Living Landscapes

Check out our Permaculture Design Course internship work exchange opportunity for 2021! Taking applications for 1 person or a couple for work exchange program that includes accommodations. https://www.foodwork.ca/a/off-grid-communities-ecovillages-

Important Correction for Abundance Agroforestry.! Prune your biomass trees higher than suggested in the guidebook! If you are using high or emergent biomass tr...ees (such as the varieties listed), they need to be taller than the trees next to them. The correct height will depend on what other trees you have chosen and at what height you will prune those trees. Normally it is best to keep the biomass trees 1 meter higher. If the system only has short trees or bananas, then the biomass trees may be as short as 3-4 meters. If there are taller trees, then the biomass trees most likely need to be cut at 5-6 meters. See the infographic below. The risk of pruning at the shorter chest level height is that the biomass trees can get shaded and die when they need to still produce organic matter for the system. Here are some other important points to mention about the guidebook: 1. Vetiver grass is not widely used among the original syntropic practitioners. It was included in the guidebook because the lack of a better grass naturally occurring in Haiti. This idea can be considered experimental and should only be emulated by those who are comfortable taking a risk. The potential problem with vetiver is it needs a lot of sun exposure and as the system matures, it may die. Also, it produces far less biomass and is much harder to cut than mombasa. 2. Devote more of the B area to biomass plants, especially during the placenta stage. Planting too many crops for harvest can weaken the soil at a time when organic matter is desperately needed. Many systems in Brazil are being designed in a way that the entire B area is mombasa. 3. The north south row orientation is best when the focus is on taller trees in the tree rows. If the primary focus of the system is on lower stratum trees or crops in the B-area (such as coffee or vegetables), then an east west orientation results in better sun exposure. 4. Some trees are labeled incorrectly in regards to their stratums. This problem can most likely be compensated for by management without having actually move the trees. Also, I am working on an update of the guidebook, where all these problems will be corrected and more information will be included. Thank you to everyone who has supported this work. Please be patient with me, as this topic is complicated and new discoveries are constantly being made as we learn from each other’s experience. The next version may be ready before the end of 2022. Sincerely, Roger

Indoor plants need good drainage. Cover the hole to avoid the growing medium from washing out. Paper coffee filters and sections of old pantyhose work well. Don't put pebbles or broken crockery in the bottom of the pot! Image: Garden Gate mag.

As a member of the Society for Ecological Restoration (SER), I'd like to share its recent statement on racial injustice, which I align with and couldn't say better (except to replace US with Canada or internationally in some places): "SER stands united with those demonstrating peacefully to speak out against racism and injustice wherever they occur. Too often and in too many places across the world, environmental injustice and racial injustice go hand in hand, from the murde...rs of indigenous environmental leaders working to protect the Amazon, to the poisoned water of Flint, Michigan in the US. Black ecologists, biologists, and restorationists in the US often put themselves in jeopardy just doing their jobs, especially field work, let alone the racism they face in every other aspect of their daily lives. Here in the US we know that the conservation movement is not as diverse as it should and could be. SER is committed to continuing to engage all people and all sectors in restoration, including creating and providing resources to encourage active, empowered, and rewarding participation in restoration (and related careers) to underserved, underrepresented, and disenfranchised communities throughout the world. When environmental injustice prevails, both conservation and restoration falter. When conservation and restoration falter, everyone suffers. Restoration cannot be implemented without inclusion and that means including everyone. It is the very first principle in the SER International Principles and Standards for the Practice of Ecological Restoration. For ecological restoration to succeed, everyone, everywhere should be safe and welcome in the natural world. For the US experiment to succeed, black people should be safe and welcome in their jobs, in our communities, while walking or jogging on the street, while bird or wildlife watching, while engaging in nature-based careers, and while just being. All minorities across the globe should feel that same safety, but unfortunately that is not the case today. For these reasons, SER is proud to stand in solidarity with peaceful demonstrators for an equitable, inclusive, just, and ecologically healthy global society."

We need more trees in agriculture. Eat food from trees, like nuts, regardless of where they come from in the world. https://ourworldindata.org/food-choice-vs-eating-local

Winter is a great time to prune trees. Make sure to do it the right way and avoid the most common mistake of cutting too close to the trunk.

Number one priority is to protect what we have, says Marie Noëlle Keijzer, co-founder and CEO of the Belgium-based not-for-profit WeForest. The number two priority is to restore; the trees take 10 years to become significant and then 30 years to really have absorbed all the carbon they can absorb, so you don’t want to compare a new tree with an existing tree or an existing forest with all the biodiversity and everything there.

Holy shit. Somehow I never imagined this day would come! Ironic that they say in the article that you can ditch the straight rows but the photo shows--a straight row! And they are talking about forest gardens, but they show--cabbages! Oh well, progress not perfection.

Not new but the agricultural industry hasn't learned and most people are still awash in myths and lies about growing food. https://grist.org//2010-02-23-new-research-synthetic-nitr/

Non circular jagged holes with even more corners than squares are also good! Help roots get out of the "planting hole container", rough up those hole edges, and fertilize around the hole from above to encourage root growth outward.

This years cider is the best yet! Home made.. apples hand picked, pressed, fermented, filtered, bottled, and corked. Chill in snow, of course. Looking forward to sharing this deliciousness with friends and family.

We don't need industrial chemical agriculture to feed the world. It's a myth. https://www.scientificamerican.com//3-big-myths-about-mod/