Overcoming Stumbling blocks

It seems as though you have a lot of experience with a lot of differing climates and situations and from what I've seen you've been very successful in your endeavors. Can you tell us a bit about how you Identify and overcome any stumbling blocks that may be in your way as you go about designing a particular piece of land?

Could you possibly point to one specific example where an unforeseen limitation caused you to have to revamp your plan?

For many of us space, money and time are serious limitations. Could you talk a bit about coping with the reality of Permaculture vs the ideals of permaculture and how you might modify your ideals to work with your reality? It seems to me that some people have a hard time getting past the planning stage and actually implementing their ideas. How can we avoid major pitfalls BEFORE we get too deep and risk being discouraged?

Thanks for taking time to answer questions here.

Craig

Geoff & Paul, I have a different kind of stumbling block. I had an acre pond re-dug and spread that material on about a two-acre patch next to it. Well, that was mostly clay and is about a foot deep. I have a lot of weeds in it and it is pretty hard when it dries out. Paul mentioned fixing compacted yards by digging post holes every few feet and filling them with compost and woody material and stuff to make havens for earthworms to promulgate from. Do you think this would help correct my error and turn this clay into soil? What else could I do?

I did try to have a neighbor use his tractor and plow to dig swales for me but it had already gotten too hard by the time he was available. I'm going to try again this fall once we get some rain. It has been a terrible drought here. Our pond is down four feet over the past two years.

Greg