Your beds look great. Did you plant in them the first year? When do you plan to put in the blueberries? I am curious to what type of guild you are going to build around them. (just starting this spring to implement the principles.) I too have blueberries but I want to try and help them. So if you have any ideas? I was thinking of putting the mighty comfrey. I think I will buy at least 50 seedling. What are your plans for the trees? Have you thought about planting an under story with all the layers and try to connect them in a forest savana/ garden style? On one picture it looks like you have built your hugelkulturs on contour and the other not so much. How did you decide how to align your beds? On contour, against the wind.. I love how much space you have. Thanks for showing your hard work and that building on rock is possible.

E

Nothing like man power.. and motor power for that matter. Our life seems to keep getting easier every year as projects get done and we get more tools. Plus now that a lot of the main building projects are done I can look forward to my husband getting involved in more "garden" projects... Which I am excited about.

I see that you also have wild raspberries that don't produce too. Do you think there is a way to make them produce? I was hoping to figure out what I could do to help them out. I think you are unto something about the soil building at the bottom of the hill. I like how in jack spirko's video he shows how to make terraces level. Tomorrow I am going to go to home depot and get a few pieces of wood with a string and start to figure out how steep is my slope.

I've heard of the paleo but not of the combo with primal lifestyle. It sounds like good old hard work outdoors. It's great how you two are in sync. When it comes to eating and what to plant I try to follow a mix of blood type diet with a little Weston A Price in the mix.

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So sorry.. My ipad got stuck and I could not stop it. I can't figure out how to edit the post.

I meant to write.. In the edges of the forest is where most of the activity is. It's a great idea to plant the hazelnuts around the spruce. Maybe you can build different guilds depending on what the area needs. I have great memories from picking hazelnuts. But for some reason I am following the blood type diet and trying to plant mostly beneficials for my type. We all have different reasons for planting what we plant.

Elizabeth

Heidi Hoff wrote:Beautiful location, Elizabeth!

I'm an American transplant to eastern Quebec, trying to start permaculture plantings on rock. Glad to hear that I am not the only one facing these challenges. I think we are jointly putting to the test Mark Sheppard's claim that he can farm a rock! In fact, in one of his YouTube videos, he says that he is looking for an island in Lake Superior or somewhere to test his ideas on...!

Hi Heidi, I will google Mark Sheppard. Wow so much of this got me exited.. I am thrilled you are going to get all that biomass from your neighbours. You are wise to wait for your trees. I think I should have done the same but I only ordered 13 or so combinations of the forest tree layers to plant near my edges and help with the wind barriers. I intend to split them between this property and our residential one in GTA.

As you can see in the picture with out cottage in the background, my husband dives for logs and uses them to build. We also burn firewood and have to gather it/ bring it by boat.. So good wood is always in demand in our house. I am now too on the look and have started to gather fallen branches and such but I will need a heck of a lot more to build a 6 foot hugelkultur. (I will likely do a mix of a few things and adapt to my tiny or particular conditions) I wish I had a bigger land to play with but such are my parameters. My husband is not yet a convert. That is also a factor.

I called the local tree removal company and I'll be receiving a truck full of mulch in the spring. You remind me I need to secure some chicken manure. I made a contact last fall. I still need to bring every thing by boat. I do have a compost pile and intend to get a chipper. I am going to go check out your site.

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I do have a green house but I have not used it a lot. It's not really big and it gets really hot. I guess that would be the point if using it in the winter but I also have problems with harding off so this winter I am winter sowing in plastic bottles so the seedlings are already a costumed to the weather since we only go there every other weekend in the winter. I have put a cover on my brassicas in the fall so that I can access the frees all winter long. It works well.

As for the tomatoes and raspberries they came up on their own. I put some of our compost toilet manure under the pine tree last winter and I guess there were tomatoe seeds in there or something. The raspberries grow like weeds here. I am thinking next ear they might bear fruit. By the time summer is full on I have a bunch of little tomatoe plants growing in random places. All self seeded.

Those hoops sounds like a great idea. http://youtu.be/zeDYPXpwvus I went through his whole series and on this one he explains how to use rocks with wood.

Kota Dubois wrote:What a small world it is. I've been putting together a list of fruit trees from that guy. I especially like the old ones that he searched out in his area and selected for grafting. If you need nuts there is a guy near Jolliet who does basically the same thing only specializing in nut trees. His site is http://www.lafeuillee.com/index.htm (c'est uniquement en francais).

Lennoxville is closer to my land than Montreal is, maybe some time you're visiting your folks.....

Nice Nut tree site thank you. We'll likely go out east sometimes this spring. I'll PM you. I'd love to see your ongoing projects.

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