Home Economics: Permaculture

After organizing some information for my map, I spent the rest of the day working in the garden and around the house. The goal is to create a rich environment around the house by beginning to use some of the principles of permaculture: every element (house, pond, garden, forest, pasture) is placed in relationship to another so that they assist each other and save energy, each element preforms many functions (food, fuel, wildlife habitat), each function is supported by many elements, waste and energy recycling on site, and the use polyculture and diversity of beneficial species for a productive, interactive system. Our homestead is currently in a period of great transition as we begin to hone in on our land and make it beneficial to us in terms of sustainability and self-reliance, as well as keep in mind what lives here and make our settlement work with the natural world rather than against it. 


Today my dad rented a tiller for the day and got to work forming some new beds around the house where we will be ultimately begin growing kitchen herbs, perennials, berries, and some squash as well. We are also maintaining a few patches of rhubarb and a bed of asparagus near the house. I got to work weeding the herb garden I created last year in the front lawn where I am maintaining some lemon balm, sage, thyme, rosemary, mint, parsley, and oregano mixed in with an array of wildflowers that are coming back again from last year.


Across the street near our vegetable garden, I had a chance to use the tiller to re-establish last year's garlic bed which will now be used for growing our tomatoes. I plan on also growing it's companion, basil, among the tomatoes as well as some eggplant and okra.

In the garden, I had to water the beds as the hot sun beat down on me and the plants. I cut some saplings and constructed two teepees that will support dry pole beans, and finally got my cucumbers in that will be growing around the structures in the new "lasagna" bed. Another compost pile has been started and seedlings are starting to be moved from the cold frames to the garden. Leeks were also planted in one bed and await plantings of celery and beets along side them. A rocky circular bed at the end of the garden has been mulched heavily and now has squash seedling that were found on the compost pile growing on top of it.

Things are starting to shape up!