This was the first time in 28 years that Every Faruqui Mother had their children with them on Mother’s Day.  My sister has been visiting our mom repeatedly but we’d been separated by deployments, geography, and my own “world view” since I joined the Army.  What a great time to see the seasons in Washington change.  Mom has been a long time green thumb and expert consultant on all things gardening.  Photos below show some of her early season and historical successes.  Note that the morning temperature in Washington is a bit different from the homestead.  When the property was purchased, the small home on about a quarter acre had a “distinctive” view of a road behind the house.  By planting fast growing, tall bushes behind the house, she was able to shield the home from unsightly and noisy pollution.  The end of last season’s garden was visible and is the start of a great garden this year.

Mother’s Day also provided the opportunity to see my sister and nephew at their home in Seattle. They have been battling some drainage issues at their home where an uphill spring is creating foundation concerns for their first floor/basement. They had spent significant time and energy digging a french drain perpendicular to the water flow in an attempt to route it away from the foundation. A lesson learned by her husband was that by applying some permaculture techniques (“the problem is the solution”), he can make swales and take advantage of the water flow to grow a garden with a flowing pond. With an average water bill of around $300 per month, this valuable resource has the potential to be slowed and used.

Yesterday I took a little trip to Spiral Ridge Permaculture in Summertown TN.  They held an open house tour of their property and used the occasion for networking and plant sales.  The owners told the history of buying their property as a recently clear cut piece of land about 7 years ago.  As you look over the property, the regrowth has completely returned in force.  I found the potential of purchasing such a recently devastated woodland to be very promising. A key technique used is to “Farm the Sun” by taking advantage of the newly establishing food forest to space trees and supporting plants to maximize the use of available sun without creating unusable understory.

The lush greenery surrounding the property was amazing!  They are using pigs, chickens, geese and ducks to move nutrients around the property and to prepare the soil for planting.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Besides the great use of pigs, the team is making great us of chickens to help create food, and fertilizer.  Using 18 inches of hay as deep mulch bedding, they are creating awesome mulch for their nearby garden.

The coop is situated to support both the garden (directly behind the coop) and the greenhouse in the background.  The small gate in the foreground allows the birds to forage in the forest garden area off to the right in the photo  (at right).

 

 

 

 

The greenhouse was a great example of stacking functions.  It houses vermiculture  (worm bins) beneath the floor, water barrels to house hyacinth for future transplant to their ponds (that also serve as heat sinks to keep the greenhouse warm in winter), and areas inside to build soil cubes for the budding (pardon the pun) plant sales.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We made a successful return from Columbia retrieving my youngest daughter’s “stuff”. She is now a Junior after a successful semester above 3.8.

I was mentioning to my wife that on the day I left to join the Army ALL my worldly possessions fit in a ruck sack and duffle bag in the back of my 1986 Honda. The load we moved this weekend was amazing it FILLED the back of my truck bed! Don’t believe me?  See the evidence…

Oh yeah, the microwave had to be packed in the trunk of her car; almost left school without it!

Ok; not really a permaculture thing but after looking at Pinterest the VP asked if I could “make one of these”? (cue text message with link popping up on my iPhone). My woodworking skills are basic at best so the project looked within my capability. After numerous trips to the local home improvement stores, the materials were acquired and two days later we had a new Farm Table. Now we already have an 8 foot “antique” table in our kitchen, but the VP needed a workspace for her latest passion; painting. The fact is, she is really getting pretty good and needed a devoted table instead of timesharing on the kitchen table. We both think it turned out pretty good for $50 in material. VP did all the sanding, prep and staining to ensure it met family standards. I did all the cutting, assembly, and designing. Truly a family project! Let us know what you think.

The farm workers were out in force this weekend.  We took a trip to the local landfill and brought home 1000 lbs. of mulch in the trailer.  Price?  $4.  What we discovered is that the price reflected the quality.  We ended up sifting through alot of trash in the mulch but the end result was worth the investment. We used it to fill in the gaps between the raised beds and to help shore up the Very moist areas aound the berry plants.  We tried a variety of irrigation systems that included a drip system for the corn and a bottle system for the orchard.  Lesson learned?  We will stick with the hose and nozzle.  The problem was that the bottle did not hold enough water for the trees (max 2 liters per bottle atop the irrigation stick), and the drip system worked too slowly.  We also pruned several trees using an extension electric chain saw and began chipping some of the excess branches and limbs removed earlier this year.  The pile of branches is decreasing and the pile of mulch/compost is increasing.  This was one of the best examples of  returning surplus back to the land.  We also acquired a pressure washer that the VP used to take off years of dirt, algae, grime and guck from the brick patio.  The 40 year old patio looks brand new!  The pine pollen has been out in force creating a yellowish-green film on everything.  This morning we have had about a half inch rain which filled the tote up to full capacity. The rain should take the pollen out of the trees and help clean up the homestead.  After much deliberation, the Founder agreed to the VPs demand to apply some fertilizer to the front lawn.  In preparation, we mowed the lawn to even out some of the tall grass/weeds.  After reading the weed and feed instructions, we will need to postpone application until 48 hours AFTER the rain.