Permaculture adventures in Sector39

trying to make sense of living in a crazy time

Archive for May, 2010

PDC May 2010

May 31

Posted by Steven Jones in permaculture | No Comments

group pic

Permaculture Design Course group at the Workhouse May 2010

Lots to say and write about afte two magnificant weeks at the Workhouse on the May permaculture design course. Much improved weather to what we have experienced the last few years at this time of the year, made things a lot more comfortable and easier, as conditions down at the Workhouse are still pretty spartan.

Over the next few weeks I will put some of the millions of great pics taken, and thoughts about some of the sessions. It is always a challenge, running courses like these and ones and I have got used to working closely with Chris Evans and Chris Dixon to get the structure and mix right, but it was down to me for most of the first week to do all the teaching, which was quite a marathon.

Lots of help form Mark Burnett and of course Sue and Ritchie in the all new Workhouse kitchen (we didnt even have a kitchen last year!) and we made a pretty good team. The 2 Chris’ and Mandy Dean completed the team, mainly in the second week. Really big thanks to one and all, was a real pleasure working together again. And Teya – Chris Evans’ 2yr and 5 wk toddler attended her third S39 PDC! and has evolved into just about the cutest kid in the world, keeping us all entertained throughout.  Finally and most importantly… once again we had a fantastic group of people, really diverse.. especially so this time, 67 – 20, lot of Wales residents, and of course england but its alwasy to have a few foreigners.. so it was great to have Katarina and Ondjrey.. Slovak and Czech, and 2  from Netherlands as well. .. and with Chris Evans’ perspective from his 28 years in Nepal really added a global view.

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OG 8, more on feeding the soil

May 13

Posted by Steven Jones in courses, organic growing | No Comments

[Course notes from Lesson 8/20 of theb60 hr  Organic Growing Course]

Nitrogen feeds are useful at thsi time of year, when plants are putting on leaf growth, so to support this we are going to make a N2 rich feed from nettles. We are doing this 2 ways, by immersing lots of freshly cut nettles in a barrel of water, adn we are going to try weighting some down, without water, to make a concentrated feed, nettle juice. These we have prepared and will leave to mature

Beds in week 8

Nitrogen feeds can also be made from rich sources like chicken manure and animal manure, but these need to be well rotted down and mixed with some carbon material as well ideally.

Phosphorous is in the soil and extracted by plants. Bone meal is a good source of phosphours and is also aslow releasing, so it is ideal feed when planting a trees or fruit bush.

Potassium (potash)- essential for flower and fruit formation. It is present in Woodash. Also comfrey is a bio-accumulator of potassium, so a comfrey feed, prepared similar to the nettles is ideal for a feed later in the season. Bocking 14 is the prefered variety of Comfrey as it does not set fetile seed, so does not spread in an incontrolled fashion. It is easily propagated from root cuttings

Blood, Fish and Bone is a very traditional evenly balanced fertilizer… Blood being the source of N2, Fish providing the Potassium (k) and the bone the Phosphor.
Plants also require many any nutrients in much smaller – mirco quantities such as calcium and magnesium to aide cell division. Othes include boron, molybdomen, zinc, magnesium.

It is also possible to provide all the key nutirents by planting Green manures. we are going to plant a test bed with a variety of green manure plants so we can see the various types. We are planting Facalia, Crimson clover, Lucerne, Lupin, Vetch and Caliente mustard in bed 6.

green manure seeds

Green Manure seeds ready for planting

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Cwm Harry – Week 2

May 13

Posted by Steven Jones in Cwm Harry Project, composting, forest gardening, organic growing, permaculture | No Comments

Its a big deal for us here at Sector39, but we have been given the opportunnity to manage the back lot at Cwm Harry in Newtown for the next 5 months, hopefully there-by sowing seeds of a project that will last much longer. A chance that has come out of the blue pretty much, and from a slight change of focus for the project itself.

The vision is to develop this one acre lot into a forest garden nursary and intensive veg growing space. Utilising the compost and rainwater available for the Cwm Harry project activities and building. We have submitted a £10k capital grant application, to buy the kit we need basically, to launch what we plan will be a ground breaking community growing initiative. All the ingredients are there to create…

  • Forest garden and useful species nursary
  • Suppliers of produce for local veg and fruit box scheme
  • Develop profile fo the Cwm Harry project
  • Develop a micro allotment and allotment apprentice scheme, to support local growing
  • Supporting secondary activites, bee keeping, education, etc
cwm harry newtown

Cwm Harry Back lot, Newtown Powys.

Its a big industrial unit, with lots of composting going on inside – processing municipal and domestic biodegradable waste. Meanwhile the roof of the building itself gathers a large amount of rain water, so the challenge is to put those two key ingredients together, maybe add  ome people to to mix, shake it all up and we ought to be able to crate a thriving community garden and local food hub.

If you want to get involed or can help us in anyway then we’d love to hear from you. Use contact page on this website to get in touch.

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OG7 – Fertilzers and compost – Feeding the soil

May 7

Posted by Steven Jones in composting, courses, organic growing, permaculture, workhouse | Comments off

Organic gardening course notes lesson 7/20
[We have been running a 20wk/ 60 hour course on organic growing, these are my course notes]

Feeding the soil: Compost and fertilizers

Its about feeding the soil not feeding the plants, Healthy lively soil will support healthy lively plants.

Manure and compost, also contain nutrients, of varying amounts as well as large amounts of organic matter, which helps retain moisture and improve drainage. These can be made from any kind of bulky organic matter.

*Well rotted horse manure
*Leaf mould – low in nutrient and seed free, ideal as seed compost
*Coir – coconut husks

It is important to use peat alternatives as peat extraction damages ecosystems and peat based compost is being phased out.

Fertilzers are specifically prepared compounds with a known, stated nutrient content, expressed in NPK ration. Nitrogen, Phosphate and Potash (potassium). The diagram below represents how those nutrients directly and  indirectly benefit the plants.

NPK

NPK Diagram

Peas and broad beans week 7

Green Manures

You can buy seeds for these from Garden Organic or from Kings seeds for larger quantities

Green manures can perform three key functions, Some are legumes an fix nitrogen from the air into the soils making it available for soil microbes and ultimately plants to help them physically grow.

Some are effective and cycling nutrients like nitrogen well, keeping them close to the soil surface where can be utilised by plants

Some are especially deep rooted and can break up compaction as well as bring up minerals, nutrient and humidity from much deeper down.

Some also have the added benefit of helping reduce pests.

Lupin and Crimson clover for example are deep rooted and very useful for breaking up compacted soils. We are trying a mix of these at Cwm Harry in Newtown, where there is a hard clay pan of very compacted soils.. They are also low in nutrient so we are hoping the clover will help build up nitrogen.

In our Brassicae Bed, we want to underplant the nutrient loving cabbage family plants with a green manure that will cover the ground and protect it, whilst fixing nitrogen, but also not growing up tall and shading out the cabbage. So we are using the low growing Wild Kent Clover in this instance.

Mustard, also has the ability to suppress nematodes and fungal diseases. So for a potato bed, pre-planting with Mustard, then digging it in, and leaving for a couple of weeks will boost fertility and the mustard actually gives off a mustard gas into the soil which drives out pests.  Mustard is a brassica – so it is important to bare this mind in context of a strict bed rotation.

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The view from the peak?

May 6

Posted by Steven Jones in energy, peak oil, permaculture | No Comments

air spill

BREAKING: Large Air Spill from Wind farm - No Threats Reported. Some Claim To Enjoy The Breeze

Large Air Spill from Wind farm – No Threats Reported. Some Claim To Enjoy The Breeze
This From the Huffington Post seemed very apt with the world’s largest oil spill going on right now. A major ecological disaster, a tragedy of huge proportions but also a stark reminder of the escalating costs and complexities of exploiting the remaining oil reserve.

I spent a bit of time trawling around the Oil Drum – one the best sources for information on the energy situation, Peak oil etc . Well worth looking at if you have not..

Here is a snippet..

John Hofmeister, recently retired president of Shell Oil Company, gave a luncheon speech at the Offshore Technology Conference on our energy predicament, and the challenges the oil and gas industry faces, viewed from inside the industry. I am not certain we will agree with everything he says, but thought we might think about the issues raised. I quote from an article that begins on page 3 of OTC2010.

More recently, despite the high oil price “wake up” call delivered to the US during the period 2005-2008, policymakers have been unable or unwilling to address the nation’s energy security, economic competitiveness that comes from affordable energy, and the potential jobs creation initiatives that a sound energy policy would and should deliver.

Given the current trajectory of an aging infrastructure, decades of restrictions on drilling, failure to tackle the obstacles that prevent both more nuclear plant and clean coal plant projects, frittering at the edges of renewable energy, and avoidance of other energy “hard choices,” within the decade the nation faces an unprecedented energy abyss.

By 2020, there will be inadequate supplies of liquid fuels and electricity taking the nation toward inevitable gas lines, brown-outs, black-outs and extraordinary high prices. The energy abyss will stick around for up to a full decade with all of the national insecurity, economic decline, joblessness and social malaise that accompanies energy shortages in third world countries.

John Hofmeister, recently retired president of Shell Oil

The other and perhaps most startling thing.. and I keep an eye on these things – is the graph for month by month global oil production. Is July 08 the Peak month? at 74.74 million barrels per day.. is it possible that production has slipped under 72 mbd for the last time? if that were the case it would certainly mean we have entered a new era. The first time ever that the amount of energy available to us was decreasing.

Oil Peak

Oil Peak?

Of course there could be a few more twists and turns in this story yet... “the whole point about the production peak is that dont know you have passed it until you see it a way back in the rear view mirror” to paraphrase energy investor Matthew Simmons.

BUT We could be looking at that moment right now.. with global markets wavering, a giant oil slick on its way to US coast… well lets not get carried away, but this could be the point that marks the end of the era of cheap fossil energy. A change that will affect every aspect of our lives, or what had become our everyday lives.. our resource intensive, energy hungry, buy now -  pay later, mortgage the environment  lifestyles.  hmmmm.  Watch this figures closely… energy is none negotiable, it is not an ideological issue, it is the laws of phisics… something that shapes our reality and possibilities in a very tangible and real way. Energy supply is the issue that has the potential to be the bottom line issue.. the one that has tthe power to force our hand, to en masse accept that business as usual is no longer an option, and the time to put all our energis into the sustainability transition is upon us.

Here is that same data, from a different source.

Oil Watch, April 2010

Oil Watch, April 2010

Need some more? The future of farming, from the Post Carbon Institute. Audio of talks by Philosopher-farmers Wendell Berry, Wes Jackson and Gene Logsdon discuss the future of agriculture, the environment and changing our ideas about growth and progress. Recorded live at Xavier University on April 11.

‘We’ve screwed up a whole continent, A 22 year old alive today,  has lived through 54% of all the oil ever being burned’

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THE SITUATION – In Washington , DC , at a Metro Station…

May 3

Posted by Steven Jones in Uncategorized | No Comments

THE SITUATION – In Washington , DC , at a Metro Station, on a cold January morning in 2007, a man with a violin played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time, approximately 2,000 people went through the station, most of them on their way to work.

After about 3 minutes, a middle-aged man noticed that there was a musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds, and then he hurried on to meet his schedule. About 4 minutes later: The violinist received his first dollar. A woman threw money in the hat and, without stopping, continued to walk.

At 6 minutes: A young man leaned against the wall to listen to him, then looked at his watch and started to walk again.

At 10 minutes: A 3-year old boy stopped, but his mother tugged him along hurriedly. The kid stopped to look at the violinist again, but the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk, turning his head the whole time. This action was repeated by several other children, but every parent – without exception – forced their children to move on quickly.

At 45 minutes: The musician played continuously. Only 6 people stopped and listened for a short while. About 20 gave money but continued to walk at their normal pace. The man collected a total of $32.

After 1 hour: He finished playing and silence took over. No one noticed and no one applauded. There was no recognition at all. No one knew this, but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the greatest musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written, with a violin worth $3.5 million dollars. Two days before, Joshua Bell sold-out a theater in Boston where the seats averaged $100 each to sit and listen to him play the same music.

This is a true story. Joshua Bell, playing incognito in the D.C. Metro Station, was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste and people’s priorities.

This experiment raised several questions:
*In a common-place environment, at an inappropriate hour, do we perceive beauty?
*If so, do we stop to appreciate it? *Do we recognize talent in an unexpected context? One possible conclusion reached from this experiment could be this: If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world, playing some of the finest music ever written, with one of the most beautiful instruments ever made . . . How many other things are we missing as we rush through life?

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