Okay, technically, we’ve been here seven and a half months, but that first six weeks was all about unpacking and arranging furniture and stuff. So what have we accomplished in six months on our little half acre permaculture homestead? And what have I learned?
Hold on to your hats cause here we go!!
First, we cut down trees. A lot of trees. This little half acre homestead got almost no sun. Anywhere. Of course, when we were buying our place, we wanted more than just half an acre so it would be “easier” to grow a permaculture food forest, but we also wanted to pay cash and be debt free. That meant that a half acre of rock with some serious disadvantages was what we could afford. But hey, no feeling sorry for ourselves, right? Let’s just make this work!
We hired someone to cut down the “first round” of trees and that was a wise decision because the trees were either humongous or in difficult places to get to. We still have a few more to go but I think we can handle those ourselves except for one huge diseased apple tree growing in the branch on the west side of the property. What we didn’t know when we decided on this particular half acre was that a lot of the trees growing on and near the property were Ailanthus trees (or Tree of Heaven). It’s a lovely tree – BUT – it’s a major attractant for the Brown Marmorated Stink Bug. See a previous post on the insidious infestation that threatens the very existence of agriculture in this country.
Lesson learned? Investigate what’s currently growing on the property you’re considering buying. If we had known then what we know now, would we have bought this particular property? Perhaps not, but we’re here now and we will make this work.
Next, we built in the open back porch so I could have space to grow organic microgreens. That’s my “cash crop” and we need those funds to pay for our long list of “to do” projects. Here’s my little indoor garden (aren’t they cute??) of nutrient dense microgreens. If you want to know more about microgreens and what wondrous things these little guys can do for your health, go over to my business Website, www.jackiesnaturally.com.
I quickly figured out (but too late) that a stack washer and dryer would have given me a LOT more space for all the parapharnalia that goes along with growing microgreens; bags of organic potting soil, growing trays, garden sprayers for watering – you get the idea. And we would have put in a much smaller propane heater. The one we had installed (which also helps keep the kitchen warm on cold nights) puts out so much heat that all the trays of microgreens on the upper shelves dry out too quickly. But we now have a plan to fix all that.
Lesson learned? Think it through, dummy!
The first major outdoor project in developing our sustainable homestead was to put in a deer proof garden area until such time as I could incorporate that garden into the general landscape following permaculture principles. So we cut trees down to open the area to as much sun as possible. We put cardboard down in the designated garden area to kill the existing grass and we had load after load of compost hauled in. I raked the compost into raised beds. We then put deer netting up around the entire garden area on doubled fence posts that made the fence seven feet tall. It was a lot of hard work and it was all well and good – until we got 50 to 60 mph wind gusts one night that twisted the steel fence posts like overcooked spaghetti. Here’s what that mess looked like:
Lesson learned? Guy wires from every post into the ground helps stabilize them against high winds. Whether or not the netting itself can take the punishment from high winds remains to be seen.
Next project was the Hugelkultur mound . I wondered how well they worked and wanted to experiment with one so I built it on a gentle slope using some of the tree trunks we had cut down along with piles of dead branches (which included hydrangea branches I had cleaned up in the front yard).
Lesson learned? Apparently, Hydrangea branches self root very easily in Hugelkultur mounds and now new growth has sprung up all over the bed. So here’s the lesson learned: only use dead branches in a Hugel bed!
Another early project was to figure out the prevailing wind direction so I could employ the principles of permaculture in creating or making use of existing micro-climates. So I faithfully charted the direction of the wind for the first two months. Now, when someone asks me from which direction the prevailing winds blow, my answer is “yes.” What I didn’t think about when we scoped out this little half acre was whether or not the large evergreens our neighbor planted in continuous rows on the west and north property lines would affect the wind direction. In fact, I still couldn’t say whether the trees cause all the swirling winds or if it’s just Mother Nature at play. All I know is that the wind seems to dance from one direction to the next within seconds. Putting row cover down is always an adventure because it blows around (and often, over) my head with abandon! Yes, I confess I employ “colorful” language on these occasions!
There is no “lesson learned” here. I am a woman, therefore, I can control almost anything but, sadly, wind is not one of those things. But, being a woman, I am also extremely creative! I’m thinking about windbreaks, and how best to go about building them where they’re most needed. I am also able to admit when I need help. Any good ideas out there for easy-to-make windbreaks? Anyone?
On to the next project. Because our little half acre goes from 2,900 feet above sea level to over 3,000 in less than fifty yards, I realized early on that some form of terracing would be necessary in “the back forty” (feet) to get enough planting space. That project involved putting two or three small terraced beds on the steep hillside. That was easily accomplished using some of the larger branches we had from trees we cut down. It seemed to be a worthwhile “quick fix” for gardening on the precarious slope. But when I’m working from the backs of the beds – tiny as they are – I’m still on uneven, steep and rocky ground and I have already fallen twice.
Okay, looks like we need to hire someone with one of those bucket digging “thingeys” to come in and make real terraces. Hhmmm. . . better increase the microgreens crop. Lesson learned? Think it through before implementation.
Then there’s the whole straw bale gardening project I decided to employ this year to increase our immediately available growing space. I bought a cool book and read the whole thing. The problem is, I didn’t remember the whole thing when it came to the implementation phase. One method for organically conditioning the bales is to use composted chicken manure. Great! I bought some and immediately applied it. Incorrectly. One reason the neighbor’s dogs use our backyard as their private bathroom is because they can also grab a bite of “straw a la chicken poop” if the mood strikes. The manure was supposed to be put down inside the bales via holes made using a wooden stake and hammer, not spread over the top.
Lesson learned? Read and re-read and re-read to make sure you have it right. Note to self: it is impossible to get chicken poop off something once you’ve applied chicken poop to that something!
The next project was a strawberry bed. We have a stone wall (thank goodness the previous owner terraced that correctly!) right outside our back door. I’m going to use the space in front of the wall for straw bale gardening for tomatoes (no chicken poop this time). I’m hoping the heat from the stone wall will improve the tomatoes growing in the bales right in front of it.
The top of the stone wall is absolutely lovely with bright green bursts of Sedum and blooming Purple Robe (a colorful, trailing ground cover).
That gave me the idea of strawberry plants growing along the top and sending out runners to spill over the rock wall. Sounds lovely doesn’t it? I got all caught up in a daydream of waltzing out the back door to nibble on succulent red berries and didn’t concentrate on the best way to grow those yummy berries.
Yes, but just look how lovely the bed is! (Even though it may not work) This bed is not wide enough for the hill system that Everbearing strawberries require. Since the berries require 12″ of soil depth (which I won’t have at the edges of the bed) I can’t plant them in the recommended “zig-zag” hill manner. I’m going to have to plant them in a straight row and hope for the best.
Lesson learned? Find out how everbearing strawberries should be planted before creating the bed.
And the last project to date? Building up a sloping area in the front yard to create additional growing space. When we bought our little half acre, the front yard was dominated by a huge silver maple with a trunk that was close to 30″ in diameter. It completely blocked the morning sun. The neighbor to the west of us has a large yellow maple growing on his property line that partially shades the front yard in the afternoon. Between those two trees and the septic lines that run down one side, I had basically written off the entire front yard as a growing area. By cutting our silver maple down and waiting until this spring to judge the amount of sunlight once the sun was higher in the sky, I realized that I could in fact turn this area into a productive food forest (again, following the principles of permaculture laid out in the book, Gaia’s Garden).
We leveled a spot on the south side of the front lawn by trenching and then using some of the tree trunks form those dreaded, stinkbug-attracting Ailanthus trees to make a terrace of sorts. Instead of hauling in more expensive compost, I’m going to recycle the soil and root systems from all the microgreens trays I usually empty into the compost pile each week. Once the soil is built up over this year, an Apple Guild will go in there. I’ll start by planting one of the bare root apple trees we’ve ordered from the NC Agriculture Extension Office.
The plan is to grow the bare root apple tree in a four gallon pot until next year and then transplant it out into what should, by then, be great soil. The apple tree will be the overstory tree in the new guild. I’ll surround it with an understory layer of bushes (perhaps honeyberry or blackberry) that thrive with apple trees. Then I’ll add vegetables, flowers and herbs. But guess what? First, I’m going to research through my copy of Gaia’s Garden to find out what thrives with apple trees before I plant anything!!!
Lesson learned? Maybe having a tiny bit of patience and doing a lot of research before planting is a good thing!
There are several other projects we accomplished successfully, like taking down a bunch of smaller trees, dressing up the edge of the raised bed garden with rocks and wood mulch, etc., but these were all simple tasks that didn’t seem to involve a steep learning curve. I’m figuring out that – while I make plenty of mistakes – I can fix whatever gets messed up and learn valuable lessons from those mistakes. And I’ve also learned that research, research, research is critical for fixing (or, better yet) avoiding mistakes. Speaking of fixing mistakes — those dreaded Brown Marmorated Stinkbugs that have had me worried sick? Apparently, chickens LOVE them! One of my favorite permaculture blogspots, www.permies.com, had a blog thread about chickens and stinkbugs and I learned that the chickens will absolutely devour every stinkbug they see. Now I don’t feel so threatened by the infestation we seem to have here on our little half acre. And a lesson that WON’T be learned the hard way? I’ve chosen a larger chicken coop for next year so I’ll have plenty of room for all the stinkbug-eating chickens I now plan on having on hand.
Stay tuned for more –
