Raised Beds, Black Flies

Since childhood, I have developed a strong relationship with the 36-acre forest behind my house. Being home-schooled up until high school, I had lots of opportunities to spend hours of unstructured play time in the woods which has undoubtably fostered in me the strong desire to learn as much as I can about the world around me. Today I found it important to start my project by simply reconnecting and getting back in touch with my home. Walking the grounds and exploring a bit in the woods, I felt joyful to have time to revisit after being away on Mountain Classroom in the winter, and being tied down to the last term of high school.

Myrtle and other spring wildflowers are blooming

While my concentration is on the 36-acre woodlot behind my house, my bioregion doesn't exclude the unwooded areas like the front and back yard, orchard, and vegetable garden across the street. Along with my map and observations of the forest, I also want to incorporate permaculture here at home, striving to create stable, productive systems around the house that provide for us while also integrating the land with its inhabitants.

Garlic transplants in newly-formed raised beds

My concentration today was working on our vegetable garden that is three years in the making. The majority of time was spent doing some good 'ol fashioned manual labor; digging, raking, and re-forming raised beds with the help of many black flies. Right now I have a bunch of seedlings inside and in cold frames waiting to be transplanted, like onions, leeks, tomatoes, peppers, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, brussel sprouts, and okra to name a few. In the garden, I've already planted some garlic, spinach, and peas under a new trellis. It is here in the garden that I will be experimenting with new sustainable techniques and using the idea of polyculture rather than monoculture, where I will be planting a wide variety of crops together, imitating the diversity of natural ecosystems. Along with planting a diverse vegetable garden, I will also be creating an edge around the garden of flowers and herbs to attract beneficial wildlife, and actively managing a compost pile, making our wastes a resource.

Spotted salamander

I've already started to survey the woodlot and have come across around 15 vernal pools (there are probably 30 in total). David and I were fortunate enough to observe the "great move" of wood frogs and spotted salamander on April 10th during an evening shower. Our roadside vernal pool was teaming with wood frogs all joining in one grand chorus and observed a spotted salamander crossing the dirt road. Since then David and I have been looking at the closest pool behind the house which, unlike most vernal pools, stays full year-round. We have confirmed that this pool is home to a great deal of spotted salamander, a few wood frogs and red-spotted newts, and fairy shrimp (which, according to David are quite rare in woodland pools).

I'm excited to get going!