I need to start by saying that we had a picture perfect day here in the Ozarks. The temp was a mild 73 degrees, cloudless skies and very light breeze. Not bad, eh?
We, as a family, spent the bulk of the day out of doors, performing menial tasks around the homestead. The first thing we did was to move the cattle "back home" from across the road. Our small paddocks have recovered nicely from the forced over grazing that occured last year due to the drought. That went well, although the cows had to take a little trip around the house before going into the paddock.
Otherwise it was a very typical Saturday around here. My lovely wife spent the day in the garden, preparing and planting to keep her family fed. The kids and I put our new log splitter to good use and got a bunch of wood split and stacked for next winter. My wife and I planted a couple of Goji bushes in a corner of one of the paddocks in keeping with our sustainable, permaculture course of action. I have decided to let all the corners of the paddocks "go" with growth of various plants and herbs for food value to us, the animals and the wild thins like rabbits, birds and bugs. It is that way in God's creation and so it should be on the farm.
Now to the title of this post. My wife was working diligently in the garden when I walked by. She stood up and said, I've been thinking...
Those few words usually mean more work for me. They are usually followed by their cousin words like, what if we did this over there...? or, why don't we do that in the area over there...?
Sure enough, it was as I suspected. Truly, I don't mind so much, after all, it is about keeping us all fed. Really, these thypes of ideas she comes up with are all about survival. In order to survive natural disasters or government meltdown you need to have a plan. My wife's are ususally pretty darn good, so I go along. I'm the labor behind the brains, you see.
SO, what's going on in your neck of the woods?
Showing posts with label permaculture. Show all posts
Showing posts with label permaculture. Show all posts
Saturday, April 21, 2012
Sunday, April 8, 2012
Permaculture Ideas On The Homestead.
Happy Ressurection day to all my freinds out there. He is risen, He is risen indeed.
Out here on our little homestead I have mentioned some new things that we are trying. We made an effort toward a couple of those thins this weekend. The first is our new bee hive. I made a top bar bee hive that, unfortunately, I am not happy with as it is-from a craftsmanship standpoint, not functionality. I am not liking the way it fits together right now, so I will probably take it apart and adjust and correct a couple of things. That seems to be my M.O., make a project a lot harder and longer than it needs to be. Once complete, and we have our own bees, it will go a long way toward our permaculture, sustainability endevours.
Another thing we did, as per a decision I made regarding the pastures, was to plant some berry bushes in one pasture corner. The plan is to plant something, or let go, the corners in all the pastures. The idea behind all of this is really old school knowledge, that God's world works together. Thus by leaving some small places for the birds, bees, rabbits and quail, among other things including bugs, we are re-creating a natural, cohesive environment and micro-ecosystems. It is simple, the birds that will be attracted help to eat the bugs and flys, beneficial bugs are also attracted. Quail that have a habitiat are beneficial because they eat the seeds of unwanted weed plants, not to mention their food value in a crisis situation. So we have decided to let the corners go or add to them. Right now, I have one corner with blackberry brambles in it-I'm gonna let them be. In another corner, we planted two Currant bushes for food, medicinal, health and natural value. I think this is a step in the right direction. A direction that farmers in Europe used to practice everywhere.
What are you doing on your place that you can share?
Out here on our little homestead I have mentioned some new things that we are trying. We made an effort toward a couple of those thins this weekend. The first is our new bee hive. I made a top bar bee hive that, unfortunately, I am not happy with as it is-from a craftsmanship standpoint, not functionality. I am not liking the way it fits together right now, so I will probably take it apart and adjust and correct a couple of things. That seems to be my M.O., make a project a lot harder and longer than it needs to be. Once complete, and we have our own bees, it will go a long way toward our permaculture, sustainability endevours.
Another thing we did, as per a decision I made regarding the pastures, was to plant some berry bushes in one pasture corner. The plan is to plant something, or let go, the corners in all the pastures. The idea behind all of this is really old school knowledge, that God's world works together. Thus by leaving some small places for the birds, bees, rabbits and quail, among other things including bugs, we are re-creating a natural, cohesive environment and micro-ecosystems. It is simple, the birds that will be attracted help to eat the bugs and flys, beneficial bugs are also attracted. Quail that have a habitiat are beneficial because they eat the seeds of unwanted weed plants, not to mention their food value in a crisis situation. So we have decided to let the corners go or add to them. Right now, I have one corner with blackberry brambles in it-I'm gonna let them be. In another corner, we planted two Currant bushes for food, medicinal, health and natural value. I think this is a step in the right direction. A direction that farmers in Europe used to practice everywhere.
What are you doing on your place that you can share?
Saturday, March 17, 2012
A New Raised Bed Garden-Hugelkultur, Or, Hugel-Culture
We made a Hugelkultur (think huegel-culture) bed today, one of the many preparedness things you can do on your property. In case you don't know what this is, or means, here is a definition taken from Wikipedia:
"The practice of making raised garden beds filled with rotting wood.[21][22] It is in effect creating a Nurse log, however, covered with dirt.
Benefits of hugelkultur garden beds include water retention and warming of soil.[23][24] Buried wood becomes like a sponge (material) as it decomposes, able to capture water and store it for later use by crops planted on top of the hugelkultur bed.[25][26]
The buried decomposing wood will also give off heat, as all compost does, for several years. These effects have been used by Sepp Holzer for one to allow fruit trees to survive at otherwise inhospitable temperatures and altitudes."
We did this with sustainability in mind and yet another way to provide food, not just for ourselves, also for our animals. The thought is that as costs continue to rise and the possible impending doom, we need to find sustainable ways to provide for oourselves. If this interests you a bit, I encourage you to do some more research on the subject, starting on youtube by searching for a man named Sepp Holtzer and watch a few videos. Once you have done that you will find a plethora of information on the subject. Let me know what you find out and we can share information.
"The practice of making raised garden beds filled with rotting wood.[21][22] It is in effect creating a Nurse log, however, covered with dirt.
Benefits of hugelkultur garden beds include water retention and warming of soil.[23][24] Buried wood becomes like a sponge (material) as it decomposes, able to capture water and store it for later use by crops planted on top of the hugelkultur bed.[25][26]
The buried decomposing wood will also give off heat, as all compost does, for several years. These effects have been used by Sepp Holzer for one to allow fruit trees to survive at otherwise inhospitable temperatures and altitudes."
We did this with sustainability in mind and yet another way to provide food, not just for ourselves, also for our animals. The thought is that as costs continue to rise and the possible impending doom, we need to find sustainable ways to provide for oourselves. If this interests you a bit, I encourage you to do some more research on the subject, starting on youtube by searching for a man named Sepp Holtzer and watch a few videos. Once you have done that you will find a plethora of information on the subject. Let me know what you find out and we can share information.
Saturday, February 4, 2012
Come Swale Away
It is interesting how just one word or two can change your entire perspective on something. In reality, we all have prejudices that taint how we see things and react to different problems and circumstances. Some call this being stuck in a box or a rut. There are many boxes in all of us.
We have been doing a little reading and research in the area of permaculture. The word permaculture seems to carry varied definitions, but the gist of it is farming in a way that is in harmony with nature. I prefer to say that it is a method of farming in tune with God's creation. But permaculture isn't the word I want to talk about here.
The word I want to talk about is harvest, but first, I have to explain why. In Austrailia, farmers use what are called swales to capture run-off. In essence, a swale is a trench dug in a srtategic place on the property. Now, we live in the Ozarks and it is difficult to find a completely flat place anywhere. So we have run-off, which, in times of heavy rain or snow melt, can take a bunch of land with it. This has become a concern for me and I have often tried to think of ways that I could stop the errosion. But here is the cool thing. I heard a gentleman explain that digging swales is for "harvesting" water, not stopping run-off.
Can you see how the word "harvest" can change the way you think about rain? The idea is to trap the water in a place that will hold it for a whaile and slowly distribute it down slope to "feed" the soil in an area that would normally not get fed due to the rain water just running away and collecting in a low spot.
The concept of harvesting water has gotten me thinking differently about rain water. Now I am looking carefully at the land. Now I try to see the slope and low spots and determine where the water is going to try to catch it before it gets there. I have even dug three small swales and am looking forward to digging more. The potential to grow grass for the cattle in areas that are light on vegetation is tremendous. This has got me excited. Go to Youtube and look up "swale", there are a bunch of videos on the subject to learn more from. Here is a teaser:
We have been doing a little reading and research in the area of permaculture. The word permaculture seems to carry varied definitions, but the gist of it is farming in a way that is in harmony with nature. I prefer to say that it is a method of farming in tune with God's creation. But permaculture isn't the word I want to talk about here.
The word I want to talk about is harvest, but first, I have to explain why. In Austrailia, farmers use what are called swales to capture run-off. In essence, a swale is a trench dug in a srtategic place on the property. Now, we live in the Ozarks and it is difficult to find a completely flat place anywhere. So we have run-off, which, in times of heavy rain or snow melt, can take a bunch of land with it. This has become a concern for me and I have often tried to think of ways that I could stop the errosion. But here is the cool thing. I heard a gentleman explain that digging swales is for "harvesting" water, not stopping run-off.
Can you see how the word "harvest" can change the way you think about rain? The idea is to trap the water in a place that will hold it for a whaile and slowly distribute it down slope to "feed" the soil in an area that would normally not get fed due to the rain water just running away and collecting in a low spot.
The concept of harvesting water has gotten me thinking differently about rain water. Now I am looking carefully at the land. Now I try to see the slope and low spots and determine where the water is going to try to catch it before it gets there. I have even dug three small swales and am looking forward to digging more. The potential to grow grass for the cattle in areas that are light on vegetation is tremendous. This has got me excited. Go to Youtube and look up "swale", there are a bunch of videos on the subject to learn more from. Here is a teaser:
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)