Birds, Senior Citizens and a Tsunami of an Economy

Before taking any Permaculture classes I took on a project in our condo to be more "green".  Besides our place in Mexico, we also have a very small backyard in a lovely, semi-rural part of Renton, WA.  We live in a condo and have done a few things in the yard to be more earth conscious.  For example, to reduce the need for lawn mowing, we tore out the grass (with the permission of the association of course) and put in bricks.  We planted along the outer edge of the brick patio and put in bushes, small trees and other foliage that attract birds, insects and add to the aesthetics.  The yard is half shaded most of the day and is not the best candidate for growing food, however, we manage to cultivate a variety of fresh herbs and the occasional vegetable when the Pacific Northwest sun grants us favor.  We especially love the bird songs.  

Now I am inspired to influence the rest of the association to "green" up the remainder of the grounds.  One of my pet peeves is the ivy.  Years back, a decision was made to plant English Ivy in every possible corner of the land.  A horrid mistake as now it's everywhere, requires a great amount of trimming maintenance and harbors rats.  Icky pest.  Association costs are rising to maintain grass that we never step on, sprinkler systems that would not be needed if there were no grass and too many chemicals are used as well.  Main challenges have been Senior Citizens who happen to love grass they never step on and English Ivy.  

A new outlook:  In the spirit of working with I am proposing a great reduction in cost (always a great idea but especially relevant in today's sobering economic situation) by removal of ivy and grass and allowing the sprinkler system to go dormant.  Wish me well.  Maybe, just maybe we could get a pea patch going  also.  I have my eye on a sunny patch of ground that would make a fantastic garden area and it's close to all of us; Zone 1-2.  

Baseline Plan

I finally figured this out....I created a "baseline plan" via combination of an image from Google Earth and some powerpoint drawing techniques (you can click on it to expand the image).  Here it is.  Doesn't look like much now more detail will be added soon.  First and foremost, you need to be aware of what you have in existence before putting the intentional design together. I still need to figure out sun direction, hot and cool areas of the land (although I already know that the East part is hotter than the West due to the arroyo being in the West with lots of shade), wind patterns, plant species and water/rain patterns.  I am getting familiar with plant species in that area of Mexico and have figured out some but documentation is less intensive in English so I am still gathering my resources together.  

Keep in mind that I have committed the cardinal sin of showing you this map without putting North on the top. Sorry Jonathan, it's just the way we "see" the land currently.  

More soon.  

Measurements in Mexico

In order to design a new permaculture plan, first you need to document what already exists which is called a Base Plan.  When I went to Mexico in September, I took measurements of our land and took note of elevation, existing trees, shrubs, structures, walls, etc.  I will also research direction of the sun, wind and other elements such as annual rain fall and average temperature that will help with our design.  

Future Plans:  It's hard to keep from focusing on the future until I get the baseline plan complete but....I do know that we want a great variety of plants for food production as well as shade.  We are also interested in animal habitats and perhaps another cabin or 2 on the land in order to rent them out in the future.  Other ideas at this time are:

• Collect, re-use and recycle as much water as possible on the land
  
• Compost food and other waste
• Attract animals while repelling others (mosquitos, scorpions, snakes, centipedes)
• Use the sun as energy source via use of solar panels and solar water heater
• Be a source of education for anyone interested in learning how to be more sustainable

I digress.  Okay, back to the base plan.  I got really excited when I searched in Google Earth for our house and was able to find it.  Cool.  Now, I need to figure out how to enter a tag so others can locate it as well (the parameters are: 20º44'23.66" N  104º10'17.56" W)  The nice thing about finding it was to see how the land is shaped from the air and confirm my measurements.  It is 21 meters wide and 140 meters in length (About 69ft x 450ft.).  A nice long rectangular piece of land.  At one end of the length is a road (East) ; at the other end is an arroyo (West).   To the North is "La Mesa", a flat hilltop where the ancestors used to live, or so said Ana's Grandmother.  To the South, directly to the side of our land, is a mountain.  The area views are lovely and dotted with various farms, houses and fields.  I am going to go figure out what kind of file I can share here on this blog for you to see for the base plan.  Until then, I will continue to post some nice photos and ideas for your entertainment.  

JoJo: Do-over

Today I realized I've been doing this all wrong.
Ok, maybe not all wrong.

First -- a little about what I've done right (right until further notice anyway). I've learned a lot in the last couple of months from all of the research I've been doing.

When working out companion planting plans, I've found it much easier to prioritize what you know you want most and plan around it. I know Spot wants strawberries, so that was a top priority. Looking up strawberries, I learned that, not only are they a great thing to grow in this region, but they need good drainage, so I picked out a light-appropriate, drainable place for them on the slope adjacent to the pear tree.

Next, I looked up what strawberries like in my library copy of Carrots Love Tomatoes (Riotte), and learn that, among others, strawberries like bush beans (nitrogen), lettuce (as a border -- reason unknown), and chysanthemums (pest control). I also learn that all these plants are succeptable to aphids.

So what controls aphids? Carrots Love Tomatoes says ladybugs eat aphids, but it doesn't say what ladybugs like. Over to Gaia's Garden (Hemenway) for a list of host plants for beneficial insects. Among many others: yarrow and fennel. I remembered seeing fennel and yarrow in a list together somewhere before, and then realized that they are both in the apple tree guild (same book) which can be used for any fruit tree -- like the pear tree that's right next to the strawberries. I drew up my plans to plant fennel, yarrow, comfrey, and artichoke around the pear tree. AND, for mulch on the strawberries and their companions, I can use pine needles from the pine trees in my front yard.

At this point I'm feeling pretty slick.

I assembled a couple more lists of companion plants and selected locations for them. I was disappointed to learn from Roses Love Garlic (Riotte) that western columbine will not grow well with honeysuckle. I had elaborate plans for a bi-level, fenceline arbor that grew columbine and honeysuckle on top (both native and loved by hummingbirds -- found this out on the Washington Native Plant Society website) and a monster grapevine on the second level. Alas, a western columbine is a solitary creature and does not play well with others. Off to zone 4 with it. Will the honeysuckle smother the grapevine? I hope not.

Plant lists and vague notions of location in hand, I decided to redraw the fruit and veggie patch of my master plan in more detail. Looking out my bedroom window at the area of the yard that I am drawing, I started fantsizing about removing the grass and replacing it with one of the other types of gardens that I want to fit in somewhere -- tea garden, butterfly garden, cosmetics garden -- maybe all the same thing -- but I couldn't imagine a way to make it look good. And then I realized my mistake -- I was trying to figure out how to work this all in and the paths that we'll need without ruining the lines on the property. All along I had been trying to work with the design of the existing lines and pathways that, to my sensibility, don't follow the contours of the land or suit our purposes. The previous owner sectioned off the land into three parts a fairly linear fashion so that they could keep their dogs in the lower half by the stream (remember the doghouse?). The existing lines are nice enough, but they don't work for what we are trying to do. I'm not the greatest visual designer, but even I knew it would be ugly with the new plantings.

Changing the design of the lines in the yard changes where we plant things, and spoils a good chunk of my clever planning. So, it's not a complete do-over, more of a mulligan, but I think we'll be much happier with the evolution of the land if we get the foundational lines right from the start.

Sigh.

In other news, I got tired of wearing scanty garden clogs in the mud and worrying about getting muck on my shoes, so I got a pair of mud boots. Cute hey?




Somewhere a real permaculturalist is weeping.

M joins in

Greetings!  This is the new co-blogger known to you as "M".  How about I go by my nickname of Miki?  A BIG thank you to JoJo for asking me to join in the discussion as another person learning about Permaculture and it's many applications in my life.  Just a little background and if you want to read more, simply visit an old "blog" where I began documenting travels to my future home town in rural Mexico.  Warning: it's a bit out of date so I may fix some of the links when I feel ready. In the meantime, enjoy my journal driving to Mexico and back home again.   http://oconahua.blogspot.com/

Where was I?  Oh yeah; the many applications of permaculture.  My partner and I just traveled to Mexico this September where I was very happy to finally measure the land in order to begin our design of the Mexico Permaculture Project.  I think I will use this blog to document and share progress.  

I have no idea what I am pointing to in the above photo but you can see part of the land in this image.  In the background, you can see a small hill.  Over the hill the land slopes at a grade until it ends up in a lovely dry "river" bed known as an arroyo.  Follow me on my journey posting about the town of Oconahua and encouraging this piece of land to support us in the future.  

Miki (aka M)

Partners in Permaculture

M and I were in our permaculture class together last year. She, too, is new to permaculture, and she also has a project going. I'm very excited that she has agreed to try out sharing this blog with me. (In case you're wondering, "M" is not Moe).

Rather than test your patience with me geeking out on birds all winter, I thought you would like to keep up with how her project is going, too. I know I would. Hers is more of a year round event -- you'll find out why soon. Both M and her project are much more exotic and entertaining than I, so I know you will like her.

January news: my yard is now a certified Backyard Wildlife Habitat with the National Wildlife Federation and the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife! That means the yard meets their set of criteria for supporting wildlife, and that I gave them some money.

Also, I spied some Varied Thrushes picking through the leaf litter yesterday. When I went to e-bird to report my sighting, I discovered that they are a winter bird in Seattle. Also news to me: robins are categorized as thrushes.

One Varied Thrush, thrushing...

(I so love how well s/he blends into the leaves).

After the snow melt, now we really have some rapids in the stream.