spokane valley

Hi my name is August. I live in Spokane Valley on the edge of town. We live was use to be an old chicken farm. My wife and I are interested in learning more about permaculture. Would like to find an expert to examine are land and maybe educate us on what we could do on this piece of land to help feed us and others.
We have 5 different variety of plums trees that are very old. We also have 3-5 different typ of apples trees, well over hundred yrs old that still produce very good apples. One has very white flesh and is very sweet, never seen apple like this before. Also very old pear trees.
We really don't know where to start, seems this house at one time was ran by permaculturiest many ears ago.

Thanks for any information on where we cold get started...

You are blessed to have those old fruit trees.  It might be a good idea to try to find out what varieties you have...some of the old ones are nearly extinct.  You never know, you might have one of those rare ones and could help bring it back.  The agricultural extension agent for your area might be able to help you figure out what kinds they are, and that is the person you should talk to to find out what kind of soil you have, too.  Soil type is the first thing you need to know before you start planning. 

Second, you need to know your climate -- the ag agent will be able to help with this, too.  He (or she) should also be able to give you lists of things that will grow well in your climate and on your soil.  Those lists will be a good starting point, not the end of your planning.  Once you have all that figured out, you'll need to map your property.  Then you can share all that information with us, along with what your goals are for your property (feed your family?  provide an income?  or?), and some of the experienced people here will be able to help you with the next step!

Have fun planning -- this is a good time of year for it!

Kathleen

If you have a broadband internet connection you can get soil maps from http://websoilsurvey.nrcs.usda.gov/app/HomePage.htm.

You can access the old archived soil surveys which include lots of information on you soil type at http://soils.usda.gov/survey/printed_surveys/state.asp?state=Washington&abbr=WA
These descriptions talk about typical character and depth of soils.  Nothing beats digging holes. 

Spokane county has an interactive map at http://www.spokanecounty.org/GIS/content.aspx?c=1155 (you may need to download and install MS silverlight to run the utility).

From there you can get a high resolution aerial photo of your property to use as a base map.  This saves a ton of surveying.

Michael Pilarski is a long time teacher/designer, has lived in the E WA highlands, and might be able to provide some knowledge.  (See Friends of the Trees - http://www.friendsofthetrees.net/)

Thanks for the information. How do I contact a agricultural extension agent in my area?  My wife and I have been busy researching some of plants on the property and seems people who built it where permaculturists. The pear and apple trees are the biggest I have ever seen in my life. Pruning would be next o impossible due to there size. We have alot of deer outside right now eating the ones we did not pick. There are to many. Once I get use to this site Ill post more on our finds. Thanks everyone....

Ludi wrote:
I'm not sure how we're going to manage to get that many land owners when  land is too expensive for most people.    It's hard for me to imagine some kind of peaceful land redistribution. I don't think large-scale land-owners are going to volunteer to give their land away just because people need it. 

It may get quite cheap once they can no longer get anything to grow using high input methods or it costs too much. Some of the abandoned urban centers are good examples... some are built or good farmland too. While I am sure someone still owns all those houses.... and so you couldn't tear down the houses... one house owner left could always plant useful plants in the yard of abandoned homes.

No, they won't give it away because people need it, but because it has no value.... at some point. Of course there may not be as much of a world left to feed by then

Vigilance wrote:
Thanks for the information. How do I contact a agricultural extension agent in my area? 

Here's some contact information that might help:  http://extension.wsu.edu/locations/Pages/default.aspx

Len wrote:
It may get quite cheap once they can no longer get anything to grow using high input methods or it costs too much. Some of the abandoned urban centers are good examples... some are built or good farmland too. While I am sure someone still owns all those houses.... and so you couldn't tear down the houses... one house owner left could always plant useful plants in the yard of abandoned homes.

No, they won't give it away because people need it, but because it has no value.... at some point. Of course there may not be as much of a world left to feed by then

When things get as cheap as the prices I've seen on some old houses in Detroit and other similar areas, one homeowner (if they felt safe enough in their neighborhood) could probably buy all the surrounding lots for a few hundred dollars.

Kathleen

Palouse Permaculture in Moscow, Idaho, is offering a Permaculture Design Certificate Course  one weekend a month starting in January which you might want to check out. (http://www.palousepermaculture.com)

Also, one or more  of us from Palouse Permaculture might be interested/willing to come up and see your site in the spring when the weather gets better (like me, for example -- I'm a fruit tree junkie). I can be reached at [email]palousepermaculture@gmail.com[/email]