May I tour your Permaculture Property? Documentary

Hi! I'm Vincent Alexander and I am seeking functional permaculture properties in California, Oregon, and Washington to tour in July-Oct, and possibly next spring as well! I am producing a documentary video series to promote permaculture practices and the development of all natural, ecological, sustainable, human habitats.

We are looking for working models of designs that are functioning, and we want to talk to the owners or designers to help explain how it works. Everything from water harvesting, ponds and swales, hugelkultur, gardens, companion planting, fertility, chickens, livestock, food forestry, home building, stoves, waste management, water purifying, you name it! We are looking to document working models all of these things, and to hear directly from you to help explain why it works so well. If you are camera shy, you can opt out of being in the video, otherwise, we would love to have you on the show! It will be myself and possibly one video guy visiting. Tours/Interviews are expected to last 1-4 hours just depending on what you have to show off!

Please contact me and let's schedule a date for the tour!

Please contact me here through the Permies.com community, or
nicedayvince@gmail.com
951-254-3630

Howdy Vincent, welcome to permies!

Will this be your first film? What other permies places have you documented?

Miles Flansburg wrote:Howdy Vincent, welcome to permies!

Will this be your first film? What other permies places have you documented?

Hello Miles! Thank you for your warm welcome!

Indeed! I am excited to announce this, the production of my first film!
I have toured the Sky View Permaculture Institute in San Diego, CA, but have not filmed it yet!

Do you have a property located in CA, OR, or WA that would make a good candidate? Or might you be able to direct me to someone who does?

THANKS!

No I am in Wyoming, just getting started, so nothing really worth seeing.
We do have some folks doing some good stuff in those areas but I will let them speak for themselves.
In the mean time take a look around , many folks have posted pictures and discriptions of their places here at permies.

Thank you much Miles. I look forward to hearing from my permie friends in CA, OR, WA and showing off their awesome designs!

Hi Vincent,

I sent you an email with info on what I am doing. After I sent it I thought other folks here might like to read it:

Feel free to stop by our place: xxxxxxxxxx, Camas, WA 98607

We live on a formerly rural but now suburban 3/4 acre lot. About 5 years ago we hired a permie landscape designer to do a design for our backyard. We told her to use mainly native plants but as I have been implementing the plan I have been substituting edible plants for many of the natives, with the intention of having a food forest mixed with natives. It will take me a few more years to complete, but I have all the major trees & shrubs in the ground, plus some new/enhanced features that we have added to the design, e.g. a round stone firepit area (not in the design).



I want to have a food forest that looks nice and also is very productive, with very little ongoing maintenance.

At the moment it looks more wild than tame, but it is looking more and more tame over time.

We do not have any permie animals, just two cats and a dog. My neighbors have chickens, I can trade for eggs any time. I am experimenting with using wild birds for bug control. I call it my "poor man's chicken tractor"

Here are some of the permie features I have in place:
- Apple tree guild
- Sheet mulching (we have a MASSIVE pile of wood chips at the moment - around 15 yards)
- About 50 species/varieties of permie plants, including about 25 types of berries, many fruit, several nuts, nutrient accumulators, nitrogen fixers, insectary plants, mulch plants, etc.
- About 25 species of native plants. I think these are super important.
- About 40 varieties of apples grafted on to two trees
- A very tasty apple that I grew from seed (i.e. a new variety)
- A wild seedling tree that produces very tasty miniature plums (plums that are the size of cherries)
- Bat house (occasionally occupied)
- Small pond, used by birds, frogs, insects
- Wild rabbits which do a lot of grass trimming and fertilizing for me - and also eat things I have planted unless I protect them, grrr..
- Bumble bee nests (underground). I also have a bumble bee "domicile" box but I don't think it has been occupied.
- Orchard mason bee tube bundles made from teasel stems which grow in my yard. Last year I had about 1700 excess bee cocoons.
- I repurposed the kids' 130 foot zipline into a support for many of my vines (grapes, hardy kiwi, blackberry, raspberry). Having a strong cable which spans almost the entire backyard has a lot of advantages in terms of easy trellising. I am thinking of hanging some bird houses from it as well.
- Brush pile habitats
- Rock piles
- Mycelium from Paul Stamets


Here are features that I have in progress:
- A massive timber-framed arbor/trellis made from 6"x8"x8' restoration juniper timbers. These are juniper trees from eastern Oregon which were cut down because they are invasive there and damaging the ecosystem. So purchasing them is a form of habitat restoration. See Juniper Control. This is not really a permie project, it is mostly for looks and also to hold up some grapes.
- The keyhole raised garden bed in the design. I am going to do it as a hugulkultur with boulder walls so I have a big pile of massive chunks of wood, and also a bunch of big rocks to make the raised bed walls.

Further down the road:
- Solar powered recirculating small stream & ponds
- Underground root cellar
- Cold frame or underground greenhouse
- Rainwater harvesting
- A guild for every plant
- 24" diameter x 16' tall wood cylinder for use by Vaux's Swifts
- Solar shingles on house roof

I can send you some photos if you'd like. Here are some photos of my apple tree guild over time:






I do not use any chemicals, and the only fertilizer I use is a tiny amount of fish fertilizer.

Regards,

Dave

Dave,

I just thought I would reply here to let the community know how very excited and honored I am to be documenting your work there in Camas, WA to share with the world.

Thank you so very much for responding to this post Dave!

We are still seeking more permaculture properties to tour and document on video for our movie! please contact me if you know of a property that we may visit this summer!

Vincent Alexander
951-254-3630
NiceDayVince@gmail.com

Thank you Permies.com!