TreeYo Permaculture
Creative Human Interaction with Nature
Contour Brush Piles | A Permaculture Design Course Handbook
Being late fall and easier to move in the woods with no leaves and spider webs, I have been doing lots of chop and drop of the invasives and moving them on contour. This latest release from our EDU site details this and a technique I picked up in Italy this year- Bio-rollo.
Contour Brush Piles | A Permaculture Design Course Handbook.
Permaculture Design Course (PDC) Europe 2014
Another course back in Coastal Portugal!!!! Great Journey we go on there.
via Permaculture Design Course (PDC) Europe 2014.
via Permaculture Design Course (PDC) Europe 2014.
via Permaculture Design Course (PDC) Europe 2014.
I wonder if it was on the plates at Thanksgiving originale
As I prepare for another thanksgiving in North America ( the most important of all holidays in reality), I am searching for how to make it healthy and local (Ohio River Valley). Well 
there is Jerusalem Artichokes out back on the swale I suppose. Ten tubers bought four years ago at Whole Foods has produced an onslaught of a very vigorous growing plant that despite attempts to control is uncontrollable. And for that, I am thankful today, the abundance that is inherent in Nature.
It’s amazing to see just how much one tuber can produce. I remember the first year I planted them I was amazed just how much they grew from that initial “seed”. Its hard to judge each year now despite the heavy harvesting. But the slideshow below is from 2010, only six months later, this is the harvest from just two of the 10 tubers.
From there they have become a dominant feature in a few sections of the 100 foot
swale that is in the suburban backyard of my folks. They grow quite tall every year, over six feet (two meters) and flower yellow at the end of the season. I return the organic matter, which I believe is a nice bridge between the fungal and bacterial shift to more resilient soils either directly to the bed, in relative location to a paw paw tree, or in the compost bin. The spongy pith seems to be able to feed both bacteria and fungi and has an incredible amount of edge making it a delicious soil food web treat.
Helianthus tuberosus is a native North American herbaceous plant that is multi functional and helps to form guilds in our permaculture systems. Eric Toensmeir, in his book Perennial Vegetables, points out that the tuber is rich in Inulin. He says that research shows that this an important wild carbohydrate that helps with calcium absorption. Plant growers know that when calcium is low in plants their cell walls weaken and other cellular regulation is imbalanced. This of course causes disease. So having this fall delicacy in your diet is an important part of healthy living in my humble opinion. This I believe is the link between diabetics and this plant, increasing calcium.
Once the first frost (or cold temps like we have at my other garden in Portugal but no frost) has hit they get sweeter and the best way to store them is simply in the ground. They can be eaten in lots of different ways and tonight I will be roasting them with herbs and onions with the skin on. It takes some time to wash them of our heavy clay but once you get your hands unthawed all is good.
So here is the harvest from this year. Hope you are enjoying some of this super food today or sometime soon. Perennial vegetables are great to have in the garden as they really extend seasons, early like Asparagus and French Sorrel and late like the J-choke. Remember they run so I believe they are a zone 2-3 plant and are one element that helps to support the food production function.
The Seventh Portugal PDC from TreeYo
Really the place is a portal of change. One can resist, one can fall into old patterns, one can act individually and from an ego perspective, but eventually change is brought. It’s a process, it’s a journey, a journey of seeing with new eyes and hopefully all the while with an open heart. This indeed maybe the ultimate journey in Permaculture and thankfully a big, beautiful group of people from all walks of life made this journey. It was an enjoyable experience, connecting with others and living communally for two weeks in coastal Portugal.
One year after the first full PDC at Terra Alta, we embarked once again on the facilitation process with this years group totaling 34 from five continents in the same small, but powerful valley, in the cliffs above the Atlantic. People converged into a space where we ran the marathon of an information based
journey with an ever-present tone of healing the spirit within. All the while, we manifested heaps of on-site physical changes altering this wind-swept valley where water thankfully abounds. In essence, it was quite a few mini permablitz’s with cob and earthworks and of course the massive compost pile that is a mainstay from every course.
After last years intensive design process on Terra Alta itself from the students, we took the next steps in manifesting development of certain spaces that very much aligned with the vision of the students from 2012. Thus on Camino 
das Fadas, (path of the fairies) on the way to water tank, we began to dig and shape beds to increase growing space in this fairly sheltered space and in relative location of water. Last year during the food forest course we began this implementation phase through developing many growing spaces in the form of tree crops and their associated guilds. Furthermore in last years PDC we sheet mulched the snake of earthworks which was created a couple of years ago with Pedro leading a machine. Now both spaces were becoming productive and bio-diverse and evidently displaying the idea of phases of implementation. Now the space in between the fruit tree guilds and existing earthworks are a series of sunken beds on contour and also one swale. The difference only being that the swale mound is intended to be planted where the mounds of displaced earth from the sunken beds are now pathways. The sunken beds are a drylands techniques that hopefully will allow for more efficient watering and soil generation in this semi-brittle climate that also has torrential winter rains. It was truly amazing how quickly the project went and ohhh so grateful for all of those involved. 
Moreover, throughout the first week we manifested a furthering of the cob oven social space
and also circle design earthworks through numerous hands-on sessions. This space creation really has changed the social dynamic at Terra Alta as it became a fluctuating social space during the day for families and friends and true chill out at night for the bread baking crew. The other Earthworks sessions included digging tamarillo circles as another element in the important function of dealing with household refuse. We dug them in a similar fashion to a standard banana circle but intend to use the tamarillo, or tree tomato, as a sub-tropical substitute as it is sure to love the ample amount of nutrient and water afforded with this design.
Once again we had some nice field trips as well to supplement the material and create a
different dynamic for teaching. First we visited the neighboring piece of Terra Mae that is a great example of regenerative practices that display the needed steps for the Permaculture Pattern of Development. There were earthworks reinforced by bio-diverse plantings stacking in space and time and forwarding succession through compost tea. Human integration has had varying levels but as the valley’s reemergence towards food production occurs I am sure communal responsibility of stewarding this piece of land will be furthered. Furthermore we took to the beach, Praia de Ursa, to look at some of the earthworks practices which are easily displayed in the sand. It was an amazing beach experience to revive us and give a new sense of awe for this awe-inspiring creation known as Planet Earth.
This year also marked a change to the design projects which we were very happy to enact and try something new. I really enjoyed the process and see its flaws and limitations at the same time. But we focused on building a nomad network, a virtual glimpse at the realities of cultural integration of permaculture projects with the context of a real piece of land to observe and design. What does it look like to have a network where groups can exchange lessons learned and talents as we fulfill this thing we call travel? I know my worldly travels have greatly benefited my education and the host sites themselves as many teachings have been shared all around.
The redesign of the project itself transferred also into how we facilitated it. Rather than presenting the whole thing at once we decided to slowly release the steps so that the scope of the project didn’t seem overwhelming and so groups could really focus on the process itself. Like all the new attempts at this course, it had its moments of greatness and my own worries may have projected into discomfort.
We also shared in some really great evenings of song and dance with a lot of laughs in between throughout the day. Terra Alta is a great place to be, to be outside, to be surrounded by people, and surrounded by the hugging embrace of the corks when you camp at the grounds. Many helping hands were involved both on staff and the students themselves to pitch in to make this a communal experience and make things flow. Thanks so much to all who leant that extra effort to create the ambiance we all desired.
As always we were always kindly hosted with amazing food presented by Caren once again and a great ambiance provided by Pedro and Rita. Thanks to Pedro for stepping further into the facilitating role through which students could enjoy a warm feeling at the land but also movement within to take the next steps in Permaculture.
Extending the Cob Oven Social Space: An ongoing Natural Building Project at the lake.
During the summer drought of 2012, with its unrelenting temperatures above 100° F (+40° C), myself –Doug Crouch– and fellow branch of the TreeYo, Eva Wimmer, built a Cob Oven as the cornerstone of the outdoor social/cooking space at Confluence Forest and Farm in Northern Kentucky, USA. The project last year took us about two weeks. We worked on and off with full days being rare because of the oppressive heat as we camped on one of the perched ridgetops above the lake. This year we have also been working for about two weeks on the next phase of implementation amongst other tasks.
Bill Mollison and simple observation suggest, that kitchen space should be removed from the house in tropical locations to prevent the house from overheating. Simply put, the Ohio River Valley is the jungle for months on end during our fuller illumination periods. Eva affectionately refers to it as the “Green Hell” with the chiggers and mosquitoes, the humidity and the snakes. I simply refer to it as one of my homes as the property of Crouch’s Treasure Lake has been the project of my grandparents and family at large for the last 30 years and I hope to keep it going over the coming years as it transitions to the next generation. With that, we need more cooking
options besides the cob oven to really make the space functional. The next logical solution pointed towards a rocket stove for stir-fries and boiling water for tea.
Rocket stoves are a set of principles designed for improving combustion efficiency and heat transfer efficiency: Since hotter fires burn more efficiently, the combustion chambers in rocket stoves are insulated and no mass is used around the pot in order to transfer the heat into the pot and not into the stove itself. For a fire to burn hot, it also needs good air draft, what you improve by a small opening in the feed tube, a shelf in the opening and a grate under the fire. For optimal heat transfer into the pot, you will need a “skirt” around to pot to force the hot gases to scrape the pot. Correct proportions are recommendable to maintain the cross sectional area throughout the stove for best efficiency. Following these principles you create extremely hot fires that roar and give them the “rocket” in their name.
A rocket mass heater follows the same principles but is insofar different from a rocket stove for cooking, as it takes the hot air gases and runs them through a bench before the heat leaves the house. The charged up, high mass cob bench, slowly radiates heat outward.
With that, the design phase ensued for the overall space that is 16ft x 8ft (5m x 2.5m) in dimension under roof. At the initiating time of this stage, Anna Zisa was still here, finishing up her stint as an intern lending a very helpful hand. She helped us with the design phase since it was a new set of eyes as we had stared at the space for quite some time the year before. She also is really good with sketchup so she put the space in that design software for us to visualize it as a whole. But in honesty the little drawings on a scrap piece of paper to scale more or less, were probably the most helpful.
With that we had moved through to the conceptual phase, but firing the cob oven for the first time allowed us to move into master planning. The firing came on Anna’s last full day, which allowed us to see the flow of the area a lot more, producing some final
conclusions: Rocket stove next to the oven but with a gap for the all-important access connected to a bench for chill out space. Again the bench is not connected in the sense that we will be heating it, but shares the foundation.
So we started with the foundation, gathering our native limestone from the creek of the spillway and gravel that was washing away from our road. We dug the foundation for the rocket stove and the portion of the bench that we felt like we could handle in the coming days. This natural building development space is under an old carport that my grandfather had built some years ago but now just serves as a shelter for lawn mowers and junk (we are in Kentucky after all).
When we dig there, you have a bit of top soil and then you hit large gravel from the pad they put to support the weight of the car. This gravel becomes useful backfill since it is in relative location but the digging process is slowed quite a bit. From there we backfilled with smaller gravel, then the bigger, then tamped that down a bit to get a solid base. On top of that dry stacked stones were added to create the moisture barrier and then stones with earthen mortar was laid on.
The Earthen mortar is simply just native sub-soil and lots of coarse sand mixed together but without the straw making it a cob mix. We could use concrete but simply put has too much embedded energy in it for a simple project like this. We went up about 18” (45 cm) with the stone and earthen mortar before we applied a clay slip to the stones to make the ensuing cob layer adhere to it. From there we built up with cob so we could get a nice cooking height. This was difficult to gauge at first but with the making of the combustion chamber we were able to simulate what would be the future resting spot of the pot.
In truth, rocket stoves are quite technical, as you want to build with craft so that the maximum efficiency can be achieved. They have all sorts of calculations and ratios that I never would have thought of having been around a few places that just simply threw them together. Bless Eva’s heart as she was charged with dissecting the pdf’s from Aprovecho where she had just interned out on the west coast in Oregon. With that, we did create the combustion chamber from some stove pipe that we picked up at the recycled building supply shop known as Building Value down in “hipsterville central” of Cincinnati known as Northside. The corrugated edges of one end really helped us to fit the pieces together
snuggly making it a great score for this project.
Cutting metal is not a fun or an easy project with tin snips and a hacksaw. But after biting and chewing through it, we got our intake and combustion chamber, 1.5 proportion between them (I have hunch that the golden ration would be even better but……). From there we began to extrude the cob chamber up leaving a couple of inches (5 cm) space for the insulation to surround the chambers.
This is about as far as we got before our big Permablitz action day out at the lake to really manifest some big changes in the space. Matt Gillespie and others at this-land.org, the local non-profit for Permaculture education here in the tri-state area, organized a crew of about 15 people to come through on that day. Some were old students, some fellow teachers, some were old friends, some were college folk yearning for fresh knowledge. Many of the latter are designers in training at DAAP (Design, Architecture, and Planning) at University of Cincinnati. I have come to realize recently there is a giant bright spot in our future as these graphic and industrial designers started being influenced by green culture in their high school years and will go onto be professionals influencing great change.
With this great crew of people we did the same process of collecting, digging, stomping, and building. With so many people there, we quickly decided to go bigger with the bench. Simply put, our original plans were to small for the energetic crowd and great weather for this inspiring community action. Consequently, Eva got to teach a lot about cob and
natural building without the pressure or workshop fees as we get ready for more teaching in Portugal this summer. I helped to facilitate the cob stomping process for quite awhile along with hosting and firing up the cob oven later in the day.
Thus we got lots done on the bench and some industrious friends got some pieces of rebar cut so we could set the pot on top of the combustion chamber of the rocket stove, precisely measuring the recommended gaps between combustion chamber and pot.
We intrigued many of the locals, who frequent the bar that is on the property, and even said the pizza was quite delicious as we of course shared. It was a great way to end the day and to hear people talking about different design projects they are apart of. We are very grateful to all who participated and shared in this creative process.
There is still some work to do, even after the next days cleanup of cutting off excess cob from the undesirable bulging from cobbing when the mix is slightly too wet. We also finalized the rocket stove to a certain degree as we added the insulation and plastered the outside. The insulator was perlite covered in clay slip, which should make the burns even more efficient as we look to gain greater energy independence as this project unfolds. Moreover, I began the process of cutting metal to create the draft chamber but feel I need to read a bit more on how exactly to fix it. That’s the fun part of this all: some things you just have to figure out with a bit of research and trial and error.
Finally, in the fall and into next year, we will be building up the bench back, sculpting and plastering, and then getting into our next elements to add. Those include a grill –parilla– for charcoal cooking, benches with no backs, and counter space. We may add a griddle rocket stove but let’s see how the design unfolds. We hope to integrate solar cooking in varying forms to compliment this, as the important function of energy for cooking should be supported by many elements!!!!!! Thanks so much to everyone who helped along the way.
The Plots Thicken (Part 1)- Urban Greens Collaboration in Bond Hill, Permablitz host site
Well after another month of working with Urban Greens, I have come to many realizations about the way humans manage land and natural resources in general. Its been an interesting look around as we grow nourishing food and watch in utter astonishment at societies wasteful landscaping industry. After all, we are just glorified landscapers as Permaculturists, however we are bent on abundance of yield that does include aesthetics as well. It struck me the other day while gardening in the ghetto that we care more about having sidewalks edged as a society than feeding people. Thankfully we are in the business of feeding people.
The interesting part of food production in an organic fashion is that we are working with nature not against. And at times this spring it has been a challenge with this cooler and somewhat wet spring at times. But thats agriculture, never the same variables year after year which makes it a very complex and daring enterprise. So the plots have been advancing, thickening with green leaves, natures solar panels of carbohydrates, feeding humans and microbes alike. The gardens have been a nice place of exchange, learning more about growing in my hometown tri-state area of Cincinnati, Ohio, USA. We have seen glimpses of both the Arctic and the tropics as that is what this midwestern industrial cities climate boasts.
Bond Hill
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Zoomed in Bond Hill Urban Greens garden design
Recently named after doing the observation that we permies do, Willow Spring Garden
has been one of the main gardens that I have been tending to at least once a week over the last month. Myself and Ellie Faulk have been managing the garden, with Ryan Doan and Kevin Fitzgerald, other members of Urban Greens assisting. We have been managing the 24, 8 x 4 ft raised beds that were left over from the previous garden (the lighter green boxes from the above design). Very nice seeding and germination have taken place with mixed beds like Onion with beets and spinach with radishes. Our idea is that as one is finished the other will fill the space void, fulfilling the permaculture principle of stacking in space and time. Also to reduce weeding and increase fertility we have been laying down leaf mould compost and straw in between the rows.
Another main project we took on was increasing the growing space by actually removing
some of the raised beds, adding compost, and tilling. The raised beds had very large paths in between and because this is a production garden now, we seek to have square footage to pump out food in this food desert. Since tilling, we have been raking it, weeding it, and adding organic matter to the paths; an Urban Greens trademark. To really utilize the space efficiently we have been doing some edging and further raking of the beds to get them ready for summer plantings. We thought we might sneak them in early but the high water table, hence the spring part of the garden name, has been dramatically raised over these last days of monsoon like rains.
Meanwhile, the trees that are housed outside of the fenced in area are setting roots. The 
stone fruits by the car park are getting used to their semi waterlogged home. Planting them on bigger mounds would have been probably been a good idea but hopefully the future plans of large sheet mulches and guild plants will aid in the heavy clay situation. However, the chestnuts that were planted on an already existing earthwork have been growing strong other than the one that was pulled out twice. Sometimes the wildlife sector known as humans can be quiet destructive even when good intentions are present. We look forward to creating a mediterranean garden on this mound over the coming years including figs and lots of herbs. The soil there is full of gravel, it’s on a well-defined ridge and might be the only place of somewhat dryness in a garden that is defined by the seepage spring and willows.
Another project I have been committed to each time I go to the garden is building 
compost to take advantage of weeds we are pulling, grass and forbs that are growing in our outer zones, and the imported carbon material. It’s not meant to be a hot compost but this soon to be couple cubic meter pile should breakdown to be a fungal rich compost for next years plot. As they say, make hay while the sun shines and it’s a great time to cut weeds like chicory and plantain before they flower.
Next Week on Monday the 13th of May 2013, we will be advancing the garden quite a bit with an event called a Permablitz. These action days are meant to mobilize our students of Permaculture and the others around the city who are wanting more hands on experience with implementation techniques including Urban Greens CSA members. To try to alleviate some of the water logging issues we are having at the garden, we are hoping to catch it higher in the landscape and get it to infiltrate. The swales will tap into the seepage spring and the runoff from the above hillside including a small valley. That is how we planned them out, observation, then using a water level to find contour. Now we try and gather folks to make this implementation project happen. We have plans of IPM plants and edible landscaping to add to the character of the garden.
We are very excited to host everyone and show them the gardens. They are looking like they will be very productive one day but due to their lack of commitment over the years to soil building and management from the We-Thrive folks we are faced with some weed and pest problem. We are doing our best to bring more fertility and stability to the system through diversity. In the end its been a great experience to dial these gardens in, see the growth, feel the setbacks, and dream big of a food hub of extreme beauty.
Greening the Urban Food Deserts
After some changes in my plans for spring (no trip to the EU for now), I was hired to 
work with an upstart company called Urban Greens. Its focus blends community development through food production in the city and into the conglomerate of suburbs that forms the tri-state region of Cincinnati, Ohio, USA. Ryan Doan, one of our Permaculture students in our latest weekend PDC here in Cincinnati, started the company a couple of years ago along with his local community in the East End, to help promote healthy living with healthy community relations via viable business models. This model is a blend of CSA, farmers market, restaurants, as market outlets but importantly the company is an employer (for me and others).
My focus over the last three weeks has been lots of design and field work. Ryan and myself, have been channeling lots of creative energy and ideas, including some late night sessions together but also with other movers and shakers of the local foods scene. There is much enthusiasm in the city now and demand in my mind way out strips the supply. Concurrently, I also have been doing design work for the new sites that have come into Urban Greens management this year (Bond Hill, Newtown, OTR) or are being advanced from a smaller production capability than last year (Hamilton). Furthermore, implementation of food forestry has commenced at the sites with perennial polyculture plantings beginning. Of course because we are market gardners, spring garden cleanup has been in high gear so compost, seeds, and plant could go in the ground.
So below is a breakdown of the different gardens with some images and designs to get some land and social context. First a little background and then what we have been implementing.
Hamilton
Hamilton (North of Cincinnati by about 40 minutes) was my first stop of any of the Urban Greens gardens originally. On a cold and rainy winter day, it gave us the perfect perspective of a huge plaground of abundant water, gentle slopes and varying aspects all below a pond. The examination of contour and connecting keypoints was quickly illuminated through the pattern eye. So we decided general land use patterns- hedgerows, food forests, annual gardens, beds on contour and interconnecting trees terraces. On Wednesday (April 5th, 2013), I went again for manifesting the vision that we have roughly laid out in the following design.
Implementation:
The pattern of digging the beds gently with a shovel, fork and three sets of hands defined our main tasks at the workday. Those hands of course included Ryan Doans’, but also Christine Annarino, a local Gardner that I had met for lunch one warm afternoon the year before. Small world to see her also working for Urban Greens as well. So all the while the bed cleanup was happening we were also sifting aged leaf compost to add to the raised beds. One of the brilliant parts of Urban Greens raised beds system is the infill with woodchips in the aisles to lessen the high and dry mountain effect. The valley becomes a sponge for water and no desert of bare soil is issued. Dug, cleaned, composted, wood chipped in the aisle, seeded, strawed lightly, and water. Easy pezzie.
We also got some perennials in the ground there that the other co-manager of that garden, Taft (on vacation currently), had procured. So that day we planted five trees, three apples, one apricot, and another Santa Rosa plum to match the already existing two dwarf ones that were planted in the fall. We began to define our swale (ditch and mound on contour) by planting our Apples along the proposed mound. It will be quite a big earthwork as we are dealing with heaps of water from impervious surface runoff (roofs, compacted lawn, driveway) and also a seepage spring. Below are the before and after pics of four beds we got implemented and in the background you can see the trees.
Bond Hill
This is one of our new sites that is a retrofit from a failed we thrive garden. Thus it already has fencing, some 6 ft x 8 ft raised beds, and some soil amendment and scantly woodchipped paths. It sits on the ground of Tyred Stone New Beginnings Church and right across from the Community Action Center building which is the center for low-income aid. The church also hosts a weekday preschool called Head Start, which is a very good program for getting young children ready to head to school and learn. The teachers are wonderful and have already agreed to work with us on bringing the kids through the garden for tours!!!!!!
Implementation:
We have worked at Bond Hill several times now as the infrastructure present lends itself to intensive production and permaculture development this year. Thus we have been doing the same digging, planting, and watering regime as described above. Now we wait for the onions, the spinach, the potatoes, and such to sprout up. This season has been a late spring but the temps and rain of the “April Showers” will hopefully bring May Vegetables.
The church grounds, outside of the fenced in vegetable area, also received a statement of permanence through us planting trees- fruit and nut. Chestnuts that will anchor our mediterranean edible landscaping out front on the rocky earthwork and the stone fruit food forest along the car park. Many layers are to be added but the seed has been sown.
Newtown
Just five weeks ago, Ryan inked a lease deal with the Turpin’s who own the 12th oldest farm in the nation. A Revolutionary War present, the farm has stayed in its 800 acres entirety since then. The Turpins, seeking new energy and direction with the project, partnered with Urban Greens so that the local foods movement could be propelled through their accumulated assets. Existing infrastructure assets that we seek to leverage are the following:
- Large greenhouse and plant nursery infrastructure
- chicken coop and fencing along with the goats and their pen
- flat land with well water
- arboretum with statues and water features.
Implementation
Since i have come on, we have been working out design constraints and beginning the process of implementation. Major projects have included moving the seed starting operation mainly from Ryan’s basement (thanks Megan for allowing that one) to the large greenhouse as it has started to become sunny and a bit warmer. They did so well we were actually able to plant some of them out on Thursday (04/04/13). We also have been undertaking the huge mission of creating a sheet mulch to kill off the grasses and weeds and begin the garden fertility process. Rather than tilling, we are letting the fungus survive and we are constantly inoculating to make sure our summer veggie selection rocks!
Another connection from the PDC put on by myself and this-land.org, is a woman named Amie Bako who is a landowner in Kentucky. She is an animal lover and we have inked a deal with her to supply us with 50 chickens which will inhabit the coop in about five more weeks. She is raising them herself as we speak and we will have up to as many as 10 different types of heritage breeds. This will even include the fuzzy ones with black skin. So I have been cleaning the coop and pin and we have been examining rotations, fencing, watering, tightening up the building and all of that.
East End
The hub of Urban Greens is of course where it started which is in the east end of the city. The gardens sit on the flood banks, once where homes stood but with the Ohio River flooding them too many times, they simply tore them down. One day maybe the river will wash all what has been done there away but for now the gardens are full of life. It’s a hub for people of the CSA to fulfill their volunteer hours which is a big help in this time of running around like busy little squirrels. That has been the highlight of my experience there, the social interaction of a community engaged in its food production and support of local businesses.
Another inspiring piece of the Newtown site is the bank of natural capital that has happened through carbon waste recycling. Wood chips, leaves, grass clippings, weeds and all sort of materials have been recycled into soil and humus. Humus is the stable carbon compound that gives it that smell, that texture and for us gardeners we love it cause it brings fertility, water drainage and water storage. A perfect meld indeed.
Implementation:
Mainly with this dry cold and windy spring we are trying to keep the gardens moist, the beds shaped, and the flow of energy going there. Imagine this tiny little object that has enough potential to store info on how to grow and the sugars to do so before its solar panels are fully functional: A SEED!!!!!!!! Consequently I am excited to water despite the Arctic feeling water ( I did spend winter in the DR so…..) as i know the potential that 
water can unveil through the seed. I am exited to see things sprout and excited to see new and old familiar faces around. We also have gotten a couple of strawberry beds in order and some great guild plants like french sorrel and comfrey have come from my garden. It feels nice to landscape the exterior of the gardens and know that this space will be so green and lush so soon.
Overall its been a great scene thus far, working with great employees like Ellie and Ana as well. I have felt supported well and am very happy to contribute to the local foods scene here in Cincinnati. All the while I have been getting my garden together, propagating strawberries for Urban Greens from my garden, and even direct seeding some lettuce. Cleanup has begun for our fall Permaculture Garden and Farm tour. Oh and i of course can’t leave out embarking on the journey that is the lake- www.ctlake.wordpress.com– designing your own place is even harder. One last thanks goes out to Ryan Doan for bringing me in and creating an atmosphere of cooperation not competition.
Travel Blog: Dominican Republic Agro-tourism with a side of beach
A trip to the Peninsula of the North coast of the Dominican Republic: Las Galeras.
On the weekend of Jan 19th, 2013, I left the farm early one morning for Samana via a direct gua-gua. It left in rising sun at 7 am from nearby Saboneta and arrived there at 10:30 am. It was a very easy trip with one stop on an uncomfortable and overcrowded bus which was exacerbated by the holiday weekend. Fortunately it was cheap too, only 300 pesos ($7.50 USD). From there I met some friends and we went onto Las Galeras which I am sure is one of the more beautiful places on this island. Very Caribbean with its palm ladden beaches, forested hillsides in the distance, and white sands with colors of the sea you can hardly imagine.
So it wasn’t all just beaches as we stayed at a place called Los Mariposas just outside of the village of Las Galeras. We stayed the weekend there at the Italian family run place which started the holiday home business and then ventured into agriculture some years later. Their agriculture adventure has spawned one of the great projects for rural development in the Dominican Republic known as La Ruta del Jengibre
; a ginger co-op. It was quite amazing to see, 80 something growers with the legal structure all there as well as all the papers and legal bull**** to export the ginger. Apparently, there is a huge market available in Germany which is of no surprise to me as any trip into the processed aisle of an organic supermarket in Europe will quickly reveal who lays claim to the chief food processor. In fact demand is so high it outweighs production right now. Unfortunately, their Italian foundation money has dried up and are looking for capitol investment to expand to better meet the market demand.
They have had great success but last year I believe it was they had a problem with Fusarium. It is a plant disease that turns the roots of plants into black mush. From what I know its proliferation is set up through low oxygen conditions which was probably brought on by heavy rains. Oxygen is pushed out of waterlogged soils and the red soils stained from iron content looked poor and present tough growing conditions. We had the same problem in Costa Rica with our ginger and turmeric roots the year before I arrived which was one of the farms cottage industries through steam distillation producing organic essential oils. We talked awhile at the processing center with one of the co-op members where the ginger is washed and readied for export. He revealed they do some fertilizing with chop and drop and also with vermiculture and what sounded like compost extract. Unfortunately my Spanish failed me a few times along the way.
Also there where we were staying I met another grower but this time of coffee. I talked about Taino Farm and he felt like it was too low in altitude in Los Brazos to produce coffee. He offered other choices which of course we have like Cacao, cinnamon, and avocado’s. He had formed a relationship with the Ginger Route and together they were marketing a coffee with ginger inset. Spicy and yummy!!!!! But there I also was able to collect some seeds and the woman who runs the joint gave me turmeric bulbs from her garden. She said it grows easily for her and so maybe we can grow both ginger and turmeric. Both are great medicinals with a great range of fresh and dried uses. Overall it was a great weekend and upon arrival to the capitol I had a great meeting with some folks from the seed and education company from Florida known as ECHO. The weekend was refreshing and informative and set the stage for getting to know the country better as now I work from the capitol of Santo Domingo for some days.
Blog By:
Doug Crouch
Moringa leaves PhotoBlog from Taino Organic Farm, Dominican Republic
Moringa (Moringa olifera) has made a sweeping movement across the island of Hispaniola through its recognizable market entrance and nutrition improvement crop for those who are subsisting. The plant is super multi-functional, grows in tough climates including drought. Bees abound in its fragrant flowers while the resulting beans inside it’s oddly shaped bean pods have a great cleansing effect when ground and added to dirty, pathogen ridden water. This gives so many more people on planet earth water and food security. After all its a super food that grows on a tree that you can cut again and again. Great permaculture all-star plant!!!!!!
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