Aaron Blackmor

I love it! I agree with some others that I don't necessarily find every topic of interest, but there's usually a lot of great information that I try to absorb as best I can!

Deborah,

I'm ecstatic to see an experienced goat-hand featured! I'm relatively new to goats (~2 years) and we have four dairy does. My big question is how to mob-stock grace them most efficiently. I've tried using a Kencove 4' high fence that was sold as "goat fence" specifically, but mine can regularly jump clear over it. They were escaping our permanent paddocks too until I put a top "hot" wire at 5' and finally another one at 6' high! I never realized how nimble they are. What have you found works best for rotational grazing? And what about in forested areas? I have an area I would love to have them graze because of how much poison ivy, nettles, and privet grows there. And I know they're all great plants in their own respects; they're just not climax species by any stretch of the imagination! Thanks, and welcome to permies.com!

Aaron

This is such an awesome idea! One of my absolute favorite books to read with my daughter is Weslandia by Paul Fleischman for similar reasons. While it's not based on a historical food forest, it's a GREAT intro into permaculture principles. I'd love to know if he did that intentionally or not!

Ah! I recognized your surname because I've read some of his mom's books and seen a few of your videos online. I still eat a lot of the basic raw edibles to this day and use them medicinally sometimes.

I just love this forum, and I wish I'd stumbled upon it sooner! I won't say it's "THE ANSWER" to all these problems, but if you really want a nice, elegant way to a cup of coffee anytime, anywhere... especially if you travel for work like I do, then look no further than the bombilla! It's a slotted straw used typically for yerba mate, but it works fantastic for any tea or coffee. The most important thing is to have a couple with different "levels" of straining, if I'm saying that right. They have a great variety at the GoYerbaMate website (no I'm not affiliated), but if you wanted to get really innovative I suppose you could use baby bamboo shoots or maybe fashion one out of metal from the ore you mined from your own permaculture backyard. =) I'm sure there are more eco-friendly ways of making a bombilla than buying one, but I haven't the artistry or skillset.

Mate (pronounced mah-tay) is a much more "permaculture" drink anyway, just imho. It grows on a holly bush (ilex paraguensis or something like that), so it's a shrub-layer perennial, and I think it can occupy more systems than its coffee cousin. Also, the cultural way mate is shared is as a social drink, like sharing a meal. They drink it from dried hollowed-out gourds, yet another potential on-site no-oil-input resource, and everyone drinks from the same gourd, just passing it around and using their own bombilla.

Just an idea to share!

Looks very good. It's easy to underestimate how similar an initial permaculture project is to a building site or some other type of construction. The difference is the intention and the outcome! Good choice in selecting out white pines. For your projects, do you own or rent your tractor and mini excavator? I have to hire that sort of work out, which is why I can only do things in chunks of about $5K -$10K as time and resources allow.

Just stumbled on your post. Good read. We're in Mills River on a much flatter five acres, but I'm completely familiar with the climax tree species you mentioned and the difficulty of guiding and speeding succession in disturbed areas overgrown with poison ivy and brambles.

And I don't know if you're still looking for ideas, but if it's truly low land with regular inundation of water, you might try wasabi. Sounds crazy because it's hard to grow, but it likes wetlands and it's very valuable. May be too sunny though. I liked what Bryant said about using some form of tillage radish if the soil has been compacted, and that got me to thinking about wasabi.

I don't know if this is still going on, but I've wanted to plant some paw paw trees. Do you recommend any specific guild at their base, i.e. clover, vetch and comfrey or something of that nature?