Newbie here!

Hello,

Lovely to be here with you all. Looking forward to learning a lot from this site.

My husband and I are in the final stages of an online PDC with Geoff Lawton at the moment. We are both from the South West of England, although currently out of the country. I will be back in the South West soon enough (in the next few days), but my husband will be a few more months before he returns as he is working on a short term project in Delhi.

We are hoping to eventually buy some land in the South West of England and set up our own permaculture homestead and potentially a nursery in the next few years. I have watched various videos about plant propagation and grafting techniques but am still to put these into practice when we are not halfway across the world and are a bit more settled. If you have any tips for these types of things I would love to hear them!

I would love to come and visit, to generally meet and observe and ask lots of questions and potentially help out with some permies or eco-villages (probably most likely within the South West region of England for ease of travel from my friends and family in and around Somerset and Devon as that is where I will be staying whilst back in the UK, or in Spain in order to practice my Spanish). If you are someone who would be open to visitors/helpers in these areas then please reach out to me.

I have some experience growing food, although this was before I did the PDC. During COVID lockdown I worked with my dad to plant a big (ish) veg patch containing things like carrots, onions, leeks, beans, parsnips, courgettes, and other items in a greenhouse like tomatoes and cucumbers. We had plenty of veg and so I also have a little experience in some preserving techniques such as blanching and freezing, dehydrating, and making chutneys. I would be keen to find out how to make natural soaps and moisturisers etc with spare produce also. More recently I have grown tomatoes, chilies, pumpkins and various herbs in a sunny courtyard after making several planters from old pallets that I salvaged. Homegrown just tastes so much better than store bought! I also love being involved with planting the seeds, and getting my hands in the dirt, and nurturing the plants throughout the year before receiving the tasty harvest as a reward!

I am not afraid of hard work and am quite strong and capable as well as being creative. I love making things with my hands. In my spare time I like to bake, crochet, do art, play music, do yoga and other activities, I love all things aerial sports related (I have done various amounts hoop, pole, silks, trapeze, lollipop, rope, hammock). If I can get upside-down regularly then I am happy!

I have a background in biochemistry and did a PhD in biomedical science research. I did some time in pharmaceutical companies during COVID and beyond as we were just back from travelling around SE Asia and it was hard to find a job at the time (I never wanted to work in pharma companies but needs must - it wasn't even that well paid! haha). I am really hoping to find a more meaningful life that is closer attached to nurturing and repairing land.

I expect that I will be visiting this site quite frequently now that I have found it. I hope to get to know some of you (perhaps even in person!) well.

Hi Lydia, I'm always happy to great a fellow Brit on the forums. Being US based there are fewer of us on this side of the Atlantic, but we do have active people from all over the world.
I'm based up on Skye - so pretty much as far from your desired destination as possible in the UK. There's a thread somewhere of permaculture places to visit in the UK, I'll see if I can find it for you later. The ones that spring to my mind immediately are Martin Crawford's places in Cornwall, Sagara's Forest Garden in East Devon and the Fern's field in Cornwall. The Fern's I believe are open to hosting volunteers; you'd have to check with Martin Crawford and Sagara what their current status is.
Any idea what sort of plants you want to provide? I buy most of my interesting plants mail order, so could definitely be a customer if they were unusual edibles (and you send out Royal Mail/Parcel Force)!
Welcome to Permies!

Hi there,
Lovely to meet you!
I júst signed up from about an hour above Invernes (57.5 north if memory serves) in hopes of finding information on growing in the UK. I've read quite a few posts over the years without seeing many UK based permies, so I feel very lucky that you just introduced yourselves today. I hope you find a suitable location to grow all your dreamed plants Lydia! Your climate will be very different, but if you end up growing interesting edibles, then like Nancy I will be very interested in procuring some.
And Nancy, Skye is quite close to us, at least climate-wise 😊

It was Joseph Lofthouse and his amazing book that finally got me to sign up in order to participate on Permies.
Don't get me wrong, I love reading forums here and it's one of my tricks to brighten a mediocre day. So far I've not felt I had anything to add.
However after finally reading Joseph's book in full I feel... Inspired on so many levels (thank you Joseph!).

We moved to Scotland from The Netherlands some 5 years ago with intentions of growing loads of vegetables for us and our new community. Mixed results followed 😂 and I realized that standard gardening doesn't work for either me, or our garden.(about 1/4 acre? I'm metric so I get confused, it's around 1200 m2)
Part of it us wooded so we work inbetween, planting perennials of various sorts with small plots of vegetables of all discriptions growing inbetween fruit shrubs, trees, etc.

Finding seeds that will grow is a real challenge though, since in the UK we have a niche climate and even seeds grown and raised on the isles are hit-and-miss. I've used both Realseeds and Vital seeds, some sharing groups + any number of the normals. The Ullapool allotment-grown seeds for Sutherland Kale were an eye opener; they grew so well!
This has me convinced that landracing everything as much as I can, will be a solution. And if seeds adapt to us, then they would be (should be?) suitable for most of the Highlands and Islands.
But finding landrace-ey seeds is... Tricky. Brexit has effectively shut us off from many sources in the America's and Europe, and seeds already present in the UK is hard to come by.
So far I've miraculously found a UK based seed shop (I'm not sure if they grew this or bought it, Beans and Herbs they're called) that has Painted Mountain 'sweet' corn. This is the only corn I think stands a chance of reaching maturity in my garden.
A new seed grower has popped up very close to me, seeds of Scotland, and they have a landrace squash on their listing that I hope will come available for next year. And that's it.

Suggestions are more than welcome!

I could of course aim to become Scotland's Joseph 😉 it would be nice to start with some genetically diverse seeds to make life easy.
I'm interested in everything (a character flaw, I'm aware) but carrots, parsnips, tomatoes, cucumber/squash, beans (mostly runner) are currently high on the list.
(And if anyone knows how I can get potato and garlic seeds, please tell me!)

I plan to write several seed-autonomy groups to see if they have ideas (or seeds).
Europe is another option, although seeds will be illegally entering (there is a point that bureaucracy becomes such that it's hard to take the "illegality" it produces seriously. But I'd prefer people not to have to risk fines just to get me seeds).
Language is also a complication, since old-fashioned landrace seeds will not necessarily be available from English languaged sources, so finding them may entail searching in all European languages.

Anyway, I hope to be a good Permie and wish you all a lovely day!

Yay! 2 in one day!
Welcome Marieke too!
How similar your climate is to me depends on whether you are East or West Coast! We're about 57.2N, so similar in that regard, but tend to have mild (wet) winters, rather than cold ones. Growing in the Highlands is very different from a climate with a warmer summer, although at least we rarely need to irrrigate! I may be able to give some pointers for seeds and landracing. I take it you've registered on going to seed? Although US based there are active members in EU and UK. Even more interesting for us perhaps is far North Seedsavers I'm a little far away to participate in the in person seed swaps, but hope to do some postal swaps this year perhaps.
I can possibly help with some of your desires (!) I have been growing landraces myself and have fresh Swede and Parsnip seed mix this year (carrot from last year). I'm not happy with the mix, but they did start off as a mixture of varieties, I'm just not sure which survived to flower and seed. I also have some TPS. I usually do a 'seeds offered' on the 'flea market' forum here - it's about that time of year again. I just found the 'seeds of scotland' site myself last year :) .

O wow! And yes please to all of those!!
(The cat is making funny face, wondering why I'm bouncing around the room )

We're east coast, technically. Funny corner fold in the land, it's called Culrain. So, not as much rain as you get most likely... but damp enough to technically be rainforest at the back of the garden.

I was really hoping to start with carrots and parsnips coming season, swedes were on the list for next year but if you have some to spare then I'll lovingly grow a bed this coming year. (The only ones that ever wanted to grow for me were RealSeeds Gilfeathers turnip swede)

I did see the going to seed forum mentioned, I'll join it asap. The far north seed swap sounds amazing and like just the place. I'll keep an eye out for the flea market, and I'll send you a message for those seeds 😍

Nancy Reading wrote:Hi Lydia, I'm always happy to great a fellow Brit on the forums. Being US based there are fewer of us on this side of the Atlantic, but we do have active people from all over the world.
I'm based up on Skye - so pretty much as far from your desired destination as possible in the UK. There's a thread somewhere of permaculture places to visit in the UK, I'll see if I can find it for you later. The ones that spring to my mind immediately are Martin Crawford's places in Cornwall, Sagara's Forest Garden in East Devon and the Fern's field in Cornwall. The Fern's I believe are open to hosting volunteers; you'd have to check with Martin Crawford and Sagara what their current status is.
Any idea what sort of plants you want to provide? I buy most of my interesting plants mail order, so could definitely be a customer if they were unusual edibles (and you send out Royal Mail/Parcel Force)!
Welcome to Permies!

Oh hi - I think I perhaps saw your messages about the chinampas and marshlands that you have been making. Is that you? If so, I was hoping to comment on the post but then lost it as I actually signed up! They look great, you have really converted the landscape to something useful there!

Thank you for the info on those people and places - I will see if I can find out where they are and if they are accepting volunteers.

At the moment no I am not too sure about what plants we will want to try to provide. I imagine we will want to go for edible ones though, when we get set up I will definitely do another post and update you.

Marieke De Jong wrote:Hi there,
Lovely to meet you!
I júst signed up from about an hour above Invernes (57.5 north if memory serves) in hopes of finding information on growing in the UK. I've read quite a few posts over the years without seeing many UK based permies, so I feel very lucky that you just introduced yourselves today. I hope you find a suitable location to grow all your dreamed plants Lydia! Your climate will be very different, but if you end up growing interesting edibles, then like Nancy I will be very interested in procuring some.
And Nancy, Skye is quite close to us, at least climate-wise 😊

It was Joseph Lofthouse and his amazing book that finally got me to sign up in order to participate on Permies.
Don't get me wrong, I love reading forums here and it's one of my tricks to brighten a mediocre day. So far I've not felt I had anything to add.
However after finally reading Joseph's book in full I feel... Inspired on so many levels (thank you Joseph!).

Hello! Thank you, I am glad that you have felt inspired to post! What is the book that you have been reading that was so inspiring?

I hope you manage to find the varieties of all the plants you desire that will grow well in your slightly harsher climate, that are not considered "illegal".

Again I am not too sure what we are thinking that we will sell but I am hoping for some interesting edibles. I am still very much in the learning phases of how this all might work. I will post again when we have some more certainties and hopefully there will be some desirable things there.

Nancy Reading wrote:
Growing in the Highlands is very different from a climate with a warmer summer, although at least we rarely need to irrrigate!

Always looking on the bright side! haha I like it!

Nancy Reading wrote:I take it you've registered on going to seed? Although US based there are active members in EU and UK.

Ooh this sounds interesting I will have a look at this too, thanks

Marieke De Jong wrote:(The cat is making funny face, wondering why I'm bouncing around the room )

haha I am sure the cat will love sleeping in the veg bed when it is up and running! They might not get it yet, but they will!

Lydia Cox wrote:

Hello! Thank you, I am glad that you have felt inspired to post! What is the book that you have been reading that was so inspiring?

Sorry, unintentional teaser! It's by Joseph Lofthouse - Landrace Gardening: Food Security through Biodiversity and Promiscuous Pollination. Delightful!

Now let's see if this quote worked

xM

Lydia Cox wrote:Oh hi - I think I perhaps saw your messages about the chinampas and marshlands that you have been making. Is that you? If so, I was hoping to comment on the post but then lost it as I actually signed up! They look great, you have really converted the landscape to something useful there!

Yes that was probably me: my project thread. I need to do an update again for the end of the season. I haven't had a go at harvesting the wapato yet, so I may leave it another month or two. I think the area has still some settling in to do - more planting and control of plants but it is functioning well from a plumbing perspective!

Thank you for the info on those people and places - I will see if I can find out where they are and if they are accepting volunteers.

I found the thread I was remembering: Public permaculture sites in Britain and Ireland It does need an update though - Steve Marquis suggested a load of sites I haven't included in the wiki post yet.

At the moment no I am not too sure about what plants we will want to try to provide. I imagine we will want to go for edible ones though, when we get set up I will definitely do another post and update you.

No rush - once you know where you are you will find what makes sense for you and the land - and it may be something completely different! But do please let us know. This link may be helpful when the time comes.

Hi Lynda!

I emigrated from near Alverstoke, Hampshire with my parents back in the 70s (opposite Isle of Wight)

I get a touch of nostalgia when my old neck of the woods is mentioned and you are pretty close!

I hope you find that perfect spot for your dreams, and yes, please tell us when you are jumping across the pond!