Merry Christmas from Abundant Design!
Abundant Design, LLC provides Des Moines and Central Iowa with Edible & Sustainable Landscaping, Regenerative Land Use Consulting, Permaculture Design and Installation services.
Saturday, December 24, 2016
Warm Winter Wishes!
May the magic and the wonder of the holiday season stay with you throughout the coming year!
Merry Christmas from Abundant Design!
Merry Christmas from Abundant Design!
Sunday, December 18, 2016
Permaculture Series at Cherry Glen
I am pleased to announce the upcoming Permaculture Series at the Cherry Glen Learning Farm. Thursday evening classes will begin in February and run through March. Each class will run approximately two hours, with coffee and tea available.
During these sessions participants will:
In the first part of the series students will learn the ethics and principles of Permaculture, how to observe their property (soils, solar/water/energy flow, etc.) and experience a hands-on workshop with seed handling, taking cuttings and fruit tree grafting.
The second half will be more hands-on workshops determining contours, installing earthworks and planting site preparation. The final session students will share and discuss their landscape plans they have created.
Class Schedule
Session 1
Permaculture Ethics, Principles & Observation
Thursday February 9 @6pm
Session 2
Site Assessment & Energy Flow
Thursday February 16 @6pm
Session 3
Plant Propagation Techniques
Thursday February 23 @6pm
March 2 and 9 No classes
Session 4
Contours, Earthworks & Water Catchment
Thursday March 16 @6pm
Session 5
Site Prep, Building Soil & Sheet Mulch
Thursday March 23 @6pm
Session 6
Design Presentations & Discussions
Thursday March 30 @6pm
Series Fee Minimum/maximum class size applies
Individual $249, Individual+Spouse $299
Materials Fee $49+tax per attendee
Contact Abundant Design or Online registration available here
Registration Deadline isFebruary 4th
Individual classes can be attended for $65+tax (material fee may also apply)
contact me for details.
 |
| Cherry Glen Learning Farm |
- Learn skills to integrate Permaculture principles and techniques into their property
- Design a plan incorporating what they have learned, and
- Establish a plant collection they can use to launch their new landscapes
In the first part of the series students will learn the ethics and principles of Permaculture, how to observe their property (soils, solar/water/energy flow, etc.) and experience a hands-on workshop with seed handling, taking cuttings and fruit tree grafting.The second half will be more hands-on workshops determining contours, installing earthworks and planting site preparation. The final session students will share and discuss their landscape plans they have created.
Class ScheduleSession 1
Permaculture Ethics, Principles & Observation
Thursday February 9 @6pm
Session 2 Site Assessment & Energy Flow
Thursday February 16 @6pm
Session 3
Plant Propagation Techniques
Thursday February 23 @6pm
March 2 and 9 No classes
Session 4
Contours, Earthworks & Water Catchment
Thursday March 16 @6pm
Session 5
Site Prep, Building Soil & Sheet Mulch
Thursday March 23 @6pm
Session 6
Design Presentations & Discussions
Thursday March 30 @6pm
Series Fee Minimum/maximum class size applies
Individual $249, Individual+Spouse $299
Materials Fee $49
Monday, December 12, 2016
Regenerative Abundance in Video
This week the weather really let us know that winter is coming! Temperatures dropped and we had snow that stuck.
If you are thinking of watching television and vegging out a bit, try some of these fun videos and shows, that highlight different permaculture styles. From the kitchen garden, to the homestead and even large agriculture scale landscapes.
The first video gives an over view of the work Ben Falk is doing at his homestead in Vermont. He is a well known permaculture designer and author of The Resilient Farm and Homestead.
For more permaculture style homesteading in a suburban setting watch Growing a Greener World ep.523
The last one is a series of clips from Hope in a Changing Climate the story of the large scale restoration project in China's Loess Plateau.
If these videos inspire changes in your landscape or marginal portions of your farm, now is a great time to schedule a consultation and we can get a design started for installation next year.
Dress warm and drive safely... and stay tuned, event announcements coming soon!
Extra Bonus Videos!
Regeneration of Our Lands - Gabe Brown TEDx
An Invitation to Wildness by Happen Films
Miracle Farms of The Permaculture Orchard
If you are thinking of watching television and vegging out a bit, try some of these fun videos and shows, that highlight different permaculture styles. From the kitchen garden, to the homestead and even large agriculture scale landscapes.
Heat up some cider, pop some corn and enjoy the shows!
The first video gives an over view of the work Ben Falk is doing at his homestead in Vermont. He is a well known permaculture designer and author of The Resilient Farm and Homestead.
For more permaculture style homesteading in a suburban setting watch Growing a Greener World ep.523
The next feature is almost local and even colder dontcha know. About 13 minutes into this Minnesota episode of PBS's The Victory Garden's Edible Feast, permaculturalist Koby Jeschkeit-Hagen shows her techniques for trellising tomatoes and harvesting basil for the South Minneapolis Tiny Diner Farm & Restaurant.
The last one is a series of clips from Hope in a Changing Climate the story of the large scale restoration project in China's Loess Plateau.
If these videos inspire changes in your landscape or marginal portions of your farm, now is a great time to schedule a consultation and we can get a design started for installation next year.
Dress warm and drive safely... and stay tuned, event announcements coming soon!
Extra Bonus Videos!
Regeneration of Our Lands - Gabe Brown TEDx
An Invitation to Wildness by Happen Films
Miracle Farms of The Permaculture Orchard
Monday, December 5, 2016
The Mighty Oak
This weekend I took a little time off. Saturday morning was absolutely perfect. While I sat up in a middle aged Bur Oak, I thought of all the animals that were fed from the mast of the many there. I was also hoping for a chance at a particular one or two.
While I sat watching the activity of the woods that morning, the rings of large rocks below often caught my attention. The dogs that still live in our hearts rest there, maybe even fetching ducks or chasing raccoons in some other realm for eternity.
Dad had worked hard to build the place we called home and this was the first hunt without him. I remembered building that tree stand with him. The dilapidated chair he'd acquired still perched atop like the ruins of an ancient king's throne. I thought of how proud he would be at the events of the day, his smile, the stories told and retold.
The following writing captures some of the feelings of losing an oak. Sometimes it can be a person, or sometimes it can even just be a tree... but that can still be a significant loss.
Ode to a Clayton County Bur Oak Tree - by Brian Gibbs
For 7,000 years in this valley, your ancestors survived battles against fires, prairie grasses and droughts with hopes that... every year, between August and November, they could drop their acorns in victory. Producing the largest seed of all oaks, your mother had to grow for at least 35 years before she could create you, though it is possible the tree responsible for bearing your seed was over 200 years old.
In the spring of 1849, you sprang out of a mossy cup as a green stem. You came into Clayton County during the dawning of a new age; when the land was first becoming subservient to a man’s will.
Pioneers had broken the Garnavillo prairie in June of 1836 and by doing so, had uncovered a fertile resource that ranked second in value to their freedoms.
In your first year, an acre of land was selling for $1.25 and the population of the county rose to over 3000. While everyone was busy growing spring wheat, corn and hay, you grew a four foot taproot twice as fast as your two foot shoot.
On your eighth year, the 1st railroad in the county, the McGregor, St Peters & Missouri, began laying its tracks, assuring progress and homesteaders would be heading west. A sapling, your winged branches avoided the hooves and teeth of cows, until 1865 when Thomas Osborne established the thriving town of Osborne. It is likely that your mother tree was cut for lumber shortly after this time. Soon after her departure, you watched the black smoke of the first coal train drift out from Osborne station.
You were already 51 years of age when the 20th century arrived. The population of Clayton County was over 30,000 people and your roots equaled the weight of your top.
In 1920, a roadway just outside your reach was named Highway 13 and would later be designated as part of the Tall Corn Trail; allowing people to travel between McGregor and Sioux City.
During the dustbowl of 1936, the topsoil thirsted but you were quenched by tens of thousands of capillaries that soaked up buried water.
On Armistice Day, Nov 11, 1940, while cars were buried under twenty foot drifts, your branches danced recklessly in the blizzard. Birds held tightly to your snow-bowed limbs and squirrels bedded in their leaf nests.
On your 112th birthday, the Iowa General Assembly designated the Oak as Iowa’s state tree, declaring “it serves as shelter, food and nesting cover for many animals and birds. No other group of trees is more important to people and wildlife. Acorns, the nuts of oak trees, are a dietary staple of many animals and birds. Deer, wild turkeys, pheasants, quail, wood ducks, raccoons, squirrels, chipmunks, bluejays, nuthatches, grackles and several kinds of woodpeckers are a few of the species that depend on acorns for a significant portion of their diet." Certainly, Iowan’s were referring to you, the Bur Oak, which is the only oak species to be found in all 99 Iowa counties.
April 1970, your buds burst and tiny leafs bloomed out from the darkness. Monsanto paid Dr. John E Frantz $5 for discovering the herbicide glyphosate. Four years later the company would market the herbicide under the trade name “Roundup”.
On your 143rd year, your branches looked like ancient fountains and nearly touched the ground. Many of them survived the June tornado but the radio tower on Chicken Ridge did not.
The full Moon of February 3rd, 1996; Lakota Indians call this moon the “ moon of the popping trees.” Loud cracks could be heard from your cold limbs on this night when a state record low temperature of -47 degrees was recorded just down the hill at Osborne.
In 1998, Roundup Ready Corn, a genetically modified crop was commercialized and allowed farmers to spray Roundup on corn without damaging the plant. In the following years, your heartwood deteriorated as corn production and yield rates increased in the county.
During the turn of the 21st century, you laid down your 151st growth ring.
In 2007, 185 million pounds of the herbicide Roundup were estimated to be used in the Agricultural Market Sector in the United States. A disease called “Oak Tatters” caused numerous Oak trees in Northeast Iowa to lose the leaf tissue between their veins. A scientific study in Iowa showed a strong correlation between this disease and elevated levels of herbicide drift.
On your 164th year, 2.2 billion bushels of corn were harvested from 13.6 million acres of cropland. You still stood, producing your own bushels of acorns.
In 2014, you survived the polar vortex that saw temperatures drop below zero for days on end. Meanwhile, overwintering populations of the Monarch Butterflies reached record lows. Citing the near-eradication of Milkweed due to Roundup, scientists petitioned the species to be protected under the Endangered Species Act. Will the Bur Oak soon become endangered to the hearts of Iowa’s children?
On March 26th 2014, a sign from a land improvement company, called Ray’s Excavating, hung on the fence-line above you proclaiming: “We work dirt cheap; no job is too big or small.”
You stood in the beauty of the midmorning sun, the shadows of your branches falling on two yellow bulldozers. Sometime during the late evening, a great horned owl took leave of your branches. When the sunset at 7:24pm you went into the darkness still standing yet the next day, shortly after 8 am, an excavator and two semi loads of rock were dumped at your feet. A young man driving the excavator was here to do his job “To make room for the bigger equipment ya know.”
A gnarled tree, you waged a valiant fight that prompted the operator of the machine to say “She gave the 42750 Excavator all she could take.”
Yet, instead of being used for something resourceful, like cabinetry, flooring or firewood, you were drug across the field in mangled pieces, and dumped along the edge of a ravine. Not knowing that your thick bark evolved from 7,000 years of fighting fires, the man tried to light you with a match at first, then his cigarette lighter, until finally your thick bark caught fire by way of gasoline.
March 28th-30th
You smoldered and witnessed dozens of semi-trucks bringing rock to fill the empty space you left behind. In the following weeks, every trace of your existence would slowly be erased from the landscape.
April 15th, 2014,
A dusting of snow puts a damper on your smoldering and temporarily stops the application of anhydrous ammonia to your field.
May 20th, 2014
Officially declaring that 165 years of your history has been forgotten, a 24-row John Deere planter sows an acre of Roundup Ready Corn where you once stood.
June 8th, 2014
A John Deere self-propelled sprayer, loaded with 1000 gallons of Roundup, "runs, sprays and conquers” everything in its path.
June 20th, 2014
The first heavy rain of the year fell on your vacant hill. The water wasn’t allowed to soak through your roots, instead it ripped out the drain tile and blew out rocks from where you once stood. A highway sized gorge cut into the hillside and ran down the ravine into your final resting place.
Nov 8th 2014,
On my 31st birthday, a combine drove over your roots and harvested the corn.
Nov 11th 2014,
The first snowfall of winter fell overnight. As the year’s second application of anhydrous ammonia was injected on the field, a Northern Harrier braved the winds, hovered over your valley and looked for mammals to eat.
Epitaph
In your 165 years, you were a tree that stood for many lives. You filled the mouths of a hundred squirrels and held the feet of a thousand birds. You held the sky up while being a protector of the prairie. You were a cathedral of knowledge, a monument to time, a patient library that survived natural disasters and outlived generations of families.
From your falling, sprouts patience and
Patience conquers greed.
From your destruction, grows hope and
Hope conquers fear.
Back into the darkness you’ve returned,
To nourish the beginnings of something new
To one day embrace the roots of a sprouted Bur Oak.
To greet the sun, wild with sweeping branches again.
Now that the old bur oak is down, who will be the big tree to hold Iowa’s history up?
While I sat watching the activity of the woods that morning, the rings of large rocks below often caught my attention. The dogs that still live in our hearts rest there, maybe even fetching ducks or chasing raccoons in some other realm for eternity.Dad had worked hard to build the place we called home and this was the first hunt without him. I remembered building that tree stand with him. The dilapidated chair he'd acquired still perched atop like the ruins of an ancient king's throne. I thought of how proud he would be at the events of the day, his smile, the stories told and retold.
Man! How I wished he could have been there!
The following writing captures some of the feelings of losing an oak. Sometimes it can be a person, or sometimes it can even just be a tree... but that can still be a significant loss.
Ode to a Clayton County Bur Oak Tree - by Brian Gibbs
For 7,000 years in this valley, your ancestors survived battles against fires, prairie grasses and droughts with hopes that... every year, between August and November, they could drop their acorns in victory. Producing the largest seed of all oaks, your mother had to grow for at least 35 years before she could create you, though it is possible the tree responsible for bearing your seed was over 200 years old.
After falling to the ground, you may have been picked up and carried off in the mouth of a scurrying animal who, in their rampant preparations for fall forgot where they stored you. Your rescuer could have been a grey squirrel that delighted in gathering too many acorns, a gluttonous blue jay or possibly a deer mouse that died in the hungry talons of an owl. Or you simply could have been a product of a mast year, which saw your mother over-satiate the bellies of your predators so that you could survive the forays of fall.
In the spring of 1849, you sprang out of a mossy cup as a green stem. You came into Clayton County during the dawning of a new age; when the land was first becoming subservient to a man’s will.
Pioneers had broken the Garnavillo prairie in June of 1836 and by doing so, had uncovered a fertile resource that ranked second in value to their freedoms.
In your first year, an acre of land was selling for $1.25 and the population of the county rose to over 3000. While everyone was busy growing spring wheat, corn and hay, you grew a four foot taproot twice as fast as your two foot shoot.
On your eighth year, the 1st railroad in the county, the McGregor, St Peters & Missouri, began laying its tracks, assuring progress and homesteaders would be heading west. A sapling, your winged branches avoided the hooves and teeth of cows, until 1865 when Thomas Osborne established the thriving town of Osborne. It is likely that your mother tree was cut for lumber shortly after this time. Soon after her departure, you watched the black smoke of the first coal train drift out from Osborne station.
On your twentieth birthday, 2 million acres of corn were harvested in Iowa.
Railroad and agriculture was booming until 1878, when the wet weather and chinch bug invasion wiped out the spring wheat. No longer a sapling, you had grown to be 30 feet tall and watched the farmers switch their crop from spring to winter wheat.
You were already 51 years of age when the 20th century arrived. The population of Clayton County was over 30,000 people and your roots equaled the weight of your top.
In 1920, a roadway just outside your reach was named Highway 13 and would later be designated as part of the Tall Corn Trail; allowing people to travel between McGregor and Sioux City.
During the dustbowl of 1936, the topsoil thirsted but you were quenched by tens of thousands of capillaries that soaked up buried water.
On Armistice Day, Nov 11, 1940, while cars were buried under twenty foot drifts, your branches danced recklessly in the blizzard. Birds held tightly to your snow-bowed limbs and squirrels bedded in their leaf nests.
On your 112th birthday, the Iowa General Assembly designated the Oak as Iowa’s state tree, declaring “it serves as shelter, food and nesting cover for many animals and birds. No other group of trees is more important to people and wildlife. Acorns, the nuts of oak trees, are a dietary staple of many animals and birds. Deer, wild turkeys, pheasants, quail, wood ducks, raccoons, squirrels, chipmunks, bluejays, nuthatches, grackles and several kinds of woodpeckers are a few of the species that depend on acorns for a significant portion of their diet." Certainly, Iowan’s were referring to you, the Bur Oak, which is the only oak species to be found in all 99 Iowa counties.
April 1970, your buds burst and tiny leafs bloomed out from the darkness. Monsanto paid Dr. John E Frantz $5 for discovering the herbicide glyphosate. Four years later the company would market the herbicide under the trade name “Roundup”.
On your 143rd year, your branches looked like ancient fountains and nearly touched the ground. Many of them survived the June tornado but the radio tower on Chicken Ridge did not.
The full Moon of February 3rd, 1996; Lakota Indians call this moon the “ moon of the popping trees.” Loud cracks could be heard from your cold limbs on this night when a state record low temperature of -47 degrees was recorded just down the hill at Osborne. In 1998, Roundup Ready Corn, a genetically modified crop was commercialized and allowed farmers to spray Roundup on corn without damaging the plant. In the following years, your heartwood deteriorated as corn production and yield rates increased in the county.
During the turn of the 21st century, you laid down your 151st growth ring.
In 2007, 185 million pounds of the herbicide Roundup were estimated to be used in the Agricultural Market Sector in the United States. A disease called “Oak Tatters” caused numerous Oak trees in Northeast Iowa to lose the leaf tissue between their veins. A scientific study in Iowa showed a strong correlation between this disease and elevated levels of herbicide drift.
On your 164th year, 2.2 billion bushels of corn were harvested from 13.6 million acres of cropland. You still stood, producing your own bushels of acorns.
In 2014, you survived the polar vortex that saw temperatures drop below zero for days on end. Meanwhile, overwintering populations of the Monarch Butterflies reached record lows. Citing the near-eradication of Milkweed due to Roundup, scientists petitioned the species to be protected under the Endangered Species Act. Will the Bur Oak soon become endangered to the hearts of Iowa’s children?
On March 26th 2014, a sign from a land improvement company, called Ray’s Excavating, hung on the fence-line above you proclaiming: “We work dirt cheap; no job is too big or small.”
You stood in the beauty of the midmorning sun, the shadows of your branches falling on two yellow bulldozers. Sometime during the late evening, a great horned owl took leave of your branches. When the sunset at 7:24pm you went into the darkness still standing yet the next day, shortly after 8 am, an excavator and two semi loads of rock were dumped at your feet. A young man driving the excavator was here to do his job “To make room for the bigger equipment ya know.”
The steel armed bucket from the excavator knocked at your branches and you swayed. The machine bullied your trunk and stoutly you stood. For several proud minutes, you battled back against the machine, until finally your roots could take no more and were ripped out from the earth. Free falling, with flailing motions you reached your branches up to the skies one last time, then capsized and shook the earth with a thunderous blow.
A gnarled tree, you waged a valiant fight that prompted the operator of the machine to say “She gave the 42750 Excavator all she could take.”
Yet, instead of being used for something resourceful, like cabinetry, flooring or firewood, you were drug across the field in mangled pieces, and dumped along the edge of a ravine. Not knowing that your thick bark evolved from 7,000 years of fighting fires, the man tried to light you with a match at first, then his cigarette lighter, until finally your thick bark caught fire by way of gasoline.
March 28th-30th
You smoldered and witnessed dozens of semi-trucks bringing rock to fill the empty space you left behind. In the following weeks, every trace of your existence would slowly be erased from the landscape.
April 15th, 2014,
A dusting of snow puts a damper on your smoldering and temporarily stops the application of anhydrous ammonia to your field.
May 20th, 2014
Officially declaring that 165 years of your history has been forgotten, a 24-row John Deere planter sows an acre of Roundup Ready Corn where you once stood.
June 8th, 2014
A John Deere self-propelled sprayer, loaded with 1000 gallons of Roundup, "runs, sprays and conquers” everything in its path.
June 20th, 2014
The first heavy rain of the year fell on your vacant hill. The water wasn’t allowed to soak through your roots, instead it ripped out the drain tile and blew out rocks from where you once stood. A highway sized gorge cut into the hillside and ran down the ravine into your final resting place.
Nov 8th 2014,
On my 31st birthday, a combine drove over your roots and harvested the corn.
Nov 11th 2014,
The first snowfall of winter fell overnight. As the year’s second application of anhydrous ammonia was injected on the field, a Northern Harrier braved the winds, hovered over your valley and looked for mammals to eat.
Epitaph
In your 165 years, you were a tree that stood for many lives. You filled the mouths of a hundred squirrels and held the feet of a thousand birds. You held the sky up while being a protector of the prairie. You were a cathedral of knowledge, a monument to time, a patient library that survived natural disasters and outlived generations of families.
From your falling, sprouts patience and
Patience conquers greed.
From your destruction, grows hope and
Hope conquers fear.
Back into the darkness you’ve returned,
To nourish the beginnings of something new
To one day embrace the roots of a sprouted Bur Oak.
To greet the sun, wild with sweeping branches again.
Now that the old bur oak is down, who will be the big tree to hold Iowa’s history up?
Monday, November 28, 2016
Giving Tuesday
Continuing the recent posts following the #HashTagsOfTheSeason, I would like to encourage you this #GivingTuesday to consider supporting the Forest Avenue Outreach Community Orchard Project.
I've highlighted the orchard and the good work my friend Ralph Chiodo is doing at Forest Avenue Outreach before-
- Initial Tree Planting Event
- Patriot Day/Day of Service Projects - Trellises and Fire Ring
- The Summer Sustainability Series
For more videos follow this link to WHO-TV 13's coverage
Their current needs to consider for #GivingTuesday include:
- Funding for a tool shed
- Steps to enter the garden
- Sponsorship for an AmeriCorps Worker (~$3000)
- 2017 liability insurance ($2500)
- 2017 irrigation ($850.00)
- Funding/materials for raised beds in new community garden
- Funding for 3 bee colonies
- CPA for taxes
You can donate money directly here: https://forestaveoutreach.com/get-involved/donate/
Contact Ralph through their website to help them out with materials.
LIKE and SHARE their Facebook page and needs with your circle of friends.
Blessings for the rest of your week!
Friday, November 25, 2016
Small Business Saturday
This Nov 26, we want to celebrate Small Business Saturday with you! It's a special holiday created so communities can show love for small businesses like ours. And it wouldn't be a celebration without customers like you joining us!
So mark your calendars for Nov 26, the Saturday after Thanksgiving, and get ready to Shop Small with our great local businesses and of course us.
Email, Call, Text or FB Message ABUNDANT DESIGN to schedule an appointment!
#ShopSmall Deal of the Day
Take $50 OFF a SITE VISIT & CONSULTATION!
And please don't forget to share your favorite Small Business Saturday moments on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram with #ShopSmall.
Thanks for your support!
Thursday, November 24, 2016
Happy Thanksgiving
Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!
Big thank you to my customers and followers, too. I am glad I could help you on your journey to a more sustainable lifestyle and bring beauty to your landscapes, with a strong foundation for abundant yields of the highest quality fruits, vegetables and more. In time, I trust the bounty from what we have created will be on the menu at your Thanksgiving celebration.
My hope in the future is for those who follow us will be thankful for the trees we've planted, the rich soils we have made and the clean water we've contributed to.
Wednesday, November 23, 2016
Black Friday Deals
I wanted to get this post out early so that we could all enjoy our Thanksgiving Day. I hope you can gather with friends, family and food this holiday. Travel safely. If you cannot join others in celebration due to commitments, try to be mindful of the good things that have happened in the last year.
A great way to continue the celebration of abundance would be to schedule an Abundant Design landscape project!
Call or email ABUNDANT DESIGN today to schedule an appointment!
Black Friday Specials
Two SITE VISITS & CONSULTATIONS for $200
Get one for yourself and give one as a gift, or give both as gifts!
Get one for yourself and give one as a gift, or give both as gifts!
Upgrade to a Full Edible/Ecological Design and take the full price refund off each
3-Bin Compost System for $500 installed! That's over 25% off!
Abundant Design's New Zealand style compost system is built to last with rot resistant cedar construction. Not some random pile of food scraps and yard waste, this sharp looking addition blends into any neighborhood. Reduce your contribution to the landfill and capture valuable organic matter to boost the structure and fertility of your soil.Don't Forget our Amazon Store
-These are the items I would have if I had a brick and mortar store. Most of these are books I've read or tools I use and can recommend.
If you purchase any of these items, or any other items you find while on Amazon, your purchase will support the work Abundant Design is doing at no additional cost to you.
I also recommend an Amazon Prime membership where you get Free 2-day shipping on most items, plus lots of free streaming TV & Movies.
Sunday, November 20, 2016
PermaEthos - Learning Opportunities
This weeks post talks about PermaEthos, the organization where I completed my Permaculture Designers Certificate Course.The word PermaEthos is made up of two parts,
- Perma – to be permanent, to last and endure, to be sustainable
- Ethos – ideals that characterize a community
Four Primary Missions at PermaEthos
- Design, implement and manage profitable Permaculture farms
- Deliver top quality Permaculture training programs
- Empower real world and virtual communities built on Permaculture Ethics
- Create educational and entertaining Permaculture-based on-demand video programming
PermaEthos conducts multiple training courses and workshops. Some of the educational programs consist of short term field workshops others include online training courses with interactive instructor support.
The first such online program was their 72 Hour Permaculture Design course which attracted over 1,300 students, including me, during its first open enrollment period.
Additional online courses, some with a free preview lesson, include-
- Permaculture Bee Design Course (BDC) conducted by Michael Jordan, also known as “The Bee Whisperer”
- Plant Propagation and Small Nursery Establishment Course conducted by Nick Ferguson of PermacultureClassroom.com
- Soil Restoration Course with Michael Vertrees
- Creating Gaia's Garden with Toby Hemenway
- More to come
Also available FREE are the live PermaEthosTV seminars. Each week a new presenter and topic covers . Past presenters have included Marcin Jakubowski of Open Source Ecology, Paul Wheaton, and Toby Hemenway, author of Gaia's Garden.
Past seminars are available on Vimeo for $2.99
Past seminars are available on Vimeo for $2.99
If you would like to take an online PDC through PermaEthos, or any one of their other great classes, you can use the affiliate link below.
Watch for special Black Friday, Small Business Saturday
and Cyber Monday deals from Abundant Design and most of all...
Sunday, November 13, 2016
Save the Leaves
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| Red maple leaves with our garden and bagged leaves in the background |
Leaves are a great way to add organic matter to your soils. Both in your yard, landscape plantings and the garden. Worms love to eat them and they burrow around and under them aerating the soil and spreading that rich material into the soil building structure. This added organic matter helps sandy soil hold moisture and improves the workability of compacted clay soils.
Here's a somewhat humorous video on how you can use your leaves.
Too many leaves, wet and flattened to the ground can suffocate your grass. But some, well mulched with a mower, will be great to leave in place. Any extra grass-clipping/leaf mulch blend can be bagged and dumped straight into the compost bins or on your fallow garden beds.
Some leaves such as black walnut contain a chemical called juglone that can inhibit other plant growth. Avoid these in the garden. However, they can be used around trees that are tolerant, such as black cherry or mulberry.
Here are some pics of my garden beds today:
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| Waited too long to cover crop, Popcorn bed covered with leaves for winter |
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| Great mulch to protect strawberries |
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| Garlic, with mulched grass and leaves underneath |
This maple tree in our backyard is so pretty, I'm glad it takes its time dropping leaves.
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| Bright red leaves with pink clouds behind |
Save your leaves, maybe acquire some extra SPBs and enjoy the Super Moon!
Sunday, November 6, 2016
VOTE with your life
Well most of us made it through the time change...
The good news is the election ads will all be over soon but the commentary will no doubt continue. I'm so glad we've pretty much turned off the TV at our house, although the final game of the World Series was worth turning it on!
Whether you want to #MakeAmericaGreatAgain or are #NeverTrump, #WithHer or #NeverHillary, or voting for a third party candidate, do you wonder how you can really make a difference?
You can!
What to do? Reduce the demand! Reducing the demand for natural gas and fuel will reduce the need for expanded infrastructure.
Stay healthy by making healthy choices! Again, reduce the demand on the system.
Have a sore throat in the night? Skip the ER and give it a couple days. You might not need a round of antibiotics. These are only helpful against bacteria, not viruses, and can really do a number on healthy gut bacteria.
Over and inappropriate use of medical facilities, amongst other factors, has contributed to rising costs.
Teach our children values, by word but mostly by example.
Get to know your neighbors.
Get involved with your church or faith community.
Build community!
Host or join a Permablitz!
You see, WE can make a DIFFERENCE,
And now its time to vote...
The good news is the election ads will all be over soon but the commentary will no doubt continue. I'm so glad we've pretty much turned off the TV at our house, although the final game of the World Series was worth turning it on!
Whether you want to #MakeAmericaGreatAgain or are #NeverTrump, #WithHer or #NeverHillary, or voting for a third party candidate, do you wonder how you can really make a difference?
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| Hey America! It's your new First Family! |
VOTE with your LIFE!
Upset with Industrial Food?
Grow some of your own food in your yard or a community garden. Make many of your meals at home, using ingredients that you believe in.
"“Eat your view!” takes work, however... Much of the appeal of the industrial food chain is its convenience; it offers busy people a way to delegate their cooking (and food preservation) to others. At the other end of the industrial food chain that begins in a cornfield in Iowa sits an industrial eater at a table. (Or, increasingly, in a car.) The achievement of the industrial food system over the past half-century has been to transform most of us into precisely that creature." - Michael Pollan
NoDAPL
Protests draw attention to your cause. I don't know enough about Standing Rock to make an informed opinion. I have heard facts and arguments from both sides. Unfortunately I think its one big mess of propaganda that is brewing serious trouble. I feel for Native peoples, despise Eminent Domain abuse, and want clean water.What to do? Reduce the demand! Reducing the demand for natural gas and fuel will reduce the need for expanded infrastructure.
- Turn down your heat, and you'll save money too!
- Ride your bike for errands, many trips are less than two miles! How about a longer ride on the weekend for exercise, and maybe a trip to the Farmer's Market?
- Try hyper-miling your car or go electric! We really like our friend's Volt.
Rising Healthcare Costs
Stay healthy by making healthy choices! Again, reduce the demand on the system.
Have a sore throat in the night? Skip the ER and give it a couple days. You might not need a round of antibiotics. These are only helpful against bacteria, not viruses, and can really do a number on healthy gut bacteria.
Over and inappropriate use of medical facilities, amongst other factors, has contributed to rising costs.
Our bodies are pretty resilient, let's give them a chance.
Moral and Community Decay
Teach our children values, by word but mostly by example. 
Get to know your neighbors.
Get involved with your church or faith community.
Build community!
Host or join a Permablitz!
You see, WE can make a DIFFERENCE,
WE can make a CHOICE that will REALLY MATTER!
Monday, October 31, 2016
Happy Halloween & Happy Tummies
Happy Halloween!
What great weather we’ve had for Beggar’s Night where all the little ghosts and goblins, (or princesses, firefighters and spacemen) run from door to door Trick or Treat!-ing for candy goodies. Greeted by smiling or growling Jack O’Lanterns, the costumed neighborhood kids are on the hunt for Peanut Butter Cups and Snickers Bars.
Actually as far as candy goes, these are actually some of the healthier choices. The endorphin rush from the sugar and chocolate makes the little ones (and sometimes their grown-up guardians) feel happy, and the protein from the peanuts and peanut butter* will help you feel fuller sooner and cushion the sugar crash that would come from plain chocolate, sweet tarts or candy corn alone.
*Apologies to those with peanut allergies
How about a Snick-a-Loaf?
Make Better Choices
When you are a Beggar there usually isn’t much choice, but more healthy options for treats include caramel apples or caramel popcorn (like Cracker Jacks), which are high in fiber and other good stuff, to go with their calories and sugar.
Don’t Worry So Much
It actually takes quite a few pieces of candy (~30-50) to equate a pound of fat (3500 calories).
Be Mindful
Savor the enjoyment that eating treats bring. Avoid just chewing once or twice and swallowing. A New Zealand study of 300 people found that people who associate eating chocolate cake with guilt were less successful in maintaining their weight compared with those who viewed it as a celebration.
Recover when you’ve eaten too much junk.
Donate your leftovers to avoid having the temptation day after day. Go back to eating normally with healthy choices as soon as possible. Foods high in fiber will help to feed healthy gut bacteria, they’ve just had a sugar binge too. Eat plenty of leafy greens, berries and other foods high in antioxidants and other phytochemicals to fight free radicals and prevent inflammation associated with too much sugar. Drink plenty of water to keep your systems hydrated as it processes all that sugar and flushes out waste and toxins. Dehydration can also lead to fatigue and sluggishness that adds to those feelings in your sugar crash.
Rest up so you can better adjust to the time change, even if we "gain" an hour, coming this weekend, and have a great week!
Saturday, October 22, 2016
Cherry Glen Learning Farm
This morning I had the pleasure of visiting with Ray Meylor at the Cherry Glen Learning Farm. We talked a little business but mainly about all of the great things they have done and are planning there as we walked around the property.
Winner of the 2016 Urban Ambassadors Project of the Year
Cherry Glen Farm is a small farm on a quest to bring real sustainability to our local agricultural lands. Located right by Saylorville Lake, and at the base of their watershed they have a unique opportunity to clean the agricultural runoff that flows towards one of the Des Moines metros main water sources.
They use two retention basins to capture this runoff, where it is stored and utilized for irrigation of their crops. The water is available all summer long and is high in nitrogen which gives the growing plants a nutrient boost. Sediment traps remove the suspended silt before it enters the catch basins where it would eventual fill and clog them.
The water system keeps the nitrogen and phosphorus (tied up in the sediment) from entering Saylorville Lake where it could contribute to toxic algae blooms, fish kills and the nitrate levels that need to be mitigated by the Des Moines Water Works.
The land had been in conventional agriculture production and research farm testing previously. The soil had been degraded and what remained was compacted, lifeless clay subsoil.
"I broke a plow on it!" says Ray. But that was before he started adding compost, wood chips and biochar to raise the organic matter which feed the soil life and increased its workability. This year they dug the sweet potatoes by with their bare hands, with some tubers as big as a squash!
In addition to vegetable production Cherry Glen Farm has started an agroforestry section with chestnuts and hazels, prairie plantings and keep many beehives going. While I was there Ray showed me his mite control process and the benefits of the plant diversity and herbs grown nearby. Thymol and Hopguard® are commonly used bee miticides, but are not used at Cherry Glen where thyme and hops are grown.
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| Hives in the hoop house |
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| Mite control with warmth |
The herbs are grown by a local herbal study club and are used in some of the cooking classes.
The second main part of the farm is the learning center. This non-profit venture is setup to provide education for the community.
Through their partner organizations, group classes are scheduled to provide hands-on demonstrations of sustainable agriculture, healthy cooking and eating, financial resiliency and energetic and sustainable livelihoods.
Watch for more news and classes available from Cherry Glen Learning Farm on their website or by following their facebook page.
Read about my Permaculture Series coming soon!
Have a great week, and as I mentioned last week the colors are really popping!
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