Sarah Tennant

Sorry, no, I haven't tried it yet! It was more of a theoretical-one-day concept thing than a specific plan, I'm afraid. But if you do it, let me know how it goes!

Jan White wrote:I don't know how hot it gets where you are, but if you're using stone, brick, etc. for the edges, keep in mind it can get very hot.

My ideal raised bad is gopherless. That's it. 🌠

Excellent point. Probably a plus in the area we'll be moving to, though: it could use more heat. The good news: no gophers in New Zealand!

Robert, can you explain how your beds are self-watering? Your system sounds great!

Jay, that's a good point about woodchips being softer in a fall! I hadn't considered that. (Counterpoint, though: I bet grandkids would love to zoom around brick paths on their balance bikes!)

How often do you have to replenish your woodchips? Do you have problems with weeds, maybe in the areas the chamomile hasn't taken over?

I'm thinking ahead to ageing-in-place. Also, one of the things I know about myself is that I'm much better at putting a lot of effort into a project all at once than I am at regular, constant work.

With that in mind: if you were constructing beds in a 'forever' kitchen garden, how would you do it?

My rules are:

--It has to look beautiful. No corrugated metal beds, no visible (or ideally, invisible) plastic.
--It has to be basically zero-maintenance for the rest of a natural lifetime. No wood that will rot, no strings, etc.
--It has to minimise work/energy expenditure as much as possible - for weeding, planting, watering, harvesting.

My initial thoughts:

--Brick, stone or urbanite beds can look beautiful and last basically forever.
--Raised beds seem ideal for a number of reasons, but I'd probably have some at different heights to accommodate for different-height crops (a waist-high root-veggie bed would be lovely, whereas climbing beans should start close to the ground).
--Nice wide edges to the beds for sitting on.
--In deeper beds, fill the bottoms with punky wood to save on soil costs
--Ideally I'd like to grow everything possible trellised/vertically. Not quite sure how to best do this - metal would presumably have the longest lifespan. (Does metal get too hot in summer and burn climbing plants?)
--Beds should probably be no wider than four feet for easy access.
--Some kind of internal irrigation system? Sunken clay pots? Weeper hoses?
--Beds spaced far enough apart to get a wheelbarrow (or possibly a wheelchair!) through. I'm torn between deep mulch for the pathways (nice underfoot, could be inoculated with mushrooms, prevents bogginess in winter, but also has to be replenished periodically and can get overrun with weeds) and a hardscape like more brick/stone/urbanite (nice and smooth for a wheelbarrow, looks good, but you can't chuck weeds down on it to compost).

I'm just thinking ahead - our current house has its garden all set up - but I figured you permies would have some good ideas! Even in a more conventional kitchen garden, it seems permaculture-relevant to build once and garden forever!

I live in New Zealand.

Honestly, we have an odd relationship to Christmas. We have adapted Northern Hemisphere traditions to summer, but only partially and awkwardly. It's all a bit odd and culturally schizophrenic.

So, we still have plenty of Christmas decorations themed around snow and robins and holly. Christmas displays inside malls will have fake snow. We watch all the same Christmas movies the rest of the world does. But there'll also be some hokey decorations showing Santa wearing shorts and surfboarding, or snowmen on the beach, things like that.

The older folk still enjoy Christmas cake, pudding, roast turkey and so on, but those foods really don't sit well on a hot day! So most people have ham rather than turkey, or do a BBQ (which down here is like grilled meat, not like southern-style BBQ). For obvious reasons mulled wine and hot chocolate isn't much of a thing here, and eggnog hasn't really caught on either (although I make Alton Brown's Aged Eggnog and three people so far have caught the tradition because it's so good!)

Strawberries are very good in NZ - big and juicy and sweet. Strawberries scream 'Christmas' to me, and going to a pick-your-own berry farm is a fun summer activity. So is getting a 'real fruit ice cream', which is vanilla ice cream or frozen yoghurt blended up with frozen berries and piped soft serve-style into a waffle cone. Pavlova is a popular Christmas dessert, and that usually has strawberries on it as well.

In general we don't decorate as lavishly as the US or Europe. Some fancier neighborhoods have Christmas lights, and you can walk or drive around to see them - but because summer evenings are so long, it's past the kids' bedtimes before it gets dark! (See also: Guy Fawkes' Day. It's a problem.)

Families go to the beach a lot around Christmas. Camping is pretty popular. The long warm evenings are good for end-of-year work parties and picnics.

I have spent one almost-Christmas in the Northern Hemisphere, visiting England in early December. It was absolutely magical, and felt 'right' in quite a profound way. It wasn't snowing, but the cold and Christmas markets and lit-up streets and old-fashioned architecture were far more legit and picturesque than anything we have down here.

That said, I love Christmas, and the lengthening evenings, hot days and growing veggie garden are very evocative in their own way. I've often wondered whether I'd get that Christmas feeling if I visited the Northern Hemisphere during summer!

B Steinmetz wrote:This is the finished cabin....

Well, that's just ridiculously awesome.

I just started reading Becky Bee's book about cob houses, and she makes a casual throwaway reference to adding Styrofoam pellets to cob to increase its insulative properties.

Can't find any other info about this online. Does anyone know if it would work? Would it compromise the strength of the wall? Would you only add it to the outer portion of the cob wall? If it worked in cob, would it work in earthbags?

Or has anyone used an alternative kind of insulation in cob - pumice, perlite etc?

Thanks!

I've just started carving spoons and things! A combination of hard carving and Dremel carving. I find it tremendously therapeutic.

I would really like to put insulation on the outside of exterior earthbag walls, and Icynene is supposed to be breathable. Does anyone know if one could apply it directly to earthbag walls and then earth-plaster, or even add a paddock-stone facade, over the top?

Aha! I know someone must have thought of it before I did. :p Good to know - thanks! I kind of like the idea of using the top of a cable spool, cut in half, as shutters.