Robin Wild

Makyla Deleo wrote:

Catie George wrote:What a fun project!

There is, of course always responsible wild harvesting, and the wind and animals are very good at planting seeds but...

I might consider planting one of theses mixes from the Ontario Seed Company - they have several meant for wet areas.

https://www.oscseeds.com/product-category/native-seed/riparian-and-wet-meadow-seed-mixes/

I might also consider harvestig some local pussy willow, dogwood, etc, cutting it up, and sticking the sticks into the bank. Willow is pretty easy to grow from hardwood cuttings and relatively easy to ID in winter.

My grandfather did this on his farm many decades ago - 15 ft deep pond in a swampy area. Other than minnows amd catfish he didnt stock it at all. It was amazing the variety of fish he had, evidently carried by birds, and plants, and amphibians...

Edit -  the pond made both a fantastic swimming hole and a fantastic fishing hole. The trick was a small dock to get into deeper water past the weeds.

Yeah, OSC is where I checked first, but it is a bit cost prohibitive to get the amount I need.  I'm going to check Northern Wildflowers next to compare :)

And we have tons of dogwood and willow, so that part will be easy, just wasn't sure if they would suck up too much water?  But they are pretty much unlimited already on the property if they are good :)

I'm actually getting excited to see what just shows up!

The amount you get doesnt need to be very much at all. Just take whatever makes sense in your budget and get small amounts of a variety of plants. Every few steps drop a seed or two of whatever kind and within a few years nature will fill the rest in.
Think of it as introducing the plants to your pond, not planting the boarder. All you need is one plant of each type to seed and you will be able to collect and move seeds and plants in a few years all you want.


I highly agree with what a few people have said here about making sure you can identify what you DONT want around and every few months going around and making sure that stuff is managed. Dealing with it diligently now will save lots of work later on… as once it seeds it too is everywhere just like what I suggested will happen with seeds you add in here and there now…

Irene Kightley wrote:
Just keep adding mulch, plant lots of perennial plants, mulch between them and fill spaces with annuals - flowers, lettuce, tomatoes, rocket, in fact anything that's good to eat or pretty !

As your garden matures, there will be very little need to weed and when you see a little weed or a plant you don't recognise, (I use a lot of hay in the garden !) you'll rush to the computer to see what it is, how you can use it to help other plants, eat it, feed to the chickens or whatever and if it's truly a "weed" that I don't want in the garden, the next time I'm out, I pull it up.

I agree with this, radishes have become the starts of a weed at the garden I tended in my parents bed beside the garage. I only pulled things that hurt to push aside, were known invasives, or took over too much for their benifits.
Once everything is a plant you want, it just becomes the slightly problematic part of how to water, if your climate mandates it (deep soils and mulching help).
New plants can either be added by seeding in a open spot where another was harvested from, or started as plugs and other plants moved or removed to give it a place.

Dc Stewart wrote:The description is a bit confusing.

The Pay Rate:
Pay is firmly specified as $35/hr ("Pay will be $35/hour").
The rate is then given as a minimum ("minimum wage is $35/hour").
The rate is then given as a variable specified by the applicant ("submit your proposed hourly rate accordingly.  Each applicant must specify a required hourly rate").

The Performance Period and Earnings Potential:
The project is specified to run for 10 months, yielding $60k of earnings for approx 43 weeks at $35/hr ("Gardener can arrive as early as Jan 1, and work as late as Oct 31, earning more than $60k").
It is then stated that pay is received only for 7 months of the project, reducing the potential earnings to about $42k (" pay will not begin until April 1.  Hours worked from January 1 to March 31 will be considered voluntary prep-work").
Paid weekly hours are fixed at 40, so the $18k deficit can't be recovered by working additional hours ("The requirement is that each gardener will work exactly 40 hours per week").

I think a-lot of what you said here still stands.
To want to participate I would need to know about housing and food options, where tools are easily accessed and approximate pricing, actual wage not a range of 25-35$. There is so much unsaid about what personal costs means, and what benefits one is paying for.
It is unclear what the actual take home pay from this would be. How much would the net pay end up being, and what happens to pay if the contract is severed?

Kathleen Nelson wrote:May I just ask a possibly dumb question. Why are you doing it with professional gardeners. Would that even truly be a challenge for them? What about a novice who wants to do it but has never had the land/ time/ resources, but has done all the research and just wants the opportunity to actually apply it in more optimal circumstances? That would be an amazing opportunity to truly try all the things they’ve learned and researched, plus that prize money could be used to bless their circumstances to be able to apply it in their real lives. I know so many people who would move down that scale you’ve got if they were simply given an opportunity to not live paycheck to paycheck.

As someone in this situation of having been in the mindset for years but never having the space to apply it, I think you are onto something. I would not leave my homestead in the future to work on a season long project elsewhere, especially if I had animals involved. But us new folk who have no ties to land and animals yet are the ones who would happily do this as long as it was a wage that would pay for the basics like housing and debts and that sort of thing.

I also agree with the idea earlier that was mentioned on this is too short term of a project to really help push permaculture ideas, it is more a multi-crop system built for 7 years of time. Not a food forest intended to last over a decade.

The current description and application form do not feel like enough information to me to feel comfortable stepping into this. I would suggest more concrete information and details about possible arrangements from the get-go.

paul wheaton wrote:
Usually, we have a kickstarter and the kickstarter covers our operating costs.  But that's because we have a business plan that needs about $10,000 and then we get something more than $10,000 - and that provides operating capital.  But this kickstarter is bolder:  we would need about $120k minimum.  In fact, since kickstarter keeps 10%, we would need about $135k - far more than most of kickstarters get.  So if we get barely funded, we won't have operating capital for our other stuff.

So, yeah, maybe some deep roots stuff would be good.

What is the long term plan for the food that is produced? There are many crops that produce throughout the season, and others that have massive one time harvests. Will the crops be sold to help raise some of the $ for paying the gardeners?

paul wheaton wrote:From "Grow a Million Calories on an acre, the first year, starting with dirt"  ---   Kinda trying out "Grow a Million Calories on Dirt, Year 1" or "GAMCOD1"

This thread is for talking about the quarter of an acre that is to remain flat.  20 crops are grown in rows - like a normal garden.  As much irrigation as you like.  Some "weeding" will be required.  No mulch is allowed.

Drip irrigation is allowed.  

Maybe two of the plots will be allowed to do "square foot gardening" instead of rows.  

I think there are a few things that need to be figured out as far as what are the formal rules for this quarter acre.  There is a bonus for raising a million calories, including this acre - so it seems like it is wise to get as many calories as possible from this acre with the provided limitations.  

I do think we need to definine the requirements for the quarter acre.  Mostly the 20 crops and the minimum calories of each crop.  I think the thing to do is to require an attempt at 20, and then you have to meet the minimums of 16 of the 20 to qualify.

I think that there can a certain amount of purchased, or acquired fertilizers.  Organic (OMRI) or better.  But I think that for the "control" there needs to be a budget.  

So what are the rules for the quarter acre?

Why the no mulch rule? No mulch makes much more of a challenge then there needs to be! Would this include things like living mulches (purslane, squash, etc) as well as dust mulching? Why no mulch and how flat is flat in this case? Many crops like raised rows to grow.

Ebo David wrote: I am not sure I would want to feed mealworms that have spent their life eating styrofoam to anything.  I might be wrong, but what is the halflife of the foam and all its additives?  Just say'n there is such a thing as forever chemicals, and getting it into the food chain.

Apparently it does fully break down, there is a little more research into this then there used to be. https://news.wsu.edu/news/2020/08/25/styrofoam-eating-mealworms-safe-dinner/

Daniel Arsenault wrote:I have several contractor bags full of styrofoam. I wish I didn't.  Big and medium sized pieces. I thought I would figure out how to recycle them, but it seems like the resources it would take to get them to a place where they probably wouldn't really be recycled anyway are rather absurd. Can it be used for anything? Insulation? Any ideas and thoughts welcome.

Good news is meal worms can break the stuff down, so any pieces you dont find a reuse for can be used to grow mealworms and those could be sold to people with birds or reptiles.

Personally I only pull weeds that annoy me, like thistle and grasses. Everything else I sont pull since most of me weeds currently are wood sorrel (edible) and borage I cant seem to kill off and some wild native flowers that decided to stay.
I put the most time into the garden in the spring, just make sure to watch spacing for some plants like radishes and onions, they dont like to be crowded even as seedings, but then they can be used as green onions and for radish seed pods. Cucumbers, beans, tomatoes, etc can handle growing over eachother and do quite well and shade out most weeds by the summer.
Good luck!! Make sure to keep your soil nice and rich with organic matter like compost or manure.

How is the forestry project now? I might be almost 10 years late but that just means I get a project update!

I'm considering moving out to a move dry climate (currently in Michigan USA) to see what knowledge and skills transfer climate zones. I just may try these ideas given the chance!