introductions thread

I have never formally introduced myself and I suppose others could use a place to do so also!

I'm a stay at home mom of 30 and live with my husband and almost 4yr old daughter on a few acres in Ne oklahoma. I raise goats and chickens for meat, milk and eggs as well as have a small vegie garden. Prior to this life I trained hunters/jumpers and dressage horses and taught riding lessons professionally at a local stable.  I love my life now (although I do miss work some) and continue to strive to be more independent and live a healthier lifestyle.    -Leah

Greetings!

Did a search on underground building forum and found you.  Now I'm wondering why it took me so long to discover this great resource and community. 

I've an old, small "farm" in the E WA Columbia Basin and am in transition from full-time work on the west side to "retirement" here at the hopestead.  I started this journey in the 70's with the original Mother Earth News and was fortunate enough to take my PDC from Darren Doherty and Geoff Lawton in 2007.  Their education in dryland Permaculture techniques was part of the reason for choosing this prairie location. 

Anyhow, I'm very happy to be here and hope I can become a participant and contributor to your forum.

Bill Kearns

i'm a canuck, live in Canada's capital area, been farming since 1971 cattle, beef and dairy, sheep,  as well as raising up pigs and chickens for our table and all the grain and hay they consume, also rode horses both english and western as well as a bit of work in shafts. also  heavily involved in dogs at one time showing and obedience trailing. have always been interested in building what we needed from what we have on hand (last year, 150 feet of dry stacked stone wall!! this year 300!) hope to retire to a hilltop in New Brunswick to a solar powered log cabin high up in the swamp donks (moose) territory!

Bill,

Where did you take your PDC?

Are you working on an underground structure?



Swamp Donk (so that means "moose"?),

Do you have pics of your wall?  You can upload pics here ...

Hi Paul,

I was fortunate (serendipity played a big part) to find the Portland Permaculture Institute was hosting a PDC with Darren and Geoff http://www.portlandpermaculture.com/

  Yes, I'm working on a structure ... using Sketchup!  I've been refining my earth sheltered/underground design approach for many years.  This past summer I rebuilt the arched roof of my underground root cellar as described in this thread http://forums.permaculture.org.au/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=8709

Note the unique roof truss system.  My hat is off to the owner of this old farm who originally came up with this idea. 

In addition to learning how to use Sketchup (for not only home design but also for the entire Permaculture property design) I'm actively looking for a backhoe.  Before the end of summer 2009 I'll be living here full time and hope to break ground next spring (2010). 

paul wheaton wrote:
Bill,

Where did you take your PDC?

Are you working on an underground structure?



Swamp Donk (so that means "moose"?),

Do you have pics of your wall?  You can upload pics here ...

yep paul swamp donks are moose!   site would not let me register with my HT name. have too get the digital out and play, hoping the micro climate behind the wall will give things a boost come spring! tends to be cold here till may! plus want to slip form a shop wall and dry stack a back wall for a wood storage shed.

Bill,

That looks like a huge pile of work!

Now that it is all done, this is going to be a terribly annoying questions, but my curiosity is up:  what about laying three logs lengthwise and then 2x6's on edge across that?  It would have raised the roof a wee bit to boot. 

The way you did it is very beautiful and consistent with the previous way - but also very time consuming ... 

...  oh yeah!  The australian permie forums.  I need to go post there about my new youtube vid!

backhoe:  are you much of a mechanic?

Swamp Donk,

What is "HT name"?

I was guessing he found this through HT (homesteading today)

actually paul it was you who lead me too the forum! HT is homesteading today, i am the gardening mod over there, ford major. for some reason the sign up page did not like ford major! they are good old work horse tractors, kinda like me, bent , busted and a little worn out but still putting in a days work!  have a few of them on the farm here that i will make like new as time goes on ! family hobby, my wife and kids help out as much as i do!

I used to have an 8N.

HT!  The old countryside mag forums.  Those are great forums.  I go there quite a bit.  I wish we had as much traffic here.  To me, the big difference is that sometimes a topic comes up and it is so hard to talk about stuff without a small army of people telling me I'm stupid for not just using roundup.  Whereas, here, everybody is way beyond the roundup thing. 

well paul, i am trying to make the gardening board more friendly! not everyone believes in the magic of roundup! hey the more people tell ya your nuts the more ya have in common with edison, the wright brothers and alexander graham bell! all nuts in their day!

Hi.
I joined this forum about a month ago and have been amazed by the depth of knowledge and the great respectfulness that I see in the posts.  Thank-you all!

I have been an armchair Permaculturist for a decade or so and I am preparing to take the design course offered by Michael Pilarski and Laura Sweany starting this weekend. 

I am originally from Kentucky, and I hope to go back there to bring what I learn out here to poor and rural communities back home. 

My first exposure to Permaculture was in Texas with Kirby Fry at Cross Timbers PC Institute, then near Dallas.  Does anyone know Kirby?  I lost touch with him not long after he and his family moved outside Austin.

--Will

Will P wrote:

I have been an armchair Permaculturist for a decade or so and I am preparing to take the design course offered by Michael Pilarski and Laura Sweany starting this weekend. 

I'm an alumni!  I took the same course back in feb/mar of 2005!

paul wheaton wrote:
I'm an alumni!  I took the same course back in feb/mar of 2005!

Cool, Paul!  I'm really excited about the course--like a kid waiting for Xmas.  (Only 4 more days left!)

Also--we met very briefly in person last December at the all-eco potluck at Phinney Community Center.  If you remember, it is a frightening testament to the powers of human mental recollection (winkey face).

In a way, I met everybody there since I was manning the name tag table:  "HEY!  YOU!  PUT ON A NAMETAG!"

It's so cool to see new folks joining in. Welcome to all the new folks and hello to the regulars. I loved Leah's intro from months back, and it's fun to hear about folks from all over.

I figure I might as well introduce myself, too. From home births (21 and 14 years ago) and natural remedies, to reading Mother Earth News and Rodale's Organic Gardening while breastfeeding, to hauling lanterns outside so I could garden after the kids went to bed, I was the hippie mom.

Life happens and somehow over the years I morphed into a corporate accountant.  Yes, really. (Well, it was accounting for the community associations of a green developer, but that's another story...)

Call it what you will, but now I'm drinking in as much as I can about living more earth-centered again. I've had certain influences, shall we say, that are refreshing and inspiring. I'm still doing accounting, but from home and for some really cool eco businesses. And I'm coordinating some events and building up a calendar of eco stuff in the Seattle area.

I've got a small patio garden I'm attempting to expand, I hang out at Alderleaf sometimes , and am enjoying learning from all your posts and discussions.

So hello, welcome, hello again and many thanks for sharing!
Jocelyn

I just found this introductions thread on this forum today so I thought I would introduce myself. This will be long as i'm old.
First I'm Brenda, married to Ron (with 20 year serious closed head injury, disabled) and have a son Joel (who we gave land to to our east and he put in a double wide next door to  us).
We have lived on this piece of land since we married in 1971, originally the land had an old victorian farmhouse and a shed and not much of anything else including trees, there was 2 box elders (died) one maple, one ash baby, a few aspen, and 2 apples and a pear tree (died)..rest was scrubby lawn, a few old grapevines and some wild roses.
My grandpa was a trapper and gardener on my mom's side and on dad's side his dad was a gardener.
When we moved out to this property my first job was to decorate it some (as i am a licensed interior designer) and then next to plant trees (following summer, married August 28)..
We live in Michigan and it has a very short growing season with lots of snow. But i did manage to get a lot of trees planted (that my father in law who had alzheimers didn't mow down with his riding mower) and now have a lot of grown trees on the property and plant new ones every year).
July 28, 2002 our house was struck by lightening and we lost it, we brought in a large double wide and put it up on a 4' high berm 40' behind where the old house stood, the destruction of it all ruined most of my gardens but my contractor saved as many trees as he could, although he was awful at just about everything else.
I went to work the spring of 2003 attempting to salvage as much of my gardens as i could (we had put a few things in a holding garden)..we also had an orchard and woods and vegetable garden E of our house, but when our son was given the land on which to build, nearly everything was razed for his house..only a few trees were left, orchards and woods were lost...that was 2 years ago in Oct.

So it was a matter of starting over again. My father in law died of alzheimers in 2002 right after our housefire, we had cared for him for over 10 years as well as caring for my disabled husband, and my MIL died right after Joel's began to build next door to us, and I had to totally remodel her dated home and property, (new siding, roof, windows, doors, walls, floor coverings, cabinetry, everything) and then we sold her home in October 2008.

In the meantime I have been attempting to get my home and gardens RIGHT again, but it has been really hard. This will be my first year since about 20 years ago that I will be able to try to do something for myself..I have built a lot of fencing, rustic arbors, planted hundreds of perennials and fruit trees (a lot of them were lost as i mentioned above)..and I'm replanting as many as i can this year.

we have a 5 acre piece of land and Joel has 5 acres next to ours east..in november we put in an outdoor wood boiler to feed heat to our house and our sons, and it has been a real challenge to us.

I have always kept very large gardens over at least 3 acres of our property, but with all the destruction it is getting redone now, pretty much all has been organic with some selective use of roundup as we had to when it was totally necessary.

now that I know how to post photos on here i'll post a photo of myself and now i'll try to add photos with my posts..I am nearly a sr citizen now, so it gets harder, but i'm determined to do as my grandpa did, die with my garden boots on.

Good Morning everybody....  I realize I'm based on the "other" coast but stumbled upon this fantastic forum thru HT also.  I am always interested in learning new ideas and information.   

Hubby and I have returned to the old homestead (his) and I am sliding down that short rail to retirement.   We are enjoying getting back into the wonderful farm life that I have envied most of my life, as least since I had to grow up and become an adult......   At this time, we only have rabbit dogs, foxhounds and one big fat, lazy, spoiled cat.  I have about an acre in house garden and am SSSOOO ready to get my hands back into that dirt!!!  Hubby helps out with the plowing, etc but the herd of kids disappear quicker than a rabbit when I ask for help......   We are mostly just enjoying the slowed down pace with actual neighbors that are nice and friendly, not nosy.... LOL  Take care, Reb   

An acre of garden is pretty damn massive!

Do you have more acreage?  Perhaps woodland?

In the east it seems lots of people have 40 acres of sugar maple that (gasp) they don't tap.

Hi Paul, yes, it's pretty big, specially when I'm weeding   We are back on my Hubby's family farm.  A good bit is still in woods, but the majority is farmed, corn and beans.  We don't have any sugar maple that I know of, haven't really been able to do any woodstomping to check the woods yet.  I wanted to thank you for all the "drivel" that you post, LOL.  It really is quite informative.  Take care, Reb

Reb wrote:
Hi Paul, yes, it's pretty big, specially when I'm weeding  

We need to get you into a state of mulch or a state of polyculture.  This season we should be able to reduce your weeding by a factor of 10.

Oh  I SO LOVE MULCH !!! Sorry didn't mean to raise my voice. Stickingyour arms deep injto the mulch to pull that errant weed..which comes out with a gentle tug..and after a quick examination we probably find that that weed is edible..so off it and its friends go to the cooking pot..

I am constantly on my search for more and better mulch !!! (the older you get the mulchier you get)

was wondering about the HT forum you all have been referring to..I looked for Homesteading today and didn't find the forum..is it possible to post a link?

Greetings from rural Pierce County, Washington!

I found the site through a youtube video on rocket stoves.  I find them interesting and intend to build some to play around with, the ultimate goal being to find a practical heating arrangement for my bus.  Yup!  I'm one of "those". 

I am sure I'll find much useful information here.  I haven't looked yet but I assume I'll find help on building a composting toilet...  also for my bus...  as well as other areas of interest.

In way of introduction, my name is Ray, I'm 44 years old, disabled, soon-to-be married (May 17), and I have had a long time interest in doing things simpler and more efficiently.  Finances, or rather, the lack of finances, has driven my attention back to these sorts of things.

I have a bus!  I bought it with the intention of converting into a camper.  Now I am spending a lot of thought on exactly what I'm doing with it because I just might end up living out of it.  To make the project even more complicated, it's a very small bus and I'm a very large man!  Things are doable though, I'm sure.  I just have to think outside the box.

Thanks for letting me introduce myself, see ya round!

-Ray

Ray, besides the bus do you have a house or land ..or just the bus?

by the way ..welcome.

there are a lot of ideas on the different sites I have about converting busses..wish you well..

Brenda Groth wrote:
Ray, besides the bus do you have a house or land ..or just the bus? 

No, I do not own a house or any land.  I get free rent where I'm at now, in exchange for services.  It's a sound arrangement but could change at any time, as the elderly man who owns the home is in poor health.

by the way ..welcome.

Thank you!

there are a lot of ideas on the different sites I have about converting busses..wish you well..

Yup!    I've browsed quite a few sites and have learned a lot.  I am thankful I am so slow working on my bus, as I've completely changed my mind on what it to be.    More than once!

-Ray

so ray, you gonna be a nomad, or are you looking for land to settle on?

I guess you could put a vew 5 gallong buckets in the bus as you move around and pop them outside in the sun..when you stop..put in a few tomato plants and some herbs or whatever to get some plantlife into your lifestyle....

what are the plans NOW for the bus

I don't see me driving all over the country in search of never ending adventure.  I'd much rather find adventure right where I'm at.  I have a very fixed income, I don't see me buying land anytime soon.  I guess that would mean finding somewhere to park my things!  I have a friend who has an organic farm and I suspect I'd end up there if I needed a place in the immediate future.

My girlfriend is much more into gardening than I am.  She planted some garlic last fall and is about to put out some tomatoes.  The bucket gardening interests me, and I have plenty of buckets with free access to more.

As for the plans for the bus right now,  I am still not sure how I'm going to lay things out in it.  But there are things that need doing.  It needs to be painted.  I need to extend the rear bumper and add a trailer hitch.  These are things that I'll work on now that it's springtime, while I think about the other things.

-Ray

Hello everyone,
  I guess I will take a turn here and introduce myself.  I found the aussie forum first. somehow in my search, this forum didn't show up immediately.
  My wife and I run a vegetation management business here in no. cal. with goats.  My wife researched it and came up with the business plan and runs the business and I haul the goats around and put up the fences [with help].  At this time we have 350 goats, down from 500.  We sold a few and decided to not have kids this year due to the economy.  People hire us to browse their fire danger vegetation.  Lots of that around here.  We use meat goats [Kikos] originally from new zealand.    Very hearty and good moms, stay healthy with a browse diet.
    We took a two week PDC on Cortez Island BC in 1994 at Lanea Farm.  We have moved a few times since then, so I am working to grow more food at this place.  New climate to deal with since moving here from the oregon coast a few years ago.  I too am impressed by all the knowledge exhibited here and expect to learn a lot.  Gary Gregory 

what a great idea..guess it would cost too much to have you ship a few goats here for the summer to browse my woods..tee hee..(michigan)..well never mind...welcome

hi all! my name is bunkie and my husband and i live on 40 acres at 2750' in eastern washington state. we've been here since '89. at the moment we have two semi pygmy goats, Thelma and Louise, and two saved-from-the-shelter dogs, Curly and Lizzie, and two cats, Pete and Tuxedo. we have missed our ducks for the last two years and are hoping to acquire some come spring. we have two large veggie gardens with herbs and edible flowers, and a small orchard of 2 pear and 2 apple trees over 60 plus years old and still producing grandly. we have added other fruit trees with lots of luck the last few years. also looking forward to nut trees come spring. we sell at a farmers market 60 plus miles north of here when we have extra.

i read sepp holzer's book last year, The rebel Farmer, and really enjoyed it. i found his website and am so happy to see all the videos posted here on his methods. i have a lot of homework!

Mike speaks:

Hi all. This looks like a great place to be! We live on a 1.7hA (4acre) smallholding in the southern part of South Africa where we've been permaculting like mad since 1995. (Before then we permaculted in Cape Town's southern suburbs.) Current residents are myself and wife, 2 dogs, unknown number of chickens, billions of yeasts and bacteria, Older Son and his wife resident in a separate cottage, and occasional visits from Younger Son who is at university.

Main interests revolve around design in many forms - permaculture, software, sustainable energy systems, dwellings,... self-sufficiency, home brewing, seed saving and breeding. Never did do the Official permaculture design course for lack of simultaneously having 2 weeks to spare and the money to afford it (let's not get into South African permaculture politics!) so have had to pick it all up through the Design Manual, Mollison's shorter condensed book and David Holmgren's "Principles and Pathways"... and loads of trial and error and just plain Doing It and relentlessly experimenting.

More about our smallholding on our website (mikro2nd.net), particularly the permaculture design angles (and yes, I must write lots more there --  there's still a huge amount to tell!)

Well Mike,

in between caring for my stuff, I have been looking at your stuff.  Way cool.  There was an elephant rescue near here when I lived here before.  Not sure if it is still there or not.  I am enjoying the legends and lies. 

bunkie,

Does this mean that you know german?

no paul, i don't know German. the book was translated in English.

Looks like I am hanging around so I might as well introduce myself.

We have nearly 800 acres of land, primarily plantation to reforestation. One generation of plantation trees used as nursery (and to pay for!) for a permanent forest. We are located in the Northern Zone of Costa Rica. Every year we add to the land by the way, we have been doing this for seven years.

We have a furniture factory which uses the wood from the plantation. We have it all from nursery to end clients which makes us able to compete very well against those who merely take.

Currently we are experimenting with agroforestry, we have a small flock of 45 sheep and I just added 500 catfish and 200 langostinos.

I love complete systems, the nursery to forest, forest to furniture factory, sawdust from furniture factory bedding for sheep, sheep clean under older trees, their poop mixed with sawdust goes to nursery (and my garden!)

Offal from Sheep goes to our dog and to the ponds. Offal of the fish goes to the garden and the nursery.

sounds like a great system you have going there crtreedude! everything supporting aand contributing to  everything else.

Hey Bunkie, I didn't mean to not welcome you.  WELCOME.  I got into looking at crtreedude's photos...have you looked?  I have been looking thru them for the last 2 days between chores...nice

I really like it when people add a web link in their profile.  Do you have an online photo album?

Paul is big on "first name, space, last name" and even convinced me to change my screen name (still not sure I like it) Seems many feel a real name on here makes us somehow more accountable.  I think is easier to fake a name than a website.  (most of the mass murders of late said some alarming things on line just before their killing spree)

I live out in the boonies so have slower than dial-up connection so can not watch the videos, bummer, so I learn from listening to everyone talking about them.

thanks for the welcome jennifer! and my real name is bunkie! i'll put my last name in my profile in a bit.

am still learning 'computer', so no web link or blog or such...yet. haven't figured out the online photo thingy yet either. gardens are just winding down now, so still lots to do before the snow flies. once winter hits i'll have more time to learn this stuff.

we are just a step, tiny one, above dialup. everything changed a bit when they did the tv conversion thingy. messed us all up here in the sticks.

haven't checked out crtreedude's pics yet, but will. thanks for the head's up! am slowly manuevering around here. so far really enjoying the site and all the info!