Smitten for the Mitten

Where are the fellow Michiganders?

I was just thinking how great it would be to have a local group of permacultrally minded people to trade, barter or share with. Maybe have some meet ups, BBQ's, or whatever.

I guess I'll start:
Location: SE MI, 48346

Surplus:
Livestock:
New Zealand Black rabbits
Blue Tilapia
Quail* This summer

Plants:
Hop Rhizomes - Casacade, Chinook, Columbus, Centenial, Nugget, Williamette - Digging up soon so I'll see what I got.
Seeds /Starts - Just ordered a ton of seeds from the web, depending on germination I may have a surplus of a few seeds or starts.

Labor:
27 with a strong back and not affraid to get dirty. My room mate is a personal trainer with the uncanny ability to see physical labor as fun exercise....

Homemade:
Homebrew beer: Lots of flavors, changes frequently.

Looking for:
Perenial vegtables.
Mulch plants.
Comfrey.
Apple / pear scions.
Fruit bushes.
Anything I don't have that will grow here.

Looking forward to hearing from you!

I'm over here in St. Joseph, the SW corner. Brand new to the concept of permaculture, but wanted to post in your thread and say hello. I have nothing but a house and a lawn right now. Not sure where to start yet, or even how.

I am here in the Kalamazoo area. I am rehabbing a place on 2 ac. Parents are still farming. Yea, I am not new to agra, but new to permaculture. Its the old way of farming. The way my grandparents taught me.

Cool stuff here. We all should meet in Michigan here soon, talk about our small patches of land and what our plans are. We can meet in Kazoo, South bend, AnnArbor or anyplace. Lets all think about this. My email is whdnlanders@aol.com

I put my pic in this, yea, feel free to use it to scare rats, bats and the tax man.

I am new to Permies and new to the Mitten as well. We just moved up from Texas this February and bought a house with a big barn and a small amount of land.

I am also into brewing, although I couldn't bring any equipment with me. Any recommendations on a good homebrew supply store?

I would be very interested to talk about anything permaculture related, especially in relation to our new home state and completely different environment!

Welcome to Michigan. Its a great place to live. Just to let everyone know there is a bill in front of the Governor to stop people from using public access on all inland lakes. This is against out rights as tax payers in my opinion. So, everyone get involved.

I live in the SW corner. I like all parts of the state. You will love Traverse City and the bay. Welcome home.

Yam Hendricks wrote:I am new to Permies and new to the Mitten as well. We just moved up from Texas this February and bought a house with a big barn and a small amount of land.

I am also into brewing, although I couldn't bring any equipment with me. Any recommendations on a good homebrew supply store?

I would be very interested to talk about anything permaculture related, especially in relation to our new home state and completely different environment!

Welcome to Michigan! We're loving our new home here too, just moved in last month.

My friend homebrews here, you should meet him. Maybe I'll get him in these forums.

What part of the state are you in?

Hell yeah looks like we got more MI permies here than I thought. I know there are others, hopefully they'll decipher the title of the thread and make their way in.

Update on my stuff:
Tilapia are breading and I think I have all I need for this summer. I am going to keep the breeders going though so if anyone wants some fry let me know.
Rabbits are due to give birth this week.
Quail is still on the agenda.

We live in Kingsley, so the Northwestern lower peninsula I guess you would say. I have a good friend that lives near Grand Rapids. It's been a long time since I made beer and I am really excited to get back into it.

I'be been constantly moving around my entire adult life, but I've been studying sustainable living for about 7 years and I am so excited that we are finally in a place where I can work the land.

I'd definitely be interested in meeting up. Just have a big family and have to work it in to my schedule.

Howdy Michiganders. I'm here in Central Michigan farm country. I have 12 acres much of which is pasture divided for my 3 horses. I also have 3 large dogs. I have an extensive hugel experiment ongoing, many young peach and plum trees, bush cherries, blueberries, garlic, asparagus, rhubarb, hickory nuts, annual veggies (in season), and tons of compost. I plan on planting cherry trees, and whatever else strikes my fancy, this year.

I have been experimenting with rotational grazing of my horses (on 'native' field grasses/weeds). This has been my most successful year (due to the mild winter) and I only had to supplement my herd with 30 bales of first cutting hay (whoo-hoo!).

I look forward to seeing if we can manage to pull together a meeting.

I'm new too, from the center part of the lower P. Montcalm county. Welcome to the Kingsley area! It seems like a nice place to live and the cherries from the area are great.

Hi, My wife and I are in South Haven, we just started a CSA this year.

I think we all should have a meeting at a park and bring in baskets of lunch? I am game, or one of out many beaches.

Daniel Morse wrote:I think we all should have a meeting at a park and bring in baskets of lunch? I am game, or one of out many beaches.

I'm game. Where?

Lets do Lions Park. Or maybe a park in Kalamazoo County. I have Scotts Mill Park down the street from the house I am trying to rehab.

I'm from Missaukee County N on us131 just s of the Manistee River..i just posted a couple links on the get together thread about 2 forums that have Michigan connections but not necessarily permaculture.

There is a michigan homestaeding forum that has a yearly get together up this way.

there are a lot of like minded people of homesteading origins in Michigan, not a lot of them are really permaculture though so you have to be aware. They do however have free range animals and do mostly organic gardens, but very few are into food forests or polycultures..

I'm sure you would find them helpful to know though.

Also there is a local food site that lists a lot of like minded people by zip code areas

http://www.localharvest.org/search.jsp?m&lat=44.420163&lon=-85.432435&scale=9&ty=-1&zip=49663&p=1

go to the above link and type in your zip code and you'll be amazed at who your neighbors are

Hey Everyone, Im Jesse from Lapeer Mi. I live currently in Ypsilanti. I have a permaculture design company called Aurora Design Solutions. We are doing an 'everybody come to the PDC' PDC in Detroit from July 22nd through Aug 4th. $300. Larry Santoyo and Keith Johnson. Anyway, we are beginning to serve Michigan communities through edible and medicinal landscape designs for community hubs like churchs, schools, hospitals, etc.

My main interests are in large scale foresting (edible and material), remediation of toxins, and abundant foods, medicines, and work. I am starting a perennial nursury at home, small scale right now. I've planted about 50 fruit trees this year in Lapeer and Ypsi. We are hosting this Design Course and hope to begin community projects next year. Exciting times for me personally and it is nice to see all these permie Michiganders!! Let's work together sometime!

Please consider coming to Detroit this summer too! Any day you want you can come, if not, I wish you good luck and happy partnerships with Nature until we meet!

http://auroradesignsolutions.com/courses/

How familiar are people with the Grand Junction area (Van Buren County)? I'm looking at some property in the area and welcome any feedback from people with knowledge of the area - soil, weather, community, infrastructure, eco-friendliness, reception to transplants, etc.

You just popped up. I am in Van Buren County right now. I have an educational booth I am setting up at the County Fair in Hartford. You will like the area. Close to the lake, closer to Chicago and the people friendly enough. We live on the nice side of the state. It is depressed, but hey it IS Michigan. Send me a personal note and we can chat.

Thanks for the response Daniel. Do you have a feel for how the local/sustainable food movement and/or permaculture environment is? There seem to be some local/organic farmers in the area (Big Head Farm, BLue Dog Farm, etc), so I take that as a good sign that there is at least some appetite "for this sort of thing" as Mr. Wheaton would say. Any experience with either or the local farmers markets?

Tell me about your educational booth you're setting up.

There are a lot of old hang out farmers. Hippies and free thinkers here in SW/West Michigan. You will have to dig them out. We have more than out fair share of religious and also new age stuff. I am very comfortable in most parts of the area. I am out and have a shotgun. I have few worries. Many people from this area are decent people. It is almost always outsiders who cause trouble and their brats. We have a lot of poor here now. This is getting worse in my opinion. However as a general rule people a kind and good.

We have a lot of educated people here. There is a college or university in most towns and cities here. I know. Its the MI weird. Gotta love it.

Every place has rules. Every place has trouble people.

We have a lot of water here. Most areas have good ground water. Our climate is tempered by Lake Michigan and it is what we call the fruit belt. Also know as the Third Coast or the Gold Coast.

The land is a crap shoot. It can be rocky, sand, clay, peat, old lake bed, on and on. Flat, hilly on and on. I think up there its a whole lot of clay and flat. But hard to say.

ALWAYS check your water for contamination when you buy. This is post industrial MI. Hard to tell what was there 40 years ago..

We're at Lion's Beach weekly. Tell you what. If anybody wants to meet up, we (my family and I) will be at Lion's Beach this coming Friday, August 31st, at noon. We'll be under the blue roofed pavilion. Bring your own lunch. We can meet and greet. If no one shows up, that's perfectly fine because we're there regardless. (If you're looking for us, we drive a huge blue van.)

See you then!

Friday, August 31st
12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m.
Lion's Beach
Blue Roofed Pavilion

Just bumping this again. We'll be at Lion's Park at noon on Friday.

Again, don't worry if this is a bad time for you. Tell us when a good time is and we'll meet then.

Sunday afternoons are good times as well.

No one was able to make it yesterday but one user expressed major interest.

So, let's try this again on Sunday afternoon, September 9th at 2 p.m. We may or may not be bringing a lunch at that hour but we will be there regardless.

Lion's Beach
Blue Pavilion
St. Joseph
2:00 p.m.
Sunday, September 9th

Again, if you can't make it, no worries. We like going to the beach anyways and will have fun regardless.

Hi everyone,

New to permies and fairly new to Michigan.

Have a little garden that has provided a good harvest. (by little I mean it is approximately 3' x 6' ) Hope to expand it next year.
Learned that lettuce doesn't do well in direct sun.

Over here in St. Joseph township. Love living down the road from the lake!! (might be saying the opposite later this winter though. )

Little slow around here eh?

Hey, I hear we might get frost tonight. I'm going to bring in some plants.

Adam Briggs wrote:Little slow around here eh?

Hey, I hear we might get frost tonight. I'm going to bring in some plants.

No, just new to permaculture and the permies forum.

Hello from SE Michigan, lets hope this fall weather continues to be so beautiful! But here's to a nice cold winter too. I cant wait to sled, ice skate and hike in snowshoes.

Oh, this winter will get cold. My pooches are gaining weight fast this year.

Hi all, I'm in Detroit suburbia. I don't know anything about farming and never grew anything (except about of pound of tobacco in 2010). If they ever legalize growing industrial hemp, I have the lawn that proves I can grow weeds!Saw the TED talk with the guy that says he can fix the African desert with controlled grazing, which led me to Geoff Lawton videos. The Lawton videos were, to me, amazing. I read alot of truth news, and have read Rawles's, "The Patriot" and "America Overthrown," by Dean. I may have 100-200 hours of reading and video watching in. Marcin Jakubowski's machine interest me at Global Village Construction (so, I took a welding course)

Here's my early idea, please critique.

Cheap/frugal is my budget.

5-10 acres farm/recreational in St. Clair, Lapeer,or Jackson county. 2-3000 $/acre. Zoning expertise welcomed.

Organic or better crops. Bypass USDA org cert

Food forest of nut & fruit trees (I love nuts). If possible grown from seed that I bought as groceries. Thoughts, please.

Get a decent crossbow & become proficient with it,

Learn how to make dams and ponds.

Oehler 50 bux underground house. Heated by rocket mass. Electric via wood gas & a generator? & maybe brew beer with those high temps, too?

I know nothing about water wells, help. Suppose I'll need filtration, too.

How & what fruit and vegtables do I polyculture for fertilzation, pest control (& pollination?).

Can I have perch & pickerel fish ponds?

I like milk & steaks (and those Meatsmith Economy of Thrift videos)

What about making herbal oils (17 bux an ounce for oregano oil)?

Thanks, all

Michael

Michael Graydersicks wrote:Hi all, I'm in Detroit suburbia. I don't know anything about farming and never grew anything (except about of pound of tobacco in 2010). If they ever legalize growing industrial hemp, I have the lawn that proves I can grow weeds!Saw the TED talk with the guy that says he can fix the African desert with controlled grazing, which led me to Geoff Lawton videos. The Lawton videos were, to me, amazing. I read alot of truth news, and have read Rawles's, "The Patriot" and "America Overthrown," by Dean. I may have 100-200 hours of reading and video watching in. Marcin Jakubowski's machine interest me at Global Village Construction (so, I took a welding course)

Here's my early idea, please critique.

Cheap/frugal is my budget.

5-10 acres farm/recreational in St. Clair, Lapeer,or Jackson county. 2-3000 $/acre. Zoning expertise welcomed.

Organic or better crops. Bypass USDA org cert

Food forest of nut & fruit trees (I love nuts). If possible grown from seed that I bought as groceries. Thoughts, please.

Get a decent crossbow & become proficient with it,

Learn how to make dams and ponds.

Oehler 50 bux underground house. Heated by rocket mass. Electric via wood gas & a generator? & maybe brew beer with those high temps, too?

I know nothing about water wells, help. Suppose I'll need filtration, too.

How & what fruit and vegtables do I polyculture for fertilzation, pest control (& pollination?).

Can I have perch & pickerel fish ponds?

I like milk & steaks (and those Meatsmith Economy of Thrift videos)

What about making herbal oils (17 bux an ounce for oregano oil)?

Thanks, all

Michael

Sounds like you have a good idea of where you're headed. I am also interested in the abilities of wood-gas, but i'd never thought of using it to brew beer too! I love that idea. I am considering buying land too, although it's not cheap to buy good land I will consider it an investment. I love Michigan and am thinking of staying here if at all possible. I am looking at land near to Grand Rapids but in the outer lying counties where prices are lower and acres are higher. Possibly in the future I could be looking at a place near Ludington. I love that area and the Manistee National Forest is beautiful. I've watched some videos and read articles about the cool urban farming going on in Detriot too, I was wondering have you been involved in any of this/ have any friends involved in this. Why I am asking is my friend is very interested in rehabbing a cheap home and land in Detriot. Cheers!

Hi all!

Wanted to let you all know that the inaugural Michigan Permaculture Convergence is happening this fall in Brighton.

Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HnQL6cH634
Websitehttp://www.michiganpermacultureconvergence.com/
Registration http://www.michiganpermacultureconvergence.com/forms/registration.php

Meet more Michigan permies as well as folks from all over the Great Lakes bioregion for the cost of a weekend camping trip!
Share knowledge, skills, food and music.

Hope to see you there
-Bryan

That convention sounds like so much fun! Too bad I wont be able to make it this year. Is it a yearly event around the same time/ same location? I would be interested in going next year for sure. Thanks in advance for the info.

Hey folks I'm a young farmer in Dowling mi on 92 acres and am working towards establishing a perennial polyculture. I would love to host a meeting at the farm to get know you all. I'm also planning on hosting a few workshops this summer on key line design and perennial poly culture and also a cob shop to finish the cob on our masonry rocket mass heater. Email me at claytonj1026@gmail.com and or find my farm on Facebook by searching "earthsmith food & forest products"

Hi! I'm Elissa. I'm a just a few miles from the Michigan border with plans to buy 5 - 10 acres in Monroe County (extreme SE corner) in the next few years. Currently, we are blessed to have a wonderful urban homestead with a 1/2 acre backyard and 2 acres of wooded flood plain. We've had a flock of laying hens since 2008; we've raised Pekin ducklings for meat once (they are stinky without a good water source). I love weeds (I hunt for wild edibles on my property with delight); my organic garden is polycultured mostly because of my laziness. I am fairly new to Permaculture; I've not taken any PDC but I've read Sepp Holzer's book and I get Paul's daily-ish email and I've watched Jack Spirko's video series on Permaculture which helped me (a visual learner) a lot in understanding more about swales and working with the natural forces present on a property.

Currently my wife and I are in New Jersey. Saline MI is her home town and we're looking to get back into that area within the next 24 months.
Looking forward to the adventure of homesteading. Right now we're doing small steps - we've got all the chickens our township won't fine us for; I've added a seasonal greenhouse to the house and built my first RMH in there. Trying some modest hugelkulture and generally trying hard to get things to grow in soil that is one hundred percent sand.

I really look forward to farming someplace that actually has soil

Current plans have us looking for a place on the 10 acre scale, but that could sifit up or down depending on price and opportunity. Lots of reading and watching videos. We both come to the table with some hopefully useful skills and interests to start with and the whole permaculture concept resonates pretty well for us.

Peter Ellis wrote:Currently my wife and I are in New Jersey. Saline MI is her home town and we're looking to get back into that area within the next 24 months.
Looking forward to the adventure of homesteading. Right now we're doing small steps - we've got all the chickens our township won't fine us for; I've added a seasonal greenhouse to the house and built my first RMH in there. Trying some modest hugelkulture and generally trying hard to get things to grow in soil that is one hundred percent sand.

I really look forward to farming someplace that actually has soil

Current plans have us looking for a place on the 10 acre scale, but that could sifit up or down depending on price and opportunity. Lots of reading and watching videos. We both come to the table with some hopefully useful skills and interests to start with and the whole permaculture concept resonates pretty well for us.

Hi Peter! Saline is not far from me! Technically, I'm an Ohioan but my mom was born and raised in Ida. And hubby and I are fixin' to move to Monroe County in a few years, Lord willing. We'll be looking for 5 - 10 acres west or northwest of Monroe (the city). Hubby will be commuting to north of Detroit in his new job.

Best wishes in your return to Michigan! Elissa

clay smith wrote:Hey folks I'm a young farmer in Dowling mi on 92 acres and am working towards establishing a perennial polyculture. I would love to host a meeting at the farm to get know you all. I'm also planning on hosting a few workshops this summer on key line design and perennial poly culture and also a cob shop to finish the cob on our masonry rocket mass heater. Email me at claytonj1026@gmail.com and or find my farm on Facebook by searching "earthsmith food & forest products"

Found it and liked it on FB!

Melisa and I are in Saline for Christmas, heading back to NJ on Sunday. Wondered if there were any suggestions for permaculture type things to see or do while we are here. And a merry christmas for those who celebrate.

I'm smitten for the mitten!

I've been mooching free info from permies for awhile. Now I finally joined.

Trying to make a living out of Natural Farming, permaculture plays into that. Finished a trial year on the east side with 4 acres, now living on 80 acres in the Big Rapids area.

Looking forward to meeting other local permies. We just moved here but have mostly livestock (pigs cattle poultry sheep goats), focus on pastured pigs. We've been eating all our own meat and veggies for years.

Dreaming of forest-based grazing systems (pigs already out there, want intentional plantings and pasture trees for grass animals), passive houses, aquaculture etc.

No internet in the house, no cell phone reception in the field
However, that means I'll be an infrequent contributor.

Merry Christmas All!

Nice to meet you all, I'm PJ, located in Van Buren Co., SW Mich. Adam and Daniel especially, please get in touch with me or sign up for our regional e-mail group "Van-Kal Permaculture" (see link on my profile page). We also have a Facebook page and a new website, vankalpermaculture.org. There are some awesome people in this area doing great things. The MI Permaculture Convergence last fall was a first-class event, and I believe I met one or two of you there. I have a 3-acre forest garden project that's going into its fourth year now, but it's a challenging site: flat, dry, and sandy, with lots of pests (moles, deer and rabbits). Anyone in SW Mich. is welcome to join our discussions and events, we try to meet about once a month for site tours, movie screenings, workshops, permablitzes, potlucks or whatever.
-PJ