Singing Frogs Farm

[cmonkey]

This isn't exactly an ERE example but I think it definitely fits since ERE is sort of a 'permaculture life system'.

I have to say this is probably the best podcast I have personally listened to ; it had a tremendous affect on how I view what I do on my homestead. Essentially, this is what makes my heart sing. I plan to build (or continue building, rather) something similar to what they have built on their farm as my retirement life.

Some key takeaways -

- They are soil scientists/ecologists that decided to start a small scale organic farm.
- They produce 95-100K / acre / year of 100%+ organic produce compared to their peers which produce anywhere from 11-22K / acre / year. When I say over 100% organic, I mean they don't use ANYTHING, not even 'organic' pesticides. No spraying. Ever. They have absolutely no pest issues despite this.
- They are 100% no till / no mechanical. The most profound thing I learned from them is that soil life apparently takes 4-5 months to re-establish itself after forking over/tilling. So they essentially cut their crops off at the roots, cover the beds with a thick (5-6") layer of compost and plant directly into that compost. The roots from the previous crop are left to break down. Doing this they can get 5-7 crops per bed per year, which is over double their peers, since they are not waiting for the soil to re-establish itself.
- They have over double the bird diversity on their farm compared to nearby wild life areas. This allows them to do amazing things such as grow brassicas completely uncovered while sustaining no cabbage looper damage. They accomplished this by having an extreme level of plant/hedge/tree diversity.

Podcast
Website

[sky]

The key to this type of farming is high inputs of compostable materials, for 2 to 3 years.

I admire Patrick Dolan's garden:

https://youtu.be/M0KwZdE9YAY

[7Wannabe5]

Very cool link. I read waaaaay too many gardening and permaculture books and end up just confusing myself, but these guys are my current inspirational go-to gurus, because they were successful in a northern, urban setting similar to my own.

http://www.perennialsolutions.org/parad ... n-the-city

[sky]

I read the book Paradise Lot last month. It is a good story about how Eric and friends created a urban food forest, but it is not a how to book. I want to get Edible Forest Gardens, but it is pricy.

[jacob]

OT: Has anyone ever research/evaluated for permaculturish the Nearings were in Vermont and Maine?

[Slevin]

I read the book Paradise Lot last month. It is a good story about how Eric and friends created a urban food forest, but it is not a how to book. I want to get Edible Forest Gardens, but it is pricy.

I'll admit to owning this book Edible Forest Gardens. If you are serious about starting a Forest Garden, it will save you much more than the two volume set costs. In the end it is much more of a dense encyclopedia (especially the second volume!) than a how to book. Very down in the weeds details with a lot of beautiful illustration and information. If you want to know where and how to grow any plant, this book will let you know. It will even let you know which foods to grow in your area in terms of Of course most of the first half is devoted to design.

I hope to put this into practice one day but I'm not anywhere near the mental age where I feel comfortable putting down long term roots to invest in a forest garden. I really intend to spend a while traveling around to find where I want to live the most, and I will develop the permaculture techniques around this then. In fact, at the moment I can't even really consider buying things larger than would fit into my backpacking bag or onto my bike.

[7Wannabe5]

@jacob: I have to admit that I have not read the Nearing books even though I've picked them up a time or 40 over the years. Top of my stacks at the moment:

The Market Gardener- Jean-Martin Fortier
Gaia's Garden-Toby Hemenway
Permaculture in Pots- Juliet Kemp
The Urban Homestead-Kelly Coyne
People with Dirty Hands-
Farm City-Carpenter-Chotzinoff
The Holistic Orchard- Phillips
Mini-Farming- Markham
Snail Farming for Profits- Smithers
The Resilient Gardener- Deppe

@ sky and Slevin: Edible Forest Gardens is definitely on my Xmas present for me list. I would note that although Paradish Lot is more inspirational than how-to , the sources listed are helpful. The "problem" with permaculture is that it transcends "how-to." For instance, you can read directions for creating an apple tree guild, but you are not in permaculture mode if you create an apple tree guild on your vacant lot if there are 6 apple trees on the vacant lot next door which aren't being harvested. It's a philosophy that suggests practices that suggest projects. Something like that. Anyways, one thing I did recently was to just copy down the list of core principles for ecological design from "Gaia's Garden" and every once in a while I will pick it up and review one of the principles at random and see if I can apply it to my project. For instance, I chose to dig a keyhole pit instead of a trench because that was the "least work for the most effect. However, I will admit that I am much better at reading gardening essays than actually gardening , so sprinkle grain of salt on any advice from me.

[Slevin]

@7Wannabe5 I completely agree with you on it being a system of thinking about cycles, reducing waste, and utilizing what already exists and is available. Create a surplus, etc.

On your note about the core principles for ecological design, I would highly recommend Permaculture Principles and Pathways Beyond Sustainability by David Holmgren for the expansion of this into the core principles of living. I really need to give it another read. Unfortunately I have a whole stack of books that need reading and not enough time to read these days!

[enigmaT120]

OT: Has anyone ever research/evaluated for permaculturish the Nearings were in Vermont and Maine?

I read Living the Good Life but I wasn't thinking about permaculture at the time. I don't think they were, either.

[7Wannabe5]

@Slevin.

Thanks for the recommendation, I read Holmgren's other books, but not that one. I've been rather obsessed with organic human lifestyle pattern design for a number of years. Another book I really love is "A Pattern Language" by Christopher Alexander, because it takes into account the human psychological needs that should be considered when designing a home or garden. For simple instance, human beings feel happy and secure when they have some sort of wall to their back and an open vista in front of them (the why of the desire for lawn turf that should be taken into consideration) and human beings have a natural desire and tendency to gather around a hearth (which in modern evenly heated suburban home of people who have no conversation to share usually becomes the television set.) If you consider only survival or production or resource conservation and ignore basic human psychology in your design, you will fail in creating a space in which people want to live or work or interact. For instance, "The Secret Garden" vs. "Children of the Corn." Or another way to look at it, is I think it is as worthwhile to examine why people are happy shopping at the downtown Chicago Macy's at holiday time (bright lights are cheering in the winter, gathering goods is a natural human activity, the evergreen decorations, social interaction, etc.) as why human beings are happy living in a primitive village. IOW, I'm the sort of permaculturist/gardener who will likely preserve some 1950s hybrid dinner plate dahlias and create/maintain a small croquet lawn, as well as propagate goji berries and build an abandoned tire wig-wam. All things in due and considered proportion.

[cmonkey]

Along these lines I highly recommend Michael Philips book The Holistic Orchard. It is several steps beyond conventional organic growing and I can attest to the success of his methods. I left the grass long in our orchard this year and had minimal disease pressure despite near record rain in the spring and early summer.

Two videos as well

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwoGJKENcss
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1oUGmQtZKxE

He has several lectures online which I just found as well, much to my delight.

[7Wannabe5]

I have this book in my stacks also, and I agree that it is very good. He is like the fruit-whisperer. Unfortunately, I can't leave the grass long in my "orchard" without risking a stiff penalty for weed ordinance violation. So, I am going to attempt a hopefully aesthetically pleasing underplanting of Goji berry, mixed daffodils, Johnny-jump-up, non-stinging nettle and bee balm under what will be my mini-cherry-plum-apple orchard, and I am planting paw-paw and blackberry and wintergreen at the messy edge with the mulberry. Now that I have my greenhouse in place, I am going to be able to really get going in the spring.

[cmonkey]

Very talented couple of girls that sum up my love of nature quite well.