Jimmy Townsend

Looks really great Rob!  ... now THAT is what you do with a 1/3rd acre!  I envy your currant growing.  I believe the usda frowns on it here in WV because of white pine scab.  Anyone know about that?  I don't mind breaking the law, so long as I don't pose a threat to the white pine pop.

LivingWind wrote:
A little earthworks wouldn't hurt, just don't damage the native area too much.. It's looking pretty vibrant as is...

I might suggest a maddox for the planting of water/near-water dwellers (edibles). Strike the earth near the stream bank and plant in. It provides an air pocket and vertical downward length for the root system to flourish. Minimal damage done to the existing soil structure and very fitting for most plants you have in mind. This is how a buddy and I plant with great success.

Have a look at this. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJylRPl1-50

Peace -

Cool!  I think i'll just start with a maddox and a few water species, and go from there.  I've got a mulberry tree, and a few more peaches I am going to introduce into the thicket, then look for a cold hardy kiwi.  Funny,,, the day you posted that, just before, I had just finished watching that lawton vid.  I love that guy!

duane wrote:

the wildflowers are wild blue phlox
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phlox_divaricata

are there any fish in there now?

Thanks for the id.    I think im going to collect some of the seeds.  Ya know, I'm not sure if there are any fish in there.  I sat around for about 5 hours one day meditating, and didn't see any action.  Judging by the runoff, and the algae, i'd say no.  Pond scuba time to find out! 

John Polk wrote:
I have often been curious how Fibonacci's name got attached to the "Golden Ratio", as Plato and Euclid both described it 1500 years before, and the Egyptians had been using it to build pyramids several thousand years before that.

Ya, thats kinda funny isn't it?  He only used it as an example in his liber abaci, and most likely got a lot of it from Indian mathematicians while working on the book of calculations,,, but it seems like it was the first time the sequence was introduced to his part of the world, and ever since he's been pinned to it.

One of these days I'm going to build the Giza Greenhouses!    (scaled down of course )

Thanks everyone.

H Ludi Tyler wrote:
That tree looks exactly like a peach to me. 
 

That's what I was hoping!  Can't wait to see how it grows this year.

I'm still pondering on whether I should steepen/enlarge at all.  I'd like to get some fish in there for more complexity.  I think I'm going to try eating a few of the cattails tonight, never tried that before!  Found this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrVCTE68fbU&feature=related ;

9anda1f wrote:
Hi Jimmy,

Your pond is awesome in it's wet, lush green-ness!  One bit of info that might help ... where is your pond located in the world?

Heh, that would prolly make sense, eh?  We are in the eastern panhandle of West Virginia.  Is the thingy on the left showing my location now?  Kinda new to internet forums

It would have been nice to get a higher shot to show the whole ecosystem, need to rent a helicopter! 

The pond is a diamond in the fields hand.
I've been brainstorming on what to do with it.  Can't wait to know what you all think.
It lies on a shallow field, about 30 feet from a stream that runs by.  It runs off into the stream:




(more run-off, this shot is 180 degrees around from the other, the stream runs to the left of the above)

So a bit about the ecosystem... and fill me in on anything I missed out, because in many respects I am an identification newbie! 

Lower Pond :

Cattail, not exactly sure what species... latifolia?  The entire lower pond is surrounded by tons of spearmint!  I really want to get an essential oil still.  The algae tells me there isn't much of a fish guild... that will need amending! 

Upper Thicket:

At least one Mulberry, one or two elderberries, other tree species (newb needs help! ), poison ivy.  Some beautiful wildflowers(id?):



Also, this guy, which fascinated me (id?):





______

So as far as plans, I'm really out in the open, and would love to know what you folks would do were you in my shoes.  I want both the pond, surrounding, and upper thicket to be as productive in edible/'useful' plants for humans, and to sustain a larger bird ecosystem.  (There are already many bird species that love that spot!)  A few ideas I had were to make the pond slightly larger, steepen the edges, maybe put a bigass rock in the middle, and possibly make raised beds around it. (hugel?)  I'd like to thin the cattails slightly, and get some watercress, waterchessnut, maybe even blue lotus if possible.  (any suggestions for edible/non-ed water species that would do well in a 6b?)

As far as the upper thicket goes, first of all figure out everything thats there .  It is soo productive as is, and i'd like to make some of that productivity more homos sapiens friendly:D.  Maybe plant a few fruit trees and berry bushes? 

  Any punk rockers out there?  I grew up listening to Crass, and have always been influenced by them - politically, musically, in terms of self-sustainability, DIY, etc.

   They put together the Dial House in Essex England, I believe, the 70s.  ...as a creative house, as a self-sustaining commune-like open door.

    Here is a documentary about Crass:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yM9WqcsthVA

    Not a PDC or anything... not as rich in permaculture info as a lot of what you can find out there on the web, but I thought throwing it out there couldn't hurt.   Most of it is about the band,etc.  But there is a bit about the house, permaculture, and self-sustainability.

    I know they teach permaculture courses at the Dial House?  Anyone been there, attended a course, or anything? 

Thanks Travis!

Hey Willy, we are in the eastern panhandle of West Virginia.  A place called Hedgesville, just outside Martinsburg.  Do you have a picture of your beds anywhere here?  I'd love to see em!

Brenda Groth wrote:
sounds like an interesting project you are starting up,

nature has a way of playing havoc with mathmatics..but it is fun to try

Isn't that the truth!    I've been thinking a lot lately about balance between man-imposed mathematical models of nature, and the idea that nature might express herself through unified mathematics as a sort of byproduct... The first thing that made me think that was the huge occurence of the Fibbonachi ration in all of nature, from the spiral of a seashell to that of a galaxy.  Marko Rodin talks a lot about how old mathematics are false quantifications of nature by man, but that nature may express herself in a matrix of 1-9, which can be decifered by the unified field theory.  Wouldn't it be cool if we could somehow chart the matrix expression of our properties like a survey chart, then know exactly what land acupuncture to apply to create a harmonic resonance?  Once the unified field theory and morphic resonance become more defined in the scientific world, they may be the next great tool for permaculturalists and people like us.
Heh, once I get started about nature and mathematics, you can never shut me up.

Oh, btw, I glanced at your blog for the first time.  You take beautiful photographs!

H Ludi Tyler wrote:
Looking good!  Personally I would not change the grade, because the slope gives you subtly different growing conditions in each bed.    Beautiful setting by the way, neat old building back there.

Thanks!  Isn't she a bute?  All hand dug/built.  Goes straight to the bedrock in the basement.  Needs a lot of work, but we've got a lot of plans for it.  Might do a bed and breakfast with a vegan cafe in the bottom.  Gonna put a printing press, and a darkroom in it.  Do mushrooms and root celler in the basement.  We're gonna put the recording studio in it for a while too until we either convert the old barn into a studio/performance hall or go all out and build one.