Kevin Byrne

Is anyone still following this forum?  It's been 3 years since I last posted, and am getting started on our third planting now.  I'm from Mena, AR and if you're in the area I would love to commiserate.

Lynne and Drew, I am sorry but I didn't notice the posts until today. Mena is not the greatest place, but we are making do here. A lot of drugs out in them thar hills unfortunately. Very poor, low education, but they are trying. The local high school is one of the higher rated in this state.

My permaculture is going slowly but surely. We had a commercial greenhouse donated, have had good success with a single hugel bed using Paul Gautchi covering methodology (wood chip cover, had to amend the soil just a bit).

Hi Judith!

I'm not sure what to suggest other than "Ouachita National Forest Region" to describe this area, and that would also encompass some of eastern Oklahoma as well. I have posted on the Ozarks forum, but apparently there aren't a whole lot of permies in this part of AR. As soon as I really get underway I will open a projects thread with pix of progress on my land. Sure could use some guidance, though, in specifics for my region. About the only things my land has in common with Sepps is all the ridiculous monoculture tree planting and the rocky soil.

Kevin

Hello! I am living on 200 acres in Mena, AR, which is a fair piece from you, but in the same basic area. I have been reading Sepp's books and watching his videos, and I'm going to get started here very soon. Hope this note finds you all well and willing to interact!

Kevin

I'm new to AR, living in Mena (southwest AR 10 miles from the OK border) for about a year now. I own 200 acres, mostly monoculture trees planted by Weyerhauser over the last 40 years, with lots of hills and rocks. Just reading Sepp Holzer's book, "Permaculture". Signed up for this forum some time ago, but until I bought this property, permaculture was a pretty word, nothing more. Now I'm in it for good and trying to get started. Would it make sense to anyone else to have a forum just for those in this area of Arkansas who are attempting permaculture along Sepp Holzer's set of ideas. Sharing knowledge of the right seeds and permaculture techniques for this area would really be helpful to me. Hopefully I'm not the only nut in this part of the world...

Kevin

Thanks, Zach Weiss! I think the 23 degrees is from this: Earth's axial tilt is 23.4°. There is still not much sense in it and I like your explanation better.

Hi everyone. New here. OK, so after reading this forum and reading the Benson document from 2002 on walipinis, I am somewhat confused still. In the section "Angle of the Roof to the Sun" on p. 6 of the Benson document, they say this: "2) Add approximately 23 degrees which will make a tilt angle of 39-40 degrees for the La Paz area." I'm not in the La Paz area, and I have no idea where the 23 degrees came from. I assume the 23 degrees number is some sort of constant, but I have no idea what that constant is or where it came from. Earlier in the book, it was clear that the writer wanted you to gain the best heating during the 3 winter months and reflect heat during the summer months.

Now I hear Zach Weiss saying that's probably not the best idea, especially if you wish to grow tropicals. Having done some research on Zach's work, it's obvious he's someone who knows what he's talking about. I want to grow some tropicals and citrus in mine here at -34.5205°N 94.3105°W. I got a chart from the University of Oregon SRML for my lat and long, but I don't know what I'm looking at. I'm attaching a PDF of that chart to this post. 57 degrees is a very steep angle, one I am not too keen on building.

So I guess I just want to know how best to go about angling the thing. If I want avocado, banana and citrus year round, I mean.

Thanks, Jennifer!! Really appreciate it!

New here, and trying to build a walpini very soon. Got the Benson book, but I'm still trying to compute the correct berm angle for December 21. I am at -34.5 latitude, but I don't know how the Benson people got 23 extra degrees for La Paz at 16.5. Anyway, nice to meet all of you. Hope to share and be shared with right away!