Hello from Ohio

Hello! I just moved to a new 2.6 acre parcel in Summit County, which is huge compared to our previous suburban lot. I have grand plans for a garden, egg-layers, a few fruit trees, a pollinator garden, and a rain garden. I don't have much experience (really any) but am incredibly interested in managing the land through permaculture ideals, and am thirsty for all the knowledge! But admittedly, I am feeling overwhelmed and not really sure where to start. Looking forward to learning some great tips on this site.

Welcome, and congratulations!

Your opportunities and plans sound really exciting to me, and you will really enjoy trying things on your new place with the amazing Permies support network cheering you on from here. If you start out with your very favorite things, expanding your homestead system gradually as you learn more and more each season, you will not get overwhelmed. Experience is not necessary to get started on this kind of adventure, believe me.

So glad you're here, and it will be fun to get updates on your projects!

Hi Michelle,  I had to smile when you said you would have a rain garden. I moved to Ohio (Medina Co.)  5 years ago, and in spring there's so much rain there are ducks in the fields, swimming, ditches by the street, flooded front yards. I'm at a loss to know what to do, as far as planting goes. It's too dry in the summer, too wet in spring.  The PDC class talked more about capturing water. I lost trees due to too much water. I'm interested in hearing how you handle it.
Best of luck to you!

Jan, I have been spending the last few months since our move here mostly just observing the land and where different patterns occur. So far I have observed a lot of wet spots also. I found a good outline on how and where to establish a rain garden that might help out in the wet springs and falls. Feel free to check it out: https://extension.umn.edu/landscape-design/rain-gardens#choose-plants-1778663

Hi Michelle,
   Thank you for the link. It looks good, and I hope it works for you. Have you been on your property during early spring?  
   I find our property challenging because it's so different in summer, compared to spring. My challenge is where to plant trees. It's not only the flooding we get in spring, but we have 11 black walnut trees on our 2 acres.
    Hopefully my before and after pictures will attach. One is of the advertised 'stream', which is really just a run off, in it's normal state, and the other is what it looks like when it floods. I'm about to plant two small pecan trees there this fall. I think they'll grow roots before the spring rains.
   I do love the look of rain gardens. I think they're serene. Can't wait to see a picture after yours develops.

Hi Jan,

Looks like you have a nice plot of land-but yes, what a challenge in the spring that must be. I haven't planted anything new yet as our property is also very hilly which presents it's own set of challenges, I'm finding. We moved here in March and so yes, have been through one spring season so far. It was very mushy and muddy. Did you learn a lot from the Jeff Lawton course you took? Does it cover not just the permaculture principles but also how to implement them? It's hard to know where/how to start.

Michelle

P.S. I have a feeling we are not far from each other as I am near the Medina county line in Summit.

Hi Michelle,  Geoff Lawton's class was good at explaining the general principles ,. but after that I think it's good to follow other people who have similar land to your own, to get the details.  Even though I've been here five years, I haven't done a very good job using what I learned.  Our 2.3 acres isn't a great example of permaculture. There was an existing local permaculture group here, when I arrived, but it disbanded soon afterwards. I need like minded people to talk to.
  I'm near Valley City.   I have some things to share, if you'd like, but they could be invasive, so you might not want them. I have two types of elderberry, Kiowa blackberries, and some strawberries.  I also have the sterile comfrey, and, also, the invasive comfrey. (which I brought with me , by mistake, when we moved) Are we close?

Hi Jan,

I think we are pretty close, maybe 20 or 30 minutes away if I'm not mistaken. We are in Bath.  I'm sorry to hear the local permaculture group disbanded, but happy to have found a like-minded local person on this site. Thank you for your offer to share. I am interested, but don't yet know where I would put anything. We have a very strange 2.6 acre lot. We basically live on the side of a hill and a lot of the property is very steep. We will also need to find and implement some water management principles, in addition to the rain garden. We are still very much in the information gathering phase.

Michelle, would you want to exchange email addresses, in the hope that when we both have time, we can visit each other's place?

Jan, I sent you a private message.