John,
Thank you for your response and your warm welcome!
John Polk wrote:I think with a permaculture of a multitude of perennial food crops, a child will grow to see the beauty of the land rather than the alternating green/brown cycles of the typical cereal crop farm. A child growing up in a maturing permaculture environment will learn to see things much differently than somebody growing up in an environment that is based on exploiting the land to realize a huge profit. He will see a Garden of Eden instead of a field of labor.
I would love to believe this, but I will admit I am a realist. Ever since Adam and Eve were kicked out, things have been labor. I don't expect to ever be able to undo God's curse--thus my realism. On the other hand, the pictures I've seen have been amazing.
My eldest son is no believer in permaculture. He is concerned that I will go for a permaculture lifestyle over his backbreaking work in the field and my harsh criticism from a comfortable chair. His work and labor of love so far has been his
chicken and turkey flock, and I'll admit we haven't been very successful integrating that flock into the rest of what we are doing. For example, my
apple trees are planted close to the road and our
local zoning ordinance won't allow the chicken coop within 60' of the road. (Our neighbour has already called the zoning inspector on us multiple times in disgust.) So much for getting the
chickens to keep the apples free from worms. The peaches are in a similar situation. His chickens wander from being in the epitomy of health, to needing more work. As an example, he just lost some customers of his many eggs because he delivered them dirty with manure on them too many times. (Oops!) I know if you keep the coop with fresh
straw regularly you won't have that problem, but that's something that he needs to learn the priority of. It's a great lesson for him. Will he learn to love it? I don't know. His current future plans involve architecture with no particular love for land. I've got some work to do certainly. My younger son wants to work with me to build a food forest. This son, however, still needs to learn the meaning of work. He's at least excited by the idea of having a larger place where agriculture is encouraged.
Our big success to date is one garden that has come close to that "Garden of Eden" style. At the end of last year, we put all the leaves we could rake up from the neighbourhood into it and let the chickens play there all winter long. Thus summer, we planted melons, sweet potatoes, zucchini, three sisters, tomatoes and more. In all honesty, I'm not sure I've ever seen a garden so lush. We kind of have to fight to get into it, and work to get around within it, but it seems to be growing nicely. Some lessons learned? Don't plant your tomatoes in three rows, hexagonal spacing. Although we can get to the bed from both sides, we can't get to the inner row very well. Likewise, the 1' path between the beds has been encroached upon significantly. Next year, we ought to think of wider paths and low growing plants on the path edges. On the other hand, I'm not complaining.
Now what I need to find are good zucchini recipes that the family likes. We have an abundance right now, from only one bed even. Maybe I
should go around looking for unlocked cars to deliver our abundance into?
Dan