I always thought of finding / keeping the 'right' person as having two pieces to a puzzle. Ideally you want your partner to be your *best friend. (*of course you may have other best friends but you still need intimacy and honesty in a relationship).
How one actually goes about finding that person, I know not - very easy to pick up a man for a one night stand but to find some one with whom you can spend (?) the rest of your life with, that's another matter.
I met my partner when we were both at school, I knew that we would get together, when we did, we were young enough to evolve around each other. It worked well. Thing I didn't count on was him dying young. Once you are older, it's harder to find another piece of the puzzle that fits with yours because we all become that much more inflexible with age. Lucky for the person who can just up and away with nothing tying them down.
Still doesn't answer the question of how to find some one, esp as it's such low priority for me.
I thought that the generally perceived wisdom was not to plant trees on Hugels - as the hugel decomposes and collapses it will cause an unsteady ground for the tree which is then likely to topple. Maybe you have thought of a way around this however, I would not like to see your project fail.
David Livingston wrote:Who is eating acorns ? well round here squirrels We have european common oak -quercus petraca and What the French call Marsh oak- Chene das Marais- quercus palustris any idea if these are edible
David
All acorns are edible, some just have more tannins than others. These need leaching out which is very easy to do as the tannins are water soluble.
There are different methods, choice depends on what you want to do with your acorns. Hot leaching is the most effective (I have read), however this method is no good if you want to make acorn meal for baking. I'll try and find the linky thing that I was reading.
Martin Crawford has grown a food forest - or wood (as it's not a traditional English forest) on a 2 acre site in Dartington, (Devon, England), since 1992. This is more of an experimental and research site, rather than being optimally productive.
His book is entitled 'Creating a Forest Garden. (working with nature to grow edible crops).
Quotes: (copyright for educational purposes).
"A forest garden is a garden modelled on the structure of young natural woodland, utilising plants of direct and indirect benefit to people – often edible plants. It may contain large trees, small trees, shrubs, herbaceous perennials, annuals, root crops and climbers, all planted in such a way as to maximise positive interactions and minimise negative interactions, with fertility maintained largely or wholly by the plants themselves."
I have visited food forests on sites that have been less than an acre or even less than half an acre. I have seen very open food forests with only a couple of trees, to very tree heavy ones. Part of this is dependant on light levels. Here in England, light is poor so any canopy, however thin, can create dense shade under which nothing will grow. (esp if you are on the N. side of a hill. You may see no winter sun.
Yes - preservation of food is very problematic. I've just invested in a new chest freezer and an apple store (very small tool shed). But what to do with seasonal gluts? I'm not great on cooking / presering. I tend to eat raw. Eggs i can't use at the pace my chooks lay at. I give most of my eggs away. Apples and pears get given away as well.
My soil is horribly infertile, not really good for growing anything which is why it was so cheap and has historically been used for grazing and as a quarry. (Also iron ore extraction). The top soil is only a couple of inches deep before you hit sandstone. Saving grace is that there is a lot of water.
My orchard, (which is only 2 years old and yet to start producing fruit), is about an acre in size. I've planted other edibles around the edge, (again, too young to have started producing crops). I'm planning on planting more edibles this winter. Also extending my nut orchard.
I think if I want to become totally self sufficient, I will have to radically change my diet. I have had almost zero sucess with growing veggies. Even having built up the soil. I think to put any kind of fertility in the soil will take years. The trees I planted were planted in large holes with plenty of compost / organic matter. This should sustain them. I'll have to keep mulching with compost to improve the soil. At least I have plenty of leaf litter to go at.
I'm interested in your idea for a root cellar Travis. My worry is that where I am, the water table is very high. (or I am very low, almost sea level). Maybe I could build the cellar (at the top of the land), then dig a deeper drainage hole to take the water away to one of the ponds lower down.
Meanwhile, I'm still learning how to grow food. The raddishes did very well this year, problem, I really don't like raddishes. I thought I could persuade myself to, it just didn't work that way.
Gestalt - what you described reminded me of my psychology lectures all those years ago.
Thinking about it, it's the inverse, the sum of the parts is greater (or more than) the whole.
Googling again - 'holism' - "the idea that natural systems and their properties should be viewed as wholes, not as collections of parts".
I've been searching Old English words today for a name for my field. Bit involved but I want something that fits. May be we'll have to start making words up - like in German.
Fibrecraft would be any craft that involves the use of fibre. I guess that it could easily overlap both fibreshed and fibre art. Though it doesn't have to.
As for bamboo - that is fibre in both it's raw state and very much so, it's processed state as both bamboo paper and textiles are fibre based. I would illiminate it as a fibre if it was being used as a pole say, to support plants ot for fencing / screening / building. I think here, we need to look at the way something is being used.
Recycled plastic bags in yarn, plastic bottles into string. There will always be things that don't quite fit but shouln't be excluded.
If you erquire som one else to build, then you'll have to investigate companies that can build where you are. Most barns are kit form unless you really want to design something bespoke.
you should just be able to google barns and find a company who will meeet you needs re location and barn design. They normally have self build or build for you options.
there's a shed company overr the road from me, when I made enqireries about a barn door, I was told that they just buy in all there shed and errect them. They don't even make them in their factory.
the brn in my field - was there when I bought the field - was errected by the previous owner and was a kit. Wasn't errected very well I hasten to add. I'm not sure timber is any cheaper than bricks and mortar, (brick manufactoring area not timber growing - probably has an impact).
As with any art form, whether you are creating fine art, contextual art, wearable and/or functional art, - you can buy in all your resources or source locally, create without out commercially made tools - or just throw money at it and buy everything in. Both are art.
I have made art from the environment, made art with paper that I created myself using raw materials that I sourced locally. I've used locally grown plants to make dyes. Though these where just small projects that I did at home or while studying, I didn't take them any further.
The reason why Tadek Beautlich came to mind was the very organic nature of some of his work.
There's an element to his work that reminds me of cocoons or wasp nests. Raw material that has been collected and chewed and spat out by the wasp (or hornet etc). It's something that is related to the process of making. Insects, we know, collect there raw materials as locally as they can.
I don't think art has to be functional to fulfill the idea of being permaculture, I think it needs to be thoughtful.k
I think most srtists are driven to create but that drive is different to the drive that one feels to knit a pair of socks. I think most artists feel that something of their soul goes into their work.
I hope I'm making sense.
Fibreshed - I'm havinf to google.
I have friends who process their own wool from raw stage to finished garment. This still doen't appear to fulfil your idea of fibreshed.
When I was making paper, I wanted to be able to grow my own raw materials. I doubt that this would have fulfilled any idea of permaculture.
Fibreshed appears to be a single company with one vision. (may be a large vision). Wiktionary says
The geographic region from which come all of the resources to make an article of clothing.
A movement to use textiles that are sourced locally.
You could put a permaculture spin on it but it need not be there.
Fibre Arts - there's a whole genre of fibre / textile artists in the fine / applied arts world. I could write a very long list.
It is one of my favourite fine art genres, books and printing making being the best.
As soon as I saw your post, I thought - Tadek Beutlich.
There are very many others - Caroline Broadhead, Micheal Brennand Wood, Marian Smit - I could go on.
Oh - I have hellebores growing under my corkscrew hazel - it looks amazing in winter. (hazel will be ok in a wood but the nuts will be small).
Pieris - we kept ours in deep shade because they hate the sun.
Think that covers most of my ideas. I love meadow sweet. Elders seem to do well in similar conditions - there are some lovely red ones and the scent from the flower is amazing. Dog rose if you want something to climb through the trees, also clematis and honeysuckle though the latter can get carried away.
Of course willows love the wet and some are very pretty.
Bluebells - I have some bulbs - I have moved them around all times of the year - usually by accident - it appears you can't stop them. I find that if I move any of the sand from my wood, bluebells come up even if I've removed all the bulbs.
Ha yes, bringing in top soil isn't really an option. Not least the expense.
I will be adding my kitchen waste and the chicken manure to the compost heap (which is mainly nettles), so in the not so distant future I will have additional material. (nothing will stop the nettles from growing). This is a willow shaw so there will be leaf litter in the autumn as well. Over the next few years the soil should improve, esp as all the smaller wood will break down more quickly than the larger stuff. There was also a lot of moss and lichen growing on the dead wood.
The clay is horrible to work with. I'll probably insert compost pots with things like strawberries and herbs in. May also try some trailing beans that I can leave after the event. I've a whole ton of bramble that I can chop back and add to the compost as well. Weeds aren't in short supply.
Hi, I found the 'perfect' spot for my hugels, or rather, it found me. As sitting out there in the winter sun I just felt it was a great spot in the middle of my boggy patch of willows. Plenty of dead timber and plenty of moisture. Only thing I'm lacking is top soil.
The soil is only 1 or 2" deep before you hit clay. Why it's a bog. This appears fine for willows and nettles. What little top soil there is is full of nettle root. Now while I love nettles, I would like a little variety to my diet.
So, I've already built the foundations for 3 small dome hugels. There is space for more. I have no soil to cover them with. I am composting as much nettle as I can - the whole plant as I had to remove a to of root to build the hugels. I only havea 5 acre field of field mowings - grass / docks / wild flowers - complete mix. I have covered on of the hugels with this.
Another hugel I have topped with a thin - not quite covereing - layer of soil and sub soil and the other with leaf litter so far. (not a thick layer). Am thinking about using more field mowings to cover these two hugels. There is a small amount of boggy soil, though of course, this is better in the bog as it's a wild life haven. I don't really want to destroy that, I need to relace what I have taken with more dead wood / leaf litter / field mowings so it's a slow cycle.
Just want opinions on if the layer of lawn mowings is enough to plant into. I'm guessing I'd need to start with annuals and chop and drop / continues to lay field mowings every year or crop rotation. This is a very small project - though very time consuming. I may get some photo's tomorrow.
Other option is to import some horse manure from a local stables. It's sound and chemical free, I've never had a problem with it. (Helps them out as I can fill the trailer for free and they don't have to pay to get rid of it).
At least I know I have some great clay for my wild pottery.
Oh I do waffle on don't I. Sorry about typo's wrong glasses.
This at the start of day three, with some of the wood cleared, a lot of nettles pulled, one hugel constructed minus top soil and one hugel almost constructed.
Hi, I was thinking about your post as I was working in my (very) small woodland shaw this week. I'm in a similar position, as really just starting from scratch.
I'll post a couple of pics.
I've made 3 small hugel beds (need some earth on top yet). I had so much fallen wood that it seemed like the obvious thing to do. The trees are mainly willow as the area is by s pring fed bog pond with a stream that runs down the eastern side / middle of the shaw. The ground it nicely damp atm, though it may dry in the summer and become a swap in the winter depending on rainfall. We have had very little this winter so I'm glad there is still plenty of water about.
I'm guessing that if you have a lot of fallen timber, you could do the same, or similar. Mine are raised as the top soil is only about 3 or 4 inches deep before I hit clay. It's Wealden clay which is impermeable. (I would not advocate using cedar or pine in a hugel, I have some pine trees running along by the stream, they are old and dying, I don't think this is a great area for conifers but lots of woods were planted with them in 60's and 70's in England).
Are Hickories like other nuts and need a lot of space and light? They are not native to England so I've never seen them or know what they are. We have hazel nuts and sweet chestnuts. In order to get sizeable nuts (along with choosing the right variety) they also need to be given space. I've had to cut a ton of hawthorn down to the ground to let some light in elsewhere on my plot. Hopefully now my hazel will grow straighter branches and produce better nuts and the yield from the hawthorn will be at harvestable height rather than 30m up. Hawthorn is not very friendly, it forms a thick canopy creating dense shade, underwhich nothing will grow. The lower branches of the trees die and just sit there blocking out all the light.
If you are looking to fell any of your trees or log already fallen trees, I'd get a good saw, or chainsaw, though a good saw is a starting point. Silky or Stihl saws are good for green wood, a good quality bow saw for dead wood. (Don't buy cheap saws as you'll just need to keep buying new saws). I love my silky saw - well all three as I had to buy a pole saw for higher branches and a larger saw for some of the oak. You learn so much about tools.
This is just my experience, or some of it. I'm very much a beginner.
Other things I'm looking into are damning my stream to make more of a bog to utilise the water rather than letting it all flow away. I'm sure this will be a good thing come summer.
Hi Anders,
I have built different shaped hugel beds. I'm not one for square. My first was in a great big arc to give me some privacy from the neighbours (local school), the school kids tend to migrate to the field edge when they want to misbehave. This bed is made up of brambles and sloe, I had a massive bramble patch that I cut back to open up my woodland. It's topped off with the spoil from a pond that I dug out, so lots more dead and very rotten wet wood.
The second, that I am building now, is circular. It's in a small woodland shaw. There's a pond in the middle and a spring fed flow of water adjacent. The ground is usually quite wet. There are a lot of willows of varying ages. There are a large number of dead upright and fallen willows. Once I felled the dead trees a lot more light comes through. Enough that I can build a small woodland food forest. I'm lucky that there are already some wild edibles - notably brambles, nettles, elder and dog rose. The surrounding soil is very poor and shallow but there is an amount of leaf litter that I can use. I can also add green material from the nettles and sedges / grasses that are growing nearby. I'm also clearing the bottom of the pond as well, it's become quite silted from all the falling leaves (not to mention tree) over the years.
There is enough wood for more hugels in this small area though I need to clear the space first, the ground is full of nettles. I'm sure that if I did't pull as much root as possible then I'd just end up with a massive nettle hugel. I'm hoping that as the ground is naturally boggy that I'll not have to worry about watering though it is close to the pond if I need to. Being semi shaded any loss of water should be minimal. This will be another circular hugel to make best use of the shape of the clearing. I do need to fell a rather dense dead willow or two here to let in more sunlight. Because I don't wish to disturb the roots of the living willows, these are being built at ground level up. I may end up with a small mountain if I use even half of the dead wood available.
This is one of those permaculture things where the space told me what I wanted to do.
I have two ponds that are quite silted over and have created bogs. Great for wildlife. I am slowly digging them out though as above - great source of good quality soil for my beds as I'm on sand / sandstone.
When digging pond soil out, you to need to move it twice, the first time you leave it adjacent to the pond to allow water to drain out and for all resident creatures to crawl out and find their way back to the pond. Then when it's dry to can move it to it's final location.
I'm hoping to dig out some of the clay bottom to do some wild pottery.
I remember a longtime ago, hearing of how waste water from olive oil production, which is highly toxic and very damaging to the environment, was being cleaned using a water loving grass of some type. Not sure what the particular grass was and I can't find anything through google about it. Obviously there are plants that will tolerate pollutants and some that may help clear them from the soil. whether they just trap them or actually convert them?
Unleaded fuel is as much a problem as leaded fuel from a pollution point of view and diesel is terrible.
If you are worried about ground pollution, then build raised beds from new compost. Air pollution will be hard to avoid so close to a road.
I do have a plastic bottle string cutter but it only works on certain bottles. Thinking of trying it on yoghurt pots.
I have collected some small pots to see if I can use them as bricks rammed earth esque. Some clear bottles or yoghurt pots can be utilised as mini cloches.
Have tried knitting and weaving with plastic bags but it degrades far too quickly. Also melted it with an iron to make plastic sheets - this was for a craft project though, mainly used this method for art projects. Still thinking of making an interior window buy melting plastic.
Brambles, dog rose, hawthorn and sloe - all will form a fairly impenetrable hedge if looked after and planted close. Chuck in some holly as well. All will sucker or self propagate. they dowell in our climate and appear to grow on any soil. May be erect a barbed wire fence as well.
If people are determined, they'll break through any barrier though.
I have so many sloes that I do cut them down as use them as a barrier, also willows that can be woven into a living fence.
I think that's why you need a period of observation. Time to sit back and watch and let what needs to be done come forward.
Ideas mature over time.
After each project you need to reflect and see what happens next.
I do like the notion of the land talking to you. That's exactly what I found.
I too have buildings in the wrong place. (for me) Great location, just facing the wrong way. Wish I was a builder and could just knock up a new structure.
I think I have some crazy neighbours and there's a great permaculture community (and lots of of those of similar ilk) nearby. I can keep on track without feeling too much of an oddball.
I imagine that this is dependent on the type of deer that you have. I have a 4' chicken wire fence around my orchard that has kept the deer away. I intend to reinforce this with a junkpole / plastic string fence that will be slightly taller.
Rabbits are a year round problem for me. Each of my trees has a mesh around the lower part to help keep the rabbits off. The rabbits did dig up a few of the trees when they were newly planted.
I still have a lot of work that needs doing on the fence but for now it is enough. Just need to ensure that it effects continued protection.
Why would a person use concrete?
To reduce on labour time and effort? Then why use tyres if you are going to use concrete? Why just not formers? Unless this wasn't an option.
I thought the purpose of using tyres was to be more eco friendly. Concrete is far from that. Seems self defeating.
I don't know the answer to your question then. (did do a quick google but obviously you have as well. Came up with nothing).
This type of building is called an earthship. earthship.org
The main idea is that the tyres are filled with the subsoil that you have. The soil is 'rammed' (as in rammed earth building) into the tyres. Other waste materials are, or were historically, used in the build materials. (such as aluminium cans, which can now be recycled).
You may want to check out other eco (or more eco) build methods such as rammed earth and earthbag.
I'm no expert, only planted my orchard last winter. 25 apple trees, 10 sweet chestnut, numerous crab apples, wild cherry and cherry plum trees. Some willows and walnuts located away from the orchard.
I was very excited about my little field and noticed some fugi growing up in the wood and took photo's to identify it. To my dismay I have a massive area of honey fungus throughout my 2 acres of wood.
I would check that your fungi is not a varient of honey fungus. The description sounds familiar I'm afraid.
There is a massive chestnut wood near me, though the trees are grown for their wood, I have collected the chestnuts for my table.
It is powdermill wood (Battle East Sussex). The owner is Richard Cope. I'll pm you his phone number, I'm sure he is the right person to speak to. Or Ben Law.
Pile up some stones and logs or bricks - anything that will encourage beetles and bugs etc. Chickens love it when I go around moving the stone piles, they have a feast. (I do feel bad for the insects though). The only thing my chickens won't touch are brambles and rhubarb.
I've had similar experiences with my girls.
Only way to tell is when you crack each egg to use it. I crack them away from the good eggs just in case one is bad. Having said that, when they really are bad they explode with a small amout of pressure.
The water test is in no way reliable and I know of no real way of testing before cracking. If they look and smell good then I have always used them, if they look the slightest bit suspect then they get binned.
Sounds like a really nice piece of land. I like diversity.
I think that, if all goes well, and you get this plot, then it has the potential to really produce something good. (on all levels). Nothing more exciting than getting that blank canvas to work with.
I think it's the creation of topsoil. Your examples are not about creating but translocating. A river does not create topsoil, it moves it from one place to another. Thus one area is suffereing errosion while another is getting silted up.
I think the point of upcycling is to only make what you need and use what you have.
At the same time, you can become a bit of a hoarder - well, that might be handy in the future, don't know what I'd use it for now.
Jennifer Richardson - you are right, upcycling needs to be done with thought. It can't just be a random act.
I think I am quite happy with the 'hippie junkyard aesthetic' (until I improve my manual skills that is, only so many courses you can do or afford).
The whole problem is consumerism. 'we' that is, the collective we, have been trained to think that buy buy buy is the way ahead for ourselves and the only way to progress. We all fall into that trap. Magazines that tell you how to make stuff on the cheap. Stuff that you never make, so you've just bought a magazine. Really hard mindset to break out of.
