doug peddle

Hi all,

Thanks for your wonderfull responses. Apologies for my late response! Very interesting to hear how everyone else here is trying to deal with it, and what does and doesnt work.

I am currently reading Jackie French's guide to companion planting and she gives the following advice about using comfrey to contain cooch:

(on page 32)
"Keep grass out with a border of comfrey. Comfrey is deep rooted and will keep out even kikuyu and couch.".
"I find that in spring our comfrey starts growing 10 days before our kikuyu."
"...other grass barriers: Other deep rooted plants like comfrey are dock, french sorrel and chicory."

Has anyone tried using Comfrey with success?

In terms of a physical barrier, how deep down have people gone when creating this?

Thanks again,

Doug.

p.s. this is in relation to a couple of sites, one is a community food forest near Wanaka, the other is a private residence in Hawea Flat and also Queenstown!

Hello wonderfull world wide Permies,

We have Couch/Cooch grass all over a site where we would like to plant a food forest. Obviously this is not ideal, i wanted to know if anyone had any experience in low cost (and ideally quick! of course!) ways to remove/work with the grass when creating a food forest?

We are in an alpine environment, south island, new zealand.

Have seen research relating to a few options, namely goats and/or chickens on the site to eat and remove the grass or black plastic cover for several months....however we are really operating on a LOW budget!

Would really appreciate anyone's advice about this, please only comment if you have actually carried out the advice you have given.

Many thanks in advance,

Doug.

Hi Frederico,

I'm sorry to hear about your situation, sounds very similar to what my folks are going through in Portugal right now.

Have you thought about setting up Waterboxx's around your key tree's/plants?

http://www.groasis.com/en

Pro's: After the initial watering NO FURTHER WATERING is required, ever (until you remove the box maybe after a year or two!)

Con's: Cost = Around 12 euros per box
Needs a small amount of water for the initial watering (but sounds like you can get this from your bore?)

Also, what about any sources of grey water from any near by houses? Even if this is collected in buckets/cisterns, its still another way to get water to site.

Best of luck,

Doug.

Hi Saybian, Thanks for the thought-full response, its always great to hear that other more experienced people have similar experiences! Youve really brought it home to me that the reality is just that some things in life are complicated, and nothing more than life itself. Very helpfull perspective to get.

Hi Ben, Thanks for the response, and the link. Those cards look very good and very usefull - may well have to purchase some when they become available!

I would be very keen to help out with any beta testing of your system too, feel free to message me whenever you need. That sounds like a really good idea.

I still wonder what other ways other people have developed to help them work through the 'analysis of elements' design method too...

Thanks!

I totally agree! The paleo diet seems to definitely be the starting point for a lot of people, it however does not talk about several other things such as using only organic produce all the time (i.e. organic vegetables NOT just organic pasture fed free range meat) and no fermented foods. The best book i have read that covers all angles, as well as being very science based has been 'Deep Nutrition - why your genes need traditional food'. Especially its sections on grains and fats which was very enlightening.

http://www.amazon.com/Deep-Nutrition-Your-Genes-Traditional/dp/0615228380

This is an amazing book that, in my eyes, provides the ultimate information on what food choices we should make for short and long term genetic health. It deals with many issues, including Epi-genetics and the Western A Price Foundation findings to name a few.

What do other people think of the book?

Cheers,
Doug.

Clover Love wrote:First I heard about paleo, then a week+ later, GAPS (Gut And Psychology Syndrome, soon to have a Gut And Physiology Syndrome edition), then days later WAPF.

The thing I balked at about paleo is that I think paleolithic peoples probably ate everything edible, including grains, legumes, and tubers, but think about it, small amounts and strictly seasonal. I also guess that a lot of the grains went to fermented drinks (which I then think led to agriculture to increase fermented drink availability, which led to the first AA chapter, etc...). So, I think that paleo is a great way to halt the disaster of the SAD (Standard American Diet) and reverse much of the damage, but I think that GAPS is even better at the healing part of that. Once the healing is done, I look forward to finding where my body does the best using paleo and WAPF as loose guidelines and food preparation help.

I love the podcast, Latest in Paleo. The host often states that there is a certain fluidity to paleo, less dogmatic and more open to using the information that we gain through further study and personalized results.

I'm loosing weight and seeing dramatic health improvements and now my friend who is immobilized with MS has agreed to allow me to work this healing magic on/with her.

I'll report back in a few months on our progress! FTR, I am moving slowly into GAPS by eating 'full GAPS' minus dairy (which means I'm eating paleo) and looking forward to the 'intro diet', esp to get dairy back, I definitely react to dairy now.

Hello fellow Permies,

I have a fairily 'techy' question about the design process via analysis of site elements, and linking up inputs/needs with outputs/resources (plus also reference to characteristics/querks of elements).

When i have been going through site elements and listed all the above details and then linked up needs to resources i end up with a convoluted spider diagram which is helpfull in general, but its hard to digest all of the information. Plus i cant but think i have missed some small but important details! So i thought there must be a better way to collate all of this information together.

This is especially the case with more complicated designs as you have MANY site elements, so the list of connections becomes even more complicated.

Does anyone have any advice about perhaps how to do this better? Maybe there is some funky graphical software out there? Or maybe just another better way?!

One thing i was thinking was that perhaps there could be a set of standardised 'element cards' which mean every time you do a design you don't have to re-write up basic info (e.g Chickens!). Has anyone tried this? Obviously you would have to be carefull to review them for every site. Also you would still end up with a massive diagram with a million connections that is hard to digest...

Thanks again for any advice,
Doug.

http://www.diggersanddreamers.org.uk/

A great link to many UK communities!

Also...

http://www.lammas.org.uk/

Perhaps my favourite place in the uk right now, they are definitely successful having negotiated their community through the planning process!

Cheers,
Doug

Hi Leila,

Many thanks for the lovely response! I spent some time at the farm back in 2010 and it was one of the most amazing places to practice Permaculture. You would wake up in the morning to the call of Gibbons and other primates in the jungle canopy outside your doorstep. I know that Ladia who has been running the farm has put his life savings in trying to get the farm working, and he is dedicated to trying to do the right thing. It would just be so sad if he has the rug pulled from under his feet.

Thank you!

Doug

Hi there all,

I have been studying permaculture for the last couple of years and have so far got a whole mess of various notes/printouts/audio and digital content collected.

I am continuing my studies and was hoping to tap into the collective permies brain for answers to the following question:

How do you collate and store all the information that you have written/collected relating to Permaculture? Any advice welcome!

In particular how have you complied written notes taken during courses (e.g. PDC, workshops, site visits, working experience...)

It seems that one problem is that Permaculture covers pretty much everything; "its a wardrobe within which all of human knowledge can be hung".

Any help would be appreciated!

Thanks,
Doug.