Josh Chance

I really appreciate the dailyish. With all the info sharing going on these days. Its good to have some highlights shared that I might not otherwise see. Thank you!

THanks for posting those questions and your responses. I needed a laugh. And also, thanks for everything you and your partners in crime do.

R Scott, I can definitely see teh importance of reduced space to cover while harvesting. I did not mean to discredit it, I was just fishing for other ideas

Chris Kott, I think your suggestion of having some organization to avoid losses makes sense. I wondered if a repeating pattern of 20? different plants spaced not by rows but in triangles or a biointensive pattern might save considerable space and still allow for easier access. Of course keeping in mind the needs, size, etc. of the plants.

Great input! thank you

R Scott, I really like your idea of harvesting multiple crops at the same time and then sorting afterwards for efficiency.

My experience with small scale farming and understanding of permaculture techniques is definitely in a pubescent stage. I am sill trying to see how I can best combine them without killing myself with the work or creating an unsustainable business plan.

Let's say you have 4hrs to harvest, sort and wash crops for 30 to 60 CSA members [obviously, not just me working ]. It seems to me that widely spaced, monocrop rows (easier to see and access crops) would be quicker/more efficient than a polyculture that is a dense, mixed planting, even if the poly is on a smaller amount of land. So I wonder what other techniques might improve harvesting efficiency for polyculture.

For instance, tall, steep hugelkultur beds might improve ones ability to see and access crops, allow closer proximity, and not require as much bending over. But then would the polyculture need to be organized loosely to make up for water content at different levels of the bed?

Or, if a third of crops were planted in polyculture "Upick" beds that are marketed as a higher quality food (more natural?). That would provide members an educational opportunity for CSA members to learn what the different plants look like, how to pick them, what is possible to grow together, and reduce my labor costs
.
Any other ideas?

Thanks!

Josh

R Scott wrote:It is a pretty big step to go from a Holland planter rowed monoculture to true perenial permaculture.

It is possible to do mixed-flat plantings with a transplant planter--but you are planting at the same time, not necessarily timing for harvest. To plant into existing beds, it is more manually intensive--step planter or trowel.

Harvesting of root crops are a problem unless they are the last in the bed, but manual picking anything else is about the same. You are not going to run a machine.

I understand that I won't be running a machine. I was looking more for techniques for efficient manual harvesting. So, would there be any kind of organization to the polyculture, is timing of harvest going to help, or should certain crops be planted in separate beds/polycultures for easier harvest? Like you mentioned, root crops would be difficult to harvest, so maybe plant potatoes with a polyculture of grasses?

THanks for your input!

Josh

Im interning to run and own a small farm focusing mainly on veggies. A question that I have not found an answer to is, how do I efficiently transplant into a polyculture and harvest? On the organic farms that I have visited and worked on, rows or monocultures are used for efficient time/labor use.

While weeding labor may be reduced because of dense planting, time sensitive harvesting is my main concern.

Also, does anyone know of any money making permaculture farms in or near the Rockies?
Thanks for any feedback!

Josh

Here's the link for the second site
http://www.sunnyjohn.com/toiletpapers2.htm

Alder Burns wrote: I always line the buckets with sheets of newspaper....makes cleanup a lot easier....the paper liner just ends up in the compost with the rest of it. /quote]

Alder, how do you keep the newspaper in place while the bucket is filling?

Uri,

I have seen a type of mouldering toilet that uses worms, but they use a 55gallon drum. What was explained to me was when the drum is filled, worms are dumped in, lid placed on (don't know if it was sealed), removed from toilet with fork lift and left for 1to 2 years. The bathroom used passive solar and vents to circulate air.

Here is the place (contact them about it?)
http://crmpi.org/CRMPI/Home.html

and another possibly useful site.
http://crmpi.org/CRMPI/Home.html

Wanted to add to Wyomiles vermicompost recommendation that worms roughly eat about a pound of food per square foot of bedding surface area per week.

I don't remember how many worms you need, unfortunately. My experience is the worms will regulate themselves based on space, food, and quality of bedding. This way you can weigh your organic waste after a week of collection to get a rough estimate of how much surface area you need.

Another option is bokashi, but you need to be able to bury the "bokashi'd" compost after it has fermented.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bokashi_composting#Bokashi_composting

Welcome Sepp Holzer and the Agroecology Team! Thank you for sharing your experience and time with us.

What are some of the techniques you would use to keep hugelkultur stable for different soil types (clay, sand, etc) on a slope of about 30 degrees, Precipitation 14", annual snowfall 84", zone 2-3? How do those techniques change when the slope is 15 degrees or less?