Cassie Robinson

My parents own several traditional farms a few states away in Tennessee. The land is rented out and has been farmed on for centuries (yes centuries- wanted this out there for help on soil improvement) for farming purposes from tobacco to corn and now we primarily grow cotton. I convert our farms over to permaculture in stages from small to encompassing all of our farms.

Problems:
1. I know very little. (I am currently reading Gaia's Garden by Toby Hemenway and this forum but I just joined less than a week ago): Local educational resources would be School of Permaculture & Internet... Or perhaps YouTube would be a better lol.
2. Every 3-5 years they get flooded and the crop gets hit hard. I have tried combing through flood-plain permaculture articles, the good, the bad, and the ugly, but I am just not finding enough. Especially on successful floodplain permaculture studies or documentaries.
3. I don't know how to approach my farmers. They are very knowledgeable and excellent at what they do, but I am a firm believer in permaculture in that it gives just so much to everyone and thing around it. Plus from the little and I do mean little (2-3 articles I have dug up) it seems that floodplain permaculture would be far more ideal for farming vs. traditional cotton farming, but this goal falls short due to not having enough information.
4. Finding data on large scale farms. Sure I have run across several blurbs on the pros and cons but no long term large farms. \
5. How do I start?

Goals:
I know it will take me a while to become knowledgeable but right now I want to start learning with the goal of converting traditional cotton farms to permaculture farms.

Thanks for the help!
-Cassie

Scott Foster wrote:I agree with Tyler on the book choice.  Gaia's Garden is an excellent book starter book.  I also suggest  Stefan Sobkowiak's videos on his permaculture orchard.   His videos solidified basic permaculture concepts for me, especially when it comes to biodiversity.  He talks about interplanting nitrogen fixers and testing new plants to go into your forest.    Stephan practices a very simple trio system so it makes the process easy to understand.

Start a nursery of trees and plants, it is a great start.   Get some beds started and buy seeds this winter.      


Planning, observation these are all things you will want to do.  But I'm a fan of starting.  If you aren't homesteading or doing big earthworks I would just get some stuff going.  If you don't have the biomass to build beds and hugels start planning how you are going to build them.  The permie style beds get better as you amend

them and over time.   You may want to get some started.

Plant for biomass if you don't have any.   Things like comfrey work well for chop and drop.  I would also pay attention to sun exposure.

Alrighty thank you!

Tyler Ludens wrote:I recommend Toby Hemenway's book Gaia's Garden, which is a really helpful guide for the beginner permaculturist.  http://tobyhemenway.com/resources/introducing-gaias-garden/

Thank you for the pointer! I ordered it and will be getting it at end of week (gah waiting lol).

Hello fellow permies!
I am overwhelmed here on where to start. I have scoured the depths of YouTube, trudged through the Google-mire and... I am utterly lost. I know just enough to make me stupid (lol).

I am currently living in the city (I even have my own tiny patch of dirt :D), but I am getting ready to work on becoming a Registered Herbalist with the goal of opening my own shop and creating a permacultured-principle garden (forest?) not only for my family but for future customers as well.

Yeah it's a lot but step by step right?
So my biggest issue right now is, where do I start? The ground? In a book? Compost bins? Graphs? charts? I am just a very confused new permie and I would deeply appreciate some pointers!