permaculture

[Rain Tenaqiya <raincascadia@yahoo.com>]

We live in a classic Mediterranean climate, with about 35 inches of rain that 
comes in intense bursts that usually start from the middle of October and 
start petering out in April.  I feel there must be a lot of knowledge about 
this climate given its long history in Europe.
 
I have started to compost in pits because it takes so long above ground.  I 
have even used tarps, as was recommended.  They help, but I really need to 
irrigate the piles to see reasonable results.  We have all sorts of fungi 
from the forest nearby, so I don't think inoculants are necessary.
 
Part of my problem could be that aside from the first year, when we had 
record floods, we have been in a drought.  Maybe this is the new normal, 
however.
 
We collect and use all of our humunure and urine, and I bring in a ton of 
leaves and straw from around our site.  I also have several long-term wood 
compost piles.  I finally broke down and got some rock dust, zinc sulfate, 
and gypsum, for specific areas.  I've also brought in forest soil from nearby 
for the main food forest and kitchen garden, which also got a layer of horse 
manure from a neighbor.  I'm thinking about spraying seeweed on trees that 
are doing the worse.  In general, however, I really want to minimize off-site 
inputs.
 
As far as biochar goes, the soil actually has a fair amount of charcoal from 
past fires.  I couldn't justify putting all that carbon in the air by burning 
all the wood around our site.  If I wait long enough, a wildfire might do it 
for me, however.  Hmm, interesting.
 
Rain



>From scott@moosepondarts.com  Thu Dec  3 16:34:23 2009
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From: Scott Vlaun <scott@moosepondarts.com>
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Sounds like a great project. I've heard of excellent results on fruit
crops, especially against fungal diseases, with aerobic compost tea
which can be generated on site. A good brewer is bit of a project to
make though and a commercial 10 gallon unit goes for about 400 US, so
no cheap fix there. I think we're going to finally buy one after
talking about making one for a few years.

I think there are ways of making "char" fairly cleanly.


Scott Vlaun
Moose Pond Arts+Ecology
Design Solutions for a Sustainable Future

450 Main Street, Studio 2
Norway, Maine 04268
http://www.moosepondarts.com
207-739-2409 Studio




On Dec 3, 2009, at 4:21 PM, Rain Tenaqiya wrote:

We live in a classic Mediterranean climate, with about 35 inches of
rain that comes in intense bursts that usually start from the middle
of October and start petering out in April.  I feel there must be a
lot of knowledge about this climate given its long history in Europe.

I have started to compost in pits because it takes so long above
ground.  I have even used tarps, as was recommended.  They help, but
I really need to irrigate the piles to see reasonable results.  We
have all sorts of fungi from the forest nearby, so I don't think
inoculants are necessary.

Part of my problem could be that aside from the first year, when we
had record floods, we have been in a drought.  Maybe this is the new
normal, however.

We collect and use all of our humunure and urine, and I bring in a
ton of leaves and straw from around our site.  I also have several
long-term wood compost piles.  I finally broke down and got some rock
dust, zinc sulfate, and gypsum, for specific areas.  I've also
brought in forest soil from nearby for the main food forest and
kitchen garden, which also got a layer of horse manure from a
neighbor.  I'm thinking about spraying seeweed on trees that are
doing the worse.  In general, however, I really want to minimize off-
site inputs.

As far as biochar goes, the soil actually has a fair amount of
charcoal from past fires.  I couldn't justify putting all that carbon
in the air by burning all the wood around our site.  If I wait long
enough, a wildfire might do it for me, however.  Hmm, interesting.

Rain



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