Nancy Reading

How lovely to have 45 acres to make your own!

I can see you've thought about what you want to do, but maybe you want to think about your life there and how your days go. Permaculture design can help the flow of materials (energy) around the plot. My instinct would be to go away from straight square lines - maybe radial or circular paths would make it easier to walk around? Are you going to let the chickens eat the pests in the Orchard and fruit garden - perhaps the coop could be closer to (or even in) one of those areas. The barn is at the edge of the area - everything needs to move a long way to get there - is there a better place for that?

Just a few thoughts!

I've had nine star 'perennial' broccoli, but it didn't survive after flowering for me (cool maritime climate). I did manage to collect some seed, so I'm going to have another go at growing it. Maybe if I harvested all the flower heads (rather than the seeds!) it would have survived another year.

Gardens that look like they're part of nature, not man made....

forest garden in spring

I've been planting bere barley seeds. These are part of a trial for the James Hutton Institute, but it means I have four more lines of Bere barley for my landrace project. They also want a soil sample - so I will get my growing area soil analysed for free. Potentially making some useful connections in grain growing...
My husband also helped me hang the doors on my new polytunnel today, so another step towards a sheltered growing space for all sorts of plant seeds!

I do like the idea of setting in motion other things that will come to fruition if suitably tended....

Burra Maluca wrote:On the other hand, she seems to be in deep discussion with Rock, the Welsh sheepdog, about whether this heap of leaves would be better turned into a nest...

Are those Eucalyptus? I'd have thought those would be ideal for firestarting.

Jim Garlits wrote:I’ve got so many ideas for Willow Acre! Everything is an experiment. Some have succeeded, some have failed, some have “morphed” in unexpected ways.

That sounds about right!
I enjoyed the walk round Jim - thanks for sharing your backyard with us.

I think it's a great idea! It looks like there are a few examples in Europe, like these giant chess sets in a park in Geneva, Switzerland.



It would want to be where people are likely to gather naturally, like a public park or plaza. With seating areas for spectators and possibly close to shelter and refreshments.

You're in a tropical climate aren't you Ronaldo? If I remember correctly that should suit Chayote OK; heat or cold during flowering can be a factor in fruit setting for many plants. They are perennial, so if the whole plant is not killed, then growing back from the roots makes perfect sense.
I agree with Phil that something attacking the stem is likely (I lose courgettes like that to slugs and pea plants to mice), but I've never grown chayote myself (on the wishlist now for my new polytunnel though!)

Hal Schibel wrote:I'm gonna sound really dumb here but are newspapers actually still around? Lol

Pretty much a dying industry, which is sort of a pity. We've had to stop selling the daily papers in our shop, so are missing our free source of fuel now (we used to store them up for winter). We still get Saturday's papers, but were losing too much money for the few papers that we sold during the week. The returns from Saturdays just about keep us in kindling and dog poo scoops, but I'm experimenting with twisting dead winter grass into knots, just in case we run short next winter. I remember Laura Ingalls Wilder used twists of straw during the long winter to keep their fire going,

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