permaculture

[Lawrence London <lfljvenaura@gmail.com>]

Here are galleries of pictures of my mini permaculture farm. Maybe you will
get a few ideas from this.
Venaura Farm. This is USDA Zone 7.
https://plus.google.com/u/0/b/106181639516457096425/+Avantgeared-GardenTools/photos
My collection of hand tools in use around the world:
https://plus.google.com/u/0/b/116100117925365792988/+Avantgeared/photos

On Mon, Jan 26, 2015 at 12:31 AM, Lawrence London <lfljvenaura@gmail.com>
wrote:

>
>
> On Tue, Jan 20, 2015 at 10:55 PM, judy <vidaljudy@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
>>
>> Hello Lawrence,
>> Below is an attempt to address the issues you raise. Thank-you so much
>> for offering to help. This seems like a lot of information!
>>
>
> Sorry for the delay in a reply which has been in the works for the past
> few days. Have been busy cutting and splitting firewood between rainstorms.
>
>
>
>> 30 acres....
>>
>
> I would keep vehicles and farm equipment off as much of your land as
> possible and only walk or bicycle along paths created for that purpose. Do
> this to reduce or eliminate soil compaction
> and changes in the natural flow of water across the terrain, disturb local
> ecosystems as little as possible, preserve the existing soil seed bank and
> disturb plant colonies as little as possible.
>
>>
>>
>>
>> what kind of soil
>>
>> I have a NRCS Soil Mapping which indicates: lewbeach channery
>> loam, onteora channery silt loam, Vly channery silt loam, willowemoc
>> channery
>> silt loam all with 8 to 15 percent slopes.  This document can be accessed
>> online, I think. Details “unlimed, it is strongly to very
>> strongly acid”. Soil test in garden confirmed need to lime. Elevation in
>> uplands is 1,750 feet
>>
>
> I've never heard of those soil types but the loams sound interesting. I
> have Georgeville silt loam here and it is one of the best in the state;
> comparable to clay loam in performance but more permeable, so much so that
> it will not hold water for long; water impoundments are strictly wet
> weather.
> New York has some very fine agricultural soils, some due to rich glacial
> deposits, highly mineralized I would imagine.  If yours is very acid I
> would recommend high calcium lime, dolomitic lime, shell meal, azomite and
> aragonite, also wood ashes, a blend of all those applied conservatively. I
> would also incorporate as much organic matter as possible into the soil and
> grow legumes such as vetch, clovers especially tall sweet white and yellow
> clover, mellilotus alba, Austrian winter pea, buckwheat and rye grain,
> possibly also winter rye and sorghum sudan grass.
> This should help get cropping cycles started.
>
>
>>
>>
>> what are the landforms like, i.e.
>> grades, slopes, lay of the land, where
>>
>> the water goes when it rains
>>
>> When the water flows it goes either into a ditch by the road or
>> onto the neighbors’ properties downhill, one of which is a larger stream
>> feeding into the East Delaware I believe.
>>
>>
>>
>> Property is situated at the end of a valley: translates into
>> high winds.
>
>
> Plant windbreaks such as Eastern red cedar (my top choice), pine, fir,
> hemlock, spruce.
>
>
>> Used to be part of a much larger farm which was subdivided in the
>> 70’s. Shape of the 30 acres is bizarre to say the least: Beautiful old
>> farmhouse sits at bottom of a slope by the road across from which there
>> is a 7
>> acre very gently sloped haying field. Property around the house is pretty
>> narrow (maybe 2 acres) and goes up the mountain in a bottleneck and then
>> widens. Up the hill, behind
>> the house, there is a level open field that was planted with blackberries
>> which
>> have taken over and don’t seem to produce (I can’t figure out why. Old
>> timers
>>
>
>
>> remember picking berries as children) When I pull up the brambles the
>> soil is a
>> deep black: the roots have done a wonderful humus building job. I suspect
>> all
>> the pastures were overgrazed (this is traditional cow country)
>>
>> I would try to revitalize those blackberries and also locate vegetable
> and herb beds nearby, small bush fruit like blueberies,
> possibly hardy figs, elderberries and eleagnus.
>
> More later in next reply.
>
>
>>
>>
>> are there any streams or ponds
>>
>>
>>
>>  To the east of the berry
>> field, not too far, there is a pond which is spring fed. This is the NYC
>> watershed. Up by the pond there are several streams running amuck and
>> creating
>> some boggy spots. Made the mistake of having the tractor go up there to
>> clear a
>> path and learned the hard way how the ruts worsened the water dispersal.
>> Below
>> the pond is a wonderful pasture (maybe 4 acres)
>>
>>
>> are there any woodlands, original
>> growth, harvested or harvestable timber
>>
>> About 10 acres above the pond is forest/coyote land: a few old trees, lots
>> of new growth. It is clear to me that parts were pasture many years ago.
>> The
>> old stumps are still there, though almost totally decayed. Succession
>> seems to
>> have set in. Would make wonderful sylvopasture. Don’t think there is
>> enough
>> wood to harvest for anything other than firewood. Further east of the
>> pond are
>> perhaps 5 acres of old pastures that is being taken over by succession but
>> could still be brush hogged if tractor could just get up there without
>> rutting
>> out a lot of the land.
>>
>> So basically, more than half the acreage is not readily
>> accessible when there is snow, unless one had a snowmobile. Last year I
>> had
>> snow up to my knees when I went up the hill.
>>
>> wells
>>
>> Well by the house has not been in use for decades
>>
>> springs
>>
>> The hill above the pond is full of springs
>>
>> buildings, barns, greenhouses, spring
>> houses, grain or hay storage
>>
>> Spring house is located up the mountain on somebody else’s
>> property and gravity feeds the house plumbing.
>>
>> Across from the farm house there is a huge 75 year old 2 story
>> garage/barn. I don’t know if hay could be stored in there.  (venting?
>> There are windows) There is
>> electricity but no water. Somebody kept chickens in the upstairs (very old
>> dried poop) There is a falling down barn north of the garage, but it is
>> not
>> part of our parcel so we just get to watch it tumble.(part of the
>> original farm)
>>
>> buildings, shops, livestock barns
>>
>> open fields
>>
>> So, as I described there are 2 open fields totaling about 12
>> acres
>>
>> when was last time any of the acreage
>> was plowed, harrowed, tilled
>>
>> Oh, probably 50 years
>>
>> is there any permanent pasturage
>>
>> I don’t think so
>>
>> any fencing
>>
>> To my despair it (barbed wire and wooden posts) is all
>> collapsed. The entire property seems to have been perimeter fenced at one
>> time.
>> Beautiful old stone walls run along the perimeter and delineate old
>> pasturage,
>> but never reaches more than 2 or 3 feet tall and in spots has been
>> trampled
>> over.
>>
>> what is the quality of the soil on
>> the acreage and are soil supplements
>>
>> needed, i.e. nitrogen, potash and
>> phosphorous from rock powders
>>
>> and are these supplements available
>> to you nearby, i.e. manures, biomass,
>>
>> rock phosphate, greensand, azomite,
>> aragonite, high calcium limestone,
>>
>> rock dusts from local rock quarries
>>
>> Local farmers could give me manure which I am afraid might be saturated
>> with fertilizer and GMO refuse.
>>
>> I did a soil test for the garden last spring and lime is what is
>> needed most. I have the paperwork and poured over it with a friend who is
>> into
>> soil amendments and never followed thru with his recommendations because
>> they
>> didn’t seem super urgent to me and I am quite overwhelmed with everything
>> else and
>> besides I wasn’t sure where to put the stuff anyhow!
>>
>>
>>
>> I have 5 huge bales from last year’s haying which surround the garden
>> (had them put there as windshield) and I intend to
>> use in raised beds this spring
>>
>> is there any farm equipment on site
>> or can it be borrowed or rented or can
>>
>> tractor work be hired out
>>
>> I bought an old Massey Ferguson (10X10 I think) and a brush hog
>> (4 feet wide)which I do not manipulate myself (I hire someone by the hour
>> to
>> run it) Brushhogged the berry field about 4 times in an effort to get rid
>> of
>> the brambles. If I had more goats, fencing and water figured out, they
>> would do
>> the job. Am friends with a farmer 2 miles away who has everything and is
>> super
>> busy.
>>
>>
>>
>> Start by addressing this list of
>> issues
>>
>>
>>
>> What I have done in the past 18
>> months:
>>
>> -       to the east of the house put up makeshift coop and shelters:
>> have raised 12 black Spanish turkeys, 9 chickens and 5 goats. Have been
>> doing
>> the electric fence daily rotations (except in winter) and free ranging
>> for the
>> birds. In warm weather took goats on wonderful walks into the forest.
>> (The life
>> of a part-time sheppard is quite wondrous. It is clear the critters
>> preferred
>> the sylvoland to the open fields.) Frozen water and gates pried open with
>> hammer deal in winter. This fall I harvested the goats as I couldn’t
>> imagine
>> going thru a second winter with all those animals and the ice and the make
>> shift shelters. The goat sausages are delicious.
>>
>> -       Across the street I put in a garden, all by hand, with hoops to
>> try to extend the season and realized this summer that it is right next
>> to the
>> old grandfathered sceptic. Annoying. So in the fall I created tall raised
>> beds
>> with wood and chicken/turkey pooped bedding further way from the sceptic
>> and another 2
>> above the house and garage/barn. I’m thinking of putting some hazelnut and
>> chesnut trees just above those 2 huge raised beds. (forest garden?)
>> Shlepping
>> wheelbarrows of pooped bedding to the various beds has been quite the
>> affair.
>>
>> -
>>
>> My goal: this spring I would like to
>> get more turkeys (I kept 6 to see if I could breed them) and get off the
>> organic grain deal and have some kind of worm cultivation. I’d also like
>> to get
>> more goats, but cannot continue the labor intensive, inefficient
>> technique of
>> bringing them out to pasture where I lug the water and the electric fence
>> and
>> back into the corral with the chickens at nite. I’d like to put them in
>> the
>> sylvo pasture where there would be water and perimeter fencing. The
>> problem is
>> I have no idea how to do the fencing and how to get the water from the
>> pond/streams
>> to them. I have raised a Maremma LGD and she is good and could protect a
>> small flock from predators (hoping to breed her in order to have more
>> LGD's).
>>
>
>> > From: lfljvenaura@gmail.com
>> > Date: Mon, 19 Jan 2015 23:26:11 -0500
>> > To: permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org
>> > Subject: Re: [permaculture] BBC How Plants Communicate & Think -
>> Amazing Nature Documentary - YouTube
>> >
>> > On Mon, Jan 19, 2015 at 10:20 AM, judy <vidaljudy@hotmail.com> wrote:
>> >
>> > > Good Morning,
>> > > I have been reading your missives for a year now and thank-you for
>> > > teaching me so much!I would like to take a PDC and remember a list of
>> > > certified instructors was put out a while ago. I am located in the
>> > > Catskills, upstate NY where I moved 18 months ago to care for my 92
>> year
>> > > old mother and her 30 acres.Any recommendations?Happy New Year!
>> > > Sincerely,Judy Stewart Vidal
>> > >
>> >
>> > We could attempt to offer advice here; this is one of my favorite
>> subjects
>> > Here are a few questions:
>> >
>> > 30 acres....
>> >
>> > what kind of soil
>> > what are the landforms like, i.e. grades, slopes, lay of the land, where
>> > the water goes when it rains
>> > are there any streams or ponds
>> > are there any woodlands, original growth, harvested or harvestable
>> timber
>> > wells
>> > springs
>> > buildings, barns, greenhouses, spring houses, grain or hay storage
>> > buildings, shops, livestock barns
>> > open fields
>> > open land that has been or could be cropped
>> > when was last time any of the acreage was plowed, harrowed, tilled
>> > is there any permanent pasturage
>> > any fencing
>> > what is the quality of the soil on the acreage and are soil supplements
>> > needed, i.e. nitrogen, potash and phosphorous from rock powders
>> > and are these supplements available to you nearby, i.e. manures,
>> biomass,
>> > rock phosphate, greensand, azomite, aragonite, high calcium limestone,
>> > rock dusts from local rock quarries
>> > is there any farm equipment on site or can it be borrowed or rented or
>> can
>> > tractor work be hired out
>> >
>> > Start by addressing this list of issues
>>
>
> --
> Lawrence F. London
> lfljvenaura@gmail.com
> http://www.avantgeared.com
> https://plus.google.com/+Avantgeared
> Ello: https://ello.co/ecoponderosa <https://ello.co/ecoponderosa>
> Twitter: @ecoponderosa <https://twitter.com/ecoponderosa>
> Reddit: ecoponderosa
> Cellphone: lfljcell@gmail.com
>



-- 
Lawrence F. London
lfljvenaura@gmail.com
http://www.avantgeared.com
https://plus.google.com/+Avantgeared
Ello: https://ello.co/ecoponderosa <https://ello.co/ecoponderosa>
Twitter: @ecoponderosa <https://twitter.com/ecoponderosa>
Reddit: ecoponderosa
Cellphone: lfljcell@gmail.com