Do Organic and permaculture share philosophies?

I was just rereading my"Introduction to Permaculture" 1995, and happened to think, I wonder if therre are any people out there that are interested in Permaculture and organic gardening that talk to each other..I'd like to find them, just to have some support for my gardening beliefs and ideas.

I have been buildinig my gardens since 1971, yes i'm old..and basically I have no one to talk to that has similar interests to mine.

I'm not sure IF I have found the right place or not, basically I want a back and forth talking type forum where I can make friends that have my interests, and offer help and ask questions, on a daily  basis.

Is this the right place and if not  would one of you direct me to it, please..thanks..Bre

Oh I'm from North Central Michigan ..and it is a difficult place to garden, but I would never leave it for the world, I LOVE my  garfdens !

Welcome to the forum, Ronbre!

There's quite a bit of back-and-forth here, but only you will know if it is what you're looking for.

It sounds like you have a lot of experience and knowledge that the rest of us can use, so I hope you stick around.

Sue

Thanks Sue I was already impressed with your answers to a lot of the questions that I read responses to, you also seem to be quite knowledgeable and quick to help, I liked that already about the forum.
I will stick around ..a forum that cares about the same values I do is a really strong pull to me.

welcome! I'm confident you found the right place! don't be shy about joining in and expressing your opinion even if it differs from others. freindly relevant discourse is invited and I'm sure we could all learn something from your experiences.

I'm sure Michigan poses some challenges that we could all glean insight from. How long is your conventional growing season ?

thanks, as for our growing season we have our good years and our bad years..of course most areas do..generally our last serious frost in the spring is the days around the last full moon in June..it is rare that we don't have a frost that week unless it is really rainy and cloudy..and then we sometimes get a frost or near frost once a month all summer..but if we are lucky we can get from 90 to 120 frost free days..generally not lucky enough to make 120.

I have a small greenhouse and a couple of cold frames and buy the coldest hardy plants that i can come by..I'm in zone 4b, however, i plant plants from zone 5 with some good success and occasionally I'll try a zone 6  plant..just ordered a couple zone 6 plants this year..will try to find a microclimate that they'll fit into

This seems to be the best permaculture forum I've found so far.  I mean, I have never felt so at home with all the poop talk.  I just have visions of using mt. goat's method and just pooping all sorts of fruit trees into existence.

ha ha,thanks for the encouragement lkz5ia!Glad someone is going to change something about their lives because of that rant.

ronbre wrote:


.just ordered a couple zone 6 plants this year..will try to find a microclimate that they'll fit into

we have more of the opposite problems down here in oklahoma, I try to find micro climates to grow cool weather vegies, some years it goes from freezing to bloody hot so fast that the cool loving vegies burn up before they get going

rocks are great for retaining heat around particular plants giving me just enough head start that they have time to mature.

so, would you like me to send you some snow???

I did have some fortunate "accidents"  a few years ago.. In 2002 we had a house fire and lost our huge old Victorian farmhouse..when we put in our new home we moved it so that the front of the new home is 40' north of where the rear of our old home was..and because we have quite wet lands, we had to have our new home raised up 4' from the ground level..we had a kinda damp area in our field, so we had the contractor dig out the sand and muck off of the 5' + deep of clay to use as fill around the new foundation of our home, which is very fertile..(the hole in the field now is a pond that only dries up in really really dry summers).

After I moved my plants and some new plants in around the house..I found that plants that always did really poorly here were growing like crazy..i guess not only the fertile soil..but the raising up of the soil levels..and the sun reflecting off of the house and windblocking..all combined to give me a warmer microclimate..we are generally zone 4b here..but i'm pushing the envelope now having been 6 years in the new house and finding surprises every year of things that grow here that never would before.

ronbre wrote:
so, would you like me to send you some snow???

.

I'll trade you snow storms for ice storms?

it is encouraging to hear your continuing success stories, I had all but given up on some cool season things, I should just keep experimenting though! I seem to manage cabbage and carrots alright most years. my lettuce is always bitter, but it seems that by the time its big enough to harvest it is starting to get hot (spring)or we start getting frosts (fall) so i figured that is why.

even here in Michigan lettuce can get tricky as we are way too cold early on and then we get really hot and dry..we don't get hot hot like 110 like some folks do..but we'll have spells over 90 quite often in the spring and summer and we get some crazy severe droughts here at times too.

I'm going to move my greenhouse this year to a different area where it will get more shade and have better soil..and i'm going to try planting lettuce seeds in there in September to see if i can get crops in fall and winter..if it works i'll put in a few seeds every week or two..I LOVE SALADS

Leah, are you planting your cool-weather veggies in fall, instead of spring?  If not, it might work better.

Sue

ronbre wrote:
even here in Michigan lettuce can get tricky.............over 90 quite often in the spring and summer and we get some crazy severe droughts here at times too.

I'm going to move my greenhouse this year to a different area where it will get more shade and have better soil..and I'm going to try planting lettuce seeds in there in September to see if i can get crops in fall and winter..if it works I'll put in a few seeds every week or two..I LOVE SALADS

Hi

We have had 2 good summers with Cook's Garden's Heat Wave Blend. I gets to 98 frequently here

Rick