Inge Leonora-den Ouden

Ash Dalton wrote:... One thing I'd like to ask though is how this would go on top of sand? ...  Would I need to alter the process at all to work with a sandy base? The drainage will be extremely good but I'm worried that this will result in water and nutrients leaching out of the beds sooner.
Thanks for your help.

Probably this will work on top of sand. Just add a thick enough layer of topsoil / compost, and wood, branches, etc. on the sand. Maybe some of your plants will stretch their roots to, and even in, the sand. So slowly they'll ameliorate your soil!
My garden has a very sandy base too. And I even build 'hugelkultur'-beds on top of pavement!

I do my best to buy as little as possible in one-use-only plastic. I get my vegetables once a week in paper bags, delivered in a shop in town, from the only biodynamic farm in the region. They deliver in this way for more clients, and in some more villages, on the same day. Their paper bags are re-usable (if they still look good, you can return them).
I go to market with a tupperware container to be filled with my weekly dose of nuts. I am sorry there are no other products I can buy in bulk here.
Since a few weeks I bake my own bread. I keep it in a cotton bag I made myself.
I don't use any soap, shower-gel, shampoo, or whatever, so that's no problem. The coconut oil I use for my teeth is in a plastic container, sorry.
If possible I reuse plastic bags / containers. For example I still use the zip-lock plastic bags we received my late husbands medication in (he died 2 years ago, after a long time on heavy medication).

Probably many people, even some of my friends, consider me a 'freek' ... I don't mind.

I forgot this thread ...
I have a picture of one of the beautiful insects that visit my garden

Maybe you call this a 'dragon fly', for me it is a libel(le).

Gordon Haverland wrote:... Flax can be bread to make oil (seed) or to make fibre.  I haven't read of a circumstance where good fibre and good oil from seed both result.  Maybe it can happen. ...

Gordon, I don't know very much on this, but I am growing flax since a few years. I noticed the seeds for fibre flax are smaller than the seeds for oil. I have fibre flax now in my front yard and 'Russian yellow flax seed' (meant to eat as a superfood) plants in my back yard. The plants look very different. I hope I won't forget to make photos

Not a shopping bag, but a bag made for bread. I used an old cotton pillow cover (because that was the right quality of cotton, difficult to find nowadays). After sewing I rubbed it with a mixture of bees wax and some oil. As you see it's a very easy pattern

Good to bring this very old (13 years!) topic back up again!
It seems there are as many definitions / explanations for 'Permaculture' as there are people. Of course! Permaculture is different for every different environment, climate or region ... So it's different for every individual person too.

For some the most important part is growing their own food in their garden. For others it's making a living in agriculture while restoring the natural resources. For others it's about the way they interact with other living creatures ... etc.

For me the three ethics are very important. I try to apply them in my daily life. Which is fairly difficult living in an ordinary neighbourhood of a small town in the Netherlands (a country with many rules & regulations).

Being self-sufficient is not my goal. Spreading the knowledge and interest in permaculture is much more important to me.

I'm doing my best to apply the principles of permaculture on a small scale, as far as possible, and educate others in my surroundings about them. In fact we do this as a group, called Permacultuur Meppel. We have a community garden together; a free educative garden. The town council supports it (not so much with money but we are allowed to use a corner of a public park).

Hi David! I often enjoy your videos. Your way of presenting makes everything / anything interesting.
But growing tropical plants here in the Netherlands...? Even growing the indigenous plants is difficult sometimes (for me).

Interesting topic.
Most of the 'tea' I make with loose organic Rooibos in a stainless steel tea ball (thank you Lee Gee for giving me the right English words to use here, so I don't need my dictionary).
The other 'tea' I make using herbs picked from my own garden (in which I follow the permaculture principles as much as possible). I use them loose or in the tea-ball, fresh or dried.
In all cases I used water that was boiled in the kettle and poured over the leaves very hot.
I knew about 'sun tea' but never did it. First reason is: most of the time it's cloudy here, there are almost no days of constant sun. But now I read more on sun tea, I decided to experiment with it, using the herbs from the garden. I never add sugar or anything sweet in tea.

I did not yet find a childrens book on permaculture in Dutch, so I decided to write (and illustrate) one myself. I have some ideas already. Probably it will become a book for older children, about age 10 - 14 years. I write in the Dutch language, but maybe can translate it in English too

Hi Jeremy, new 'ant'! Do you have photos? I like seeing how the Ant Village is doing. I followed some 'ants' last year, but it seems they left, or didn't return after winter