Lina Ackerman

Hi everyone!

A few things to start: Husband and I have a 100 ft x 150 ft patch of ground in the midwest, US hardiness zone 6a, clay soil 1/3 of an acre in a neighborhood just outside the city limits. Yard slopes slightly from the front to the back, with a steeper drop to the northeast corner where a large pine grows. Some snow in the winter, hot muggy summers and voracious mosquitoes.

Husband and I are looking to fence our backyard this summer and I am looking into perennials to plant along it. I have many ideas for INSIDE the fence, but we cannot take the fence to the very back of the lot due to the buried utilities at the property line. Since I like our back neighbor and I loathe wasting my precious outdoor space, I need ideas for what to plant on the outside of the fence.

It'll be about a 4-5 foot wide and 100ft long, though it could be wider if needed. It runs north and south, with the north side ending at a large pine tree and the south butted with a utility box and power transformer. Pretty and perennial are important, low maintenance also high up the list. Nothing tree height or it would interfere with the view from the patio. Definite zone 3/4. Full sun for 80% of the day.

I am currently thinking a mix of lavender and dwarf french lilac as the focus, but I am still new to the permaculture thing and I want to make a smart decision for this space. Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

Thank you for the suggestions! I have cilantro seeds in my seed box, but I will have to get the Nasturtium. Their little orange flowers will look sharp in the pot with the little oranges.

I live in zone 5b in the US, and we have sub zero temperatures (F) in the winter. I am slowly building a collection of potted trees that go inside shelter in the winter and out on the patio in the warmer months. Right now its just a single Valencia Orange tree, but I hope to add Lemon, Lime, Grapefruit, Banana, Pineapple (not really a tree but still a perinnial), Cocao, Vanilla (another non-tree perinnial), and olive trees to my potted orchard collection.

I would repot the trees every 2-3 years, either to a larger pot, or to renew their soil with fresh nutrients. With permaculture being lazy farming and all, I would prefer to use guilds to keep the potted soil healthy and renewed without constantly adding compost or repotting. What plants would you recommend I try in the pot with the orange tree?

Thanks in advance for your advice!

John Elliott wrote:Purchase?!? This is the time of year to be taking cuttings. Whenever you go out, take your pruning shears with you and be ready to snip. When you see a good candidate, give it a trim. Here a propagation protocol on how to do it.

He he he, well all the Honey Lucust I come across up here is thornless! I don't have any I could trim up for anyone.

I live in Michigan in the US (right near Canada zone 5b) and I'm interested in using both Osage Orange and Spiney Honey Locust in a living hedge. I'm running into difficulty with my planning however, as I cannot find a nursery that sells either locally and a onlien search only turns up the non-spiney honey Locusts for yard candy. Any suggestions for a reputable national nurseries that someone could offer?

Perhaps he has a Duck shortage? I'm under the impression they love the stuff and will gobble it up at any opportunity.

Age is the most important factor in fruit production in citrus trees. Other than that, make sure you're letting the plant have plenty of time between waterings and give it as much sunlight as possible. I've grown many plants in containers before I got my valencia orange tree over a year ago, and it amazes me how little water it actually wants. Almost like a cactus.

What I meant by time not being an issue is that I'm not in a hurry, there are no deadlines to meet some off-site goal. I know it's likely that they sprayed the corn, so I'm prepared to take it as slow as the land needs to recover. I don't want to put a load of animals on land that is fighting off the effects of poison as well.

But I am tickled to hear that it is feasable to seed by hand if I have to. I mean, the local mega mall dwarfs these acres, but it seems like a lot of land when you've been working with just a 1/10th of an acre up til now.

Unfortunately the place is pretty far from where we live currently (though still within a very reasonable driving distance from our work). From what I can tell from google maps, the place is likely rented out to another farmer or perhaps was formerly a portion of a larger piece, as there are no out buildings on the land, just the House, creek, drive-way, and a border of trees.

Other than the spraying habits and flooding chances, any other questions I should ask about the property?

My husband and I are looking to buy a home with several acres for me to turn into a permaculture homestead so we can raise our own food and perhaps have enough extra to sell. We found this beautiful old home with 15 acres (with a creek down the middle) zoned agricultural attached that looks promising. We haven't looked inside yet, and before we do, I wanted to see if anyone here could offer some advice on what I see as it's most apparent issue: 14 acres of land that was monocropped with sweet corn for an unknown number of years.

On one hand the challenge of rehabilitating the land into pasture and a food forest is a thrilling thought, but on the other, I have no clue how we would go about it. I would appriciate any thoughts on how we could do this from those with experience, since we don't have any. What will it take to bring it to a condition were it could support a small (5-10) mixed flock of goats and sheep rotationally grazed on it? Time isn't an issue, but costs could be, as we would then be saddled with a mortgage and whatever costs would go into rehabilitating the house first.

It would be nice to know what we're getting into before we look inside and possibly find it to be an excellent fit.

I hope to one day raise pidgeons for squab meat, and have done some research on the topic. However, I don't have any personal experience with them.

It IS possible to raise pigeons "free range" by setting up a dovecote, and this was the most popular way to do so for hundreds of years, if not thousands! In fact, I've heard that if you have a nice enough set up, your domesticated pigeons can bring home wild pigeons to roost in your dovecote, providing you with free meat if they stay and nest.

However, just as chickens and rabbits have changed from their wild cousins, domesticated pigeons have been selectively bred for many purposes. If you are looking for a squabbing pidgeon, they are referred to as Utility Pigeons. There are also racing pigeons, Fancy pigeons, show quality pigeons, and other types.

How you could control what they ate while free ranging would require require bird-prevention methods would be my guess, such as netting, fake owls, and pie pans on string.