Permaculture Is Not For Everyone

This post is inspired by a Permaculture Lecture I went to a few years ago. I wrote the article below and then lost it somewhere. I came across it hidden deep in the dark recesses of my hard disk today. Not all permaculturists are this way- but I think we all know a few who are. Like the guy whose lecture inspired this. In one afternoon he did enough damage to prevent an entire village from ever trying it.

Permaculture is not for everyone.

I see permaculturists trying to teach people- lots of them talk as if they are on the high ground, the elite, preaching to the masses. This is not a good thing. For one, the farmers and gardeners they are trying to convert are already successful. We cry "Unsustainable" and "Chemicals are not the answer", but the truth remains that they have raised families and made a living by farming the way that the Agriculture co-ops have taught them. It does work for them. It may not be sustainable, but they believe that science will solve their problems. And as the old proverb goes, "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink." He doesn't really have any interest in doing it.

So I suggest that we permaculturists change our ways. We need to work more closely with the chemical agriculturists. I am not saying we should use their methods, but we should accept that they want to do it their own way. We need to teach by example.

Also, we need to keep records, to compare scientifically that what we do is financially viable. If we can prove that, it will open people's minds. We need to measure not only the cost of inputs but also the hours of work that went into the crop. We need to measure brix ratings between permacuture crops and conventional. And we need successive years of data.

And we have to accept that many people are set in their ways- they see beauty in a large field of rice, wheat, or corn. A tilled field is like a blank canvas for them. Long rows of broccoli, cabbage, carrots and onions with no weeds between speak to them of success. The "I won!" appeal of "beating" nature in the form of weeds and insects. Humans are competitive. If our neighbor has the "perfect" field, we naturally want to give him a run for his money.

As permaculturists, we should appreciate their hard work. Befriend and make them our allies. Tear down the fences between us and them, and they will return the favor. Because at the heart of it, we are all plant lovers.
This is the way we can really make permaculture take root.

Guerrilla Gardening My Own House

Click to expand

About 6 years ago, the wife stopped looking at, weeding, and generally caring for her flowerbeds. I feel that since I have been the one caring for them since then, they are mine by default. So.... Can you see the pepper plants? Eggplant? Tomato?

Any bets as to when (if ever) the wife finds them? Or the carrots, lettuce and cabbages in the rose garden? Maybe the pumpkins under the kumquat tree by the mailbox? The herbs under the living room window? The tomatoes climbing the lattice near the entryway arch?

Adventures in Aquaponics

Hill and Bourne (comet goldfish) and the
Solids Lifting Overflow (SLO) pipe

About 12 years ago, I became very interested in hydroponics. I bought all sorts of books on the subject, studied how it works and how I could get started. I made dozens of soda bottle wicking planters, and had a lot of fun. But the whole waste problem really bothered me. When the nutrients are out of whack, just throw the lot and make new solution?

   So I had an idea. I thought I would grow fish in a tank and use that water to fertilize plants. To me, it was an original idea. Just to see if anyone else had the same idea, I Yahoo!d it (yes, back before Google conquered the internet). I found out that: 1. No, it was not my idea. And that 2. It works. So I subscribed to the Aquaponics Journal e-edition from 2003-4. 

 I wasn't able to really do much in the area and mainly forgot about it for the next ten years or so until my blog guru Anna of the Walden Effect reviewed an aquaponics book on her blog. While Anna is not so keen on it, it re-kindled my interest and I bought the book, Aquaponic Gardening, by Sylvia Bernstein. 

  Her book really got me interested in it again, and I read it cover to cover in a weekend. My mind was full of possibilities, and I googled the idea and found Japan Aquaponics. They had a course on May 11th, and I loaded up the family and we drove down to take it. 

  I thought I already knew the basics, but it really helped to hear Aragon St. Charles describe and actually show us how it works. What is the easiest setup and why. What a SLO pipe is and how it works, etc... 

Aquaponics Mark I- Flood and Drain

  So the result is- my new aquaponics system. It is small. It takes a total of 2.16Kw per day (I'll get into that later) and it has two little tiny fish I named Hill and Bourne. The system has evolved a little since then, and will probably continue to change over time. 

Lettuce sprouting after 12 hours... not bad, eh?

The next aquaponics post will go into more detail about the system.  Until then- Happy Gardening!

Helper

Every Gardener Needs a Helper

What he lacks in size, he makes up for in effort. This little dude spent 30 minutes raking up grass to mulch daddy's garden. And you know, 30 minutes in kid time is like two hours in big people time.

1089

1089

What is 1089?
33x33?
How many muscles in my back ache?
How many rice plants can fit in 100 square meters at 33cm spacing?
How many times I had to bend over to stick a seedling into the terrible soil of my "paddy"?

I am glad it is done. I figure about 1000 plants will survive to harvest. At least I hope so. The paddy is 4x the size of last year, and has some serious water holding issues. My neighbor told me "Eric, you have to take out all the sand and put in 15cm of black or red topsoil or you'll never get a decent crop."
I tend to agree with him, but I am pretty stubborn (and the thought of finding 15 cubic meters of quality soil is a bit daunting).
Meh, we'll see how it goes. If it doesn't go well, I guess I have a wheat field next year.

Jealousy

Borage flowers

What to do with a spouse who doesn't understand my need to grow a garden?
I love her, but she views my garden as her rival. Which in my opinion isn't fair.

1. I spend a lot more time with her than I do in the garden (as anyone who sees the weed-choked paradise that is my garden can attest). 
2. I talk to her more than I do to my garden. 
3. I don't cut parts of her off, cook them and eat her like I do to plants in my garden. 
4. I don't cover her with straw to smother her like I do to my garden.
5. I don't shovel manure over her like I do to my garden.
6. I don't pound pointy bamboo stakes into her with a wooden club like I do to my garden.
7. I would be much angrier if a wild boar damaged her than I am when they damage my garden.

I have tried getting her interested in gardening with me, but she is too clever to fall for that. My father told me to marry a woman cleverer than myself. Apparently it backfired in this respect.

Insect ID Help

So today I saw some insects in the garden. I am pretty sure they are not all harmful. Click to view them larger.
Here are the four contestants on "NAME THAT BUG!"

1. On a black raspberry leaf

2. Also on a black raspberry leaf

3. You guessed it, on a black raspberry leaf

4. On my fava beans

If you have any information about these insects, please comment below!