Wyche Robinson

If you want to do Hugelkulture beds you should do it now. Mollison says " Keep it small and keep it varied". Have fun. I planted about a hundred black locust seeds, that I got from a neighbor.

Ask the locals about what grows well in the area and why. Whats growing there now? Find out about it. Take your time and read, study and observe. Keep it small and varied and use what is already established. It is a learning experience and an unlearning experience.

Hey what county are you in? We live in Halifax County about 25 miles Northwest of Danville. We have been here around a year. Lets talk.

I would vote ten, if I wasn't try to do something similar in Southern Virginia. I appriciate what you do with this site. I also understand wanting to keep control. I will watch this thread to see how it works.

This is an awsome topic. I am planning on going to The Financial Permaculture Conference either this year or next. They are applying permaculture to economics, no waste and keep it cyclical.

http://www.financialpermaculture.com/cms/

The area I am starting my farm in has been an agricultural area since it was colonized. It was the tobacco hub of the world. It has also been economically depressed for over 30 years. It is not a place you want move to and try and make a living. Jobs are scarce here.

I believe it is perfect place for a sustainable economic revolution.

Keep the money in the community. Of course this does not involve Walmart. I think the economic downturn will help small farms everywhere. As oil prices increase, more people will have to produce food, so it does not have to travel as far to get to our table. When the world decides not to use the dollar as the reserve currency and our debt is weighed in on the value of our currency(Which it is not now), locally grown food, which now seems expensive, will be able to compete with walmart and food lion. Permaculture will make sense to the masses then.

Now is the time to establish permaculture farms so that when our dept comes home to roost, we will be ready to feed the people, have solutions in place and have relationships and trust within our communities.

I always enjoy explaining why I have moved to this area. I am proud to say "I am here to grow food and watch my daughter grow up."

I will definitely be back to this discussion.

Can't be in a hurry. I am learning this by doing. You don't get any deals by being in a hurry. I am preparing to start a permaculture farm in Southside Va on a modest salary. Trade is something the locals are accustomed to around here. I was encouraged the other day when I talked an older poultry farmer the other day and he was talking about chicken tractors. He said he had a waiting list for his eggs. He also said he tried to build his farm in small increments. I have looked into this "Can I make enough money?" thing. No waste, is the key. Plan to use what you can get and make the best of it. Poly-Face Farm outside of Staunton, Va is a good example as well. I am planning on about 10 years into it before it is all we do. I want to build an forest ecosystem that produces food 300 years after I die, this will not happen overnight. Networking with locals, learning and observing how things grow in your area and resourcefulness I am finding are the key. I am really learning how to slow down and be flexible to what comes my way. Of course I think this way because I don't have alot of money, but then again it forces me to be me to be creative and reduce waste. Which, from what I have learned about permaculture is what its all about.
I think what we think of as large scale is going to change in the next few decades. We are trying to increase yield by 500 to 700 percent, so a 200 acre farm will produce what 1000 acre farm is doing today. My personal goal is to completely feed around 75 families in ten to fifteen years on what I produce on 42 acres.  Slow and steady wins the race, and he also enjoys life while he's at it.

I would set aside areas away from my home to do this. I would plant trees I could coppice and trees that would draw wildlife in. Depending on topography I might use this program as wind break or fire break. Little or no maintenance for long term crop at a low cost sounds good to me.
I am looking to using a program similar to this myself. I have a 25' wide creek at the back end of property and the US Dept of Forestry will pay me to terrace and plant trees. This is mainly to improve water quality for the rivers, why they pay me. Of course, they wouldn't have to pay me, cause it is good for me too.

Very cool, let things do what they were made to do. You can't have a healthy ecosystem without predators. 20% goes to the birds, but what is left over compared with the imput required is probably an astounding number, considering there is no feed cost.