Helen Siddall-Butchers

Thank you all so much for your full and accurate advice.  It is much appreciated.

I'm still reading and re-reading, but am already seeing some ideas forming for how to move forward.

I'm happy to say that I think our house *should* be safe; we have concrete pads all round, three hoses on different sides on the house for damping down, and no appreciable vegetation next to it.

Outbuildings need attention, in particular the one I work in, as it has thick tree coverage around it, so I'll be doing some pruning!

Realistically, if my mini food forest burns, I'll probably lose a lot, but equally, I took solace from the idea that the ecosystem may benefit in many ways, and also think that my hugelkultur (damper than anywhere else, and with ponds at the top), plus a separate pond, might mitigate some areas from being too damaged.

I definitely need to make an emergency pack though.  Trying to remember where I put the dog passports is not a good idea in an emergency!

I will continue to keep referring to your wise words.  Many thanks, stay safe!  (Ps we're expecting rain today, wahhhoooooo!!!)

Helen

That's extremely helpful advice, thank you.

I live the information sheets, and particularly the reference to this being a natural and necessary phenomenon.  

I'm going to take the guidance and audit my land to see if changes need to be made.

Interesting point about the insurance... I'll check my policy.

Many thanks!

Hi all!

We live in Eastern Spain where I'm growing a food forest (veganpermaculturespain).

It's summer, and already mid-30s°c.  

Since moving here nearly a decade ago, we have had numerous wildfires in close proximity (although thankfully they've never reached us, and we've never needed to evacuate.)

A local 'gardener' has constant adverts on Facebook suggesting that all our terraces should be cleared.  This involves strumming and clearing everything from the land, leaving the soil bare.

I understand that that means there's nothing to ignite, but it also means that the soil is being killed by the sun.

My food forest is growing on one of these terraces.  It has layer upon layer of chop and drop mulch, dense planting in lots of places, increasing levels of shade as the trees grow, a vastly improved soil structure which now holds the moisture and even has worms!  (The soil was so hard and compacted when I started, I needed to water for an hour before I could plant anything)

Am I realistic in thinking that my food forest will be more resistant to fire than my neighbours monoculture of almond trees dotted across the field with no other vegetation anywhere?

I'm trying to learn about how fires start from various things, eg, lightning strike, as we get lots of dry electrical storms, or sun reflecting off objects (eg a tin can was the culprit locally recently) or, of course, discarded cigarette butts from passing cars.

And also what factors to consider as the fire develops... eg on another thread it said to clear wood debris, but I have piles if sticks for bugs to live in, and a hugelkulture, are these problematical?

And finally Geoff Lawton referred to fire resistant trees, but I couldn't find a list for my geographical area!

Sorry for the rambled musings and lots of questions!

Any help and expert knowledge would be very much appreciated.

Helen

Thanks Thomas!

Yes, definitely will aim to keep it covered... although I'm expecting this drizzle today to be the last moisture we see from the sky until October, if last year is anything to go by.

I'm going to have a look around various suppliers to see what options they might have for fire or clay bricks... if I don't need many, I might be better to buy them new.

Lots to consider!

I have friends at Quinta de Chumberia and couldn't believe the extent of the outage when I heard they were off too 😳

Great cartoon... and yes, one to add to the myriad of (many highly implausible) 'possibilities' for what happened!

Ah!  Camping gaz!  I wonder if I still have mine, and if so, what state it's in!  I'll go and root around in the store/junk room to see if I can find it!

At least with all the physical activity you kept warm!!

It's certainly given us stuff to think about.  Who knows if it will happen again, but I'd like to be fully prepared next time if it does...

Haha!  You made me spit my coffee out!!!

Thank you!  We have new blocks around the place, so hopefully they'd be stronger, and we don't get a lot of rain, so the moisture content shouldn't be too much of a factor...  so if it happens again soon I'll be okay.

But I'm now actually thinking I should do a proper job with fire brick, sooner rather than later, while I can easily obtain materials and have the capacity to build... then I can use it in the winter while I'm working outside, even if I don't 'need' it for a crisis...

Hi,

We live in Spain and had a day long, unexplained, power outage on Monday.

Most stuff was covered (thanks permies!) but I couldn't heat water or food as all our cooking is currently electric.

I'm not going to be caught out again (need my morning coffee!)

I've been looking at the basic 5 block rocket stoves, which I could make today from what's available around the garden.

But, looking at the comments, lots of people were concerned about the fireproof-ness of the (concrete) blocks.

Should I be worried, or can I just go ahead?  I value the opinions in this wonderful forum!

Many thanks

Helen
Veganpermaculturespain.com

Zone 9/10 here in Eastern Spain 🇪🇸 and Spring is well underway in my little food forest!  Luckily, we also have rain (which should refill the aquifers), so I'm planting and water harvesting a lot!

I live in a wine growing valley in Spain, and here the farmers prune hard, and the dormant plants all look like spooky hands emerging from the ground in rows.

I was going to follow them, but then I read Restoration Agriculture, with the grapevine story, and decided no prune is my way.  

My grapes are climbing fences, pergolas and obelisks, and only get pruned if there are branches or twigs obstructing my path.

Great thread, a timely reminder for me!  

I've just found my 'lost' pruning saw, and the blade has rusted (*hangs head in shame*)... can I bring it back to life?  All tips gratefully received!