Charlie Salvaje

I better take the "Don't Text and Dig" pledge.

Pretty sure Wookies, droids, princesses in distress, Jedi knights, and quad laser cannons cost extra.

"If I may say so, sir, I noticed earlier the hyperdrive motivator has been damaged. It's impossible to go to lightspeed."

"She may not look like much, but she's got it where it counts, kid."

Someone's coming to show Tim how to be Han Solo.

RE: the Five Valleys Seed Library Seed-Saving Class in Missoula...

I don't see the workshop listed on the Missoula Public Library calendar, but I did see a sign posted on the bulletin board, and I saw this on Facebook:

Ann Little: "Seed-Saving Class - FREE - at the Missoula Library 3:30 - 5:30pm on June 1st, 2013 with John Erdman. The focus of this class will be how to plan your garden for optimum seed-saving. We'll have other classes throughout the summer - stay tuned."

Thanks for all the suggestions and offers. Keep 'em coming!

FYI Zoomoolians: The Five Valleys Seed Library just opened at the Missoula Community Food Co-Op, 1500 Burns St.
They are giving a workshop on seed saving at the Missoula Public Library on June 1. I think the time is 3:30 PM, but I'll try to confirm and post this on the Missoula forum.

https://www.facebook.com/missoulaseedlibrary

http://missoulian.com/news/state-and-regional/five-valleys-seed-library-provides-exchange-for-missoula-gardeners/article_143bfe82-c341-11e2-bef2-0019bb2963f4.html

Donde esta el bañjo? Wo ist die Toilette?

Please hit me with your ideas for seeds and seed suppliers to plant on the farm this summer!

Paul has said anytime the land on the farm is disturbed, seeds should be planted.

So Paul has asked me to start a list and a forum thread about the plants and seeds to start growing on the land in the next two months, plants that grow in Western MT in the summer.

And we need a list for the sources/suppliers for said seeds.

I thought that one way to start this off would would be to group the plants by function on the farm (why we want them and where we are achieving multi-functionality), and then later group them by guild, layer, and location (where and when to plant).

So, I've started a list, just brain-dumping what comes to mind and will thin them out for the summer seeds and those appropriate for the climate and the land (after I know more about the soil). I'll be dusting off my Jacke, Hemenway, Holzer, and Fukuoka books for more ideas.

I'll dump all this into a spreadsheet or database for easy sorting based on function, perennial/annual, layer, and other attributes of interest.

Best,
Charlie

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Cover/mulch crops:
comfrey
hairy vetch
miner's lettuce
amaranth
mustards
daikon radish

Nitrogen-fixers:
Black locust
clovers (crimson)
lupine
alfalfa
Siberian pea shrub

Soil-break/cultivator:
daikon radish
fava bean

Nutrient accumulators:
stinging nettle
sunflower
yarrow
dandelion

Insect attractors:
comfrey
fennel
dill
chamomile
miner's lettuce

Pest detractors:
walking onion
Mexi marigold
peppermint
lemon balm

Deer fence:
Russian olive
(Don't tell the Missoula native plant folks, who I believe have labeled it a noxious plant!
gooseberry
garlic
hops
strawberry

Fire retardation:

Poop-beasts:
cottonwood
willow
poplar

Medicinal:
echinachea
mullein
artemisia
St. John's wort
burdock

Edible, human food, fruit and veggies:
apple
strawberry

Edible, human food, staples:
potato

Edible, human food, herbs:
cumin

Edible, livestock food:
buckwheat
Siberian pea shrub
buffalo grass

Riparian:
cottonwood
alder

Windbreak/soundbreak:

Aroma/Fragrance:

Flower/aesthetics:

Fiber:

Cleansers:

Other human uses:

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Seed ball mixes:

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Seed Sources:

www.reneesgarden.com
www.abundantlifeseeds.com
www.ecoseeds.com
www.gardencityseeds.com
www.nativeseeds.org
peaceseeds.org

Thought there might have been mention of a forum member that made or sold tipis, but I cannot find it.

Also, if you have personal recommendations for good tipis (or tipis to avoid), please share.

Thanks.

Howdy Paul and Jocelyn (and fellow permies),

First, congratulations on finding land!

Secondly, I might be a potential minion/renter/empire builder. Coincidentally, I'm in Missoula now, just finishing up the Master Gardener program, and leaving my apartment at the end of the month.

I'm pretty new to the forums but I've been eating up your AMAZING podcasts and articles as fast as my strained brain will consume them. I've listened to about 30 podcasts so far, but I'm committed to finishing all the podcasts and articles, as well as Sepp's book, by the end of May. I'm finding the podcasts so informative... and so freakin' entertaining. Thanks for all the great work you're doing and sharing with everyone. This is EXACTLY what the world desperately needs. I'm fully convinced permaculture is one of the most powerful practical and philosophical frameworks for positive cultural change. I'm so convinced that for the past couple of years I've been refocusing my own life around permaculture in a personal quest for right livelihood, ethical entrepreneurship, and sustainable living. You might say, I've been drinking the "Permaculture Kool-Aid" from a fire-hose.

To that end, for the last couple of months I've been living in gorgeous Missoula, Montana. I came here for the Master Gardener program and to try out the town as a place to relocate. I've been scouting for land with the idea of creating my own off-the-griddle permie homestead in a community with other permies. But now that you've already found land, you've got me noodling on whether I should instead join with your intentional community/empire (assuming you'd have me)... or at the very least try to find my own place close enough to yours so we might help each other.

Up to now, I've been assisting a few of my permie and farmer friends in the Puget Sound area with some of their projects and learning from them about food forests, aquaponics, chickens, alternative currencies, seed saving, and anti-GMO efforts. Right now I'm trying to decide on my next steps to take with permaculture and homesteading, as well as my other passion, documentary filmmaking.

I *had* been planning to take one of the upcoming PDCs on offer by Skeeter, Rick Valley, Larry Korn, or Aprovecho. Maybe take a wilderness skills program, too. But perhaps this is the wrong approach. Maybe it would be better to apply my resources and efforts toward building some lasting relationships in one place, be part of a community that I help to build, document, and share with the world. I've just had a hard time deciding where that might be and with whom; still looking for my tribe and my own private/communal Idaho/Montana, I guess.

Like Paul, I'm a former software and internet engineer, a detoxing urban refugee of the consumer, cubicle psychic wars, a recovering "corporate whore" as Paul might say, though in my defense I did try my best to do work for worthy causes, with mixed success. I also have a little background in film, video, and documentary production, my first and true calling, so perhaps I could be of help with some of the video, podcasting, and web stuff you do.

So if you think I might be "minion worthy", please let me know here, or PM me so we can talk about what I might bring to the Empire of Paul. (I also have some of my stuff I need to move from Seattle to Missoula, so maybe Jocelyn and I could split the cost and effort of moving, too.)

Cheers,
Charlie